The CIP is the "legislative framework" that provides the committee, which is comprised of members from the DIA and the Town of Grimsby, with the permission to do various incentive programs for private businesses, such as improving the façade of local business buildings.

For any public project that costs more than $25,000, such as the CIP, he said, it requires the assistance of consultants to determine the process of implementing the program, which then needs town approval.

Consultants should be reporting back to the committee by the end of the month, he added.

Completed in November 2006, the Blueprint for Action includes the CIP, a town character study update for downtown, retail assessment and business retention study, and downtown capital strategy.

To fund the project, the committee received a $155,000 cash infusion from the provincial government in the form of Rural Economic Development grant in July to add to the $75,000 it already had raised from the town, the Region of Niagara, DIA board and Grimsby and District Chamber of Commerce.

Quirk said part of the agreement with the province is that the plan is implemented by the end of 2009.

Any further funding from the town would be issued through the CIP and the town's official plan, said Keith Vogl the town's planning director at a Grimsby Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting Aug. 7.

Once the blueprint is finished it can be incorporated in the town's long-term planning.