Funding community parks in Kitchener: The haves and have nots

By Catherine Owens Margaret Walton Roberts Gwen Wheeler

Planning scholar Peter Marcuse said, “Neither cities nor places in them are unordered, unplanned; the question is only whose order, whose planning, for what purpose?” Kitchener’s Spaces report documents inequities in parkland distribution, with the greatest inequities existing in downtown and midtown. Who planned this and for what purpose? 

The inequity is associated with lower incomes and the number of people living in apartments. The KW Hospital community has 1.5 square metres of community parkland per person, an average household income under $60,000 and nearly 70 per cent of residents living in apartments. The Country Hills community has 16 square metres of community parkland per person, an average household income close to $100,000 and fewer than 10 per cent of residents living in apartments. 

The Spaces report isn’t proposing equal parkland provision across the city but, rather, targets ranging from four square metres per person in communities near light rail transit stations to 10 square metres per person in the suburbs. 

Income inequities, the benefits of parks, the proposed targets for the provision of parks, and fees for funding parks have not been discussed at council meetings to date. Discussions have centred on the interests of developers. The parkland provisions and funding parks comes before council again in August, when councillors vote on a revised Parks Dedication Bylaw that determines how much parkland Kitchener communities have access to in the future. 

Property taxes do not fund the acquisition of park land. The principle that guides the provision of parks is, simply, new development provides for new parks. Parks are provided to communities in one of two ways; the city requests land from developers, or the developer pays cash-in-lieu of land to the city. Suburban developers use the first method while condominium developers use the latter. 

In theory, cash-in-lieu funds are used by the city to acquire land for parks. In 2008, Kitchener council waived the cash-in-lieu provision on lands in the city core to encourage development. This is a successful intensification strategy, but exacerbates the problem of building community parks in midtown and downtown neighbourhoods. 

In August, council votes on revoking the exemption from cash-in-lieu payments for developers in the city core and on new rates for parkland fees. A proposed transition period of 12 months will continue the exemption for developers who have started the planning process for properties. The estimated loss of revenue for parks funding as a result is $56.8 million. Developers are advocating for a longer transition period, further delaying the funding of parks in communities in critical need of green space. 

Residents have spoken and written to council about the need for parks. In the style of Marie Antoinette, a councillor suggested that they take the LRT to community parks in other neighbourhoods if they are lacking parks in their own. Can you get to Country Hills on the LRT?

Asking for cash-in-lieu for developments in the city core was characterized by another councillor as punishing new residents, ignoring the fact that new developments in all other areas of the city contribute to parks.

All development impacts the communities in which they are built. All development should contribute to the provision of public park space.

It is alarming to see the interests of developers put ahead of the interests of residents.

There is a critical need for parks, as the city’s own report indicates. The underfunding of parks through cash-in-lieu exemptions must stop. In August, council must plan for an equitable and livable city for current and future Kitchener residents.