05-26-2015, 04:11 PM
"Central Station - Innovation District". Uh, OK.
Light rail stop names get OK, with one tweak in Kitchener
May 26, 2015 | Paige Desmond | Waterloo Region Record | Link
Light rail stop names get OK, with one tweak in Kitchener
May 26, 2015 | Paige Desmond | Waterloo Region Record | Link
Quote:WATERLOO REGION — Region of Waterloo councillors voted Tuesday on names for the light rail stops along the 19 kilometres of track from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park mall in Kitchener.
But there was one tweak to accommodate a request from Kitchener politicians.
Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic appealed to councillors to change the name of the stop at the future transit hub at King Street and Victoria Street to Central Station-Innovation District.
"Kitchener has, over the past decade, invested significant dollars in that area in terms of our economic development investment fund," Vrbanovic said. "We have significant private sector partners that have invested in the area and it also speaks to what we're trying to do as a region with the innovation supercluster."
Coun. Sean Strickland, a member of the regional committee of staff and politicians who recommended the names, supported the move. Politicians approved the change.
"It is a key piece and there's a variety of different ways we could have dealt with that," he said. "In the end I think it's important to have innovation in there."
The transit hub was a key stop to name because of the hub's importance to the project.
It will eventually have infrastructure for light rail transit, Grand River Transit and GO Trains.
Strickland would like to see the actual hub named to reflect that light rail is a regional project.
"There may be opportunities to name the whole area a little bit differently because we're putting a lot of investment into that process," he said. "I would have preferred to have the regional banner somewhere on some of those stops."
Staff and politicians used a list of nine criteria for choosing stop names, including:
• Names should be short and descriptive
• Names should be identifiable by both local residents and visitors
• Stops should be named after established institutions and key landmarks if the stop primarily serves one of those destinations
• They should be named after the closest cross street where no primary institution is present
• They should be unique and distinct from another
• Stops should not be named for private enterprises
The names:
• Conestoga
• Northfield
• Research and Technology
• University of Waterloo
• Laurier-Waterloo Park
• Willis Way
• Waterloo Public Square
• Allen
• Grand River Hospital
• Central Station-Innovation District
• Victoria Park
• Queen
• Kitchener City Hall
• Frederick
• Kitchener Market
• Borden
• Mill
• Block Line
• Fairway
Also Tuesday politicians endorsed a plan to procure public art for some rapid transit stops and will go through a public consultation process to do so.