There will be no senioritis at July’s planning meeting. With an agenda this big, no one is slacking off! Coming up at the last planning meeting before summer break, council will have a slate of new heritage designations to consider, plus a few objections. There will also be a decision about a new project in the west end, an update on the City of Guelph’s efforts to create more affordable housing, and a couple of administrative matters. Let’s dig into the agenda…
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 July 11. 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.
1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate – This is actually several lots with one address on Woolwich Street and then five facing Norwich. The Barclay Terrace began initially as separate buildings at 7 and 9 Norwich, but the rest of the complex was built in short order and was complete by 1875. It meets a whopping six of the nine criteria to designate under Ontario Regulation 9/06, and it was approved by Heritage Guelph at their May meeting.
3 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate – See 1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate Report above.
5 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate – See 1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate Report above.
7 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate – See 1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate Report above.
9 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate – See 1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate Report above.
240 Woolwich Street: Notice of Intention to Designate – See 1 Norwich Street West: Notice of Intention to Designate Report above.
1949 Gordon Street: Notice of Intention to Designate – South of where Gosling Gardens meets Gordon, and north of the Springfield Golf & Country Club, there’s this old farmhouse that was likely built just three years after Guelph was settled. Despite the decades and changes, the property still meets five of the nine criteria for designation, and it was approved at the Heritage Guelph meeting in April.
89 Surrey St. E.: Notice of Intention to Designate – Presently home to the Brain & Body Co., a wellness clinic, this is historically known as the Thompson Cottage. According to the report, the building meets five of the nine criteria to designate and it was also approved by Heritage Guelph in May.
117 Surrey St. E.: Notice of Intention to Designate – Most recently it was the home of the Italian restaurant Sugo on Surrey, but this building was constructed sometime in the second half of the 1850s. According to the report it meets five of the nine criteria to designate, and it was also approved by Heritage Guelph in May.
18 Paisley Street: Notice of Intention to Designate – This building has been more recently known as the Kloepfer Custom Framing & Gallery, but it dates back to the 1870s when it served as the manse for the Paisley Primitive Methodist Church. It meets three of the nine criteria to designate, and was approved by Heritage Guelph in May.
56 Paisley Street: Objection to Notice of Intention to Designate – This is one of three old rowhouses that was designated by council at the April planning meeting, but the owner of 56 Paisley believes that the designation will cause an undo burden.
30-32 Eramosa Road: Objection to Notice of Intention to Designate – This duplex on the north side of the street was also designated in April, but the present owner is objecting saying that the building was originally built for industrial uses that haven’t applied for 100 years, and then there’s the original owner’s pro-Confederate leanings… Still, staff are recommending that the designation proceed.
Decision Meeting: 105 Elmira Road North Proposed OPA ZBA File OZS25-003 – Council heard this application back in May for a six-storey apartment there with 126 new units. Staff are recommending that council approve the new building but with two fewer units. The developer has ungraded two of the units to have three bedrooms instead.
Grant Agreement: Endorsement of Connecting Links Program – No staff report was included for this item, but it pertains to the recently announced $3 million from the Ontario government to fund the reconstruction of the eastern portion of York Road. Council has to make a couple of administrative motions in order to endorse the agreement between the City of Guelph and Queen’s Park.
Extension of Transition Provisions Zoning By-law Amendment – It was about this time last year when council approved some Site Specific Housekeeping Amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw, which meant temp changes to the bylaw that only applied to a handful of properties that are presently before the Ontario Land Tribunal or had recently completed an appeal at the OLT. Included in the CZB when it went into effect in 2023 were some transition provisions meant to keep area where the zoning was already under review, and those provisions will soon expire. Now, some of those projects are not moving as swiftly as many might like, so this motion to council will seek to expand the provisions till July 2027. You can see the list and map of the select properties here. This is both a statutory and decision meeting; delegates will get their 10 minutes, but council will be making a decision instead of accepting the report.
Guelph Growth Management and Affordable Housing Monitoring Report 2024 – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… In this latest housing update from the we’ll hear that Guelph got three-quarters of the way to our Housing Pledge goal in 2024, but were ultimately stymied by a 16 per cent year-over-year decrease in housing start across Ontario last year. Another issue? We’re still waiting for the 2025 affordable housing benchmarks from the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, which was supposed to be released last month. It’s not all bad news though as Guelph has been meeting its intensification and density targets, but on the other hand the city’s still struggling to get to a balanced and healthy rental vacancy rate.
Guelph Politico 