Okay, so technically this is not “This Week at Council”, it’s “Last Week at Council”. In addition to the planning meeting there were two other meetings on the calendar, one was an orientation meeting and the other was the rescheduled meeting for council to sit as tribunal. So what did you miss? Well, we learned that water is good and that sometimes you have to wait for the results. Here are the recaps from (technically) “Last Week at Council”!
Workshop Meeting of City Council – May 14, 2025
Last Wednesday council had an orientation meeting that focused on water and wastewater. The capacity of our water services has been coming up a lot lately in discussions about the speed and size of development and Guelph, as a groundwater community, has limited water resources.
Wayne Galligher from Water and Tim Robertson from Wastewater led council through the history of both departments, the work they’re doing now, future challenges and how they have new infrastructure plans to meet them. The presentation also affirmed that while Guelph’s population was grown rapidly, our water usage has not thanks to ongoing water conservation efforts.
One of the big changes though is Bill 185, which has introduced a new provision called “use it or lose it”, where developers have to begin construction in a timely manner once their approvals have been secured. Why does this affect water? Because water resources are allocated on a first come, first serve basis, and the City’s own infrastructure resources are limited, so if they’re going to the trouble and expense of laying out the pipes then the homebuilders need to come through with the new units.
Staff will be bringing a policy to council later this year that will guide them on how best to deploy the “use it or lose it” policy in Bill 185, they’re also working on an allocation plan that will help determine where best to deploy new and renewed infrastructure as well as new measures to track water consumption in the city. Mostly though, it was an affirmation that Guelph is in good shape thanks to good water use planning and the conservation efforts of the city’s residents who have bought a lot of breathing room thanks to their efforts.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Special Meeting of City Council – May 15, 2025
On Thursday it was something completely different, council sat as tribunal to hear the appeal of Forum Management to the development fees for the new phase of the Alma student residence on Scottsdale. This meeting was rescheduled from its original date on April 29 due to a black out that affected city hall and the rest of downtown.
Joe Hoffman, the lawyer for Forum, explained that this was a simple case: This is University of Guelph land, secured with a long-term lease through the U of G, which will be used to house U of G students. He said that the only test that the tribunal needed to worry about was whether this project was meant to be used and occupied for university purposes and the answer is obviously yes. He added that the City already determined that phase one of the project, the hotel conversion, was exempt from DCs, and that the exemption was also in keeping with provisos of the University of Guelph Act, which bars the U of G from having to pay traditional property taxes.
The tribunal had a variety of questions. Gross was asked about the ownership and operational relationships between the U of G and his client, how the building will operate, and how students will be verified as currently enrolled at the university. He also said that this is not dissimilar to other projects that Forum has carried out, including a project at York University, and it’s becoming common as post-secondary institutions lean on these arrangement as they offer less risk to them and third-party expertise on construction and residential management.
Peter Gross, the lawyer for the City of Guelph, then took his turn to explain the case. On the practical side, Gross noted that a Forum executive told Guelph Today that if there was no decision by the end of April then phase two couldn’t open on time in September 2027. On the policy, Gross said that the U of G was much more hands off than Hoffman wanted the tribunal to think, and that much of Forum’s portfolio were rental units like this with a high rate of turnover, which is always an opportunity to jack the rent. Also, Gross said, if the U of G was so involved in this project, then they were conspicuous by their absence at this tribunal meeting.
Hoffman got a chance to rebut and then the tribunal adjourned to meet in-camera and make a decision. After an hour they reached one and Mayor Cam Guthrie said that their decision will be released in writing.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 