Council picks Six Ward option, but seeks some alteration to proposed boundaries

June 17, 2021 · 0 Comments

By Rob Paul

Caledon Council has opted for a Six Ward configuration for its future composition, but has requested further work on boundaries to ensure population parity for the decade ahead as the community continues to grow.

With the Town’s Ward Boundary Review a year in the making, the consultant group Watson & Associates, in association with Dr. Robert Williams made their final recommendations to Council.

Williams was joined by Watson and Associates Director Jack Ammendolia to present the findings to Council, which were based on their findings through research and interviews with lawmakers and staff, population forecasting and evaluation of existing wards, development of preliminary ward boundary options (presented at a previous meeting), public engagement, and reports.

“It was a two-phase process,” said Ammendolia. “The first phase was really about learning and trying to understand the unique circumstances that Caledon presented to us while bringing our best practices in. It was about learning from Council, learning from the public and really creating awareness about the project. The second phase focused more on evaluating the existing system and coming up with a redesign and preliminary options to consider. Each phase had a robust public engagement associated with it.”

Through alternate engagement options, there were over 650 survey responses and close to 8,000 people reached on Facebook and 18,000 impressions on Twitter. There were also virtual public consultation sessions and ads put out to raise awareness about the ward boundary review.

“From a ward boundary review perspective—and we’ve done a bunch of these over the last several years—that was definitely one of the highest response rates of the different places we were working in,” Ammendolia said. “There was very good awareness of the project. The public consultations were very well attended and most of the respondents engaged and had questions and comments.”

There was effective representation throughout all the wards in response to the review in the first phase of feedback with 36 per cent from Ward 1, 21 per cent from Ward 5, 16 per cent from Ward 2, 15 per cent from Ward 4, and 12 per cent from Ward 3.

Most people who responded to the engagement in phase one prioritized effective representation and communities of interest over the other principles. The engagement asked them to rank five different principles from most important to least. The most important to respondents was effective representation followed by communities of interest, future population trends, representation by population, and physical and natural boundaries.

The second phase of feedback focused on which preliminary options were most favoured by the community.

Options 1 and 2 were the most preferred with both taking 22 per cent of the vote, but if Option 4A and 4B were combined it would have been at 29 per cent.

“For a refresh on the existing system, right now Council is comprised of nine members; the Mayor—elected at large—and four Regional and four Local Councillors, elected in five wards—Wards 3 and 4 share. A recent Regional change is reducing the number of Regional Councillors to two,” said Ammendolia. “There’s definitely population disparity amongst the existing wards.”

Currently Ward 1 is at 10,050, Ward 2 18,830, Ward 3 and 4 21,800, and Ward 5 24,790 for an average of 18,870 per ward. Those numbers will increase to 10,100 in Ward 1, 41,960 in Ward 2, 35,670 in Wards 3 and 4, and 25,340 in Ward 5 by 2031—an average of 28,270 per ward.

The final two ward boundary review options were recommended by the consultant.

The first option splits Caledon into six wards and the second option keeps it at five wards.

Council agreed that the first final option with six wards is the preferred option, but members want to see some changes made—specifically to the boundary lines.

In response, Council passed a motion to have the consultant team take into considerations their referrals to the six-ward option to present an altered option of it to them at a later date.

With the six-ward option, it focuses on communities of interest with Bolton being represented by two wards. In this option, there are some wards that are outside the acceptable population range and it intensifies when accounting for future population growth.

“The assumption for us (with the six-ward option) is one local Councillor per ward,” said Ammendolia. “In the option, we’re moving away from where one Councillor shares a ward like we have in the existing system. We tried to ensure from a perspective of Mayfield West, Caledon East, and Bolton—three major urban centres—that each is contained in separate wards. We have Bolton in two wards when factoring in its growing population. Most of the wards will have decent population parity.”

“This option has an approach that really looks at communities of interest, as we understand that term in Caledon,” said Williams. “This recognizes that Caledon has changed, in particular with the growth in the southern part of the town, and even more particularly in the southeastern corner. Keeping Ward 1 and 2 largely rural respects that kind of perspective that has been so much part of Caledon’s history. It also intends to help Ward 3, 5, and 6 have an urban component that we know is going to grow.”

The six-ward option as is would have the population average per ward at 12,575—and growing to 18,843 by 2031—with 11,795 in Ward, 8,350 in Ward 2, 15,335 in Ward 3, 9,920 in Ward 4, 10,600 in Ward 5, and 19,450 in Ward 6. For the first option by 2031, Ward 1’s predicted population is 11,605, Ward 2 is 8,920, Ward 3 is 38,525, Ward 4 is 12,750, Ward 5 is 16,160, and Ward 6 is 25,100.

“I’d pick option one because I think it’s important for the future of Caledon,” said Mayor Allan Thompson. “I carefully reviewed the analysis, and this is a really good report. Given the growth we’ll experience in large rural areas, we must protect and preserve. I feel option one provides the most balance for this approach. This model gives a voice to our largest urban centre in Bolton and also gives each ward a rural and urban component. In terms of regional representation, I would support two elected representatives—one in the east and one in the west—this way we keep the balance we’re looking for.”