Your Idlewood Greenway, your watershed

In the spring of 2024, we hosted an open house for Idlewood Greenway. Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Open House on May 1, 2024 and provided their feedback on the design options.

What we heard

For a detailed report on what we heard from community members at the open house and online, please read the summary

Some common themes included:

• Stormwater: We heard questions about existing infrastructure, and support for the addition of stormwater facilities in the area
• Trails: You are enjoying the trails and looking forward to improvements
• Planting and Pollinators: Many of you expressed an interest in increasing the use of native plant species

We also heard ideas of what you want to be incorporated into designs for the stormwater pond and the park. You would like the design to:

• “Improve and maintain trail pathway”
• “Include more seating and gathering spaces”
• “Include more trees”
• “Maintain the natural space”

Frequently Asked Questions updated

Thanks for all the questions you have shared with us. We have added responses to new questions in the Frequently Asked Questions

Important next steps

Thank you for your patience as we develop the final design for the greenway based on design constraints and feedback from City staff and the community. Once completed, we will share a final design on the project page.

Construction is expected to begin in 2028. We will be back in touch before that time to share detailed construction plans so you can know what to expect. Throughout, we will continue to use share any project updates through the project page.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to be notified about future events. Add your email to the Stay Informed section of this page and click ‘Subscribe’.

Thank you again to everyone who joined us at the open house on May 1, 2024, and provided their feedback on the design options. Congratulations to Teresa G. and Joe B. for winning the draw prizes!

Whether or not you attended the open house, we want your feedback through the online survey. The survey is open for one more week, until May 29, and we would love to hear from you!

Answer the survey

You can also refer to the presentation slides and design option poster boards.

The presentation slides and the poster boards for our May 1 Open House are now available. Thank you to everyone who joined us last night

Whether you attended or not, we would like your feedback! Please fill in our survey so we can hear what you think about the ground cover options and preliminary design.

Answer the survey

Thanks to those who’ve already registered for the Idlewood Greenway Open House. We look forward to seeing you. If you haven’t already, please register

On May 1 when you drop by the Open House, you’re invited to join Reep Green Solutions for a Nurture Nature in your Neighbourhood workshop. Learn more and sign up

The workshop is happening at 7 p.m. during the open house.

There will be space for a maximum of 25 participants to join this workshop.

May 1, 2024

5 to 8 p.m.

Franklin Public School (371 Franklin Street North, Kitchener)

Please register

We are adding underground stormwater storage to Idlewood Greenway to improve water quality and reduce flood risks. We’re also upgrading the trails in the project area.

About the open house:

• Learn more about stormwater improvements and trail upgrades coming to Idlewood Greenway.
• Drop in anytime! Staff and consultants will be available to receive your feedback and answer questions.
• During this event, join Reep Green Solutions for a fun interactive Nurturing Nature in Your Neighbourhood workshop at 7 pm! Event details are available on Eventbrite.
• We will have children’s activities and child-minding
• A light meal will be provided

If you can’t attend this in-person event, you can participate virtually. We will post materials on this webpage for you to review and comment on closer to the event.

This project was approved by the Ministry of the Environment in 2016 as part of the Integrated Stormwater Management Master Plan (ISWM-MP). If community consultations lead to required project modifications, we will seek to amend the relevant planning tools -- in this case, the Class Environmental Assessment, under which the ISWM-MP was completed.

It has been a while since we updated you on this project. Thank you for your patience while we slowed down our design process to get this project right. In January 2023, we invited you to complete a survey to help us understand park use and what the park means to the community. Thank you to all who participated and shared their input.

Here is a summary of the results of what we heard. For a more detailed report on what we heard from you, please read the summary: Winter 2023 What We Heard Report

We received 65 surveys. Thank you for sharing your input! Here are some responses you shared:

You described the park as:

• “A beautiful and clean space”
• “A lovely place to exercise and connect with nature”
• “Has clear visibility and open space”

You feel comfortable and safe in these parks:

• “We use the park all year-round”
• “Located in a safe neighbourhood”
• “Park has lots of children and friendly families”

You have ideas for changes to the parks, including:

• “Drainage could be improved”
• “Trails are uneven and too close to homes”
• “Include more plants and seating”
• “Barren and empty. Lack of recreational facilities and playgrounds.”

What’s Next for Idlewood Greenway?

Your input from the survey is being used to inform concept designs.

Thank you for all of your questions. You can find an updated FAQ page with common questions and answers. We look forward to hosting a project open house this year and will share more details soon.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe for updates. Add your email to the Stay Informed box on this page, then click ‘Subscribe’. If you have any questions, please contact us at idlewoodgreenway@kitchener.ca.

Thank you for all your feedback about this project so far.

We heard there is a lot of confusion about the location of the proposed underground stormwater facility. We also heard that many people in the neighbourhood do not know this green space as "Idlewood Greenway". In fact some people told us they did not know this area had a name at all.

In response to your comments and questions, we made some changes to this page to help clarify.

Last week, we made these updates:

• Removed the words “park”, “pond” and “amenities” from the survey
• Changed other wording to refer to this location as a greenway, green space, or open space – not a park

This week we also:

• Added an interactive map
• Extended the survey deadline by two weeks – now open until February 13, 2023

We are also going to find some more ways to make sure we inform community members and they have a chance to answer the survey. Please subscribe for email updates by using the Subscribe button

If you have any questions , please reach out to Bart Mazan, Project Manager, at bart.mazan@kitchener.ca or 519-503-1641.

Thanks to helpful resident feedback, we have made a few corrections to the Idlewood Greenway survey. We removed the words park, pond, and amenities from the survey and the newsfeed update below. The survey questions remain the same, so if you have already responded, you don't need to complete a new survey.

We have several stormwater projects on Engage and used another project's wording in the Idlewood Greenway survey. We're sorry for the confusion this caused.

If you have questions, please get in touch with Bart Mazan, Project Manager, at bart.mazan@kitchener.ca or 519-503-1641.

Answer the survey

Our first survey is now open. Help us understand how you use Idlewood Greenway and its amenities so we can best integrate the new stormwater ponds into the park space. With your input, we will create preliminary concepts that are relevant to the community. You will get to consider these design drafts and share your feedback when they are ready later in 2023. The survey is open until Jan. 30, 2023.

Answer the survey

Thank you for your continued interest in this project. We are nearing the end of the field assessment and monitoring phase. During the next engagement phase, we will open a survey to learn more about how the community uses Idlewood Greenway. Stay tuned for updates in 2023.