Association of Ontario Municipalities

The Railway Association of Canada recently hosted a trade booth at the AMO conference in Ottawa from August 14-15. The Proximity Initiative participated in the trade booth as both Jenelle Saskiw, Program Manager, and Ben Chursinoff, Project Coordinator, for the Proximity Initiative attended the conference.  The conference featured thousands of delegates from municipalities across Ontario which provided an opportunity to engage with municipal leaders face to face. Certainly, a welcome change given the previous couple of years.

Municipalities expressed interest in learning more about the Proximity Guidelines and how they can assist with guiding developments near railway infrastructure to ensure safety and livability for residents. The Proximity Guidelines provide a starting point for urban planning by providing a suite of possible mitigation options that may be used to address noise pollution and vibrations.

We were excited to discuss with municipal leaders the update to the Proximity Guidelines. As the current version was last updated in 2013, we are nearing its 10-year anniversary and wanted to take the opportunity to apply gathered data to strengthen the Guidelines and make them more applicable to every sized community across the country. The Proximity Initiative is currently running an RFP process to solicit proposals to carry out this important update and will be engaging stakeholders through the process over the next year. Stay tuned for updates as this important initiative progresses.