Councillor proposes scrapping tax breaks for empty storefronts
CAMBRIDGE — Empty shop windows can be an eyesore for any downtown trying to revitalize.
That’s why Coun. Pam Wolf wants the city to get rid of a perk that gives a property tax break to the owners of vacant retail storefronts in Cambridge.
“I think it’s a way to encourage people to rent or sell their properties.”
“Some of them have been empty for eight to 10 years. It’s bad for business,” she said, adding it will spur growth and diversity in the
city’s cores if more shops are full.
Under the current policy, if a storefront is vacant its property tax is reduced by 30 per cent.
Wolf wants to see that tax break scrapped after one year of vacancy at which point landlords will be expected to pay property taxes in full if the shop is still not in use.
Empty storefronts are a persistent problem in Galt’s historic and picturesque downtown. Shop windows collect dust and paint chips off the blank signage on shops that have been unoccupied for years.
“They are not pleasant to the eye,” Coun. Frank Monteiro said.
“When a building is occupied, it gets cleaned up. When it’s empty and hit by graffiti, it doesn’t.”
He sits on the Galt Business Improvement Association’s board of directors and said he gets frequent complaints from residents and business owners alike about the empty shop windows that dot Galt’s core.
“The businesses, they don’t like it.”
With the Gaslight District and old post office projects underway, Monteiro thinks things will start looking better for Galt.
“A lot of this area now is in transition. In four to five years, the transformation of downtown is going to be enormous.”
He thinks Wolf ’s proposal to eliminate tax breaks for empty shops is one way to try to get there.
“I don’t want to stop investors from coming downtown, but I think doing away with the tax break after one year is good. I’m in support of it.”
It isn’t quite the same in Hespeler Village where there are few empty shops, but Cory de Villiers thinks Wolf ’s proposal is a step in the right direction.
The vice-chair of the Hespeler Village Business Improvement Area said small commercial landlords and individual landlords do not have the pockets to leave shops vacant for long periods of time.
“So we are motivated to fill our storefronts. When you’re a large developer you can absorb those costs.”
He thinks getting rid of the tax break will force landlords to adjust rents, fix up their properties to attract tenants or consider subdividing store fronts to lease out because otherwise, the tax break is like a “reward” for leaving a storefront empty.
“If you take away the incentive it puts the onus on the property owners,” de Villiers said.
Wolf put her proposal forward as a motion to the city’s planning and development committee a few weeks ago for staff to look into.
She didn’t ask for a timeline on when staff should return to council with a report on the issue.