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General Suburban Updates and Rumours
But were the houses there that long?   My guess is that part of this push-back comes from people who bought houses in the last 10-20 years in newer development that ignored the presence of Conestoga College.  If the the developers and the City had been proactive, they might have come up with a development plan that allowed the greenfield development to skip the initial single-detached housing stock step and move immediately towards something like what is planned for Northdale 3.0 (1.0 Victory Houses; 2.0 stucco towers; 3.0 the current plan).

I understand that this is not unique to the area.  The greenfield neighbourhoods around the Ontario Institute of Technology ran into the same problems shortly after it opened in 2003.

On a related note, a University of Waterloo Yinzhou Xiao student wrote a thesis in 2013 that looked at these kinds of conflicts in 23 muncipalities.  From the abstract:
Quote:The study results showed that at least 23 Ontario municipalities faced challenges
associated with the concentration of student population in near-campus neighbourhoods.
The challenges relate to demographic imbalance, decreased rates of homeownership, a
deteriorating neighbourhood environment, and student behavioural issues. However, only
around half of the affected communities have developed planning strategies to respond to 
the challenges. Eleven planning approaches are identified, analyzed, and evaluated in the
study. In general, planning policies to encourage high-density development to
accommodate students are common approaches and considered effective: purpose-built
student housing has significantly increased its market share in some university
communities. This type of development relieves housing pressure, but it is not clear if it
helps to stabilize low-density neighbourhoods near campus; the attempt to regulate the
student private rental market by zoning and licensing regimes has several drawbacks. The
study also reveals diverse interests of different stakeholders in near-campus
neighbourhoods, and the lack of effective collaboration and partnerships among them in
addressing challenges in their neighbourhoods in general. 
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Here's a closer look at the proposed site plan for the rebuilding of the Pioneer Park plaza. Don't think we've had a good look at this yet.

Overall, it's quite drab. Pretty standard, mostly expected. The plaza definitely needs the redo, but it's too bad that while making it "new" they didn't also want to make it "good". but I feel like pedestrians should've been taken more into account here.

On the bright side, I seem some of those parking spaces in the bottom right quadrant are labelled as "click & collect", so at least Zehrs will be staying.

[Image: GFWH6ID.jpg]
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I actually really like the reorganization of the plaza. It puts more services right at the streetfront, making them more accessible to pedestrians. Particularly those people who will be crossing from the high density residential across Homer-Watson.

I'm not as big a fan of the retaining wall that will replace what is currently a dirt trail used by residents of the building to the south.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.3930075,-...!1e3?hl=en
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So, the Zehrs is moving to the southeast corner where the Home Hardware was?
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(02-14-2017, 04:40 PM)Markster Wrote: I actually really like the reorganization of the plaza.  It puts more services right at the streetfront, making them more accessible to pedestrians.  Particularly those people who will be crossing from the high density residential across Homer-Watson.

I'm not as big a fan of the retaining wall that will replace what is currently a dirt trail used by residents of the building to the south.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.3930075,-...!1e3?hl=en

Let's take bets on how many of the stores face the streets/sidewalks vs the parking.
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(02-14-2017, 06:18 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Let's take bets on how many of the stores face the streets/sidewalks vs the parking.

I'll only take that bet if I can have "100% face the parking".
But it's a seriously good thing that pedestrians don't need to walk through a parking lot to get to the doors.
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West Acres development Feb 17/17


Attached Files Image(s)
   
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New tower crane up behind the Bankside Residence (retirement home) across Highland Rd from the Highland Hills Mall
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That explains the earth moving recently.
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Doon Pioneer Park Community Center to undergo expansion.


http://m.kitchenerpost.ca/news-story/714...s-go-ahead
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(02-22-2017, 04:19 PM)white_brian Wrote: New tower crane up behind the Bankside Residence (retirement home) across Highland Rd from the Highland Hills Mall

What is planned for that site?
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It's a tiny little plot of land tucked back on what looks like the retirement home's property.  Not certain what it would be given the size of the land
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(03-08-2017, 11:24 AM)Spokes Wrote: It's a tiny little plot of land tucked back on what looks like the retirement home's property.  Not certain what it would be given the size of the land

I did some searching and this may be the project:

   
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This is part of the growing trend in senior's care to allow aging in place, especially for couples, where one site has multiple levels of care. For instance, Lutherwood started with townhouses and apartments, and then later built the Sunshine Centre with more levels of care. In this case, it may be the reverse.
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Work has started on a new 34 unit affordable housing complex at 175 Hespler Rd, Cambridge.


http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/mobile/cambr...-1.3323232
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