February 2017 Newsletter

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Hello Ward 9 Neighbours,

Local area planning – the coming together to thoughtfully examine and determine how we want to drive the inevitable change that is coming to our neighbourhoods – is, in my opinion, one of the most critical elements to growing a great city and developing a truly democratic system that reflects the will of the people. That is why local area planning is one of the core tenets of my Great Neighbourhoods platform, which acts as the guiding document that sets out my mission at City Hall, and is so central to my work as your City Councillor.

Over the few last years we have been tirelessly working to improve our ability to holistically plan our neighbourhoods. I have advocated and worked with city staff to transform our planning system through a number of​ City initiatives – nextCITY, MainStreets, area redevelopment plans (ARPS), Green Line, and so on. Most recently, this work has culminated in the creation of the Developed Areas Guidebook (DAG), which, once approved, will act as one section of the second volume to the Municipal Development Plan​ (MDP). Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan sets out the policies that will dictate how the city will develop over the next 30 to 60 years. The Developed Areas Guidebook takes this one step further, by both reforming and clarifying the MDP and enabling the development of ‘next generation’ local area plans. The policy framework defined by the DAG will articulate a neighbourhood’s main streets, activity centres, community character and desired ‘built-form’, community services, mobility networks and infrastructure requirements.

As a result, this will be an extremely powerful tool for our Ward 9 neighbours to help them develop their neighbourhoods by preserving the things they love, advocating for the things they need, creating a complete, walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented community that is home to people of all ages, wages and stages.

GC​​