Karen Eagle says student housing in the Northdale neighbourhood makes her work welcoming newcomers difficult.

Call getting louder for student neighbourhood makeover

Philip Walker, Record staff

Karen Eagle says student housing in the Northdale neighbourhood makes her work welcoming newcomers difficult.

By Terry Pender, Record staff

WATERLOO — As a relocation counsellor, Karen Eagle helps high-tech workers find a place to live. But the student neighbourhood called Northdale makes her job increasingly difficult.

“I am very proud of Kitchener-Waterloo — I love our Uptown, I love Waterloo Park, I show RIM Park and the Kitchener area and invariably I end up relocating them usually in Kitchener,” Eagle says.

Currently, the high-tech sector in this region, which is centred in Waterloo, has about 2,500 job vacancies. Many of the people filling those positions are young and want to live in condominiums within walking distance to work, Eagle says.

“These are people who have lived in other cities in the world, are used to rapid transit and they can’t get over that so close to the university and all these tech companies, there is no housing similar to what they’ve had in large cities around the world,” Eagle says.

Eagle says the problem is the large number of students renting houses and apartments in Northdale, which is roughly bounded by University Avenue, King Street North, Columbia Street and Lester Street.

“It is one of my biggest negatives when I give orientations of Kitchener-Waterloo because it isn’t a nice area and it has a bad reputation,” Eagle says.

There was a stabbing in Northdale on New Year’s Day. A few weeks before that, someone was injured by a stray bullet that pierced the wall of their apartment.

Properties are often not well-maintained. Litter, noisy parties and public urination are common. Several cars may be parked on front lawns.

Eagle has joined the ranks of environmentalists and residents calling for a complete makeover of the neighbourhood.

The group is called HUG Waterloo: for Help Urbanize the Ghetto in Waterloo. It has attracted members from the Northdale Residents Association and Waterloo residents, and most recently was involved in the Save the Moraine campaign.

It wants the neighbourhood given a special designation allowing Waterloo to provide incentives to developers to transform the area into a showcase for sustainable urban living where cars are not needed because there are lots of trails and public transit.

The group wants to see more housing and amenities geared to high-tech workers — five- and six-storey condominium buildings with one- and-two bedroom units. The ground floors should be filled with shops, services, cafes and restaurants.

Students would be welcome, but they would no longer dominate the neighbourhood as non-students move in to be close to the high-tech companies, the universities and the downtown. Pedestrians and cyclists would move among buildings capped with rooftop gardens. The buildings would be designed and built to the highest standards of energy efficiency.

Eagle says there is plenty of suburban housing for families in Waterloo and student housing around the universities. There is not enough housing for singles or couples working in high-tech who want urban living.

“Invariably we can’t find places in Waterloo, which is really sad because these are people who want to walk to work, and they are the up-and-comers with good incomes, they are young and they want new places, preferably condominiums,” Eagle says.

Coun. Jan d’Ailly, who represents the area on city council, is expected to file a motion next Monday that calls for changes to the area.

“It is not just a ward issue, it is a city-wide issue,” he says.

D’Ailly held two public meetings last year with Northdale residents.

D’Ailly wants city staff to prepare a detailed vision for the Northdale neighbourhood based on the input from citizens — more density, mixed uses, better walking and cycling and transit.

In short, more urban.

“I will let staff come up with the recommendations, but I think it’s pretty clear that what’s there now is not working,” d’Ailly says.

“Something has got to change — that’s what we are really looking for,” d’Ailly says.

D’Ailly wants city staff to list the tools they have available now to implement that new vision for the area and to detail how much it would cost.

“I am looking to council to put some resources behind solving the issues,” d’Ailly says.

Last year, provincial legislation was changed, allowing cities to license rental accommodations. Staff are preparing a report on that issue and d’Ailly believes that, too, will help.

Deborah Easson, who lives on Albert Street and is head of the Northdale Residents Association, says the few remaining homeowners in the neighbourhood feel betrayed.

“It is a ghetto, it is really ugly in here,” Easson says.

She can’t walk her dog because of broken glass. Easson and her husband heard a woman screaming one night, so they jumped out of bed and ran to the front window only to see a couple having sex on the sidewalk.

Another night, they watched as five young men urinated on their front lawn. A 78-year-old woman just home from surgery had five beer bottles smashed against her house. Another senior had the covering from a cable box thrown through a window. Large backyards provide the perfect habitat for rowdy outdoor parties.

“We had one young family move after a rock was thrown through the window of their three-year-old daughter’s bedroom,” Easson says. “It is a really dire situation.”

About five years ago, the city completed a study on student accommodation and adopted what was called The Neighbourhood Preservation Model. Under that model, more student housing was allowed while city bylaw officers and the Waterloo Regional Police were supposed to take a zero-tolerance approach to rowdy and illegal behaviour.

Zero tolerance enforcement of property standards and laws never happened, Easson says.

“Prior to 2004, there were about 300 houses in the neighbourhood and 75 were zoned as student-only apartments,” Easson says. “Now we have about 40 houses left that are owner-occupied and the vast majority of those owners are over 70.”

Now Easson is throwing her support behind the group Help Urbanize the Ghetto.

“It is the perfect neighbourhood to intensify,” Easson says.

Attractively designed mixed-use developments can create an urban village where everybody wants to live, Easson says, and the negative impact of students can be reduced if more non-students move in.

“We are really keen on that, too,” says Bud Walker, head of student services at the University of Waterloo.

Walker says the university would like to see better housing stock within walking distance of the campus for young faculty and other employees.

Ken Crowley, spokesperson for Wilfrid Laurier University, says the institution is keen to be a good neighbour and has a code of conduct for students.

“We do require them through the code of conduct to respect their neighbours on and off campus,” Crowley says.

Both universities say they cannot be directly responsible for the off-campus behaviour of students.

tpender@therecord.com