As its Green Municipal Fund moves into its 20th year of operation, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has announced it will accept capital project applications on a continuous, year-round basis effective of April 1, 2020.
FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) offers a range of funding for capital projects related to energy, transportation, waste, water and brownfields.
Funding is available to Canadian municipalities and their partners for highly innovative and impactful environmental projects that improve municipal service delivery while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the air, water or land.
Since 2000, FCM’s Green Municipal Fund has financed more than 1,250 municipal sustainability initiatives, deploying $900M in financing.
The program is designed to support transformative, best-in-class municipal projects that can generate new lessons and models for municipalities of all sizes and types in all regions of Canada. The GMF rewards early adopters.
Dedicated to transforming conventional development practices by using a triple bottom line approach to projects, a recent funding award went to Windmill Development Group, for its sustainable neighbourhood action plan for Guelph’s Baker District.
The Baker District redevelopment project in downtown Guelph is a planned development partnership with the City of Guelph aimed at transforming the existing parking lot and properties fronting the north end of Wyndham Street into a unique mixed-use development.
The project is approximately 500,000 sq. ft. and will create a mixed-use development with a new central library and approximately 300 residential units. The redevelopment will incorporate best practices in environmental design.
Windmill will own and develop the residential and commercial components, and partner with the City in developing the public components (e.g. library, parking and urban square).
FCM’s Green Municipal Fund offers grants for studies and pilot projects, and grants combined with loans for capital projects. The loans have fixed rates and lower interest rates than most banks and most recipients receive an additional grant of up to 15 percent of their loan amount. Municipal partners may apply for competitive, long-term financing. In addition, there are no pre-set environmental thresholds to meet.
FCM is the national voice for local governments, with a mandate to advocate for municipalities on the national stage, to ensure their citizens’ needs are reflected in federal policies and programs. FCM also delivers programming and tools that help municipalities tackle local challenges.
Continuous intake of GMF applications will take effect April 1, 2020. In the meantime, proponents can download and submit a capital projects initial review form at any time. FCM will contact eligible applicants with an application form after April 1, 2020.