Toronto’s chief planner Keesmaat leaving post
— After making her mark for publicly sparring with politicians over progressive visions while channeling the Jane Jacobs doctrine of city-building, chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat will leave her post this fall.
The city announced Monday afternoon that Keesmaat, a Hamilton native, will depart Sept. 29 to “pursue other interests” — which, according to sources, came as a surprise to her own staff and was only made known to the mayor’s office last week.
Keesmaat did not respond to requests for comment to confirm her future plans. In the past she has been courted to run for political office but has privately told people at city hall that she is not interested.
In a statement released by the city, Keesmaat said: “I look forward to new challenges in the important business of city-building now enriched by invaluable lessons, new friends and colleagues acquired while serving the people of our great city, Toronto.”
On Twitter, where she is often outspoken while cultivating an adoring following rare for a city bureaucrat, she added: “I will be taking a breather and spending some time with my family.”
Those who supported her policy positions say her departure will leave a “massive hole” in city planning. Tackling some of the city’s biggest transit and transportation projects in the last five years has also meant Keesmaat has been in the midst of ongoing controversy.
“It definitely feels like the end of an era that was all too short,” said Richard Joy, executive director of Toronto’s Urban Land Institute think-tank.
“I think she really returned the sense of city-building and the spirit of civic responsibility over the destiny of our city to a time that might only have been rivalled in the 1970s.”