2008-2009 Activities
Input into the 2008 draft Regional Official Plan
The Coalition worked hard to provide input into the first draft of the Region of Waterloo's Regional Official Plan (ROP). Regional planning staff visited a meeting of the Coalition in October 2008 and delivered a presentation on the highlights of the new ROP. Full details about the ROP, including the entire text of all drafts, is available at www.region.waterloo.on.ca/newrop.
The Coalition submitted a written response to the ROP to Regional Council in January 2009. See the full text of our submission here
A second draft of the ROP was released in April 2009 for public comment. The Coalition responded quickly by organizing members to analyse the new draft and write a letter of response. Coalition member Joy Finney made a presentation outlining the Coalition's letter at the May 12, 2009 meeting of Regional Council. You can read the minutes of that meeting here.
Healthy Communities and the Built Environment
This project is a collaborative of several organizations including the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Region of Waterloo Public Health, and others. Its purpose is to identify and promote policies and practices which optimize human health and prevent chronic diseases by addressing features of the built environment such as neighbourhood walkability, accessible public transit, greenspaces, social gathering spaces, etc. You can read more about the project on the websites of two of our partner organizations: the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition and the Civics Research Co-operative.
Health and the Built Environment events in 2008
As part of this project, we hosted a public forum on Wednesday January 16, 2008 called Healthy Communities and the Built Environment: Working Together for a Livable Waterloo Region. The purpose of the day was to bring together people from various sectors to explore and identify ways we can work together to ensure that our health is a key element of planning and designing our community.
Below are some key documents shared at that meeting:
- Poster promoting event (PDF)
- Background report by Region of Waterloo Public Health
- Presentation by Kevin Eby of Region of Waterloo Planning (PDF)
- Presentation by Theresa Schumilas of Region of Waterloo Public Health (PDF)
On April 17 and 18, 2008, we hosted an event in partnership with the University of Waterloo called "The Healthy Communities Knowledge Exchange Forum". Speakers addressed several themes related to Health and the Built Environment, including healthy food access, walkable communities, community design, community connections, and growth. The website promoting the event can be found here, and full proceedings from the event are here (PDF).