A city set to grow
More funding is needed for the Official Plan, council will hear in a new report Monday
Peterborough could have 31,500 more residents by 2041. The question of where they might live will be back before council Monday night.
Councillors will be updated on the status of the ongoing Official Plan review being conducted by the city’s planning department.
The plan would outline the city’s predicted growth over the next quarter-century, taking into account growth patterns and available space in the city for new home construction.
The city will be asked to increase the budget for the review from $324,000 to $446,200 (plus HT) to hire a consultant to conduct a four-day design charette in May and to develop new architectural and urban design guidelines.
A charette is a detailed planning session bringing together city staff, designers and residents.
A report from Jeffrey Humble, the city’s director of planning and development services, will ask for funding approval to sole-source consulting services the charette and design guidelines.
The additional $122,200 in funds would be used to conduct random telephone MetroQuest surveys ($20,000) and for The Planning Partnership and Lett Architects Inc. To conduct the charette and develop the new guidelines ($102,000, plus HST).
Humble will ask council to waive the bylaw guiding requests for proposals for services over $25,000.
The funds would be transferred from the budgets for the Major Bennett Industrial Park ($50,000) and the Central Area CIP Implementation ($72,200), as those projects won’t be happening in 2018 and new funds can be requested in the 2019 budget process, the report states.
The city’s Official Plan process has been underway since 2012, and has to take into account density and intensification targets mandated by the province’s Places to Grow Act. That act calls for the development of additional housing in certain sections of GTA/ Greenbelt communities.
The report states Peterborough is expected to add 13,200 new residential units by 2041.
This would come with a population increase of 31,500 and an increase in total jobs of 10,000 to 14,000, according to provincial forecasts.
Under Places to Grow, some of these would go in the downtown area, others in what’s called the Built-Up Area – urban neighbourhoods outside the city core – and the remainder in Designated Greenfield Areas, including potential new subdivisions near Lily Lake, Jackson Creek, Carnegie Ave., Coldsprings and near the Lift Lock.
Peterborough has faced what some have described as a housing shortage in recent years.
“Some realtors have suggested to staff that there is an immediate demand for another 1,500 single-family residential units in the present moment and that’s what buyers are seeking,” states the report. “If these estimates are valid it suggests pent-up demand for single family dwellings which is nearly nine times the historical average number (170 single family units per year) constructed in Peterborough over the past decade.”
Council meets as general committee at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting will be livestreamed, with updates from reporter Joelle Kovach, at peterboroughexaminer.com Monday night.