Pressures of growth loom large as Kitchener votes for new council
KITCHENER — If there’s one issue that defines Kitchener these days, it’s growth.
The city is the largest in Waterloo Region, with a population of about 235,000, making up about 44 per cent of the total population in the region.
Kitchener is booming, with dozens of planning applications for new, more intense development.
In the downtown alone, more than $1 billion in construction is planned over the next five years, including several highrises that will boost the number of downtown residents.
The biggest challenge for the new city council that will be elected on Oct. 22 will be to figure out how to balance that new growth and the character of existing neighbourhoods, many observers say.
“In all the cities in the region, it’s about growth,” says John Milloy, a former Kitchener Centre MPP.
“Before our eyes we seem to be changing from a relatively quiet, well-planned community that is now turning into a big city,” Milloy said.
The growth brings new life, more taxes and revitalization, but it also can alter existing neighbourhoods, strain resources and increase the need for affordable housing.
It’s an issue that’s most prevalent downtown, but is becoming increasingly common across the city, said Coun. Yvonne Fernandes, who isn’t running again after representing her south Kitchener ward since 2010.
“Infill development isn’t just happening around the downtown. We’re seeing it even in the more established neighbourhoods outside the downtown, like Country Hills and Kingsdale,” Fernandes said. “Many of those are not fitting in with the community. They’re significantly taller, and have significantly greater mass.”
Although the city recently approved new guidelines for tall buildings aimed at limiting impacts like shadows and wind, Fernandes fears developers hoping to maximize their return on investment will seek ways around the guidelines. “They will challenge the guidelines. I’m hoping we will have enough teeth.”
“Infill is a good thing, but how we go about it is really critical,” Fernandes says. “Do we want our city to look like the lakeshore in Toronto? It’s horrible.”
Hal Jaeger loves his neighbourhood just north of downtown. “I moved here specifically because of the gorgeous architecture, and the mature trees. It’s a pleasure to walk through.”
Booming development is putting increasing pressure on all four of the city’s heritage districts — three are near LRT stations, the fourth is near Conestoga College — and he believes city council must work to ensure new development doesn’t threaten heritage neighbourhoods. It’s vital to preserve the feel and look of older neighbourhoods, he said, because they help tell the story of where Kitchener has come from.
Jaeger believes it is possible to balance the needs of existing neighbourhoods and new growth. “I’d like to say we can do both,” he said. “We can intensify and meet those targets (for higher density) and yet maintain our heritage.”
“Our planning safeguards to protect older, established neighbourhoods are not moving fast enough,” says Coun. Frank Etherington, who is also leaving council after serving eight years. “By the time they’re in place I think we’ll have all kinds of things happening in established neighbourhoods.”
“I see it as an exciting time, but I also see it as a time when mistakes could be made,” Milloy says. He believes the key is ensuring that neighbourhoods remain vibrant, with mixed uses so that people can work and shop close to where they live, and may not even need a car.
“We all know of other communities in the province that haven’t managed that growth, that turned into mile after mile of strip malls.”
Etherington, who championed affordable housing during his time on council, fears the growth is leaving lower-income people behind. “All we’re getting is gentrification and high-cost condos adjacent to the LRT,” he said. “We’re not even getting much in the way of rental housing for mid-range incomes.”
It’s an issue even for voters in the suburbs, says Brooke Robinson, who lives near Chicopee. “When you have kids in the school system, you’re aware that every family has a different story,” she said. “You see how classmates of your kids could use a little more assistance.”
With thousands of families in the region on wait lists for affordable housing, Robinson would like to see the city establish tougher requirements to include affordable housing in development projects.
Growth brings other problems such as traffic snarls. Traffic concerns and requests for measures to slow traffic through residential areas are by far the most common complaint councillors field, Fernandes said.
The new council will have to deal with other issues besides growth. Sidewalk snow clearing continues to be an issue, with seniors, disabled groups and those who advocate for pedestrians saying the current system of relying on property owners to shovel sidewalks simply isn’t working. City staff proposed a $770,000 plan in June that would have tested three different approaches to sidewalk snow clearing, but after supporting the idea at committee, councillors reversed themselves a week later, opting to provide shovelling services for an extra 50 seniors and to hire more bylaw officers to better enforce the current system.
“That’s an issue that’s not going away,” Etherington says.
Robinson would also like to see the city explore creative solutions to provide services in booming areas, like a partnership it forged this year with Chicopee Hills Public School. The city gets access to the school gym three nights a week and on Saturday mornings, and use of the library once a month, for a modest cost.
“That’s space that sits vacant, and it’s now being used for programming for families,” Robinson said. “When you think about the opportunities that could exist in similar spaces all across the city, I would hope our council would see some value in that.”
Some issues are not as sexy, but equally important, Fernandes says. The city’s infrastructure, from roads to water pipes, is getting older and much of it needs replacing. Climate change will bring more intense storms that could require upgrades to storm water systems, she said.
There will be at least two new faces among those sitting around the council horseshoe. Two wards have wide-open races with no incumbent, because the sitting councillor isn’t running again.
Ward 4 (Doon) has five candidates: Florence Carbray, Julie Geary, Wes Hill, Christine Michaud and Upneet (Sasha) Sidhu.
The other wide-open ward race is in Ward 9, a downtown ward south of King Street. Five candidates are running: Melissa Bowman, Debbie Chapman, Tia Driver, Philip Molto and Steve Strohack.
About 148,000 Kitchener residents are registered to vote. But voter turnout for municipal elections is very low; in 2014, only 30 per cent of voters cast ballots, even with the chance to choose a new mayor for the first time in 17 years. That was up slightly from 28 per cent in 2010.
The owner of the average Kitchener home (assessed at $300,000) pays $1,064 in property taxes to the city (city taxes make up about 31 per cent of the total property tax bill, with regional taxes and school taxes making up the rest). Kitchener deals with issues that matter to residents, from planning to parks and trails and community centres.
Advance voting happens at Kitchener City Hall and the Country Hills, Forest Heights and Stanley Park community centres and at Sportsworld Arena, 2 to 8 p.m. from Oct. 10 to 12, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13.
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