City administration will be presenting a “Planning for Growth” session to City Council on December 12, 2022 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall (410 9th Street) to provide an overview of the efforts made over the last 10+ years to plan our community and discuss the Southwest Brandon Wastewater Servicing Project in more detail. Although not a public discussion, members of the public are welcome to attend to observe and gain more information on the topic. The session will also be live on the City’s YouTube channel.
The “Planning for Growth” session is the first in a series of events aimed to improve understanding of how, where, and when we grow our community. The event will be followed by a second Council session in early January on “Paying for Growth;” an open house for all residents in mid-January; and the public hearing on the Southwest Wastewater Borrowing By-law in late January.
The City of Brandon is planning for population growth and is expecting to have 63,000 to 65,000 people within 30 years. This growth is expected to occur in both our established areas (areas already built up within existing infrastructure) and emerging areas (new areas at the edge of the city requiring infrastructure). Growing in both emerging and established areas enables opportunities for increased types of both residential and commercial uses to meet market demands.
(Image – City of Brandon)
Over the past ten years, the City of Brandon has been a leader in growing our existing built-up areas, seeing approximately 30% of all new residential units constructed in established areas and 70% in emerging areas. The City plans to continue this growth pattern as we enable development within our existing neighborhoods with a focus on our busiest streets and our downtown core, while facilitating planned and orderly growth around the edges of our community.
Prioritization of growth in emerging areas is beneficial to ensure a cost-effective use of public funds spent on new infrastructure. Through Council direction and planning over the last 10+ years the City has prioritized development in our south growth area. The City is planning for 75% of our emerging area residential growth and 60% of our emerging area commercial development to occur in the south growth area. Considerations when prioritizing the southern growth area included landowner/developer interest, amount of potential developable land and mix of land uses.
The City has approved multiple land use and infrastructure plans within the south growth area and developers have proceeded with more detailed planning and in some instances have started construction. Unfortunately, almost all land within the south growth area has servicing limitations and the city is nearing or at the point in most areas where buildings cannot be constructed without wastewater upgrades being completed.
The attached map identifies the long-term south growth area land use vision, including lands currently within the City to accommodate approximately 30-year growth and potential lands for future urban growth to the south of the city to accommodate approximately 50-year growth. To promote connectivity, the proposed future urban boundary is the existing highway extension to the east of 18th Street and the future planned highway extension to the west of 18th Street. The borrowing to construct southwest wastewater improvements is one of the initial steps in the City’s infrastructure investment plan to make this growth vision a reality.
