City of Waterloo Urban Design Guidelines

[Spokes]

City of Waterloo Press Release:


City of Waterloo moves forward with new urban design guidelines

(Waterloo, ON – Sept. 29, 2009) Waterloo city council voted on new urban design guidelines on Monday night that will have a significant long-term impact on how this community looks and feels in the future.

Council approved the proposed Urban Design Manual, which gives the city greater authority to implement new city design guidelines and criteria that are supported by a series of objectives and policies established in the city's Official Plan.

“These guidelines will have a lasting effect on how Waterloo looks on many fronts, including landscaping, lighting, streetscapes, and building entrances, massing and facades, just to name a few,” said Ryan Mounsey, a city development planner and urban designer.

“This city is committed to taking an active role in urban design, which is why we established this ‘tool-kit’ to create consistent and compatible developments with new tools provided under the Ontario Planning Act legislation.”

Waterloo is one of the first municipalities in Ontario to implement provincial Planning Act reforms in this manner. As well, amendments to the city’s Official Plan give it the authority to implement the new urban design guidelines related to building design features, an important aspect of the development review process.

The Urban Design Manual – which replaces a series of older and draft design guidelines – will be referred to at the early stages of a project, during the development approval process stage.

It will be used primarily by people in the development industry and apply to such site plan projects as townhouses, office complexes and industrial developments. It will not directly apply to subdivision developments or single-family homes, which are subject to a different Planning Act process.

To recognize projects that reflect a high level of urban design, the city also plans to introduce an Urban Design Awards Program. These awards will be granted to projects that incorporate the city’s key urban design objectives: to promote a high standard of urban design; to respect context and promote sense of place; to enhance connectivity and interaction; and to promote creativity and innovation.

The manual, meanwhile, is a living document that will be updated as necessary.

http://www.waterloo.ca/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=1&mid=449&def=News%20Article%20View&ItemId=1131 (http://www.waterloo.ca/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=1&mid=449&def=News%20Art icle%20View&ItemId=1131)

[Spokes]

The above mentioned Urban Design Manual can be found @ http://www.waterloo.ca/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=2431

Very good manual, worth the read!

[Spokes]

City brings in new urban design guidelines for buildings

By Greg MacDonald, Chronicle Staff
Sep 30, 2009

The City of Waterloo has passed new urban design guidelines that will help define the look, size and structure of any new developments within the city core.

The new policy grew out of the city’s nodes and corridors policy, which governed intensification in Waterloo.

But the new guidelines go even further, touching on a number of more specific factors. That includes the overall aesthetic of the building and its fit in the neighbourhood, said development planner Ryan Mounsey.

The city has been informally working with these guidelines for years, but thanks to changes in the Planning Act, they actually have some teeth now, he said.

“For the first time, the City of Waterloo has the authority to implement design guidelines,” he said.

The idea behind the plans isn’t to impose uniformity, but rather how things fit, he said.

“We don’t want to stifle creativity,” Mounsey said. “There is flexibility here.”

The guidelines allow the city to withhold site plan approval until the conditions are met. The appeals process is the same, however — if developers don’t like a decision, they can take it to the Ontario Municipal Board.

But now the design guidelines will be a part of the board’s decision, since they are essentially a municipal law, Mounsey said.

The new policy got thumbs up from planners, including Karen Hammond, a planning professor at the University of Waterloo.

“As Waterloo intensifies, development planning will need to become more complex,” Hammond said at Monday night’s council meeting. “We will be living and working together more closely and therefore will become more sensitive to the impact of change.”

And while some councillors expressed concern that the guidelines will hinder development, it could actually do the opposite, said Mark Inglis, a consultant who reviewed the guidelines.

“The development community wants to do good work,” he said. “They also a want a leveled playing field. If everybody has the same rules, you’ll find the work that comes out of the offices is in excess of what you’ve had in the past.

Coun. Scott Witmer believes the policy takes the guesswork out of getting a development approved in the city.

“I think this document takes out a lot of the ambiguity out of the process and maybe some of the surprise people get when they bring a project to council and we get our fingers on it,” he said.


http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/article/190105 (http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/article/190105)

[Spokes]

Great to see something like this get approved! I think it's wise for the city to take some control in terms of HOW the buildings within their cities look. I don't think this will hurt development at all either.

Hopefully the rest of the region takes note and does something similar.