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Greg Romanick, the city‘s director of development planning could give the Chronicle no guarantees that the parking lot would not be expanded to the south. The city already owns the property at 157 Herbert St. A private citizen owns the adjacent property at 155 Herbert St, which lies between the two cityâ€"owned lots. Local The neighbors want William St. to be recognized as the boundary of the neighborhood. The neighbors fear of further enâ€" croachment may not be unwarranted. lan Kirkby Chronicle Staff The city is removing a house at 153 Herbert St. at William St. to make room for a parking lot, and area residents are not happy. William Shalinsky, president of the Maryâ€"Allen Neighborhood Associaâ€" tion says the area neighbors see the parking lot as an "encroachment. There‘s that danger that you move up Herbert St. and then where does it Shalinsky said the city has offered Here‘s a process to put people asleep by... City ‘trades off core neighborhood needs with demand for Uptown parking After all, it has taken decades for environmental issues to become the number one concern of Canadians. There has been onâ€"going debate and education on environmental issues since the 1960‘s and only recently have we advanced to the point where we‘re willing to put the environment ahead of job Somehow it‘s hard to believe that the advantages and disadvantages (and the advantages far outweigh the disadâ€" vantages in my mind) of a ward system of electing officials would sear themselves into the forefront of anyone‘s conâ€" So Mayor Carroll is probably correct in preâ€"judging the issue in her statement that most of the community is "treating it as So Mayor Marjorie Carroll thinks the residents of Waterloo don‘t want a ward system because of a low turnout at an "information meeting" held last week at city hall and attended by only nine residents? That ain‘t no surprise. There are probably other things on the mind of most residents of Waterloo. Like making their mortgage payments, and meeting tax deadlines, or finding affordable housing or an apartment in the city. William Shalinsky Attempts to make contact with company officials were unsuccessful. Eichinger said the owner of Kiesâ€" wetter Demolition told him the buildâ€" ing would be moved to Southampton "to use as a fishing lodge for their employees." "Right now his plans are to move the house and the shed for his own personal use some place," said Paul Eichinger, the city‘s special projects engineer. "It‘s rather strange them destroyâ€" ing them when they could accommoâ€" date people who are not as well off as the Beechwood crowd. But parking must come first, parking for staff." City council approved May 2 the demolition of the house by Kieswetter Demolition of Heidelberg, the lone tender for the job at a cost of $900 to the city. employees. Shalinsky said because of the busiâ€" ness zoning already in place, the neighborhood association "decided it‘s not something we can win on." The neighborhood association also has a concern about the removal of good housing stock from the market. "These are nice little houses in good shape and there is a shortage of housing in Waterloo," said Shalinsky. "And here they are tearing them down for a parking lot. the neighbors some assurance against further development on the street. "The city assures us it has no intenâ€" tion of going any further than it has." Romanick notes the area was zoned "general business‘ in the 1969 Offiâ€" cial Plan for the city. "The lines were drawn many many years ago." While recognizing the neighbor‘s concerns, Romanick said, "In this instance, it‘s a matter of trading off those needs with the need for Uptown parking. Since it is council‘s policy that these lands are designated business, given the needs for parking, it seemed logical that that‘s where it should The parking lot will be used by city a big hoâ€"hum." That‘s partly her fault, and the fault of the majority of council members, however. After all, it has never been a priority of this council or the previous one to address the issue. At least not until a couple of Waterloo citizens forced their hand by taking an application for dividing up the city into wards to the Ontario Municipal Board. The Board lobbed it back into the city‘s court and told them to consult their electorate. The consultation process to date has been a big hoâ€"hum. First the city put out a copyâ€"heavy information summary about the advantages and disadvantages of the ward system Parking hike angers some lan Kirkby Chronicle Staff Parking rates at the Erb St. parking lot,also known as the Seagram lot have recently doubled from 25 to 50 cents an hour, and not everybody is happy. Frieda Kotsopoulos, the owner of Texas Barâ€"Bâ€"Q restauâ€" rant at Waterloo Town Square says the current $4 daily parking charge is too much for employees of Uptown merchants to afford. "We are trying to encourage (employees) not to park in Waterloo Town Square and now they‘re taking away the encouragement" of reasonably price parking at the Erb St. lot, she said. Ross McKee, the city‘s director of revenue noted that while the rates actually increased only recently, the city council decided on an increase last November. "It was on the low side, overall," he said. Uptown employees can purchase a parking permit for the nearby Caroline St. lot for $240 yearly, he noted. The Erb St. lot does not have a permit system because it is intended for use by tourists visiting the Seagram Museum, said McKee. Mutual Life has leased 85 of the 215 spaces in the Erb St. lot for its employees while awaiting completion of the company‘s parking garage. Mutual Life pays a permit fee for its spaces. The city sees the arrangement as a good way of keeping Mutual‘s employees from parking on nearby streets and recognizing Mutual Life‘s record as a "good corporate citizen", said McKee. Kathryn LeGros, coâ€"ordinator of the Uptown Business Improvement Association stands beside the new parking rate sig:! at a nearly empty Erb St. parking lot. The BIA supports the city‘s rate increase at the lot which raised parking fees to 50 cents an hour. City Seen lan Kirkby WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY MAY 11, 1988 â€" PAGE 3 But assumining some brave souls did (I did because it is my job), it would seem redundant to then attend an information meeting which would rehash the issue. The information in the ad would, I expect, help most people decide in favor of the ward system. 5 The next step is a telephone poll this week. There are a couple more meetings on the issue over the next month, then a referendum on something in November. Then the next council will decide before a 1989 OMB hearing is convened. It seems to me the city has missed the most important mechanism of involving the public in this issue. Meetings should have been held with neighborhood associations. It is neighborhoods, after all, which would have enhanced powers under a ward system. They would have local councillors representing them in the hallowed council chambers. They are made up of citizens of Waterloo, voters. You‘d think the majority of council had picked the process most likely to put everyone to sleep, as Coun. Andrew Telegdi remarked recently. in its newspaper advertising space. How anybody could be enticed to read a solid 15â€"inch column explanation is beyond He notes the Uptown free parking has a twoâ€"hour limit. People exceeding the limit risk a $5 ticket on the third hour. Terry Hollohan, chair of the Uptown Business Improveâ€" ment Area (BIA) thinks Uptown employers "should buy two spots and give the permits to their staff, and rotate it between staff"‘ to make parking reasonably priced for their employees. "The city has been pretty good in listening to what we have to say. We have to compromise somewhere." Kotsopoulos understands the reasons for the price increase, but sees problems. "A lot of our staff are transients. They are not going to spend $240 for a parking McKee acknowledges that the permit charge to park in the Caroline St. lot could be excessive for partâ€"time employees, but "you have to do some kind of sawâ€"offs here. We‘ve been able to provide employee parking for a reasonable amount. Compare it to Kitchener where you pay around $350 for a permit." There is a shortage of permit spaces available currently, but the city "will try and accommodate people," said McKee. Other parking will become available at the Station lot as work is completed on Laurel Creek behind the city hall. He adds the city needs to run the lot at a profit in order to "set aside money for capital improvements to the lots."