Building Brampton’s walkable communities

Thestar.com
Dec. 2, 2021

Sam DeCaria has fond memories of growing up in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood. Everything his family needed was within a short walk of their home, including grocery stores, shops, doctors’ offices and transit.

So when DeCaria talks about the SouthSide townhouses and condos his firm i-Squared Developments is creating in Brampton, he’s reminded of his childhood stomping grounds. Because, like where DeCaria grew up, the city’s goal is to build a walkable, vibrant “20-minute” neighbourhood -- with everything residents need within 20 minutes.

The master design plan, Brampton 2040 Vision, will see the city shift from being car-dependent to transit-oriented -- with the Uptown community a new gateway. Before being endorsed by council, the Vision process involved the largest public engagement the city ever held, and included ideas shared on a website, at community events and in focus groups.

“Brampton is the second-fastest growing large city in Canada,” says councillor Martin Medeiros. “The last council (2014-18) recognized this was happening at such a fast pace and we didn’t have an integrated plan of the vision we wanted to bring.”

“With Uptown, we are piloting a walkable neighbourhood with eight different developers who are all developing high-density projects,” says Yvonne Yeung, Brampton manager of urban design. “The concept is that driving is not part of your lifestyle and you can meet all of your daily needs by walking.”

She says Uptown is envisioned as the “beating heart” of a major custom-designed work/live civic core for business, commerce, leisure and tourism. It will become a landmark for Brampton with a futuristic image, expressive buildings and spaces, modern attractions and a place where builders will put their best foot forward. It will be a car-free precinct with advanced civic infrastructure, smart city technology and sustainability innovation.

“We are creating a community hub that will have public facilities such as schools, library, recreation, arts and culture, health and social services, an outdoor campus to grow food,” says Yeung “It’s aligned with the new population coming to the neighbourhood.”

“Brampton can be a leader -- not just for the 905, but a global model for the world,” agrees DeCaria. “That’s why we are so fully engaged and passionate for this to happen.” His company is among the first to build in Uptown on five of 25 acres designated for high-density. I-Squared’s first 109 townhouses are built and occupied; the first Stella condo tower with 21 storeys and 290 units is sold out. Stella 2, awaiting final approval, is selling and will have 462 units and five commercial units. At 40 storeys, it will be the tallest building in Uptown.

Brampton city councillor Martin Medeiros and manager of urban design, Yvonne Yeung, walk through SouthSide's first phase in the the city's Vision 2040.

A five-minute walk from Stella 2 is Shopper’s World, a 53-acre shopping centre being transformed into a sustainable, mixed-use and transit-oriented community that will host one end of the Hurontario LRT (slated for completion in 2024). It will have medium- and high-density buildings with best-in-class community amenities, open spaces and be a modern retail destination. The transformation is expected to span more than two decades.

Since he moved there in 2004, Charanjit Brar has been closely following the changes happening in Brampton. He supports the vision for Uptown, so much that he purchased an i-Squared three-bedroom townhouse at SouthSide where he and his wife may move in future and now, a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom condo in the Stella 2 tower as an investment. He says the proximity of a Sheridan College campus, a five-minute walk from Stella 2, makes it attractive for investors or for parents of post-secondary students.

“Uptown’s the fastest-developing area in the city,” notes Brar, a realtor and broadcaster. “Shoppers World is being redeveloped and there will be light rail transit. You’re a 10-minute bus ride from the Bramalea GO train and you have all the amenities here. Costco, Lowes, Home Depot are all within walking distance.”

SouthSide and the Stella condos are expected to appeal to a variety of buyers, including multi-generational families, and Uptown streets will be developed with family safety in mind. The city is developing transportation routes to accommodate programs such as a “walking school bus”: a system for getting children to school on foot under the supervision of trained volunteers.

“We want to encourage families to walk rather than drive and one of the key benefits of Brampton is its progressive leadership and the collaboration with Peel Region Health to make walking part of people’s daily lives,” says Yeung. An Uptown BIA will be set up and Yeung says developers have been asked to think outside the box on how their buildings came be used -- for example, a lobby as an art exhibit gallery or cultural activity, or spaces for co-working.

Stella and Stella 2 will utilize geothermal heating and cooling to reduce the carbon footprint. It’s a technology DeCaria’s i-Squared used at its Victoria Common project in Waterloo. Stella 2 amenities include a kids’ playroom, co-working space, outdoor barbecue area, gardens, green roofs, pet spa, party rooms, fitness facility, yoga studio, 24-hour concierge and more.

DeCaria says it’s similar to the way his relatives live in Italy, where residences are small but they socialize, play and exercise outside of their suites. Stella 1 and 2 will provide approximately 750 units on two acres; the same number of single detached homes would require more than 60 acres, he says.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Mayor Patrick Brown and council,” says DeCaria. “They understand urban sprawl isn’t affordable and understand they have to urbanize.”