Plans for 2018
City mayors outline priorities for the year at annual festive levees
WATERLOO REGION — Overseeing a billion-dollar building boom in downtown Kitchener. Signing an agreement to build the Cambridge multiplex and working to reduce the epidemic of opioid overdoses. Helping businesses thrive in Uptown Waterloo.
The 2018 priorities for the mayors of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge are as different as the cities.
The three mayors held New Years Levees on the weekend that attracted hundreds of residents for coffee, snacks, live music and public honours for longtime volunteers.
By this time next year the City of Kitchener expects to process about $1.2 billion in building permits for 20 large projects in the city core. That will be Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic’s priority for the coming year.
“For me an important goal is focusing on the growth that we are going to be having as a community, and making sure we are managing it as effectively as possible,” said Vrbanovic.
Concerns about the building boom include the lack of affordable housing for poor people displaced by new developments, the lack of a quality public space around King and Victoria streets where much of the development is happening, and the need to protect what’s left of the core’s heritage architecture.
“We want to take as many proactive steps as we can as a community to make sure the community is coming along with the changes that are happening,” said Vrbanovic.
He was speaking in the rotunda at city hall just after handing out five City Builder Awards. This is the third year in a row for the awards that Vrbanovic started.
These year’s recipients are; Melissa Bowman (president of the Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association), Sara Casselman (executive director of the Sexual Assault Support Centre), Basheer Habib (organizer of the World Partnership Walk), Laura McBride (Frederick Street Art Walk, Hohner Avenue Porch Party and The Weber Park Piano) and Paula Saunders (25year member of the Waterloo Region Barrier-free Advisory Community).
More than 15 people were nominated for the awards, and the winners are selected by a committee.
In Cambridge, Mayor Doug Craig has two priorities.
Getting a memorandum of understanding with the Cambridge Centre shopping mall for the development of the city’s new sports complex in place before the end of February is one.
“The other thing which is really important is dealing with the opioid issue that we all have, not just Cambridge,” said Craig. “Coming up with a resolution about how we are going to make the city safer for people, and better serve people with addictions.”
The pedestrian bridge over the Grand River in the Galt area will be opening this year. The new digital library in the old post office will also open this year. And big news is expected soon about the expansion of the University of Waterloo school of architecture.
“That’s being worked on right now,” said Craig of the school’s expansion. “I don’t want to say too much about it because the plans have not been publicly announced.”
But he added: “We are working to see the expansion move ahead.”
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky wants to pay more attention to the businesses in his city core that suffered through a long stretch of construction.
“We need to help those grow,” said Jaworsky. “In 2017 there were 25 new businesses opened in Uptown, and we need to celebrate that in 2018 to make sure they do well.”
The city added more parking along Regina Street. Drivers can manage it through the app Honk Mobile. There is no longer a two hour limit.
For more than a year light rail transit construction disrupted Uptown businesses. That no sooner finished and the reconstruction of King Street North started.
On the policy side, a city-wide strategy for neighbourhoods comes before city council soon, and Jaworsky wants to ensure it is family friendly.