Category: Council Post-view

This Week at Council: More Heights, Less Affordable Housing with Downtown Community Plan

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This week at Guelph city council was the monthly planning meeting, and it was the first time that the debate was pushed to nearly midnight in a long time. So what was so controversial? Well, there was a couple of new projects on both sides of College Avenue, one big and one small, but it was the smaller one that got the biggest reactions. Then there was the plan to get more affordable units downtown, which didn’t not turn out the way we might have hoped. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: More Heights, Less Affordable Housing with Downtown Community Plan” →

This Week at Council: Traffic Calm and Carry On

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This week at council almost everyone had concerns about road safety. For the last few years, the City of Guelph has been trying to advance the cause of safer streets, and making Guelph a place where no one is hurt and killed on our roads but as we were reminded at April’s Committee of the Whole meeting, there’s been some mixed results on that effort. Can staff reset expectations by refocusing on some key problem areas? They think so in the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Traffic Calm and Carry On” →

This Week at Council: Ice Discount Secured and Council Gets Paid!

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With so much to figure out at this meeting, it was maybe for the best that city council had two weeks off to figure it all out. After receiving two special guests specializing in council accountability and transparency, we dug into two ongoing issues. First, council had to figure out the issue of ice time and especially discounted ice time at the Sleeman Centre, and then, even more complicatedly, they had to figure out council pay for the next term. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Ice Discount Secured and Council Gets Paid!” →

This Week at Council: That One Tower and the Housing Report

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It was a big meeting for big projects at the March planning meeting for Guelph City Council this week. From a proposed tower on the downtown core to the zoning for the Guelph Innovation District, these were perhaps the two biggest files that council has seen in the last couple of months. But bigger than any individual housing project is the entirety of the housing file, and council got an update on that too. Let’s review what went down in the meeting in this recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: That One Tower and the Housing Report” →

This Week at Council: The Centre of the Universe

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It was all Sleeman Centre all the time at this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting. Well, almost. First though, the committee had a discussion about development fees and whether or not they’re an impediment to new home construction, and there was really no final resolution there, but coincidentally that was also where they left the Sleeman Centre construction. For all the details, check out the recap below… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Centre of the Universe” →

This Week at Council: Mo’ Money Motion, Mo’ Problems in March

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Just when you thought it was safe to talk about council pay and benefits… After a contentious conversation about the subject at Committee of the Whole earlier this month, city council re-opened the debate for further discussion, and then they decided that they want to talk about it further next month. That was the big action at this month’s regular council meeting, but it was not the only action. Let’s recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Mo’ Money Motion, Mo’ Problems in March” →

This Week at Council: This Land *Is* Our Land

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At February’s planning meeting, council showed some love to community advocates by voting their way on a couple of key issues. First up, the last meeting about the heritage conservation district for the OR Lands will now be the second-to-last meeting after council sent it back to staff for a change. Council also asked staff to make a change to the Official Plan in the name of protecting a well-loved, and long ignored piece of property. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: This Land *Is* Our Land” →

This Week at Council: No Raise, Except For Taxes

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There were back-to-back meetings at Guelph City Council this week, and the topic at hand was money. At Committee of the Whole, council had to deal with their own money, or at least the money that the councillors in the next couple will be paid as remuneration came up for debate. Then, at the other meeting, the 2026 budget process came to a close with the seven shared services and local boards. Let’s dig into the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: No Raise, Except For Taxes” →

This Week at Council: Nightmare on Woodside Road?

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It may be frozen out there, but global climate change was top of mind at this January regular meeting of Guelph city council. The City believes that there’s room to do better on its own climate change goals and presented the  Corporate Climate Action Plan to carve a path forward, and then council considered a rare petition that surfaced to their level for debate. Were some parkland fees changed unfairly or not? Find out what council thought in the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Nightmare on Woodside Road?” →

This Week at Council: Permits and Designations Downtown

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In the first regularly scheduled council meeting of the year 2026, downtown was the centre of attention. Again. In this planning meeting council got its first look at the Community Planning Permit System for the core, and they took their last look at the plan and guidelines for the Heritage Conservation District downtown. Along with that, there was a slight diversion to the south end and a major downtown project was approved. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Permits and Designations Downtown” →