{"id":88,"date":"2018-04-02T19:19:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T19:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aconwr.ca\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2018-04-02T19:19:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T19:19:05","slug":"huck-glove-conservation-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aconwr.ca\/blog\/uncategorized\/huck-glove-conservation-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Huck Glove Conservation Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heritage Kitchener, an advisory committee for the City of Kitchener, will be hearing about the conservation plan for the Huck Glove Factory at the April 3 meeting<\/a>. \u00a0A link to the meeting agenda, which includes a long description of the conservation plan, is available here<\/a>, beginning on p. 17.<\/p>\n

The ACO North Waterloo Region Branch did not make any presentation at any meeting when this proposal was presented. \u00a0The comments below are my own.<\/p>\n

As a resident of Victoria Park and living very close to the proposed development, I acted personally as an interested delegation<\/em><\/strong> at the Committee of Adjustment on March 5. \u00a0I had made comments at a previous public meeting.\u00a0 I was the only delegation.\u00a0 Did I represent Victoria Park?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure, but there were heritage issues coming from the development of a 25-storey building, the height of which was gained through negotiations with Kitchener planning staff through bonussing provisions, a process often undertaken by city planning staff.<\/p>\n

I was hesitantly pleased that the Huck Glove Factory on Victoria Street was being \u201csaved\u201d.\u00a0 The building was not designated even though there had been attempts to have the building listed as a heritage building.\u00a0 Yet, the design seemed to overwhelm the heritage building.\u00a0 It went from this:<\/p>\n

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to a proposed overburdened:<\/p>\n

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The heritage of the building was being overwhelmed by a modern superstructure above and beside the building.\u00a0 I wondered why the developers could not have left the Huck Glove portion alone and built beside and behind the building.\u00a0 Heritage planners at City Hall approved the plan and are assured that Huck Glove will get heritage protection \u2013 it had no protection before despite efforts to get protection from a previous owner.<\/p>\n

Heritage bonussing is a process used by city planners that has enabled the developers to build taller than zoned 25 storey building behind the Huck Glove building and office development.\u00a0 I am not so certain that the trade off has saved our heritage. \u00a0There currently a trend to build over\/above and contiguous to heritage buildings, perhaps to avoid the pitfalls that come when there are pressures to intensify our cities.\u00a0 Destroying a heritage building can cause major and costly delays.\u00a0 While I recognize that others may agree with the appearance of the development, I am not so sure that it will please everyone for generations to come.<\/p>\n

Here are my questions:<\/p>\n