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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2000-03-09DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, March 09, 2000 The Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Mark Yantzi, with the following members present: Councillor Karen Taylor- Harrison, Brock Stanley, Howard Marr, Anita Petsche-Good, Tom Brennand, Donna Kuehl, Denise Shelbourne, Ruth Tomlinson, Brenton Toderian, Trudy Beaulne, Mike Peng, Howard Rotberg, Barry Zehr, Debbie Schlichter, David Corks, Molly Green Others:Ric Haldenby Regrets:Nancy Brawley, Denise Strong, Mary Drandzyk, Regis Coladipietro, Peter Walberg, Neil Carver, Chris Cowie, Doug Hoch 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA – MARCH 9, 2000 Mike Peng asked if ACTION items can be made part of the Agenda or will they be incorporate into reports. Tom Brennand asked to add the St. Mary’s High School relocation. Karen Taylor-Harrison asked to add Neighbourhoods in the Summer. Moved: Karen Taylor-Harrison Seconded:Tom Brennand CARRIED Karen introduced Nina Bayley Dick who is job shadowing Karen, everyone introduced themselves. 2.APPROVAL OF MINUTES – FEBRUARY 10, 2000 The minutes were amended to read that Donna Kuehl asked if Bill Hill knew if the needy/homeless is coming to the downtown or are they from the downtown. Bill didn’t know. Peter Walberg did not quote that Waterloo showed foresight in the plans they had formulated to–date, it was Peggy Walshe who had made that comment. Brenton Toderian said he could bring to the Committee Waterloo’s brief of structure Vision 2007 Original Uptown Plan. 1 3. COMMUNITY UNIVERSITIES RESEARCH ALLIANCE – Ric Haldenby Brock Stanley introduced Ric Haldenby who came to speak about the Community University Research Alliance Program, a report was passed to members of the Committee, outlining the program and recommendations (see attached). The program’s goal is to “help organizations within communities and university institutions combine forces and tackle issues they have identified as being of common priority and concern.” It is a collaboration between Municipal Officials, community organizations and University Researchers and Designers. It is dedicated to addressing issues related to the development of urban cores (inner city). Graduate and undergraduate students will be directly involved in the research and design programs. It will promote a broad community involvement through the participation of a wide range of private sector groups and community organizations. The three cities of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo – Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge – have core issues common to mid-sized communities. It is anticipated that the knowledge developed in this context will have relevance for the broader category of mid-size cities across the country. The knowledge acquired and shared between these partners is expected to lead to research, training and the dissemination of information on strategies that can revitalize the core areas of mid-sized cities. Ric is asking for our support and Council’s support to participate in this project, and also for ideas for community partnerships. Howard Marr asked if the program plans on setting objectives as they relate to solutions, prioritizing, and what is the timeline, do they see all ideas being developed? Ric responded that they will concentrate on housing, economic structures, quality of life issues. They would like to see the program go beyond the three year span. Karen Taylor-Harrison asked what does he need from us in way of support? Ric said a resolution and letter of support from DAC is needed, as well as any ideas for project. Donna Kuehl asked how many people will be involved and what kind of location is needed? Ric advised that approximately 15-20 people would be involved, consisting of students, faculty members and support staff. Possibly some type of storefront location in the downtown would be desirable. Brenton Toderian inquired about how the organization will be run and if there will rd be a board of directors? Ric said currently there are 2 co-directors, with a 3 co- director to be appointed soon, a steering committee which would have representatives from each municipality and an additional 4 members of community groups (approx. 12). 2 COMMUNITY UNIVERSITIES RESEARCH ALLIANCE cont’d. Brenton Toderian also asked if they have given any thought to having private sector involvement and how the organizations can help. Ric replied that, yes, they need the private sector support, it’s a good idea to have university, municipality, community and private sector support to have this program run efficiently. Anita Petsche-Good asked what the final outcome will be, will there be very specific recommendations or will it be very generalized? She indicated that we need specific recommendations. Ric advised that this is a group of advanced students that will address specific situations, and will concentrate on real problems. Brock Stanley advised that as the program moves forward and gets approved, they would come back to DAC and see if we agree with problems identified and would DAC want to get involved and help. The “applied research” of different issues in the different cores will benefit everyone. A motion was made for DAC to endorse the recommendation: “That the City of Kitchener agrees to be a Community Partner in the establishment of a Community – University Research Alliance under the Pilot Program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research council of Canada related to undertaking studies and research to improve our knowledge base for Municipal decision making for planning the Mid-sized City with an emphasis and focus on the Waterloo Region Core areas.” Moved by:Karen Taylor-Harrison Seconded:Brenton Toderian CARRIED 4. UP-DATE BY DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM (City and KDBA) David Corks reported that the Planning Department is putting together a working committee dealing with the development and implementation of new commercial policies and asked for DAC representation. There would be 3-4 meetings between now and September. Please see the attached letter. It was also recommend that there be KDBA representation for this committee. Discussions took place as to what is involved of this committee and what will come out of it. Brenton Toderian advised that he is already on committee representing the Planning Consultant viewpoint. 3 UP-DATE BY DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM (City and KDBA) cont’d. A motion was made to have a downtown retailer sit on this committee representing DAC, and also bring to the meetings DAC’s Strategic Plan and the Compass Kitchener reports. Anita Petsche-Good volunteered to be our representative. Moved by: Howard Rotberg Seconded by: KarenTaylor-Harrison CARRIED David Corks also reported that a study for a new parking garage would be recommended to Council by end of July. The Duke/Ontario parking garage will be closed for repairs in July and possibly part of August. The Oktoberfest office will start in the spring to redesign their existing chalet style building to represent a castle. th The 72 Victoria St. Warehouse will be having a press conference on March 10 to kick off the start of the Warehouse District to encourage redevelopment in this area. The building will be used for hi-tech office space. Council has approved the change to the quorum and make-up of the Committee. Nothing has happened yet on the proposal by the Planning Department regarding the downtown Drive-Throughs. Karen Taylor-Harrison advised that Council has approved the resolution for the façade improvement at 156-158 King St.. Brenton Toderian asked what was happening with the Forsyth building and the theatre in the downtown. David Corks reported that there is an offer to purchase on the Forsyth building, they have one year to pre-sell co-op units, if they don’t succeed in this, the building will likely be torn down. The movie theatre still has a few years left on their lease. The building itself is in receivership and up for sale. Major theatre chains would not be interested in coming to the downtown because of their “big box” theatres. A question was David Corks asked if there were special licenses for movie theatres – would look into this. th Molly Green reported that the Annual General Meeting will be March 30 at 7:30 a.m. at the 4 Points Sheridan Hotel. Everyone is welcome to attend. 4 UP-DATE BY DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM (City and KDBA) cont’d. Congratulations to the winners of Celebrating our Success, it was a great night! The winners are as follows: Innovative Retailer – ServiceJudi Snider – Walper Terrace Hotel Innovative Retailer – Merchandise Schreiter Home Furnishings Downtown LeaderHoward Rotberg Arts & CultureStuart Scadron-Wattles – Theatre & Co. Jonathon Spaetzel – Theatre & Co. Business LeadershipAbraham Mathew – Bramante Studio BeautificationDeutschmann & Kelly Law Firm House of Angels Aesthetics Karen Taylor-Harrison asked if a list could be put together outlining what successes have happened in the downtown. Mike Peng asked if we could invite members of press to DAC meetings to discuss how they report on the downtown. Mark Yantzi indicated that we have a media workshop to discuss this topic. We could invite Paul Sinnott from the City’s Communications Department to come to DAC meeting and discuss this. 5. NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION UP-DATES Cedar HillStarting in September, they will host monthly coffee houses with the Black Walnut folk club performing, to take place on Friday nights, and this will be a non-alcoholic event. Civic CentreIn the months of July and August, apartment building parking renovations will take place. They are continuing their neighbourhood networking. Social PlanningA movie night program will be starting soon. The HRDC has been contracted to run the resource centre, with more focus on youth development. Mill-CourtlandThe skating party was a great success with lots of volunteers and over 200 people attended this event. 6.HOMELESSNESS UP-DATE Trudy Beaulne reported that there was a tremendous turn out for the forum on the homelessness issue held in Waterloo in February. John Sweeney was the keynote speaker. Many great ideas came out of this forum that can be put into an action plan for mid to late April. 5 7.NEW BUSINESS th Tom Brennand reported that he attended a meeting on March 4 at St. Mary’s High School, regarding the decision to move St. Mary’s High School to the Blockline/ Homer Watson area (please see attached). Discussions took place as to how this relocation of the school would affect the downtown businesses. Various suggestions were made as to how the remaining buildings could be used. The next meeting for this discussion will be th. on March 20 David had meeting with the Separate School Board regarding the relocation. St. Mary’s is an old building that would need extensive up-grades, and a study shows that the demographics of kids going to this school would be from the area they are planning to relocate to. David reported that the existing complex has 3 different owners. It is suggested that an Adult Education Centre will be in one building, one of the buildings will be sold, and the building at Ontario and Weber Streets is owned by the church. Karen Taylor-Harrison brought up the topic of Neighbourhoods in the Summer. Discussions took place on the downtown neighbourhoods and the problems they are experiencing. We seem to have run out of ideas on how to clean up problems in buildings, landlords taking the responsibility of cleaning up buildings, and questionable behavior in buildings. Meeting adjourned. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS 1. Community –University Research Alliance Program Report 2. Commercial Policy Review Letter 3. St. Mary’s Project 6