The planning meeting of council for the month of April involved getting high. Or, to put that another way, it involved re-establishing height limits. The ones downtown. Council considered how high buildings can go in the future, and then they moved their gaze to the south end with a new project on Clair Road, before looking at a new way to make housing happen faster in the area around Stone Road Mall. Let’s get into the recap!
Planning Meeting of Council – April 8, 2025
It was a long one. A little over six hours including all the breaks and closed sessions. So what planning was done for the month of April?
First, there was the Downtown Heights Study Official Plan Amendment, for which this was both a statutory meeting and a decision meeting. That means all delegations could be 10 minutes long, but that council had to render a decision by the end. But wait, you might say, didn’t we have a statutory meeting about this? We did, but the changes to the draft were significant enough to do it all over again.
While the urban amphitheatre concept remained, the big change was even more height in select areas, particularly in areas south of the Metrolinx tracks and along the eastern side of Woolwich Street on the at the south end where staff want to create allowance for up to 24 storeys max. At least a couple of the delegates had a mind to haggle some more, which was previewed in the staff presentation with references to mechanical penthouses and a particular property at the corner of Woolwich and Cardigan.
When it came time for the delegations, one rep for 159-169 Woolwich wanted that corner bumped up to a 12-storey max height, while the developers of the Woods site felt that the regulations that treated the mechanicals on top of a building as its own floor was a proverbial bridge too far. A representative from UP Consulting meanwhile wanted to go even bigger, pushing the max height in those select areas to 35 storeys and increasing the max height in the core up to 16 storeys. On the flip side, a couple of delegates expressed concern that the staff plan was offering too much height and that there could be unintended consequences.
After a break, council started cooking with the amendments. One was passed rather swiftly by allowing minor variations without the requirement of a Zoning Bylaw Amendment, but then Councillor Leanne Caron started tabling a whole slew of amendments starting with a move to keep a portion of Norfolk and Woolwich between Oxford and London at two-to-four storeys. Caron explained that much of this area is listed heritage meant to be a part of a future heritage conservation district, and she was worried that the advanced height allowances might spur a developer spending spree for the block. When Guthrie raised the vacant lot at the corner of Woolwich and London, the amendment itself was amended from London to Edwin. Four councillors voted against it, but it still passed.
Council then approved a word change to “necessitate” a new approach to renewable and alternative energy instead of “creating opportunities”, and then Caron proposed to bring the 24 storey limits for the area immediately south of the tracks around the police station back down to 12 storeys. The extra height here was meant to sweeten the deal if the federal government decides that it wants to separate off and sell the vacant land next to the Armoury.
The amendment was barely defeated 5-6, and so was an amendment from Councillor Carly Klassen asking for a 16-storey cap for the area. Another Caron amendment to leave street-facing properties at Woolwich from Wellington and Eramosa as well as Douglas Street also failed.
A little more palpable to council was a motion to restore the draft version of the view corridors of the Basilica of Our Lady to how it was laid out in the January report. That one passed 6-5, and then Caron put one final amendment to get some regulatory options for taller buildings, specifically on the energy needs like net zero and energy efficiency. Staff had doubts because they don’t have the ability to demand anything like that from developers and they would probably have to cancel other work to take this on. Instead, a less prescriptive motion to encourage and incentivize higher energy standards for tall building was passed instead.
Klassen then moved an amendment to limit heights on the west site of Gordon Street south of Waterloo to six storeys, which staff said aligned with the view corridor limits that council had altered minutes earlier. Council also approved an amendment to develop an Urban Design Master plan for the area south of the Metrolinx tracks, which staff said is not something they would usually pursue with so many different property owners, but Councillor Cathy Downer was insistent given that the height study promised big changes for the area. Council approved the amendment 7-3.
Finally, council approved an amendment to treat so-called mechanical penthouses in a way that’s in keeping with the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw so that they’re screened and integrated into the design of a building and not treated as its own storey. Following that, council approved the full, amended recommendation.
The rest of the meeting went much more smoothly.
Council heard the statutory meeting for a development on Clair Road West, nine blocks with 62 total stacked townhouses at the plot across the road from Longo’s at the corner of Gosling Gardens. The project was actually smaller than originally envisioned, but the representative from Mattamy Homes said that it’s a better fit for the site. South end Councillor Ken Yee Chew asked about the extension of Poppy Drive and whether that might get finished in time for the opening of the South End Community Centre next fall. Andrea Sinclair said that Mattamy hopes to get going on the project later this year, and step one is creating that extension. Council approved the proposal.
Then, council tackled the one heritage designation not approved in the consent agenda at the top of the meeting. Reps from Fusion Homes said that when it comes to the Frost building, former home of the U of G’s Turfgrass Institute, they want to wait and talk about designating only after they’ve brought their block plan to council, which they hope staff will do before they break for summer in August.
Staff were asked about that timeline. GM of Planning and Building Services Krista Walkey said that they just got the block plan at the end of March and statutorily they have 60 days to prepare comments and then another 60 days to bring it to council; they can’t guarantee that it will be ready to go for the July planning meeting, but they’ll do their best to get to the council as soon as humanly possible. Council approved a motion to defer a decision on the designation until March 2026.
And finally, that brought us to the Community Planning Permit area for Stone and Edinburgh, one of two such pilot projects that are required as part of the Housing Accelerator funding. The goal is to tie together various submissions into one process in order to streamline approvals and give staff authority to approve minor variations. The update included some new notification requirements and created three classes of permits for applications that meet all provisions, ones for minor changes, and ones requiring major changes that need council approval.
Mayor Cam Guthrie asked staff to respond to a lengthy list of concerns from local developers in a letter to council from SV Law. Planner II Dawson McKenzie reported that in staff’s estimation most of the concerns have been addressed including no site plan for 10 units or less, better alignment with the new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw, and four units as-of-right. CAO Tara Baker added that staff are united in their appraisal that this should get units approved faster, but there’s a lot of education to do and there will be some necessary shakedowns for the new policy, which is why staff are treating this as a pilot project.
Guthrie says that he’s excited about the possibilities of this project and looks forward to maybe applying it city-wide. He asked developers to be patient as staff work through the new policy. The next CPPS that staff will tackle: One for downtown.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 