Planning for Regional Growth Summit: Session 5 Notes

Place to Grow: The Regional Plan for Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe 7 Years Out

The speakers are professional planners who have worked around the world and in Canada. I spoke with the Principal after he spoke during a break and he evoked a question about what we are doing in Kindersley: how are our natural resources being incorporated into our Official Community Plan?

Very informative presentation. Email if you have a question or comments.

·         Diverse region with more than 110 municipalities

·         Grow from 7.1 in 2001 to 11.5 in 2031

·         Provincial Policy Statements to provide policy direction on land use

·         Vision, where and how to grow,

·         Ten key policies and innovations transformative

·         A regional plan backed by legislation

·         All plan’s must conform to provinces growth plan

·         Coordinated growth forecasts for all counties and regions

·         Clear requirements for density

·         Clear requirements for intensification – 40% infill

·         Focus on downtown nodes

·         Tests and criteria for future urban boundary expansions

·         Limited development outside of settlement areas

·         Protect employment lands

·         Where to grow. Where not to grow.

·         Integration of land-use planning and infrastructure investment

·         Challenges

·         Longer for conformity than thought

·         Uneven implementation

·         Changing housing mix

·         Intensification has increased

·         Ongoing Challenges

·         The use of white belt

·         Planning by numbers

·         Planning for evolution over time – planning as a process not a fixed product

·         Fully planned development doesn’t work nor does ‘organic’ need something in the middle

·         Flexible is key

·         New areas plan to change

·         Infrastructure investment – lead with example of public institutions

·         Is the way retail developing now undermining everything else?

·         Achieving greenfield densities despite public land takings and ‘green sprawl.’

·         Planning for employment in concert with existing and proposed residential areas, transportation corridors and Urban Growth Centres

·         Plan for a full range of agriculture production

·         Good planning is a combination of bottom up and top down – a smart growth agenda