General Suburban Updates and Rumours

[Coke6pk]

Drove by the Optimist Sportspark (?) at Pioneer and Homer Watson yesterday. It used to be a small parking lot, a single building and 5 baseball diamonds. Now the entire area is fenced off and razed.

Anyone know what is happening there?

Coke

[KevinL]

I seem to recall a plan to completely reconfigure that park, but I'm fuzzy on the details.

[Andy]

I heard part of the plan is to reconfigure so all 4 main diamonds' home plate start from the same area. It used to take 5+ minutes to walk to the far diamond from the parking lot.

[andrewhann7]

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/758...-upgrades/

[Coke6pk]

Thanks!

[Pheidippides]

Sign spotted on 270 Spadina Rd E (the building purchased by the Toronto-based company 270 Spadina Kitchener Inc. that was in the news a few months ago):


Could not find anything else about the application though.

I was by this site tonight. It was dark and unchanged from months ago.

This seems to be the plan though:
"That the application of 270 Spadina Kitchener Inc. requesting permission to renovate an existing multi-residential dwelling currently having 57 units to increase the number of existing apartment units to 103 having a Floor Space Ratio (FSR) of 1.15 whereas the By-law permits a maximum FSR of 1.0; to have an existing front yard setback of 4.61m rather than the required 9.75m; and, to legalize the size of the parking spaces within the existing parking garage to be 2.81m wide and 5.46m in length rather than the required 3.04m wide and 5.49m in length. There are no changes to the proposed footprint of the building as a result of the proposal, on Lots 36-38, 41, 54 & 55 and Part lots 56-58, Registered Plan 224, Subdivision of Lot 17, German Company Tract, 270 Spadina Road, Kitchener, Ontario, BE APPROVED, subject to the following conditions:
1. That the owner shall obtain a Zoning (Occupancy) Permit prior to occupancy of the proposed renovated building from the Director of Planning for the 103-unit multiple dwelling building.
2. That the owner shall obtain a Building Permit from the City’s Chief Building Official for the interior renovation work.

[GtwoK]

How..... can they reduce the setback.... without changing the footprint? Are they lifting the building and moving it forward a few meters, perhaps? What does that even mean

[ijmorlan]

How..... can they reduce the setback.... without changing the footprint? Are they lifting the building and moving it forward a few meters, perhaps? What does that even mean

It’s probably non-conforming now. So the change just allows the existing footprint of the building. I don’t know what sorts of modifications to a building trigger a requirement to conform, but I think that’s what is going on.

Of course this just shows how inappropriate the setback regulations are — there are probably huge swaths of the older parts of the city where many buildings don’t conform to modern setbacks. And of course, all the best parts of the city were built before setback regulations existed at all.

[tomh009]

I think this will be a major renovation, probably stripped down to the concrete.  Possibly even as far as only using the foundation/footprint of the current building.

   

[rangersfan]

The first apartment at Highland and Ira Needles is currently up to the third storey.

[mpd618]

Kingswood Estates seems to be building a large new or reconstructed apartment building just off Homer Watson / Block Line. Anyone know about this project?

[BobbyDaSilva]

Kingswood Estates seems to be building a large new or reconstructed apartment building just off Homer Watson / Block Line. Anyone know about this project?

This a new 5-storey rental apartment building with ~80 units. Nice to continue to add to the rental housing stock by intensifying a previously underutilized area.

[rangersfan]

The industrial building under construction on Randall Dr is starting to take shape with the steel frame starting to go up this week.

[Pheidippides]

$1,890,000.00 for "renovation of the current WRPS Investigative Services building located at 200 Maple Grove Rd., Cambridge, to accommodate staff growth and address over-crowding at Police Headquarters. This work includes modifications to existing building equipment and conversion of empty spaces to useable space. Construction is scheduled to start in January 2018 and be substantially complete by July 2, 2018."


I thought the old provincial courthouse was going to be the solution to accommodate growth and over-crowding within the WRPS. I guess that project is moving slower and this is a stop-gap?

[tomh009]

I don't think the courthouse renovation will involve consolidation of operations to Kitchener.