Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs
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EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY: EMPLOYMENT CONVERSIONS
5.1
PLANNING CONTEXT
As discussed in Sections 2 and 3 of this report, Provincial policy and good planning dictate the need to ensure an adequate supply of land for Employment Areas and for other employmentgenerating land uses in the long term. At the same time, Brantford’s urban structure is evolving. Historically, Brantford has been characterized by: • a strong Downtown; • surrounding stable neighbourhoods; and, • geographically distinct industrial districts, some of which are close to, and sometimes intermingled with, the residential neighbourhoods. Brantford is evolving from this historic structure to a more urbanized City, with an urban structure that is based on an intensified Downtown Urban Growth Centre, with an interconnected system of mixed-use Intensification Corridors that link more modern community commercial centres, Employment Areas and stable residential neighbourhoods. This evolving urban structure will provide substantial opportunities in the Downtown Urban Growth Centre, the Intensification Corridors and within the Major Commercial Centres for the production of a significant supply of higher density housing and Population-Related Employment, including major office, institutional, retail and service commercial uses. Within these mixed-use, higher intensity areas within Brantford, the differentiation among various land use types will become less distinct, and it will become a significant planning challenge to manage or recognize the growth and evolution of specific single-use land use categories. Notwithstanding Brantford’s evolving urban structure, and the intensified and mixed-use development opportunities that it presents, the City will continue to accommodate large and contiguous Employment Areas. It is these Employment Areas that have defined Brantford’s historic development character, and more recently, have made it both economically successful and a desirable place to live, and to locate a business. The Boundary Adjustment Lands provide the most obvious and greatest opportunity for the City to accommodate new Employment Areas, as well as new Community Areas, that will provide new opportunities for retail, service commercial and institutional uses. The opportunity to expand the City into the Boundary Adjustment Lands is fundamental to growth management to 54
