The City analyzed each application received and made efforts to select members that represented a broad range of perspectives and interests. Efforts were made to ensure the group included;

• both renters and owners
• a balance of male and female participants
• a diverse range of ages
• student, family and single professional perspectives
• business owners and those that work in the area
• both new and long term residents

Unlike a research based focus group, this group is not meant to be statistically representative of the area, but best efforts were made to ensure a broad demographic representation and range of perspectives were included based on the applications that were submitted.

Anyone is welcome to apply! We require that you:

• Live, work, play or go to school in the area;
• Have knowledge of the plan area;
• Interest in local growth planning;
• Able to attend all six evening or Saturday sessions;
• Contribute on-going feedback to the project.

The working group structure should represent a broad range of stakeholder and citizens views and will include up to 32 members.

Membership will be compromised of;

• 19 members representing the general community with a balance of:
  • Local residents including long-term or new homeowners and renters;
    • Balance of youth, young professionals, families, singles and seniors
  • People who work in the area;
  • People who own property in the area;
  • Local business owners;
  • Community users (from a recreation or customer perspective);
  • Education, Faith, Environmental, Cultural or Advocacy group members in the area
• 9 members from: Community Associations in the plan area;
• 1 member from the Business Improvement Association in the plan area;
• 3 members from Representatives of the Development Industry

The working group will also include staff from The City's Community Planning and Urban Strategy Department.

There will be 6 three hour working group sessions held between November 2018 and September 2019. The meetings would take place either on weekday evenings or on Saturday mornings or afternoons. A tentative schedule is provided in the timeline.

Each session will be held at a different Community Association in the plan area. It is expected that our Community Association Representatives in the working group would take turns hosting a session at their respective facility.

The North Hill Communities Local Growth Planning initiative includes the communities of: Greenview Industrial, Highland Park, Mount Pleasant, Tuxedo Park, Winston Heights-Mountview, Crescent Heights, Renfrew, Rosedale, Capitol Hill.

The purpose of this group is to serve as a sounding board to The City’s project team and participate in more detailed dialogue about the holistic and broader planning interests of the entire area including; connectivity of the communities, transition areas, redevelopment interface, with a focus on big ideas and actions/ opportunities for future growth.

The Working Group does not have an approving role for the new local growth plan(s). Rather, it serves as an sounding board, representing a cross-section of opinions and interests and contirbutes ideas to set policy direction for the new local area plan(s). The City Project team will try and accommodate the direction of the Working Group whenever possible, but City policy, budgetary, and technical considerations will also be factored into the decision making process. The final outcome will include a balance of community input, technical and policy feasibility and market viability.

Group members are expected to participate in the six Working Group sessions and provide input into the local growth planning process. Other expectations are to;

• Review the local growth planning project information, come prepared to examine the benefits and trade-offs of growth, and provide input into solutions that meet community needs for growth;
• Act as ambassadors to their respective stakeholder groups and the broader community to help ignite broader community interest, gather input and share information about the project;
• Complete homework and research assignments, where applicable, throughout the project
• Work in good faith with other members and participate in respectful dialogue.

Through out the project there may be opportunities for members to conduct research on assigned topics and report back to the group with their findings. Homework could also include engagement and communications efforts, where members would help ignite broader community interest, gather input and share information about the project. The City will provide resources to members to help enable this work.

The Working Group will be managed by a third-party facilitator with participation in sessions from The City's project team.

Yes, each Community Association (CA) in the plan area, will be offered the opportunity to nominate one representative for the working group. There will be 9 spots reserved for these CA representatives.