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Westmount Place (50 Westmount N, 9-15 Dietz N, 192-218 Erb W) | 11-25 fl | U/C
#46
[Image: 20190917-121747.jpg]

Cleaning up the third house's basement today.
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#47
198, 200 and 202 Erb have all been demolished.
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#48
Looks like the height came down a bit


Attached Files Image(s)
   
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#49
That's a shame, but not surprising as it's Waterloo.
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#50
Did the City push for less height?
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#51
I'm curious too. I didn't think there were even any public meetings about this
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#52
I have no idea myself, I just know Waterloo has a lot of NIMBYs, so I assumed the reduction may have been related. It could just be that the developer concluded they don't need to build that high.
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#53
Said no developer ever Wink
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#54
Looks like the developer is hoping to demolish a vacant building.

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...lding.html

Highlights from the article:

- Demolish 15 dietz ave. without a development agreement in place.
- Phase 1 to launch spring 2021.
- Whole project could take up to a decade.
- Reduced over 15 storeys from 3 of the towers. The 3 towers closest to Uptown waterloo and the lrt.
- 3 towers along westmount to remain the same height
- All of the towers are now wider to keep the # of units the same.
- Lurther village residents upset about the 4 storey parking garage and traffic concerns.
- Staff will vote Nov 3 on whether to endorse the project.
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#55
So they shortened them again? I wonder what the objection was. Looking at the shadow studies in the renders (it's not a very detailed one, but it gives an idea nonetheless) the shadows shouldn't impact many surrounding homes on Dietz Ave. I wonder what influenced the decision to shorten them, but widen them as a compromise. Also, the complaint from the Luther Village residents doesn't make any sense. They would barely be able to see it from any of the windows in that building, and I'd think a nicely designed , condensed parking garage will look a lot better than the giant sea of empty parking spaces they currently see (if they even can see them from that elevation).
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#56
(10-05-2020, 04:47 PM)ac3r Wrote: So they shortened them again? I wonder what the objection was. Looking at the shadow studies in the renders (it's not a very detailed one, but it gives an idea nonetheless) the shadows shouldn't impact many surrounding homes on Dietz Ave. I wonder what influenced the decision to shorten them, but widen them as a compromise. Also, the complaint from the Luther Village residents doesn't make any sense. They would barely be able to see it from any of the windows in that building, and I'd think a nicely designed , condensed parking garage will look a lot better than the giant sea of empty parking spaces they currently see (if they even can see them from that elevation).

Your first mistake was expecting NIMBY complaints to make any sense.  Tongue

I think the taller = bad attitude is pervasive, and neighbourhood associations often declare victory every time a project gets it height reduced. Width, shadow impact, etc are all too abstract, compared to the easy declaration of victory that comes with reduced height. The same thing happened at the Breithaupt Block, the compromise with the neighbours was reducing height by 1 storey. 10 vs 11 storeys is a meaningless distinction, and the building got wider to maintain the same floor area, but it was seen a victory by the neighbourhood.

There's even comments from that live in the tower across the street (Westmount Grand), saying that towers would destroy the feel of the neighbourhood. People seem to be totally incapable of self-reflection on these issues.
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#57
We’re the proposed heights reduced in response to complaints?
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#58
(10-05-2020, 01:37 PM)westwardloo Wrote: - Lurther village residents upset about the 4 storey parking garage and traffic concerns.

Traffic concerns? What a U+1F4A9.
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#59
(10-05-2020, 05:06 PM)taylortbb Wrote:
(10-05-2020, 04:47 PM)ac3r Wrote: So they shortened them again? I wonder what the objection was. Looking at the shadow studies in the renders (it's not a very detailed one, but it gives an idea nonetheless) the shadows shouldn't impact many surrounding homes on Dietz Ave. I wonder what influenced the decision to shorten them, but widen them as a compromise. Also, the complaint from the Luther Village residents doesn't make any sense. They would barely be able to see it from any of the windows in that building, and I'd think a nicely designed , condensed parking garage will look a lot better than the giant sea of empty parking spaces they currently see (if they even can see them from that elevation).

Your first mistake was expecting NIMBY complaints to make any sense.  Tongue

I think the taller = bad attitude is pervasive, and neighbourhood associations often declare victory every time a project gets it height reduced. Width, shadow impact, etc are all too abstract, compared to the easy declaration of victory that comes with reduced height. The same thing happened at the Breithaupt Block, the compromise with the neighbours was reducing height by 1 storey. 10 vs 11 storeys is a meaningless distinction, and the building got wider to maintain the same floor area, but it was seen a victory by the neighbourhood.

There's even comments from that live in the tower across the street (Westmount Grand), saying that towers would destroy the feel of the neighbourhood. People seem to be totally incapable of self-reflection on these issues.

This is on point...basically, when you don't want to say what you really oppose, you end up opposing things like height, because it's easy to say height and harder to say "I don't want new people in the city".
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#60
(10-05-2020, 05:43 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(10-05-2020, 01:37 PM)westwardloo Wrote: - Lurther village residents upset about the 4 storey parking garage and traffic concerns.

Traffic concerns? What a U+1F4A9.

Some folks have fundamentally internalized "people are cars".

Of course, the giant parking garages will generate driving, but the housing doesn't.
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