Category: Council Post-view

This Week at Council: Downtown is Getting Higher, While Stone Road is Getting a Plan

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

The planning meeting of council for the month of April involved getting high. Or, to put that another way, it involved re-establishing height limits. The ones downtown. Council considered how high buildings can go in the future, and then they moved their gaze to the south end with a new project on Clair Road, before looking at a new way to make housing happen faster in the area around Stone Road Mall. Let’s get into the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Downtown is Getting Higher, While Stone Road is Getting a Plan” →

This Week at Council: More Drill Hall Drama, and Seeing Trees

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Sparing you the April Fool’s joke (at least in the intro), we arrive at the first meeting of April. Naturally, here at the end of the first quarter, we get into some financial matters as financial staff reviewed debt and debentures. And speaking of drains on the spreadsheets, council once again dug into the question of what to do about the Drill Hall, plus there were also some questions about how many trees that council can save. Get all the details in the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: More Drill Hall Drama, and Seeing Trees” →

This Week at Council: More Debate on Public Space, Plus Road Safety

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

There was a lot going on at this meeting, and some of it had nothing to do with what was on the agenda. For instance, one city councillor was absent because they’re now busy chasing a new gig at a different level of government.  In terms of stuff at the meeting, there was a new development around the Public Space Use Bylaw, which caused some controversy despite how little about it was available in the agenda. Hopefully this recap has more detail! Continue reading “This Week at Council: More Debate on Public Space, Plus Road Safety” →

This Week at Council: It Was a Planning and Trading Meeting

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

Delayed a week because city council gets March Break too, we finally come to the March planning meeting+. Why “plus”? Because this month’s meeting wasn’t just about planning matters, but about trades wars, or rather it was about how Guelph is ready to fight one. As for the actual planning part of the planning meeting, housing was the focus as council got an update about those efforts. To learn more, consult this recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: It Was a Planning and Trading Meeting” →

This Week at Council: Traffic, Containers and Conduct!

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

There was something for everyone at this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting. If you have concerns about traffic safety in Guelph, or environmental protection in form or less plastic waste then this was a good meeting for you, but if you’re looking for something meaty there was a lot of back and forth about the update to the council Code of Conduct, as well as the new make-up of advisory committee. So let’s dig into it all in this week’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Traffic, Containers and Conduct!” →

This Week at Council: A Week for Report Cards

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

A short meeting for the end of a short month. The regular meeting of Guelph City Council for February had some promise for controversy with reports from the integrity commissioner and the lobbyist registrar, but it seems like council is just too well-behaved. (This year anyway.) We’ll get to that, and we will also get to all the other business that council didn’t want another bite at in this week’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: A Week for Report Cards” →

This Week at Council: Construction is Coming

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

City council this week was a little more laid back, a little more informal. It’s been a while since council enjoyed some orientation, and last week they got some timely information about  construction season. The requisite dad joke was made about how there are two seasons in Canada, winter and construction, and in the midst of one, council talked about the other, which was more interesting if you were an actual participant. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Construction is Coming” →

This Week at Council: In the Heights, and Affordable Housing!

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It was another three-pack of meetings at city council this week with two meetings where council sat as a shareholder of corporations owned by the City of Guelph, and then there was the monthly planning meeting. On that one, no specific projects were discussed, but there was a lot of policy covered including new grants for affordable housing, new heights for downtown, and maybe a new train connection in the region… Continue reading “This Week at Council: In the Heights, and Affordable Housing!” →

This Week at Council: Internal Audit and Ambulance Affairs

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

To start February (at least in terms of city council business), there was a consideration of the fairly unsexy but important business of the internal audit, including future value-for-money audits. But in the realm of the sexy, there was a discussion about the future needs of the Guelph Wellington Paramedic Service in terms of station locations and the constructions of those stations. Let’s dive into the recap!
Continue reading “This Week at Council: Internal Audit and Ambulance Affairs” →

This Week at Council: Six Minutes and Five Seconds

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

So it was a short city council meeting this week. Really short. Good thing then that we have some unfinished business from last week’s council business, the Local Boards and Shared Services budget for 2025. The actual business of passing the budget was, itself, brief, but there was a lot explaining about what the budget is paying for, especially in the case of social services, the library, and the police. So let’s dig into two meetings for the price of one. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Six Minutes and Five Seconds” →