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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Action - 1994-11-03DAC\1994-11-03 KITCHENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 3, 1994 The Kitchener Downtown Action Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Bryan Stortz with the following members present: Mayor Dominic Cardillo, Councillor Mark Yantzi, Gerald Graham, Brian Hunsberger, Karen-Taylor Harrison, BRhonda BRussell, Ken Clark, Michelle Morissetti, Robert Braun, Nancy Brawley, and Sheila Marie Biers Others Present: Stephen Lauer, Marlene Guttensohn, Vanessa Jacobs, Birgit Heilig, Grant NLxon, BRandy Mattice, Sarah Wilhelm, T. Brock Stanley, and Sybil lqYenette. 1. OPENING REMARKS Councillor Stortz opened the meeting by welcoming Marlene Guttensohn who is actively involved in the downtov¢~ Ms Guttensohn is the Manager of the King and Ontario Street Branch of Canada Trust and presently chairs the ICD. B.A~ Bryan also welcomed Birgit Heilig chair of the King Street East Neighbourhood Associatio~ Bryan Stortz advised that the architects of the Kitchener City Hall won the Governor General Gold Medal for Architecture. This was a Canadian competitio~ Councillor Stortz stated that the following major changes are occu~aqng in the downtown: St. Mary's renovations are proceeding (the building has been gutted) Construction of the Food Market in the East End is proceeding along Major renovations are happening at the Westbury Club. This Club is being converted into an Italian Bakery BRestaurant slated to open on December L 1994. Louie's Lodge, a restaurant bar, is going in across from Stages The Granada store is leased to Rent- a~ Centre (upscale fu~qfiture rentals). Planning & Development's Staff' Report (PD 94/105), Enhancement of Enforcement Services - Amendments to Enforcement Policy 1-654, was circulate& Councillor Stortz advised that the new Enforcement policies were approved by Planning and Economic Development on October 3L 1994 and will be going to Council on November 7, 1994. The approval of this Report will make it easier to prosecute repeat offenders of the City's By- laws Bryan encouraged everyone to participate at the Official Opening of the Ice BRink this Saturday, - 169- November 5, 1994. Various promotions are planned including the attendance of the Kitchener Rangers~ Thursday, November 3, 1994 will be an employee skate and lq~qday, November 4, 1994 a public skate. The Municipal Election is only one and one-half weeks away. B. Stortz encouraged everyone to go and vote on Election Day - 99 candidates are registered on ballot~ The D.B.A~ held a very successful all candidates meeting this weelc It was felt that the candidates weren't fully lmowledgable about the Downtown and that the onus is on this Committee to communicate more successfully. Mayor DOm Cardillo entered the meeting at this time. This was the last meeting that Councillor Stortz would Chair. He thanked everyone on the Committee for all the work that was done, wishing everyone well and stated that he would always be there to support the work of this Committee in the future. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The St~'ategic Plan Update hsted as Item No. 5 on the Agenda, will be spht between Nancy Brawley and Stephen Lauer. M~ Brawley to proceed with her presentation before Item No. 4. On motion by Robert Braun Seconded by Rhonda Russell it was resolved: That the Kitchener Downtown Action Committee Agenda of November 3, 1994 with the noted change be accepte& 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On motion by Robert Braun Seconded by Karen-Taylor Harrison it was resolved: That the minutes of the October 6, 1994 Kitchener Downtown Action Committee, be accepte& 4. STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE Nancy Brawley advised that she and 2V[r. Lauer met to formulate a solution to get the St~'ategic Plan process on line. Formal approval is need to carry on with this Plato In this regard Nancy circulated a handout entitled "Community St~'ategic Plan- Recommended Working Structure" (attached). 5/[~ Brawley felt that this structure will pull things together and b~qng to flqfitation the St~'ategic Plan taking into account the work ah'eady done by the Sub-committees, assessing where we are now at and where will we go from here. The Arts and Culture Group have completed a St~'ategic Plato Interest k being expressed by the Chamber of Commerce and other businesse~ - 170- Karen Taylor-Harrison remarked that an incredible amount of work has been done and she would like to thank Bryan Stortz, Nancy Brawley and Stephen Lauer for the time spent in b~qnging this Plan together. N. Brawley invited everyone to come out to the Valhalla Hotel on November 98, 1994 from 1:00 to 5:15 p.n~ to help build the lqYamework for Action for the Pla~ Councillor Stortz called for a motio~ Moved by Robert Braun Seconded by Brian Hunsberger it was resolved: To accept the Recommended Working St~cture. Carried Stephen Lauer entered the meeting. S. Lauer, acting as facilitator, handed out the Agenda for the November 98, 1994 meeting. The main objective of this meeting is to create a sharper focus, looking at both the strengths and weaknesses, for the future dh'ection of the Downtow~ The following groups will be attending this meeting: Downtown Action Committee members PI'operty Owners Group Kitchener Chamber of Commerce Kitchener Visitor & Convention Bureau Waterloo Regional Arts Council Multi-cultural Group The Chah' of each sub-committee will present where they are at. Then the l:q'esenters will describe what they feel the dh'ectional shift in the downtown will be in the next five years~ Based on general statements, focus on key target areas for the next two years; formulate an Action Plan and then present this Plan to the new Council 5. TABLE FOR INFORMATION a) Murals Project for the Downtown Councillor Stortz introduced Vanessa Jacobs, the Special Events Coordinator for the Downtown Business Association and the Chah' for the Festival of the Night. B. Stortz stated that M~ Jacobs has - 171- put together some very exciting ideas for the Downtow~z M~ Jacobs handed out a Kitchener Downtown Mural PI'ogramme PI'oposal (attached) put together to transform Downtown Kitchener into a vibrant and varied community centre through building and marketing the Downtown as a world class venue for visual musical and pex{ormance art~ This PI'oposal fits in well with the proposed Strategic Plato Many groups are now focusing on the arts as a major economic industry to revitalize the Downtow~ The City of Welland, Sarnia and Chemainus were presented as examples of the revitalization of the economy that occurs when murals have been painted in the Downtow~ We can learn from these cities and adopt some of theh' marketing strategie~ It k a slow process but a very successful process pulling everyone together by giving a dflYerent perception of the Downtow~ The Committee posed some of the following questions Q~ Q~ Q~ Q~ What theme did WeHand use for theh' murals? They initially did 13 murals focusing on a historical theme. Now ~8 murals have been complete& Number of murals we would start witlz As many as possible but no less than 13. Funding? $300,000. is needed. 1/3 to come from Government support (Jobs for Ontario), the rest from the community and businesse~ Are we looking for Corporate Sponsorship? Ye~ Completion date for PI'oposal August, 1995. Maintenance cost for mural~ Minimal We can learn from Chemainus and Welland, the murals should only need resm~acing every 10 years~ Who will paint the mural~ A competition for artists across Canada would be held. There would be a mentoxqng program for local artist~ It was the Committee's opinion that this PI'oject was a very good idea. V. Jacobs advised that a Steexqng Committee is being formed and everyone is welcome to participate. Councillor Stortz put forth a motiog Moved by MicheHe Morissetti Seconded by Karen Taylor-Harrison it was resolved: That this Committee endorses in principal the Kitchener Downtown Mural PI'ogramme. Carried V. Jacobs mentioned that this is the second year for the Festival of the Night~ This Festival was a huge success last year and ch'ew 4,000 to 5,000 people. This year the Festival will be expanded to include seniors and teens There will be thi'ee stages chilch'en, council chambers and the main stage. Activities will be both inside and outside including a 9:00 p.n~ midnight celebration for the chihh'en, ice sculptures, face painting and much more. There will be a fund raising &qve by the sale of buttons for $9.00 including a coupon book These will be available at Canada Trust and other business locations as well Councillor Stortz thanked Vanessa Jacobs for her presentation and encouraged anyone interested in volunteeEqng for the Festival of the Night to contact Vanessa, 4b) Projects for Adopt Your Environment Program B. Stortz advised that unfortunately Jayne Wagner was unable to come to this meeting but will be able to attend at a future time. Bryan welcomed Grant NLxon and asked Grant to present some highlights from the Adopt Your Environment PI'ogram". Grant NLxon handed out two pamphlets entitled "Volunteers in the Adopt Your Environment PI'ogram" and "What is Adopt-Your-Environment". G. NLxon gave a brief overview of this PI'ogram outlining the following: Adopt-Your-Environment is a program for volunteers interested in the physical improvemenk safety, maintenance and preservation of public lan& They are trying to formalize an adoption process so that once a park or natural area has been adopted even if there is a change in personnel the adopted area is still cared for. Also staff is trying to avoid an overlap of groups in adopting various areas The program is going very well and is now filteE4ug thi'oughout the Conmmnity. Jayne Wagner has been working hard with the students of St~ Mary's High School A planting in planters done by students occurred on King Street East~ Various schools have adopted parks and other natural areas The Boy Scouts have adopted Westwood Park The Rotary Club has adopted the Dom Cardillo Trail Red Lobster employees cleaned up Montgomery Park Volunteers will be working with Park staff, training will be provided and team work is encouraged. Ward Coordinators are still needed. G. NLxon mentioned that they will be focusing on pinpointing strategic people to help market this PI'ogram such as Neighbourhood Representatives and Environmental Clubs in the schools Councillor Stortz attended the King Street East planting and said he was gratified to see the morale boost this gave to the people watching. We need more of these little victories Future plantings are anticipated by various groups such as the Rotary Club and the University of Waterloo on Sphqt Day. - 173- Bh'git Heilich asked if more trees would be planted on boulevards throughout the City. G. NLxon answered that they are trying to avoid boulevard planting because of heavy underground utility wires and our ozone problem~ Trees are now being planted between the sidewalks and the building~ Councillor Stortz suggested that Mike Mahaffey (741-~157) could be contacted for a walk through the neighbourhoods and perhaps formulate a two year replanting program~ 4c) Overview of Housing In and Around the Downtown Randy Mattice was here on behalf of Sybil Frenette. Randy provided the Committee with a report outlining the Residential l:q'ofile and Tables with Demographic Information on the Downtown Arem He stressed that apartments and single detached dwellings comprise 10% of all residential development in the Downtown Arem New units added to the Downtown Area represent 19% of all new const~ction in the City of Kitchener but 89.5% of that new const~ction were apartment~ Therefore the dominant housing being const~cted in the downtown is apartment~ Const~ction starts have (b'opped in the last 5 years~ R. Mattice noted that the vacancy rate being 3.7% for the Downtown is better than that for the City (4.4%) as a whole. The Downtown Area is dominated by rental units (69.8%) since its housing composition is dominated by apartment~ Demolition activity in the Downtown is mainly apartments (69%). When we look at building activity and demolition activity, you can see a net gain in housing in the Downtown of 369 units of which 359 are apartment~ Renovation activity consisting of additions and/or alterations/ improvements represents 1~% in the Downtown A~'ea~ Mayor Dom CardiHo left the meeting. The Convert-to-Rent l:q'ogram lost funding in 1990 and there is no indication of future funding. Condominium conversions are taking place under the Rental Housing l:q'otection Act One example would be 10 Ellen Street East M~'. Mattice stated that currently there is a good mix of housing in the Downtown Area and any policies to be implemented would be to maintain this mix~ Councillor Stortz questioned ff the potential capacity for the Downtown would be 10,000 unit~ Nh'. T. Brock Stanley stated that 10,000 units is a reasonable assumption based on the Inner-City Secondary Plan~ The key is to identify the key sites for development and to identify ff they are to be redeveloped or on an infill basi~ M~ Brawley stated that there is a real market for downtown site~ How can we get development of the Downtown going? Councillor Stortz stated that the Adaptive Re- use Committee is working on thi~ ~Vh'. Ken Clark stressed the necessity of keeping the disabled and seniors in mind as fax' as automatic doors, etc. to facilitate access for this Group. Michelle Morissetti left the meeting at this point 6. KDBA REPORT - 174- Nancy Brawley reported that the Candidates meeting held on Tuesday, November L 1994 was very interesting and run efficiently with over 100 people in attendance. The majority of the people attending were residents and not from the business community. Seven new small businesses have started in the Downtown At'ex The Window program has been completed. Windows were washed and ch'aping put into 13 Downtown locations~ PI'esently they are in the process of putting in leased signs into the vacant locations where leases have been signed to notify the pubhc a business is locating at that site. A IQ page tabloid being the 4th edition is coming out the week of November 7, 1994. The KDBA is getting a good response to the tabloid from senior citizens~ The Hohday Traditions program kicks off on November 18, 1994 with a skating party, free wagon rides and the hghting of the Tree of Hope. Last year $4,500. was collected. This year the KDBA hopes to double this amount. With respect to the Visions Conference, headway is being made and a report will be coming back to the Committee at a future date. Robert Braun mentioned that we have had a total of 46 new businesses in the Downtown At'ex N. Brawley reported that Beth Christensen will be taking over the Business Development program Councillor Stortz advised that Goudies Department store is actively being pursued for back taxes~ The KDBA has received a contribution of $6,000. to freshen up Goudies facade. 7. NEIGHBOURHOOD REPORTS No reports were made. 8. OTHER BUSINESS A balloon bouquet was presented to Bryan Stortz. Bryan thanked everyone for the bouquet and the tremendous support that was given to him over the last five years by this Committee. Councillor Stortz feels that the groundwork for the Downtown has been laid and the Downtown is on the brink of doing some wonderful things~ Councillor Yantzi expressed his appreciation for the dynamic leadership of Councillor Stortz. Robert Braun felt B. Stortz should be highly commended for what he has accomphshed in adch'essing the downtown issues~ Karen Taylor-Harrison personally k very sorry to see Bryan go and wished to thank Bryan for the - 175- profound effect he has had on the Downtown At'ex 8. ADJOURNMENT On motion the meeting adjourned at 10:45 a~m~ Sonja S. Tobin Committee Secretary g:brock\dab.min