Sprawl and Intensification in Kitchener Waterloo

By Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team on November 20, 2010 in kitchener waterloo, Real Estate Investment

The Record has a great article this morning talking about limits on development in Waterloo Region, the City’s new Official Plan for growth, and the provinces desire to see fewer farms converted into subdivisions:

Waterloo Region on the front line in province’s battle against urban sprawl

At the front line of the issue is the Region of Waterloo’s new Official Plan, which has established a countryside boundary beyond which no new subdivisions can be built for the next 20 years. In coming weeks the region’s Official Plan will get final approval from the province and then be open to appeals from developers.

If the countryside line withstands appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board, the provincial tribunal that rules on land-use disputes, other municipalities in the horseshoe may establish hard lines over which no suburb can sprawl.

The countryside line surrounds Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. Lines are also etched around Ayr, New Hamburg, St. Agatha, St. Jacobs and Elmira. The region does not want any new residential construction outside these lines.

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After four decades of suburban growth, Waterloo Region now leads the province in meeting targets for reducing the construction of new suburbs on old farms.

In 1991 about five per cent of residential construction in Waterloo Region was infill, building in previously developed areas. In 2001 it was about 15 per cent. Now, between 35 per cent and 45 per cent of new housing occurs in built-up areas.

Recent examples of re-use & intensification in existing residential areas would be the City Centre condos & Kaufman Lofts in downtown Kitchener, 144 Park & the Bauer Lofts in Waterloo.

Commercial office infill projects such as The Breithaupt Block & The Tannery stand in stark contrast to an urban office campus like the Research & Technology Park at UW. From another article in this morning’s Record:

The Perimeter Development Corporation is transforming the former rubber company into office space. The history of the Breithaupt buildings goes back to the 1902 founding of the Merchants Rubber Co., by Jacob Kaurmann and T.H. Rieder. The block consists of several old industrial buildings with about 176,000 square feet of space at King and Breithaupt streets. David Gibson, the developer, said he is excited about the potential for the site and the kind of companies it can attract.

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Another piece of history that’s experiencing a remarkable rebirth is the former Lang Tannery complex on Charles Street. Some offices and a pharmacy have opened there, as well as Communitech’s hi-tech space for emerging technology. The Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre doubled its space by moving to the Francis Street area of the complex. I got a glimpse inside that space when I spoke at workshop for the Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener-Waterloo.

Click through to read the whole article – they covered the Box 10 art show which my wife & I attended.

Letting more people live and work in the historic downtowns of cities is a good thing, and I’m glad to see the level of re-use in Waterloo Region increasing.

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know !