Arnold, Guelph, Birch and surrounding areas

If you are concerned about tenant rights, consider attending this zoom meeting:

Thank you to the 30 or so folks who attended our Jane’s Walk: “Marvellous Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park: from Industrial Past to Innovative Present”. It was a lot of fun to talk about our great neighbourhood and chat with so many of you.

Here are a few highlights. We look forward to leading another walk next year!

At the beginning of the walk everyone met the co-leaders: Ted Parkinson and Lane Burman.

We started the walk at the “Shoe Factory” at the corner of St. Leger and Breithaupt Street. This building has around 40 tenants in it, and has kept most of the historic look since it was the Greb shoe factory. Lane recounted many stories including one of a “ghost” that might still be there!

We talked about Krug Furniture, the Weber Street Widening, the impact of the railway being constructed in 1850 and the “industrial” roots of our neighbourhood.

Below Lane is discussing the area around the former Fire Hall at Duke and Breithaupt. Another topic of our walk was how most of the buildings in MHBP are examples of “vernacular” architecture,  this building has a fire hose tower that includes some Italianate features making it “polite”. The things you learn, right?

We ended the walk in the shadow of the Breithaupt Block which has been extensively renovated for Google and other tenants. One of the most exciting things about our area is how so many of the older buildings have been updated to still be used for so many “modern” commercial activities like developing software.

Each year, Canadian National Railway Company (CN) identifies the level crossings across its network, which require rehabilitation (major maintenance) to maintain crossings that are adequate for the road users and for continued safe railway operations. CN is planning on undertaking ‘full depth crossing rehab’ at several different crossings that are under the jurisdiction of the City of Waterloo. CN will require a full road closure (including sidewalks) to accommodate the proposed works. They are going to restrict/close off the MUP sidewalk that is adjacent to the tracks to accommodate this work and a safe work-zone. They will not be maintaining pedestrian traffic through their work zone. 

They have provided their updated schedule as follows;

Allan St -100 Allan St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1V9 – May 1/23, 07:00hr – May 5/23, 19:00hr

John St – 66 John St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1G1 – May 8/23, 07:00hr – May 12/23. 19:00hr

Union St – 95 Union St E, Waterloo, ON N2J 1G1 -May 15/23, 07:00hr – May 19/23, 19:00hr

Moore St -127 Moore Ave S, Waterloo, ON N2J 1X4 -May 23/23, 07:00hr – May 26/23, 19:00hr

Roger St – 150 Roger St, Waterloo, ON N2J 1X9 – May 29/23, 07:00hr – June 2/23, 19:00hr

After a few years hiatus, MHBPNA is sponsoring a Jane’s Walk this year. We encourage everyone to check out the Jane’s Walk Waterloo Region website to see all the walks in Cambridge, Waterloo and Kitchener. It will be an excellent weekend.

Our walk will be on Saturday, May 6 at 1 pm:

Marvelous Mt. Hope-Breithaupt Park: From Industrial Past to Innovative Present

Here is a short explanation of “What is a Jane’s walk” we wrote on this Blog back in 2012:

Spring must be here because it is time for another Jane’s Walk Weekend in the Kitchener/Waterloo area. The “Jane” in the walk is Jane Jacobs who was an urban activist in the United States and Canada. She wrote books on how to build urban environments that people enjoyed living in. The photo below shows her engaged in saving Penn Station from development and in her later years she was famous for helping stop the Spadina Expressway in Toronto. 

Of course there are many excellent places on the web to learn about Ms. Jacobs. The great thing about the Jane’s Walk events is that you do not need to know anything about her at all, except that she serves as an inspiration for neighbours to get together and discover the history of where they live. These walks are a great way to meet people from near and far.

Our website is being moved from one ‘host’ to another. As we work through this some glitches will appear, like the temporary loss of images. But all will be restored.

Immediate news is that MHBPNA will sponsor another Jane’s Walk this year. Stay tuned for details.

Hello MHBNA! That’s a mouthful… Thanks for your support! I’m very excited to represent our neighbourhood and Ward 10 on city council. I have a fondness for Mount Hope – Breithaupt Park as it is where I live and play. I decided to run for city council as I was troubled with how our province has been handling our progress towards climate, tearing down wind turbines, building gas power plants and firing the environment ombudsman. And now Bill 23 threatens to pave our green belt. As a mother of two quirky kids, I want to be sure that our various levels of government work to promote a livable planet and a healthy city. I felt that as a climate advocate, social worker and activist I could contribute as a city Councillor to promote well-being, climate solutions, thoughtful city planning and equity.

At this time, I have a seat on the Downtown Action Advisory Committee, The Downtown BIA, the Active Transportation and Trails Advisory Committee and the Climate Change and Environment Committee.

I continue to work part time as a school social worker, supporting students who have disengaged with their learning to find the strength and motivation to take action on their life goals. I’m married to Ryan Fobel, a data engineer and heat pump enthusiast, and we have two kids Zidra 12, and James 10. I hope to get to know everyone over the
next four years and help celebrate community, work to build healthy neighbourhoods and promote our good values in our city.

Aislinn Clancy

The MHBPNA Development Committee has been operating for over 5 years.  We are a group of 10 neighbours, residing in Ward 10, whose primary focus has been to identify development issues and advocate on behalf of the neighbourhood.  Our other primary purpose is to help all residents of MHBP understand how the planning process works.

The committee was initially established years ago because we knew that the ION would bring substantial changes to our neighbourhood.  Neighbours felt we should be able to unite as a group and give feedback to the Region and the City as to how we wanted to see development happen in our area.  We pulled together a group of 10 residents who were all interested in making sure Mount Hope/Breithaupt remained a great place to live.  Although the membership of the committee has changed and evolved over the years I would like to extend a thanks to the current members ….

Jorg Broschek –  representative from the Neighbourhood Association

Linda Vandenakker – representative from the Neighbourhood Association

Mark Sisson – tracking and communicating all Committee of Adjustment Applications

Nik Schmidt – managing our technology tools and updating our neighbourhood maps on planning changes

Gordon Hatt/Scott Morris/Tom Hiller – providing feedback to the city on traffic issues, the Region on the Transit Hub design

And lastly to Sarah Marsh who has been a wonderful addition to our group, who attended almost every monthly meeting and who helped us make valuable personal connections at City Hall.

Over the years, the Development Committee has provided input for the city on the RIENS guidelines (Residential Intensification in Existing Neighbourhoods), the ADU procedures (additional dwelling units), the planning education videos on the city’s website, the coordination and review of Crozby  (the city’s zoning review), new procedures for Committee of Adjustment notifications and the new re-development signs posted on re-development sites. We have continually liaised with the Region regarding the new transit hub and the closure of Duke and Waterloo Streets.   Our “geo-mapping tool”, developed to identify all developments in Mt. Hope was seen as “best practice” and was used by the City as a template for new mapping tools in the city. We have also continued to provide feedback to the Region of Waterloo on their official plan amendments and the “hold the country line initiative”.  We rallied around the opposition to the Google build (a parking garage on the site) and the height of the build. . {The city also uses the Development Committee as the primary and initial contact with the neighbourhood (in addition, of course, to the City Councillor).

Although there are not as many significant issues in Mr. Hope from a planning perspective as there were five years ago, we continue to offer to support to residents/neighbours on large builds and neighbourhood concerns over demolition and Committee of Adjustment issues.  We often consult with neighbours who wish to object to C of A rulings, infill, tree canopy issues, and potential new builds.

Places and Spaces (which identified the dire need for more parkland in Wards 9 and 10 was a focus for us in 2022.  The new Tree Canopy initiative by the city (to increase the number of trees) in 2023 will also remain on our radar screen

Here is a recap of some of these Committee of Adjustment, demolition, and infill projects we investigated and monitored in 2022:

• 1. 239/241 Wellington – exterior build only
  2. 91 Louisa at Waterloo – demolition/infill;
  3. 44 Wilhelm – demo/infill – C of A;
  4. Ahrens/Louisa – new build;
  5. King & Pine – 25 story apartment – passed, building permit issued;
  6. King/Wellington vacant site – bylaw complaint/building permit inquiry;
  7. Perimeter/Google – new build – sidewalk access;
  8. 18 Guelph, 56 Wilhelm, 528 Lancaster, 783 Guelph, 306 St. Leger, 239/241 Wellington, 102 Waterloo, 81 Shanley

In addition to residential units, we continue to monitor larger developments

• The proposed additional build on the Google site
• The Transit Hub
• Sacred Heart Complex
• The boarded up MacDonald building on King/Moore
• The vacant site on Wellington/King

In essence the MHBPNA Development Committee is here to offer support to all residents on the neighbourhood on development issues.  Please feel free to contact a member of the committee if you have issues you need help with.  And, if you are interested in becoming involved and want to join the committee, we typically meet the first Thursday of the month – you can connect at mhbpna@gmail.com

Sincerely, Catherine Owens

Chair, MHBPNA Development Committee.

The All Candidates Meeting for Ward 10 was on October 2 from 2 – 4 at the Downtown Community Centre. For those who were unable to attend, we recorded the meeting and the videos are available here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqnBWCR1_sqqHCUEj6lg_qA

Information about the meeting and the questions are in the description for PART 1.

Mount Hope – Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association, Olde Berlin Town Neighbourhood Association and Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association invite you to a “Meet the Candidates for Ward 10 Councillor” event on Sunday, October 2nd, 2 – 4 pm at the Downtown Community Centre, 35 Weber St. West, between Young and Ontario.

As of this posting, all 6 candidates for Ward 10 have accepted our invitation to attend. Please come out to meet your candidates and hear what they have to say about who they are and why they should be elected.

We are asking everyone to wear masks and will provide masks and hand sanitizer at the door.

Many residents have posted questions here. We will use your questions to drive the meeting and each candidate will have a limited time to provide their responses to those topics our community believes are important. We also hope to have time left at the end for a few questions from the “live” audience.

This event will be recorded and made publicly available within a day or two of the event. We will not be live-streaming the event.

If you have any questions, please contact us at mhbpna@gmail.com