09-20-2022, 03:51 PM
Yeah, it's due to the height limit. As a result of restrictions like that, developers go for these old school slab buildings so they can fit as many units in as they can to make it worth the cost and effort.
Even if they just increased allowed height to 30 (or 35) floors, it would allow buildings to go a little higher, hold more people and more efficiently utilize the available space that exists uptown which is important as it's a tiny, tiny, tiny urban space. It's how downtown Kitchener went from having <20 floor buildings like The Bow and 1 Victoria going up mid 2010s to where we're now planning like half a dozen 44-45 floor skyscraper projects to start soon. Waterloo just needs to realize that by doing this, it's not like downtown Kitchener turned bad. If they don't want skyscrapers like we're building here that's fine - not every city needs those anyway, especially a place like Waterloo where uptown is not the centre of the region like downtown is - but just permitting a slight increase to perhaps 30 floors could go a long way (especially, for me anyway, in terms of aesthetics/urban environment...these recangular building projects are hideous and inhumane feeling).
I think the issue is that older residents and council in Waterloo still perceive the city as being "small town" which is totally fine - it's a good way to brand that part of the region. But Waterloo is physically small. We're a rapidly growing region and maximizing space utilization everywhere is going to be important. Either build up like most cities do when facing growing pains or at least change the rules for medium density zoning all over the place. The only area they've really allowed this is near the universities. While the buildings are hideous disasters and really cheap, they sure did manage to pack a ton of mid-rise buildings in a small area which is how the best cities in the world grow.
Even if they just increased allowed height to 30 (or 35) floors, it would allow buildings to go a little higher, hold more people and more efficiently utilize the available space that exists uptown which is important as it's a tiny, tiny, tiny urban space. It's how downtown Kitchener went from having <20 floor buildings like The Bow and 1 Victoria going up mid 2010s to where we're now planning like half a dozen 44-45 floor skyscraper projects to start soon. Waterloo just needs to realize that by doing this, it's not like downtown Kitchener turned bad. If they don't want skyscrapers like we're building here that's fine - not every city needs those anyway, especially a place like Waterloo where uptown is not the centre of the region like downtown is - but just permitting a slight increase to perhaps 30 floors could go a long way (especially, for me anyway, in terms of aesthetics/urban environment...these recangular building projects are hideous and inhumane feeling).
I think the issue is that older residents and council in Waterloo still perceive the city as being "small town" which is totally fine - it's a good way to brand that part of the region. But Waterloo is physically small. We're a rapidly growing region and maximizing space utilization everywhere is going to be important. Either build up like most cities do when facing growing pains or at least change the rules for medium density zoning all over the place. The only area they've really allowed this is near the universities. While the buildings are hideous disasters and really cheap, they sure did manage to pack a ton of mid-rise buildings in a small area which is how the best cities in the world grow.