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Home My WebLink AboutEcon Development - 2001-04-25ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES April 25, 2001 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Conestoga Room, Main Floor, Kitchener City Hall Attendance: Glenn ScheelsJane Jantzi Lawrence BingemanMayor, Carl Zehr Shawky FahelMike Sully Jeff WillmerPeter Benninger Henrik NoesgaardRay Robinson Ken Seiling, Regional Chair Linda Thompson represented Manfred Conrad Staff: George BorovilosBrock Stanley David CorksPatricia Bacon Recording Secretary: Sandy Curzon Regrets: Councillor, Christina WeylieCouncillor, John Smola Councillor, Berry VrbanovicHans Pottkamper Peter CookScott Baird th 1. Approval of Minutes of March 28 , 2001 th Minutes of March 28 , 2001 were approved as written. Moved bySeconded by Carried. Lawrence Bingeman Shawky Fahel 2. Presentation – Downtown & Market Research David Corks, Manager of Downtown & Market Research, using PowerPoint, gave Committee an overview of 4 selected areas: i) The Downtown Block ii) The New Kitchener Market iii) The Warehouse District iv) Parking i) The Downtown Block Identified block as property bounded by Young, King, Duke and Ø Ontario Streets Properties previously purchased by the City of Kitchener are: Forsyth Ø site; 156-158 King St.W; and former site of Tommy’s Place Recent sites purchased include JHS Sports International; Odyssey Ø Night Club; ABC Military Surplus; Mayfair Hotel and Tavern; and Labour Ready Forsyth Building - being developed of which the City is actively Ø involved in. Open House scheduled for the first week in June. Public garden will be designed for the property owned by the city on the corner of Duke and Young Street Mayfair Hotel – working with Kitchener Housing. City will market the Ø first and second floors for retail and office use. The remaining floors will be for residential use 156-158 King Street – want uses that meet Retail Action Plan. May Ø need some fixing up. Tommy’s Place – poor shape – will have to be demolished Ø Club Elements (former Capital Theatre) will be an upscale night club Ø Short term leasing, for the block, is a problem in getting tenants. The Ø most that is offered is a one year lease Some suggestions were to offer the space to Hi-Tech companies for Ø incubators; rather than only social agencies Block has had negative impact in the past. Currently it is in a neutral Ø phase moving towards a positive one KPMG’s recommendations are expected within the next month Ø ii) Warehouse District Council has approved an extension of the downtown boundary to Ø include the warehouse district. Kaufman can also be used for residential use. Updating of street lighting; street furniture; sidewalks; and street- Ø scaping are in process all along King Street in the downtown iii) New Kitchener Market th May 7, Maureen Atkinson, Senior Planner, Urban Marketing Ø Collaborative (UMC) will make a presentation to City Council on the findings of the Public Consultation Process The City has applied for a grant to fund the capital expenses under the Ø Provincial ‘Super Build’ Program iv) Parking th April 30, Public Works & Transportation Committee will table a report Ø on the urgent need for additional parking in the Downtown Programs to consider and encourage alternate means of transportation Ø are an option Public and private partnerships are an option Ø 2 EDAC Minutes April 25, 2001 3. Benchmarking Twenty-five communities have been surveyed of which 15 have responded. Of the surveys received – no municipality has undertaken benchmarking for economic development activities. Reasoning ranges from: Being too busy Ø Difficult to compare communities Ø Some suggestions made by Committee were: Objectives can be job and assessment related Ø Need to benchmark against another community Ø Compare self to self Ø Tools to benchmarking are in the Strategic Plan Ø Action:George Borovilos to look at US approach and to consider more tangible measurements and report back to Committee at a future meeting. 4. Report Presentation: Smart Growth and the Region of Waterloo: Planning for our Future Ken Seiling, Regional Chair gave Committee an overview of his report on Smart Growth as it relates to revitalization; transportation components; and mixing of uses. More specifically, Committee was interested in how the report addressed future land needs, specifically the lands bounded by Highway #7, the Grand River and Maple Grove Road. When the Regional Municipality of Waterloo was created in 1973, a Regional Plan was developed to provide for growth. Today we need to look at focusing growth outside those boundaries and sharing investment capital or we will wind up with urban sprawl. The Region has a quality of life that needs to be protected. It was noted that the Grand River Trunk Sewer on the eastside needs to be resurrected, therefore measures are being taken to update the study expeditiously. The Township of Woolwich is not capable of developing the lands, thus opening the door to shared assessment. Kitchener has identified long-term concerns for land. Reality is that the Region would be responsible for the servicing of the land, and hopefully the private sector can develop it. 3 EDAC Minutes April 25, 2001 Committee felt, however, that private developers would not develop the land unless it was residential. They would not take the risk of servicing and developing industrial land – it would take up to 5 years to see the return on their investment. Committee asked Mr. Seiling to be kept informed and offered to provide feedback if needed to the Region. 5. Issues for 2001 George Borovilos, Glenn Scheels and Brock Stanley will meet to discuss list of outstanding issues to discuss at the next EDAC meeting. 6. New Business CTT is submitting an application to the Provincial Government's Connect Ontario fund. CTT is engaging various sectors of the community including each of the municipalities and the Region, the University of Waterloo and Communitech in order to complete the application. There is $50 million in the fund of which CTT is applying for a portion of. Meeting adjourned at 1:10p.m. Moved bySeconded byCarried Jeff Willmer, Jane Jantzi ………………………………………………. Sandy Curzon, Recording Secretary Economic Development Advisory Committee Department of Business & Planning Services rd Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, 2001 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. st Conestoga Room, 1 Floor, City Hall 4 EDAC Minutes April 25, 2001