City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 27 Meeting?

This last council meeting for the month of June is slightly embiggened from the size it was originally supposed to be due to a couple of imported items from the aborted planning meeting earlier this week. So we’ve got two planning items, and we’ve got a couple of information reports to discuss, plus a new and pressing matter regarding a railway crossing.

NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting via telephone, but you do have to register with the clerks office before 10 am on Friday June 24. You can also submit written delegations and correspondences for agenda items.

NOTE #2: The meeting will be the open to the public, but if you would like to follow it from home, you will still be live-stream the meeting on the City of Guelph’s website here.

CLOSED MEETING:

June 2022 Public Appointments to The Elliott Community Board of Trustees – Before council approved the appointments in closed session, they have to review and approve them in closed session.

Decision Report 12 Poole St Proposed Official Plan Amendment File OZS22-002 (deferred from June 13 meeting) – “The proposed high density residential land use designation with a site-specific policy represents a significant deviation from the existing permissions in the ‘Low Density Greenfield Residential’ land use designation.” That’s City staff’s polite way of saying that council should pass on approving the proposed 500 units development with 308 stacked townhouses, and one 185-unit apartment building on this property.

Decision Report City Initiated Official Plan Amendment, Emma to Earl Pedestrian Bridge (deferred from June 13 meeting) – The statutory planning meeting for this long in the works bridge project was received by council in February 2021. Now, staff are telling council that it’s time to proceed. They’re satisfied that the Official Plan Amendment (OPA 81) is consistent with Natural Heritage System policies, and the the 2020 Provincial Policy Statement that says, “natural features and areas shall be protected for the long term and that development and site alteration is not permitted unless it can be demonstrated that there will be no negative impacts on the natural features or their ecological functions.”

Parking of Recreational Vehicles Update – Back in November, staff came to council rather stymied about the direction for a policy regarding the parking of recreational vehicles. An information report released in March says that, for now, the City will continue with a complaint-driven enforcement model from April to November this year as staff continues their comprehensive analysis. Councillor Rodrigo Goller asked to discuss this report in council, and there are no specific recommendations from staff at the moment.

Cities Race-to-Zero Four-Year Interim Targets – Councillor June Hofland asked to pull this information report on interim targets from earlier this month. The report notes that corporate greenhouse emissions have already been reduced from the 2018 baseline, but those corporate emissions only account for three per cent of Guelph’s total emissions. So the City’s job will be to provide support to the rest of Guelph so that they can also reach sustainability goals as well as leading by example. There are no specific recommendations from staff with this report.

Edinburgh Road Level Rail Crossing Separation Environmental Assessment – No formal report for this item was attached to this item, but there will be a couple of public information sessions about this next week. In short, there are some safety issues with the street level rail crossing along the Metrolinx-owned track through Guelph. An Environmental Assessment (EA) is needed, but the motion directs staff to look at building an overpass or an underpass only if no other suitable solution can be found through the EA.

June 2022 Public Appointments to Elliott Board of Trustees – Two more people will be added to the board of the Elliott Community

Consent Agenda items from the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 7. (Items can be pulled by a councillor seeking additional information, otherwise all items will be voted on as a slate without further debate.)