Peel Region implements measures to support growth

BRAMPTON, ONT. — Staff at Peel Region are making progress on commitments to support Bill 23 to ensure Peel is ready to provide enabling infrastructure to build more homes faster.

Council received an update recently on the efforts to support the province’s ambitious housing targets with enabling infrastructure. Bill 23 significantly accelerates the demands for water, wastewater and roads infrastructure, at rates almost five times that of historical growth, indicates a release.

Some of the measures include:

• Accelerating work through the next capital budget to increase the number of projects that are built in the short and long-term.
• Using innovative techniques such as grouping projects together and using external program management resources to oversee large-scale capital projects and using a progressive design-build approach to integrate project design and construction into a phased approach to enable an early start and an accelerated capital plan.
• Updating both the Water and Wastewater Master Servicing Plan and Transportation Master Plan to align with the new 2051 Regional Official Plan and Bill 23 housing targets.
• Making early recommendations for large-scale infrastructure projects within the current Water and Wastewater Master Servicing Plan.
• Working with local municipalities to make sure they plan together in a way that supports the existing community and system capacity.

The update also highlighted the significant challenges to supporting such an acceleration of capital work, including impacts to the 2024 recommended budget, which is expected to be brought to council in November, the overall $20.4 billion dollar cost to fund the infrastructure to achieve the provincial housing target and the potential impacts to the existing community, adds the release.

Other factors include material and supply change challenges due to increased demand, the potential loss of development revenue, construction contractor scarcity and the increased cost of construction.

“Peel’s planning and engineering teams are actively responding to Bill 23 and developing alternate methods of doing business,” said Kealy Dedman, commissioner of public works with the Region of Peel in a statement.

“With a typical construction timeline of up to 10 years, we’re implementing innovative practices in program management and accelerating both the planning and designing of projects to get shovels in the ground faster.”