It was a quiet week at city council, which is ironic because the subject matter of the workshop this week was all about communications. Council covered the various aspects of how the City communicates information and how they encourage Guelphites to communicate back to them. Also, how does community investment in Guelph work? That and many other questions will be answered in this week’s recap. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Talking About Communicating”
This month’s planning meeting was probably always going to be a controversial affair, but, as it turned out, making a decision about a 23-storey tower at the corner of Wyndham and Wellington is something council didn’t have to worry about… for now. Instead, council had to find a new source of friction and boy was it delivered thanks to a staff report about the Ontario government’s decision on the latest Official Amendment. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Official Plan Decision Debate Takes Over Planning Meeting”
The month of May started a day late at city council with a two topic Committee of the Whole meeting that focused on last year’s money matters, and then looked to the more immediate future with a new bylaw. In this meeting, there was a rather substantial budget variance to dispatch, and then there was a bylaw for the use of escooters that has to come back to council in less than two months. Let us recap the meeting… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Money and Scooters”
April ended with a very busy trifecta of meetings including a very heavy focus on transit matters. Before that though, council had another workshop to discuss the update to the Strategic Plan for the last time before a finished draft comes back in a few months. As for transit, council made some updates and heard all about those future plans, and other matters of transportation, at a separate workshop. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Strategic Plan Updated Further, and So Was Transit!”
After a week off for the Easter break, council got back to business by bring to an end a process that began before the time of COVID-19, a four-year mission to finally update the comprehensive zoning bylaw after 30 years. That was the major piece of business, but it was not the only piece of business at this month’s planning meeting. As usual, you’re weekly recap of council will cover all the bases great and small. Continue reading “This Week at Council: We’re Back in the Zoning!”
April’s Committee of the Whole meeting was short on controversy, but loaded with insightful information about a couple important City departments. This week’s those topics of conversation were built around the annual water quality report, the Stormwater Master Plan, and the transit fare review for Guelph Transit. There were a lot of facts and figures coming at us this week, so let’s recap them the best we can! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Water Talk and Transit Changes”
This week at council marked this last two meetings of the month. The first one was the surprisingly straightforward regular council meeting that was all about affirming the decisions from Committee of the Whole plus some GMHI business. The other meeting was more interesting, the opening of feedback from council about the new Downtown Parking Master Plan. Let’s cover it all in this week’s recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Parking Master Plan and Short-Term Rental Licences Approved”
After a week off for March Break, council returned for a busy work week that saw a major piece of a major heritage project completed, and some new work on the local economic development and tourism picture. But along with the regular order of business, there was some irregular order as council met at 10 am on Wednesday as a new measure of inclusion for the Muslim members of our community this Ramadan. Shall we recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Economic Development and OR Lands Boundary Approved”
If you liked trees and tax policy, then this was the Committee of the Whole meeting for you! The packed agenda saw just about every service areas get some time in the spotlight from the internal audit plan, to potential new rules for short-term rentals, to a new plan to finally get the South End Community Centre built. The big item though, naturally, was the plan to increase the city’s tree canopy. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Trees, Short-Term Rentals, and Rec Centre Back On”
It was a very busy agenda to end February at city council. Along with the potential construction of the operations campus, the likely construction of new space at the Elliott, and the annual (albeit thin) report from the Integrity Commissioner, the big item of the night was The Pledge. Council had to endorse the Government of Ontario’s goal of building 18,000 homes by the year 2031, but they had some serious caveats. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Campus Redux, Elliott Expansion, and The Pledge!”
Guelph Politico 