New loan program could help homeowners go green

The program would allow homeowners to access loans between $15,000 and $125,000 to be repaid through their property tax bills

Peterborough may have a new municipal program by next year to lend money to homeowners to renovate their houses for better energy efficiency.

Under a proposed four-year pilot project, $10.9-million could be lent to homeowners starting in late 2023 or early 2024.

The city’s hired consultants at Toronto-based Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors have designed the program.

At a committee meeting Monday, the consultants will give a presentation to councillors to explain how the proposed program could work.

In the meantime, city staff recommend in a new report council begin by applying for grants from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) — money that could potentially fund the loans.

The program would allow homeowners to access loans between $15,000 and $125,000 to be repaid through their property tax bills, the report states.

Alternatively, homeowners could access loans starting at $1,000 to be repaid directly to a bank (financial institutions would be tapped for some funding, too).

The program would furthermore offer homeowners access to an “energy coach” who could guide them through the renovation.

The program would cost about $3,135,000 to administer, the report states, but FCM grants could potentially cover $2,875,000 of that cost. If so, it would leave the city with $260,000 to pay, but the report points out the city has a fund exclusively for climate-change mitigation projects that could cover this cost.

The idea behind the program is to help Peterborough with its ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, compared to levels from 2011.

Also on Monday night’s agenda:

Casino roads

The construction of new roads and the reconfiguration of existing ones around the south-end Shoreline Casino and Hampton Inn — ongoing since 2018 — are nearly done.

New streets to the east and north of the casino and hotel, as well as the closure of Crawford Drive west of The Parkway, are soon to be finished, states a new city staff report.

The work is “just about complete and the new roads are planned to be ready for public use near the end of October,” states the report.

On Monday, councillors will consider taking the following actions (as recommended by staff in the report):

■ Officially closing Crawford Drive between The Parkway and Harper Road.

■ Renaming the stretch of Crawford Drive between Harper Road and Sir Sandford Fleming Drive to Fisher Drive.

■ Renaming the stretch of Harper Road between Crawford Drive and the new street north of the casino to Fisher Drive.

■ Naming the new street north of the casino and hotel as Fisher Drive, and the new street east of the casino and hotel as Crawford Drive.

Housing

Construction could start in about a year on a new affordable apartment building on city-owned property at 681 Monaghan Rd., according to a new report.

Sheldon Laidman, the city’s community services commissioner, will update councillors Monday on the ongoing municipal efforts to help unhoused people. In his written report, Laidman states 681 Monaghan Rd. could be ready for construction by fall 2023.

The city bought the property in late 2020 and plans to tear down the existing building soon.

The existing building once housed both the Community Training and Development Centre and the Learning Circle Daycare; the daycare is permanently closed and the training programs no longer operate from there.

Details such as the number of units in the future apartment complex haven’t been finalized yet. The city recently accepted a grant of $40,000 from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to hire consultants to examine those aspects of the project and more.