Thursday night’s public meeting regarding the zone change application for the Krug Factory redevelopment saw a great turnout. Residents packed city hall’s chamber with some sitting just outside the doors.
The three-plus hour meeting saw residents presenting and asking about a variety of concerns ranging from sewage and stormwater treatment to conserving greenspace. Following the meeting Mayor Martin Ritsma told StratfordToday he was really happy council went forward with the meeting.
“Council's job is to listen and to hear, certainly the planner and the agent for the development, but most importantly our public. That opportunity was provided to our public and most importantly they took advantage of that opportunity,” he said.
Ritsma said residents were not shy about presenting their concerns, adding that any questions that weren't answered on Thursday would be coming back to council at their next regular meeting.
Towards the end of the meeting, some residents voiced a desire to have another public meeting set to listen to more concerns. Ritsma addressed that request saying another public meeting like the one just held wouldn’t be possible because of a 90 day limit for approvals imposed by the province’s Bill 109. The bill requires the city to refund any fee paid related to the project if the developer cannot submit a finalized proposal within a set time limit.
The mayor added he was happy with the developer’s answers to the concerns raised.
“Some of those questions get into the specific site plan work. That stuff will all be pulled out as they go further along in the development,” he said.
He said the job of a developer is more than just developing, it's building relationships with the community and this developer isn't going anywhere.
“I've seen their work before and it's outstanding and I love the idea of smaller units because when I was a kid growing up the vision of housing was that big house. For a lot of our men and women that are in our community they look at housing differently and they're happy that they don't have to have a car. That it’s a walkable development, they can walk to town, they can grab the bus to work,” he said.
After the meeting, Councillor Cody Sebben shared some of his thoughts.
“I agree that the 10-storey building is too much – I think our official plan says under the stable residential areas that intensification should be modest and incremental,” he said. “This development is beside single detached homes and the height they're asking for 64 per cent more. They're asking for a 34 per cent increase in density, and they're asking for a parking reduction on top of that.”
Sebben said it's proposals like this where he thinks it's great that they're developing and that Stratford is getting more density but there is a line where it becomes a matter of ‘who is it for?’.
“Why do we have an official plan if we are not adhering to the goals and priorities in that plan,” he said. Seben added that he is hopeful that staff and the developer will bring the 10 storeys lower and within existing ranges because it still has affordable housing and density which Stratford needs.
Coun. Harjinder Nijjar also offered his thoughts on the success of the meeting.
“We had a lot of residents that came out. We got information from the city, we had the information from the developer side as well. Great dialogue from the residents that had the concerns. In majority of the feedback they think it's great to see that something's happening with the Krug building,” he said.
Nijjar said in that area obviously there's some concern with the 10-storey building there, which is something that council needs to think about. But at the same time, he said Stratford needs housing and density is the best way, adding that the city can take the feedback back and do some more research on that and answer all the residents’ questions.
