HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory 2013-01-24
DOWNTOWN ACTION & ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
January 24, 2013 City of Kitchener
The Downtown Action & Advisory Committee met this date, Chaired by Councillor Dan
Glenn-Graham with the following members in attendance: Craig Beattie, Melissa Bowman,
Andrea Cassidy, Cory Crossman, Dawit Debssou, Amina Gilani, Eric Johnson, Dean
Knipfel, David Kuhn, Lawrence McNaught, Stephanie Noble, Lisa Polonoski, Brad Watson,
Shannon Weber and Don Zehr
City staff in attendance:
Hilary Abel, Cory Bluhm, Sandy Curzon, Tracey Murray, Chris
Farrell, Monika Grau, and Rod Regier
1. New Business
1.1 Introductions
Councillor Glenn-Graham, assumed the Chair and welcomed everyone followed by a
round table of introductions.
1.2
Committee Orientation
Tracey Murray, Committee Coordinator, gave an overview of the Terms of Reference
for DAAC, Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest. Members were asked to review
the policies and direct any questions they may have to her.
1.3
Economic Development/KEDS.11
Rod Regier, Executive Director of Economic Development provided an overview with
the following comments:
In 2003 the City of Kitchener made a significant investment in the downtown,
creating a $110 million investment fund (EDIF).
Nine years later, as a result of collaborative work, we have seen significant
investment in the downtown which includes WLU; U of W School of Pharmacy;
Kaufman Lofts; etc.
KEDS.11 - A symposium was held with 150 stakeholders. Based on their input
and ideas, the following five areas of focus emerged:
i) Start-Up City – for Kitchener to be one of the best places to start a business.
ii) Cluster Building – For example, in 2007, six corporate leaders created a
digital media cluster. With $500,000 in seed funding from the City, the
Communitech Hub was born.
iii) Talent Magnet – how do you convince people to stay/move to Kitchener? We
need to look at ways of delivering a city that people want to work in.
Recognizing that the brand of any city is it’s downtown, we realize that it’s not
enough to have good housing, a great school system, and superb
infrastructure. We need great nightlife, vibrant streets, great culinary, etc.
iv) Innovation District – important for high-tech growth ie Google and
Desire2Learn. There is potential for up to five million square feet of building
stock in the Innovation District. Taking that space and converting it into
residential, office, retail and commercial has the potential result of 15-20,000
new workers, and 4,000 new residents.
Downtown Action & Advisory Committee January 24, 2013
v) Dynamic Downtown – implemented through the Downtown Action Plan
1.4
Downtown Overview
Cory Bluhm, Manager Downtown Development provided an overview of the major
downtown projects in the past 8 years: Wilfrid Laurier, Faculty of Social Work;
University of Waterloo, School of Pharmacy; Kaufman Lofts; Kitchener Market; The
Tannery; Downtown Streetscape Master Plan; Arrow Lofts; Breithaupt Block; and the
recently announced 1 Victoria condominium high-rise. Some of these were funded
by the City and others as a result of partnership building and/or spin-off investment.
Also worth noting are 15 new restaurants since March 2011; 40 new businesses in
the past 18 months; 14,000 people work downtown and 2,000 people live downtown.
1.5
Co-Chair Nominations
Councillor Glenn-Graham opened the floor to nominations for Co-Chair of DAAC. He
provided an overview of the responsibilities. Nominations took place with the
following recommendation:
That the co-chair of the Downtown Action & Advisory Committee be Shannon Weber
and Amina Gilani
Moved by
: Cory Crossman
Second by
: Lawrence McNaught
Approved
1.6
Downtown Action & Advisory Committee (DAAC) format
In 2012 the Terms of Reference for DAC were updated to reflect the necessary
changes to become a more action oriented committee. During the 2 hour monthly
meetings, one hour will be dedicated to new business, information items and
updates. The last hour will be dedicated for sub-committee groups to develop an
action plan for their respective project.
1.7
Façade Grant Peer Review Panel
The current Façade Grant Program is in it’s final year. A pre-application review of
2013 projects will include members of DAAC. Craig Beattie, Don Zehr, Cory
Crossman, Shannon Weber volunteered their time along with Lisa Polonoski and
David Kuhn as back up if required.
1.8
Group Discussions – Priorities for 2013
Using the Downtown Action Plan 2012-2016, Committee members reviewed priorities
for 2013. Once 2-3 priorities are identified, DAAC members will have the opportunity
to choose which one they wish to be involved with at a sub-committee level, during
the final hour of DAAC monthly meetings.
Meeting adjourned @ 5:20pm to break into discussion groups
Downtown Action & Advisory Committee January 24, 2013