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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2004-04-08April 8, 2004 DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES City of Kitchener The Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:00 p.m., chaired by Sally Gunz, with the following members present: Vice-Chair, John Smola, Glen Woolner, Doug Hoch, Christina Weylie, Anita Petsche-Good, Nathan Hallman, Fred Bishop, Jennifer Davis, and Denis Pellerin City staff present included Glen Richardson, and Michelle Schurter 1. DAC Sub-groups Market/East End M. Schurter advised that there will be a promotional event being held at the Market on April 27th to engage market district business to support the opening of the Market on May 22nd. Michelle also ran through the list of activities being facilitated to support the Market opening. DAC members will hold their next meeting at the New Market, May 13. Action: M. Schurter to advise via email why there has been a change in opening hours for the market. Also, response from Stephanie Massel, re: shopping carts/grocery bags. J. Davis advised that there will be an increased number of police officers on patrol in the market district around the opening date. 2. Approval of Minutes On motion by Glen Woolner It was resolved: That the minutes of March 11,2004, as received by the members, be accepted. 3. DAC Sub-groups - cont'd Retail Health The sub-group met on Tuesday April 6th and included A. Petsche-Good, N. Hallman, H. Budd and G. Richardson. The group reviewed the draft actions in the Downtown Strategic Plan related to "business and investment". Anita said that the group felt strongly that a catalyst use like a new central library was key to bringing people downtown and therefore supporting business. M. Schurter suggested the group contact someone like Kathi Smith of the BEC to include in future discussions on retail health. It was noted that past pedestrian surveys were helpful in providing a bench mark of downtown activity and as a source of information to business. Consultation with WLU's Luke Fusco would also be helpful to better understand student needs. Arts D. Pellerin noted that they are working with several retailers as well as artists to support art in King Street shops. A launch date of May 13th is being considered for this project. Housing/Neighbourhood Associations G. Woolner, F. Bishop and D. Hoch are members of this subgroup. G. Woolner advised that they are hopeful that the City will implement the new residential incentive loan to bring additional housing to upper floors on King Street. He also advised that there may be ACT (Affordability and Choice Today) grants this year for undertaking housing studies, one which could look further at local challenges in providing housing in underused space. A discussion took place as whether DAC Minutes April 8, 2004 Page 1 of 2 housing on the east side of Cedar Street were eligible for incentives, G. Richardson replied that these properties were only just outside the incentive boundary but that there would likely be some amendments to the program this year at which time the boundary could be reviewed. In addition, the development charge by-law was being reviewed and if DC's were reduced in the inner city this could provide more attraction to house builders. Sally requested being included in any meetings of this group to ensure continuity with the "East End" group. Safety Audit group D. Hoch advised that there will be a downtown safety audit conducted in June and July. The group has the assistance of Julie Dean and is preparing the audit soon. Students will be working on tabulating and formatting the results of the audit. The audit will be broken into the four districts. Downtown and non-downtown residents and employees are being recruited to help with undertaking the audit. John Vickery, CORA group, will be assisting with recruiting volunteers from downtown businesses to help with the audit as well. 4. Committee updates Minutes of the Arts & Culture Advisory Committee, the Economic Development Advisory Committee, and the Safe and Healthy Advisory Committee were discussed briefly. It was also noted that a meeting of the Community Collaborative has not been held since the last DAC meeting. 5. Other business D. Hoch noted that the work of the Centre Block Steering Committee appears to be proceeding slowly and that there is not a good link of information or participation with DAC. Doug requested that Frank Pizzuto and Marty Schreiter attend a separate meeting for DAC members to provide a detailed update of the actions and progress of the Centre Block Steering Committee. Action: F. Pizzuto and M. Schreiter to be requested to host a separate meeting for DAC members, prior to their next meeting of May 13th, and a copy of the last Royal LePage report to be provided to all DAC members. b. Sally Gunz also requested an update of what is going on with graffiti removal downtown. Action: Update on action to remove graffiti downtown at the May 13th meeting. M. Schurter noted that Jane Jacobs is speaking at the First United Church in Waterloo on June 2nd at 7pm, and that the opening of the Wednesday Farmers' Market would be taking place on May 26th. On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m Next Meeting - Thursday, May 13, 2004 4pm-6:00pm, New Kitchener Market DAC Minutes April 8, 2004 Page 2 of 2