Maryanne Firth / Tribune Staff

Port Colborne wants to see its industrial lands thrive.

To help encourage just that, city council has taken another step forward with its industrial community improvement plan.

This week city council reviewed a report that included information not only on the industrial CIP, but also Niagara Region’s Niagara Gateway Economic Zone and Centre community improvement plan.

Both have yet to be adopted.

“This report kick-starts the support of our CIP and the region’s CIP,” Dan Aquilina, Port Colborne’s director of planning and development, told council.

The city’s CIP targets all industrially designated properties within Port Colborne’s urban area boundary and offers incentive programs to encourage investment.

The gateway CIP, which offers similar incentive opportunities, includes all designated employment lands within Port Colborne, Welland, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Thorold. Its focus is on lands on the east side of the Welland Canal that are within the urban area boundary.

The region’s CIP will be before regional council for approval sometime in early summer, while the city’s CIP is expected to be back on the table “a lot sooner,” Aquilina said.

Council approved a staff recommendation to initiate an official plan amendment to allow the inclusion of rural employment lands in the industrial CIP.

Once those changes are made, the CIP will be back before council for adoption.

Mayor Vance Badawey encouraged people to “take full advantage” of the incentives that will be available through the gateway and industrial CIPs.

“This will double the incentive to do business in Port Colborne,” he said of the two plans.