506-516 Hespeler Rd and 1000 Langs Ave | 5 x 20 fl | Proposed

[bravado]

Happy to announce that nobody seemed to have any major complaints about this rather large project during the latest public meeting:

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...ad-5905572

[bravado]

Just a note this will be coming up in a very useful public information centre:

https://www.cambridge.ca/en/learn-about/...Study.aspx

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news...ty-6214764

[SF22]

To be a bit goofy here the 2nd render shows a hilarious amount of tree cover that does NOT exist in the existing Hespeler Road hellscape.

Legitimately, I could not figure out what part of Hespeler had so many trees until I cross-referenced to a map, and went "HOLD ON HERE." I'd love to see a side-by-side of this render vs. a more accurate one that shows all the parking lots and illuminated pylon signs.

[bravado]

Do our city planners and councillors live in a different housing crisis than the rest of us?

A massive five-tower development planned for Hespeler Road and Langs Drive is headed to an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal after the City of Cambridge failed to make a decision on the proposal within a 120 day time frame described in the Planning Act.

It's been more than a year since a public meeting was held on the proposal; a meeting that generated next to no concerns despite the scale of the project and potential impact on surrounding businesses.

The city did not respond to a request for comment on why its planners failed to produce a report and recommendation for council consideration over the last year.

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news...ct-7988414

[tomh009]

Bound to be approved as is by the OLT.

[bravado]

It doesn't have a thread because it's tiny but here's another one that was also just sent to the OLT for failure to respond. It turns out the City of Cambridge has no interest in 1000+ unit developments and 3 unit ones at the same time!



https://www.cambridge.ca/en/resources/Si...of-CMC.pdf

[ac3r]

The crisis doesn't really impact them directly which is why they don't care.

Local councils are especially scummy. Remember when the Region of Waterloo voted to give themselves benefits for life, straight out of our pockets? Lol.

[neonjoe]

Keep It Up Cambridge and the decision about the future of your municipality WILL BE MADE FOR YOU by the province!

[nms]

When the Province updated the Planning Act (?) to set the 120 limit, did it include additional funding for municipalities to hire staff to review development plans to make sure they complied with local planning bylaws and other rules? My bet is no.

[bravado]

When the Province updated the Planning Act (?) to set the 120 limit, did it include additional funding for municipalities to hire staff to review development plans to make sure they complied with local planning bylaws and other rules? My bet is no.

I also wonder if council and city management considered to lessen their workload by reducing requirements OR increasing the budget to deal with the new reality? It seems weird that cities so often forget that they live at the whim of the province and continue to think they can set their own agenda.

There's no doubt that the Ford government doesn't give a shit about the bad deals it passes down the chain to municipalities - but there's also no doubt that municipalities would rather let things crumble than raise the funds needed to do their new, and arbitrarily changing, jobs.

[nms]

I wonder though, about how limited the municipalities are in their ability to adjust staffing levels given all of the other demands on the budget. For instance, if historically a city planning department deals with 10 major projects a year, they can staff accordingly. And then the next year, 100 major projects land in their department, it might not be easy to ramp up the department that quickly, especially if the next year, the load changes to a different number. I'm not a planner, but I can't imagine that the workload can easily be contracted out to temp agencies or consultants during a crush time without impacting the budget.

Also, I expect that the municipal staff tasked with reviewing planning approvals have other things to do besides reviewing yet another development proposal. For instance, you could all all the staff you could at the planning department, but if there isn't a staff increase at public works where a plan might be sent to assess how it will affect overall sewage and water capacity, then things slow down.

[bravado]

The OLT has set out the hearing timetable for this project. Looks like it'll be late 2025 before we hear anything and in that time the housing crisis will have only become worse and lots more suffering incurred along the way.

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlt/doc/20...83204.html