The redevelopment of a downtown neighbourhood that for decades housed an appliance manufacturer gives it great potential to become a vibrant mix of new uses while retaining a long and treasured history, Maria Pezzano said Sunday.
“It’s going to be not only a focal point for the community, but the whole city,” the chair of The Ward Residents’ Association predicted, pleased the developer has come up with several intriguing design concepts to be presented at an upcoming public meeting.
Councillors will see early next year a proposal to move forward with redevelopment of the city’s only strip club.
Landscape architect Mike Salisbury, who is representing Manor Adult Entertainment owner Roger Cohen, said he has spent the past few months speaking with officials at city hall about a parcel of city-owned land adjacent to the strip club at Silvercreek Parkway and Wellington Street.
Plans for hundreds of residential units and commercial space on King Street East may hinge on whether the developer qualifies for millions in incentives provided to other builders in the core.
And Coun. Frank Etherington, who represents that part of the city, supports the call by Fusion Homes to include its property in the zone where fees are waived by the city and region in a bid to attract new development.
For months, Coun. Leanne Piper has been routinely voting against any demolition application which comes before council because she is concerned about the amount of resulting debris going to landfill.
So Monday night she decided to do something about it.
Piper floated, and got approved, a motion that the city investigate its authority to require that all recyclable construction and demolition waste be diverted from landfill.
Residents have a new vision for a troubled student neighbourhood. Now they have to figure out how to make it happen by 2029.
The neighbourhood is called Northdale, north of Wilfrid Laurier University. The new vision, drafted by a civic committee and endorsed Monday, calls for more people, more and better buildings and green space.
“Everybody’s really excited about the picture that has been painted,” said Chris Peace, chair of the council-appointed committee that’s leading the neighbourhood review.
The height of downtown Guelph’s future was a hot topic at Monday night’s city council meeting.
More than a dozen delegations spoke about the proposed Downtown Guelph Secondary Plan, with a staff recommendation to abandon a six-storey height limit — and allow buildings up to 18 storeys in certain locations — garnering the most interest.
The provincial Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe suggests the city’s downtown should grow by approximately 6,000 residents — and 3,000 units — by 2031.
More condominium units can start construction sooner in the former American Standard factory in Hespeler.
Waterloo developer Shawky Fahel already had a sewage treatment allocation for 125 of the 200 apartments approved in the former factory at 19 Guelph Ave. The remaining 75 in the Riverbank Lofts were on hold until expansion of the Hespeler waste water treatment plant in 2016.
The province is seeking expressions of interest from those interested in purchasing and redeveloping the Guelph Correctional Centre land and buildings.
The province owns 233 hectares of the 453-hectare parcel. But the city and province are working closely in determining policies and practices of the redevelopment.
The city is calling the area the Guelph Innovation District. A secondary plan is to be complete by the end of 2011 and is estimated to be put before council in April 2012.
A proposal that would see 64 townhouses built on the current Biltmore Hats site is drawing opposition from residents and businesses in the area.
Guelph city council’s planning committee will receive an information report Monday regarding a requested bylaw amendment that would allow a developer to put the townhouse complex at 139 Morris Street, at the corner of York Road.
Maria Pezzano, president of The Ward Residents’ Association, said the proposed development does not recognize the historical significance of the Biltmore Hat building.
A city plan to grow and beautify the downtown received positive reviews at a public meeting Wednesday night, except in one respect.
Several residents raised concerns about the four 18-storey apartment buildings proposed for Wellington Street at Wyndham and Macdonell Streets.
The city has said the buildings would serve as “gateways” to the downtown and are needed to meet provincially mandated growth targets for the city.