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Congratulations to this year’s 13 recipients and thank you to all applicants who made a PlanON Awards submission this year.
City of Kitchener's "Growing Together": Growing Together is a bold, first-of-its-kind planning framework for Major Transit Station Areas, which are the lands surrounding Kitchener’s ION light rail transit system. Through newly created “Strategic Growth Area” land uses and zones, Growing Together is the most housing-forward, permissive, and flexible planning framework in Canada, utilizing carefully calibrated, custom-designed policies such as the removal of parking minimums and density maximums, and implementing new, responsive built-form regulations. Growing Together is built on an award-winning, equity-driven engagement process and used advanced smart modeling and analysis tools to directly translate community feedback into the land use policy and zoning regulation framework. OPPI Team Members:
WINNING PROJECTS
Brampton Plan provides the path forward to implement the aspirations of the Brampton 2040 Vision and achieve a sustainable, urban, and vibrant future for the city. Brampton Plan is the culmination of over three years of background and technical studies, as well as extensive public consultation which now serves as a blueprint for inclusive community engagement, that has helped shape how Brampton will grow and develop to the year 2051. As first-generation greenfield development winds down, growth will transition to infill and intensification, and opportunities will be created to design compact and complete communities. Brampton Plan is the city’s roadmap to managing and directing growth, improving livability, quality of life and place-quality. OPPI Team Members:
City of Kitchener's Growing Together: Growing Together is a bold, first-of-its-kind planning framework for Major Transit Station Areas, which are the lands surrounding Kitchener’s ION light rail transit system. Through newly created “Strategic Growth Area” land uses and zones, Growing Together is the most housing-forward, permissive, and flexible planning framework in Canada, utilizing carefully calibrated, custom-designed policies such as the removal of parking minimums and density maximums, and implementing new, responsive built-form regulations. Growing Together is built on an award-winning, equity-driven engagement process and used advanced smart modeling and analysis tools to directly translate community feedback into the land use policy and zoning regulation framework. OPPI Team Members:
City of Hamilton's Environmental Remediation and Site Enhancement (ERASE) Community Improvement Plan Review: In 2023, the City of Hamilton's Economic Development Division completed and implemented, with unanimous Council and stakeholder support, a comprehensive update to the Environmental Remediation and Site Enhancement (ERASE) Community Improvement Plan and Community Improvement Project Area by-laws and the associated financial assistance programs for brownfields. The update was the most significant since the ERASE CIP was first introduced in 2001 with the 2023 review marking a major shift in focus that sought to better leverage incentives to achieve additional community, planning and Council priorities on brownfields including better incentivizing environmentally sustainable, climate-friendly developments and remediation practices; providing new financial assistance towards not-for-profit housing developments on brownfields; and the inclusion of affordable housing in private-sector market developments on brownfields. OPPI Team Members:
OPPI Team Members:
Non-OPPI Team Members:
Caroline Samuel, MCIP, RPP is the Acting Director, Zoning and Committee of Adjustment, in the City Planning Division at the City of Toronto. Caroline has over 19 years of experience in planning in the public sector and has spent the past seven years at the City of Toronto, leading the development of zoning regulations to address emerging city-wide planning policies. Prior to joining the city, Caroline held progressively responsible roles in land use policy and implementation at Peel Region and in the Ontario Public Service.
Caroline has also been an active volunteer with OPPI's Toronto District since 2014. She has been involved in planning numerous professional development and social events for the district over the years. Besides her involvement with OPPI, Caroline also co-founded and volunteered with the MES York University Planning Alumni Committee for 10 years.
Zoom In/Zoom Out: Zoom In/Zoom Out is an educational campaign with three different lenses: offering local, national, and international perspectives on urban planning and design for the public to advance their understanding of city-building practices. Its first component, ‘Making Toronto,’ is a monthly webinar series focused on the GTA, addressing regional planning issues, ongoing debates, and policy changes. It keeps the public informed and engaged with local urban development. The second component, ‘Urbanist's Secret Club,’ is a monthly newsletter focused on Canada. It is a knowledge exchange platform, highlighting unique practices in city-building. Each feature is based on interviews, research, and presents insights and lessons learned in a visually appealing format. OPPI Team Members:
Aging but not Forgotten: An Analysis of Older Adult Health Care Access in Elliot Lake:
The city of Elliot Lake is Canada’s most severely shrinking city and is home to the nation’s third oldest population. In 2017, the city published an Age-Friendly Action Plan to improve Elliot Lake in eight key areas, including health care and transportation. This study assessed older adult access to health care facilities via Elliot Lake’s existing public transportation service. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to (1) determine the geography of health care facilities in Elliot Lake, (2) determine the proportion of older adults in Elliot Lake who are able to access health care facilities without access to a private vehicle, and (3) evaluate the accessibility of health care facilities in Elliot Lake via public transportation. The research used innovative methods to address the research objectives, such as the development of the Older Persons Walking and Transit Audit, a tool that measures the age-friendliness of walkways, bus stops, and transit rides.
Affordable Housing Tools for Rural Greenbelt Communities: Balancing Growth, Conservation, and Economic and Social Sustainability:
Canada’s housing crisis presents unique challenges for Ontario’s Greenbelt, which must balance the conservation of agricultural and natural systems with increasing the supply of diverse, affordable housing. Despite the urgency of this crisis, research exploring how to leverage housing intensification tools in rural areas is limited. To address this gap, we prepared a report on affordable rural housing tools for the Greenbelt Foundation as part of a University of Waterloo course. Our report analyzes census data, literature, and case studies to assess the state of Greenbelt housing and identify how housing intensification best practices (e.g., Saugeen Shores’ Community Permit Planning System) can support the diverse housing needs of agriculture and tourism economies in the Greenbelt. Based on our findings, we identify actions for planners to add diverse housing in the Greenbelt, such as streamlining development approval processes and incentivizing purpose-built rentals. OPPI Team Members:
WINNER