The Civic District

[Spokes]

The Civic District


http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/sm_Civic_District_Map.jpg

Bordered by Weber, Queen, Ellen and Frederick streets.

It includes the KPL, K-W Art Gallery, Centre in the Square, Regional and Provincial Courthouses, Registry Theatre, among others.

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/sm_Kitchener_Downtown_District.jpg

The Civic District is the blue area, at right.

[Spokes]

City has big plans for civic neighbourhood
Council envisions theatres, studios in area around Centre in the Square

November 27, 2007
LUISA D'AMATO
RECORD STAFF
KITCHENER

Kitchener council has committed itself to making the area around the Centre in the Square -- currently dominated by parking lots -- more "people-friendly."

Councillors agreed last night to have a plan developed by staff that would encourage restaurants, outdoor theatres and art studios in the downtown area known as Civic District, which includes the centre, the Kitchener Public Library main branch on Queen Street, the Registry Theatre and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery.

Representatives of all four of these cultural institutions have taken the lead by consulting the public. Now they are urging the city to get involved and revitalize this area.

"Right now, it really is a bunch of buildings connected by parking lots," said Don Bourgeois, president of the Registry Theatre.

What it needs to be is "a centre of visual and performing arts . . . one co-ordinated urban square," says the report to councillors.

According to the survey, the public wants most of the surface parking to go, in favour of underground parking or a sensitively designed parking garage. In place of those parking lots, there could be an expanded library, cafes and restaurants, or outdoor theatres where people could perform.

"We're at the beginning of a long journey, and this is just one small step," said Geoff Lorentz.

The survey got the opinions of 145 people. It found:


79 per cent want Civic District to be " a place where people meet."
73 per cent want there to be "open public space."
69 per cent want to see restaurants there.
63 per cent want it to be a place for culture and learning.
60 per cent would like to see an outdoor theatre.
52 per cent would like art studios to be located there.


ldamato@therecord.com

[Spokes]

Kitchener civic district unveils master plan

May 13, 2009
Terry Pender
RECORD STAFF
KITCHENER

The parking lot where Sonia Lewis is standing could one day be part of a bustling urban space with cafes, benches, pedestrian walkways, parks, squares, an amphitheatre -- a district for the arts.

Lewis, the chief executive officer of the Kitchener Public Library, worked with the heads of the Centre in the Square, the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery and the Registry Theatre to produce The Civic District Master Plan.

The district, which is roughly bordered by Weber, Queen, Ellen and Frederick streets is home to four of the city's most important cultural institutions.

But the spaces between those buildings, with the exception of a small park featuring a memorial to firefighters, are filled with parked cars during the day and empty stretches of asphalt over night.

Lewis and the leaders of the other cultural institutions want to see this area transformed into a district showcasing public art exhibitions, theatre and music.

There's room for a university campus, walkways connecting the library to the Centre in the Square and lush landscaping.

If the Civic District Master Plan ever gets implemented it will bring more residents downtown and help lure creative class workers to the area with a cutting edge arts district, Lewis said.

"The idea is creating attractive public spaces, making that district less about parking and more about open spaces."

Late next summer, construction will begin on a 400-space underground parking garage. It will be located behind the main library. Some of the surface parking will disappear and a public square will be built. Shortly after that, work begins on a 25,000-square-foot addition to the main library and a complete renovation of the existing building.

When city councillors voted Monday night to adopt the plan, they acknowledged there is no money available to start work. Mayor Carl Zehr likened the Civic District Master Plan to the preliminary work more than three decades ago that led to the creation of Centre in the Square.

tpender@therecord.com

[Spokes]

The City released the Civic District Master Plan in May 2009, it can be found here. (http://www.kpl.org/central/documents/civic_district/CivicDistrictVision_MasterPlan_May09.pdf)

It's definitely worth a read. The images really give an idea of where the city is wanting to go with this district, and it's rather exciting!

[Spokes]

Part of the plan is to create an "urban square" beside the renovated KPL, behind the Regional Headquarters and on top of the underground parking lot.

Here are a few images from the presentation:

A few ideas of what the square could look like:

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_1.jpg


Where it is situated within the Civic District:
http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_2.jpg



Concept #1

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option1a.jpg

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option1b.jpg


Concept #2

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option2a.jpg

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option2b.jpg


Concept #3

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option3a.jpg

http://www.kpl.org/central/images/civic_district/urbansquare_option3b.jpg

[Spokes]

I think I like concepts 1 and 2 best, and between them, I think #1, but I still haven't totally made up my mind.

What does everyone think? Which is best?

[YKF]

I like option #1 the best, but I've gotta say, these 3 options aren't that great. They seem kinda boring.

[Spokes]

I like option #1 the best, but I've gotta say, these 3 options aren't that great. They seem kinda boring.

I'm not sure if they were official proposals or just potential ideas. I haven't heard much, if anything about this project, so I'm thinking its nothing official.

What would you change/add to make it more exciting?

[Spokes]

The Civic District: Imagine the Possibilities


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7xyu90jLqc

[RangersFan]

Trees to be removed from Kitchener’s civic district
June 09, 2010
By Melinda Dalton, Record staff

KITCHENER — More than 75 trees, including a giant Ginkgo biloba and sugar and Norway maples, will be hauled out of the civic district starting at the end of the summer as crews prepare the area for the construction of a new underground parking lot and library expansion.

Part of Mackenzie King Park, which contains about 55 of the trees to be removed, will also be chopped off at the southeast corner to make room for an extension of an adjacent surface parking lot.

That lot extension, which needs to be built in advance of the garage because of the construction of entrance ramps and to accommodate displaced parking, will add about 25 new spaces.

John McBride, the city’s director of transportation planning, said most of the trees that will be removed are overgrown and wild, some the result of birds transporting seeds to the area.

“They were never planted or planned and, according to our forestry group, maybe aren’t the best trees for that application, even though they have been there for some years,” he said.

In a report that went before the Development and Technical Services Committee Monday, the majority of 55 park trees were described as “relatively small and declining in health.” Forestry staff determined they are of “little significance,” the report reads.

City forestry staff were not available Tuesday to comment further on the trees.

A new landscaping plan for the park’s edge will be developed and plants that are more suitable for the location will be added, McBride said.

“It may not necessarily be one tree for one tree, but it might be a group of trees or bushes or other ground cover that is more in keeping with an appropriate setting like that,” he said.

The city is protecting two trees in the park located close to the others slated for removal. A large black walnut and a little-leaf linden will be preserved. The English oaks in front of the library on Queen Street will also be preserved.

Not on the list to be saved is a large Ginkgo biloba, which is among a group of 26 other trees on regional land on Queen Street or Ahrens Street that will be removed.

In an article published in the Record a decade ago, a former city forester said the tree may have been left over from the garden of one of the large homes that once stood in the neighbourhood. Ginkgo trees were popular with landscape designers about 100 years ago, when the tree was likely planted.

The other 25 trees to be removed — including two Norway maples and a sugar maple in front of the library — are either in poor health or in the direct path of the construction, according to the city report.

While some park space will be paved over to accommodate the new parking spaces and the underground garage entrance, the end result will be more green space in the civic district, McBride said. About half of a current surface parking lot behind the Region of Waterloo headquarters will be transformed into an urban park built on top of the underground garage.

“That whole area is going to be redeveloped as one cohesive unit that will tie all the parcels together and, at the end of the day, there will be far more green space than what is there now,” McBride said.

Work on the new 412-space garage, which will serve the regional headquarters, the expanded library and new consolidated courthouse, is expected to begin this winter. Because of that work, about 45 parking spaces behind the library will be lost, as will part of the police parking lot and 75 spaces in the lot that spans between the Centre in the Square and regional headquarters.

The city has frozen permits for that lot for the last several months, so the number of people who will be affected has dropped through attrition, McBride said.

Part of those spaces will be accommodated by the lot expansion, others who use the spaces will be moved to the Duke and Ontario streets parking garage or the Benton Street structure once it’s completed in the fall. The police have an agreement to use part of a regional lot at 20 Weber St., which they’ll need to secure before they can park cruisers there.

The city is also planning to lease a vacant lot at the corner of Scott and Duke streets to use as an interim parking lot, with 32 spaces, as work on the library and new courthouse is underway. That lot will be leased from the property owner for five years rather than the usual three so the city can recoup the $136,000 capital costs needed to turn it into a parking lot through space rental. Those spots will be reserved for people displaced by the construction.

McBride said that use will be temporary and the land will ideally be redeveloped once the other parking lots are online. The underground lot, which is being completed in two phases, is expected to be fully up and running by 2012.

The plans for both the expansion of the surface lot and the Weber Street interim parking lot were approved by committee on Monday. They still have to be approved by city council.

Another public meeting on the plans for the library expansion and parking garage development is scheduled for June 29 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the library.

mdalton@therecord.com

[Spokes]

Im excited to see the civic district start to take form, it's got a ton of potential, with this new garage and the library renovation done they can build the urban square which will be quite nice, and then hopefully four new developments on the four city owned lots in there.

[Spokes]

Walking through the Civic District today I was really impressed with the "bones" that are there. Lots can happen there. One thing in particular that made me think was the Old Waterloo County Gaol and Governors House (http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/image-image.aspx?id=9216#i2). It's a great historic piece that's being used well now but that surface lot out front is hideous (so too does the lot on the Frederick st side next to the Registry Theatre). What would look good out front? A public square of sorts?

[BuildingScout]

There are so many things wrong with this plan: (1) this is another step in the war on the car where valuable parking space is sacrificed for people to use (2) it is named after an actual person (Mackenzie King), instead of the much preferable Memorial park, without any reference or hint to whose memory is it (3) it costs too much money, like, at least _one_million_ dollars, need I go on?

[Spokes]

There are so many things wrong with this plan: (1) this is another step in the war on the car where valuable parking space is sacrificed for people to use (2) it is named after an actual person (Mackenzie King), instead of the much preferable Memorial park, without any reference or hint to whose memory is it (3) it costs too much money, like, at least _one_million_ dollars, need I go on?

Don't forget, while many surface parking spots are or will be gone, there are lots of underground parking spots being created. And isn't space for people much better than space at grade for people to park? I think it'd be money well spent.

What's wrong with having it be named after Mackenzie King rather than Memorial Park?

I'd love to hear what else you've got to say about this so yes please, go on.

[DHLawrence]

(1) this is another step in the war on the car where valuable parking space is sacrificed for people to use

Yes, how dare people use space!

Is there not a plan for underground parking in the Civic District as part of the library expansion, or was that cut out of the project?

I'd rather see Mackenzie King's name used for something bigger, maybe the courthouse or the airport. As odd a duck as he was, he's still the biggest historical figure to come out of the Region (and we've used all the founding families' names to death).

[BuildingScout]

I'd love to hear what else you've got to say about this so yes please, go on.

Perhaps my objections to the cost would be more clear if I cite the original source (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJtHL3NV1o).