Hespeler Road Land Use Analysis prepared
by
stefan
balakji,
joe
li,
ben
mckillop,
&
bryan
wong
publisher’s note
Land Acknowledgement In completing a land use analysis on the Hespeler Road Corridor, it is important to acknowledge the rich history of the land the site is situated on. This is necessary to make re-visible the Indigenous peoples who have been absent from the Canadian consciousness for hundreds of years.
Cambridge is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land that was promised to the Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations of the Grand River, and is within the territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples.
As urban planning students, we have a responsibility to acknowledge the history of the lands we plan and design for, and this starts with recognizing the experiences of the First Nations, Inuit, and MĂŠtis peoples to inform the work we do.
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Table of Contents
3
Guiding Questions
15
Parking Lots
4
What is the Hespeler Road Corridor?
17
Hespeler Road Composition
5
Key Designated Areas
18
Zoning Bylaw Restrictions
7
Zoning By-Law Designations
19
Temporal Use Analysis
10
Official Plan Land Use Designations
21
How could Hespeler Road be improved?
13
Land Use SWOT
22
Conclusions & Recommendations
14
Who is the Hespeler Road Corridor for?
23
References
2
Guiding Questions In creating guiding questions, our team is able to create building blocks to act as a north star, allowing us to direct the flow of research and tell a compelling narrative of what the Hespeler Road Corridor is, who its for, and where it can be improved.
1. What is the Hespeler Road Corridor? In looking at the current conditions and land use composition of Hespeler Road, we are able to build a research foundation to understand the site’s makeup and how its design can be improved.
2. Who is Hespeler Road for? Understanding the audience that the site’s land uses currently serves and underrepresents allows us to understand the community we’re designing for, to design optimally and with context.
3. How could Hespeler Road be improved? In combining our understanding of the site with its users, as well as through looking at legislation that outlines the future of what the site is supposed to be, we are able to derive recommendations and conclusions for how the site should proceed in development.
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analysis one
1. What is the Hespeler Road Corridor? This analysis is to understand the legislated purpose of the Hespeler Road Corridor by looking into the Cambridge Official Plan and Zoning By-Law to understand what council has designated this space to be. We consider key areas as delineated by the Official Plan, land use designations and broad guidance as listed in the Official Plan, and also consider the specific zoning designations for the corridor. This first stage establishes our base understanding of what the Corridor is supposed to be. In the next sections, we interrogate this legislated expectation to the grounded on-site realities.
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Key Designated Areas
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Key Designated Areas Area A: Cambridge Smart Centre
A
The intersection of Hespeler Road and Pinebush Road is a Regional Scale Node offering a multitude of services within the area, benefiting from the nearby Highway 401 interchange. Regional Scale Nodes are areas within the city that offer a wide range of retail, commercial and service uses that benefit the entire region. Over the course of the Official Plan’s implementation, this node will be developed to serve a greater purpose, offering a wide array of high density residential and employment uses to facilitate a future rapid transit station within the area.
Area B: Cambridge Centre
B
Community Scale Nodes are areas located along arterial roads, adjacent to the city’s surrounding neighbourhoods. Currently, they provide services offered by recreational facilities and few commercial establishments within the area, such as the Cambridge Centre, which is located within the Hespeler-Dundas Regeneration Area. Over time, these areas are planned to encapsulate medium to high-density mixed-use centres, offering a wide range of new housing options and services to the growing demographic.
Area C: Hespeler-Dundas Regeneration Area
C
Within the southern quadrant of the Hespeler Road Corridor is the Hespeler-Dundas Regeneration Area. Regeneration Areas are transitional zones within the city that demonstrate a shift in designated use during the planning phases outlined in the Official Plan (e.g. when an area transitions from an industrial use to a commercial use over time). As one of the main gateways to the corridor, this area is adjacent to a large open space and a recreational facility, with few commercial and low-rise residential uses.
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Zoning By-Law Designations
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Zoning Breakdown The current zoning of the Hespeler Road corridor is designated into commercial, open space, industrial, institutional, and low to medium density residential land uses. As a result of zoning legislation, low-rise commercial uses dominate the site, and has allowed the site to evolve into its car-centric state without a sense of place. The site currently lacks zoning to support mixed-use development or high-density residential, failing to set conditions for meaningful growth in the corridor.
Industrial (6.7%) Commercial (65%)
Industrial zoning is scattered throughout the site, and support uses such as auto repair shops and factory sales outlets.
The Hespeler Road Corridor is majority made up and zoned for commercial space. Prominent features include two shopping malls, multiple strip malls, and detached businesses that range from a few small businesses to multiple chains and franchises. Commercial spaces are largely dispersed throughout the site in low-density, and are made up of mostly parking space.
Institutional (2.2%) The current site contains minimal institutional use. Current institutional land use includes Waterloo Regional Police, a senior housing home, and an Agency for Employment Services.
Open Space (7.1%) Open Space is concentrated towards the south-east of the site boundary, and is currently dedicated for outdoor recreational amenities including golfing, playgrounds, and sports. Additionally, West of the site boundary contains the Dumfries Conservation area.
Residential (1.8% Low, 4.3% Medium Density) South of the site has land parcels zoned for medium and low density residential uses. Currently, this consists of mostly single detached housing in the Northview neighbourhood.
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Zoning Classes
M C
Of the few Industrial Zones (M) within the corridor, there are M1 and M2 zones which are general industrial uses with no outdoor storage or outdoor operations, M3 zones which permit general industrial uses, and M5 zones which allow for transport uses.
N
For the Commercial Zoning (C) class, a vast majority of the zones located within the central areas of the corridor are designated as C4 zones, which are described as commercial uses within the Hespeler Road commercial development area. Other zoning subclasses within the commercial zoning areas include C6 zones, regional power centres, CS1 zones, regional shopping centres, and a combination of two zoning categories: CS4CS5, neighbourhood and local shopping centres.
There is only one Institutional Zone (N) within the Hespeler Road Corridor area and it is zoned as N1, which accommodates educational, government and non-profit community institutions, public hospitals, non-profit family crisis shelters, places of worship, children’s care facilities and non-profit service, social clubs, and/or fraternal societies.
OS
RM
The Open Space (OS) zoning class consist of two subclasses: OS2, which are major recreational uses, and OS4, which are public neighbourhoods, community playgrounds, and playing fields located outside of OS1 zones.
The Medium High-Density Residential Zones (RM) within the site consist primarily of RM3 zones, which accommodate apartment houses and other multiple unit residential buildings outside the core areas of the city. As for the Low-Density Residential Zones (RS), there is only one subclass within the subject area. It is zoned as RS1 which permits semi-detached single family dwellings.
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Official Plan Land Use Designations
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Draft Secondary Plan Land Uses
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Official Plan Designation The Hespeler Road Corridor is comprised of a variety of land use designations as identified in the City of Cambridge Official Plan 2018 Consolidation (the “OP”). As articulated in Section 8.6 of the Plan, Hespeler Road (south of Highway 401) is recognised as one of the primary areas in the City’s commercial structure. The OP identifies the lands adjacent to Highway 401 as Regional Commercial, Hespeler Road Mixed-Use Corridor, and Employment Corridor. The Hespeler Mixed-Use Corridor extends South between the Pinebush intersection and Dunbar Road. These lands are largely surrounded by Business Industrial Uses that operate in proximity to Highway 401. The Cambridge Centre North of Dunbar Road is designated ‘Regional Commercial’. Located to the Southwest, the Dumfries Conservation Area is identified as part of the ‘Natural Open Space System’. The abutting lands include the ‘Hespeler Road Mixed-Use Corridor’ and ‘High Density Residential’ to the East and ‘Low/Medium Density Residential’ to the South. In essence, this vital commercial corridor serves as a linkage between the Galt City Centre and its surrounding residential area and Highway 401.
Secondary Plan The City of Cambridge’s Draft Secondary Plan contemplates future land use policy directions within the Hespeler Road Corridor. This draft plan provides greater detail in regard to the land uses currently identified in the Official Plan. The proposed land use directions provide a more precise division of land uses including ‘Mixed Use Medium Density’, ‘Mixed Use High Density’, ‘Mixed Use Office’. The Secondary Plan further provides a distinction between ‘Low Density Residential’ and ‘Medium Density Residential’.
These directions outline a desire to facilitate ‘Mixed Use High Density’ on the lands adjacent to the ‘Regional Commercial’ designations. A ‘Mixed Use Office’ designation is contemplated on the North side of the Pinebush intersection in proximity to Highway 401.
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Land Use SWOT Strengths
Weaknesses
Since the majority of the site is parking and road, and primarily used for commercial uses and not residential, future development of the site is at low risk of displacing residents and should pose few development constraints.
Currently, the zoning of the site boundary does not allow much residential uses. This needs to be changed to promote mixed-use living conditions that allow work, play, and community living.
The site is right below Highway 401, and is located in a key area that allows users to connect to different cities and various commercial establishments.
The site is currently car-centric with an average of 6 car lanes throughout Hespeler Road, no bike lanes, a lack of public transit options, poor walkability, and a streetscape that is parking lot heavy. As a result, the site is not inclusive or accessible to users without access to a car.
The site is visioned to grow and support a variety of uses, and has high potential to revitalize current land uses.
Healthy living is not encouraged on the site, given the site’s large amount of fast food options, car-centric lifestyle, and lack of open space, gathering areas, and grocery stores.
Opportunities Transit-oriented-development sparked by the planned ION expansion will encourage intensification and developer interest into the site, promoting intensification nearby planned stops.
Threats & Constraints The Secondary plan is currently in review and not fully approved, meaning changes are bound to occur. This is also true for the planned ION extension.
Rezoning the site to allow mixed-uses will encourage living, working, and play into the corridor.
The corridor has become a major destination for shopping in Cambridge, and will likely remain a key commercial area in the city in the future. Redevelopment could pose pushback.
location of the site is well-suited to become a focus area Cambridge following growth, given its proximity to nearby
The in
employment areas and access to commercial establishments.
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analysis two
2. Who is Hespeler Road for? In this second component, we aim to interrogate the legislated purposes of the Hespeler Road Corridor by comparing it to the grounded realities of the site. One of the key findings was that Hespeler Road was a unique site for the City of Cambridge; not only designated as a key corridor with a regional and community node, but also with some of the widest and most autocentric zoning requirements. In this section, we try to examine the ground realities in light of its legislated purpose to answer the question of who the Hespeler Road corridor is for, which is evidently users with car access.
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Parking Lots Parking lots are a dominant feature along the Hespeler Road corridor. The presence and orientation of surface parking illustrates the auto-centric nature of the present site. Within the approximate 223.3 hectares of which the site is comprised, approximately 99.6 hectares are occupied by parking alone. In other words, nearly 44% of the total land area is solely reserved for parking vehicles. Given the current composition of the land uses within the site boundary – namely commercial land uses bounded by industrial areas – vehicle dependence is evidently a primary aspect in the current function of the Hespeler Road corridor. With reference to the Draft Secondary Plan, future directions for the site could improve upon this underutilized car-dominant space to facilitate a mixed-use/pedestrian-oriented corridor. Large swaths of parking lands provide an opportunity for redevelopment and public-realm improvement within this area.
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Parking Lots Cont.
The Draft Hespeler Road Corridor Secondary Plan identifies vacant and underutilized areas located within the Plan’s Study Area. The Draft Secondary Plan suggests that these properties provide an opportunity for intensification, redevelopment, public realm improvement and future pedestrian networks. The Plan identifies a number of site specific opportunities that are conducive to intensification along Hespeler Road. With planned transit improvements, infilling underutilized lots may take advantage of street frontage and access to the LRT corridor. Small commercial plazas provide an opportunity for redevelopment to accommodate the mixed-use and higher density residential uses as described in the draft plan. Commercial highway uses further provide an opportunity for redevelopment and intensification initiatives.
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Hespeler Road Composition The makeup of Hespeler Road consists of an average of 6 car lanes throughout, and increases when opportunities for drivers to turn emerge. In addition to the lack of bike lanes, it remains evident that this site is meant specifically for vehicles to move from point A to B, typically from the residential suburb to the highway. Pedestrians are small in comparison to the amount of roads and cars, leaving no room for human-scale or a sense of place to be made.
27.5m
site parking
1.3m
sidewalk
3.2m
buffer
4.4m
drive lane
3.6m
drive lane
Highlighted Roads on Hespeler Road
3.3m
drive lane
1.9m
island
3.3m
turn lane
3.3m
drive lane
3.3m
drive lane
Hespeler Road Cross Section, created with Streetmix.net
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4.4m
drive lane
3.2m
buffer
1.3m
sidewalk
site parking
Zoning Bylaw Restrictions While the land along Hespeler corridor is zoned to be commercial, the specific zoning built form restrictions present a clearly autocentric construct for the corridor that completely discourages pedestrian use of the corridor. The biggest barrier to meaningful pedestrian use for this site is the by-law's call for a 15 meter front yard set back for all Commercial-4 zoning (Hespeler Corridor Commercial). This coupled by the by-law's maxmimum FAR of 2.0 means that there is limited ability for density on the corridor.
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Temporal Use Analysis By looking into what types of businesses are on Hespeler Road, we can understand how people are expected to use the site and at what time of day. This paints a picture of site activity, and shows the interactive relationship between users and land use. While the majority of businesses open early, they start shutting down at 6:30 PM, leaving the site to only act as a means of transportation for vehicles after hours. 6 am Car Services Car Dealerships Community Government Grocery Medical Restaurant Retail Services
7 am
8 am
9 am
10 am
11 am
12 pm
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
6 pm
7 pm
8 pm
9 pm
7:20 am to 6:50 pm 8:45 am to 7:10 pm 7:15 am to 6:15 pm 9:00 am to 5:00 pm 8:30 am to 8:00 pm 8:00 am to 6:40 pm 10:30 am to 9:30 pm 9:50 am to 6:00 pm 9:10 am to 6:15 pm
average opening and closing hours of businesses on hespeler road, by business type 19
10 pm
11 pm
12 am
Temporal Use Analysis Cont. Overall, the business landscape of Hespeler Road is not well-designed for health promotion or community activity. With the heavy presence of car services and dealerships, shopping malls, and lack of access to healthy food options, it is clear the site is intended only for users with vehicle access.
Car Services & Car Dealerships There are about seven car dealerships on site, each with parking lots filled with different car models for sale. Additionally, there are about two auto-repair shops and three gas stations, which collectively add to the car-centric nature of Hespeler road.
Retail & Services Commercial use makes up the majority of the current site zoning, which has allowed retail stores to dominate the site. The site consists of two large shopping malls including SmartCentres Cambridge and the Cambridge Centre. Additionally, there are multiple strip malls throughout, that contain a mixture of restaurants, retail units, and service businesses.
Community Community uses only include the Chaplain Family YMCA, and YMCA Immigrant and Employment Services. Aside from the limited open green space on site, Hespeler Road lacks areas for gathering and recreational use.
Restaurant There are dozens of restaurants on site; however, the majority of restaurants consist of mostly fast food franchises and chain restaurants, with only a few small businesses on site.
Grocery Farm Boy is the only dedicated grocery store on site which provides the community access to a selection of produce and healthy foods. Walmart provides a smaller selection.
Medical Medical uses include a senior housing home, two animal hospitals, and a LifeLabs Medical Laboratory. The presence of senior housing indicates the need for the site to be age inclusive.
Government Government uses only include the Waterloo Regional Police and Service Ontario.
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analysis three
3. How could Hespeler Road be improved? The main contributor to the poor use of land on the Hespeler Road site is the zoning that focuses on commercial uses. Through rezoning, poorly utilized spaces can be redeveloped to support a wider range of uses, to allow for living and working. Furthermore, by restructuring the site to become more pedestrian oriented, the Hespeler Road Corridor can grow to promote active and public transportation.
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Conclusions & Recommendations The Hespeler Road corridor possesses many strengths and weaknesses. As an automotive-centric area, it is able to provide a wide range of parking lots and facilities to accommodate a large number of private vehicle users coming to and from Highway 401. In turn, the surrounding commercial establishments located within the area are able to benefit from the large number of incoming consumers. However, the corridor lacks variety in terms of its uses, with 65% of its land designated as commercial space, leaving limited space for mixed-use and residential development. Additionally, the corridor does not provide a safe and healthy environment for its surrounding residents, as the area is predominantly planned for vehicle users.
1. Amend the zoning by-law to allow for medium and high density mixed-use residential and office on site.
3. Convert underutilized parking lots into pedestrian focused spaces
The main contributor to the poor use of land on the Hespeler Road site is the zoning that focuses on commercial uses. Through rezoning, poorly utilized spaces can be redeveloped to support a wider range of uses, to allow for living and working.
The amount of parking lots within the corridor paints a picture that this site is inaccessible without a car. By creating pedestrian zones and increasing open space, a sense of place will be established, allowing Cambridge to grow vibrantly with a focus on people.
4. Reduce the amount of car lanes to divert traffic and introduce active transportation infrastructure
2. Concentrate intensification near planned ION stops to create walkable spaces.
With an average of six car lanes throughout the corridor and lack of bike lanes, human-scale is lost in favour of the car. By providing the community access to infrastructure that supports healthy living, Hespeler Road can move away from its car-centric nature by reducing traffic and vehicle reliance.
The current site area is designed for users with cars, but these conditions will improve following the growth of public transportation options. In concentrating areas where the ION is planning to pass, the car-centric corridor will become more walkable, healthy, and less car-centric.
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References
City of Cambridge (May 2019). City of Cambridge Hespeler Road Corridor Secondary Plan.
Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.ca/en/learn-about/resources/Growth-and-Intensification-Study/
Draft-Hespeler-Road-Corridor-Secondary-Plan---May-2019.pdf
City of Cambridge (2018). Cambridge Official Plan: September 2018 Consolidation. Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.ca/en/learn-about/resources/Official-Plan/Cambridge-2018-Official-
Plan-Consolidation-AODA-2018-09-25.pdf
City of Cambridge (January 2012). Zoning By-law 150-85. Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.ca/en/build-invest-grow/resources/1-4CCC_ZoningBylaw.pdf
Map Sources
https://geohub.cambridge.ca/
https://data.waterloo.ca/
https://www.openstreetmap.org/
https://www.google.com/earth/
https://streetmix.net/
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