Abstract Manager

The efficient and timely provision of housing has become the central concern of land use planning in Ontario and across Canada. Consequently, the planning, design and implementation of transportation infrastructure to support housing has also become a central concern. As part of a planned new community area in the City of Vaughan, known as Block 27, following extensive previous land use and transportation planning initiatives to establish its vision and framework, a landowner’s group has been formed to develop the new community. Notwithstanding the extensive previous work for the community, the abundance of challenging environmental and geographic constraints in Block 27 necessitated the completion of detailed investigations for the alignments and cross-sections of the planned collector road network by way of an Environmental Assessment.

The Block 27 Collector Roads Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA) saw the landowner’s group and the City of Vaughan conduct a co-proponent process to study the eight (8) collector roads and active transportation network with the aim of accelerating the typical MCEA process, and synergizing work with the concurrent Block Plan and land use planning process. The MCEA project ultimately recommended and advanced to detailed design and implementation vertical and horizontal alignments and cross-sections of the transportation network which responded to the significant constraints in Block 27, as well as consultation with Indigenous Communities and the public.

Despite the best intentions of the project team to accelerate the project and synergize work with land use planning, the Block 27 MCEA encountered challenges related its nature as a co-proponent project. These challenges were sparked by the novelty of the process, navigating the relationship between the City of Vaughan and the landowner’s group, balancing municipal interests and developer interests, and steering the project through significant environmental and geographic constraints amid the co-proponent process. Creative thinking and problem-solving were needed at all stages of the project, including from its outset at procurement, formation of a co-proponent agreement, development and evaluation of the transportation network, and in consulting the Indigenous Communities and the public. The City of Vaughan gained valuable experience and learned important lessons in conducting co-proponent projects for delivering public infrastructure alongside new community development. The City hopes to use these lessons for future communities and projects that aim to streamline the delivery of infrastructure through the land use planning and development process.