Growing Together and Inclusionary Zoning plans pass in Kitchener

It took over 10 hours to pass, but pass it did!

Kitchener continues to churn out new housing-related policies and plans as it attempts to respond to our community’s housing needs. Since 2019, Kitchener has been working alongside Cambridge, Waterloo, and the Region to develop an Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) policy. They have also been working on a new intensification policy around some of the Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) with their Growing Together plan. Both of those passed this week at Kitchener Council (If you have over ten hours of free time(!), you can watch the delegations on these issues here, and Council’s discussion and voting on the issues here).

In Monday’s meeting, staff introduced these policies as “the most flexible zoning plans in Canada” which balance broad interests in the community. Staff referred to these plans as: ambitious, bold yet balanced, and collaborative.

I wrote recently about the Growing Together plan and I have previously shared my thoughts about Inclusionary Zoning here. Kitchener staff presented these policies in tandem as a way to (hopefully) balance out the potentially supply-limiting effects of Inclusionary Zoning with the more permissive zoning regulations provided in the Growing Together plan. In fact, the press release states that, “Growing Together enables more than 100,000 new homes in all shapes and sizes, and at least 20,000 new homes in “missing middle” forms.”

According to the Engage Kitchener site: The Growing Together and Inclusionary Zoning plans feature new zoning rules that enables all housing types through:

• Full range of building types, including missing middle forms

• No density maximums

• No parking minimums

• Requirements for a minimum amount of affordable housing units through Inclusionary Zoning

• Full mix of uses

• Flexible built form regulations, including a zone without height limits

“Growing Together is the most ambitious plan for transit-oriented design in Canada. The issues of housing supply, housing affordability and climate change are so critical that the time is now to take the leap and establish a new set of rules for growth and change that will see us build a city for everyone where, together, we take care of the world around us – and each other.” -Mayor Vrbanovic

In addition to the many delegations that spoke this week, “staff held community and industry engagements totaling well over 100 hours and have spoken in-person with approximately 1,400 people”.

It seemed to me that the majority of delegations and council members were excited about parts of these plans, while sharing concerns about other parts. Perhaps expecting that, ongoing review of these plans are baked into this process and I expect we will be hearing frequent updates as Kitchener implements these plans - and you know that I will share those updates as I learn of them!

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Have you followed these draft policies as we’ve made our way through this process? I’d love to hear what excites people about it and what concerns you might have. Or, perhaps you have a question about these plans. Feel free to comment below.