Background

In July 2017, Windsor City Council approved the Community Energy Plan (CEP) with the vision to create economic advantage, mitigate climate change, and improve energy performance. The CEP strives to position Windsor as an energy centre of excellence that boasts efficient, innovative, and reliable energy systems that contribute to the quality of life of the residents and businesses.

The CEP included a community-wide goal to reduce GHG emissions and per-capita energy consumption by 40% of 2014 levels by 2041. CEP Strategy 4: Create a Net Zero Neighbourhood as an Opportunity for Transformative Change at the Neighbourhood Scale outlines the opportunity to plan and design greenfield lands and large redevelopment sites as Net Zero Neighbourhoods. Net Zero neighbourhoods create as much energy in a typical year as they consume.

Program Goals

The Sandwich South lands represents the largest greenfield development area in the City. With a relatively blank slate, there is high potential and opportunity for development of Net-Zero (or near-zero) neighbourhoods. The City of Windsor aims to develop the Sandwich South area in a manner consistent with the environmental and sustainability goals set out in the City’s Community Energy Plan; Climate Change Adaptation Plan; Environmental Master Plan; Active Transportation Master Plan; and More Than Transit Plan.

The proposed study will look at planning the district in a holistic manner and will build environmental objectives into the land use framework and planning process from the outset with the Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP). Using an “environment first” principle, the SNAP will set our sustainability goals in the following areas:

• Energy and emissions targets,
• Water, wastewater and stormwater management,
• Waste management; urban canopy and natural asset conservation,
• Economic development,
• 25% active transportation mode split,
• Increased affordable housing units for indigenous peoples, and
• Mitigation of energy poverty.

Study Outcomes

At the completion of this phase of the Project, administration will present the Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan to the Environment, Transportation and Public Safety Standing Committee and the Development & Heritage Standing Committee and City Council for consideration with a goal of approving standards and expectations for developments in Sandwich South. These findings should also help inform the Official Plan review for the rest of the City as well.

The following items have been identified as out-of-scope for this project:

• Update to the Official Plan, Zoning By-Law
• Future costs to implement the SNAP
• Location of Hospital and other approved buildings (however, sustainability features associated with these developments are in scope).

Community Visioning Survey

An interdisciplinary project team was formed in early 2023 to manage and deliver the Sandwich South Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP) that will help guide the sustainable design and development of the Sandwich South area.

The Sandwich South lands are located on the southeast side of the City of Windsor, next to the Windsor Airport, and represent the City's greenfield development opportunity. The area holds potential for the development of a sustainable and accessible community that is in alignment with the City’s objectives for emissions reduction, low-carbon development, and climate resilience.

The topic areas that will be explored during this process include:

The public consultation phase of this process is currently underway, with a final plan expected to be delivered by the end of 2024.

The Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan program is an initiative led by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, that provides financial support to municipalities to develop SNAP documents which must include:

• A sustainable development vision with environmental, social and economic objectives
• Actions required to achieve those objectives in each of the relevant areas such as energy, waste and water management, sustainable transportation, land use, brownfield remediation (e.g. developing policies, acquiring relevant permissions, purchasing/installing appropriate infrastructure).
• All tasks necessary to implement a project; the person/job role responsible for each task; resources allocated to each task; and implementation timeline; estimate high level costs.