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Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek
I mean Waverley West was started 10 years ago there’s no reason to not believe that the area has the ability to evolve into something that resembles walkability considering how close it is to U of M. Especially with how much more attention has been brought towards the consequences of sprawl and car-dependent design.
Something as simple as relocating the Multi-family on the south public road to Bison would do wonders simply because there’s far more services and amenities on Bison. Having Bison act as a fenced off backyard just creates a massive void space from the Town Centre to the schools/rec campus. If you put housing facing the street instead it would help tremendously with the areas vibrancy and get cars off the road.
Also, in the rapid transit plan there is supposed to be a bus running on Bison with 10 minute headways directly to Uni. Why actively make it less convenient for people to take the bus when there’s a golden opportunity to increase ridership in the area just by utilizing a more appropriate denser land-use?
I just wish these developers would even do a surface level site analysis that’s all.
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The developers do a site level analysis. They will build what will maximize sales over the shortest time, within the parameters that the city allows them to. City has the final say but if they're okay with the developer pumping more SFHs then then developers will do just that, as it seems to be what sells the fastest and what the current market wants. People still want yards and their own place.
If the city wants to densify then they have to come in and say that more of the land needs to be multifamily, however, if the city comes in too strong and puts in policies that make the land use unfavourable for sales, developers will go elsewhere. I know on this forum not many would mind if a SFH suburb didn't happen, but if housing starts and population growth stagnate on paper then the city starts to look bad and gets a worse name for itself.
Not to defend Waverley west as a magnificent suburb, but having "housesat" in Island Lakes and Southdale, these newer suburbs (waverley west, sage Creek) seem to be much better connected with sidewalks and trails if you try to get anywhere. That latest map being shared around does have an AT connection between South Town Rd and Bison to join the AT path running along Kenaston. There is also much more multifamily than older suburbs.
Yes there is still much to be desired but it is somewhat a step in the right direction
The maps in the open house show this connection more clearly.
https://bisonrun.qualicocommunities....ouse-FINAL.pdf