Executive Summary

Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs

The City of Brantford started its Official Plan Review in 2013. To date, the City has hosted visioning sessions, prepared technical background papers and created a Draft Official Plan (Version 1, issued in July 2016). In 2016, the Official Plan process was put on hold while the Municipal Boundary Adjustment Agreement between the City and Brant County was finalized and pending updates to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The lands transferred to the City are referred to, in this report, as the Boundary Adjustment Lands.

The City of Brantford’s Official Plan Review process was resumed in 2017 and includes a Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) as input to the City’s new Official Plan. An MCR is a new Official Plan or an Official Plan amendment initiated by the City, which comprehensively applies the policies of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Certain matters are only to be considered through an MCR. These matters include conversion of employment lands to non-employment uses, determining appropriate employment densities through an employment strategy, establishing alternative intensification targets through an intensification strategy, establishing alternative Designated Greenfield Area (DGA) density targets and expanding a Settlement Area boundary. These matters must be assessed and determined before the City can adopt a new Official Plan.

The purpose of this MCR Part 1 Report is to document the first components of the MCR. Key outcomes and findings described in this report include: • the recommended density of employment lands; • the identification of employment lands to be converted to non-employment uses; • the amount of employment lands needed to accommodate the 2041 forecasts; • the recommended alternative Built-up Area intensification target; • the recommended refinement of the boundary of the Downtown Brantford Urban Growth Centre; • the recommended Designated Greenfield Area density target; • the amount of additional community lands (which includes residential, commercial, institutional and open space) needed to accommodate the 2041 forecasts; and • the amount of the Boundary Adjustment Lands that need to be brought into Brantford’s Settlement Area boundary to accommodate forecast population and employment growth to the year 2041.

The MCR Part 2 Report will identify what part of the Boundary Adjustment Lands will be included in the Settlement Area boundary expansion to accommodate the identified need for urban lands.

1

Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs

Later stages of the Official Plan Review process will determine the land uses within the expanded Settlement Area boundary, as well as the transportation infrastructure, servicing infrastructure, environmental management and urban design guidelines necessary to implement the new urban land uses.

This report contains an Employment Strategy. The first part of the Employment Strategy in Section 3 assesses the characteristics of the City’s employment sector and the type of Employment Lands Employment anticipated in the future. The strategy divides the existing and future employment into four categories: Employment Lands Employment, Population-Related Employment, Major Office and Rural employment. Employment Lands Employment is anticipated to remain as the largest category to 2041, making up 54% of the employment growth. Employment Lands Employment is allocated to the City’s Employment Areas. Population-Related Employment growth is proposed to be divided between the Built-up Area and the Designated Greenfield Area (DGA), with 30% being allocated exclusively to the Built-up Area and 60% allocated to where the future population growth is directed within the Built-up Area or DGA. A small portion of the Population-Related Employment growth (10%) is allocated to the Employment Areas to serve the businesses and employees in industrial areas. Major Office Employment is anticipated to be located in the City’s Downtown Urban Growth Centre, which is part of the Built-up Area.

The Employment Strategy also forecasts an employment density for Employment Lands Employment at 23 jobs per hectare based on current site coverage, an allowance for long-term vacancy due to site configuration and ownership issues, and the evolving nature of Employment Areas in Brantford. Population-Related Employment in Employment Areas is forecast at a density of 64 jobs per hectare.

Section 4 discusses the commercial sector component of the Employment Strategy. It assesses the trends in the retail commercial sector, reviews the current built supply and the supply of vacant commercial lands in Brantford, and forecasts the need for additional commercial space. For the Designated Greenfield Area, the report recommends that the City plan for approximately 23 hectares of commercial lands as part of the Master Plan/Secondary Plan for the new Community Areas.

Section 5 summarizes the employment land conversion component of the Employment Strategy. The Employment Strategy recommends the protection of the two large, newly developing Employment Areas – Braneida Industrial Park and the Northwest Industrial Park. In addition, five smaller, older built industrial areas are to be protected, along with two areas within the Boundary Adjustment Lands that were already designated for employment uses by Brant County – Hopewell (east of Garden Avenue, north of Highway 403), and Paris Road at Powerline Road.

The Employment Strategy also recommends conversion of lands along Wayne Gretzky Parkway to permit a mixture of land uses including higher density forms of housing and a full spectrum

2

Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs

of retail and service commercial uses. These lands are currently designated as Mixed Industrial Commercial, serve a commercial function based on existing uses, and have potential as future mixed-use sites. The report also recommends conversions of some scattered older industrial sites that are embedded within historic stable residential neighbourhoods and are unlikely to be used for employment purposes in the future. Other lands are recommended for conversion to recognize existing parks and natural heritage features. In total, 66 hectares of land are recommended for conversion.

Section 6 calculates the Employment Area land needs following the Province’s Land Needs Assessment Methodology. The draft land needs assessment determined that an additional 336 hectares of land beyond that currently located within the City’s existing Settlement Area boundary are required to meet the 2041 employment forecasts.

Sections 7 through 9 form a Housing Strategy. Section 7 sets the basis for the Housing and Intensification Strategies with background on housing conditions and trends in the City. This section describes the amount and type of housing construction in the past eleven years with detail on the small size typical of previous apartment and townhouse developments in Brantford. Section 7 also describes the rate of development in the Designated Greenfield Area versus the Built-up Area and the characteristics of Brantford’s current development applications and approvals. It also includes forecasts of the average number of residents in different types dwelling units (referred to as persons per unit (PPU) and in each policy area (i.e., rural area, DGA and Built-up Area).

Section 8 sets out the Intensification Strategy. It assesses the capacity for intensification within the City’s Downtown Urban Growth Centre, the Intensification Corridors, the mixed-use Major Commercial Centres and existing residential neighbourhoods. It applies different assumptions for intensification opportunities and assumes a density range of potential development. The report also assesses transportation and servicing constraints to intensification within the various intensification areas. The scenarios identify a large capacity range for intensification within the City, which is not significantly different from the high-end intensification range of the 2012 Intensification Strategy.

However, based on the characteristics of the housing stock that has been constructed in the past eleven years, the very slow rate of apartment growth in the Downtown Urban Growth Centre, and the need to achieve the minimum density target in the Urban Growth Centre, the report recommends an alternative graduated intensification target for the Built-up Area to that set out in the Growth Plan. An intensification target is the proportion of total new units each year which are constructed within the Built-up Area of the City. The alternative intensification target maintains the current 40% intensification target to 2021, increases it to 45% between 2021 and 2031, and further increases it to 50% between 2031 and 2041. The Intensification Strategy also recommends that apartments be focused into the Downtown Urban Growth Centre to achieve the minimum density required there, with townhouse forms of intensification primarily focused in the Intensification Corridors, Major Commercial sites and infill sites in the

3

Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs

Neighbourhoods. Some apartments are also anticipated in the Intensification Corridors and Major Commercial sites. Second units in existing neighbourhoods are also planned to help achieve the intensification target.

The Intensification Strategy also recommends that the boundary of the Downtown Urban Growth Centre be adjusted. The adjusted boundary reduces the total area of the Urban Growth Centre from 130 hectares to 104 hectares. This results in a total, existing population of 1,779 people and 4,300 jobs. The adjusted Urban Growth Centre boundary would reduce the number of additional residents and jobs required by 2031 in order to achieve the overall density target of 150 residents and jobs combined per hectare within the Urban Growth Centre, from 12,290 to 9,520.

Section 9 sets out the final component of the Housing Strategy with a review of the housing stock proposed and anticipated in the existing Designated Greenfield Area (DGA). The anticipated density of these developments is determined including both residents and jobs. The jobs include Population-Related Employment on commercial sites, school sites and in Home-Based Employment. The Housing Strategy calculated the size of the existing Designated Greenfield Area at 664 hectares after take-outs allowed by the Growth Plan. Based on existing built developments, registered and draft approved plans, current development applications and vacant site potential, the existing DGA could accommodate 25,700 persons in 9,150 units and 1,415 jobs at build out, which achieves a density of only 41 residents and jobs combined per hectare. When the existing built portion of the DGA including the built portion of Tutela Heights are excluded from the density calculation, the planned density on the unbuilt portion of the DGA increases to 48 residents and jobs combined per hectare.

The Provincial guidelines encourage municipalities to explore opportunities to increase the density in their existing DGA. The assessment looked at increasing the density on current vacant lands without an active development application and found that an additional 890 units could be accommodated, increasing the DGA density on the unbuilt portion of the DGA to 55 residents and jobs combined per hectare from 48 residents and jobs combined per hectare. These additional units would also increase the overall DGA density within the current Settlement Area boundary to 47 residents and jobs combined per hectare from 41 residential and jobs combined per hectare. Due to servicing constraints and the interface with existing estate lot development in Tutela Heights, increasing the density on current vacant lands any higher than noted above would be a significant challenge.

The Housing Strategy recommends an alternative Designated Greenfield Area (DGA) density target of 52 residents and jobs combined per hectare, to be measured over the entire DGA, accounting for take-outs in accordance with the Growth Plan. It also recommends that area specific targets within the DGA be established in the Official Plan to help achieve the overall target. These targets include the DGA within the current Settlement Area boundary (i.e. the Existing DGA), to be planned to meet a density 47 residents and jobs combined per hectare, while the remaining unbuilt lands within the current Settlement Area boundary are to be

4

Envisioning Brantford – Municipal Comprehensive Review – Part 1: Employment Strategy, Intensification Strategy, Housing Strategy and Land Needs

planned for a density of 55 residents and jobs combined per hectare. The new Community Area DGA, within the municipal Boundary Adjustment Lands (i.e. the New DGA), is recommended to achieve a minimum density of 60 residents and jobs combined per hectare.

These targets recognize that in Outer Ring municipalities such as Brantford, the overall DGA density target of 52 residents and jobs combined per hectare would represent an average density to be achieved over the entire area to which the target applies. There may be areas of lower and higher density within it; however, they must be balanced to achieve the minimum overall target. These targets also recognize the legacy of low density development already built in the DGA, particularly in Tutela Heights, which brings down the Existing DGA density measurement, and impacts the City’s ability to reach a higher density target across the entire DGA.

Section 10 calculates the Community Area land needs following the Province’s Land Needs Assessment Methodology. The land needs assessment determined that an additional 460 hectares are required to meet the 2041 population forecasts. These additional lands are beyond those vacant lands currently located within the City’s existing Settlement Area boundary.

To accommodate the additional Employment Area land needs identified in Section 6 (363 hectares) and the additional Community Area land needs identified in Section 10 (460 hectares), a Settlement Area boundary expansion is required. The potential locations of that Settlement Area boundary expansion are evaluated in the MCR Part 2 Report.

5