Tag Archives: Michelle Lee

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Waterloo City Council approves community-driven changes for affordable housing project

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MP Holmes, Kitchener, ON

After gathering community input, the City of Waterloo has modified its plan to develop vacant city land near Rim Park.

Michelle Lee, an Executive Officer at the City of Waterloo, highlighted how the idea of increasing building heights from 6 storeys to 12. The push for more commercial units came from the community.

The project aims to provide over 700 homes in a sustainable, affordable neighbourhood with commercial opportunities. The city has submitted the modified plan and now waits for approval for the Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO). An MZO authorizes the Minister of Municipal Affairs to fast track zoning changes on specific pieces of land.

Financial structure and long-term affordability remain critical questions still to be resolved. Staff favour land lease models, where land remains in community ownership but is leased to developers, while Sean Campbell, the Executive Director of Union Sustainable Development Cooperative, cautioned against prioritizing land leases over other potential models, highlighting that the core objective is perpetual affordability and public benefit.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

CKMS News -2024-04-22- Waterloo’s housing accelerator program gets CMHC approval

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CKMS News -2024-04-22- Waterloo’s housing accelerator program gets CMHC approval


by: dan kellar

Waterloo – At the April 15th council meeting of the city of Waterloo, the senior policy planner for growth management, Michelle Lee, presented on the city’s housing accelerator program, including potential add-on effects from the recent federal budget.

While funding for the project was approved “in principle” by the federal government last year, the city had to first send their plan to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.  With the CHMC’s recent approval of all 8 points in the city’s plan, the work can begin.

According to the city’s webpage the project will accelerate new building construction while increasing the supply of housing, streamline the development approvals and building permit process, and “support long lasting systemic changes”.

This show features Lee’s presentation to council and answers to questions posed by councilors Roe, Bodaly, Vasic, Wright, and Mayor McCabe, who asked about the plan, and how the programs would be implemented.