Category: Council Post-view

This Week at Council: The Crunchier Than Normal Budget Crunch

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It’s still about a month before the budget process really gets underway, but there’s already a warning that things are going to be tricky for council if they have a hope of balancing all that they want to do while making it affordable of the people of Guelph. Bill 23 has dug us a deep hole and the crises of affordability and housing are making that hole even more difficult to fill, but is all hope lost? Perhaps there’s an answer in this council workshop… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Crunchier Than Normal Budget Crunch” →

This Week at Council: Master Plans and Bells

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The October Committee of the Whole meeting was, in part, about a bell, and the bell tolled for more participation around Guelph’s cultural and recreation activities. There was also a real bell, the old city hall bell that now has a home in the courtyard of the present city hall (pictured above). A lot of plans and master plans came home for committee approval this month, and here’s how it all went down. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Master Plans and Bells” →

This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero

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This month’s regular meeting of city council brought to an end the great zero parking minimums debate for new residential developments downtown. That was the big item of the meeting, but there was one item of new business to take care of first, the matter of a certain wall that’s been making getting a lot of press in the last several weeks. So there’s all that, plus a new Indigenous territorial acknowledgement on this week’s council recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero” →

This Week at Council: It’s a Sign!

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It was one of those weeks at city council, and by “one of those weeks”, we mean that it just wasn’t that busy. Perhaps it was meant to be a refreshing break from the last few weeks of very long meetings. In any event, this month’s planning meeting came down to three simple items, and while one of them tried hard to generate some controversy, business was managed in a relatively smooth manner. Continue reading “This Week at Council: It’s a Sign!” →

This Week at Council: Housing is Exactly as Complicated as You Think

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After several weeks of hype, Guelph City Council held a meeting meant to rake out most of their concerns about housing, homelessness, social services, addictions and mental health. A substantial agenda requires a commensurate meeting length, and council tackled seven hours worth of facts, figures and insights into all those issues to find the gaps, and hopefully start to find some solutions. Here’s the recap from this week’s council meeting… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Housing is Exactly as Complicated as You Think” →

This Week in Council: Downtown Parking Gets Racked Out

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This week, council came back to do the council’s business with an agenda that included Indigenous relations, but the Downtown Parking Master Plan that was the source of the most controversy. How much should maximums be minimized was the primary source of friction, but that might still have to be worked out at the end of the month. Meanwhile, there was a lengthy closed session we know nothing about. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week in Council: Downtown Parking Gets Racked Out” →

This Week in Council: A Kindle Plan

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If there’s a city council meeting in August, then you know that it has to be a pretty big deal. Picking up almost literally where we left off at the last meeting of council a few weeks ago, councillors and senior staff took a few minutes out of their summer vacation to approve the funding for the Kindle Communities supportive housing project on Shelldale. In other words, process wins! Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week in Council: A Kindle Plan” →

This Week at Council: Housing Request Opens Door to August Meeting

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It was supposed to be the last council meeting before the usual August break, but the events of this week’s regular meeting of council did something unusual: It ended with a cliffhanger. The door was opened to a potential August meeting for a matter involving supportive housing and the raising the money to cover it. It terms of the business settled at the meeting itself, but there were also a few complications there too. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Housing Request Opens Door to August Meeting” →

This Week at Council: D.C. Comments

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This week at city council was all about the development charges. First, council heard the story of D.C.s, what they pay for and why they’re collected, and then they looked to the future. The DC Background Study, the means by which the new DCs are determined, got thrown a curveball with all the recent legislative changes, but the work still got done and the second part of this week’s meeting was the direct result of that. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: D.C. Comments” →

This Week at Council: Planning and Housing 101

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It’s been a couple of months since we’ve had something really juicy at a planning meeting to chew on, and boy was there ever something juicy at this planning meeting. Everyone’s favourite proposed student development was back at council again for the planning meeting, and after that, there was a council workshop that promised to be the first of many steps that will help council get their heads around the housing crisis. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning and Housing 101” →