Town of Lincoln Council and staff continuously advocate to upper levels of government to aid in implementing key programming and policy to support economic growth and prosperity throughout our municipality.
Through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) annual conferences, staff and Members of Council bring forth a variety of initiatives and concerns that impact the Lincoln community. Our goal is to ensure that our priorities are heard and that upper levels of government are kept informed on Lincoln’s priorities.
See below for the latest programs, policies, and changes Town Council and staff have advocated for at the 2023 AMO Conference & 2024 ROMA Conference:
Growth Related Infrastructure
The provincial government has set a target to build 1.5 million homes in Ontario by 2031. As a direct result of this plan, there is a need for municipalities to provide additional infrastructure to support the residents coming to each community. Locally, the Town is doing our part. Our Prudhommes development site along Lake Ontario will see the addition of approximately 5,000 units which translates into 8-10,000 more residents in Lincoln. Servicing new developments has become costly, as Prudhommes will require more infrastructure such as water and sanitary investments, as well as a new fire station. The Town of Lincoln is seeking infrastructure dollars to help build new infrastructure to support our future Prudhommes development site.
Shoreline Protection Funding
Provide continued Provincial funding to help the Town and residents respond to the impacts of climate change on the shoreline while also providing improvements to provincial regulations to promote green infrastructure/low-impact development on public and private property.
Shared Services Funding
The Town of Lincoln has embarked on a shared service model with other municipalities in Niagara to help stream and reduce duplication of services to help make local government more efficient. The Town of Lincoln currently has utilized a number of shared services, this includes a shared Library with the Town of Pelham, a shared Fire Service with the Town of Grimsby, as well as shared services in Planning and Economic Development with Grimsby. Lincoln is in favour of doing more with our local partners, but there has been implementation and transition costs that make sharing services difficult to implement, especially around our shared Fire Service with Grimsby.
The Town is meeting with Provincial Ministries to discuss the opportunities to recover implementation/transition costs to make the Niagara West shared fire service (and other shared service ventures with which Lincoln is involved) permanent – as well as additional funding for costs associated with expanding this to include other West Niagara / Niagara Local Area Municipalities.
Niagara Irrigation Project
Niagara is home to thousands of acres of grape vines and fruit trees cared for by over 700 family farms. Water is not only essential to the region’s residents, but also crucial for growing high-quality fruit; however, consistently, and equally distributing water to farms across Niagara is a challenge. While local municipalities, Niagara Region, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, local growers, Agriculture and Agri-Food (AG) Canada and the Niagara Irrigation Steering Committee continue to work towards a solution, further research and support are required to ensure the most efficient and suitable irrigation system is identified. The Town and other Municipalities are meeting with the Province to request support for potential irrigation solutions, including funding for infrastructural studies as required.
Rural Economic Development Program
The Town of Lincoln thanked the province for their support of our application through the 2022 Rural Economic Development Program - Labour Intake Stream, which supported the development of our new Work in Lincoln website as well as the implementation of two Job Fairs to connect job seekers to our local businesses. This specialized intake covering up to 70% of projects costs became a key resource for Economic Development in Lincoln in 2023, as many of our local businesses found themselves searching for new employees after the pandemic.
As the Town looks to continue down the road of economic recovery, we are requesting that the province provide future demand focused RED applications, which cover at least 70% of project costs to support Rural Ontario economies.