#cityofwaterloo — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #cityofwaterloo, aggregated by home.social.
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Hype for the Future 195J: Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa
Introduction Within the northeastern portion of the State of Iowa is the conurbation of the Cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo, both located within Black Hawk County, with the latter serving as the larger city to the east and county seat of Black Hawk County. Notable Infrastructure The Cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo are each located away from the Interstate Highway System, with the twin communities substantially north of Interstate 80 and south of Interstate 90, with the conurbation […]https://novatopflex.wordpress.com/2026/05/14/hype-for-the-future-195j-cedar-falls-and-waterloo-iowa/
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UPDATES MADE TO URBAN DESIGN PLAN
On Feb. 9, 2026 during the public city council meeting, officials approved major updates to urban policy. These include mandatory inclusionary zoning for new developments within Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) along the ION light rail line.
Beginning July 1, 2027, developers will be required to set aside a portion of their units for affordable housing, a mandate that impacts project profitability and may prompt a rush of application filings before the deadline to bypass the new requirement.
Once the mandate begins, two per cent of units in qualifying developments within MTSAs will be required to be affordable. That requirement will gradually increase to five per cent by 2031—the current provincial maximum permitted under Ontario regulations. The decision marks the end of nearly a decade of deliberation over how to require affordable housing in high-growth areas.
“Communicating certainty is actually a beneficial condition in all of this,” Julie Wright, ward 7 councillor for the City of Waterloo, said during the Feb. 9, 2026 public council meeting.
Wright was referring to the city’s decision to set a firm implementation date for inclusionary zoning rather than tying it to fluctuating market triggers.
By providing a fixed timeline, the city aims to provide a predictable environment for land budgeting and project planning, preventing the wait-and-see approach that often stalls affordable housing construction.
With roughly a year and a half until implementation, Adam Lauder, the city’s manager of community planning, said staff do not anticipate a significant surge, noting that approximately 25,000 residential units are already in the planning pipeline.
“I don’t expect that there’s going to be a large rush of developments…in order to get in front, or become exempt,” Lauder said. “I do think that the industry will use the next year and a half, as they acquire land, to factor inclusionary zoning into their pro forma.”
The certainty of the 2027 start date was met with bittersweet reflections from some leaders.
“The preferred time…for the development community on this is never…and for me the preferred time for this was 10 years ago when we first started talking about it,” Royce Bodaly, ward 2 councillor for the City of Waterloo, said during the Feb. 9, 2026 Waterloo public council meeting.
While implementation had originally been targeted for March 2025, a consultant report warned that current economic conditions could slow the housing market. In response, the council adjusted the timeline and coordinated with the cities of Kitchener and Cambridge to ensure transit-oriented development sites remain viable for builders.
Typically, inclusionary zoning units are set to market averages to provide moderate affordability, rather than being tied to rent-geared-to-income (RGI) programs, which cap rent at 30 per cent of gross income.
“While you’re walking the hallways, you’re not really going to know which door is affordable,” Lauder said. “Inclusionary zoning is not intended to deliver deeply affordable units, but rather moderately affordable units.”
To help the industry manage added costs, the city is offering density exemptions so that affordable units do not count toward maximum density limits. The move aligns with Waterloo’s strategy of growing inward and upward; data shows roughly 80 per cent of recent residential growth has occurred through infill development.
“Inward growth is generally better for the tax base and the taxpayer,” Lauder said.
Council also approved $260,000 for a dedicated by-law dispatch arrangement. Beginning July 1, 2026, after-hours noise and nuisance calls will be routed through Waterloo Regional Police Service dispatch. Referring to a $440,000 transfer from social service funding back into the police budget, Jen Vasic, Ward 5 Councillor for the City of Waterloo expressed her frustration.
“The police budget is huge, and now we’re giving the police more money from an upstream organization… I can’t figure out some better way forward,” Vasic said during the Feb. 9, 2026 Waterloo public council meeting.
The meeting concluded with a presentation on the Urban Design Manual refresh.
“Beauty should be a part of life for everyone and not only the affluent… aesthetics is a social good,” Vasic said during the Feb. 9, 2026 Wasterloo public council meeting.
Diane Freeman, ward 4 councillor for the City of Waterloo added that the creation of happiness actually does bring value when giving consideration to urban design. Ultimately, the policy updates are intended to ensure the city remains accessible.
“Inclusionary zoning helps to ensure that there’s a place in the city of Waterloo for everyone,” Lauder said.
#adamLauder #CityOfWaterloo #councillorJenVasic #dianeFreeman #douglasStewart #ionLightRailLine #JulieWright #kitchener #MajorTransitStationAreas #mtsas #policeBudget #ProForma #publicCityCouncilMeeting #rgi #SangjunHan #urbanDesignManual #WaterlooRegionalPoliceService -
WATERLOO REGION RELOCATES GEESE TO KINGSVILLE
The City of Waterloo is working to address the overpopulation of geese in Waterloo Park by relocating them to a new home.
On June 10, 2025, a flock of over 200 Canada geese was transferred from Waterloo Park and released at Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary in Kingsville, Ontario.
Staff from the city and the sanctuary worked together to gather the geese.
“I don’t think anybody would actually believe how smoothly it went. It was single file. These geese kind of just marched onto a trailer,” Robin Milne, Director of Parks, Forestry and Cemetery Services at the City of Waterloo, said.
The trip to their new home took approximately three hours. The city obtained a permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service prior to the relocation.
Milne said the decision to relocate the geese stemmed from a high number of complaints received about bird droppings.
Milne said the issue surrounding bird droppings became a bigger concern after the Waterloo Park shoreline was redeveloped.
“[With] the new shoreline redevelopment, the idea was to draw visitors to the shoreline,” Milne said. “With all the hard surfaces on the shoreline now, the geese droppings just got out of control, to the point where it was like walking through a minefield and we couldn’t stay on top of it.”
To combat the issue, the city rented specialized equipment to clean the concrete on a regular basis. The city also set up coyote decoys throughout the park to deter the geese; however, most of the decoys were stolen within 24 hours of being set up.
“Geese are not a problem specific to Waterloo or Waterloo Park or any urban centre across Southwestern Ontario. Geese can be a nuisance, and, in some areas, they can be managed,” Milne said.
“There’s no natural predators in the park, so the [goose] population just keeps growing and growing,” he said.
Though effective, Milne said the cleanup efforts were time consuming, costly and disruptive to patrons in the park.
When it became clear that the population of geese was beyond the park’s capacity, they engaged with the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary to find an alternate solution.
The sanctuary has done relocation specifically to geese for several other municipalities in Southwestern Ontario. The sanctuary, which is funded through donations, feeds the geese and offers appropriate shelter and nesting grounds.
Experts at the sanctuary also offered guidance and a plan on how and when to collect geese eggs and relocate the birds.
“In June, many geese can’t fly because they are molting or too young, making it the ideal time for relocation while keeping family groups and mated pairs together,” said a statement from the City of Waterloo.
Since the relocation, the park has approximately 25 geese remaining.
The city plans to continue monitoring the number of geese in the park throughout the summer. If the relocation is successful this year, Milne said the city will re-apply for the Canadian Wildlife Service permit and repeat the relocation initiative next year.
#canadianWildlifeService #CityOfWaterloo #DaveKlassen #geese #jackMiner #kingsville #kitchener #overpopulation #relocation #SafinaJennah #shelter #southwesternOntario #waterlooRegion #wildlife
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The Grand River Conservation Authority has notified the City of Waterloo that there is risk for potential flooding in the City, specifically in the Laurel Creek flood plain…
#waterlooregion #Flooding #CityOfWaterloo -
The sad thing is, there's a wonderful dedicated bike lane along the railway track just to the right of this picture, no cars anywhere. And the start of reasonable curb-separated bike lanes just a bit further in the distance to the left. The #CityOfWaterloo knows how to do bike lanes properly, and they need to re-do this one.
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I saw new curb-separated bike paths along Albert Street, north of Columbia. Yay, #CityOfWaterloo!
Sadly, where Albert curves to meet Weber there's only paint, although it's wide paint (two stripes about a metre apart with wide diagonal stripes between). But there's onstreet car parking next to the curb, with the bike lane between parked cars and traffic.
Why not do it the other way round? Curb, bike lane, wide paint, parking, then traffic, which gives parking-protected bike lanes.
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The other menu item in the #CityOfWaterloo budget is to add snow-clearing on Regional Roads in all other zones, starting in 2025, at a cost of 29 cents per month for the average Waterloo household. In addition to being very cost-effective, this item ensures fairness across the city by ensuring that residents in all areas of the city get some access to cleared sidewalks.
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There are two "menu items" in the #CityOfWaterloo budget related to this. Menu items are not currently in the budget, but Council has the option of adding them. One menu item is to start clearing Zone 1 in 2024 rather than 2026. This item would allow the service to start earlier, and results in no change to the overall 3-year tax increase. It might also produce savings by reducing the cost of enforcement.
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The "priority areas" I mentioned earlier are shown in this map of the #CityOfWaterloo. Currently, only roads in Zone 1 (in red) will be cleared, starting in 2026.
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Another one of the sidewalk snow-clearing initiatives in the #CityOfWaterloo budget, coming up for approval on February 12, is a proposal to clear snow on sidewalks next to regional roads, in priority areas. This will cost 15 cents per month for the average Waterloo household.
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One of the reasons that the #CityOfWaterloo, proposal is so effective is because most of the city's curb-faced sidewalks are located in the core of the city, which is the area of the city with highest pedestrian demand. This proposal provides high value-for-money because it's cheap, it targets the worst-maintained sidewalks in the city, and does so in an area that has a high density of sidewalk users.
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The budget calls for the #CityOfWaterloo to both plow and take away snow from 30km of curb-faced sidewalks, starting in 2025. The cost will be 68 cents per month for the average Waterloo household.
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On February 12 #CityOfWaterloo council will be voting on a budget that includes a proposal to have the city clear curb-faced sidewalks. These are sidewalks that have no boulevard between them and the road. This means that snow from the road gets plowed up onto the sidewalk, and even if the sidewalk gets cleared there is no place to put the snow.
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Clearing snow from sidewalks in the winter is essential for both accessibility and enabling active transportation. Residents of Waterloo, ON can use this letter template to tell the #CityOfWaterloo that you support including improvements to sidewalk snow-clearing in the budget, before February 12
https://petition.town/index.php?campaign=support-sidewalk-snow-clearing-in-the-city-of-waterloo
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In the #CityOfWaterloo's capital budget, the amount of tax-funded capital spent on Sidewalks & Trails over the next three years ($6.8M) is dwarfed by the amount spent on roads ($12.2M for reconstruction plus $5.9M for resurfacing).
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On February 12, the #CityOfWaterloo Council will be considering cuts to its budget, and the proposed cuts have not yet been disclosed. I put together a guide for Waterloo residents who want to provide feedback to Council on the budget:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fX2L7fL_-BIUMpHuwgHwhAqfQTpkMa3Zu7goF2A_2sw/edit?usp=sharing
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While things are improving where I live, there is still a belligerently vocal minority of car folks who fight everything meant to improve the lives of people who prefer not to, or are unable to, drive.