Blackstone Condos | 6 fl | U/C

[creative]

“Employment lands” is such a nonsense designation. As if a few zoning people have any clue at all where it makes sense for employment activities to locate.

It makes sense to say “this part of the City is for loud and/or dangerous industrial activities”, and “this part of the City is for people who want to live quietly”; but it makes no sense at all to say “this part of the City is for activities that have lots of employees”.

In particular, planners have no business at all saying that stores and offices should not have apartments above them. In the absence of an actual reason to restrict the freedom of property owners and occupiers to use it how they want, society doesn’t have a right to do so. And “some people might not want to live there” isn’t a valid reason to prevent people from living there.

The city definition of employment lands is also extremely narrow in non-obvious ways, for example, it excludes office buildings.

10.3 EMPLOYMENT LAND USE POLICIES
The City will plan for employment areas that provide a broad range of employment opportunities to meet the needs of the City’s employees, businesses and residents. The City will also plan for transit and pedestrian- supportive employment areas, wherever possible, while recognizing that traditional employment areas are currently automobile- oriented.
Waterloo’s employment growth will be characterized by knowledge based, technology and office uses, with a particular focus on research and technology firms, finance, insurance and real estate, as well as academic institutions. Manufacturing will also remain important to the economy in providing support to research and technology firms while producing goods for the broader economy. Other service industries that primarily support Waterloo’s population will continue to provide their important function for residents.
The Employment land use designations permit a broad range of employment uses. Complementary uses, where permitted, are anticipated to directly support the primary employment use on the lands and adjacent area. Ancillary uses, where permitted, are anticipated to provide opportunities for mixed-use developments within specific Employment land use designations, and are intended to permit uses that directly support the primary employment use on the lands and adjacent area.
Development within employment areas will be guided by Site and Urban Design and Land Use Compatibility policies found within this chapter. Further, development within employment areas will be consistent with the City’s urban design objectives and policies as set out in this Plan and supporting implementation documents, such as the Urban Design Manual, will be used during the review of development applications to achieve a high standard of urban design.