Everyone was prepared for a long one at the planning meeting of city council this month, but in the end length was relative. One big item was deferred off the agenda, and we will see it again in September, but for this meeting, we focused on two other areas. Council once again had a look at doing five units as-of-right, and it turns out feelings about it haven’t changed, and then they looked at a new grant to get housing built. Here’s the recap…
Planning Meeting of City Council – May 12, 2026
If you had trouble keeping up with the events of this month’s planning meeting, you’re not alone. Not only did the meeting start two hours earlier than normal to anticipate a long night, it also started 10 minutes late because the closed meeting was going into extra innings (so to speak).
First, council approved a number of new heritage designations, one demolition and then they approved the deferred decision from last month on the mixed-used development at Watson and Starwood with both Councillor Dan Gibson and Mayor Cam Guthrie taking a victory lap about finally getting something going on that site after 12 years of trying.
Then council turned to the rest of the agenda and Guthrie announced another change because the decision report on Blocks 1 and 2 of the Guelph Innovation District was about to be deferred. Staff were recommending to council that they reject the plan citing a number of reasons for that determination, but sometime in the last 10 days it seems that both sides are going back to the proverbial drawing board for some retooling. Council approved a deferral to the September 9 planning meeting, but after the debate of the next topic of conversation, the wording of that deferral needed some massaging and, in a rare move, council voted unanimously to reconsider that motion and then voted for the new one with cleaner language.
As for the rest of the agenda, council heard the update on exploring a new bylaw to allow five or more units as of right. The direction to staff in December was to limit the exploration to only corner lots on arterial or collector roads, but the number of potential sites was too small to make a difference. Instead, staff expanded things out to all corner lots with a couple of exceptions due to current traffic or transit demands. They broke that down further by identifying how many units as-of-right would be appropriate for each lot between five and eight. There was still a lot more work to be completed before a bylaw could be approved, so the question was whether council wanted to proceed.
The reaction, like it was back in December, was mixed. Some councillors thought it was worth the effort to proceed under the idea that doing something is better than nothing while others felt that they should wait and see if all the recent changes to make building quicker and easier bears fruit before they tackle more aggressive changes to zoning. Offline Councillor Cathy Downer had floated an alternative motion to pause all further work on five-plus units as-of-right until they get more data, but before getting to that, council would have to reject the staff recommendation to keep going.
After some back-and-forth about what kind of information the doubters were seeking, and some clarity about whether or not this fulfills a requirement for the Housing Accelerator Funding, the vote for the staff recommendation ended up failing by a slim 6-7.
Downer’s motion to hit pause till council could get more information on the uptake of four units as-of-right in a future Guelph Growth Management Report was put on the table. Even the councillors that wanted to proceed said that they would begrudgingly support this because otherwise the project was dead, although Guthrie pondered aloud about using Strong Mayor Powers to move things forward in any case… The pause was unanimously approved.
Along similar lines, council next tackled the Multi-Residential Accelerator Grant. Although the City has completed 81 per cent of the initiatives in the Housing Accelerator Fund agreement, we’re still just over 2,400 units away from achieving our growth target, which is why there was apparently a lot of behind-the-scenes arm twisting to get the third portion of the HAF payment earlier this year. Market conditions aren’t helping, so staff have come up with this option has a way to charge up housing development in Guelph.
The program will make $2 million available from the HAF, with up to $10,000 per unit available for eligible projects that have at least five, new self-contained units. The City can’t technically do bonusing, so the rationale for this grant is to frame it as a community benefit; it will get more desperately needed housing built while also having a positive impact on the local economy by getting new construction started. Applications will open on June 1, and the building permit will have to be issued by October 16 in order for the builder to keep that money. Staff consider it key to securing the fourth and final tranche of HAF funding.
Council didn’t have a lot of follow-up questions and approved the new grant so stay tuned for more information about how to apply and where. With the open session concluded, council went back in camera for another 25 minutes before emerging to announce that direction was given on “Outcome of Authority to Commence Legal Claim” and the update on the expression of interest for 170 Stephanie Drive.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 