Growing Together (City of Kitchener)

[ZEBuilder]

The city has now started the last round of consultation on the project with new documents up on the Engage Kitchener website. The new documents really just go into some more detail on the the restrictions of the SGA zones as well as the addition of priority streets.

SGA-1: Max height of 11 meters, everything that is currently permitted in RES-5 is permitted in this as well. For multi residential dwellings of more than 11 units or non residential buildings the minimum FSR is 0.6.

SGA-2: Max height of 8 floors, the 7th and 8th floors must be set back 3 meters from the bottom 6 floors. When it abuts a SGA-1 or RES 1-5 zone it has a max height of 12.5 meters

SGA-3: Max height of 25 floors, minimum FSR of 2.0, minimum podium height of 3 floors, max of 6, minimum ground floor height of 4.5 meters, max height of 12.5 meters next to SGA-1 and RES 1-5. There are physical separation distances between towers in the zoning regulations, from 7-12 floors the minimum is 6 meters, 13-18 the minimum separation is 12 meters, 19-25 separation is 15 meters.

SGA-4: Unlimited height, minimum FSR of 2.0, minimum podium height of 3 floors, max of 6, minimum ground floor height of 4.5 meters, max height of 12.5 meters next to a SGA-1 and RES 1-5 zone. The same separation rules apply as in SGA 3, from 25-36 floors it is 15 meters and anything about 37 floors is 18 meters. There are also limitations on the floor plates in both the SGA-3 and SGA-4 zones. For anything 37+ the maximum floor plate is 850sqm, for anything 19-36 max floor plate of 900sqm, 13-18 floors max floor plate of 1200sqm and 7-12 max of 2000sqm.

They have also introduced the concept of Priority Streets, Victoria, Ottawa, King, sections of Charles, sections of Duke and all of Water, Ontario, Gaukel, Queen, Benton/Frederick between Duke and Charles are all Priority Streets. On these Priority Streets the city is requiring a minimum of 50% of the street line building to contain commercial or community uses. Parking uses may not occupy the street line facade of the first and second floor of the building, further on floors 3-6 of a building (the maximum allowed podium height is 6 floors) structured parking may not take up more than 50% of the facade. Using 417 King St W as an example if these amendments were to pass the podium design would be illegal, likewise same thing at 50 Borden Ave S. Since these are likely to pass before this comes into affect it won't change those buildings but the city is seemingly forcing developers to get rid of hideous parking podiums at least in MTSAs. Further there is no minimum parking in the any SGA zones.

There is also a transition clause written into the bylaw allowing currently approved ZBA/OPA projects to continue even if they are non compliant. However if they are not started within 10 years of the bylaw passing it would then be illegal to build them. Inclusionary zoning will also apply to those projects based on the wording of the transition clause.

There is also a bunch of changes to the wording of existing provisions (45 pages worth) so it is too much to summarize.

I have linked some of the documents below:
Draft Zoning Bylaw
Community Brief
Draft Zoning Map

[Kodra24]

I believe the last day for comments for the draft OPA and ZBA was November 30th and CoK GT Team have started their evaluation December 8th

[tomh009]

Further there is no minimum parking in the any SGA zones.

That, and the FSR rules are minimums, not maximums!

[tomh009]

All right, so this is approved now, and by a unanimous council vote yet, in spite of various objections from both sides. One hopes that the Waterloo and Cambridge councils will find the courage to do the same. Here are the zones:

SGA-1: Max height of 11 meters, everything that is currently permitted in RES-5 is permitted in this as well. For multi residential dwellings of more than 11 units or non residential buildings the minimum FSR is 0.6.

SGA-2: Max height of 8 floors, the 7th and 8th floors must be set back 3 meters from the bottom 6 floors. When it abuts a SGA-1 or RES 1-5 zone it has a max height of 12.5 meters

SGA-3: Max height of 25 (now 28) floors, minimum FSR of 2.0, minimum podium height of 3 floors, max of 6, minimum ground floor height of 4.5 meters, max height of 12.5 meters next to SGA-1 and RES 1-5. (...)

SGA-4: Unlimited height, minimum FSR of 2.0, minimum podium height of 3 floors, max of 6, minimum ground floor height of 4.5 meters, max height of 12.5 meters next to a SGA-1 and RES 1-5 zone. (...)

This is what the map looks like (SGA-1 is the lightest pink/purple, SGA-4 the darkest).

   

Inclusionary zoning applies to developments with 50+ units from 2025; 2% of units must be affordable in 2025 (is this based on the building permit date?), ramping up to 5% in 2031. Maximum rental rates based on current market would range from $1075 (presumably 1BR) to $1631 (3BR?). Not clear on how those are calculated, but they look to be slightly more than 50% of what new purpose-built rentals in downtown cost today (66 Civic is $2000/mo for 1BR, The Scott is $1800/mo).

If we assume a 100-unit all-1BR building (for calculation convenience), that would normally have a rental income of $200K/mo at market rates. At the 2025 rules, two of those units would rent for $1000/mo instead, dropping the landlord's rental income to $198K, or a 1% drop. Alternatively the landlord could charge $2020 for all the market rate units in order to maintain the same rental income.

In 2031, five of those units would rent for $1000/mo instead (using today's figures), dropping the landlord's rental income to $195K, or a 2.5% drop. Alternatively the landlord could charge $2052 for all the market rate units in order to maintain the same rental income. Especially given the gradual introduction, I really feel that these are not excessive impacts, either on landlords or market-rate tenants. (I don't know how this will work for condo buildings, maybe someone can enlighten me on that?)

Additionally, these zones are far less restrictive, allowing developers to build higher and denser (no FSR maximums) and without parking minima in order to regain the same or higher level of profitability.

The council is going to review the progress in two years in order to determine whether adjustments are needed, and the city agreed to a development industry request to continually monitor market conditions as well.

[Bytor]

I still think this is wimping out by only applying it to MTSAs.

Everything currently RES-x/R-x should be changed to SGA-1 at minimum.

Intersections between local streets and major community collectors or arterials should be SGA-2 for 1 block.

All properties facing arterials should be SGA-2.

Anything inside an MTSA, whether on an arterial, collector or local, should be SGA-3.

Downtown should be SGA-4.

[tomh009]

Yes. And yet it's a huge step forward. Let's hope we can go beyond this a few years later, but for now I'm happy to see they are serious about allowing more density and doing something significant to address the lack of affordable housing.

[danbrotherston]

Indeed! The interesting thing to me is this includes things which were previously seen as "untouchable" like the heritage district next to Victoria Park. Obviously there are still other hurdles but in previous planning exercises, this was a "protected area" that could not be zoned up whatsoever.

But Bytor is right in that this doesn't really change the situation broadly within the city.