Nobody wants an industrial site in their backyard. That is why proposed land changes north of Bridge Street have local residents concerned about what the owner, CRA Lands Limited, will do with the land if it gets industrial zoning. Many wonder why developers cannot relocate their plans or use existing empty buildings or land near the airport in Breslau.
However, urban planner Larry Masseo, a policy advisor at the Waterloo Region Home Builders Association, says the region actually has a shortage of shovel-ready land. For neighbouring cities like Waterloo, Masseo notes that growth has already reached existing municipal boundaries, leaving nowhere else to expand
“But it's different in places like Kitchener, Cambridge, Woolwich, where they have a lot more opportunity to reassess the directions and approaches to growth and put their own stamp on it, so to speak,” Masseo said.
