Places and Spaces Survey

 

Engage Waterloo has a new survey that asks about the need for green space, a very important part of the intensification that we are seeing.  Quite literally, there is no park provision for high rise developments and those who will live in these buildings need more than a green roof.  Green buildings are more expensive and many developments have zero setbacks to maximize everything else.

So, please take the survey.  A huge space in the downtown, the Bramm Yards is nothing more than a parking lot, with towers of 44 and 38 storeys close by.  The ratios on the map below are an indication: green means a ratio of about 10 square metres per person, acceptable by most standards.  The orange and red areas show ratios as low as .1 square metre per person. Yes, that includes the Victoria Park area which is excluded from the calculation because it is a regional park.  

Back to the Bramm Yards.  A developer for three towers at Park and Victoria indicates that this area is not really a parkland.  They do not really want it developed as park for their residents. Instead they write: 

 These lands are owned by the City of Kitchener and are extensive in area spanning between Park Street, Joseph Street, and the railway in the area to rear from Victoria Street South. The Bramm Yards are intended for a higher intensity mixed-use development with employment and residential components through disposition, per the Urban Growth Centre (Innovation District) designation that applies to the land. Currently, the Bramm Yards property is comprised of a large municipal parking lot and remaining outbuildings associated with previous public works activities. (Urban Design Report).

 Victoria Park is used by all regional residents and is under increasing pressure from many downtown developments.  Why would the City of Kitchener not use the Bramm Yards for new parkland?  Is the soil contaminated?  Probably, but then what is the cost of development?  What taxes does the city take in when high rise developments are built?  A recent report by the Region puts the increase in the amount of taxes from the high rise at Charles and Gaukel at $80 million (Planning and Works Agenda, April 12, 2022). So does the money go to infrastructure? While development in the downtown is exempt from parkland fees, that does not mean that the downtown residents are exempt from needing green space.  So, what do the area's residents want? What do future residents want? We do not know about the latter, but we can state what we want now. 

Have your say and make Kitchener a better place to live with additional green space where almost all of the existing space is being taken up by high rise development.

For more take the survey here.