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3| W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,F ebruary 22,2018 w aterloochronicle.ca CITY NEWS Visit waterloochronicle.ca for more coverage The document itselfmay be high-level,but the directionwill have a long- lasting impact on the pre- sent and future of uptown Waterloo. The City of Waterloo, with Stantec, is in the midst of creating an Uptown Pub- lic Realm Strategy - essen- tially a document that out- lines priorities for public spaces - with the comple- tion date set for this spring or summer. City staff is currently in Phase 1 of the plan, which collects information about existing conditions in the uptown core and identifies opportunities to improve the public realm. On Tuesday, two promi- nent urbanists, Harold Ma- di (leader of Stantec's Ur- ban Places Canada) and Ken Greenberg (urban de- signer and author of Walk- ing Home) hosted a com- munity discussion on the uptown core and what could possibly be done. Working with communi- ty leaders, groups were as- signed and each group broke down into a charette. They were asked to identify different opportunities they see and how life can be made better for pedestri- ans. The charettes intro- duced interesting ideas, in- cluding the expansion of Waterloo park, and small- scale ideas that can create a more welcoming experi- ence for pedestrians. "There was an awful lot of passion in the room," said Scott Nevin, the city's director of growth. "Get- ting 150 people out in the middle of winter to talk about public realm is pret- ty incredible." Nevin said the main goal is to have uptown Waterloo hit its full potential when it comes to public spaces. "I would use the word vi- sion. We have an uptown that works well today and we have lots of great assets, but we know that we're changing and growing and as we change and grow, our wants and needs will change," he said. Mayor Dave Jaworsky, who gave opening remarks at the presentation, noted the change that has hap- pened in the core in a short period of time. "It wasn't that long ago that Kmart was the main anchor of uptown Water- loo," said Jaworsky. In fact, it was 1998 when Kmart closed and it was 11 years later in 2009 that the now oft-used Waterloo Pub- lic Square was officially opened to the public. Both Madi and Green- berg shared excitement about the square's possibil- ities and how an inefficient parking lot from yesteryear was turned into a space for thousands of people and dozens of events on an an- nual basis. "This is an opportunity to stop, look at where we are, where we want to go and figure out opportuni- ties to do that," said Nevin. "There's always the thought that our dreams are generally bigger than our means, but our role as planners is to define that vision and look for ways to obtain it," said Nevin. When the Region of Wa- terloo decided that the Ion LRT system would come through uptown Waterloo, the ball already started rolling on a streetscape project that included big- ger, more pedestrian- friendly sidewalks. That streetscape project official- ly opened in December, with some work remaining to be done once the weather warms up. "We took advantage of another opportunity and that's what we're going to need to do - be creative to get what exactly we need and want," said Nevin. The document, as long as it is supported by coun- cil, will hold weight as the city sets its priorities for development in the future. It will be taken into account when planning decisions are made. "We recognize that there will be some very long- term ideas, but we're going to make sure there are some easy to do, quick wins that we could implement sooner rather than later as well." Nevin was also open to the idea of potential part- nerships with private de- velopers to create opportu- nities in the public realm. While there is passion for improving the public realm, potential projects will have a cost and it may be steep. Nevin realizes that not all people will have the same priorities, but it's the city's responsibility to find a balance. "Part of our role and part of council's role is find- ing what the priorities are and finding a way to deliver them," said Nevin. "We do that through regular bud- geting and revisiting bud- gets." With high residential demand in the uptown core and intensification pro- jects in the pipeline, it is an important as ever to create this strategy, said Nevin. "That brings people onto the streets and into our public spaces," he said. New public realm strategy will have impact on uptown Waterloo Document will identify priorities when it comes to public spaces in uptown ADAM JACKSON ajackson@waterloochronicle.ca This is an aerial view of uptown Waterloo. It has undergone dramatic changes over the last decade and the next decade promises even more. File Photo eber St. N,Waterloo, ONN2J 4A9 @St. Jacobs Farmers'Market | 519-747-1832 | stjacobfurnishings.ca Not in conjunctionwith any other offer. 3030%%off Sol id Wood 4040%%off Pal l iser Leather 5050%%off Home Decor & Gifts 878Weber St. N,W 30 Hurry in! ENDS FEB. 28