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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Action - 1994-01-06DAC\1994-01-06 KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE JANUARY 6, 1994 The Kitchener Downtown Action Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Bryan Stortz with the following members present; Ken Clark, Rhonda Russell, Michelle MoHssetti, Gerry Graham, Karen Simonean, Brian Hunsberger, Robert Braun, Karen Taylor-Harrison, Doug Marshman, Nancy Brawley and Lorna Fergusom Others Present: Staff Inspector Joe MacDonald, Sam Klapman, Grant NLxon, Terry Boutilier, and Tom McKay 1. New Member Councillor Stortz introduced and welcomed Ken Clarl~ Ken will represent the Physically Handicapped, replacing Rudy Koop. Rudy is in hospital at the moment and Councillor Stortz spoke for all Committee members in wishing Rudy a speedy recovery and thanked him for his conhqbution to this committee. Ken is a resident of the downtown core and a member of the Barrier l~'ee Group. Opening Remarks Councillor Stortz advised the public meeting in November for Stage 6 of the Comprehensive Zoning By-law including thi'ee new Secondary Plans, slx amendments to existing Secondary Plans comprising appro×imately 14,000 sites was very hostile and eventually broke down close to midnight. The issues debated were extending as a right duplexing and permission for lodging houses thi'oughout the downtown core as long as they are not concenh'ated in one area~ During a two week break, a meeting was held between Neighbourhood Groups, City Staff and interested partie~ Many issues were discussed and there appeared to be consensus On December 6, 1993, the thi'ee Secondary Plans, slx amendments to existing Secondary Plans and Stage 6 of the Comprehensive Zoning By-law (Residential MLxed Use and F~xisting Use Zones) came before Planning and Economic Development Committee. City Staff provided a good presentation and the following week Council unanimously approved Staff' s report. Councillor Stortz congratulated Planning and Development Department staff for a job well done. Sam Klapman noted he was pleased to see neighbourhood groups come together with staff and elected officials to resolve theh' dilTerence~ KITCHENER DOYVNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE - 9 - Councillor Stortz welcomed Terry Boutilier. Terry Boutilier has spent the last four years working on the new City HaH project and is now back in his position within the Planning and Development Department as a Principal Planner. Mr. McKay reported Terry will be making a presentation on our Civic Square to the Making Cities Livable Conference in San lqYancisco in Marc]~ Councillor Stortz noted the ice rink is being greatly used and the New Year's Eve celebration at City Hall was very successful The Lyric theatre is open and doing well There is a partnership with the theatre and Harvey'~ lqYee passes are given to patrons at Harvey's and Swiss Chalet to the theatre. Kitchener Housing Inc. has received allocation from the PI'ovincial Government to move ahead with theh' housing project on Weber, the old Smiles and Chuckles site. It is hoped this will proceed early this year. Councillor Stortz brought the Committee's attention to the recent articles on Downtowns and noted the article in the London lqYee lq'ess was especially favourable to our downtow~ Approval of Agenda On motion by Nancy Brawley Seconded by Karen Simoneau it was resolvetk That the Kitchener Downtown Committee Agenda of January 6, 1994, be accepte& 3. Approval of Minutes The December 9, 1993 minutes should be revised to show on page 130, 9nd paragraph, 3rd sentence that Karen Simoneau also expressed interest in being on the sub-committee compiling results from the Vision Conference. On motion by Karen Taylor-Harrison Seconded by Robert Braun it was resolvetk That the minutes of the December 9, 1993 minutes of the Kitchener Downtown Action Committee, with the correction as noted above, be accepte& KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE -3- 4. Visions 93 Update Nancy circulated to the members a Conference Summary. This summary was prepared using minutes and notes taken at the Conference. After reviewing all notes, the items were listed under four major headings 1. The Role of Municipal Administ~'ation 9. I~'awing People into the Downtown 3. Media Relations and Communication 4. Safety and Social Issues 5. Miscellaneous Items/Suggestions The miscellaneous section of the summary can either be built into one of the four headings or handled separately. The final report sta~cture will be as foHowg A preamble written by Gerry Graham, a summary of workshops and list of resources and intbrmation presented by special guests, more preamble regarding the afternoon session, summary of ideas presented and last of all, where do we go from here. Following presentation of the final report to the Downtown Action Committee, subcommittee's will be set up to deal with the issues raised. These subcommittee's will consist of City Staff, KDBA members, Neighbourhood Groups, Council and DAC members~ No one agency has the manpower or the financial resources to deal with the issues on their ow~ This is the reason for sha~qng the projects to be undertaken and also to promote a partnership in the Community. The Downtown Action Committee will act as the Stee~qng Group for this process and the (hqving force. The Committee entered into discussion on the conference summary. It was noted that small tasks prove more successful that major project~ Circulation of the final report will be to conference participants, neighbourhood groups, Social Agencies, Service Groups, City departments, Council, those indicating an interest in receiving the report and former participants at the 1990 conference. Gerry Graham asked those present il' they know of any other inlbrmation from the conference to please submit this intbrmation to Nancy Brawley. Lorna Ferguson entered the meeting. The next step would be to b~qng in a Downtown Co-ordinator to start work on some of the projects identified. The funding for the Co-ordinator hopefully will KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE -4- come from a provincial grant~ the application being due January 9L 1994. Nancy Brawley outlined the criteria for making application for a $10,000. grant~ Some discussion took place on the requirements for application and the endorsements that have been received to date toward this process There was also some discussion on using student help. It was concluded there are resources available to assist in these efforts~ Terry Boutilier was asked to help in prepaxqng a planning document describing downtown land use plans to be submitted along with the application for funding to "Heritage Canada". 5. Accessibility Issues Ken Clark provided a hst of accessibility issues that the physically challenged experience when visiting downtow~ Curb ramps at Queen Street S and Joseph Street and Charles and Queen Street~ These ramps make in necessary to go out into the traffic to get back onto the sidewallc This concern will be referred to Public Works Department~ Some downtown retailers keep their stock in store aisles~ This makes it difficult for those in a wheel chair to navigate properly. Nancy Brawley will send a letter to the business identified by Nh'. Clark and will also addi'ess this matter in the KDBA newsletter. There is not an automatic door at the King Centre Shopping Mall nor at the Valhalla Inn Benton Street entrance. This will be followed up witl~ Cars visiting Jamiesons Sports and Wheel Goods on Ontario Street are parking across the sidewalk which means those in wheel chairs must go onto the street to pass~ This will be passed along to Brian Page, Site Plan Co-ordinator. Signs on the pavement indicating disabled parking spots are now covered by snow. Upright signs should be installed that would be visible aH year roun& This will be referred to the appropriate departments~ }Vh'. Clark also suggested the downtown malls consider instaJling battery charges for motorized wheel chaim Councillor Stortz thanked Ken Clark for this report and noted his appreciation for this input~ KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE -5- 6. Downtown Policing Staff Inspector Joe MacDonald reported when statistics are finally in he is sure they will show the continuation of a ch'op in crime activity downtow~ He outlined the new method of police awareness downtow~ He stated he wants "to keep what has been taken back in 1993 and take back more in 1994". This will aH have to be done with less manpower and funding. Meetings are scheduled that will adch'ess how to pohce to the year ~000. This will include an evaluation of calls and reallocation in house of manpower. It was also reported the Police Department will not lose sight of good policing and safety in the community. There will, however, be changes in 1994 of police service. The Social Cont,'act implications will have an impact on what they can do. The Committee then discussed with Staff Inspector Joe MacDonald pohce presence downtown and were assured that five policemen are assigned to the downtow~ There are, however, ch'cumstances that may arise that necessitate an officer to attend to another matter which will remove him from the downtown core. This could be a court appearance, absence due to illness, assist in another area if a major problem arises Staff Inspector MacDonald said there k a need for unilbrmed policemen downtown and this will be demonst~'ated to the Police Chief. Karen Taylor-Harrison noted there must be a way to educate the pubhc on pohce services and theh' limitations There is an ignorance of what can and can't be done by the police. Liaison with City chqvers and Pohce was brought up. There is the PAL program where City staff out in City vehicles will notify police or assist if a need arises There doesn't seem to be any plan in place for City bus chqvers to call in if a crime is seen taking place and this may be something to investigate. As part of the in house revamping there are changes now with regard to a pohce officer dealing with caE' accidents If the accident is a minor one and it is determined there is no law intYaction the parties involved in the minor accident are dh'ected to an office where the paperwork can be handle& By-law Enforcement will be turned back to the Municipahty and changes in High School halson will occur. The committee discussed the use of fax machines, which most businessmen have, as a way of relaying intbrmation relating to criminal activity to local businesses Some time was spent taJking about this matter and it was concluded Councillor Stortz would deal with this along with Nancy Brawley after the meeting. KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE -6- Update from Grant Nixon Grant NLxon reported that Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the Pubhc Works Department are refurbishing the street fui~iture with recycled plastic woo& Snow removal has been made easier with the removal of the street fui~iture for refurbishing. There was some discussion on replacement of garbage receptacles along King Street and the grates surrounding tree~ ~V[r. NLxon reported as new materials come on the market changes will be made. The question of putting arm rests in the middle of street benches was raised. The members of the Committee felt il' something was placed in the middle of the benches, this would eliminate vagrants sleeping on then~ ~V[r. NLxon will look into this matter. 8. Other Business Infrastructure Program: Nh'. McKay advised rules are being prepared for money that will be given to each community in the Region for long term economic benefit~ He anticipates IQ to 13 million will be allocated to the City of IGtchener. This money should be used on projects that will be a permanent~ not temporary benefit to the City. Where the money will be spent all depends on the Rules of the PI'ogram. 9. Adjournment On motion the meeting adjourned at 10:00 a~n~ Gayle RedgwelL Secretary IGtchener Downtown Action Committee