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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2000-07-13DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thursday, July 13, 2000 The Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee met this date under the Chairmanship of Councillor Mark Yantzi, with the following members present: Trudy Beaulne, Tom Brennand, Molly Green, Doug Hoch, Mike Peng, Anita Petsche-Good, Denise Shelbourne, Debbie Schlichter, Denise Strong, Brenton Toderian, Ruth Tomlinson, Tim Fox, Catherine Heal 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Anita Pestche-Good asked that the topic of the “All Ages Dance Parties” be added to the agenda. Moved by:Tom Brennand Seconded by:Trudy Beaulne CARRIED 2.APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was moved that the minutes from the June 8, 2000 meeting be approved. Moved by:Trudy Beaulne Seconded by:Tom Brennand CARRIED 3. UPTOWN WATERLOO – Brenton Toderian Brenton Toderian reported that the point of this presentation is to see if there are any similarities between Waterloo and Kitchener’s downtown/uptown advisory committees The Project 2007 (see attached), Report of the Uptown Vision Committee can be compared to Kitchener’s Strategic Plan, but that this is a much simpler plan. To-date, it has been successful, the job as a committee is to see this vision implemented. The Committee sees themselves as the “Guardian of the vision” and relating that anything developing in the uptown goes through the Committee first, before going to council for approval. The Committee structure consists of 3 citizens, lots of city staff, and a library representative. All uptown developments go through extensive questioning through this Committee, i.e. First Gulf, 1 UPTOWN WATERLOO cont’d Waterloo Square, etc., the Committee is very hands-on and gets involved. Any new housing, new park designs, etc. goes through this committee as well. Plans are presented to committee, budgets are brought up here and are discussed with the Committee. If the Committee sees something of importance, they support it and present it to council with suggestions and recommendations. Council has respect for committee and usually votes in favour of suggestions from this committee. “A lot of bricks and mortar are brought to committee before it goes to council”. The Committee plays the advocate role, for example, the Committee organized an interactive workshop that the public could attend for First Gulf and their plans for the downtown.. Brenton says that the Committee has stayed focused on the simple tasks at hand. He also feels that it should have more citizen participation. The BIA isn’t involved as much with this Committee. A question was asked if this Committee handles Neighbourhood Association problems, and Brenton replied that they are not represented in this Committee. He went on to say that they are less structured than DAC , they don’t discuss homelessness issues, etc. at this Committee. Further discussions took place on how they define geographically the uptown boundaries. Brenton advised that there is no good definition of boundaries, the BIA line is the commercial line, involving several different lines. Trudy Beaulne suggested we arrange a half-day workshop with members from DAC and the Uptown Vision Committee, and possibly also involve Cambridge in talks, to share concerns, ideas, etc. Kitchener and Waterloo have two different directions , we should discuss our ideas. Tim Fox cautioned that we are not like “Uptown Waterloo”, we’ve got our own identity, and that lessons to be learned from all different types of downtowns. Further discussions took place on what everyone thinks a downtown should be. Discussions took place regarding having a joint-guest speaker from each Committee at a meeting. It was suggested that it be a separate meeting from our regular DAC meetings, and that it could be a special meeting held at night in order to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules. We should have some sort of loosely based agenda. It was suggested two chairs and two staff members to set agenda and co-chair meeting. It was then decided that a small sub-group would meet, with a similar group from Waterloo, (sub-group consisting of Councillor Mark Yantzi, Brenton Toderian, Trudy Beaulne, and David Corks. 2 UPTOWN WATERLOO cont’d A motion was made to invite the Uptown Waterloo Committee to a joint meeting to discuss mutual issues and interests affecting both city centres. Moved by:Trudy Beaulne Seconded by:Tom Brennand CARRIED Trudy Beaulne tacked on a comment about the Uptown Waterloo survey and Opening Doors Forum, and encourage our participation in this survey (see the attached). 4. BUSKERS – Molly Green Molly Green handed out a memo to the Committee (see attached). Molly reported that the KDBA and the Downtown Development Team would like to formalize the business of street entertainers, and wants it to be a positive experience for the entertainers. For this program to be a success, it would need several different components, such as: a code of conduct, performers would not be obligated to audition, don’t set limit on number of licenses issued, amplification is prohibited. It was also suggested that certain locations where this activity is appropriate could be deemed “busker stations”, to prevent businesses from being interrupted. The buskers would be restricted from city parks. There would be a charge for the license and they would carry this license with them at all times. This would encourage a higher standard of street performers. Our goal is to advertise and promote this program in an informal way at this time. Discussions took place regarding difference of panhandling and buskers. We will see a great variety of entertainers. *** There were not enough people for quorum at this time to make a formal motion, so an informal motion was put for that staff investigate and prepare a draft by-law for DAC and Council’s consideration. 5. CHESS TABLES – Catherine Heal Catherine Heal was happy to report that Council has approved the chess table th program. Tables have been ordered and are coming around Aug. 11. They are very heavy, weighing approximately 700 lbs and will be bolted to the ground, 3 CHESS TABLES cont’d which would make them hard to move and tip over. K-W Chess Club is supporting this greatly, and are very enthusiastic about the whole program. This th past Monday (July 10), the Chess Club started a casual program, bringing in on a regular basis, chess players which will provide the visual image for the public that people will play chess and also to encourage others to come down spontaneously and play. Monday’s turn out was very positive, members from the Rockway Senior Centre Chess Club came down to play and we got lots of participation from the general public, joining in and playing, etc. Eight tables have been ordered and 4 tables will be placed on each side of city hall, under the overhang. People who want to learn how to play or want to play on a more regular basis will benefit from this, as well, we want for establish an informal relationship with the school chess clubs and have them come down and play. Doug Hoch made the suggestion to concentrate all the tables on the one side of city hall, to try to create a “community” feeling. For the next 3 Sundays in July the Chess Club will be coming down to play and encourage others to join in. 6. UP-DATE BY DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM (City and KDBA) ¨ Tim Fox reported that the Theatre & Co. deal has closed, they own the property and can move ahead and start construction on their new location. They were recently given the “boot” from Manulife at their King Centre location, and are now moving to their temporary location at Market Square. ¨ Ziggy’s Cycle is closing their purchase in July, and hopes to open in September. Minor adjustments need to be made to the parkette next to property and the City will take over maintenance of this. ¨ Forsyth will be closing shortly, city has started marking parking spaces. This is a joint effort with Circa Development and the City to provide more parking in the downtown. ¨ With the great success of 72 Victoria St. S. converted to the warehouse district, it was felt that more developments on the way. It is very encouraging to see this area being redeveloped. ¨ The Epton site is looking better, and also encourages development in the warehouse district. ¨ The Downtown Development Team has obtained permission to put flowerpots in the Eby St./Market Village area. This will most likely happen next year, and money has been set aside to do this. 4 UP-DATE BY DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT TEAM (City and KDBA) cont’d ¨ Morning Glory Bakery has opened in the East End and had a very successful opening. They are open during daytime hours, and in the evenings they are closed and can be used for a meeting place. ¨ A Residential Developers Package will be here in September. It has been a long process and has been put together to encourage additional residential units in the downtown and area. The Forsyth deal has been a key factor in developing this package. ¨ Movie cameras are in the downtown area! A low budget Canadian film is being shot by Man Dancing Productions who have received a grant from the government to produce 4 short films and 1 feature film. Watch out for them! th ¨ Molly Green reported that Cruise Night is coming up on July 14 with cars being displayed from Eby to Francis Streets. Approximately 250 cars are expected. ¨ Fleece vests, coming in a variety of colours, with the Original City logo are available for $40, the KDBA are taking orders. ¨ Mural program is underway and will be displayed on the Market Square building on the Scott St. side. We should start to see some painting by the end of Aug. ¨ New businesses that have opened and moved around in downtown are mentioned in Block Talk, copies available at the KDBA. ¨ Hoarding painting along King St. has been done! ¨ The Teddy Bear’s picnic was a great success! ¨ The temporary location for the Health Centre will be at 59 Frederick St., the corner of Duke & Frederick. 7. NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOC. UP-DATE Mill-CourtlandThere is a 3 on 3 basketball tourney at the community centre. Victoria Park Cinema under the stars is coming – see attached. 5 8. HOMELESSNESS UP-DATE See the attached forum report. Trudy Beaulne asked if this topic could be put on agenda for the September meeting. She suggested we could discuss where we fit in and what we could contribute. Trudy encouraged DAC members to look at this report and if there was something of interest to any of the members, we should then get involved and contact Trudy. 9 NEW BUSINESS “All Ages Dance Parties” at the Lyric – Anita Petsche-Good asked if council could investigate these types of activities. She expressed that some retailers have concerns of property damage, the conduct of the people attending these events, weapons, etc. and the police involvement. She mentioned that these types of events are not good for the downtown’s reputation. As a committee, we should suggest council do an investigation into this incident and hope that it doesn’t happen again. Molly Green reported that the Alcohol & Gaming Commission are looking very closely into this. Tim Fox said that it would be more appropriate for council to send some sort of notice to the MPPs and Premiere’s office regarding these types of activities, i.e. rave scene, all ages dances. Tim also mentioned that the Entertainment Committee meetings could discuss this issue and make suggestions. Tim will help set up a smaller meeting with concerned DAC members to deal with this type of problem and will contact them of this meeting. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting. Moved by:Tom Brennand Seconded by:Ruth Tomlinson CARRIED LIST OF ATTACHMENTS 1. Project 2007 – Report of the Uptown Vision Committee 2. Uptown Waterloo survey 3. KDBA memo – Licensing of Street Musicians in Downtown Kitchener 4. Cinema Under the Stars 5. Opening Doors Homelessness report 6. “Nightclubs Bear Responsibility” newspaper article 7. Suspension of Liquor License of Metropolis letter 8. Downtown Idea Exchange 6