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36-42 Erb St E, and 39 Dupont St E | 24 fl | Proposed
#31
(09-28-2018, 05:30 PM)Spokes Wrote: Wasn't there a tool that you could put your address in and it would measure walkability?  Does that still exist? Is it accurate?

walkscore.com. It's not bad.
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#32
Thank you!!
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#33
(09-28-2018, 06:59 PM)plam Wrote:
(09-28-2018, 05:30 PM)Spokes Wrote: Wasn't there a tool that you could put your address in and it would measure walkability?  Does that still exist? Is it accurate?

walkscore.com. It's not bad.

It has very high internal validity, I believe it's based on Google Maps data, which is pretty good.

It only measures the proximity to places, it's missing a lot of other factors accessibility, safety, pedestrian friendliness.  But such is the case of data, you measure what you have easy access too.

I suspect it's a moderately good analogue, places with a lot of close-by retailers are likely to be walkable by virtue of they aren't aggressively zone separated or sprawled.  It was a really interesting research project to read about.
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#34
(09-28-2018, 08:07 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: It only measures the proximity to places, it's missing a lot of other factors accessibility, safety, pedestrian friendliness.  But such is the case of data, you measure what you have easy access too.

Right. I think it doesn't know about sidewalks, so places I have checked in the US where there are none (on busy streets/highways) still get a non-zero walkability score.
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#35
I think OpenStreetMaps now mostly includes sidewalks, so the data is available. Likely non-trivial to process into a score, though.
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#36
(09-28-2018, 09:41 PM)jamincan Wrote: I think OpenStreetMaps now mostly includes sidewalks, so the data is available. Likely non-trivial to process into a score, though.

Definitely a non-trivial project, but I think probably within the realm of possibility. I think the key would be to replace “as the crow flies” distance with walking distance, taking into account where walking actually works and adding a penalty for road crossings. So a circle of constant distance becomes a shape of constant walking time, which especially for small times will be distinctly non-circular.
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#37
Informal meeting on January 14, 2019 for this one.
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#38
(09-25-2018, 10:31 AM)Guido Wrote: I just read through the documents and didn't see any mention of a proposed timeline - I see the first public meeting about the site is in January, though. Any guesses as to how soon they'd start building if this were to be approved?

(12-23-2018, 10:26 PM)rangersfan Wrote: Informal meeting on January 14, 2019 for this one.

On track, so far, even!
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#39
(09-28-2018, 09:52 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(09-28-2018, 09:41 PM)jamincan Wrote: I think OpenStreetMaps now mostly includes sidewalks, so the data is available. Likely non-trivial to process into a score, though.

Definitely a non-trivial project, but I think probably within the realm of possibility. I think the key would be to replace “as the crow flies” distance with walking distance, taking into account where walking actually works and adding a penalty for road crossings. So a circle of constant distance becomes a shape of constant walking time, which especially for small times will be distinctly non-circular.

Definitely possible.

Bike Ottawa did amazing things with their bike maps, that would align with this.
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#40
(09-28-2018, 08:57 AM)Spokes Wrote: It's more than the fact that that the cities are starting to "look like a big city", they have BECOME big cities, but at times still act otherwise.  Embrace what you've become.

I wish the NIMBY groups would acknowledge this. Kitchener and Waterloo are not small cities anymore, relative to the size of Canada/Ontario. If they want the small town feel, move out to Cambridge or something. KW is certainly not a major metropolis, but this is a big city. There seems to be a disconnect here. Maybe it's because, if you go back to 2000, there was virtually no development in the core of either cities. So the sudden boom in growth is something to adjust to.

Anyway, this tower is nice, and I do hope it gets built. The more density here, the better in the long term.
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#41
Curious to see how this gets received at the meeting. And if we'll see more detailed renders Big Grin
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#42
An article on this development from The Record.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/913...highrises/
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#43
The article is about this and 165 King South

Some things jumped out at me:

Quote:Both proposed buildings are within height limits. Citing special conditions, developers have asked council to amend planning rules for parking, setbacks or buffers.

Quote:Like other uptown projects, both are dominated by one-bedroom units.

Quote:The proposal for the 24-storey building borders the Laurel Trail. Council heard the trail connection may be given extra prominence to help promote it.
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#44
I hope we can see a shift away from buildings being "dominated by one-bedroom units" and a true mix of units and sizes are available. A diversity in unit sizes provides a diversity of residents.
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#45
(01-18-2019, 09:54 AM)Spokes Wrote: I hope we can see a shift away from buildings being "dominated by one-bedroom units" and a true mix of units and sizes are available.  A diversity in unit sizes provides a diversity of residents.

Kitchener buildings seem to have more larger units, though still many 1BR ones. I expect the student population is driving the skew in Waterloo, even in non-student-oriented buildings.
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