Thoughtful Development
"As our community continues to grow, you have told me that the path forward for our community is one that balances continued growth and world-class innovation while maintaining a small-town feel and promoting a caring community. You want the city to do all that it can to assist in terms of ensuring our community has a wide range of housing choices and a wide-range of affordabilities. I am committed to working at making that happen together with city and regional council.
Over the past four years, we have taken some progressive steps in ensuring our community develops thoughtfully. However, there is more work to be done here.
Over the past four years, we have.....
Over the past four years, we have.....
- Adopted a new urban design manual in 2019 to guide development in the City.
- Completed a comprehensive review of Kitchener’s Zoning Bylaw – the first full-review since 1985 and adopted a new Regional Official Plan to guide development for Kitchener and throughout the region over the next 30 years, including preservation of our valuable farmland.
- Completed a development services review to make improvements for both residents and the development industry in terms of the project approval process.
- Adopted a new community climate action plan – Transform WR, in collaboration with Climate Action WR and its many community partners. This is our community’s long-term strategy to achieve an 80% local greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction target (based on 2010 levels), and identifies local action needed to reduce our emissions by 30% by the year 2030 and to work locally to exceed these targets and do our part in achieving the Paris Agreement objectives.
- Adopted a new corporate climate action plan focused on the City’s goals and actions as the largest city that is part of Transform WR.
- Adopted and began to implement Kitchener’s new Sustainable Urban Forest strategy and tree canopy targets
- Created an Energy Efficiency Reserve Fund in 2022.