No clear future
established
for troubled
neighbourhood

By Jeff Outhit, Record staff

Waterloo:

People agree city council has
failed to stabilize a campus-area neighbourhood
dominated by students, stress and trouble.
They disagree on how to move forward in
Northdale.
Deborah Easson, who chairs a coalition of
residents, says council should abandon zoning
restrictions meant to preserve the dwindling
remains of its single-family character.
Instead, council should let permanent residents
sell their properties to apartment developers.
Large, managed properties would solve student
parking, garbage and partying problems,
and might attract technology workers back into
the neighbourhood, she contends.
“When you have a neighbourhood that’s this
big a mess, and this big a sinkhole for tax dollars,
why wouldn’t you want to move to a modern,
urban, green-design standard?” Easson asked.
Coun. Jan d’Ailly, who represents the ward, is
not persuaded intensification will work, saying
it’s unrealistic to expect developers to gobble up
the remaining homes any time soon.
“What’s in place now is not working,” he said.
But “I can look at lots of communities that have
high intensities that just do not work.”
Northdale is bounded by University Avenue
and Philip, Columbia and King streets. The area
is home to many students from Wilfrid Laurier
University and the University of Waterloo.
Permanent residents say problems with noise,
garbage, parties and bad behaviour are getting
worse.
Thursday night, more than 80 residents gathered
in a neighbourhood church to draft a new
vision for Northdale, following up on a similar
session held last April. The result will be used to
help guide city officials in drafting solutions.
Many residents applauded calls for intensification.
In an interview before the meeting, Easson
took aim at d’Ailly, accusing him of refusing to
make intensification part of the community
vision.
“Our councillor seems to have an agenda all
his own,” Easson said. “He will not listen.”
“I don’t think that’s fair,” d’Ailly said. “I am
probably the only one who’s pushing through an
agenda here, to try to address the issues in Northdale.”

jouthit@therecord.com