The Town of Tecumseh is receiving provincial funding to help expand critical infrastructure to support the construction of homes in the town.
Tecumseh has been selected by the Ministry of Infrastructure to receive funding through the Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund to help municipalities develop, repair, rehabilitate, and expand critical drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.
The province will contribute 73 percent of the total eligible costs of the project, or around $15.1 million, with the town matching the rest of the cost of the near $22 million project.
The funding will support the development of the Tecumseh Hamlet Secondary Plan Area, with the installation of 1.8 kilometers of trunk watermain and 1.7 kilometers of trunk sanitary sewer.
Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara says the town has been consulting the public and working with developers for years to get ready to develop this land.
"You go to the website and look at the hamlet subdivision, you'll see the plans for what we want to see there, and the development community is really excited about that," he says.
McNamara says he's happy they have the dollars to get the infrastructure in the ground in that area to support development.
"There's commercial nodes that will be built there to help support the amount of housing that will be built in that area," he says. "This is something we've been working with the community on since 2012. We've had all kinds of open houses and opportunities for people to come in to see what they would like to see for our community."
The Tecumseh Hamlet Secondary Plan Area is on the western side of the town, bounded by County Road 22, Banwell Road, and County Road 42.
McNamara says they've seen tremendous growth in the region through immigration and migration.
"We have to house them somewhere, and we've seen a tremendous amount of pressure on the community. I'm really, really pleased that the provincial government recognizes that in order for us to achieve housing needs in a community, this investment here will really help us," he says.
It's expected the infrastructure project will soon go to tender with the goal of having construction begin in the next couple of months, but the work should take three to four years to complete.
