What’s on the agenda for the last planning meeting of the year? Housing, obviously. No new projects are being proposed at this meeting, but changes that might create more housing in the future will be discussed and debated like changes to the program that develops Additional Dwelling Units or ADUs, and a potential plan to allow five units as-of-right on select properties in Guelph. In other news, more plans will get an alteration. Here’s the preview…
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 December 5. 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.
Public Meeting and Decision Meeting: Affordable Housing CIP – ADU Grant Program Amendment – So the update on this grant program could be better, the staff report says that 11 homeowners have used it, but there’s been very little interest from developers. To remedy that, staff are proposing changes to expand eligibility and increase financial support to allow for funding multiple projects, increasing per-unit grants, removing caps, and replacing the flat $20,000 infrastructure grant with a tiered model offering up to $60,000 depending on project size and required utility upgrades. This is both a statutory and decision meeting meaning that council will render a final verdict but delegates will get their 10 minutes.
Public Meeting and Decision for Hanlon Creek Business Park Phase 3 Housekeeping Amendments – The staff report is categorizing this as “housekeeping amendments” including correcting mapping errors, approving a red-line change to subdivide Block 33 into two new blocks, and extending the draft plan approval to November 8, 2029. Nothing here substantively change the development, but it protects needed infrastructure areas and it will supposedly improve what the report calls “development potential”. Like the above item, this is both a statutory and decision meeting.
Exploring the Potential for Five Plus (5+) Units in Guelph – It was this time last year that council approved four units as-of-right on low density residential lots in the city. So what’s the next step? A staff investigation of five units (or more) as-of-right, which is a requirement of the Housing Accelerator Funding by the way, shows that there is opportunity here with roughly 5,900 lots, or about 18 per cent of all low-density lots, may be suitable for five or more units based on existing water and sewer capacity, proximity to transit, and minimum lot size and frontage. Staff are recommending that council direct them to proceed with the development of amendments to the Official Plan and zoning bylaw, including public consultations, but there’s also an option for council to not proceed with any of that and close the book at four.
Guelph Politico 