NEWS |
THE OBSERVER | Saturday, October 10, 2009
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Performer Pat Braden paints a rich picture of the North...........................»22 eDSS girls take it to the court
»16 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2009
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PHOTO | KATie eDmOnDS
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 40
DOGGY TREATS Three-year-old black lab Yuri, a resident of the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society and trainer nancy Cressman paid a visit to grade 1 student james berti and grade 2 student Addison Dinkel at Conestogo Public School on Thursday. The visit was to educate students about proper pet care, and to thank the school for their annual donation of pet food, treats and toys, collected by the students and staff.
Woolwich favours hard divide between urban, rural Changes in regional official plan not likely to favour CRA proposal, but Breslau to see more development STEVE KANNON Waterloo Region’s determination to maintain a hard divide between rural and urban areas – a sentiment shared by Woolwich – likely bodes ill for a development plan near St. Jacobs. The boundaries in the new regional plan do favour future development proposed for the Breslau area, however. The separation of urban and rural areas – known as the countryside line – is part of the new regional official plan (ROP) adopted by council in the sum-
mer. But the issue is now a topic of discussion in a series of public meetings in the four townships, wrapping up in Elmira next Thursday evening. Although the region sees no reason to change its protected countryside policies, when voting for the new ROP councillors did ask staff to seek public input, explained Kevin Curtis, the region’s manager of strategic policy development. The policies are intended to protect farmland, wooded areas and watercourses from development by prohibiting the expansion of existing urban areas
into the protected countryside. Like the region, Woolwich Township is happy to keep those boundaries in place. “We support the concept of a hard countryside line, a strong divide between urban and rural areas,” Dan Kennaley, director of engineering and planning, said in an interview. That policy is likely to have the most significant impact on a proposal by engineering consultants Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) to build a business park on 107 acres near the intersection of King and Bridge streets, encompassing what is
now much of the Kuntz gravel pit. In order to proceed, the development would overstep the hard boundary between the City of Waterloo’s urban space on one side of Bridge Street and the protected rural area that is Woolwich’s territory on the other. In Breslau, meanwhile, the extension of the countryside line slightly north of Hwy. 7 to a point that includes what will be the new highway makes way for potential development. That includes future plans by Smart Centres for retail stores on some 50 acres of land north of
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Victoria Street, just east of Ebycrest Road. “We think it’s a good and appropriate retail location in the long-term,” said Prakash David, the company’s director of land development, adding the Breslau area is almost bereft of retail even as it continues to grow. While the land is now inside the countryside line, about 30 acres fall outside the current urban settlement boundary for Breslau. That will have to change before any development can go ahead. The same is true See COUNTRYSIDE »07