Waterloo neighbours push back against proposed double lot build

Residents on Vermont Street in Waterloo are voicing their concerns about a proposed build on their quiet road.

Kurtis McBride, the new owner of 240 Vermont St., has put forward a proposal to the City of Waterloo to demolish the existing home. He then wants to sever the land into two parcels and build two homes on the property.

The proposed new buildings would be single detached houses, with two additional residential units, totalling six dwellings on the lot.

“I’m going to go ahead and sort of do something pretty unique where it will be a place that I’m going to live, there will be a home on it, but it will also have some rental units that will be on there as well,” McBride explained Thursday.

The proposal also includes a pool and an underground connected basement between dwellings and stacked parking.

McBride hopes that, in the future, it could be his own kids or other family members living on the lot with him.

The exterior of 240 Vermont St. in Waterloo, Ont. (Dave Pettitt/CTV Kitchener)

The build, he said, is one way he’s addressing the housing crisis.

“Whether you’re talking about large, single family homes or rental inventory, it’s all sort of connected in a supply and demand sense. Not that my units that I’m going to build, going from one unit to six, is going to singlehandedly solve the problem, but every little bit counts.”

Neighbours have their say

Some neighbours have voiced their concerns over McBride’s proposal.

About a dozen property owners in the area have already signed a petition opposing the build. That was then sent to the City of Waterloo’s Committee of Adjustment.

“This looks to be a proposal to use the parcel of land at 240 Vermont in a manner completely inconsistent with the surrounding neighbourhood,” the petition reads. “This application should be treated as a full rezoning application, with the due diligence, public scrutiny and council approval before such a large change to the neighbourhood can take place.”

An artist's rendering of the proposed development at 240 Vermont St. in Waterloo. (Submitted)

Neighbour Ed Bennett said he has several concerns, including how the drainage at the back of the property would be addressed and how the build would affect the landscaping.

“The development that they’re proposing is going to take out a huge amount of natural habitat, excellent drainage of soil and also they’re going to be taking out the trees,” Bennett said in an interview. “We honestly can’t understand how a project of this size could proceed successfully without major disruption for a considerable period of time.”

Bennett said the neighbours living near the bottom of the backyard are also worried about the effect it’ll have if the trees are removed.

“The tree roots contain the soil from eroding and from that cliff collapsing and going down to the neighbours that sit below,” Bennett explained.

Another neighbour, Becky Dmitrienko, said she’s not against a rebuild, but has concerns about this specific idea.

“What they’re talking about, coming in and rebuilding a place for six individual units for six individual people or families to live. This is supposed to be an R1 low residential, low zoned housing unit,” she said.

“To have six differently family structures living in there, dividing the property into two separate units, doesn’t make sense. If the new owner is planning to live on the property, as he’s saying, I don’t understand why it would need to be divided.”

The proposed plan for 240 Vermont St. in Waterloo. (Submitted)

McBride understands some of his neighbours’ concerns, including the slope in the backyard and construction safety. He said work is already being done to look into those issues.

“I want to make sure, certainly the people at the bottom of the hill, want to make sure that as they go through construction and change the land use that the slope is stable and that it doesn’t start to erode into their backyard, right – 100 per cent fair,” he said. “There’s a lot of students that come in and out of that street to get to the high school. We’re going to have construction vehicles operating in that area. You know, obviously we want to make sure that we keep everybody safe.”

Acknowledging that everyone’s entitled to their opinion, McBride also said some issues – like the home design – aren’t as valid to him.

“Concerns that were like: ‘Hey, it’s been the same since the 50s and it should be the same forever.’ You know, I’m sure that somebody who had lived there from 1905 would have said that about somebody moving in in 1955 [and] wanting a two-car garage,” he explained. “I think the nature of community is that it’s dynamic and it changes, and it has to meet the needs of people who live there at the time, not in the 1950’s.”

What's next for the project

The proposal went before the City of Waterloo’s Committee of Adjustment earlier this week. The decision was deferred so they could request more details on the project.

McBride hopes to bring that information back to the committee in May or June, and get full approval.

He also wants to connect with neighbours and find resolution going forward.

“I plan to be their neighbour. I have kids. These are things that I would be pushing myself if I lived in the community,” he explained. “I’m certainly committed to mending fences, metaphorically and literally, through this process.”