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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-11-23 DAAC Minutes Downtown Action Advisory Committee November 23, 2023, 4:00 p.m. Schmalz Room - Second Floor City Hall City of Kitchener 200 King Street W, Kitchener, ON N2G 4G7 Present: W. Turman, Chair S. Castle, Member J. Leslie, Member B. Van Dam, Member Staff: D. Becks, Manager, Downtown Dev & Innovation T. Mistry, Committee Administrator _____________________________________________________________________ 1. Commencement The meeting commenced at 4:04pm. 2. Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof None. 3. Discussion Items - Part 1 3.1 All Advisory Chairs & Vice-Chairs Meeting W. Turman provided update on All Advisory Chairs Meeting. The new Strategic Plan was presented to the Committee Chairs to identify areas of interest and crossover between the Advisory Committees. As our Committee is focused on a specific geography, we deal with all of the identified goals in the new Strategic Plan. At the meeting, DAAC's Chair, W. Turman, put out an open invitation to collaborate with the other Advisory Committees, giving the example of pedestrianizing King Street as a potential shared item of interest. W. Turman proposed that DAAC would benefit from cross-pollination with other committees. One idea is that a DAAC resolution could be circulated to other 1 relevant Committees, perhaps accompanied by a 5-minute delegation to seek out potential support. Thoughts? J. Leslie: Are the other committees similar in how they are composed and when they meet? o W. Turman: Yes, similar and based on interest. S. Castle: DAAC's new ToR mentions Ad Hoc committees - perhaps DAAC could pull in members from other committees. W. Turman: Doing anything worthwhile often means doing more work. Once we have something meaningful complete, we could take it to relevant committees (Active Transportation and Equity, for example) and see if they would be in support of that report. Brief discussion of the new Strategic Goals, noting that they are quite broad and high level. 3.2 Terms of Reference (ToR) Presented draft revised DAAC ToR for DAAC feedback. The Committee went thorough the draft together, highlighting and discussing the proposed revisions, including the following items: To be Downtown specific, the intention is to align with the DTK Vision and Principles. In the hierarchy of documents, there are other plans that will be relevant as well. DAAC is a function of Council. Definitions are new. Composition has changed. A maximum of 12 (used to be 15). Looked at definition of quorum. B. Van Dam: Should it be a maximum of 13 so that it's an odd number? Decided this wasn't important. o For staff, if only half the committee was in support of an initiave, we would still have work to do anyway. The four meetings are a minimum, to anchor the EcDev work. When DAAC creates their 2024 workplan, additional meetings can be scheduled. B. Van Dam: From a recruitment perspective, understand the benefit to stating the minimum of four, but are we being transparent if we are 2 operating with the assumption that we'll end up having closer to 9 meetings? We should set realistic expectations. o This past year had perhaps more then the usual amount of requests to consult DAAC. It might end up being less meetings of the full Committee and more sub-committee work. o In the new year we should talk about a recruitment strategy. We could come up with a couple of paragraphs about what the group is doing and the strategy. o With the four set meetings, we can plan the content around those dates, and if we get multiple requests from other departments we could decide to schedule an additional meeting. We could have calendar placeholders. o The need for the meeting can be determined by the content, instead of trying to find content to fill the set meetings. Discussion about removing "Action" from the name. o Pursuing projects instead of reacting. o Bringing the Action into the work of forming sub-committees and taking it to Council. (Though ultimately, that is still Advising.) o Now that we have a more direct way to be proactive, okay with removing Action. o Action may have been previously added as a way to use DAAC to help with activations/festivals, an on the ground social piece. EcDev is leaning on this Committee to provide expertise and perspective. Make sure the things DAAC puts in their workplan are things they are interested in working on. What does "advisory board" mean? Likely an addition from Clerks, from the Municipal Act. Pre-project advice: this will be circulated to Planning, Transportation and Parks. What in general is the process for removing committee members? (As it hurts quorum.) We will as Clerks. Once ToR is approved, could we do interim recruiting? Consensus among all members in attendance to proceed with this draft. 3 3.3 Growing Together A. Clark, Senior Urban Designer and Project Manager of Growing Together, presented alongside J. Zunic and N. Goss from Planning. Slide Deck is attached. Downtown overlaps with 4 of our major transit stations. The Downtown Community Working Group was the first group to take part in the workshop using the 3D model. Took target of 35000 new homes by 2031 and created an engagement process to inform how this growth might happen along our transit corridor. Clear support from the community for more housing, and more housing diversity. MTSAs: Grand River Hospital, Central Station, Victoria Park, Market District The big goal of this work is maximizing our ability to address the housing crisis. Requiring affordable housing through an Inclusionary Zoning By-law. Growing Together does not regulate density through Floor Space Ratio or require minimum parking rates. Three new land uses and four new zones. Framework that better predicts the kinds of development that are happening today, adapting to changing market conditions, making possible Inclusionary Zoning, respecting heritage and using all the tools we have available. Priority streets include the entire length of King as well as Ottawa and Ontario. Making sure each of the ION stops connect. W. Turman: What the was process for identifying priority streets? o We took this to a number of public engagements. Which high quality urban streets already exist and where would it be desirable to have more streets like this? Made some practical decisions based on that map, informed by market conditions and predictions about what streets could support retail. 4 Growing Together has taken language from the new DTK Vision and Principles and incorporating it into their official plan amendment. Next Steps: Details of the Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-Law Amendments are now publicly available and can be found on the Engage page. Project team is currently taking feedback prior to taking this to Council in January. DAAC's Feedback: J. Leslie: 35000 - how many units have been added already? o Depends on where we draw the lines between start and ending, built and approved. Approved - in great shape to meet that target. Built/Under Construction - in poor shape to meet that target. Recently built doesn't count. J. Leslie: Does it need to be more then what's in process to meet that target? o 2019-2020 was on track, 2021-2023 we are behind. o Council has approved 10,000 housing units since March. o We need to see more building permits. Market conditions are not favorable. Construction costs are high and there is shortage of trades. o Intention is to align the Planning framework with what is actually happening. Expect a decrease in Planning Amendment and Zoning Amendment applications. W. Turman: Understanding is it will make it easier for smaller projects to go through. J. Leslie: Adding additional guardrails? o On the smaller stuff, this provides a more viable pathway to action in a shorter term. o It will take quite a long time. Going back to Priority Streets, likes it in terms of creating a nice pedestrian realm. There might be an opportunity to grow this into the other Downtown streets that weren't identified. o The intent is to create a better environment for pedestrians. Doing it by requirements for use, that's where it's hard to employ broadly. Not every building is it feasible to have commercial/community use. On 5 most of the main streets we would allow a certain percentage to be residential. o W. Turman: I really appreciate the work you've done on this strategy. The Growing Together team is all ears on any additional feedback, though the Engage page, or by emailing growingtogether@kitchener.ca. 3.4 Downtown Vision and Principles Quick overview of the newly approved Downtown Kitchener Vision and Guiding Principles. DAAC provided critical and timely feedback that directly impacted the final DTK Vision and Principles. This document will help Economic Development and the City of Kitchener to set a direction. We wanted to know, What do people value? What is important to them? We will build the systems and actions iteratively to help us get there. There are two parts to the Action Plan: our Downtown team's priority and what it's going to look like in the first 3 years, and also to ensure the other bodies of work happening in the City are aligned. There is a meeting in January with all the other relevant departments to brainstorm opportunities and determine projects that are already in the works that are aligned with this vision. 3.5 BIA Strategic Priorities The BIA delegate was not able to attend. This agenda item may be added to a future Committee meeting. 4. Recess Committee took a 10 minute recess. 5. Discussion Items - Part 2 5.1 DTK Vision and Principles Action Ideas Committee members walked around the room with sharpies and added their ideas to 7 large sheets of paper, one for each of the 7 categories identified as priorities by the Downtown Community Working Group. The categories in no particular order are as follows: Culture, Events and Streetlife 6 Growth and Housing Parks and Public Spaces Climate and Environmental Leadership Neighbourhood And Movement of People and Goods Business Recovery, Business Forward Safety and Security The Committee was asked to write down how they would like to see these items actioned, keeping in mind the new DTK Vision and Principles. The Downtown team will consider this breadth of feedback when building out an action plan. 5.2 What's New in DTK? Discussion about new businesses, events and happenings in Downtown Kitchener. 6. Information Items None. 7. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 6:37pm. 7