KITCHENER — The Region of Waterloo has quietly selected a group of local urban design buffs to go behind closed doors and give input on development of the landmark King-Victoria transit hub property in Kitchener.

The design review panel was formed in 2018 to advise and influence the design of what Region of Waterloo officials hope will be an iconic project at the corner of King and Victoria streets in Kitchener.

With the exception of the committee chair, members were invited to join and were required to sign non-disclosure agreements as part of their membership.

Ellen McGaghey, project manager for the King-Victoria hub, said the non-disclosure agreements were to make sure developers' proprietary information was kept confidential but also to control how information got to the public.

"We'll be sharing things with them before we share with the public so it will be the same material but different timing in terms of when the joint design review panel sees them and when the public sees them," McGaghey said.

"We want to make sure that is planful as opposed to just having things randomly released."

So far the panel has convened for a single meeting. The terms of reference are already under a fresh review and it is unclear if the panel will continue in its current form.

Coun. Tom Galloway, a member of the transit hub steering committee made up of politicians and staff, said he couldn't speculate as to the reasons for the non-disclosure agreements.

"I'm not sure there was any discussion that I was party to, that said we've got to have nondisclosure," he said.

Secrecy about the transit hub plans isn't new.

In 2014, The Record requested a 357-page report on the hub that contained financial projections.

About 147 pages were partially or fully blacked out. Of those, 97 were completely blacked out.

Panel members were to vote on design items and whether to support them, not support them or support with conditions. The design panel will also review and advise on any neighbouring projects to ensure they fitted with the tone of the hub.

The panel's terms of reference said meeting minutes would not be made public and meetings would be recorded but the recording destroyed once minutes were approved by members.

Regional, City of Kitchener and Metrolinx officials crafted the terms of reference and hand-picked the panel.

Kitchener and Metrolinx both wanted review panels, so one joint panel was put together.

The job of chair was advertised, but that person is expected to facilitate meetings and not give design input.

Some other design review panels operate within the public eye, including one in Hamilton and a waterfront panel in Toronto.

The terms of reference for the panel said there had to be at least two architects, an urban designer and one landscape architect.

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The panel hasn't had much work.

The region and private consortium King Victoria Transit Hub Partners Inc. were unable to come to an agreement to develop the site with a combination of a transit hub for light rail, buses, GO Transit and Via Rail and and mixed use development.

McGaghey said the terms of reference for the panel are currently being reviewed now that the approach for the project has changed.

More transparency is up for discussion.

"It is something that we're considering," McGaghey said.

McGaghey said the panel met once to go over initial designs and discuss how the review panel would operate.

The region plans to move forward with the project in phases now, starting with the transit hub.

From there, they will work with a developer or developers to build out the rest of the site.

pdesmond@therecord.com

Twitter: @DesmondRecord

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