Submitted by Jeff Leiper, Kitchissippi Ward Councillor –
Thank you for your support sending me back to city hall. It’s no secret that I love Kitchissippi, and I’m proud of the work I’ve done over the past four years serving as your city councillor, but I’m even more excited about what’s coming next.
In this term of council, we will be refreshing the city’s official plan and the transportation master plan. Council will also create a new waste management plan and a new plan to tackle the growing need for affordable housing. I will also work with staff to create a new secondary plan for Westboro with the intention of setting out clearer mandates and policies for intensification.
We have a few key issues facing the ward that I’m committed to working on over the next four years. I will collaborate with staff and other councillors to strategize how we can increase our affordable housing stock, especially around rapid transit hubs. Diverse neighbourhoods are the strongest and most vibrant neighbourhoods, and we need to ensure that housing in the urban core of the city remains affordable to a wide variety of residents.
I want to prioritize a form of growth for Kitchissippi that is sustainable. I will be a vocal, independent champion for better planning policies city-wide as we review the official plan and other development-related policies. I will continue to work towards intensification that is mitigated by necessary infrastructure, both soft and hard, and respects our urban forest.
I will also work diligently to ensure that our transportation policy under the new transportation master plan is created with a view towards sustainability. Phase two of LRT is a crucial piece of this puzzle, and I look forward to its implementation, but so are safer streets that are walkable and bikeable. The congestion and aggressive driving or cut-through traffic that accompanies intensification are an ongoing issue that I have worked to address with traffic calming measures throughout the ward. I have also worked to make our streets safer for all road users by advocating for new pedestrian measures, such as pedestrian crossovers and advance lights, throughout the ward. In the next term of council, I will continue to advocate for the resources and approaches necessary to protect all road users.
Thank you for this opportunity, Kitchissippi. Let’s get to work.