General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[tomh009]

The Record is also very complicit in the regression angle, with the same handful of shitty journalists writing story after story about how bad all this change is.

I would actually say that D'Amato is not so much complaining about the building -- she is writing more about the bonusing structure built into the 1985 zoning by-law. She says it has achieved its goals, and that's a good thing. But that it's time to adjust how it works. And I do agree that the quid-pro-quo of bonusing should be adjusted, not to prevent density, but to ensure that the density brings appropriate value to the city.

Those of us who remember downtown Kitchener in the mid-1980s, its many problems, and the repeated failed attempts to breathe life into it, are pleased to see so many people living here now. We got what we wished for. Maybe more than we wished for.

“We are blessed in this region to be a place where people want to live and stay,” Stevenson said.

But he said the days of density bonusing are numbered. The bylaw is being reviewed and “this is the last period of time for bonusing.”

It’s now long past time to rewrite that bylaw so that it responds to the concerns we have in 2022, like housing that’s affordable to people on low incomes, or a building that’s designed to be kind to the environment.