On September 11th 2013, the Niagara Region Council adopted “Complete Streets for Niagara” (CSN), a Complete Streets Model Policy Handbook. The CSN handbook was endorsed for use by the Region in planning policy and development and the local municipalities were formally invited to use it as well. The handbook provides Complete Streets policy language adaptable to fit official plans, secondary plans or transportation master plans for local municipalities within the Region. TCAT released a report in February 2014 analyzing the handbook based on the 10 elements outlined by TCAT on the Complete Streets for Canada website.
Overall, the CSN handbook is a strong Complete Streets guiding document that includes: strong policy language, consideration of all road projects and users, context sensitivity concern with connectivity, references to design guidelines, and performance measurements. However, as it is primarily intended as a guiding, not regulatory, framework for the Niagara Region’s local municipalities, concrete roles and responsibilities for each jurisdiction are absent.