Kitchener’s fourth heritage district establishment faces delays
December 20, 2009
By Terry Pender, Record staff
KITCHENER — The establishment of the city’s fourth heritage conservation district is mired in a complicated mix of development applications, appeals and contingent opposition.
On Friday a provincial tribunal that rules on land use disputes, the Ontario Municipal Board, held a meeting at Kitchener City Hall to hear from different parties associated with the Civic Centre Heritage Conservation District.
The municipal board has scheduled a hearing for September 2010 for the appeal filed by Community Expansion Inc., a local developer that opposes — sort of — the creation of the conservation district.
“I think there is a sense of frustration, perhaps, that one property is holding up the heritage conservation district,” Donna Kuehl, of Ahrens Street, said.
Kuehl is a former member of Heritage Kitchener, the proud owner of a beautiful old house and a strong supporter of Civic Centre Heritage Conservation District.
The district, which is bounded by Weber, Victoria, Lancaster, Ellen and Queen streets, aims to preserve the streetscape and buildings of the city’s oldest neighbourhood that contains many properties of historic and architectural significance.
“It is in limbo,” Kuehl said. “It is difficult to comprehend, it is so convoluted it is difficult to explain to people.”
Public meetings started in 2005. Consultants were retained in 2006. A plan for the conservation district was produced in 2007. More public meetings were held. City council passed a bylaw creating the district in February 2008.
Then hurdles started appearing.
Community Expansion Inc. wants to build a six-storey residential building at 30-40 Margaret Ave. with underground parking.
The proposed building will occupy most of the lot and come to within four and six metres of the property lines. The developer needs special permission from the city to do this — an amendment to the city’s official plan and a change in zoning.
If the city agrees, the developer will drop the municipal board appeal that opposes the creation of the Civic Centre Heritage Conservation District, Eric Kraushaar, the lawyer for Community Expansion, said at the meeting.
He said the current bylaws allow the developer to build a narrower, eight storey apartment building with bare facades. Rather than do that the developer worked with staff to design a six storey building with architectural features better suited to a heritage conservation district, Kraushaar said.
But some neighbours, including Tyson Reiser, are vehemently opposed to the development.
The old mansions along that stretch of Margaret Avenue were demolished in 1988—a move that still rankles among heritage preservationists. Since then the property has been a green space shaded by 100-year-old trees.
Reiser said the proposed building comes too close to the backyards of homes on Ellen Street, will destroy too many mature trees, come too close to the property line at the front, will cast too much shade in the winter, raise the temperature of nearby houses in the summer and will have too many people living in one place.
Reiser and his supporters will closely watch how the city handles the zoning and planning applications from the developer. If the city approves the developer’s requests then the residents could appeal those decisions to the municipal board.
“If they appeal that then everything goes to this board hearing next September,” Leon Bensason, the city’s head heritage planning, said in an interview. “We will have to find out if in the end everyone will be satisfied or not,” he said.
tpender@therecord.com
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