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(07-13-2015, 04:20 PM)panamaniac Wrote: (07-13-2015, 02:14 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: The irony is that because of those NIMBYs blocking the natural growth of downtown the whole thing collapsed into the current urban blight that Kitchener has spent so much of the last decade trying to revert. Their opposition lead to much larger loses than if they had allowed rezoning and sold their two storey houses to developers at higher densities.
I can't think of too many Downtown projects that were blocked by NIMBY pushback. I think maybe the apartment on Queen St near Mill came out a couple of storeys shorter than originally proposed. There was the successful resistance to the widening of Victoria St between Park and Belmont. Other than that, I can't think of any examples.
The corner of Weber and Scott streets is one example. I lived on Pearl Place and 20 years ago EIWO Canada wanted to build a 20 story building. All of us in the area started receiving letters to sign a petition to block this building. Then 10 years later the developer chopped it down to 15 stories, the city still said NO. Then 5 year later they settled on 12 stories. LOL, I guess the developer got fed up? cause now they are just selling the land.
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(07-13-2015, 04:20 PM)panamaniac Wrote: (07-13-2015, 02:14 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: The irony is that because of those NIMBYs blocking the natural growth of downtown the whole thing collapsed into the current urban blight that Kitchener has spent so much of the last decade trying to revert. Their opposition lead to much larger loses than if they had allowed rezoning and sold their two storey houses to developers at higher densities.
I can't think of too many Downtown projects that were blocked by NIMBY pushback. I think maybe the apartment on Queen St near Mill came out a couple of storeys shorter than originally proposed. There was the successful resistance to the widening of Victoria St between Park and Belmont. Other than that, I can't think of any examples.
For every project you hear about, there are ten others which are not even put forward since the zoning restrictions (which respond to NIMBY pressures) already don't allow it. The number of high rise projects that have been sprouting in Kitchener and the Student district once the regulations were removed attests to this.
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The Region has posted a video wtih a quick explainer on the project. Interestingly they are cagey on the fate of the Charles terminal for now.
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Eliminating Charles St requires additional satellite driver facilities, as well as some operational changes to support shift handovers either mid-route, or at dispersed terminals. It's a big change, and there's going to be opposition to it internally, hence the non-committal stance.
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It's really just a matter of time, though. It's too big a facility to keep just for drivers, but they do need a plan to replace that function before shuttering it. I suspect that plan is not as high a priority at the moment as getting the LRT and the new station built.
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Any word on progress at all? The last progress report identified August 2015 as the target date for the RFP Documents- it occurs to me that these might be hard to come up with if it hasn't been decided which of the two options will be the one pursued. Will more consultation be needed, or has enough been done to prep a general plan to conduct the request for qualifications?
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I still don't totally understand how it is being built or why it hasn't been built yet. Doesn't the Region just hire an architect and be like, "Hey, build this"?
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08-13-2015, 03:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-13-2015, 03:45 PM by MidTowner.)
(08-13-2015, 03:33 PM)Canard Wrote: I still don't totally understand how it is being built or why it hasn't been built yet. Doesn't the Region just hire an architect and be like, "Hey, build this"?
Was that sarcasm because I don't understand the process? I don't: I was asking an honest question about it. RFP documents were planned to be completed this month, and I was curious whether one of the two options had to be chosen in advance of that.
Edit: If it was not sarcasm, I apologize for that assumption. For all I know, it is as simple as that. All I know was August was when they were expecting the next update, and I was wondering if anyone knew whether that was still the case.
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As far as I know, no budget has been set. It's still in "dream mode". At the same time, we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars paying staff to come up with dream scenarios, as well as millions spent acquiring property.
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It's not sarcasm at all - I honestly totally do not understand why there aren't towers and a giant cool-looking station being built right now, like all the concept art shows.
Just get Calatrava or Erickson to come in and do their thing, they'll whip up something lovely for us 
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I'm guessing like all ION construction so far, this will get delayed. Maybe a year? like Caroline, lol
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Because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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(08-13-2015, 07:01 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: Because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
^ that.
Check Kitchener or the Region's capital plans. There isn't any money there. And the province is in massive debt and facing total (public/Catholic/elementary/high school) strike in September.
Money always talks and in this case, there ain't any. Hence, the silence and lack of cranes.
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I'd pay $1000 extra per year in taxes to see it built.
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(08-13-2015, 08:24 PM)numberguy Wrote: Check Kitchener or the Region's capital plans. There isn't any money there. And the province is in massive debt and facing total (public/Catholic/elementary/high school) strike in September.
Technically the Ontario debt is less than 50% of GDP, which I would consider manageable, especially as we can expect continued GDP growth in the future (given future population growth). It's the current deficit that's a bigger problem.
But an elementary school strike should save the government some money. 
Anyway, to get back on topic, I expect Kitchener is looking for a private-sector partner to build this anyway, I'm sure this will not be a government-funded complex.
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