Becker Estates - Future Mixed Use Community

[Duke-of-Waterloo]

Becker Estates/Huron Heritage Village - Future Mixed Use Community

Webpage: http://www.gspgroup.ca/planning%20CS2.html

http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/Huron-Village1.gif
http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/Huron-Village1.gif (http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/Huron-Village1.gif)


Location: Southeast Corner of Fischer-Hallman Road & Huron Road, Kitchener (http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.380068,-80.482621&spn=0.007751,0.016544&t=h&z=16)
Developer: RBJ Schlegel Holdings Inc. (http://www.rbjschlegel.com/)
Planning Consultants: GSP Group (http://www.gspgroup.ca/)

About Becker Estates/Huron Heritage Village:

Huron Heritage Village is a new mixed-use neighbourhood located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Fischer-Hallman Road and Huron Road in the southwest area of the City of Kitchener. Huron Heritage Village will be a mixed-use neighbourhood containing stand-alone and mixed-use commercial buildings, a wide range of residential dwelling types, an elementary school, neighbourhood parks and parkettes, and significant natural spaces.

The central focus of the neighbourhood is a linear “central green” through the heart of the neighbourhood, which is framed by rear-lane townhouses and provides a high quality urban space for residents. The central green is linked to a large greenspace area, comprised of a naturalized stormwater management pond and a preserved wetland area. The alignment of an existing diagonal road is creatively incorporated into the neighbourhood’s open space system through a series of commemoration spaces that signify various points in the property’s history, and create a “heritage walk” through the neighbourhood. From: http://www.gspgroup.ca/planning%20CS2.html


Additional Images:
http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/huron-village2.gif
http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/huron-village2.gif (http://www.gspgroup.ca/images/huron-village2.gif)

[mpd618]

May I be the first to say: What the hell is that?!

[diego]

May I be the first to say: What the hell is that?!

Newurbanistwash

[notmyfriends]

Did they figure out how to let people build in this side of town again yet? Would be nice to see this actually happen, seems to have a lot of the stepford wives potential, potentially.

[natcordev]

On the advice of several Wonder Waterlooers I am reading Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. This looks like a case study for exactly what NOT to do to encourage a healthy urban neighbourhood.

[bzmwillemsen]

May I be the first to say: What the hell is that?!

Indeed!

Also, would this ever get approved for the area that it is being proposed?
I thought that all knew development was supposed to be on the east side of Kitchener, as per the RGMS

[WaterlooNative]

One thing this project seems to completely destroy is our geological heritage. This development appears to completely wipe out all of the existing geography including the rolling hills. Given that they plan such a large park area, surely they could maintain some of the geography in the middle without making it as flat as a football field.

[bcwessel]

Simcity urbanism. Real streets don't matter, so long as it makes a lovely pattern.

[KevinL]

Simcity urbanism. Real streets don't matter, so long as it makes a lovely pattern.

Agreed. There's no humanity to this; it's geometry and symmetry, but no life or vibrancy.

[notmyfriends]

Maybe I'm giving developers too much benefit of the doubt (likely given history), or maybe you guys are being overly critical based on a couple of not very detailed drawings... It says the diagonal road is creatively incorporated, but these pictures don't seem to show that part of it, so it feels like a very generalized idea and not anything final. So I choose to hold hope. It's the closest thing to a glenwood park type development around here, so lets just figure out how to push the right buttons to make sure it improves over these initial drawings.

[bcwessel]

To me, (and based on the admittedly tiny and not very detailed rendering) this development appears to be an attempt to build a better suburb*, which isn't really the point. Judging by the above render, which appears pretty explicit on this point, the development has a single point of access to its regional thoroughfares, and appears to actively avoid creating any kind of relationship with Fischer-Hallman and Huron, and the intersection of the two, which really ought to be a central feature of the neighbourhood's identity. Add to this the pretty liberal application of the "mixed-use" label to a development which clearly differentiates between residential and all other uses. Despite the effort to create an urban place along the strip running between the central park and the main external access point, beyond this small section the rest of the non-residential buildings are scattered among a series of parking lots, which decreases the likelihood that they will generate the majority of their trips without the use of a car (places often speak to us in very clear terms, and a building which faces a parking lot says "driving to me is normative.") And though it is difficult to say definitively based solely on the visual evidence presented above, the peripheral townhomes and single detached units located beyond the feature parkview townhouses appear to be organized along internal, limited access roadways, which serves to disengage them from the activity of the rest of the development, thus decreasing their walk and bike scores, and misses a real opportunity to turn every street into a quality place. (More active streets are also safer streets, as the more interest generated on the comings and goings of a road ensure that a kind of informal community watch is taking place at all times.) Is it better than most new suburban development? Probably. Is that good enough? Not for the Waterloo that I want to see moving forward. This is as "mixed-use" and "urban" as that chocolate bar is "organic" and that shampoo is "earth conscious."


*Here, I'm using the word "suburb" to connote a pattern of building -- one based on a disconnected tangle of internal streets, the segregation of buildings by single-use, and the broader segregation of the larger development to its surrounding area --, and not the development's location in relation to a traditional core.

[notmyfriends]

I have no argument with the logic behind anything you said here. I'm with you. But I'll take baby steps where I can.

I think it's also pretty clear that F-H is never going to be anything but a pseudo-highway with roundabouts and no direct access to anything. That's a step above a highway though, right? The plans for the new Huron Road seem to suggest the same thing there. So access points on roundabouts, and do their best to make sure everything fronts F-H attractively, while without direct access or street parking (fronting Huron would be kind of strange, with backyards already backing the road on the other side sadly). And it's not quite there in that drawing (parking showing up to F-H), but there is potential. This is south Kitchener; The idea of something, anything at all, that isn't just sprawling houses and plaza's is equivalent in drastic change to building the Burj Dubai. Whats at Williamsburg was already the first step up, and this looks to be a continuation on that, improving to incorporate commercial, townhomes, a central park, and roundabouts on the main road. Some minor design changes, push incorporation of natural slopes, and it's another good step.

Baby steps. Do what we can to get small changes into this project. Then more and more into the next projects as it continues south to New Dundee. Compromise in the bridge, it's really the best we can hope for. And more than I expected for this part of town.