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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-26 EDAC minutes ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2018 City of Kitchener The Economic Development Advisory Committee met on this date, commencing at 11:05 a.m. Members: Andrew Head, Barclay Whittaker, Barry Lowry, David Billedeau, Jason Malfara, Johanna Classon-Romero, Margaret Johnston, Mark Bingeman, Councillor Paul Singh (Chair), Sandra O’Hagan Staff in attendance: Brian Bennett, Chloe Howell, Cory Bluhm, Emily Robson, Hilary Abel, Lauren Nelson Delegations: Andrew Robertson; Manager, Research & Impact, Communitech Josh Joseph; Supervisor, Neighbourhood Development Office, City of Kitchener Business Items 1. Talent attraction & retention through the Love My Hood neighbourhood strategy The Neighbourhood Development Office (NDO) strategy Love My Hood is a City of Kitchener supported, resident-led approach to building stronger communities in Kitchener. NDO supervisor, Josh Joseph, provided the committee with a presentation on some of the core functions of Love My Hood. The vision for Love My Hood is to enable residents to create places where people can connect and work together to build positive community experiences. Some of the action items to achieve these goals are:  Infrastructure-based projects (parks, community gardens, traffic calming, tree planting);  Place-making (e.g. little libraries);  Street parties (30-50 total over the last couple of years);  Matching grants; and,  Removing municipal barriers. The NDO is looking for more economic support in the way of partnerships. With Love My Hood partners Your Neighbourhood Credit Union and Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation, $80,000 has been awarded for 15 projects in Kitchener in 2018 alone. The ‘Midtown Radio Project’ and Lazar Paroski’s ‘Math Wall’ are both examples of projects that received help by means of a grant through the NDO. 1 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2018 City of Kitchener One Economic Development grant of $10,000 is still available (deadline extended until October 8, 2018) and must involve a local business partnership. Place-making examples in this category are: identity signage, seating area, painted crosswalk. Questions and comments from EDAC regarding the Love My Hood presentation:  How does the strategy reflect talent attraction and retention?  Neighbourhoods really matter when people are looking for a place to live and work. Aside from finding a job, people want to know if a particular neighbourhood is a safe place for their family to live, and if there are activities and opportunities to connect with neighbours.  The NDO is looking for ways to get the word out to people about the strategy and grant opportunities.  EDAC feels that more action is needed around marketing Love My Hood. Success stories need to be marketed as an ongoing narrative.  The window of opportunity is prime right now, as people are exiting the GTA and looking for other cities to relocate to.  Awareness is definitely an issue; for example, is the Love My Hood website cross- referenced on kitchener.ca?  An ideal partner would be a real estate organization. Getting the word out via real estate booklets and speaking to different stakeholder groups would be a benefit.  Is there currently a strategy to target local businesses? This is where the NDO is looking for some ideas, they are open to presenting to groups and distributing materials.  KW Chamber of Commerce would also be a good source to advertise through.  People identify by their neighbourhoods, and this strategy is a way to help build community pride.  A large part of talent acquisition is people want to know if their neighbourhood connects with other neighbourhoods: can they ride a bike there, is it a walkable community, are there transit options, what stores are nearby, are there restaurants?  A stylized map would be useful so people can easily find out about events happening nearby.  EDAC feels that by taking a look at Love My Hood, particularly the website, from a tourist perspective it would help guide next steps.  Incorporating available housing, general neighbourhood statistics would be useful for someone who is not familiar with the area. Three key takeaways from the presentation: 1. Hope to see a broadening of what Love My Hood can offer; 2. Marketing is important to showcase success stories and connect with businesses; and, 3. More presentations to raise awareness of the program. 2. Shirley Madill – The Alliance for a Grand Community Shirley informed the group of an event coming up at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery called ‘Creative Industries-Economic Drivers: A panel on the impact of arts and culture on economic development’. This free event will be held on Tuesday October 16, 2018. More information can be found on the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery Website. 2 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2018 City of Kitchener 3. EDAC – going forward Staff will regroup to assess key discussion items for EDAC in the coming year. How are we advancing economic development in Kitchener? EDAC members feel they would like more control in driving ideas and affecting change. Staff will meet to evaluate direction for the committee and see what key items would be valuable for EDAC to focus on. 4. Updates Cory Bluhm: Rogers Hometown Hockey coming up October 5-7, 2018. Hockey Innovation Day at the Conrad Centre: exploring the relationship between tech and hockey. Brian Bennett:  Attended the CityAge event in Toronto on September 24, 2018. Panel discussions and presentations on mining data at the municipal level and how to integrate into everyday life. How do we both accelerate innovation and protect privacy? The Digital Kitchener Civic Innovation Lab is a national leader in exploring how the Internet of Things can be used in addressing civic challenges. th  Kitchener City Hall’s 25 anniversary on September 17, 2018: a celebration of its development into a community space. The architect, Bruce Kuwabara spoke on the theme of “openness” and commended how Kitchener City Hall presents an attitude of inclusion.  The Business Heritage Awards at The Walper Hotel on September 20, 2018: Awarding local businesses who have reached quarter century milestones. Constantly reminded throughout the evening that community is the foundation of business success, the idea of “take care of the community, and the community will take care of you.”  AutoTech Symposium coming up October 10, 2018: exploring the future of automotive technology.  Fairview Park Mall expansion: grand market district, fashioned after the Distillery District in Toronto. The expansion is expected to include office space, a parking structure and eventually, residential units. 5. Update on Manufacturing Supercluster Funding & Next Generation Manufacturing Andrew Robertson, manager of research and impact at Communitech presented EDAC with the following update:  Manufacturing Supercluster funding announced in February 2018 nothing has really happened since then.  Kitchener was part of a winning bid, which included Hamilton and the GTA, for $200M for the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. The goal of this supercluster is to “build up next- generation manufacturing capabilities.”  A large part of this project will be to scale technology and address manufacturing companies who typically underinvest in technology.  No individual applicants are accepted, collaboration is encouraged and funding must be managed by a non-profit.  Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) was established as a not-for-profit organization that will run the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. 3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 26, 2018 City of Kitchener  Ecosystem building is an important pillar. The funding will help increase access to tools, skills development and also allow for collaboration between businesses that would not usually connect.  NGen will evaluate projects and level of risk.  Looking for large companies to partner with smaller ones. A call for proposals is likely in early 2019. 6. Data in response to EDAC request to provide information on rental housing affordability and availability Lauren Nelson presented some key statistics to affordable housing and availability in Kitchener.  Kitchener vacancy rates tend to be lower than provincial and national levels.  Generally, Kitchener is below provincial levels of households in core housing need, but close to national levels. “Core housing need” is when any of the following are met:  Households are spending over 30% of income on housing expenses  Housing does not meet the needs of the composition of the household (i.e. not enough bedrooms)  Housing requires significant repair  One of the Region of Waterloo’s core mandates is affordable housing.  Larger group discussion needed around City of Kitchener incentive programs.  EDAC feels they want to dedicate specific time to have more conversation around affordable housing. It would be helpful to know what each level of government is responsible for in order for the committee to understand what they can actually act upon.  EDAC commented that it is important to explore the balance between protecting heritage properties and progressing growth at the same time. Meeting adjourned at 1:03 p.m. 4