Community safety, active transportation top 2022 city hall priorities

A community safety plan and several active transportation corridors (ATC) are among initiatives city hall hopes to accomplish in 2022.

The projects are laid out in a document dubbed Action Plan 2022 presented to lawmakers Monday afternoon. In it, city staff outline 135 items they plan to either start, complete, or continue with over the next 12 months.

“I think it is important to the public to know how robust and how many projects are actually involved in this action plan. … I really appreciate this format looking at it,” Coun. Brad Sieben said.

Among the list, the development of a much-anticipated community safety plan, as well as an outdoor sheltering strategy.

Transportation priorities for the year encompass work on several active transportation corridors, including the Abbott Street protected bike route and Hollywood to Rutland Road ATCs, as well as the Central Green pedestrian overpass.

Planning and design for the Capital News Centre expansion will begin, alongside expected design and construction on the first phase of DeHart Park and Mill Creek Linear Park.

Phase two construction and design of the City Park promenade is on the books, as well as the first part of construction on Pandosy Waterfront Park.

“Faced with delivering services during COVID-19 and through a severe wildfire season in the summer, the work included in Action Plan 2022 will continue to move us forward, meeting emerging challenges and maintaining course on work that will advance our long-term vision for a City of the Future,” City Manager Doug Gilchrist said in a media release.

Sixty-three per cent of 103 projects laid out for 2021 continue into 2022 and beyond.

Not everything being done at city hall is outlined in the plan. Many smaller or externally funded initiatives are not part of the document.