May’s planning meeting was all set to be a contentious affair, 23-storey contentious. But you know what? Never mind. See more details about that below, and also see details about the next building in the heritage planners’ list of buildings to save, the effects of Bill 23 on the Building Code, and, at last, a full discussion about the impacts of the provincial changes to the City’s primary planning document.
NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting in-person or via tele-presense but you do have to registerwith the clerks office before 10 am on Friday April 14. You can also submit written delegations and correspondences for agenda items.
NOTE #2: In addition to meeting in-person, this meeting will also be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website here.
CLOSED MEETING:
Bargaining Mandate Update Report: Guelph Professional Firefighters Association Local 467 and Paramedic Services Union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 231 – Because this is a labour matter, it has to be discussed under Section 239(2) (b), (d), and (k) of the Municipal Act relating to personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees; labour relations or employee negotiations; and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board.
Building By-law Updates – Perhaps as an illustrative exercise about how Bill 23 creates more problems than it solves, this staff report explains how changes to the site plan process, which can now be skipped for developments with 10 units or less, are still captured in the Building Code. This means that staff with relevant expertise will be engaged later in the process prior to the issuance of a building permit, but developers still have the option to get those site plans reviewed early.
47 Alice Street: Notice of Intention to Designate – What is presently known as the Alice Street Clubhouse, but what was once known as the old Valeriote Shoe Shop, is being brought to council for its formal heritage designation. This property is one of four priority designations for Heritage staff, and has already been approved for designation by Heritage Guelph at April’s meeting.
Decision Report 58 Wellington Street East Proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment – What do you call a decision where there’s no decision? Good question, but this is the position we find ourselves in. Back in February, Fusion Homes brought a proposal for a 23-storey tower for the corner of Wyndham and Wellington, but the application has been withdrawn. “With respect to the attached notice, we wish to formally withdraw our application and pull it from the Council agenda and decision meeting on May 9,” reads the one line email from Fusion senior vice-president Ryan Scott.
Official Plan Amendment 80 Minister’s Decision – Much of the details of this reports have already been shared in a separate information report to council (not to mention this recent episode of the Guelph Politicast). This meeting will give council a chance to publicly ask questions to staff about the 18 changes that the Government of Ontario made to the City of Guelph’s latest version of the Official Plan, from the small ones to the 23-storey ones.
Guelph Politico 