KITCHENER - Council approved the controversial third phase of the Breithaupt Block Monday night, in a marathon council meeting in which residents made it clear they don't feel heard by city hall.

The approval came after Perimeter Development Corp. shaved two storeys from the office tower and agreed to give residents a say in the city's review of the design of the outside of the project's parking garage, as well as the design of a parkette adjacent to Wellington Street.

The original proposal would have put a 12-storey office tower and five-storey parking garage on a site at the corner of Breithaupt Street and Moore Avenue, within metres of nearby single-family homes. Residents strongly objected to the plan when it first came to council in April, prompting council to delay a decision to buy more time to try to find a compromise solution.

The changes shave two storeys off the office tower, bringing it down to 10 storeys and a height of just under 50 metres. Because the office tower has 4.5-metre ceilings, its 10 storeys would be as tall as a 16-storey apartment tower. The tower would be 31.5 metres from single-family homes on Wellington Street.

The new proposal does not make any major changes to the parking garage along Breithaupt Street, which would be within a few metres of homes along Breithaupt and back onto the backyards of homes along Wellington Street.

Council deliberated over the plan for four hours, hearing from 10 delegations.

Although many councillors sympathized with residents' frustrations, council needs to consider the message it sends to investors, said Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.

Kitchener not so long ago had a struggling downtown, and even today has to deal with decisions such as Manulife's announcement last week that it plans to move out of downtown Kitchener, Vrbanovic said.

"We can very quickly find ourselves in a situation where the message we send will put us in a situation where we are once again yearning for jobs, yearning for growth and yearning for people to live downtown."

Although many residents said they were pleased to see a lower office tower, many weren't happy that nothing had changed with the parking garage.

"In spite of consistent neighbourhood opposition, no modifications have been made to the parking garage," said Dawn Parker, a planning professor at the University of Waterloo who lives in the neighbourhood. "Its footprint is larger than the office building. The setback is so minimal that if I were at the laneway edge I could reach out and touch the wall."

Craig Beattie, a partner in Perimeter, said he would willingly work with residents on the design of the parkette and the parking garage. Trimming the size of the garage isn't realistic, given tenant demands for parking, he said. But, he said, "this parking structure's got to be great, and it's got to fit in with its surroundings. We're confident of coming up with a really good design solution."

Parker argued that the city was approving zoning changes on the site to allow higher intensity than was actually needed for the proposed development. The higher-intensity zoning could set a dangerous precedent for other properties in the area whose owners hope to intensify, leading to a gradual erosion of the neighbourhood, she warned.

Residents said they need a better transition between the homes and the large tower and garage. They fear the decision on Breithaupt could open the door to more intense development in other established neighbourhoods.

"This decision is precedent-setting, all along the LRT route and everywhere else in the Innovation district," said resident Catherine Owens.

Residents also took the city to task for the way it communicated with residents about the development proposal as it evolved. The whole planning process, including public meetings and planning documents, is opaque, confusing and disrespectful, said Michelle Buckner. "It's not accessible, it's not meaningful and it's tokenism in a lot of cases."

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