WINNING PROJECTS
- Brampton Plan
- City of Kitchener's Growing Together
- City of Hamilton's Environmental Remediation and Site Enhancement (ERASE) Community Improvement Plan Review
Brampton Plan:
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:
- Anand Balram – MCIP, RPP
- Gregory Bender – MCIP, RPP
- Shannon Brooks-Gupta – MCIP, RPP
- Tristan Costa – MCIP, RPP
- Nadia Dowhaniuk – MCIP, RPP
- Steve Ganesh – MCIP, RPP
- Matt Rodrigues – MCIP, RPP
- Andria Sallese – MCIP, RPP
- Geoffrey Singer – MCIP, RPP
- Jessica Yadav – Pre-Candidate
- Henrik Zbogar – MCIP, RPP
Non-OPPI Team Members:
Anand Balram, MCIP, RPP, a proud Brampton native, has spent over 12 years in urban planning, passionately enhancing the city's livability and sustainability. With a master's in Economic Development and Innovation and a bachelor's in Environmental Studies in Planning from the University of Waterloo, Anand has led transformative projects such as the Brampton Plan, the Brampton 2040 Vision, Measuring Sustainability Program, and the Heritage Heights Secondary Plan. His visionary work has shaped the community, promoting sustainable practices and elevating the quality of life. Now leading a planning division in South Florida, Anand remains dedicated to creating vibrant, sustainable communities. |
Gregory Bender, MCIP, RPP is WSP’s Director of Urban and Community Planning with over 20 years of municipal planning experience in the preparation of regional and local planning and growth management studies in some of the fastest growing areas in the country. These studies have been completed, or are currently underway, for upper, lower, and single-tier municipalities which are all facing significant growth pressures that must be balanced with available land supply, transportation pressures, and intensification. |
Shannon Brooks-Gupta, MCIP, RPP is the Manager - Official Plan and Growth Management at the City of Brampton. She works alongside an innovative and passionate team focused on leading Official Plan updates, Secondary Plans, growth management studies, and housing policy initiatives. She holds a BA Honour’s from Carleton University, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto, and a Master's of Planning from the University of Waterloo. |
Tristan Costa, MCIP, RPP works with a team dedicated to delivering on the city’s long-range planning goals for future growth, development and sustainability through the city’s Official Plan (Brampton Plan) – a path forward to implement the Brampton 2040 Vision. |
Steve Ganesh, MCIP, RPP has 26 years of experience in various aspects of city building. In his role as Commissioner, Planning, Building & Growth Management at the City of Brampton, Steve provides leadership and oversight to over 200 staff charged with the implementation and delivery of key Council priorities and projects in Canada’s ninth largest City. |
Matt Rodrigues, MCIP, RPP is a senior planner who is passionate about creating adaptable policy and meaningful community engagement and education. Matt is currently leading community engagement and growth strategy for the City of Kitchener's new Official Plan. |
Andria Sallese, MCIP, RPP is a professional land-use planner, project manager, and policy planner with 20 years of experience delivering the full gamut of planning projects – from Official Plans to local area studies – that demand critical judgment, forward-thinking, and accountability. Her dedication to public service, and desire to make a positive impact, drive every project she undertakes. Andria is passionate about engaging communities using innovative public engagement methods and firmly believes that by fostering consensus around shared visions, goals, and objectives – while being forward-thinking and embracing change – we can develop policies that reflect our communities' collective aspirations. |
Geoffrey Singer, MCIP, RPP is the Acting Manager, Official Plan & Growth Management with the City of Brampton. In his previous role, he developed and implemented innovative growth management policy approaches for the Government of Ontario. |
Jessica Yadav works to deliver long-range planning and housing projects with a team that is dedicated to city building for and with people and is passionate about planning for sustainable growth through the City’s Official Plan (Brampton Plan). |
Henrik Zbogar, MCIP, RPP is Director of Integrated City Planning at the City of Brampton, leading a talented team of professionals whose diverse portfolio includes land use policy and growth management, housing, heritage, and mobility planning. In his 25 years with Brampton, Henrik has held positions in Public Works, Transit, and Planning, overseeing the city’s Transportation Master Plan, the Zűm Bus Rapid Transit Plan, Complete Streets Guidelines, and most recently, completion of the city’s new Official Plan. He is a passionate advocate for sustainable mobility and active transportation in creating an equitable, vital, and engaging city. |
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:
- Rosa Bustamante – MCIP, RPP
- Natalie Goss – MCIP, RPP
- John Zunic – MCIP, RPP
Non-OPPI Team Members:
- Adam Clark
- Richard Kelly-Ruetz
Rosa Bustamante, MCIP, RPP is the Director of Planning & Housing Policy at the City of Kitchener, one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. Her portfolio includes policy planning, realty services and housing-related initiatives. Rosa has supported transformative projects in Kitchener including the new downtown policy and zoning framework (Growing Together); the new zoning by-law; district energy feasibility and emerging housing initiatives. Known as an innovative and strategic leader, Rosa brings a solutions-focused approach to her team’s work advancing light rail transit-oriented development, progressive growth management and affordable housing initiatives. |
Natalie Goss, MCIP, RPP is the Manager of Policy & Research with the City of Kitchener's planning team. Over the past few years, her work has focused on championing new and innovative ways to engage community in key land use decisions. As part of the implementation of Kitchener's Housing for All Strategy, she supports Kitchener's Lived Expertise Working Group and furthers meaningful community engagement through projects like 'Growing Together' by using smart modeling as a tool to transform community input into informed policy recommendations. |
John Zunic, MCIP, RPP is a Senior Planner with the City of Kitchener's Planning and Housing Policy Division. He was a key member of the Growing Together project team that developed a new planning framework for the City of Kitchener’s Protected Major Transit Station Areas. John holds an Honours Co-op bachelor’s degree from the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo. |
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:
- Phil Caldwell – MCIP, RPP
Phil Caldwell, MCIP, RPP is a registered professional planner with over 16 years of municipal experience with a specific focus on innovative policy and program development to drive change and support urban intensification and revitalization. Phil is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s School of Planning and has previously served as a planner for the cities of Calgary and Burlington, and for the Region of Waterloo. He is currently the Senior Project Manager for urban renewal at the City of Hamilton, where he leads urban renewal initiatives and projects supporting Hamilton's revitalization and economic resurgence including responsibility for the City’s Community Improvement Plans and brownfield redevelopment. |