Windsor Business Development Grant (Economic Revitalization CIP)
Compared with the 242 other application forms we have read
- Winning means you must keep the equipment in place and working for a stated period. 12 ask that.
- The heaviest thing to produce is technical documentation. 14 ask for that.
- Scored mainly on the jobs it creates for other people. 22 lead with that.
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Eligibility & Details
What this program funds and who can apply
Program Description
A tax-increment-equivalent grant that returns up to 100% of the increase in municipal property taxes resulting from new business investment in Windsor's targeted economic sectors, for up to 10 years. New businesses making building or property investments under the Economic Revitalization Community Improvement Plan receive an annual grant equal to the municipal tax increment created by their project, reducing the net tax cost of growth investments.
Eligibility Requirements
- New business (not existing) making a building or property investment in Windsor
- Investment must fall within a targeted economic sector under the Economic Revitalization CIP
- Manufacturing sector: the project must create a minimum of 50 new jobs
- Other targeted sectors: the project must create more than 20 new jobs
- Investment must result in a demonstrable increase in assessed property value (and thus municipal tax)
- Pre-consultation with City staff is required before applying, and City Council must approve the application before any eligible work begins — costs incurred before Council's approval may not be eligible.
- Retail uses are not eligible unless clearly accessory to the primary eligible use and carried on with it on the same property.
- Projects outside the targeted sectors may still qualify as a 'Catalyst Project' with at least $250,000 in eligible costs, 15 new permanent jobs (excluding construction jobs), and 50 indirect jobs created or retained in the targeted sectors.
- Grant payments cease at 10 years or when cumulative grant payments equal total eligible project costs, whichever comes first.
- Registered owners, assessed owners, tenants, and anyone assigned the right to receive the grant may apply; a non-owner applicant must provide the property owner's written consent on the application.
Quick Assessment
Funding Details
- Amount
- Tax-increment grant up to 100% of municipal tax increase for up to 10 years
- Type
- Grant
- Level
- Municipal
- Deadline
- Ongoing — verify current intake with City
Program Scorecard
Competition, effort, and approval at a glance
Difficult — significant preparation needed
Below average competition
Moderate — standard requirements
How to Win
Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like
Insider TipThis program rewards capital investment — the larger the building or property improvement, the larger the tax increment, and therefore the larger the annual grant.
Rejection Pitfalls 5
- Existing Windsor business (program is for new businesses only — existing businesses use the companion Retention & Expansion program)
Success Profile
Evaluation Criteria
How the City of Windsor judges your application
What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.
Distilled from 6+ source documents on citywindsor.ca, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-03.
6 of the sources
- Business Development Grant Program — City of Windsor
- Economic Revitalization CIP Program Guide
- Master Economic Revitalization CIP Grant Application Form
- Economic Revitalization Community Improvement Plan, City of Windsor…
- Economic Revitalization Community Improvement Plan — City of Windsor
- Economic Revitalization CIP Timeline
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What the City of Windsor favours
Show grant needed for viability or to attract company◦
“Applicants must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the City, that a Business Development Grant is necessary in order for the development or redevelopment to be economically viable, or to attract the company to Windsor, and that it is meeting one or more of the objectives of this CIP.”
The form
Before you apply
- 1Pre-application meeting with City planning staff (required before the form)written answer
Pre-consultation with City staff is required prior to submitting an application.
Application and fee
- AApplication fee — $590 per projectshort answer
The property
- 3Property identification and current usetable
- 4Environmental contamination disclosureyes/no + written
Are you aware of any known or suspected environmental contamination issues (soil, groundwater) affecting the property?
- 5Heritage designation and outstanding work orderscheckboxes
- 6Property size and existing buildingstable
- 7Assessment, taxes and arrearstable
- 8Other City financial assistance on this propertyyes/no + written
Sector, use and jobs
- 9Targeted economic sector and proposed usescheckboxes
- 10Accessory usesyes/no + written
- 11Employment: current, created and retainedtable
- 12Catalyst project route (for uses outside the targeted sectors)yes/no + written
The project
- 13Project typeselection
- 14Description of the proposed developmentwritten answer
- 15Construction value, post-project assessment and scheduletable
- 16Property use, gross floor area and use mixtable
- 17Multi-phase developmentyes/no + written
- 18Why the grant is necessary, and the public benefit (the but-for case)written answer
Costs and other funding
- GSection G — Estimate of Eligible Costsspreadsheet
- HSection H — Other sources of government fundingyes/no + written
Attachments and declaration
- ISection I — Applicable grant program and required attachmentscheckboxes
- JSection J — Sworn Declarationcheckboxes
After you submit
- 23presentation to the Development and Heritage Standing Committeewritten answer
- 24City Council decisionwritten answer
- 25After approval — agreement on title, job confirmation, invoices, statutory declaration and legal opinionlist
the City of Windsor states no length limits for these answers.
Judged against
- 1
Is this an eligible use in a targeted sector?
Show them Name the exact use from the targeted-sector list your activity matches, or make the catalyst case with $250,000 in eligible costs, 15 permanent jobs and 50 indirect jobs.◦
In the funder’s words · 1
- Business Development Grants are only available to uses that are readily identifiable with one of the following targeted sectors:
- 2
Will the project create enough new jobs?
What to show, and the funder’s 1 criterion behind it in Premium
- 3
Is the grant truly necessary, with public benefit?
What to show, and the funder’s 1 criterion behind it in Premium
- 4
Are the claimed costs eligible and correctly timed?
What to show, and the funder’s 3 criteria behind it in Premium
7 questions the reviewer answers about you, in Premium.
Where applicants fail
“Please note that any work carried out or cost incurred prior to City planning staff approval of a particular grant application may not be eligible for funding.”
“If the tax bill is not paid in full, the City will cancel all future grants and collect past grants made as part of this program.”
Premium · the rest of this brief
See all 17 rules that can reject you and every criterion you are judged on. Then we draft your application for you.
13 more rules that can reject you · 5 more criteria · 23 more prompts
Do you pass?
Each one can rule you out. Tick the ones you meet.
You
Pre-consult City staff before applying
Pre-consultation with City staff is required prior to submitting an application.
The project
50 manufacturing jobs or 21+ elsewhere
The development or redevelopment must result in a minimum of 50 new jobs for the manufacturing sector, or more than 20 jobs in the other targeted sectors.
Use in one of eight sectors
Business Development Grants are only available to uses that are readily identifiable with one of the following targeted sectors:
No land, inventory or equipment
Grants will not apply to any portion of the personal property, inventory or land purchase value of the project.
Documents to attach
Ticks are kept on this device.
The money
Grant sizeUp to 100% of tax increase
Grant equivalent up to 100 percent of the municipal property tax increase created by the project for up to 10 years after project completion
Grant termUp to 10 years of payments
These grant payments will be issued for up to 10 years or up to the time when total grant payments equal total eligible program costs, whichever comes first.
Total grant capCapped at total eligible costs
In no case will the total amount of grants provided for an eligible property exceed the total eligible costs.
Application fee$590 total
Base Fee $500.00; GIS Fee $50.00; E-Permitting Fee $40.00; TOTAL $590.00.
Annual paymentAnnual grant equal to tax increase
Each year, once the property owner has paid property taxes in full for that year, the City will issue a grant payment to the applicant or assignee equivalent to the increase in City property taxes.
StackingCombined City assistance capped at eligible costs
In accordance with the Planning Act, the total of the Business Development Grant and any other property tax assistance, grants and loans provided by the City in relation to this, or any other CIP, cannot exceed the approved eligible costs for all approved incentive programs.
Costs before approvalNo grants for work done before approval
Incentive programs approved by City Council will take effect as of the date of City Council adoption and will not be applied retroactively to any work that has taken place prior to the adoption of the CIP or City Council approval to participate in an incentive program.
FeesFees subject to change
Fees subject to change. Payment options will be provided when the CIP application is ready to be deemed complete.
What it pays for · 10
- demolishing buildings;
- development or redevelopment of a building or property, including improvements and expansion to an existing building;
- adaptive reuse, building rehabilitation and retrofit works;
- development application fees and building permit fees (includes application for Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, Minor Variance or Permission, Consent, Site Plan Approval/Amendment/Modification/Termination, Plan of Subdivision/ Condominium, Condominium Conversion, Part Lot Control Exemption, Removal of the "H" Holding Symbol, Demolition Permit, and Building Permit);
- upgrading on-site infrastructure including water services, sanitary sewers and stormwater management facilities;
- constructing/upgrading of any off-site improvement that is required to fulfill any condition of a development/planning approval (including Site Plan Control) for the development, redevelopment, adaptive reuse or rehabilitation of the building and/or property.
- base plan review by a certified LEED consultant;
- preparing new working drawings to the LEED standard;
- submitting and administering the constructed element testing and certification used to determine the LEED designation; and
- increase in material/construction cost of LEED components over standard building code requirements.
What it does not pay for · 1
- Grants will not apply to any portion of the personal property, inventory or land purchase value of the project.
From application to money
- Meet City staff firstPre-consultation with City staff first
- Email form and $590 feeEmail application and $590 fee
- Standing Committee presentation2 WeeksPresent to Standing Committee
- City Council decides2-3 WeeksCouncil decision within 2-3 weeks
- Sign and register agreementSign and register grant agreement
- Annual grant payments beginApprox. 2 YearsAnnual payments begin in about 2 years
In the funder’s words · 6
- Meet City staff first
- Pre-consultation with City staff is required prior to submitting an application.
- Email form and $590 fee
- Please submit a complete application to: Planning & Development Services at [email protected].
- Standing Committee presentation
- Provide presentation (up to 5 minutes) and/or answer questions
- City Council decides
- Eligible works may commence immediately following Council's approval.
- Sign and register agreement
- If Council approves the application, the grant agreement must be finalized and signed prior to the commencement of the grant program.
- Annual grant payments begin
- The tax increment will be established after the final inspection of the improvements in accordance with the Ontario Building Code and when MPAC has established a new assessment value.
Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.
Everything you need to win Windsor Business Development Grant (Econom...
Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.
- 5 rejection pitfalls reviewers flag — so you catch them first
- 8-document checklist with what each reviewer is actually checking
- Your Application Game Plan — the print-ready PDF the preview below describes
- 5-step application timeline with prep hours per step
- Insider tip from program officers on what separates winners
- 5-program stacking strategy to combine with compatible funding
- Success profile + evaluation criteria — exactly what reviewers score on
Application Playbook
Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses
Application Steps
Required Documents 8
Eligible Expenses 4
Ineligible Expenses 5
Intake Periods
Deadline Notes
Ineligible Organizations
Funding Stack Strategy
Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential
Compatible Programs
Clawback Risk
Medium RiskHow Windsor Business Development Grant (Econom... Compares
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