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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Action - 1994-09-01DAC\1994-09-01 KITCI:IENER DOWNTOWN ACTION COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 1, 1994 The Kitchener Downtown Action Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Bryan Stortz with the following members present: Councillor Mark Yantzi, Gerald Graham, Brian Hunsberger, Karen-Taylor Harrison, Rhonda Russell, Ken Clark and Michelle MorissettL Others Present: Staff Sgt~ Rita Westbrook, Stephen Lauer, Beth Chiqstensen, T. Brock Stanley, and Sybil lqYenette. 1. OPENING REMARKS Councillor Stortz opened the meeting by bringing members up-to-date re the new food market scheduled to open in the East Eh& The project has been started, Bob Dyck the architect is presently doing service locates A crew will be brought in from Toronto. When construction commences the present block will be vh'tually cut in half. The addition of the two new night clubs has had a positive effect in bringing nightlilb to the downtow[~ APPROVAL OF AGENDA On motion by Karen Taylor-Harrison Seconded by Michelle Morissetti it was resolved: That the Kitchener Downtown Action Committee Agenda of September L 1994 be accepteck 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On motion by Councillor B. Stortz Seconded by Councillor ~Vk Yantzi it was resolved: That the minutes of the July 7, 1994 Kitchener Downtown Action Committee meeting, be accepte& TABLE FOR INFORMATION TI:IE ARTICLE ENTITLED "TI:IE TROUBLE WITH YONGE ST." S. l~'enette referred to the above-mentioned article (attached) and noted the similarity between our King Sh'eet and Yonge Sh'eet in Toronto. Land use is changing remarkably with the addition of arcades, clubs, etc. Toronto has formed groups to analyze Yonge Sh'eet and prepare a report on its finding~ Sybil felt we should look at this report for similarities and use it to help formulate solution~ - 68- Discussion took place and IVL Morissetti concurred that we should take advantage of this report. B. Stortz added that it would be helpful to know what shaped the mLx of business in the downtown core and hopefully prevent what has happened in New York where everything runs itself. S. Lauer noted that the businesses in Toronto are not well organized and that there is a lot of ad hoc development. lC Clark wondered if Kitchener would be able to get a casino to locate here and thereby att~'act people to the downtow~ B. Stortz felt that boarder locations seem to be the preferred site for casinos and that it is unlikely that Kitchener will get a casino. The only businesses benefitting from a casino are the hotels and restaurants o TABLE FOR INFORMATION REPORT ENTITLED "SOCIAL SERVICES RESTRUCTURING COMMUNITY INNOVATIONS PROPOSAL: DOWNTOWN MENTORING PROJECT" AND THE ARTICLE ENTITLED "THE MIRACLE ON DUFFERIN STREET" Karen-Taylor Harrison went over the attached proposal with the Committee for the Rest~ctu~4ug Community Innovations Grant PI'oject. This mento~qng project will try to reduce the present overlap of community services At the moment we are scattered and the need is there to identify what the individual agencies and groups are dealing wit]~ The Committee had very limited time to put this proposal together and noted that Brian Windsor, Executive I)irector of OASIS, put in a considerable amount of time and effort gathe~qng inlbrmation from the book entitled "Reclaiming Youth at Risk". B. Stortz stated that the context for this proposal grew out of a visit to the Dufferin Mall and Street City. The Committee would like to try to emulate some of their success in dealing with various issues kVL Morissetti inquired as to where there is a problen~ lc Taylor-Harrison rephed that we do not really have a grasp on the population we are dealing with and we have to collect inlbrmation to pin point specific problems, the population and what programs are available to adch'ess same. ]Vis Morissetti wondered who else was in line for funding and was inlbrmed that Street City also has applied. S. Lauer stated that the Federal Government is sponso~qng a pilot program for youths 18 to 24 with funding available in the amount of $250,000. to cover administration, training, office and other costs PI'esently there is a project running on Manitoulin Island. B. Stortz asked if there were Terms of Reference available. S. Lauer replied in the affh~native. B. Stortz and lc Taylor- Harrison will get together to pursue this funding. G. Graham questioned if a one year term was long enough for a project of this size; was it possible to break down various components lc Taylor- Harrison replied that they were aware of the time constraint and are looking at other ways of continuing this project and evaluating and reevaluating the plato R. Russell inquired ff the Safety/Social Sub-Committee and DAC had a mandate to undertake the proposed program~ B. Stortz replied that this Committee has been meeting every two week~ This report was put together very swiftly due to lack of time. R. Russell asked if the problems shouldn't have been identified before applying for the grant. Also are there any other organizations dealing with these issues as well? I1' so, should our Committee also be dealing with these issues? S. kauer - 69- noted that many of these problems have been identified in the past through Visioning Sessions Safety is clearly a key issue. 3/L Yantzi also questioned whether we should be an employer who will be in charge of the administration; should we get help from other organizations? B. Stortz stated that we have dilTerent programs but they need to be pulled together so we don't get into a tuK{ issue. B. Stortz asked Karen to refer back to the Safety Sub-Committee. Brian Hunsberger feels that the problems have been identified and are beyond the scope of other agencies, Accountability should be built into the administration of this progra~ We should act as if funding has ah'eady been approved in order to be able to respond quickly. B. Stortz stated that the Social Planning Council has devoted resources to Downtown Initiatives` B. Hunsberger stated that often money is available for pilot projects but not for the long term, When will we get a reply to the request for funding? 1~2 Taylor-Harrison stated hopefully at the end of December, 1994, then work can commence in January, 1995. B. Stortz wondered what would be the best approach, perhaps it would be more appropriate to work with an established agency. G. Graham felt an established agency might wish to protect their own tuK{. S. lqYenette felt that working with an established agency might give the project the strongest foothold. Usually once a grant is over there is a st~q~ggle to survive. IC Taylor-Harrison agreed with this approacl~ S. Lauer mentioned that the Manitoulin project was linked to an established agency. B. Stortz suggested that the group focus on the various issues and send a supplementary letter to the Ministry in order to give the group a stronger positiom He complimented the group on its efforts in getting this proposal together so quickly. 6. A REVIEW OF THE DEMOLITION CONTROL BY-LAW DATED JULY 4, 1994 Reviewing the above-mentioned report S. Frenette emphasized that the old approach for issuing a demohtion control peKanit is no longer appropriate. The proposed changes represent the change in our economy. Sybil passed out recent pictures sho,a4ng sites covered by the present Demohtion Control By-law showing derehct boarded-up buildings` Since we are prohibiting the demohtion of these buildings the owners no longer make any improvements to these sites and we are left with a dangerous eyesore creating a negative image of our City. Another set of pictures was circulated showing sites where the buildings had been demohshed but no clean-up of the site had taken place. Once again proving to be dangerous and an eyesore. These pictures showed a real need for improvement to a property once the building has been demolished. The last set of pictures dist~qbuted showed sites where the buildings had been torn down and subsequently the site was cleaned-up and treated like a development site. S. lqYenette then gave the Committee an overview of the recommendations in the attached report summaKqzing where we are heading. They are looking for input from the various Committees before the report goes to Planning and Economic Development Committee on October 3, 1994. LACAC - 70- comments may change the demolition procedure for heritage bufldings~ Industry and neighbom'hoods have not yet been heard from, Mark Yantzi wondered if there was a procedure to identify sites of historical significance. B. Stanley commented that the inventory list of historical buildings k being systematically updated. The criteria necessary in order for a building to be considered a good heritage building k being built into the identification for this inventory. The group k looking at identifying groups of heritage buildings and Heritage Conservation Dist~qcts such as Victoria Parle The question was raised by Karen Taylor-Harrison as to whether there are any incentives in place to keep housing stock in good repah'. Most routes for help have been exhausted. B. Stortz stated that one can apply for heritage funding and to the Federal Government for money in the R.A~P.P. program, He also noted that one can offer incentives to improve buildings, but that owners don't necessa~qly want to become landlord~ From a planning standpoint some problems are being cleaned up. B2 Clark questioned why a derelict chimney at Bread & Roses hasn't been taken dow~ It's posing a real safety threat. Is it a question of money? B. Stortz felt the safety issue should definitely be looked at. Bryan Stortz commented that the changes outlined in the ch'aft Demohtion Control By-law are long overdue and hopefully can be expedited through Council as this By-law will have an overall beneficial effect on neighbourhood~ Hopefully dialogue can be stimulated within neighbom'hood associations and comments will be received. 7. STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE Stephen LAuer handed out the attached summary of what has been happening with the Downtown Kitchener Strategic Plato Going over this summary under the question "Where are we at?" the important issue outstanding is to have the groups who haven't met meet as soon as possible and report back to the Committee at the October meeting. This summer fhst hand inlbrmation was obtained from B. Stanley and the B.I.A~. It is now necessary to go to the next step being listed as "What's Next". In the next 4 to 6 weeks quahtative inlbrmation and hard data should be gathered. The issues to be adch'essed at our October meeting should see the start of the planning for our vision and target areas to be adch'essed. Looking at the chart we have now reached the Issues/Plqorities stage. Bryan Stortz suggested that at the next DAC meeting half of the time should be set aside to adch'ess these issues Stephen LAuer agreed to submit a sub-agenda prior to the DAC agenda meeting for the Meeting of October 6, 1994. An excellent survey was done this summer by Mark Hand of the BLL This survey was done at various times and in various locations The following points were raised in the survey:. 1. People who work downtown generally don't use the downtown outside of work except for the restaurants, bars and the Farmers' Market positive comments re service and cleanliness - 71- negative comments re appearance and it was felt the business community is not meeting theh' needs On st~'eet survey - looking at t~'ade areas mixed use - used for socializing but not shopping not used consistently, therefore not a neighbourhood shopping area The BIA put together a commercial mix survey broken down into the following categories Convenience Low PI'eference High Reflective LOw Restaurant & Entertainment - Average Institutional & A dm i n i st~'ative - High Karen Taylor-Harrison asked for the results of the Survey in the fh~t Tabloid. S. Lauer rephed that the response was very poor and not worthwhile, only 95 responses were received. He suggested that if another survey is done in order to save cost we should perhaps pick one neighbourhood as a prio~qty, send out the survey and then analyze same. If was felt that the results may not reflect the total picture if only one neighbourhood is surveyed. S. Lauer felt one of the important issues to deal with is safety and the perception of the downtown atmosphere, l~ Clark felt the cost of parking is keeping people away from the downtown as well B. Stortz noted that S. l~'enette had raised the question of whether or not we had an ownership map of the downtow~ B. Stanley stated that we do have an ownership map that needs to be updated for the downtow~ Sybil thought this map would be a useful tool to see who's responsible for the buildings in the downtown and suggested that a student would be able to update the map. Brock commented that this could be done but title searches need to be done for some of the properties, Bryan Stortz suggested that we get this project underway to get both the human and physical element of the downtow~ 8. KDBA REPORT Beth Chtqstensen was here on Nancy Brawley's behalf. Beth announced that Vanessa Jacobs has been hired as the KDBA's Special Events Coordinator. 9. NEIGHROURHOOD REPORTS MicheHe Modssetti mentioned that due to a death in the family of a larger land owner in the neighbom'hood (St. George and Peter St~'eet) there is some uncertainty regarding the future of one of the larger land assemblies Karen Taylor-Harrison mentioned that the Festival of Neighbourhoods is taking place on September 17, 1994. 8. ADJOURNMENT On motion the meeting adjourned at 10:45 a~n~ Sonja S. Tobin Committee Secretary g:brock\dab.min