Be Seen and Heard
The Official Plan will inform and guide future development in Perth for years to come. Let the Town know you want more Active Transportation options, alternatives for replacing car trips and environmentally sustainable planning for the future.
Written comments to the Town of Perth Official Plan Update can be submitted here until July 31, 2023. Add your voice!
Below are the comments submitted by Active Perth that touch on many aspects, large and small, regarding Active Transportation and sustainable development.
Written Comments from Active Perth
Active Perth is a community-based, volunteer group, focused on creating opportunities for residents to use Active Transportation for errands, commuting and recreation. The following are comments from the founders of Active Perth and a distillation of ideas and concerns we received from residents during recent public outreach.
1. The 2023 OP must enshrine an overarching theme that all development be viewed through the lens of the accelerating climate crisis. The urgency of addressing the climate crisis cannot be overstated and the status quo is simply incompatible with environmentally sustainable development. All development that replaces trees or permeable surfaces with heat-trapping hard surfaces and all transportation infrastructure that encourages personal car trips at the expense of sustainable alternatives should be reviewed very carefully and options to reduce environmental impacts need to be explored.
2. Buildings and transportation account for a large share of our collective carbon emissions and therefore guidelines towards sustainable solutions must be addressed in the Town’s OP.
3. Builders are expecting changes to the building code and this is an opportune time for the Town to impose additional requirements. Leading edge builders are setting an example for others on net zero housing — Watercolour development in Westport, for example. The larger community is already asking for this design style as these are healthier homes, more comfortable to live in, have significantly reduced energy costs and reduced carbon emissions.
4. Consider adding required features in developments that meet future targets for reduced carbon emissions. For example higher levels of insulation, heat pumps, and air tight construction. Also, features such as electrical outlets for electric vehicles, shared car parking, and secure bicycle parking.
5. Subdivision planning and Walkable communities require special attention to sidewalks and accessibility. Shortening pedestrian routes through neighbourhoods using midblock connections between streets, providing safe crossings, sidewalks on all streets, controlling where street parking takes place and designing streets in a way that does not facilitate and encourage speeding is critical to creating and maintaining these communities.
6. Intensification of housing must be allowed and can be controlled through zoning. This includes greenfield locations and redevelopment areas. Ensuring that there is sufficient green space as part of the higher density living is part of the design not an after thought.
7. The Central Area District is an existing walkable community and this walkability must be safeguarded by discouraging car trips to this area. Review the need for increasing parking in the Central Area District, it should actually be decreased. New multi-unit housing should not require parking for each unit. If problems occur, review the ability of the Town to provide parking off site in under utilized existing areas.
8. Consider reserving spaces for car sharing and bike sharing as a substitute for parking spaces in multi-unit housing.
9. Require secure, protected bicycle parking for all multi-unit housing and commercial properties. For commercial properties, this includes employee and client bicycle parking.
10. Prepare for an increase in demand for e-bikes and electric vehicles. A requirement for electrical outlets to provide for these vehicles in multi-unit housing should be mandatory. Incentives could also be provided to encourage retrofit of existing buildings.
11. In an effort to support the concept of an accessible, walkable downtown, consider closing Gore Street between Foster St and Herriott St to vehicle traffic. Open this section to non motorized vehicles and pedestrians and provide public benches for people to sit. Seniors, in particular, are discouraged from taking advantage of otherwise walkable areas for not having anywhere to rest.
12. Remove the truck route from Gore Street between North St and Craig St.
13. Ensure that the area north of Dufferin St. meets the objectives of the 15-minute neighbourhood. The intersections on Dufferin St. must provide safe crossings for pedestrians and cyclists and should connect to infrastructure that provides continued safe passage.
14. Signalized crossings must not make pedestrians wait unreasonably long times to cross and must provide sufficient time for anyone to transit safely. To do otherwise, effectively discourages walking and encourages car trips. Consider removing push button requests in high traffic areas (ie. Gore and Foster).
15. Implement a requirement for a construction traffic plan for new subdivisions to review the impact of construction on existing and prospective residents as the proposed subdivisions are built out. The golf course land development will have a huge impact on Peter St and Roger Road. As home owners move in construction equipment will still be using streets where new residents live.
16. Address abandonment of commercial buildings. Allowing buildings to sit empty and deteriorate is unsightly and wasted opportunities to repurpose existing spaces already within the urban form. These properties could be used for housing before new greenfield subdivisions are allowed.
17. To facilitate affordable housing, allow for more creative housing options like co-housing and co-living.
18. The Crystal Palace is a wonderful community space. Ensure that the boardwalk along the Tay Basin is reconstructed in the future to be accessible for all users. Provide secure bike parking at the Crystal Palace. Consider development of solar powered carport style parking at the Crystal Palace.
19. Implement bird- and insect-friendly street lighting and encourage, or even require, bird- and insect-friendly lighting on all housing to protect the night sky.
20. Larger developments that are bordered by rural roads should be reviewed closely for requiring urbanization of their frontage. For example, Tay River clinic and Lanark Lifestyle retirement homes is now located adjacent to a “highway” style road. This is both not a very walkable or cycle friendly area. In additional, it is now likely to stay that way until the Town has funding to urbanize the street.
21. Most importantly, ensure that the objectives of the OP are enforceable requirements, rather than aspirations, and that the zoning bylaw and other bylaws support and enforce the OP objectives.
