A site to share information about our central KW community. Email us at mhbpna@gmail.com. Visit our archived material at https://sites.google.com/site/mhbpna/Home
FYI, we are working with the city of Kitchener
for the official “Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association”
to enter a period of dormancy. There is currently not a full executive
and efforts for recruitment and engagement have not had tangible
results.
The NA can easily be started up again, but would
require a minimum of 4 to 5 executive members meeting 3 to 4 (or more)
times per year.
Our Facebook page has over 700 ‘likes’ and may
remain active for community announcements and would drop “Association”
from its name.
We are working with the city on the status of our website/blog (mhbpna.org).
We have more than 15 years of neighbourhood history there which we’d
like to keep. One option would be to move the newer posts back to mhbpna.blogspot.com which is still ‘alive’.
If anyone is interested in more information
please email “mhbpna@gmail.com” which is currently active. You can also
message our Facebook page.
On February 20th, 2024 MHBPNA had its first AGM in two or three years, but who is counting?
Thank you to the 16 community members who attended on Tuesday. We had
several longtime members, many new to the organization and new to the
neighbourhood, and also representatives from the City of Kitchener, the
Lions Club and our City Councillor Stephanie Stretch.
Ted Parkinson (Communications) presented an overview of MHBPNA’s 40
year history and we discussed past events that attendees remembered. The
discussion included Jane’s Walks, the celebration we planned for the
re-opening of the Margaret Avenue Bridge, various Lantern Walks,
Breithaupt Park camp outs, the soccer program and the Duke St. West
Music Fest.
Emily Slofstra (Treasurer) discussed our current funds and our City
of Kitchener representative, Shannon Thompson, mentioned some of the
funding grants that are available from the city.
Everyone there talked about how they envisioned the MHBPNA going forward and most were interested in the idea of EVENTS. So we are looking at three or four events this coming year including:
–Earth Day cleanup
–Jane’s Walk
–Music Festival
–Running event through Breithaupt Park
So this year looks pretty exciting. But we still want to hear from
you! What are you looking for in your neighbourhood association? Do you
want to get involved? When we work together, anything is possible.
If you would like to join our executive, or be involved in the
activities, please contact us at “mhbpna@gmail.com” or through our
Facebook page.
Some of the things MHBPNA have done
in the past? Jane’s Walks, Earth Day spring cleanup, Duke St West Music
Fest, Lego (classes or just drop in), classes at the Breithaupt Centre
(in the past we’ve had Batik, cooking classes, football skills class),
paint a street, organize a street party, organize a ‘bike rodeo’,
lantern walks, newsletter, sit on ‘development committee’, appear as a
‘delegate’ for city and regional councils, organize community discussion
about topics like zoning, growth, gardens.
Come to the AGM and ask questions, meet your neighbours….
The Breithaupt Run Group Marks 52 Weeks of Running
It’s been a great year of running in the neighbourhood. The
Breithaupt Run Group has met at 6pm every Monday starting January 2,
2023 and can confirm: there are great roads, paths, and trails for
running!
The group is free, social, and welcome to everyone. They typically
run up to 6 kilometres at 6 minutes per kilometre pace, but that is
customized to the runners present each week, which often includes dogs,
strollers, and kids on bikes. They often go longer or shorter, faster or
slower, or more roads or trails, all depending on the people. It’s
worth noting that this is a friendly group for neighbours to connect and
enjoy the neighbourhood, and not in any way a team for talented
runners.
Here is a composite map they sent me of the entire year’s worth of
runs. They most likely either go through Breithaupt Park or loop through
Mount Hope to King St for the benefit of kids to see the Ion trains.
The Breithaupt Run Group doesn’t have a website or social media; all
you need to know is that they meet Mondays at 6pm at the front entrance
of the Breithaupt Centre. January 1 is the official one year anniversary
run and if you are interested, you can lace up and get 2024 off to the
right foot!
Growing Together is Kitchener’s response to the Province’s mandate to increase density near transit stations.
If you live in Mt. Hope/Breithaupt and are within 800 metres of a
Major Transit Station Area – the ION stop at Grand River Hospital or the
Central Stop at Victoria and King – the zoning of your property will
be changing. Generally this means that all areas roughly within
Union/Weber/Victoria/King will be re-zoned to a new Zoning category
known as Strategic Growth Area 1 (see the actual map for Strategic Area 1
on the Growing Together website).
City staff are open to any and all comments on the new plan/re-zoning up until November 30th.
Feedback on the plan will be incorporated into recommendations to
Council. The document which best summarizes the changes to all areas
within MTSAs is the Draft Official Plan Amendment – its an easy overview
and about 18 pages long.
Here are some things in the Official Plan Amendment which you might be interested in
Future plans for downtown Kitchener
How the Bramm Yards will be re-developed (between Victoria and the rail lines)
How new builds are expected to add to the “streetscape” through building design, public spaces, tree canopy
New guidelines for “tall buildings” and how they are integrated into existing neighbourhoods/properties
Outlining ways to re-use existing buildings through more adaptive uses
The future of properties currently zoned “industrial”
NB MTSAs are identified along all ION stops so these changes will
apply in Mill/Courtland/Downtown Kitchener/Block Line etc. Officially
the name of the area of Mt. Hope impacted by these zoning changes is KW
Hospital/Midtown
You might want to take a few minutes to look over the new DRAFT OFFICIAL PLAN.
Great Interest in Kitchener Centre by-election Housing Forum
Organizers of the Kitchener Centre by-election Housing Forum are thrilled with the enthusiastic response to their Thursday November 23 meeting at 23 Water Street North, Kitchener, 6:30- 9 pm.
“Some 16 groups stepped forward to sponsor it, ranging from housing
developers, organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness,
advocates for green development standards, to Waterloo Region YIMBY (Yes
In My Backyard) andArchitectural Conservancy Ontario (ACO) North
Waterloo Region Branch,” said Acer Bonaparte, president of the Waterloo
Region ACORN chapter and one of the event organizers. “Lots of people
in Kitchener Centre care about housing!”
In person visitors can browse sponsoring groups’ and candidates’ information tables between 6:30 and 7 pm.
Moderator Dawn Parker will start by posing pre-submitted questions to
the three candidates who have confirmed their attendance, Green Party
candidate Aislinn Clancy, Liberal Party candidate Kelly Steiss, and New
Democratic Party candidate Debbie Chapman. After that, questions
collected from participants will be posed to the candidates. The forum
will end at 8:30 pm.
Event sponsors: ACORN, Architectural Conservancy Ontario- North
Waterloo Region Branch, Basic Income Waterloo Region, Beyond Housing,
Cherry Park Neighbourhood Association, Council of Canadians KW Chapter,
Grand River Unitarian Congregation, GreenWR, Groundup, Momentum
Developments, Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood
Association, OldeBerlin Town Neighbourhood Association, Social
Development Centre, Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association, Waterloo
Region Yes In My Backyard
MHBPNA needs volunteers to function.
We are planning on having an Annual General Meeting in January of 2024
to see who would like to be involved as we move forward past the
pandemic. We will post a poll to decide which date works best.
In the meantime, here and on our Facebook Page, we are posting links to events we have organized and supported over the years. We have had a such a great time with our community and hope 2024 can be even more exciting.
In the past MHBPNA has done political lobbying which has directly change our neighbourhood for the better. For example:
Here is information about our meeting with Regional Staff over how
the Weber Street Widening was going to affect our neighbourhood and that
we needed a crosswalk with a signal:
Below is an invitation from the City of Kitchener. There will
be a ‘new’ group called “Kitchener Citizens for Livable Development.”
This is a response to all the development in Kitchener over the past few
years and it would be very worthwhile to follow it.
This group is partly an extension of the MHBPNA Development group
that met for several years under the direction of Catherine Owens. There
is a section of our website with Development Committee
information. Although our own committee is no longer active, all
residents are encouraged to become involved in understanding and
promoting sustainable, and “livable” development.
Please consider signing up for this session on Saturday.
Hello neighbours in Downtown Kitchener! For the past few years,
there has been a group called the Downtown Development Committee that
has brought together people living in downtown neighbourhoods (mainly
from Grand River Hospital to King/Ottawa) to learn about and respond to
development issues. We recently reviewed and revised our purpose and
structure and are transitioning into a new group called Kitchener
Citizens for Livable Development. We would like to invite other
interested residents to attend a planning meeting on Saturday May 11th.
Here are the details.
We invite you to join us for the morning on Saturday May 11 to
learn about and work with us on transitioning from the Downtown
Development Group to Kitchener Citizens for Livable Development. Please
use the EventBrite link to register, so that we know how many people
are coming and who to expect. Here are the goals for this meeting:
1. Share the new Terms of Reference
2. Engage neighbourhoods in KCLD
3. Appoint a Chair/Co-chair
4. Create an
Executive Team to share work, according to priorities identified at the
meeting (e.g. Secretary, Website Coordinator(s), monitors of Provincial,
Regional, and local planning and development issues, etc.)
5. Set dates/meeting times for 2024
6. Finalize Pro-forma Agenda to be used as a template at each meeting
7. Identify first steps in creating a common website
At MHBPNA we do believe in performing
music. Anywhere and everywhere, particularly on your porch. So for all
musicians within the boundaries of MHBPNA, if you play music on Aug 26th
and invite people, MHBPNA will reimburse you up to $30 for food
(muffins, coffee, pizza etc.) with receipts.
If you email us at mhbpna@gmail.com and let us know what time you are
playing, then we will post it on our website. Let’s get out there and
play some music.
p.s. if you do not have a porch, you may still play music on your balcony, front steps, back parking lot etc.
Schedule so far
3 pm Ted Parkinson (463 Duke St. West). Starting with some jazz, working into covers and original songs.
Thank you to the 30 or so folks who attended our Jane’s Walk:
“Marvellous Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park: from Industrial Past to
Innovative Present”. It was a lot of fun to talk about our great
neighbourhood and chat with so many of you.
Here are a few highlights. We look forward to leading another walk next year!
At the beginning of the walk everyone met the co-leaders: Ted Parkinson and Lane Burman.
We started the walk at the “Shoe Factory” at the corner of St. Leger and
Breithaupt Street. This building has around 40 tenants in it, and has
kept most of the historic look since it was the Greb shoe factory. Lane
recounted many stories including one of a “ghost” that might still be
there!
We talked about Krug Furniture, the Weber Street Widening, the impact
of the railway being constructed in 1850 and the “industrial” roots of
our neighbourhood.
Below Lane is discussing the area around the former Fire Hall at Duke
and Breithaupt. Another topic of our walk was how most of the buildings
in MHBP are examples of “vernacular” architecture, this building has a
fire hose tower that includes some Italianate features making it
“polite”. The things you learn, right?
We ended the walk in the shadow of the Breithaupt Block which has been
extensively renovated for Google and other tenants. One of the most
exciting things about our area is how so many of the older buildings
have been updated to still be used for so many “modern” commercial
activities like developing software.
Each year, Canadian National Railway Company (CN) identifies the
level crossings across its network, which require rehabilitation (major
maintenance) to maintain crossings that are adequate for the road users
and for continued safe railway operations. CN is planning on undertaking
‘full depth crossing rehab’ at several different crossings that are
under the jurisdiction of the City of Waterloo. CN will require a
full road closure (including sidewalks) to accommodate the proposed
works. They are going to restrict/close off the MUP sidewalk that is
adjacent to the tracks to accommodate this work and a safe work-zone.
They will not be maintaining pedestrian traffic through their work
zone.
They have provided their updated schedule as follows;
Allan St -100 Allan St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1V9 – May 1/23, 07:00hr – May 5/23, 19:00hr
John St – 66 John St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1G1 – May 8/23, 07:00hr – May 12/23. 19:00hr
Union St – 95 Union St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1G1 -May 15/23, 07:00hr – May 19/23, 19:00hr
Moore St -127 Moore Ave S, Waterloo, ON N2J 1X4 -May 23/23, 07:00hr – May 26/23, 19:00hr
Roger St – 150 Roger St, Waterloo, ON N2J 1X9 – May 29/23, 07:00hr – June 2/23, 19:00hr
After a few years hiatus, MHBPNA is sponsoring a Jane’s Walk this year. We encourage everyone to check out the Jane’s Walk Waterloo Region website to see all the walks in Cambridge, Waterloo and Kitchener. It will be an excellent weekend.
Our walk will be on Saturday, May 6 at 1 pm:
Here is a short explanation of “What is a Jane’s walk” we wrote on this Blog back in 2012:
Spring must be here because it is time for another Jane’s Walk
Weekend in the Kitchener/Waterloo area. The “Jane” in the walk is Jane Jacobs
who was an urban activist in the United States and Canada. She wrote
books on how to build urban environments that people enjoyed living in.
The photo below shows her engaged in saving Penn Station from
development and in her later years she was famous for helping stop the
Spadina Expressway in Toronto.
Of course there are many excellent places on the web to learn about
Ms. Jacobs. The great thing about the Jane’s Walk events is that you do
not need to know anything about her at all, except that she serves as an
inspiration for neighbours to get together and discover the history of
where they live. These walks are a great way to meet people from near
and far.
Hello MHBNA! That’s a mouthful… Thanks for your support! I’m very
excited to represent our neighbourhood and Ward 10 on city council. I
have a fondness for Mount Hope – Breithaupt Park as it is where I live
and play. I decided to run for city council as I was troubled with how
our province has been handling our progress towards climate, tearing
down wind turbines, building gas power plants and firing the environment
ombudsman. And now Bill 23 threatens to pave our green belt. As a
mother of two quirky kids, I want to be sure that our various levels of
government work to promote a livable planet and a healthy city. I felt
that as a climate advocate, social worker and activist I could
contribute as a city Councillor to promote well-being, climate
solutions, thoughtful city planning and equity.
At this time, I have a seat on the Downtown Action Advisory
Committee, The Downtown BIA, the Active Transportation and Trails
Advisory Committee and the Climate Change and Environment Committee.
I continue to work part time as a school social worker, supporting
students who have disengaged with their learning to find the strength
and motivation to take action on their life goals. I’m married to Ryan
Fobel, a data engineer and heat pump enthusiast, and we have two kids
Zidra 12, and James 10. I hope to get to know everyone over the
next four years and help celebrate community, work to build healthy neighbourhoods and promote our good values in our city.
The MHBPNA Development Committee has been operating for over 5
years. We are a group of 10 neighbours, residing in Ward 10, whose
primary focus has been to identify development issues and advocate on
behalf of the neighbourhood. Our other primary purpose is to help all
residents of MHBP understand how the planning process works.
The committee was initially established years ago because we knew
that the ION would bring substantial changes to our neighbourhood.
Neighbours felt we should be able to unite as a group and give feedback
to the Region and the City as to how we wanted to see development happen
in our area. We pulled together a group of 10 residents who were all
interested in making sure Mount Hope/Breithaupt remained a great place
to live. Although the membership of the committee has changed and
evolved over the years I would like to extend a thanks to the current
members ….
Jorg Broschek – representative from the Neighbourhood Association
Linda Vandenakker – representative from the Neighbourhood Association
Mark Sisson – tracking and communicating all Committee of Adjustment Applications
Nik Schmidt – managing our technology tools and updating our neighbourhood maps on planning changes
Gordon Hatt/Scott Morris/Tom Hiller – providing feedback to the city on traffic issues, the Region on the Transit Hub design
And lastly to Sarah Marsh who has been a wonderful addition to our
group, who attended almost every monthly meeting and who helped us make
valuable personal connections at City Hall.
Over the years, the Development Committee has provided input for the
city on the RIENS guidelines (Residential Intensification in Existing
Neighbourhoods), the ADU procedures (additional dwelling units), the
planning education videos on the city’s website, the coordination and
review of Crozby (the city’s zoning review), new procedures for
Committee of Adjustment notifications and the new re-development signs
posted on re-development sites. We have continually liaised with the
Region regarding the new transit hub and the closure of Duke and
Waterloo Streets. Our “geo-mapping tool”, developed to identify all
developments in Mt. Hope was seen as “best practice” and was used by the
City as a template for new mapping tools in the city. We have also
continued to provide feedback to the Region of Waterloo on their
official plan amendments and the “hold the country line initiative”. We
rallied around the opposition to the Google build (a parking garage on
the site) and the height of the build. . {The city also uses the
Development Committee as the primary and initial contact with the
neighbourhood (in addition, of course, to the City Councillor).
Although there are not as many significant issues in Mr. Hope from a
planning perspective as there were five years ago, we continue to offer
to support to residents/neighbours on large builds and neighbourhood
concerns over demolition and Committee of Adjustment issues. We often
consult with neighbours who wish to object to C of A rulings, infill,
tree canopy issues, and potential new builds.
Places and Spaces (which identified the
dire need for more parkland in Wards 9 and 10 was a focus for us in
2022. The new Tree Canopy initiative by the city (to increase the
number of trees) in 2023 will also remain on our radar screen
Here is a recap of some of these Committee of Adjustment, demolition, and infill projects we investigated and monitored in 2022:
239/241 Wellington – exterior build only
91 Louisa at Waterloo – demolition/infill;
44 Wilhelm – demo/infill – C of A;
Ahrens/Louisa – new build;
King & Pine – 25 story apartment – passed, building permit issued;
King/Wellington vacant site – bylaw complaint/building permit inquiry;
In addition to residential units, we continue to monitor larger developments
The proposed additional build on the Google site
The Transit Hub
Sacred Heart Complex
The boarded up MacDonald building on King/Moore
The vacant site on Wellington/King
In essence the MHBPNA Development Committee is here to offer support
to all residents on the neighbourhood on development issues. Please
feel free to contact a member of the committee if you have issues you
need help with. And, if you are interested in becoming involved and
want to join the committee, we typically meet the first Thursday of the
month – you can connect at mhbpna@gmail.com
The All Candidates Meeting for Ward 10 was on October 2 from 2 – 4
at the Downtown Community Centre. For those who were unable to attend,
we recorded the meeting and the videos are available here:
Mount Hope – Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association, Olde Berlin Town Neighbourhood Association and Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association invite you to a “Meet the Candidates for Ward 10 Councillor” event on Sunday, October 2nd, 2 – 4 pm at the Downtown Community Centre, 35 Weber St. West, between Young and Ontario.
As of this posting, all 6 candidates for Ward 10
have accepted our invitation to attend. Please come out to meet your
candidates and hear what they have to say about who they are and why
they should be elected.
We are asking everyone to wear masks and will provide masks and hand sanitizer at the door.
Many residents have posted questions here.
We will use your questions to drive the meeting and each candidate will
have a limited time to provide their responses to those topics our
community believes are important. We also hope to have time left at the
end for a few questions from the “live” audience.
This event will be recorded and made publicly available within a day or two of the event. We will not be live-streaming the event.
If you have any questions, please contact us at mhbpna@gmail.com
Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association, Olde Berlin
Town Neighbourhood Association and Central Frederick Neighbourhood
Association invite you to a “Meet the Candidates for Ward 10 Councillor” event on Sunday, October 2nd, 2pm to 3:30pm at the Downtown Community Centre. The address is 35B Weber Street West.
If you have particular questions or concerns that you would like the candidates to speak on, please enter them at this link so we can ensure we make the best use of our time and get as many questions asked as we can.
Click on this link to check if you are on the Voters’ List for the October 24 municipal elections
Click here to find out more about your candidates from the city’s site.
Please email us at mhbpna@gmail.com if you have further questions.
This is a very important issue and one of our residents has written a
detailed and articulate article on it. Please read. Please send an
email to council about it!
by Catherine Owens
The Places and Spaces report goes to Council on Monday. In essence,
what this report, created by city staff says is that our neighbourhood
is the most under-served in the entire city for greenspace/parks. Mt.
Hope covers a huge geographical area and is immediately adjacent to the
downtown. The largest deficit in greenspace/parkland is in the KW
Hospital area (roughly between King and Moore) and at the outer edges of
Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park (Bridgeport/Lancaster). On average,
these two areas of Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park have about 1.4 hectares
of greenspace per resident versus (for example) Country Hills who has 20
hectares per resident.
City Council, in order to attract downtown developers, have
eliminated what is know as “cash in lieu” of parkland fees for all
developers since 2008. Although there are very complex formulas as to
what a developer has to pay to the city for parkland, on average it
works out to about $15,000 per unit. So, if a developer is building a
44 storey building in downtown Kitchener with 500 units they actually
save $7.5 Million in development fees. Extrapolate to the 20 projects
on the books for downtown. This is pure profit to the developer and does
nothing to make our neighbourhood “greener” or more liveable. It is
also important to note that all developers building outside the city
core have to pay this fee – and the city uses the fees to build parkland
– for example the $93 Million for the aquatic centre in Huron Park.
At various committee meetings throughout the summer, there is
a clear indication that a number of Councillors wish to keep the
exemption in place until 2025 or 2027 (rather than the 12
months recommended by city staff). City staff have estimated that
developers in the downtown are/will be saving $60 Million (yes Million)
in fees if the exemption goes past the 12 month period. This means $60
Million in profit to developers and $60 Million less available to
provide greenspace in our neighbourhood.
The other issue that Council will consider on Monday is POPS – the
acronym is Publicly Owned Private Spaces. Some Councillors believe that
developers should be given tax considerations because they are
including public spaces on their development properties. The issue with
this concept is that they are privately owned spaces and the city has
no control over them. Think of the BB3 “parkette” which was touted as
being a benefit to the neighbourhood in lieu of parkland – although not
completed as yet, its nothing more than another concrete space that is
actually built for Google employees and adds no greenspace to the
neighbourhood.
The City has declared a climate crisis yet they are ignoring the
needs of downtown residents for parkland/greenspace … the new bike lanes
have no greenspace separation, buildings in the core are generally
built adjacent to the side walk with not a square foot of greenspace or a
single tree for residents/dogs, Victoria Park is overwhelmed with new
condo dwellers . Never I have ever seen a developer in downtown
advertise that they are selling units $15,000 below market value because
they did not have to pay the “cash in lieu” development fee –
eliminating the parkland fee is pure profit for them.
Developers in downtown/midtown have had a free ride since 2008
because they did not have to pay cash in lieu of parkland. The “free
ride” needs to end – there is no longer a need for the City to attract
developers to the downtown/midtown …. Developers are clamouring to build
in the core and that is why they are now paying $10M to $20M per acre
for downtown land. The suburban councillors, who are really not
invested in our core neighbourhoods, simply see large scale developments
with no green space as additional tax revenue – they are not invested,
as we are, in making this a livable downtown/place to live.
Write to City Council – before Monday – and let them know that
extending the moratorium on waiving the cash in lieu of fees past the
12 months is not acceptable. If you want a template … at the bottom of
this post is the text from the Victoria Park neighbourhood who are just
as concerned about this as we are. Feel free to use any of this text to
help craft your own email.
Although its easy to view Council meetings via Zoom – its important
that you show up at Council on Monday – in the Council chambers – 7 pm –
so Council is aware that adding green space to our neighbourhood is
important
The need for parkland in our neighbourhood (and ultimately a tree
canopy project in 2023) will be a way to preserve our core neighbourhood
… if you love living in a Cultural Heritage Neighbourhood with lots of
trees/greenspace this is your opportunity to tell City Council that they
must force developers to enhance the neighbourhood and not destroy it.
If you are an advocate for better greenspace/parkland and this is all
too confusing … feel free to send mhbpna@gmail.com a note on next
steps.
TEXT from Victoria Park folks:
To: Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Members of Council
council@kitchener.ca
From:
Date: August 2022
RE: Local Parks and Greenspaces Funding
The provision of parks by-law is under review in municipalities
across the province. Many face the same problem as Kitchener in
providing parks and greenspaces in neighbourhoods where intensification
is the highest. We are learning that, unlike Kitchener, aggressive
approaches are being taken to tackle the issue of adequate parks. In
Mississauga and Burlington, for example, significant rate increases
(400% or
more, which is significantly more than Kitchener staff are recommending)
have recently been endorsed, with no transitional phase. In other
municipalities, including some that are local, there are no cap rates
placed on dense forms of development; parkland is dedicated at the
provincial maximums allowed, again unlike Kitchener where a developer
discount of up to 85% is provided.
I am writing to urge that when the Spaces Report comes before Council
on August 22 nd 2022, you vote for changes that expedite the funding
needed to address the equitable provision of local parks in our city. If
you reduce the provisions for parkland funding from the targets
recommended in the Spaces Report, you will exacerbate the problem
created by exempting downtown developers from cash-in-lieu fees for over
a decade.
There are three decisions that, if made by council, will cripple the
city’s ability to address the inequity of parks provision in the city as
documented in the Spaces Report:
1. A reduction to the cash-in-lieu cap rate.
2. An increase in the transition period for revoking cash-in-lieu
payments for development in the downtown. (The original recommendation
by city staff for a transition period of 12 months will result in an
estimated $56.8 m loss of revenue for parks funding.)
3. An increase to the credit for privately owned public spaces.
Here is the opportunity for you to make decisions that build on Kitchener’s reputation as a
progressive city, one with a comprehensive agenda that goes beyond density and addresses:
● Climate change
● An abundant tree canopy
● The health and wellbeing of residents
● Walkable communities in a livable city
● Vibrant spaces
● Social inequities
● Social interaction
Now is the time to align intensification strategies with policies
that create much-needed parklands, greenspaces, and tree-lined streets. I
call on you to vote for the recommendations in the Spaces Report and to
pass funding policies that address parkland needs of current and future
Kitchener residents in all wards.
The Region of Waterloo is again spraying herbicides on the rail line beside the Spur Line Trail.
If
you walk on this trail and/or have children who play along it, you
should read the Region’s website for full information including the FAQ
and attached maps.
Perimeter is hoping to start cleaning up the side streets (Wellington
and Moore) this spring and are hoping for completion around the end of
June but the timing will depend on the weather.
By the way, here is a video of the artwork installation from a few weeks back. Click here.
Electrohome Site
The house at 134 Shanley will be demolished and the excavation of
both sites (134 and 152) and the installation of shoring and foundation
walls will begin early April and last three or four months. Above grade
construction will begin following this and will last for 18 to 24
months. Some of the murals have been removed by the artists and others
may find new homes, included alleys. Watch out around the area!
On February 7, 2022 there was a meeting of the Planning & Strategic Initiatives Committee. Staff brought forward a recommendation on the 134-152 Shanley Street
development in favour of the zoning changes requested by the developer.
There were only two delegations who spoke and the proposals were
approved unanimously by councillors. Although a vote at a regular
council meeting is still required, this effectively allows Shannondale
to begin the process of removing contamination so construction can
begin.
152 Shanley has been written about many times on this Blog and
searching that address will display all posts. For those interested in
the Staff package, which includes comments by residents, click on this link.
The main part of the February 7th meeting was taken over by the proposed development in Belmont Village
where many delegations were signed up to present. In fact, a second
evening was set aside to hear all the delegations. The Record has
reported on this development here and here.
Looking ahead:
March 7th at 6 pm
Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee
Kitchener.ca/meetings – no need to pre-register
On the agenda are the following re-zoning/official plan amendments
King/Pine Street – 25 storey mixed use building (retail/apartments). In our neighbourhood.
30 Francis Street – 44 storey mixed use building
142 Fergus Avenue – 7 storey apartment building
1525 Bleams Road – rezoning from agricultural to residential
Crozby:
How many times have you heard people say “I didn’t know that was
permitted” in my residential neighbourhood? The City is proceeding with
the implementation of stage 2b of the Crozby review (rezoning
changes). Here is an overview of the changes: (would apply to infills
in Mt. Hope)
Allowing 3 units within a single detached house in Residential zones 1 to 5
Changes to minimum and maximum driveway and garage widths
Requiring new buildings to have similar setbacks/heights to adjacent properties in established residential neighbourhoods
Re Crozby – these changes (2b) were part of the original Crozby
recommendation/ changes from December 2019 where Council passed 2a and
deferred 2b. The PSIC meeting on March 9th is a special
meeting to formalize the re-zoning on residential zones – none of the
items (3 units/minimum lot/driveway/height) should be a surprise.
Council increased the allowable height from 10.5 metres to 11 metres –
in our neighbourhood the typical 2 storey with an attic is 10 metres.
So, infill houses, where they tear down and rebuild can be 11 metres …
not significant but it will make them higher than the surrounding
houses. So, on March 9th, PSIC will approve them – they will
go to Council a couple of weeks later and then be implemented on the
bylaws for residential units.
Tuesday, February 22n
4 pm to 7 pm via zoom (staff presentation at 4 pm)
The inaugural meeting of the 2022 MHBPNA Development Committee was
held on January 6th at 7 pm via Zoom and included a review of some of
the issues we have addressed throughout 2021.
Ted Parkinson and Kate Pearce, the reps from the MHBPNA, are leaving
the Committee. New Members from the MHBPNA executive are Jorg
Broschek and Linda Vandenakker. Other members include Catherine Owens
(Chair), Gordon Hatt, Scott Morris, Tom Hillier, Nik Schmidt, Mark
Sisson and Sarah Marsh (ad hoc member).
We have been meeting with City Planning Staff following the our
submission outlining various neighbourhood issues including demo
practices, building permit practices, RIENS, C of A amongst other
issues. The good news is that we are starting to see some increased
attention by the City on a significant number of properties on our
tracking list. A few things of note
Demolition permits – the houses at 91 Louisa and 50 Breithaupt have now been demolished.
Unkempt vacant lots/demolished buildings. A building permit for the
vacant lot at King/Wellington was issued in early December. The City
is also reviewing the vacant site at Weber/Louisa (neighbours think its
unsafe).
We have again raised the issue of the boarded up McDonald’s building
on King/Moore – Perimeter, who owns the Google site, has also
approached the City about the site.
King/Pine – 25 storey apartment build across from the hospital. A
public meeting was held in October and the application for re-zoning
will go to the City for approval on Monday, January 10th.
Shannondale has approval from the City to begin the remediation of
the Electrohome site in January/February. Remediation will entail
removing all the trees and shoring up the perimeter of the site to
ensure there is no impact to neighbouring properties when the soil is
removed.
Sacred Heart School. Sarah Marsh is in discussions with the Polish
Congress re future plans. The intention is to retain the convent
building and the historic portions of the school. Plans are still under
development and timing is still under discussion.
Google Build – build is well underway. Future plans are to include an additional building on the current parking lot.
Station Park. The first two buildings are well underway. Three additional buildings are planned.
Transit Hub
The pedestrian passageways under Duke and Waterloo Streets are a
go. Building is expected to commence in late 2022 at which time Duke
will be closed to traffic.
Metrolinx has completed its traffic study of the surrounding area.
They have submitted the review to the City. Scott Morris has obtained a
copy of the Metrolinx report and will report on it separately.
Sarah Marsh, Scott, Gordon Hatt and Catherine have met with the City
Traffic department a number of times to outline neighbourhood concerns
re traffic not only due to the Transit Hub but the general increase in
traffic due to development – Wellington St. is of particular concern.
Scott will update you separately.
RIENS (Residential Intensification in Established Neighbourhoods).
We have been discussing our concerns with the City re the need to
protect “stable neighbourhoods” and the need to raise the profile of
RIENS neighbourhoods with the Committee of Adjustment (C of A) and the
Building Department etc. Residential Intensification in Existing
Neighbourhoods (RIENS) outlines the specific guidelines for
infill/builds/additions in our neighbourhood.
Committee of Adjustment. We have made a number of recommendations
to the City re the composition of the committee and its mandate. In
the meantime Mark Sisson continues to attend C of A meetings and update
you monthly.
Cash in lieu of Parkland. Tom Hillier is managing this on our
behalf. The City’s initiative known as Places and Spaces will be
looking at the City’s current practices and evaluating how and where
green space is allocated throughout the City. Tom is encouraging
everyone to complete the City’s survey www.engagewr.ca/placesandspaces or to appear before Council when the recommendations are presented for approval.
The City Staff’s recommendations on the “Tree Canopy” project will
be presented to the Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee on
Monday, January 10th
Additional Dwelling Units. Our process improvement suggestions
including the need to notify neighbours beyond the current 30 metre
radius were included in our memo to the City
Nik Schmidt continues to diligently update our geomapping tool which
maps all development in the neighbourhood. Due to the increased
number of large builds immediately adjacent to Mt. Hope/Breithaupt he
has expanded the map to include these
Other properties we are tracking
i. 306 St. Leger – infill
ii. 102 Waterloo – demolition and infill
iii. 81 Shanley – demolition and infill
If you have any questions re the role of the Development Committee or any of the info above, feel free to email catherine_owens@sympatico.ca.
The MHBPNA AGM was held on ZOOM on Sunday, November 7.
Several members of our community attended in addition to our city
councillor Sarah Marsh and Niall Lobley, Director of Parks &
Cemeteries, City of Kitchener.
The meeting was chaired by Kate Pearce who also took notes (thanks so much!)
Councillor Marsh provided us with an update on City of Kitchener
activities, the Breithaupt Centre (temporarily closed for maintenance)
and the city budget process.
Niall Lobley, Director of Parks & Cemeteries, City of Kitchener
spoke about his role and talked about the city’s strategy regarding
parkland. Naill was very passionate about his work and the importance of
parkland. There were many questions so we had a very engaged discussion
for almost an hour. The city’s key initiative right now is the Places and Spaces
review. This will have an important role going forward and everyone is
invited to fill out their thoughts on the “Engage” poll here:
We will be publishing more about that strategy and review on our Blog in the future.
Catherine Owens is chair of the MHBPNA Development Committee and
talked about its activity over the past year. The committee has engaged
with the City of Kitchener, various developers and many citizens to
highlight and organize our concerns about “all things development” in
our area.
Kate Pearce talked about our engagement with the Downtown
Neighbourhood Alliance (DNA) which meets regularly and would like input
on programming (ideas, activities, leaders).
A Year in Review was provided by Kate and Ted Parkinson.
These pandemic times have stopped many of our typical activities like the soccer program and the Duke St. West Music Fest.
– Photo contest. We had several entries and some winners were given
$25 gift cards for neighbourhood food businesses. We will be using the
photos for our Blog and elsewhere
Financial update: We still have plenty of money in the bank for small
events like our “mini grant” program. In fact, our Mini Grant program
is ongoing and you can read about it here:
We had people move on and new folks join our board. As a reminder,
anyone living in the MHBP area is welcome to attend any of our meetings
and we post them on Facebook and our website.
Our current board is:
Ted Parkinson (Communications)
Emily Slofstra (Treasurer)
Members: Erin Nespoli, Jörg Broschek, Linda Vandenakker, Katie Lefler, Kimberley Gauld and Levi Oakey.
If you have any ideas about what we could be doing, please contact us at mhbpna@gmail.com
If you have ideas we can publicize what you are doing and can even supply a “mini grant” to help you buy food and/or supplies.
We are one week away from our Annual General Meeting
(Sunday November 7, 2:00-4:00pm) online.
Send MHBPNA@gmail.com a note to receive the Zoom link.
This year we will be joined by City of Kitchener Staff who will share a presentation about the Spaces & Places review. If you are interested in learning more about this and its connection to our parks and green spaces, join us!
Other items on the Agenda:
– Treasurer’s Report
– Year in Summary
– Call for Board Nominations
Available Board Positions:
Co-Chairs
Partnerships
Programming
Secretary
Special Events
Member-at-Large
Send MHBPNA@gmail.com a note to receive the Zoom link.
MHBPNA is looking forward to Saturday, Aug 28th. If you are
in our neighbourhood, let us put your event on the schedule. And on
Saturday, take a photo of a performance and send it to mhbpna@gmail.com,
we will give you a $25 gift card from a local food business. Music and
Food!
Saturday, August 28 is international Play Music on a Porch Day!
It’s simple: get out an instrument, or some friends to sing along, and play some music!
MHBPNA is going to make a schedule of everyone playing in our
neighbourhood! We will post it on our website and advertise where the
good times will be taking place.
If you would like to participate, please contact us. Our email is mhbpna@gmail.com or send us a message on our Facebook page.
Join us for a Walkabout of the Electrohome development site – August 17th
You are invited to join Sarah Marsh, some of the Shannondale crew
(the developer) and City Staff for a Walkabout of the Electrohome site.
Time – anytime between 10 and 11:30 am
Date – Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Location – 134-152 Shanley Street
NB – Covid guidelines apply
It’s a great opportunity to get an update on the current status of
the plans following the initial public meeting a number of months ago.
We understand that Shannondale has prepared some “storey boards” with
additional information on the build in response to some of the questions
the neighbours raised at the public meeting.
If you are unable to attend the August 17th “open
house”/walkabout, you can email Craig Dumart (the City Planner assigned
to the project) – he is more than willing to answer your questions or
set up a meeting to discuss the build. Craig’s contact details are
below.
Craig Dumart, BES, MCIP, RPP
Planner | Planning Division | City of Kitchener
(519) 741-2200 ext 7073 | TTY 1-866-969-9994 | craig.dumart@kitchener.ca
As many neighbours know, the story of 152 Shanley has been long and winding.
You can read a short history of Electrohome in Kitchener and area, through this website.
For decades the site had been vacant and was contaminated by a paint
company that had dumped industrial solvent trichloroethylene into the
ground.
On this Blog we posted a history of the property in 2013 in two
parts. For some helpful background on various efforts to move the
development of this site forward (along with cleaning up the
contamination), please read Update 1 and Update 2.
There are links in those articles to stories that were published in the
Record regarding citizens who were actively trying to find resolutions
to a building that had been sitting vacant for decades. The building’s
reputation was not helped when a few bricks fell off. Along
the way, the former owner attempted to run a few businesses out of the
site which were illegal given the condition of the building.
The City of Kitchener initiated two tax sales and the rules of each
were determined by the Municipal Act which has strict requirements about
which bids could be accepted and the price. The price was related to
the taxes owing which were over 1 million dollars. In the first sale,
none of the bids was high enough and in the second sale the owner paid $455.000 in back taxes to retain control of the building.
After the first (failed) tax sale, and in response to constant and
growing pressure from residents, MHBPNA and our city councillors (first,
Dan Glenn-Graham and then Sarah Marsh) the city of Kitchener organized a
design charrette for
the property. Over 60 residents attended the charette (held in the main
atrium at Kitchener City Hall) and were divided into a number of groups
to discuss several questions including what they would like for the
site, what they thought would suit the neighbourhood, various design
ideas etc. The city had a list of speakers with presentations who talked
about the property, the health of the building (and whether or not it
would have to be torn down). The size of the lot was also compared with
the midtown lofts in an effort to show the number of units that might be
required for a profitable development.
After receiving all the input from the charette, the city created a Vision Statement.
It was hoped that creating this “vision” would inspire more interest in
the second tax sale and the city did have a number of companies asking
questions and requesting information about zoning etc. However, as
stated above, the property owner wound up paying a portion of the taxes
owing which legally allowed him to retain ownership. But eventually, the
property was sold to Shannondale Developments who
have engaged the community with public meetings and have sponsored the
murals that currently adorn their wooden fence around the site. After
sitting idle, and contaminated, for over 30 years, 152 Shanley was
demolished and the company is moving ahead with development plans.
The City of Kitchener’s Vision Statement is worth reading since Shannondale’s Planning Justification and Urban Design report contains a two and a half page section on how their development will “implement the vision statement”.
There is a full set of documents related to Shannondale’s application here.
In the past year our neighbourhood, city and communities have been
challenged by growth pressures and constant development projects. To
understand why many of the large development projects are happening in
MHBPNA, we need to consider Official Plans, density targets and the
LRT.
Each region or municipality in Ontario is required to produce an Official Plan.
Official plans are intended to establish policies on how land in the
community should be used (think of it as what, where, how and when
things will grow or be built). Since Waterloo Region is two tiered
(Region of Waterloo: upper tier) and the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener,
Waterloo plus the townships (lower tiers) the Region of Waterloo
establishes the Regional Official Plan (ROP) from Provincial guidelines
and then each lower-tier municipality sets their own Official Plan
following these guidelines. You can learn more about the exciting world
of Regional Official Plans and associated provincial policies, including
the Ontario Planning Act and Places to Grow for the Greater Golden
Horseshoe, here.
These long term strategies guide decisions impacting our social,
economic, heritage and natural environments. “Long term” means that most
are asking for 20-30 year timeline.
We have a history of some remarkable directives being established in our ROP including the Countryside Line. Hold the Line WR describes
it as ‘a boundary that protects the cultural, economic and
environmental of our rural lands from the pressures of urban sprawl’.
The Countryside Line directs development to remain contained within
established growth boundaries instead of sprawling endlessly outward
consuming all available land. It is important to remember that our
governing municipalities (upper and lower) are required to develop
Official Plans to guide how our communities grow and develop. By
maintaining the Countryside Line we are challenged us to grow Up instead
Out. This means that areas of our city have been designated for
intensification efforts especially where there are transit systems to
support a denser population.
What this means in our MHBP neighbourhood is that we see
intensification around the LRT corridor. This is both exciting and
challenging for the residents living next door to this growth. Exploring
what kinds of intensification are best suited for each site or land
plot are important conversations for our residents to engage. We have
seen some willingness from developers to include the requests and vision
of neighbours into their plans. The development at 152 Shanley
demonstrates the challenge of balancing these often conflicting
elements.
Official City of Kitchener Stuff:
The City has received an application from a private property owner
(Shannondale) who is asking to change the City’s Official Plan and
Zoning By-law for the property at 134-152 Shanley Street. Part of the
reason the city created the Vision Statement was to show they were
flexible with these kinds of applications if the developer was adhering
to it.
The application is requesting relief from setbacks, parking and
density requirements to permit an 8 storey building, including an
internal parking structure, rooftop amenity terrace and a total of 172
residential units.
The factory was 4 floors, but they were higher than a ‘typical’
condo/apartment building. Shannondale’s project (at its highest point)
is three metres higher than that proposed in the city’s Vision
Statement. However, the design of the building is an improvement from
that statement because it ‘steps back’ from the street to appear less
invasive and to have a better shade distribution (the documents linked
above include extensive shade studies).
Interested residents are invited to attend a ‘virtual’ neighbourhood
meeting to discuss the proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law
Amendment applications. The neighbourhood meeting will be held virtually
(through Zoom):
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
(Presentation to begin at 7:00 pm and will be followed by a question
and comment period. Please join the meeting approximately 5 minutes in
advance to get set up.)
You can register by the end of day Tuesday, June 15th, 2021 by emailing tara.zhang@kitchener.ca.
The city would like you to include your name, email and mailing address
with your registration request so that they can confirm attendance. A
confirmation email will be sent when you register, and a Zoom link will
be sent within 24 hours of the meeting.
Last
week we were interviewed by one of the kind and gentle people at
Midtown Radio about what happens with our ‘association’ during these
crazy times. They will be airing that interview TODAY as part of their
May 1 special. 5 – 7 pm. Check it out!
Calling all neighbourhood artists and photographers, MHBPNA is having
a contest! To help continue to brighten spirits this spring we are
running a new MHBPNA Photo and Sketchcontest!
There are some beautiful spaces and places across our neighbourhood,
and we want to see them. We encourage everyone (amateur or expert) of
any age in the MHBPNA area to capture some of your favourite spots.
We’ve had a previous contest, but this is our first year to include
children, youth and adults plus sketches of life in the ‘hood. Feel free
to get together as a family for an old time drawing session.
To enter, submit a photo/sketch/work of art that you have taken within (or features) the Mount Hope-Breithaupt Park area to mhbpna@gmail.com.
Each submission must include: your name, the name of the street that
you live on, contact (email or phone), and a short description (100
words max) of the image. You may use existing photos if they fit the
qualifications.
All photos/sketches must: 1. Be something within the MHBPNA boundaries (within the borders of King Street, Victoria Street, Lancaster Street, and the City of Kitchener boundary). All suitable entries will be entered into a draw, and 5 winners will be selected at random for each of the two categories: 1. Sketch 2. Photos
This year the prizes we will be offering are ten $25 gift cards from
local businesses in the neighbourhood! Neighbours helping Neighbours!
Please Note! All submitted photos and sketches will become the
property of the MHBPNA and may be used for future articles, blogs or
promotions. Artist attribution will be used whenever possible. We will
certainly post many of your submissions on our website.
The deadline for submissions is May 31st. Winners will be drawn at random and notified by June 4, 2021.
The City (Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee) will be holding a virtual public meeting on April 19th at 7 pm. You can watch the meeting through kitchener.ca/watch
in these COVID times. If you wish to make either verbal or written
comments you need to register as a delegate with Legislative Services
prior to the meeting (kitchener.ca/delegations).
The agenda includes
OPA/zoning amendments for the Polocorp development on Mill/Queen
298 Lawrence OPA and re-zoning
Additional Dwelling Units. The project team working on the amendment toZoning Bylaw 85-1
will be presenting their recommendations to the Committee to allow
additional detached units (coach houses, backyard homes, laneway suites
or tiny homes) in R1 to R7 zones. Recommendations include size of unit,
setbacks, building height, location on the lot. (In a conversation I
had with the project team they indicated that there are potentially
10,000 lots in the City which would be eligible through the additional
dwelling bylaws).
You personally may not be interested in building an additional
dwelling on your lot but this might be a zoning bylaw amendment that you
may wish to understand as it will no doubt have an impact on other lots
throughout the Mt. Hope/Breithaupt Park neighbourhood.
MHBPNA is having a board meeting this Sunday at 7 pm via Zoom. Everyone in our neighbourhood is invited to attend. Please email us at “mhbpna@gmail.com” or message us on our Facebook page for the Zoom information.
We will be discussing several topics including:
-How is everyone doing? -Board selection -Downtown Neighbourhood Association update -Development Committee update -Soccer? -Music Festival? -Other programs we could run during these ‘challenging times’. -Other topics
If you would like to know about
our neighbourhood, get involved in some way, or just hang out with
moderately cool people, please ask for the Zoom link.
The City held their pilot session on December 1st on “planning
101”. The session was very well attended online and City staff did a
great job of outlining how the planning process works and how residents
can become involved in projects impacting their neighbourhoods. This
was the initial session and the module will become available for wider
distribution in 2021. If you were not able to join on December 1st, we
would encourage you to watch for when the session is repeated in 2021 –
the plans are to run it again three times in 2021 – the first probably
being January. We will post when these are occurring on this website
and our MHBPNA Facebook page.
In addition to the formal presentation, City staff allowed 45 minutes for a Q and A on the planning process.
The Q and A session addressed numerous resident questions but these were the major themes impacting our immediate neighbourhood.
Parkland plans in the Innovation District and the City’s rules on
“cash in lieu of parklands” (where the developer pays a cash levy in
lieu of parkland/greenspace).
Use of the Bramm Yards (Victoria and Joseph).
How the Committee of Adjustment works, how these decisions are made
and by whom and what constitutes a minor variance – particularly apropos
to infill/teardowns in the neighbourhood
Affordable housing initiatives by the City
Laneway and Coach houses in existing neighbourhoods
Density targets to increase the number of people/jobs in the
downtown and areas surrounding the downtown in Major Transit Station
Areas (our neighbourhood)
How the Region’s Transit Hub fits into neighbourhood planning.
Agenda: 1:00 pm: Welcome, Land acknowledgement 1:05 pm: Agenda, any tech troubleshooting 1:10 – 1:45 pm: Special Guest: Darren Kropf, Active Transportation City of Kitchener 1:45 – 2:15 pm: Sarah Marsh, Ward 10 Councillor, City of Kitchener 2:15 pm: Impact of COVID to NAs 2:20 pm: Development Committee Report 2:25 pm Treasurer Report 2:30 pm: DNA Update 2:40 pm: call for interest in NA positions, questions about the NA 2:55 pm: Closing
