Category: Council Post-view

This Week at Council: Community Permits and One Big Development

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It’s another one of those times when city council schedules two meetings in one 24-hour period. We’ll worry about that second meeting another time, for now we’re all about planning matters, and at the first meeting on this subject this year there was a first look at a major new piece of policy, and a first look at a pretty major new development in the east end. So let’s get into all of that with this week’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Community Permits and One Big Development” →

This Week at Council: Back to Work!

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After a long winter’s break, Guelph city council got back to business with two meetings this past week, one was entirely closed to the public but deeply impactful and the other was Committee of the Whole where some administrative stuff happened. Not irrelevant, that “stuff” included a co-ordinated plan to petition upper levels of government about the issues that matter to Guelph. But for now, what matters is this recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Back to Work!” →

This Week at Council: The Epic Season Finale!

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Two epic meetings in less than 24 hours! This is how the council year ended with a slate of controversial items from changes to planning policy to statements of intent from council. First, at the planning meeting, there was a last ditch effort to save the historic greenhouse at the University of Guelph and at the regular meeting on Wednesday, some councillor looked to dissent from the mayor’s public statements. All that and more on this last recap of the year! Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Epic Season Finale!” →

This Week at Council: Not Much to See

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

It’s been a fairly action-packed couple of weeks a city council, and there are at least a couple of action-packed meetings left on the schedule for 2024, so maybe it’s nice that we got an easy week in the chambers with a couple of laid back, fairly administrative items that we get this time every year. So let’s sit back and relax and take in a lazy week at council with this Committee of the Whole recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Not Much to See” →

This Week at Council: Heritage, Integrity and Budget in 24 Hours or Less!

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Three meetings in 24 hours! It kind of sounds like a gimmick, but that’s the way the schedule shook out this past week with the continuation of the November 13 planning meeting, the regular meeting of council and then the budget confirmation meeting. There were some interesting new developments, some predictable hiccups, and at least one big surprise, and capturing it all is this week’s council recap post… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Heritage, Integrity and Budget in 24 Hours or Less!” →

This Week at Council: The People Have Budget Thoughts Too

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This week was budget delegation night, and while that’s always a busy occasion, this one was even busier. Blame the Strong Mayor Powered budget and some of the things cut or delayed, which got a great many community members very concerned about potentially lost opportunities, but before all that stuff, some unfinished business! A very special meeting of council was convened to take care of some labour matters. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: The People Have Budget Thoughts Too” →

This Week a Council: Planning Meeting Interruptus

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This month’s planning meeting had more than a few surprises, including a cliffhanger! The stacked agenda covered an important heritage designation, a new plan for affordable housing, the approval of new housing geared to students, and the beginning of the final phase of the Heritage District study for the Ontario Reformatory Lands. Easy-peasy, right? Don’t be so sure until you’ve read till the end of the recap! Continue reading “This Week a Council: Planning Meeting Interruptus” →

This Week at Council: Committee Lays Pipe for New Enbridge Contract

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It was looking like a pretty laid back Committee of the Whole meeting for this November, and then, of all things, people got excited to talk about contractual matters between the City of Guelph and a major utility. People turned out to talk about their concerns about the City signing up for another 20-year hitch with Enbridge without any considerations about the future. Let’s see what happened via the following recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Committee Lays Pipe for New Enbridge Contract” →

This Week at Council: Fireworks Strike Back Before Budget

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After a two week break, council returned with back-to-back meetings that generated some conflict, including one surprising topic of controversy. Fireworks were back on the agenda, essentially so that council could ratify the direction they approved at Committee of the Whole, but things ended up going in a very different direction. Also, the 2025 budget with special edits directed by the mayor was introduced for the first time. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Fireworks Strike Back Before Budget” →

This Week at Council: The Quest for Affordable Housing Continues

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This month’s planning meeting had only one immediate application, and it’s one of those projects that should be simple, and would be simple if the 2023 Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw amendment was in effect. Mostly though, this meeting was about the effort to create more affordable housing, first by exploring an affordable housing pilot project and then by discussing the new affordable housing strategy. For details, here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Quest for Affordable Housing Continues” →