Monday November 24th, 2014 – 12pm
Posted Nov 24, 2014 03:52:44 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
12:00 – Monster Houses
John Gazzola, Kitchener City Councillor
Richard Haalboom, concerned citizen
There are four conservation districts in the city of Kitchener – which are geographical areas that the city has established as heritage areas. Lower Doon was one of the first sites – it was established in 1988 and features a rural setting with a lot of older historical homes. Councillor John Gazzola tells 570 news that certain rules are in place to keep it that way, and the people who live there are in favour of it – and want to keep their neighbourhood unique. At issue now, is the fact that 2 people have bought 2 plots of land with the intention of tearing down the existing homes and building mansions that won’t fit with the size, height and style requirements. Last Monday, heritage staff supported the plan, however – the heritage committee did not. It then went to council – where the vote was split 5-5 and has now been deferred until December 15th. If not decision is reached by January 17th, the two developers can do whatever they want on the land.
12:30 – Laurier ice rink study
Robert McLeman, Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
An unusually wintery November has Canadians skating on backyard rinks much earlier than last year, which is great news for the Laurier researchers behind RinkWatch, a research project that uses outdoor rinks to study winter weather conditions and climate change. Entering its third winter, the RinkWatch project asks backyard rinkmakers in Canada and the northern United States to mark their location on an interactive online map – found at rinkwatch.org – and provide updates of skating conditions throughout the winter. Researchers at Laurier use the data to do fine resolution mapping of winter temperatures and track year-to-year progress of larger winter climate trends. They also find it helps stimulate a wider public discussion about the potential impacts of climate change on cherished outdoor activities like skating.
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