It was one of those weeks at city council, and by “one of those weeks”, we mean that it just wasn’t that busy. Perhaps it was meant to be a refreshing break from the last few weeks of very long meetings. In any event, this month’s planning meeting came down to three simple items, and while one of them tried hard to generate some controversy, business was managed in a relatively smooth manner.
Planning Meeting of City Council – September 19
Ward 4 City Councillor Linda Busuttil seized power in a bloodless coup Tuesday… Just kidding! Mayor Cam Guthrie is in New York City for a conference, and was only able to appear virtually, so Governance Committee Vice-Chair Busuttil took the wheel in-person in the council chambers. If there had been a coup though there would have at least been some drama.
First topic: Decision Report on the 25 Alice Street zoning change. The property owners want to tear down the current detached building and build a new semi-detached building, but they need council’s approval because the new zoning bylaw is being appealed at the Ontario Land Tribunal. Easy-peasy, so staff recommended approval and it was so approved by council.
The next topic generated some heat. It was a Sign Variance Report for 176 Morris Street, aka: the Guelph Little Theatre. Staff were fine recommending that an LED sign could be installed above the entrance on the south side of the building, but one delegate who lives across Morris Street from the Theatre had concerns. He said that because this area was mostly residential an LED sign was inappropriate and would be a nuisance.
The recommendation to approve was moved, and council asked some questions. Councillor Ken Yee Chew asked if other locations for the sign were considered, and they were, and then Councillors Carly Klassen and Erin Caton went deep on the brightness of the sign. It was at this point in the meeting that we learned that the luminescence of streetlights is measured in lumens and the brightness of LED screens in measured in nits. When converted, a streetlight is over a thousand nits, while a typical laptop screen is between 200 and 600 nits. The sign will be 500 nits during the day and 200 nits at night.
Before the final vote, Councillor Leanne Caron proposed to amend the motion to reject the application, but that would have been counter to the intention of the motion to approve the recommendation, so that technically doesn’t count as amendment; if Caron wanted a motion to reject, then she’d have to make it after this motion failed. The recommendation to approve was passed by a slim 5-4 margin.
The third and final item was the bylaw variance to allow a golf simulator at a business park on Hanlon Creek Boulevard, and this was both the statutory public meeting and the decision meeting. The owner of the simulator and the owner of the business park were both on hand, but there were really no questions or concerns from council, and there were no other delegations from members of the public. The application was approved.
The bylaws were passed, and everyone was up and out in 45 minutes flat.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 