Charette offered a glimpse of city’s future
City held a series of public sessions aimed at rethinking the city’s approach to growth
What a difference a week can make in creating a vision for a vibrant and livable future for Peterborough.
Reimagine Peterborough offers its thanks and kudos to city staff and council for last week’s four-day intensive design charette, a major milestone in public engagement process, and on the path toward a new Official Plan grounded in community values and the principles of 21st century urban planning.
Reimagine was among many community groups invited, and it is encouraging that so many public sector, NGO, developer, business, professional and other community leaders participated. Together, we experienced the unique creativity and power of citizens and staff working for the good of the community, in small groups, across many differences, with a "possibilities" orientation.
Following the four intense days — that were said to equate to 217 person-days of work — the closing presentation featured some of the more exciting possibilities for enriching Peterborough through thoughtful planning. (Keep in mind these are still only ideas that had a lot of consensus support, not yet plans).
• The charette process showed that intensification can work in a vibrant Peterborough, while respecting heritage values and
existing neighbourhoods. Participants found many locations for adding more residential and commercial sites and density in the downtown core and at a series of "nodes" along major transportation corridors.
• These nodes could become vibrant, attractive mixed-use “complete neighbourhoods," with medium-density (4-6 stories), walkability, trail links,enhanced
transit, and a direct relationship with street life (rather than being behind parking lots).
• A transit hub based around the former (future?) train station would anticipate VIA passenger service, become a natural local bus depot, add parking, boost transit throughout the city, and help anchor a thriving, walkable mixed-use downtown Peterborough neighbourhood.
• Jackson Creek emerged as a treasured asset that can be restored as the "third finger of green" through the city, along with the Otonabee River and canal. Over the years to come, the vision calls for opening up an impressive stretch of it as a downtown greenway, and also a riverside connection of streets.
• There was a vision for a green corridor along Townsend Street from the waterfront, past a newly "daylighted" Jackson Creek, to the GE site. This included the possibility of siting the proposed event centre at or near GE, as part of that vast site's rehabilitation.
• There was strong commitment from all sides to maintaining heritage character by building sensitively, both downtown and elsewhere — for example, protecting views of George St. and the clock tower.
• The coming Bethune St. redevelopment was seen as a leading edge example of better, more creative public engagement, and an early opportunity to move in the direction of some of these visions.
During the charette, the city committed itself to ongoing public engagement through each future stage of the Official Plan, until its completion in about a year.
We congratulate and thank them for this, and encourage every citizen to participate in deepening and expanding on the plan process so far. It is shaping the future of our city for a generation to come.
Ben Wolfe writes on behalf of Reimagine Peterborough, a citizen-led movement that sees better urban planning and public engagement as essential. See more updates on the Charette at ReimaginePtbo on Facebook and Twitter, and at reimagineptbo.ca