how canada wins: city of regina steadfast in vision of complete communities
with building permits up in 2024, regina's city planners feel like now is the time to focus on infill goals in the city's long-term strategy.
6 minute read
autumn dawson, director of city planning and development services stands for a portrait inside city hall on wednesday, feb. 26, 2025 in regina.
kayle neis
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regina leader-post
editor’s note: this is part 1 of our contribution to postmedia’s national series “how canada wins.” over the next five weeks we’ll chronicle our community’s place in the country, the promise of greater prosperity, and the blueprint to get there. see the series intro here.
the city of regina is thinking about growth. growth over the last decade. growth for the next 15 years.
it’s the crux of why city administration has been ruminating on the finer points of its 25-year community plan, says autumn dawson, director of planning and development at the city of regina.
it’s been more than 10 years since the 2013 unveiling of design regina, a policy framework intended to manage the city’s growth and focus on longer-term development.
dawson says the city is at a natural point to reconsider its vision and whether it’s working.
“if you look back 10 years, our community makeup was different, our housing needs were different, our economy was different — and so it is a good time to reflect on whether the goals that we set out for ourselves are really in line with where we still want to be,” said dawson.
the 2025 construction season will be an important one — the second since the city of regina committed to fast-tracking 1,100 additional housing units before 2026 under the federal housing accelerator fund.
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the hope is to revive progress on infill development — new growth in existing areas — which has always been at the core of regina’s current official community plan, said dawson. however, it’s an area of the design regina framework that has fallen short of its targets in the last decade.
regina’s anticipated population growth remains on track to reach 370,000 by 2051, and the city is actively re-evaluating its tactics to keep pace when it comes to delivering a cityscape with vitality.
the city of regina has been reviewing its growth targets in a bid to determine if changes are needed to how internal policies are being used to promote higher density in all neighbourhoods.
revisiting long-term plans every five to 10 years is healthy and normal, dawson said.
“our vision, i don’t think, has changed. it’s still laid out very nicely in the official community plan: to be canada’s most inclusive, attractive, vibrant and sustainable community,” explained dawson.
“but it’s a responsible thing for municipalities to do, to always be reflecting on how we can do better.”
‘forward-thinking direction’ is the key
the vision for regina — built largely through the years as treed neighbourhoods, each within an easy 15-minute commute to the city’s core — is to be a place that can offer what every resident needs, in every corner of its boundaries.
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“if somebody doesn’t want to own a car, they don’t have to,” said dawson. “if people chose to have a single family home, we’re not saying that you can’t have that in regina at all. it’s just expanding options for people, so their daily needs can be met.”
design regina was last reviewed in 2020, with few changes, and is once again being explored internally with a fine-tooth comb.
it’s already led to the city repealing 16 out of 20 supplementary neighbourhood plans in september. four were scrapped entirely and 12 others consolidated inside the greater design regina plan.
many of those neighbourhood plans dated back to the 1980s, dawson explained, and the move was made to open up regina to progress on adding more diverse housing options.
“if the policies in place aren’t doing that, providing forward-thinking direction for us anymore, then they should be repealed, and so we did that,” dawson said.
constructions crews work on a housing complex in the city’s east end on march 8, 2023 in regina.
troy fleece
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regina leader-post
the cornerstone of design regina is the philosophy of “complete communities.” that means neighbourhoods which are home to a broad mix of housing, public spaces like parks, and quality-of-life amenities like corner stores, restaurants or recreational spots.
design regina aims for 30 per cent of population growth to happen in existing neighbourhoods and 70 per cent in new neighbourhoods, known as greenfield areas.
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since 2013, several neighbourhoods have been significantly built out under that formula, like harbour landing in the southwest and the greens in the southeast.
but greenfield development is cooling lately, a product of the market and pressures like inflation.
so the city — alongside developers — is looking to adjust.
regina hasn’t approved a new neighbourhood since coopertown, a northeast development that has yet to break significant ground since it was given the go-ahead in 2017.
“those communities, they have built out in alignment with the policies we have in place,” said dawson. “and now we need to focus on our existing neighbourhoods and making sure we’re providing there as well.”
dawson said the shift in interest could reflect a new era for regina, one with a more even split between infill and greenfield development across the city.
as a senior city planner put it to city council this january: “there’s just not a market for 2,000-square-foot homes, row after row, that we have seen in generations past.”
“it’s about having that healthy balance,” said dawson.
the trend matches what the city’s own data is finding. a recent housing needs assessment determined the desire for rental units or mid-size homes that can fit multi-generational households is on the rise.
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single-family bungalows are hardly about to become a thing of regina’s past, but an era of more duplexes, townhouses and apartments appears to be on the city’s horizon.
to hit density targets, the city has engaged mddl, a calgary-based consulting firm, to help determine how regina can add more middle housing — types that fit between single-family homes and apartments — into the mix.
“it is a balance, of trying to ensure that our existing neighbourhoods can thrive and that we’re providing enough attention to them,” said dawson.
federal funding furthering next steps
the city is placing a renewed focus on expansion and redevelopment of existing areas — also known as intensification — through the federal government’s housing accelerator fund, having signed a $35-million incentive deal in 2024.
three rounds of zoning changes have followed: raising as-of-right height limits, scrapping parking minimums and adding special intensification zones for mid-rise apartments along busy transit routes.
dawson said city planners are already seeing ripple effects from these adjustments, a starting line to “hitting our targets a little bit better in the last couple of years.”
the city issued four per cent more building permits in 2024 than in 2023, equating to $531 million in construction value inside city limits.
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regina also made it a goal to add 30 per cent of new housing builds into established neighbourhoods by the end of 2024 — up from the lagging five-year average of 18 per cent.
dawson looks at this change as promising — proof of regina’s potential to continue growing successfully.
she said any big-picture changes to the official community plan will include input from residents, as the 25-year strategy is a “living document” meant to embody what regina wants to see in itself.
“keeping in mind that vision, making sure it holds true for residents, is really important,” said dawson.
“our goal is always to be flexible and making sure that we’re hitting the needs of our community, which also change.”
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