General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[cherrypark]

Kitchener’s Duke Street could be transformed to discourage cars, favour transit and cyclists [The Record]

Pleasantly surprised - I figured the Duke St section of the downtown grid as proposed by the city was unlikely to come because of the ROW limitations and the Region's apathy to do anything AT priority. Would be nice if 30 kph became more the norm for downtown ped/bike priority areas though instead of 40.

Hoping this means they are looking to be as forward thinking with Benton/Frederick as well.

[danbrotherston]

Kitchener’s Duke Street could be transformed to discourage cars, favour transit and cyclists [The Record]

Pleasantly surprised - I figured the Duke St section of the downtown grid as proposed by the city was unlikely to come because of the ROW limitations and the Region's apathy to do anything AT priority. Would be nice if 30 kph became more the norm for downtown ped/bike priority areas though instead of 40.

Hoping this means they are looking to be as forward thinking with Benton/Frederick as well.

I'm not.

It's mediocre, and typical. It shows again that the region refuses to prioritize cycling under any circumstances.

Leaving aside the fact that without millions of dollars of enforcement, most drivers will ignore the no through signs, which is exactly what we see happening in Toronto.

They are "considering" 40! You can't make this up, it's insanely bad.  I'm not having my child share the road with the over 500 buses that will use this corridor.

It's also a lie. If they wanted to, they could run buses up the LRT right of way, and use one lane for buses in the other direction, and one lane for bikes. But they won't. Because running buses and LRT together might slow down transit. Because running with bikes won't slow down transit? Why not? Because as usual they aren't planning to have bikes there.

The ONLY good thing about this plan is it should be easy to fix because it's not infrastructure.

This is also coming from the same minds who insisted they could not possibly put in protected bike lanes on University Ave because it was impossible to transition from protected bike lanes to painted bike lanes. Somehow that transition isn't a problem coming from a two way protected bike lane on one side of the road to no infra.

The city should not endorse it, they should stand up for something for once instead of compromising it. They should fucking call the region out as the obstacle to the city they are.

The bike network is ON Duke because it was the ONLY corridor where the region would even consider protecting cyclists, and it's no surprise they are now refusing. We *COULD* have had it on Weber, there's space there, but we don't.

*sigh*...I'm glad I'm leaving guys, this is absolutely no surprise.

What I am disappointed by is the positive response to it...it's like we have such low expectations that we'll take a sign as a win. Sharrows weren't good enough...neither is this.

[Lebronj23]

Not sure if there is a thread for this
20 storeys at 4220 King St East

https://app2.kitchener.ca/AppDocs/OpenDa...644349.pdf

[panamaniac]

An iconic project with the potential to remind you why you’re glad to be leaving town ...

[GtwoK]

An unexpectedly attractive development, given the location. It's hard to picture this area as residential at all — not that it can't be, just hard to picture it. If the developments like this, and the Sportsworld Dr one succeed though, wow, what a different area this will be in a few years time. And so oddly segregated from the rest of the city! It's its own little pocket without much room for development into the city around it.




Also, what the hell are they smoking with this diagram? Are the developers from out of town? Did they hear there would be an LRT stop in the area, check google maps, see train tracks, and assume that must be the LRT?

[neonjoe]

That LRT map actually may be from the original plan way back. The region originally wanted to use the trackage beside King and run the LRT down to Cambridge via that route. But this is what was proposed circa 2010

[taylortbb]

Theres a thread for this project in the suburban forum https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...p?tid=1650

[taylortbb]

Plans submitted for a 3 story / 16 Unit building at 40 College St, behind the SCS and next to Laurier (there was a house there previously demolished a few years back)

This now has a name, https://luxcondominiums.ca/ .

[Rainrider22]

Plans submitted for a 3 story / 16 Unit building at 40 College St, behind the SCS and next to Laurier (there was a house there previously demolished a few years back)

This now has a name, https://luxcondominiums.ca/ .

Nice...I like it !

[cherrypark]

Plans submitted for a 3 story / 16 Unit building at 40 College St, behind the SCS and next to Laurier (there was a house there previously demolished a few years back)

This now has a name, https://luxcondominiums.ca/ .

Great infill project. Hope it proceeds as planned here.

[jeffster]

This now has a name, https://luxcondominiums.ca/ .

Great infill project. Hope it proceeds as planned here.

Studio units -- what would the price for these be? Todays market is insane, but how much can you ask for something like this?

[Lens]

Great infill project. Hope it proceeds as planned here.

Studio units -- what would the price for these be? Todays market is insane, but how much can you ask for something like this?

$1300-$1600

[tomh009]

Studio (bachelor!) apartments are actually pretty common in many countries. And it's much easier to make a functional layout than with a 1BR. For sure I would rather have a nice 400 sqft studio than a 400 sqft 1BR.

[plam]

Studio (bachelor!) apartments are actually pretty common in many countries. And it's much easier to make a functional layout than with a 1BR. For sure I would rather have a nice 400 sqft studio than a 400 sqft 1BR.

Yeah. Or a 0br+den like I was staying at in Kaufman. The only thing is that there isn't sound insulation which can be annoying if there's an annoying fridge. But yes, studios can be quite functional.

[tomh009]

Just need a nice quiet F+P fridge!