City of Kitchener Official Plan

[Spokes]

Kitchener’s new planning regulations attempt to strike a balance between high density, existing neighbourhoods

New planning regulations try to strike a fine balance between encouraging intensification along the LRT and ensuring it doesn't change the character of older neighbourhoods.

Kitchener planners are holding a series of public open houses to get feedback about proposed changes to the city's 10 secondary plans. The plans, which will eventually become part of the city's official plan and have legal weight, provide more detail about how the official plan will be implemented in specific parts of the city.

The plans don't cover all of the city, focusing mainly on areas in the core and along the LRT route. The plans haven't been updated in 25 to 30 years, said senior planner Tina Malone-Wright. "A lot of things have changed."

Planners want to modernize the plans to reflect new policies to protect established neighbourhoods, encourage intensification near the LRT and along major roads, and preserve heritage and natural areas.
...
Meetings have been relatively well attended. People see that the city is changing, and are worried that their neighbourhoods will change in ways they don't want.

A key worry is how the city will regulate the transition between high-density development and the low-rise homes on nearby streets. It's a concern that has dogged a number of recent development proposals, such as the Breithaupt Block Phase 3 project, which will put a five-storey parking garage and a 50-metre office tower close to single-family century homes on Wellington Street. Residents came out in droves to object to the project's height and nearness to homes, but council ultimately approved it.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/917...bourhoods/