We asked for the meeting because we believe neither our objections nor our ideas for the property have been heard.
Neighbours formed groups to develop presentations that encompassed three subjects (housing density, traffic and quality of life) and drew from documents like the City of Waterloo’s strategic plan, the official plan, by-laws, and case studies of similar developments in other municipalities. (And, folks, if you weren’t there, the level of research, detail and considered thought that went into those presentations was flat-out impressive.)
As important as it is to deliver a message that says we’ve read the relevant documents, I think it was equally important that neigbours spoke out about what we value and the type of neighbourhood we want to be. Our message was not that we’re against development of this property but that we are collectively and firmly against changing the property’s designation from low-density to medium-density. We’re against the height, footprint and density that ODC proposes. And, in an older neighbourhood already squeezed by traffic while lacking recreational and green space, we’re against development that brings more cars but fewer trees and playgrounds.
Thanks for showing up. You made sure were were heard.
What’s next?
As many of you already know, one of the suggestions made at this meeting was to establish a working group in order to continue our discussion about the proposed development on the ODC lands. We’re now looking for 6-8 people to participate in this group. GSP Group anticipates they will have some material to share with the group the week of Oct. 9th. Though the schedule isn’t yet confirmed, you can anticipate meeting a few times on weekday evenings over the next 6-8 weeks. City staff will also be present and the meetings will be held at Waterloo City Hall.
Once formed, I’ll forward contact info for working group members to the city’s Development Planner who will then oversee communication with you about meeting logistics.
Please email me (Anna-Marie), ASAP, if you’re interested in participating in these meetings.
If you’d like to review the material GSP Group has submitted to the city about this project, please click this link.
What else?
Please share this email with your neighbours and encourage them to contact me to have their names added to our mailing list.
Please write or call our ward representative, Melissa Durrell, our mayor, Dave Jaworsky, and the development planner, Wendy Fisher, and to share what you like or don’t like about ODC’s planned development. (Folks: these letters really matter.) Kindly copy me so I can add your thoughts to the file I keep on this development.
Finally
Our mailing list has become so large that managing it in gmail has become unwieldy. I’ve turned to an automated email program for help with managing the list; this is the first message sent using it. There’s a small chance that email sent this way will be directed to a spam folder. If you know someone who usually receives an update but hasn’t please ask them to check their spam folder and apply whatever permissions their email program requires in order to have these messages delivered to their in-box.
Your Midtown KW Neighbourhood 