New Chief Planner

NRU
May 23, 2018
Rachel Williams

Town of Richmond Hill planning veteran Paul Freeman has been tapped for the top job at York Region.

Freeman was appointed chief planner for the region following the retirement of Valerie Shuttleworth. He has over 25 years of municipal planning experience on both the policy and development side at the Town Richmond Hill. In his new role, Freeman will be responsible for the region’s planning and economic development portfolio, which includes long-range planning, community planning and development services, and economic strategy.

With the promotion to the chief planner for the region, Freeman is aware of the challenges that lie ahead, particularly recent changes to the provincial Growth Plan concerning development around major transit station areas and employment lands.
“The big objective is to delineate and designate major transit station areas. We have 57 existing and planned major transit station areas across York Region,” he said.

The Growth Plan requires major transit station areas to span a radius or boundary of 500 metres and requires 150 residents and jobs per hectare around GO train service.
“The fact is, there is context to every one of our major transit station areas and [we are] not necessarily able to meet that 500-metre radius, so in planning for major transit station areas we really have to look at the context of what [we are] able to intensify,” noted Freeman.

The region is now responsible for approving proposed area municipal employment land conversions. The local municipality must make a case for meeting the provincial employment forecasts within the framework of the Municipal Comprehensive Review before any conversions can be allowed.

“That puts us in a different role from what we’ve historically been in,” said Freeman. “Looking at criteria for any potential conversations will be a big exercise in our employment strategy.”

Freeman stressed his top priority will be to initiate York Region’s Municipal Comprehensive Review, which he predicts will help iron out most of these details.
Extending the Yonge Subway from Finch to the Richmond Hill urban growth centre, east-west transit connectivity, wastewater infrastructure and affordable housing will also be priorities for the new chief planner moving forward.

Serving as Richmond Hill’s manager of policy prior to becoming York Region’s chief planner, Freeman was part of a team responsible for drafting the town’s new official plan. The plan, which hadn’t been updated since 1994, was focused on identifying areas for intensification and growth while preserving the town’s historic neighbourhoods.
“It was quite unique, focusing on the north and the south end of the historic village as the high-density areas and then lower heights and built form in the core area of the village,” said Freeman.

By making use of laneways, staff was able to create shared public spaces between older commercial establishments and new residential development projects.