A review and forecast of Bradford’s continued growth, the option for the town to join the province’s e-scooter pilot project, a request for $84,602 to purchase new plow/dump trucks, plus more are all on the agenda for the municipality's regular council meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday evening in the Zima Room at the BWG Public Library.
E-scooters
A report from Deputy CAO Mahesh Ramdeo recommends council approve joining the province’s electric kick scooter pilot project, allowing a shared e-scooter/e-bike program and updating the traffic bylaw as necessary as a result.
While the town’s traffic bylaw already permits e-bikes, it makes no mention of e-scooters, according to Ramdeo’s report, which goes on to explain that permitting e-scooters would require the town to join the province’s pilot program and provide related data as the province requests.
The provincial government launched the Ontario-wide pilot project with a regulation on Nov. 27, 2019, with the pilot running from Jan. 1, 2020 to Nov. 27, 2029.
Under the pilot, e-scooters are limited to a motor with no more than 500 watts and a maximum speed of 24 km/h.
Mahesh suggests an e-scooter/e-bike sharing program (potentially similar to Lime scooters or Bike Share Toronto) as a way to encourage people to use alternate transportation options, especially for short trips and connections to GO or Linx Transit, which could help alleviate traffic congestion and reduce pressure on local transit.
As part of any potential program, Ramdeo recommends geofencing to prevent use in prohibited areas, designating storage locations/parking areas, a permit fee and a process to retrieve abandoned units.
Growth and density
A report from Jennifer Best, the town’s director of growth services, shows Bradford is “well underway” to exceed the target of having 40 per cent of new homes added to the existing urban area by 2051 in order to accommodate a population of 84,370 by then.
That’s helped by developments such as Holland Haus at 123 Holland St., The Middleton retirement residence at 558 Holland St., a proposed 10-storey mixed-use building at 300 Barrie St., plus the continuation of subdivision growth in Bond Head.
Best notes the Holland Street corridor is expected to help the town exceed its intensification target, which could also be helped by the town’s proposed major transit station area surrounding the Bradford GO station, where taller, denser developments are intended to hit a target of 150 people and jobs per hectare.
In order to prepare for 31,000 total jobs by 2051, the town will need a “sustained focus” on industrial and commercial development, according to Best.
Much of that is anticipated in the Highway 400 employment lands, where many of the manufacturing jobs are expected to be located. Those jobs currently have the greatest wages per worker of the top five employment groups in town at $66,536, according to the report.
The growth services department is working on several projects to help prepare the town to grow “significantly” over the next 30 years including: improved customer service, providing more digital services, streamlining the town’s approval process and preparing for planning and infrastructure updates.
New plow trucks
Cost estimates for three new plow/dump trucks have come back about $108,602 more than expected.
As a result, a report from Joe Costanza, senior engineering technologist with the town, recommends council use about $24,000 from the sale of an older vehicle, and approve an additional $84,602 to make up the difference.
That’s expected to include $51,640.50 from the development charge reserve and $32,961.50 from the capital replacement reserve.
All of that is in addition to the roughly $1.17 million council authorized Nov. 13 as part of the 2025 budget to replace two existing vehicles at the end of their life cycles and increase the fleet by one.
The replacements include one single-axle and one tandem-axle truck, both with dump box, snow removal and sand/salt equipment, while the additional truck is also a single axle with the same equipment to help with snow removal in Bond Head.
The total cost estimate came in at about $1.30 million partially due to the drop in the Canadian dollar value, but also as manufacturing costs for both the trucks and the equipment have also increased, according to the report.