The Town of Amherstburg is now a region looking to capitalize on significant investment opportunities.
During their Monday meeting, council approved its first Economic Development Community Improvement Plan (CIP).
The CIP will serve as a beacon to investors and will support the efforts of the municipalities of Windsor-Essex for collective growth in the area.
Amherstburg has one of the few shovel-ready industrial land sites available, with over 200 acres and rail access land in the Town.
Administration has recognized the risk of losing potential investors to highly competitive U.S. areas and looked to provide council with the tools to offer financial incentives.
The approved CIP will incentivize investors looking to be operational in the near term.
Michael Prue, Mayor of Amherstburg, says the Town has land to offer up.
"Particularly the one that is the former Allied Chemical site, 650 acres, and we think that this improvement plan will be the incentive companies need to move here."
He says they want to keep jobs in the Town.
"We want the strong economic in our own right, and to have jobs for young people so that they stay, that they don't go abroad to find work. And we're hoping to attract two or three very large companies in the very near future."
Mayor Prue says this topic has been up for discussion in the past.
"We had some Town Hall meetings, we had some talks with the Chamber of Commerce and other people. And it's been ongoing for three or four months now, but, it culminated in the decision made on Monday night to approve the plan."
The idea was also sparked by the Windsor battery plant investment.
Administration says adopting the CIP is a significant and vital step taken by the Town.
-with files from AM800's Rob Hindi