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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2002-12-12DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES December 12, 2002 CITY OF KITCHENER The Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:15 chaired by Councillor John Smola, with the following members present: Doug Hoch, Mark Stranz, Joan Euler, Anita Petsche-Good, Nathan Hallman, Sam Head, Cynthia Ramon-Cano, Chris Farley, Sally Gunz, Glen Woolner, Marty Schreiter, Denis Pellerin Others: Michele Hodgins, Catherine Heal, Frank Pizzuto 1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Add to the agenda: Arts & Culture Up-date, Frank Pizzuto. Defer to future meeting: Sub-Committee for Enforcement & Planning for Downtown On motion by A. Petsche-Good it was resolved: "That the agenda for the December 12, 2002 meeting be accepted." 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On motion by D. Hoch it was resolved: "That the minutes from the November 14, 2002 meeting be accepted." 3. NEW COMMITTEE INTRODUCTIONS Co-chair Smola welcomed new Committee members to the Downtown Advisory Committee and asked that all members introduced themselves. 4. ELECTION OF CITIZEN CO-CHAIR S. Gunz was acclaimed as citizen co-chair of Downtown Advisory Committee for a term to expire November 30, 2003. 5. APPOINTMENT TO SAFE & HEALTHY COMMUNITIES COMMITTEE D. Hoch was appointed to represent DAC to the Safe & Healthy Communities Committee for a term to expire November 30, 2003. DOWNTOWN CORRIDOR BOUNDARY DEFINITION Committee members were in agreement that it would be helpful to have J. Voss speak to DAC regarding the downtown corridor boundary at our next meeting. C. Heal will arrange. MURALS & BILLBOARDS Deferred to a future meeting. KDBA UP-DATE - Marty Schreiter · At the next KDBA board meeting on Tuesday, December 17, 2002, DAC and EDAC members have been invited to a discussion with the School Board Trustees and Planners regarding the closing of schools affecting the downtown area. · The KDBA has had a formal request from KCI for support from the CARDS fund (Citizens Action to Restore Downtown Schools) in their fight to keep KCI open. · DOWNTOWN UP-DATE - Catherine Heal · C. Heal asked that with the recent changes to the Downtown Team that we defer this item for the next meeting. 10. EDAC UP-DATE- Joan Euler · Applications for expressions of interest on the Centre Block are available in the CAO's office at a cost of $100. Any questions regarding the Centre Block expressions of interest can be directed to Frank Lewinberg at Urban Strategies. · Downtown schools closing concerns- see Sandy for motion. EDAC is also invited to Dec. 17th meeting. 11. ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE UP-DATE - Denis Pellerin Nicholas Rees reported to the Arts & Culture Committee regarding "Hazel", the (working) steam engine that had been in the Kaufman building, and donated to the City by the new owners. Committee member will discuss and make a recommendation as to what to do with it. 12. NEW BUSINESS · S. Gunz requested that with the new development taking place in the downtown, that the - awnings/sign by-law- keep this in mind. Facade improvement, need to keep this in mind for new development. Marty suggested work block by block with different property owners, it's a challenge. Sally is asking if we can show a vision for this topic. Have a more collective/formalized approach to the appearance of the downtown facades. ~n~hi n g P l a n ~ed ~ u dies Ean e Wi ~h6 h ild sM ~ se ~ a e a~e i! J. Euler informed the Committee that she is heading up the committee in charge of the opening gala for the new Children's Museum. The gala opening is scheduled for September 25, 2003, with official opening activities planned for Saturday, September 27th and Sunday, September 28th. D. Hoch mentioned that the lodging houses by-law issues bear heavily on downtown neighbourhoods, and the need to form a sub-committee from DAC, involving the enforcement and planning departments. D. Hoch is meeting with Shayne Turner, Director of Enforcement in early January to discuss a sub-committee - who it would consist of, and what problems they would discuss. D. Hoch asked for DAC's support to meet with S. Turner and report back to the Committee early next year. Committee members were in favour of D. Hoch's request. 13. FRANK PIZZUTO F. Pizzuto, the new General Manager of Downtown Development, and more recently the General Manager of Community Services introduced himself to the Committee. There are four major components of the role of the GM of Downtown Development, the first being to make the downtown successful. To do this, help is required from different departments within the city. A core group of internal staff have formed a strategic team to oversee project development, consisting of Frank, George Borovilos (Economic Development), Carla Ladd (Strategic Services), Rosemary Pitfield (Communications), Larry Lynch (infrustructure), Shelley Adams (community infrastructure), Jeff Willmer (Planning). CAO, Mayor and/or Council will assist, if required. The second component is that Council see Frank as the primary focus for development in the downtown. He is to form partnerships and bring projects to downtown, from a conceptual idea to reality. The third component is to initiative coordination of the different departments servicing the downtown, i.e. by-law enforcement, garbage collection, planning. Improvements can be made in coordinate these departments, Michelle Schurter will work in this area, analize how they've worked in the past and what changes can be made. From this, a resource manual will be created, i.e. "who does what" and the manual will be utilized throughout the city and committees. The fourth component is to continue to support downtown businesses and problem solve, from a City perspective. Catherine Heal will continue to work in this area. Catherine, along with Frank, will also be staff support for DAC. DAC roles is do a look at what we're doing and can do better, and review projects with DAC for input, although some is confidential, will share what we can for input. Chris - downtown strat plan, will frank implement, is this it? Yes, but not detailed enough, start in Jan. to detail 3 districts and what opportunities are there, fine tune it. Come back to DAC for comments on the plan. Joan - want to continue to be informed. Motion - Special thanks to David on his achievements on the downtown. Carried. Sally - DAC has supported initiatives in the past, but sometimes given short notice - due to sencitivity issues (confidentiality), would like to be given lots of information in plenty of time. Glen - on right track, it's a process. Strong sense of downtown coming back. APG - Centre Block timeline - decline in walk-by traffic, this is a problem for the next few yrs for retailers. Important to move quickly in redevelopment. Proposal calls end Dec. 20, Jan/Feb to review and in Feb. go to short list for detailed proposals to be accepted by June. Then go to special committee to decide.