General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[GarthDanlor]

I was walking through Cedar Hill this morning and passed the site of the old water tower at 100 George St.  When it came down I believe there was talk of turning the property into a parkette or public gardens but that obviously hasn't happened yet.  Has anyone heard anything about this site?  Presumably it is (or was?) owned by the Region?

[jamincan]

I'm not sure the point with Sand Hills Park right across the street.

[tomh009]

I would vote for affordable housing there. And hopefully that is indeed what the region is planning to do.

[GarthDanlor]

I'm not sure the point with Sand Hills Park right across the street.

That's true enough.  I found the reference and the proposal was actually for a community garden to go here.   Saw this mentioned a couple of times in the Record.  Outline.com doesn't seem to be working, but this is also briefly mentioned here: https://communityedition.ca/if-streets-c...edar-hill/

[GarthDanlor]

I would vote for affordable housing there. And hopefully that is indeed what the region is planning to do.

Yes, that seems a better idea

[ac3r]

Some affordable middle housing would be perfect there. You could easily fit 10+ units on that location...even more if you don't have any stupid parking minimums. I doubt that would ever happen, though.

[danbrotherston]

Some affordable middle housing would be perfect there. You could easily fit 10+ units on that location...even more if you don't have any stupid parking minimums. I doubt that would ever happen, though.

Yeah, 10 would be easy, the apartments behind easily fit 20 units in the same space.

[ijmorlan]

Some affordable middle housing would be perfect there. You could easily fit 10+ units on that location...even more if you don't have any stupid parking minimums. I doubt that would ever happen, though.

The notion of parking minima applying to affordable housing is even more absurd than the general notion of parking minima.

Our whole society is unaffordable, not to mention messing up the climate in which it lives, in large part due to our massive overuse of the admittedly very useful technology of motorized personal vehicles.

People who have to watch every penny should not be forced to pay for parking; if they are stuck in a life situation that requires them to drive, then they can buy parking.

It’s weird. I tend to think of a $2000 bicycle as a luxury item unlikely to be owned by anybody in the bottom quartile of income; but in fact such a vehicle is way more affordable than the $5000 car they might own which is constantly causing them to have to spend additional money on repairs and maintenance. Assuming we had the small investment in bicycle roadways required to support this, our poor people would suddenly be much richer, in effect and on average, if they ditched their cars and bought fancy bicycles.

[danbrotherston]

Some affordable middle housing would be perfect there. You could easily fit 10+ units on that location...even more if you don't have any stupid parking minimums. I doubt that would ever happen, though.

The notion of parking minima applying to affordable housing is even more absurd than the general notion of parking minima.

Our whole society is unaffordable, not to mention messing up the climate in which it lives, in large part due to our massive overuse of the admittedly very useful technology of motorized personal vehicles.

People who have to watch every penny should not be forced to pay for parking; if they are stuck in a life situation that requires them to drive, then they can buy parking.

It’s weird. I tend to think of a $2000 bicycle as a luxury item unlikely to be owned by anybody in the bottom quartile of income; but in fact such a vehicle is way more affordable than the $5000 car they might own which is constantly causing them to have to spend additional money on repairs and maintenance. Assuming we had the small investment in bicycle roadways required to support this, our poor people would suddenly be much richer, in effect and on average, if they ditched their cars and bought fancy bicycles.

Preach!

Even worse, one is far far more likely to be stolen, and not returned.

This is the thing that's frustrating, yes, motorvehicles can be useful. Just like screwdrivers are useful. But if we were drowning in screwdrivers, we wouldn't be arguing that they are useful and we can't get rid of them.

[dtkvictim]

I'm not sure the point with Sand Hills Park right across the street.

The point would be to have more park space. I think the city doesn't have enough green space as is, and will feel more strongly about that as the city densifies. IMO, it will be much easier to keep undeveloped space green than it would be to turn already built up land into green space or affordable housing.

[tomh009]

I'm not sure the point with Sand Hills Park right across the street.

The point would be to have more park space. I think the city doesn't have enough green space as is, and will feel more strongly about that as the city densifies. IMO, it will be much easier to keep undeveloped space green than it would be to turn already built up land into green space or affordable housing.

I agree with your point in general, but the property is only 0.28 acres, just over a tenth the size of the Sandhills Park -- and not situated so as to really effectively extend the park. I would rather focus on creating significant parks at city-owned opportunities like Rockwood, or similar.

This is about 20% smaller than 122 Courtland, which has 14 units. Depending on the type of housing and the number of parking spaces, it could provide 10-15 affordable housing units, which is nothing to sneeze at.

[cherrypark]

This grassy triangle: https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4481554,-...a=!3m1!1e3

Not a big development, but interestingly this lot had basically every tree clear cut as of yesterday. Not sure what spurred it unless it was just some clean up by someone who acquired it. Gravel drive laid down and some digging happening at the site.

 
As of today this whole spot is now a big hole. Not clear what is going on, but might just be soil cleanup and improving drainage given it used to be oil/gas relative, if I'm not mistaken.

[mastermind]

I couldn't find a thread for this but 169 Borden has the trees cut down and a construction trailer on site.

[tomh009]

Not a big development, but interestingly this lot had basically every tree clear cut as of yesterday. Not sure what spurred it unless it was just some clean up by someone who acquired it. Gravel drive laid down and some digging happening at the site.

 
As of today this whole spot is now a big hole. Not clear what is going on, but might just be soil cleanup and improving drainage given it used to be oil/gas relative, if I'm not mistaken.

It's zoned MR-4 (mixed-used residential, high density) but there are no building permits for either this property or any of the neighbouring properties that would connect it to Park St or Victoria St.

[ac3r]

I couldn't find a thread for this but 169 Borden has the trees cut down and a construction trailer on site.

I wonder what's they're doing there. It's still zoned institutional (INS-1) as it used to be a retirement home.