Ontario Construction News staff writer
Durham Region has released a draft of the new Regional Official Plan (ROP) and feedback can be submitted until Apr. 3.
Envision Durham, if approved, will guide the region expected to grow by hundreds of thousands by 2051.
The review looked at how and where Durham municipalities may grow; how to use and protect land and resources; what housing types and jobs are needed for residents; and how goods and people will move across the region and beyond.
“The Region of Durham has a vision of becoming a complete, healthy, sustainable, diverse, and welcoming community of communities and will be known worldwide as the place to live, learn, and thrive,” Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe said in a statement. “We are thrilled that Envision Durham recognizes the pre-eminent role that the City of Pickering will play in bringing that vision to life.”
Specifically, Envision Durham references: the emerging community of Seaton; development of a transportation-based, multi-modal employment hub in the vicinity of the federal lands in Pickering; Pickering’s city centre and GO Station corridor as one of only two Urban Growth Centres in the region; and the urban expansion of the Whitebelt lands in northeast Pickering.
“Pickering will become Durham Region’s largest and most prosperous city and will join the ranks of Ontario’s premier municipalities through planned and responsible growth, economic development, job creation, innovation, sustainability, and community building,” Ashe said.