Brampton city council endorses plan to transform city over the next 2 decades

City council voted unanimously to endorse the Brampton 2040 vision 11-0

Cbc.ca
May 8, 2018
Hailey Salvian

 

Brampton City Council voted unanimously to endorse a new plan to transform the city over the next 22 years.

The plan, Brampton 2040 Vision, was presented by urban planner Larry Beasley at a council meeting Monday night.

City councillors voted in favour of the plan 11-0.

"To have a unanimous vote... it's a real endorsement that this city is doing things differently," Beasley told CBC Toronto after the vote.

"For me as a planner this is the epitome of your work."

The vote was met with a round of applause from the large crowd that stuck out the near four-hour long meeting.

11,000 residents contributed ideas

A number of councillors foreshadowed the result of the vote by heaping praise on Beasley's proposal ahead of the meeting.

Coun. Gael Miles thanked Beasley for his work and proclaimed "this is it."

Coun. Jeff Bowman claimed there are many hard calls to make as a councillor, but said the vision vote wasn't one of them.

About 11,000 Brampton residents contributed to the plan during dozens of community consultations over the past year. Beasley said it was clear that major changes would be in order.

High profile urban planner Larry Beasley was hired by Brampton in 2017 to imagine a new future for the city. (Nick Boisvert/CBC)

His plan calls for a dramatic re-imagining of Brampton's streets, economy, transit network and green spaces.

Beasley, the former chief planner of Vancouver, was hired to create the plan last May.

'The people's vision'

23 delegates from the community, including two young children and a number of teens, spoke after the presentation.

With the exception of one speaker, the plan was met with overwhelming support.

"I don't think I've ever watched an entire evening of citizens speaking when every single person was positive and supportive," said Beasley.

"That idea of overall belief in this it really does give truth to what we have said — that this [plan] is the people's vision."

Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey said she has never seen young people go to planning meetings the way they did on Monday night.

23 delegates spoke at Monday's meeting, including a seven-year-old Brampton resident, who was in favour of the transformative plan. (Chris Dunseith/CBC)

"We had a seven-year-old boy speak to us and delegate us, we had a lot of young people speak to us thoughtfully and eloquently," she said after the vote.

Now that the plan has been endorsed, city staff are expected to draft an implementation plan to kick start the vision, which will be examined by council at a later date.