Tenants and neighbours concerned about Kitchener development proposal

Tenants of 137 Woodhaven Road, Kitchener gathered for a meeting with City of Kitchener planning staff on a proposed redevelopment. CTV's Jeff Pickel reports.

The tenants and neighbours of 137 Woodhaven Road, Kitchener gathered Wednesday evening for a meeting with City of Kitchener planning staff to address concerns about a proposed redevelopment of the property.

The owner has requested a zoning amendment to allow a semi-detached residence with 2 additional dwelling units per side for a total of 6 units.

Over twenty neighbours showed up with concerns over parking, traffic, garbage pickup and privacy concerns.

“People move into this neighborhood because it’s an established neighborhood, it is a mature neighborhood, we have people that have lived here for 65 years,” said Linda Zettel who lives beside the impacted property.

She says on a street of bungalows, this proposal doesn’t make sense.

“With this being two stories, which is approximately 18ft, it’s going to be doubled the size of my house and it will then be overlooking into my backyard,” said Zettel.

City Councillor Jason Deneault was at the meeting to help provide answers and said he agrees with residents that this proposal is asking for a lot.

“I don’t believe that every postage stamp lot needs to have a nickel sized unit on it just because we have the space or because the government says we need to grow and grow and build and build and build,” said Deneualt.

In an email to CTV News, property owner Mike Lau said their request was in line with zoning in the community.

“The requested zoning change is to a RES-3 or RES-4 designation. The neighbouring properties located directly behind the subject site are already zoned RES-3, meaning that three of the five surrounding lots are currently zoned RES-3.” said Lau.

If the proposal is approved, the current tenants would be forced to move with the demolition of the existing house.

“We would be displaced with the potential to move back into a unit but that could take upwards of a year, so, there’s already huge issues with homelessness and not having affordable housing,” said Rachel Bidgood, who lives on the property with her partner and son.

In a statement, the property owner said they are working with the residents.

“We are actively working with residents and our on-site team to address these matters promptly and responsibly while the planning process proceeds,” they said in part.

Although, the residents said that is not the case. They said they were not informed about the proposal until a neighbour informed them about the scheduled meeting with City staff.

“They most definitely are not [working with us], they failed to even give us the respect to let us know what was going on. We had no idea and we were blindsided,” said Felicia Morre, who lives in one of the two existing units on the property.

Moore says after an initial email they have not heard back from the owner.

A date has not been set for this matter to appear at city council.

The City of Kitchener has a rental replacement bylaw that forces an owner to compensate tenants who are displaced during a demolition but it only applies when six or more units are demolished.