HomeMy WebLinkAboutEcon Development - 2002-10-23ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
October 23, 2002
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Conestoga Room, City of Kitchener
Attendance:
Staff:
Regrets:
Glenn Scheels
Peter Benninger
Lawrence Bingeman
Henrik Noesgaard
Councillor, John Smola
Hans Pottkamper
George Borovilos
Patricia Bacon
Rob Morgan
Councillor, Berry Vrbanovic
Peter Cook
Joan Euler
Ray Robinson
Jane Jantzi
Scott Baird
Councillor, Christina Weylie
Mayor, Carl Zehr
Mike Sully
Sandy Curzon
Jeff Willmer
Manfred Conrad
Shawky Fahel
Paul Kuntz
1. Approval of Minutes of September 25th, 2002
Minutes of September 25th, 2002 were approved with the following amendment:
Item #2, Page 3 ". .... , Short Term - Shirley Avenue; Mid Term - Westside Lands; and
Long Term -Airport Lands (East)
Moved by Ray Robinson
Seconded by Hans Pottkamper
Carried
2. Benchmarking
George Borovilos indicated that today's presentation by Rob Morgan, Economic
Development Officer, is a follow-up to comments made by Committee at their
scheduled meeting of December 19, 2002. In April 2002, David Gibson was
retained as a consultant to work with staff in establishing benchmarking criteria.
Mr. Morgan's presentation is based on comparing Kitchener with various
communities namely; Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, Oakville, Oshawa
and Barrie, under the following categories:
· Assessment Base (2001) -where Kitchener is second to Oakville.
· Best comparison from community to community is raw assessed data.
· On a per capita basis, Kitchener isn't doing as well as the other communities
· Servicing costs for residential is high
· Cadillac Fairview is Kitchener's largest rate payer- property is assessed at
$141 million - based on this value, they pay approximately $6.5 million in
taxes
· Available Serviced Industrial Land
· Cambridge - 205 acres of which 97 acres privately owned
· Guelph - 54 acres ready to go (Spring 2003 and additional 275 acres)
· Kitchener - 23 acres - not including Shirley Avenue lands - additional 25
acres ready in the fall of 2003
· Serviced Industrial Land
· Price ranges from $80,000-$250,000 per acre in communities surveyed
· Development Charges
· Barrie- no regional development charges
· Brantford- no industrial development charges
· Kitchener and Waterloo should be the same
· 2002 Final Tax Rates
· Kitchener high on scale for both Commercial and Industrial
· Property value scews figures
· Building Permit Values
· Barrie shows significant growth
· Kitchener - 5% industrial and commercial, which is Iow compared to other
communities surveyed
· Waterloo - high compared to other communities surveyed
· Industrial Vacancy Rates
· Large parcels on the market include: Kaufman Building; 1 Deilcraft Place;
329 Shirley Avenue, etc.
· Figures from CB Richard Ellis Report
· New Housing Starts
· Average Household Income (2002)
· Waterloo high due to high tech and insurance sectors
· Population (2001)
· Population Change (1996-2001)
A discussion then followed with the following questions and comments raised:
· How do we deal with employable lands?
· Show timeline and projections
· Pressure on residential development charges
· Measure relative performance and efforts - year to year
· Draw conclusion on why other communities are doing better
· Measure in municipal process comparison such as timelines for issuing building
permits - it was noted that the Planning Division has an online tracking system in
the works
· Kitchener's redundant facilities effects us as they shut down
· Kitchener's niche is to convert these redundant facilities (brownfields)
· Some redundant buildings will have to come down or become residential
· Who pays for the greenfield investment?
· 1% of Kitchener's tax base equals $550,000.
· Add Milton (part of GTA) to compare tax rates
EDAC Minutes
October 23, 2002
· Taxes per sq.ft, are cheap for industries
· Are we being cost effective?
· Current governance problem - if one government,
assessment is going
it wouldn't matter where the
3. Regional Growth Management Study
· Glenn Scheels provided committee with an update on the Regional Growth
Management Study. One component of the second phase is Employment Lands. It
is forecasted that there will be 167,300 new jobs by the year 2041.
· The study is the largest for this Region with aggressive timelines
· Emphasis has been placed on growth strategy, however this will not fulfill our own
needs of 1-2 acre size parcels
· There is a lack of land supply. To meet the needs of the business community,
parcels greater than 20 acres located close to the 401 are required
4. New Business
Shirley Avenue
· Patricia Bacon indicated that the employment lands on Shirley Avenue are on
schedule. It is estimated that servicing will be in by the Fall of 2003
· Sites 1 & 2 are commercial B zone allowing restaurants, conveniences and
motels. Price per acre approximately $170,000. Remainder are 2 acre industrial
sites.
· Discussion
· SWM price per acre should be increased
· Berm is a problem, however meets requirements
· Lands should be restricted to industrial
· Price the land so that it is for entire piece not just useable space
· Can we recover the $1 million for the underpass?
Riverbend Drive
· Shane Turner, Director of By-Law Enforcement brought Committee up-to-date
on enforcement issues on Riverbend Drive.
· Salvage yard at 35 Riverbend is having an effect on neighbouring streets
· Issues:
· traffic safety
· encroachments on City property
· conditions of wrecking property
· In order to address these issues:
· an amendment to the parking by-law will be changed from 3hours to no
parking
· Council will be asked to rescind access approval which was granted
years ago in principal, however never executed
· property owners have been issued orders to clean up site
EDAC Minutes
October 23, 2002
· Environment study will be done once City Works have repaired city
property
· Fire Department have been involved on access issues
· Region involved to change fencing by-law to private screening
Committee will be kept up to date.
c. Downtown Strategic Plan
· Copies of the Strategic plan were provided as an information item which was
tabled and adopted by Council September 30th, 2002.
· There will be a call for proposal for an Expression of Interest at Council
November 4th, 2002
d. Canada's Technology Triangle
· George Borovilos will approach John Tennant, CEO of CTT to attend the
December meeting
e. December Meeting
· Date has been set for Wednesday, December 18th.
Meeting called to adjourn at 1:05p.m.
Moved by: Scott Baird
Seconded by: Jane Jantzi
Carried
Sandy Curzon, Recording Secretary
Economic Development Advisory Committee
Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 27t~', 2002
11:00am- 1:00pm
Conestoga Room, Main Floor, City Hall
Kitchener
EDAC Minutes 4-
October 23, 2002