Efforts are underway to create a new Ancaster Business Improvement Area.

Letters are being sent to business owners from the town's former eastern limits to Duff's Corners announcing an upcoming public meeting.

The movement is being led by Eileen Maloney, coordinator of BIAs for the city of Hamilton and the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Ancaster division.

Ancaster division committee chair Steve Swing said the meeting is slated for Wednesday, April 2 at 7 p.m. at the Ancaster Old Town Hall.

"So far it's a meeting to see if there's a critical mass of interest to kick off a BIA," Mr. Swing announced at the monthly meeting of the Ancaster Community Committee.

Mr. Swing noted BIAs can gain access to funding for various community improvement initiatives. Merchants are typically required to pay additional taxes to finance BIA activities.

In the absence of a formal BIA, the Ancaster Village Core Advisory Committee has spearheaded several community improvement initiatives, such as new overhead street signs and a new landscape master plan for Ancaster Square.

But the committee's mandate is limited to the area along Wilson Street from Halson Street to the Ancaster Old Mill.

Art Bowes, a member of the village core committee, said the group encourages the formation of a new BIA.

"We've been working on this for a long time," Mr. Bowes said.