Liz Monteiro

RECORD STAFF

Of course, there are supporters who like the space.

Peter Gravel, who works for a Kitchener insurance company, came out to the square on his lunch break for the first time yesterday.

He brought his 18-year-old son’s six-string acoustic guitar to try out the free noon-hour guitar lessons.

And even though the instructor was nowhere to be found 15 minutes into the lesson, Gravel wasn’t deterred.

“I drive by here every day when I go to work. I love the concept. I love that it’s open with an open-air walking plaza,” he said.

Gravel, like others who were out enjoying the sunshine yesterday, said the square is new and the community needs to give it a chance.

So what about the artistic bell created by sculptor Royden Rabinowtich? Earlier this week, vandals drew on the bell.

“Oh, you mean the rust bucket. I’m curious about it,” Gravel said.

Yesterday, children at a camp with the Waterloo Community Arts Centre were drawing with chalk on the concrete ground in the square. A couple of boys took a fancy to the bell and drew pictures on it.

Doris Bechtel wonders about the bell, too.

“Well, I don’t know. That’s a big question mark,” she said. “It doesn’t seem to fit it.”

Bechtel, who walks through the square about three times a week on her way to the grocery store, said she wishes there were bigger trees and more shade in the square.

“I thought it was going to be more green, but I’m willing to give them a chance. It’s so new,” she said.

When it comes to the skateboarders and the controversy the activity has brought to the square, Bechtel said she isn’t annoyed by the youth and their boards.

“They are kids and they are busy,” she said. “Kicking them out isn’t fair.”

Jessica Wever, who works at the Matter of Taste coffee shop in the mall, said she often sits on the concrete steps to people-watch and glancing over at the skateboarders.

“I like that they are here. I come out to watch them,” she said.

Wever said she hopes the skateboarders can remain in the square in their designated spot.

“It’s just kids having fun. It’s fun in a healthy way.”

Jeff Stuart, who often skateboards at the square, said designating an area is a fair compromise.

Stuart said some “reckless” teens have grinded their skateboards on the steps and damaged the concrete “giving a bad rap for everyone.”

The fate of the skateboarders will be decided at a council meeting Monday night.

City staff are recommending that the sanctioned off area for boarders remain in place.

“It still has value,” said Smith, who is suggesting enforcement be increased to ensure the skateboarders follow the rules.

If the skateboarders don’t abide by the rules, they will be asked to leave and won’t be able to return, he said.

Smith said the square is a project that will continue to evolve.

At least one councillor, Scott Witmer who has received “a healthy dozen” emails on the issue of skateboarders in the square, said he won’t be supporting the staff recommendation.

“I just don’t think it’s the right location,” he said.

Witmer agrees that the square is a work in progress. The skating rink should be installed — “the sooner, the better.”

Last year, council voted to go ahead with the public square without the skating rink and the water wall because there wasn’t enough money to fund them.

lmonteiro@therecord.com

 

 

 

 

I appreciate the opportunity to fill in some of the gaps that the news articles failed to cover or clearly misrepresented. It is definitely a complicated issue – understandably causing a great deal of concern in the community.  There is so much mis-information out there … always a frustrating part of the job.  It certainly doesn’t help when a member of council chooses to purposefully perpetuate the myths through measured statements put forth in chambers … political life is always interesting and apparently facts are unimportant at times. 

Here are the facts.

In 1993, the Golf Academy owners signed a 15 year lease with the city for temporary use of the land. I repeat – they signed the lease.  It outlined all of the elements of the lease, including dates of closure. Legally, we are able to exercise the lease in 2010 with a year’s notice. The deadline for that notice is June 30, 2009. if the lease had been extended to 20 years, the WGA would have been scheduled to close in 2015. We have altered that until 2012, in an attempt to balance the needs of the WGA and our need to service the employment lands in a timely manner. Over the years, the City has remained consistent with it’s message that the golf course is an interim use and that we would be needing the land around the year 2010. It is all very well-documented and, interestingly, we were provided with that documentation by the Golf Academy. I imagine that the issue will stay “alive” for awhile, as the golf academy owners are seeking legal counsel and need to make a decision as to how to proceed.

As many of you are likely aware, we have several local hightech companies in town who are actively pursuing large blocks of land in order to continue to accomodate their workforces. In our zoning, industrial is all “clean” industrial – employment lands – the high tech campus idea is a good example.  Within that parcel, there will be plenty of “green” opportunities.

The Golf Academy lands (53 acres) are part of a larger 200 acre block of land that is worth tens of millions of revenue dollars to the taxpayers of Waterloo. Currently, we are collecting an average of $7000/year in lease payments from the golf academy. 

Was it an easy decision?  Nope. I am well aware of the role the golf academy has played in the community. I think that when the golf academy was conceptualized, there was not a flicker of awareness as to how much our city would grow – it definitely predates the hightech boom in our community. Recently, I’ve even heard from one of the shareholders – in their words, Waterloo was “stagnant” at the time … no one really could see the impact that the University of Waterloo and all of it’s resultant hightech spinoffs would ultimately have on our city.  

What a problem to have…arguably the strongest economic engine in Canada.  Here in Waterloo.