It’s another one of those times when we’re getting two Committees of the Whole in the same month (is that the proper pluralisation?). At this second committee meeting, there’s an audit of the City’s bid to electrify the transit fleet, an update about the fiscal 2024 finances, and, perhaps most importantly, a discussion about developing a renoviction bylaw and a scan of the City of Guelph’s efforts to create more affordable housing.
NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting in-person or via tele-presense but you do have to register with the clerks office before 10 am on Friday September 13. 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.
Note #3: This meeting starts at the special time of 4 pm.
Transit Electrification Audit – Electric buses are a relatively new addition to the Transit fleet, so it would make sense that one of the first value for money audits would focus on this area. The report comes with numerous recommendations for transit staff to explore in the future, including the increasing costs of new EVs. Among the recommendations from the auditor is a request to reconsider the ordering of seven new EV buses every year in favour of ordering smaller buses or extending the lifespan of current diesel buses, acquiring a proper telematics system to monitor the EVs, the appointment of a fleet electrification lead, a plan for potential thermal events in the EV batteries, the creation of an alert system for charging errors, and ongoing analysis of the impact of electrification.
2024 Second Quarter Budget Monitoring Report – The good news is that after the first two quarters of the fiscal year, the City is showing a positive variance of over half-a-million dollars; while the non-tax supported surplus is projected to be nearly $1 million, the tax-supported budget is running a $450,000 deficit. According to the staff report, this is due to the greater level of financial risk taken on by the City in order to reduce the property tax burden. As for the capital side, the trend is positive but there is some concern about revenues as DC exemption costs are trending above what was budgeted and its being driven mostly by the construction of additional dwelling units (ADUs). Committee will be asked to approve a number of budget adjustments due to the leverage of some grant funds.
Municipal Scan of Renoviction By-Laws – Staff developed an information report on this item at the end of July and since then it’s been a topic more and more prescient given the situation developing on Brant Avenue. The report looked at three examples from Hamilton, Kitchener and New Westminster, B.C., two of them have renoviction bylaws, while Kitchener has something called a “rental replacement” bylaw where someone forced out of their unit for a renovation gets their choice of a replacement unit, a rent waiver or compensation.
A memo from Mayor Cam Guthrie puts three options to council, a licensing see for owners doing renovations where the tenant has to vacate, a rental replacement program like the Kitchener proposal, or some combination of the two. There are seven recommendations with a deadline for a new bylaw in Q2 of 2025 plus direction to see if there needs to be additional changes to bylaw or the Official Plan, the creation of an “eviction survey”, and the creation of a page on the City website to create greater awareness of renters’ rights.
Guelph Growth Management and Affordable Housing Monitoring Report 2023 – Mayor Cam Guthrie will speak to this item, an information report that was filed at the end of the May. The report details the progress on meeting the City’s growth and affordable housing goals, which last year saw steady growth in the creation of more housing, but the 25 per cent target for new affordable ownership was not met, no units were sold below the affordable benchmark number of $429,016. On the other hand, 10 per cent of new rental units created were at or below the affordable rental benchmark, which far exceeded the four per cent target.
Guelph Politico 