Kitchener’s Belmont Village to be home to new condo development
Posted Mar 1, 2022 06:15:00 PM.
Kitchener's Belmont Village will be home to a new condo building.
A vote in favour by Kitchener council last night follows 18 months of development, lots of resident input, and a five-hour-long meeting Monday night that ran past midnight.
A 10 storey building will go up at 660 Belmont Avenue West, the corner of Belmont and Glasgow.
It's been a controversial project, with nearly 50 residents signed up to speak at the last public input session.
But, Kitchener developer Zehr Group agreed to a compromise after the community expressed fierce opposition to the building's height.
The original proposal was 13 storeys, then scaled down to 11, now 10 storeys.
Residents were also concerned the building would not fit in with the neighbourhood.
Avery Au, who lives on Belmont Avenue told city councillors he supports the project because he doesn't see a distinct character in Belmont Village.
“Belmont Village has suggestions of character, a handful of features that barely transcend its current strip mall aesthetic. That would require a lot more development. We are far from being a place like Toronto's Distillery District, and even places like that have successfully built an abundance of high-rise, high-density housing,” Au said.
Zehr group also agreed to include three-bedroom units, in as much as 10 per cent of units.
Other units would be designed for older adults.
Ward 6 Councillor Bil Ioannidis said housing is likely the number one problem in the city today.
He said, “There's absolutely no supply. When you have a housing provider, who puts up 100 units for sale and you have thousands vying for it—it's not just not greedy developers creating a lack of supply.”
Ioannidis added the city is part of the problem by preserving restrictive zoning that only benefits few people.
Ward 8 Councillor Margaret Johnston, who represents the ward home to Belmont Village said she's pleased that a middle-ground was reached.
“This is exactly the type of compromise that we want our developers to be willing to come to the table with. This is what adults do. This is a made in Kitchener compromise, instead of one being made on our behalf elsewhere. I believe we have come up with a better deal for the community,” Johnston said.
“This has been a long and emotional journey for the neighbourhood.”
The building will have retail and restaurant space on the ground floor.
A city-owned laneway at the back of the site will also be sold to the developer.
