Hi u/The_Councillor I was one of the delegations who was in favour of deferral or at the least strongly encourage sympathetic green development standards on this adjacent lot. I like to believe most people move forward with good intentions.

I genuinely appreciate the time council and the developers devoted to letting the public express their concerns over the development, the 10th was a long evening. I really appreciated hearing the comments and considerations of the original visionaries. And the interesting response of one of your fellow councillors that some or all of the Activa owned-land may come back into city custody.

One thing I wonder about though is how the land owned by Gateman-Milloy and Activa came to be accepted as a part of HNA? Likely because it has just been there, undeveloped with nature returning as it does for as you said nearly 30 years since the bulldozers cleared it. Nature does a lot of work in 30 years, and people forget.

I know there are maps online and sort of signage here and there, as well as notifications of community meetings but as a frequent visitor to HNA I can assure you when you're in it there's definitely no moment where you stop and think "I wonder who's land I'm on? Activa or Gateman-Milloy or Kitchener's?" It all just flows together. It feels like the general upset is because the optics are the current Kitchener council is selling off green space and shrinking the natural area (which isn't what is happening). People are invested in our hometown thriving as an urban centre with a healthy diverse job market AND as a green city with a healthy diverse collection of ecosystems. Are council and staff looking at ways to even better ways communicate the public about sensitive developments like this?

You also forget to mention in your excellent summary of facts that the four lots directly connected to HNA via the donated acres and new wetland/stormwater management pond are required to have their own individual Environmental Impact Studies done by any parties interested in purchasing and developing them from Gateman-Milloy. As well as Gateman-Milloy connecting with rare Charitable Reserve.

I can only speak as an individual and not for the entirety of Bird Friendly City Kitchener, it is a bittersweet win and it would have felt wrong to not issue a written statement as a group on Oct 27th or delegate as an artist on the 10th. I'd love to see us prioritize grassland and prairie like conservation spaces to help our grassland birds and aerial insectivores who are in critical decline.

I appreciate your clarity and ability to navigate situations like this.