152 Shanley for sale (again)

What a time we have had with 152 Shanley: decades of neglect, attempted interventions by neighbours,  meetings with MHBPNA executive (both with staff and councilors) and many articles in the Record. And yet it still sits empty, quiet, derelict and with uncleared sidewalks, on the corner of Duke and Shanley.

The city attempted to sell the building in a tax sale. But it was unsuccessful partly because the municipal act tightly regulates sales and the city was required to ask the price of the taxes currently owing which is over 1 million dollars.

In April of 2018 the city organized a “charrette” to get buy-in and ideas from residents. This was well attended and well organized. City staff put together a draft “Vision statement” based on the ideas and comment at the charrette and released it in August. They then held another event in early September to get resident’s reactions to the Vision Statement. For those interested, it is worthwhile to read through many of the comments submitted about that statement.

Ultimately, Kitchener city council approved the Vision Statement on November 19 (despite a petition against it signed by over 20 people). This is the City of Kitchener’s statement: “Following an unsuccessful tax sale in 2017, planning staff developed a vision statement in collaboration with the neighbourhood surrounding 152 Shanley St. that clarifies expectation for redevelopment of the site that has been abandoned since 1990. From the engagement, what is envisioned is a building of up to six storeys that respects the site’s heritage and could permit retail/commercial (such as a coffee shop), personal services and community space on the ground floor and residential uses on the upper levels. The proposals should minimize the disruption to the neighbourhood, keeping parking underground or to the back of the building, provide for ample tree cover and contribute to an attractive streetscape.”

The latest news is there will be a new tax sale attempt in January of 2019. We can hope this is successful but it is impossible to please everyone. For some people the building is ‘historic’ and is a reminder of Kitchener’s manufacturing history. Others are angry it has sat there in a contaminated state for so long and believe the city should tear it down and clean up the contamination. Many who attended the charrette are happy with the city’s organization of that event and agree with the concept of a condo development. But not everyone is happy about a 6 story development and the increased traffic that would entail. And it remains to be seen if 6 floors and a reduced price (plus the Brownfield tax incentives that exist) are enough for a developer to take on the remediation and long term project management of the site.

At this point, all we can say is “to be continued”.

Ted Parkinson, Communications, MHBPNA

Breithaupt Block Phase 3 input

 

There is a good article in The Record about the modifications to the Breithaupt Block “phase 3”. Several residents attended the city’s open house on Tuesday evening (June 5, 2018). There were representatives from the city’s planning department and from Perimeter  Development. Many expressed positive opinions about the developer’s changes which include lowering the building by two stories. The parking garage is unchanged and has less than a metre offset with the lane. The developer has stated it will be well designed but there are no renderings. A mural could help brighten it up and that might be planned.

There is a proposed new lane cutting through from Wellington to Breithaupt (visible on page 12 of these plans) and some felt a sidewalk should be included since it will certainly be used by pedestrians and it is a bit risky as currently designed.

The parkette on the corner of Moore and Wellington is now one of the entrances to the garages and a large portion of it will be raised as a “roof” to this entrance. I wonder if that could be seating for a small concert spot? Or for eating lunch?

One issue which is not specifically within Perimiter’s control is the overall traffic in the area. Each project completes its own traffic study which the city analyzes. However, in a very small area we will have BB3, the Transit Hub and the SIXO development. These will all be phased in over the next several years and we believe the city has no plan to address the conflation of traffic to all of these developments. In five to ten years time, the area could be choked with traffic. On the other hand, that offers more incentive for people to walk, cycle and take transit!

If you have comments on the modified plans please sent them soon to garett.stevenson@kitchener.ca

City council will consider this revised proposal on June 25.

The city’s page for development information is here and includes the links given above in this article. The open house contained “3D” renderings of the updated site and the city has promised to include them on their website as well.

Newsletter Forthcoming!

Happy New Year’s eve (and New Year) to everyone. As our lives get busier, and 2018 is hours away, many of us wonder “what happened to 2017?”

MHBPNA hopes everyone had a good 2017 and managed to relax with family and friends over the holidays.

We have been working on a physical newsletter to be delivered across our ‘hood. This should be ready in early January and will be delivered by volunteers. We could still use a few delivery volunteers in the Blucher, Ellis Ave, Ahrens area. If you would like to get some exercise and perhaps meet neighbours please contact us at mhbpna@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to more community engagement in 2018 and are sponsoring a number of public forums. There has been an extraordinary amount of development in our city over the past few years and there will be more in the next few years. MHBP is very close to the centre of it all. This is an important time to be involved as decisions made now will affect us all for years to come. Our executive meetings are open to the public and we encourage everyone to attend. Our next meeting is Thursday, January 18, 7 pm in room 104, Breithaupt Centre.

AGM CoChair “State of the Neighbourhood” Introduction

Thanks to everyone who came out to our 2017 AGM on October 21. It was great to see some new people and to chat with neighbours before and after the event. We had some great presentations about transit, city updates and an “insider” view of development. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing some of these presentations on this Blog.

Here is the opening address from our Co-Chair Levi Oakey. about the state of our neighbourhood and some of our hopes for the future.

2017: In Review

Ebbs and Flows

Introduction

I would like to start by acknowledging that we reside on the unceded territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. I feel extremely privileged that I have been able to live on this land for the last 6 years.

Our neighbourhood has been a part of the history of Kitchener for many years. Louis Breithaupt first built his tannery in Kitchener at the corners of St.Leger and Louisa in 1857 and also built a large home, colloquially called Waldeck. Our hood comprises many sub-units as well, defined by their own unique histories. Midtown, Fairfield, Hillside, Lancaster, Mount Hope, Breithaupt Park and many others. MHBPNA was started in 1984 and over many years, like the river that meanders just beyond our borders, we have had many ebbs and flows. 2017 was a transitional year and I believe is an ebb before what I believe will be a transformational 2018.

Programs

At the beginning of 2017, we at the Mount Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association were without a leadership team after many fruitful years under Lane Burman and Ted Parkinson’s fantastic tenure. I myself had first begun working with the neighbourhood association during that time. We made a decision to run the Neighbourhood Association by a committee of three, Shannon Sweeney, Carly Greco and myself. As a committee we set to work on some programs for the year.

Breithaupt Park Athletic Club

We once again ran the local neighbourhood soccer club that we call Breithaupt Park Athletic Club. We had close to 100 kids registered this year, expanding for the third year in a row. We also hosted a multi-neighbourhood event for Neighbours day at the Breithaupt Centre with participants from 6 other neighbourhood soccer programs.

Neighbourhood Garage Sale

2017 saw the relaunch of our successful neighbourhood garage sale. We created a digital map to point out the various houses with sales available. This was the same weekend as the Hohner Avenue Porch Party and turnout was very good. We’re excited to continue this tradition.

Our New Website

Throughout all of the events of the past year (and since 2008), Ted Parkinson has maintained the MHBPNA blog, a site that continues to see significant readers looking for information on what changes are occurring in our community. Nearing the end of this fiscal year, we began to transition the site to a WordPress blog hosted at www.mhbpna.org. This will help us to keep it more up-to-date and has combined the functions of mhbpna.org and the (original) Blogspot blog. We continue to work on the site and add new functionality and resources so please visit frequently.

Cooperative Programs

We have also been working with the Waterloo Region Songwriters group by providing free meeting space (if you would like information on this search for “Waterloo Regional Songwriters’ Group” on Facebook). Executive members have been also been meeting with the region and the City of Kitchener with other community organizations to discuss ongoing development issues around growth. We are hoping to create a “working group” on development in our neighbourhood and will advertise it on our website.

Challenges

We continue to meet significant challenges in our neighbourhood. Although our borders have always been defined by major arterial roads, the introduction of LRT and potential introduction of high speed rail will further segregate the community from the main hubs of Kitchener as well as, importantly, from the two main high schools that service our area in KCI and Bluevale. As well, with the widening of Weber street, we have a line that now severs our community down the middle. As our community has transitioned to a younger demographic, these changes are important.  We need strong community voices at the table to encourage the city and region to think of pedestrian connections throughout our community. Increasingly our community is being defined by the asphalt that is used in its surface parking lots and roadways than by the people that reside in it. Attempts to de-pave, such as the painting of the Ahren’s street crossing, remain priorities. As well as the need to connect neighbours to each other through events that we hope will get neighbours talking and noticing what both connects us and the infrastructure that is holding us back from making those connections.

Another challenge is our neighbourhood’s lack of retail options that help define places and interests. Our retail centres sit at the periphery of the neighbourhood (Lancaster to the East or King Street to the West). Beyond those locations it is a significant walk to get any type of store-front retail service. We need to encourage alternative stores, Etsy shops, and pop-ups to afford the entrepreneurs in our community the opportunity to sell their goods and for neighbours to have the opportunity to meet.

Opportunities

Beyond all of these challenges are immense opportunities. We have great biking and walking trails through Breithaupt Park, several parks and playgrounds (some of which have been recently refurbished) and the Spurline which has “spurred” many great opportunities to connect through the neighbourhood.

We also have examples, throughout the neighbourhood, of neighbours working together. And we, as a neighbourhood association can expand on this! We will encourage more frequent contact with our neighbours and with the City as an affiliate organization to identify potential issues and to help with coming up with solutions.

For more events and contact to happen we need more community partners. Our board is readily accessible and all our meetings are public. We have kept compulsory meetings to a minimum and we are happy to video conference members in.

As a Neighbourhood Association we would love to be the hub of activity, a conduit by which neighbours can bring their own unique perspective, events, opportunities to the table. One example of this is the return of what is called the Preuter Pace. This is a cross country run that starts at Preuter Public School but weaves it’s way through the Breithaupt Park trails. As an NA we’re helping to sponsor the ribbons that will be handed out at the end of the race. What I love about this initiative is that it is active, it’s community run and targeted towards our youngest neighbours. The ones we most desire to feel a connection to our little slice of this city.

We’re excited for the many challenges that our neighbourhood faces, and we are can’t wait to see the many creative solutions we as a community can deliver.

Thank you.

Levi Oakey

 

AGM, October 21, 10 am – Noon, Solarium, Breithaupt Centre

Come out to our Annual General Meeting

Learn about your neighbourhood. Eric Pisani from the Region of Waterloo will discuss changes to the bus routes and the overall transit strategy as it ties into the LRT. Councillor Sarah Marsh will give us an update from City Hall and talk about the changes in our area. We will also have a “guest” presentation on specific developments in our neighbourhood that are in the planning stages. There is lots to talk about so come and be engaged.

Learn about the MHBPNA: Members of the executive will discuss events we sponsored and assisted with over the past year including soccer programs, Neighbours day, the Big Breithaupt Campout, Waterloo Region Songwriters, our Garage Sale, and City planning and development meetings where we have contributed our perspective. We will also have a Financial report.

Election of the executive: we rely on the volunteers who sit on the executive to coordinate our events. We have many formal positions laid out in our constitution but we have tried to make it easy for anyone to participate. You can join the executive at the AGM (or afterwards) and decide in the future what position you would like. Or just be a “Member at Large” and help with whatever projects you find interesting.

Meet your neighbours! Aside from the formal presentation and elections everyone benefits from the time to connect with neighbours and friends over a coffee. You can discuss street closures, events you are planning and what is going on in your lives. You will be surprised who you meet!

–We will have a (unsupervised) room full of Lego for the kids to play with. What’s more fun than a table full of Lego? Nothing!

Refreshments! A meeting would not be complete without coffee and some other food to enjoy while listening to our featured speakers.

Where is the Solarium? If you enter the Breithaupt Center at the main entrance, turn right, walk past the reception area, and turn right again, and then left. We will be there!

Everyone is welcome. You do not have to live in our ‘hood to come out to the meeting.

If you have any questions, please email us at “mhbpna@gmail.com”

Neighbourhood Association Meeting Dec 8, 2008

Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association Meeting.

Monday, December 8th, 2008

7-9 pm Room 201
Breithaupt Centre

This meeting is open to anyone interested in knowing more about what’s happening in our community. Please come out and meet your neighbours.

Here are the minutes from the last meeting. Read them to see what ideas have been presented.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczsc63_0g2n22jgb