4611 King St E | 30 & 25 fl | Proposed

[neonjoe]

This will be beside the future 8EB->401WB ramps. I wonder how close this ends up being to the right of way, will the MTO present any objections to this?

[Acitta]

Proposed highrise development in Kitchener draws big concerns

Neighbours who could soon be living near a pair of highrise buildings are raising concerns with a proposed development for King Street East in Kitchener.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/proposed-hi...-1.7092749

[ac3r]

"I do not believe that this is the right site for any sort of development" haha it's a vacant plot of land that has sat unused for decades. It's the perfect place for development. "We are deeply concerned about the potential contamination of our private wells along with the interruption of our water supply. We directly and solely depend on our private wells for our water" as if the millions of vehicles that drive along the 401, 8, King Street, all the little residential roads each year and all the filthy runoff that flows down the Grand River hasn't been contaminating the water supply. Nope, it'll be a small residential tower development that starts making everyone sick...

Typical nonsense from wealthy, white, boomer landowners lucky enough to live on a secluded street surrounded by forests and a river, now forced to accept the prospect of having new neighbours. Yawn.

Hopefully it gets approved without having to waste everyone's time. Though, if it ends up at the OLT then I welcome that too, since the OLT is actually pretty decent at approving projects like this.

[wiwi887]

Frankly, I’ve never seen anything as ridiculous as the opposition to constructions on those lots which have been idle for years. It kind of feels like water contamination is something they are stretching, like the 401 traffic hasn’t been affecting that already. The usual arrogant narcissistic attitude of some people who are fine with problems as long as they aren’t in their own backyard. Fortunately, this progresses without much fanfare but if it gets to the OLT, at least there is a better chance of a go signal.

[wiseguy]

"I do not believe that this is the right site for any sort of development" haha it's a vacant plot of land that has sat unused for decades. It's the perfect place for development. "We are deeply concerned about the potential contamination of our private wells along with the interruption of our water supply. We directly and solely depend on our private wells for our water" as if the millions of vehicles that drive along the 401, 8, King Street, all the little residential roads each year and all the filthy runoff that flows down the Grand River hasn't been contaminating the water supply. Nope, it'll be a small residential tower development that starts making everyone sick...

Typical nonsense from wealthy, white, boomer landowners lucky enough to live on a secluded street surrounded by forests and a river, now forced to accept the prospect of having new neighbours. Yawn.

Hopefully it gets approved without having to waste everyone's time. Though, if it ends up at the OLT then I welcome that too, since the OLT is actually pretty decent at approving projects like this.

Maybe you didn't notice - this submission was made by LJM on behalf of Imperial Oil. This is a brownfield site with known groundwater contamination from a former gas station (1960's-90's). The residents mostly draw their water from the lower aquifer. The contaminated water is currently trapped in the upper aquifer. The resident's concern is that the construction may breach this barrier between the upper and lower aquifer. Most likely that barrier won't be breached based on other data in the ESA, but it isn't really clear because they don't have precise data on the depth of the hardpan in this particular area. Why don't they have data on the depth of the hardpan in this area? Because the ESA specifically identifies drilling on this site as a risk point to the lower aquifer. There is no municipal water available at the street, either, and the city does not have services installation on the 10-year budget. So, it could be 11 years or 20 years away.

All that said - I do think that the excavation activity would basically qualify as abatement of the site, so the groundwater may be in better shape after construction.

[wiseguy]

See attached for MTO comments on this development.

[wiseguy]

See attached for updated site plan and traffic study from the developer. 

The main change is the tower heights have changed from 30 + 25 --> 33 + 22. 

The revised traffic study is trying to address some of the MTO comments, and it seems they have changed how they calculate delay times for the LOS study (quite a big difference vs. the original study). See attached for a mock-up of the suggested U-turn location for residents in response to MTO's question. Comically, the queue length to exit the site in the PM looks like it will exceed the available surface vehicle storage - so I guess some cars will be stuck on the parking garage ramp.

[Momo26]

Is this not one of the least pedestrian-friendly spots in all KW? Next to the 401 at that. You have a couple plazas and a Costco.

What's the idea here? The future ION is to run down King down Shantz Hill so the entire area will get revitalized?

[neonjoe]

If/When the EB8-WB401 and EB401-WB8 ramps ever get built traffic through this area will likely get alleviated. Perhaps that plus the LRT construction could transform this area into something a bit nicer. Although having to walk under three bridges to get to Cambridge is far less than ideal.

[wiseguy]

Is this not one of the least pedestrian-friendly spots in all KW? Next to the 401 at that. You have a couple plazas and a Costco.

What's the idea here? The future ION is to run down King down Shantz Hill so the entire area will get revitalized?

This development seems to hinge on a single eastbound iXpress bus stop about 200m away. 

-The closest westbound bus stop is a 950m walk (300m if you jaywalk)
-Sportsworld bus station is a 1300m walk...
-Sportsworld ION stop is about 1400m walk...

And I have yet to hear any sensible justification for having 400 bicyclists in this location without a multi-use trail on this side of King St.

[wiseguy]

If/When the EB8-WB401 and EB401-WB8 ramps ever get built traffic through this area will likely get alleviated. Perhaps that plus the LRT construction could transform this area into something a bit nicer. Although having to walk under three bridges to get to Cambridge is far less than ideal.

I've heard this come up a few times and I decided to look into it. I compared other active developments around Kitchener on busy roads to try to understand the scale of "traffic" at this location vs. other locations at peak times. 

4611 King Street East - 2621/hr
4396 King Street East - 1668/hr (other side of the road)
1198 Fischer-Hallman Rd. - 1419/hr
236 Victoria Road N. - 799/hr

And if you removed 100% of WB 401 traffic, then this site drops down to about 1708/hr. But I don't think 100% is reasonable, maybe more like 70-80% reduction instead... so at the end of the day I think traffic will always be intense at this location as a main route between Kitchener and Cambridge.

[bravado]

Keep in mind those bridges to Cambridge don’t even have a sidewalk, so all you gotta do is walk through the ditch along 5 lanes because we are a world class city + region

[wiseguy]

Keep in mind those bridges to Cambridge don’t even have a sidewalk, so all you gotta do is walk through the ditch along 5 lanes because we are a world class city + region

The sidewalks under the 401 are sort of part of the ION phase 2 plan, but it looks like they don’t have enough room for them until the bridge is totally replaced… which is about 20 years down the road. 

ION Phase 2 “interim” plan will allow LRT under the 401 king street bridge, but no sidewalks. 

ION Phase 2 “ultimate” plan will include sidewalks but requires bridge replacement. It’ll be really fun replacing that bridge overtop of an LRT system.

[wiseguy]

Still going around in circles here:

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...18118.html

[tomh009]

Still going around in circles here:

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...18118.html

"They also want assurances access to developments along this stretch of King Street won’t be allowed from Limerick, a residential street lacking sidewalks and street lights."

Maybe they should put sidewalks and streetlights onto Limerick, too? 🤔