At the last council meeting before the election, the second-to-last for the term, there was still some controversy left to squeeze out of the proverbial apple. A question about whether or not the first two blocks of the Guelph Innovation District were clear to proceed came down to a question about the surrounding industrial uses. Additionally, there were some concerns about comes next for winter maintenance with that season just three months away. Here’s the recap…
Regular Meeting of Council – September 15, 2026
It was homes versus hamburgers at this week’s council meeting, or at least that’s what it seemed like. The big thing on this agenda was the second shot at approving the Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and Draft Plan of the Subdivision for Guelph Innovation District Blocks 1 and 2, and while staff were ready to recommend approval of the OPA, they still had issues with the rest.
The issue was the need for a land-use capability study. With several hundred residential units that might face new noise, dust, vibration, air quality, odour and illumination concerns from five industrial facilities nearby, including the City of Guelph’s own Waste Innovation Resource Centre and the Cargill meat processing plant, the study will outline what mitigation efforts would be needed to make sure there are no nuisance concerns from those industries. Once the zoning is approved, the responsibility for mitigation falls completely on the industries and not on the residential developer, which, in this case, is Fusion Homes.
Several of the delegates came to council with concerns about residential encroachment on industrial properties, and this is especially concerning in the case of Cargill because it’s the largest meat processor in Eastern Canada. In other words, it is not something that’s easy to pack up and move, and if it were to go away, the next closest large processing plant is in New York State, which doesn’t look good in the middle of a trade war. Franco Naccarato from Meat & Poultry Ontario told a story about a Milton farmer for whom development caught up the edge of his property and he now gets 10 to 15 calls from bylaw per month due to regular farming activities.
Representatives from Cargill itself noted that their plant’s been based here for decades and reported that they only recently began having conversations with Fusion; after an initial meeting in May the two sides were meeting again today (Thursday). Lucas Arnold from Dillon Consulting, who was hired by Cargill, explained that compatibility studies have to take into account current operations as well as future potential expansion. He also said that a holding provision wouldn’t cut it because those are only meant to hold a developer to a very specific list of conditions and when it comes to mitigation, Fusion doesn’t yet know what they need to do for this site.
For their part, a team from Fusion said that they were bullish to get this project going and they were on their own deadline. Fusion is hoping to start pre-sales this time next year, and they were concerned that if council approved the staff recommendation to refuse the draft plan and zoning bylaw amendment, then it would mean starting a whole new process. Councillors interrogated the Fusion reps about the delays in procuring the data they need to complete the mitigation studies, and the communications they’ve had with Cargill, et al, but there weren’t a lot of great answers about when Fusion could get their hands on the necessary data, or how quickly they can turn that into a report once they have it.
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure, Development, and Environment Terry Gayman explained that staff looked under every stone to find a way to get to “yes”, but there are all kinds of challenges and considerations like appeal rights if this wasn’t done right. GM of Planning and Building Services Krista Walkey reminded council that the changes to the Official Plan and the GID Secondary Plan that created this issue were approved without public consultation, first by the Government of Ontario and then by city council itself.
Ultimately, it came time for council to make a decision. In lieu of the proposed refusal, a new two-part motion was tabled to receive the report and defer a decision on the zoning and draft plan for 60 days so that the applicant is able to answer staff’s concerns. Mayor Cam Guthrie said it was frustrating because he didn’t want to walk away from 4,700 units in one of his last meetings, but he encouraged all parties to work together to get the proverbial football the last five yards to the end zone. Those motions were approved, and then a third motion directing staff and the developer to work collaboratively on outstanding matters and conditions was also approved.
After a break, council heard the Winter Maintenance Value-for-Money Audit. GM of Internal Audit Robert Jelacic explained that that the service is fundamentally sound without any failures detected although there is room for improvement including staffing issues, tech problems, communication gaps, and the need to perform a route optimization for plows. With all this work to do, staff asked council to delay the service review of winter maintenance until the 11 recommendations from the audit were enacted in case some noticeable improvement was detected.
Councillor Dan Gibson took some exception to the report noting that it was being presented as rosier than people’s experience last winter led him to believe though he didn’t dispute the facts in the report’s findings. Public Service DCAO Colleen Clack-Bush said that other municipalities had similar struggles last winter, especially when it came to salt shortages. We’re also seeing harder, harsher winter weather thanks to climate change, she said, and those impacts also need to be judged as part of the plan to enact the audit recommendations. There were also some of the usual comments about on-street parking in the winter and why we just can’t make residents shovel out their own darn sidewalks.
Council approved the audit report, and then a series of motions from Councillor Cathy Downer about petitioning the Ontario government to look at update and improvements to improve transparency and accountability at the Ontario Land Tribunal was also approved. Lastly, council approved a motion to review possible modifications to the streetscape on Wyndham Street North, starting with the corner of Wyndham and Macdonell where a large planter will be situated in a spot that McCabe’s normally has their summer patio. Gayman reassured council that it’s not an overwhelming amount of new work and the downtown construction crews are moving fast so they want to keep that momentum, they just need a little time and space to look at the problems flagged in this motion.
This was also a meeting about finales. Clack-Bush feted outgoing Guelph Wellington Paramedic Services Chief Stephen Dewar and welcomed new chief Cliff Eggleton. Guthrie mentioned a couple of times that this was essentially the last meeting, or at least the last meeting where any major decisions would be made. Having said that, there is still one more council meeting before the term is officially over, it’s just after the election…
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
