History

Following a request by a group of merchants, and following Section 361 of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1970, Chapter 284, the Municipality adopted a municipal by-law (By-Law #1222) on April 11th, 1978. The By-Law was to delineate an area in the business sector of Hearst which would be designated as an improvement zone, and to establish an executive committee for what would hereby be known as the "Centre-Ville Hearst Downtown" (The Business Improvement Area in the Hearst downtown). This By-Law was approved by the Ontario Municipal Board on June 16th, 1978.

The Mandate

The executive committee (check the Board page for present members) has two responsibilities :

1. The improvement, beautification and maintenance of municipal structures, lands and buildings, other than that already done by the Municipality;
2. The promotion of said sector as a commercial and shopping zone.

The By-Law states the Town Council will claim each year a special tax, from all the business owners within the designated area. This special tax can be collected using the same methods, as prescribed by the Municipal Act, as the collection of taxes.

Improvements

On October 6th 1982, an Agreement was reached between the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Corporation of the Town of Hearst and the Board of Directors of the Heast BIA for a loan in the capital sum of $150 00.00 together with a surcharge or $15 000.00 totalling $165 000.00 for a maximum period of 10 years for the improvement and beautification of municipality-owned real property and land. This loan has now been fully repaid with the 1993 installment being the last payment.

Part of the above-mentioned loan served to acquire and upgrade the land of the existing municipal parking lot. The other portion was used to acquire several units comprised of benches, garbage bins and the installation of a new lighting system.

The construction of the billboard at the entrance of the downtown municipal parking lot was approved in 1991 and was designed specifically to meet the advertising needs of the non-profit organizations within the Nord-Aski area.

Changes

Since 1998, the provincial law concerning Business Improvement Areas changed. If the special tax was collected upon business owners, it is now to be collected upon building owners. This is why the Members section lists building owners - because in effect, they are now the real members of the BIA, strictly speaking.