North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg says he's happy with how 2024 went for council and the municipality in what amounted to a busy year.
Kasenberg pointed to a number of significant achievements this year, including completing the Master Transportation Plan. Kasenberg says the plan looks forward into the future and addresses roads, sidewalks and transportation asks in the community, including a big need in Listowel.
"It also addresses the big, multi-million dollar question of the Listowel by-pass truck route, and certainly has made recommendations that have been accepted by council in principle, but now the hard work moving forward for us is to actually find ways to pay for it," Kasenberg shared.
The reality is the truck by-pass is still likely 5-7 years away, Kasenberg notes, unless council went the route of borrowing a bunch of money to do it earlier which isn't necessarily practical, he says.
Kasenberg says the municipality was disappointed to not receive funding from the province's Housing Accelerator Fund, but staff were still able to implement an Affordable and Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan.
"With this plan there are a series of incentives and fee waivers that are now available to be considered as developers build affordable or attainable housing in our community. So we're very excited about the possibility of making some steps forward on affordable housing," added Kasenberg.
Council also reviewed its reserves policy, which deals with how they put away and save money for various projects going forward.
"We've come to learn in the process that the municipality has a 10-year capital horizon of about $150 million being required for projects that are on the book, and that doesn't include all the new projects," said Kasenberg.
Heading into 2025, Kasenberg says council will continue to advocate for more affordable housing options in the area. He says the issue of homelessness and mental health and addictions will also continue to be a major topic moving forward.
