YORK REGION – Written every four years in order to coincide with York Region council terms, York Region’s Strategic Plans are developed as a means of working towards the longer-term goals set out in Vision 2051 – a forward-looking road map that aims to tackle region-wide issues such as intensification, housing affordability, and environmental sustainability.
Now finalized and available to the general public, the region’s 2015 to 2019 Strategic Plan builds upon the success of a 2011-2015 plan that accomplished more than 90 per cent of its objectives.
The full plan itself outlines a broad variety of “Key Regional Performance Measures” – essentially, concrete means towards achieving the region’s more abstract “Strategic Objectives” (for example, “protecting public health” or “managing traffic congestion”).
Of the performance measures set out in the plan, a large percentage deal with improving not only neighbourhood housing, but also infrastructure and safety – all of which stand to benefit York Region homeowners (and prospective buyers!) over the long-term. These include:
- Increasing the percentage of medium and high density homes within York Region’s total housing stock. (Objective: increasing the region’s range of “available and affordable” housing.)
- Increasing the percentage of business engagements resulting in business retention, expansion, and attraction. (Objective: Fostering an environment that attracts, grows, and maintains businesses.)
- Increasing the number of Rapidway lane kilometres, and increasing the percentage of new development located in “Regional Centres and [transit] corridors.” (Objective: managing traffic congestion.)
- Implementation of an “Active Transportation Network,” including increasing the number of bike lane and paved shoulder kilometres throughout the region. (Objective: making York Region’s communities “more welcoming and inclusive.”)
Reporting on the plan’s progress is built into the region’s annual budgeting process, and will largely be focused on the “Top Community Indicators” – quantifiable measures of success – that inform the plan’s development. These include (by way of example) indicators such as average household income, average travel time, percentage of labour force who also live in the region, and more.
“(The Plan) provides a common focus and a set of priorities for the organization to ensure we continue to meet our community’s evolving needs,” said Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Macgregor in an accompanying statement.
“It communicates the direction the organization is taking, and supports the longer-rage vision for the Region through a framework that guarantees excellence in the areas of Economic Vitality, Healthy Communities, Sustainable Environment, and Good Government.”
For more information on the role and activities of the York Regional Government, we recommend visiting their official web site at www.york.ca.
Photo via AndroidCat on Wikimedia Commons.
