What do you think about fireworks? The report to Committee of the Whole this month painted a pretty clear picture that something needs to change when it comes to when, where and how we deal with fireworks in Guelph, but what kind of change is needed? That was the question that prompted a near even split between the councillors and they still have to get this passed at the end of the month too. For now, let’s dive into the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Fireworks Over Fireworks”
It was supposed to be a nice, smooth meeting. The only thing on the agenda were reports from Committee of the Whole meetings that needed to be ratified, and aside from the two or three delegations, this meeting should have been over and done quickly. And yet, sometimes when you think the meeting is over, it’s not really over, especially when a member of council has a very specific motion they want to table. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Last Minute Motion Drama”
Another Committee of the Whole meeting, but this one came with a little more variety if you have no special interest in downtown renewal. Bu if you do, say, have an interest in crafting a new bylaw to prevent so-called renovictions, or perhaps an issue with how much affordable housing is getting built in the city, then this recap might be of some interest to you. All that, plus a financial update and some audit results too. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Renoviction and Real Estate”
The first planning meeting of fall brought an interesting proposal for the downtown core, are we ready for some more height? A new tower promising 14-storeys, over 120 units and new retail space at the heart of the core was discussed at council this week while other matters also got an airing albeit more briefly than that proposed tower, including a controversial bylaw now bound for final implementation. Let’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: In the Heights Downtown”
Although there’s been a couple of meetings in the last few weeks, the fall session began properly this week with the first of two Committee of the Whole meetings this month. There were really only two things on the agenda, one a matter of diversity and inclusion and the other a matter of major infrastructure renewal. So let’s dig in to the two “recons”, reconciliation and reconstruction, on this week’s recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Renew Kids on the Block”
It was business as unusual this past week because city council should have one last week off before the start of September. Instead, there were a couple of extra meetings, one short and one pretty long. At the first meeting, council had a decision to make about the hiring of a new CAO, and in the other there was an even tougher decision regarding a matter so deeply controversial it packed the gallery. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Second Time’s the Charm for Public Space Bylaw”
It’s been a very consequential seven months of council. Meeting after meeting, the mayor and our 12 city councillors have had to dispatch some big issues, make some big decisions, and find some out of the box solutions at times. So given the stakes so far in 2024, perhaps it’s okay if council had a nice, quick and easy last meeting before the usual August summer vacation. Here’s the (brief) recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Over and Out for the Summer”
With council wrapping up for the summer it shouldn’t be surprising that we’ve come back around to one of the biggest ongoing challenges: Creating more housing. More specifically, in this case, we’re looking at the creation of a tiny home encampment somewhere in the city. Long in the works, council was presented with the opportunity to give a greenlight to the project. So what happened? Let’s recap. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Tiny Homes, Tiny Progress”
This month’s planning meeting had a lot stuff going on, but only a couple of items were explored in detail. Yes, more heritage matters were approved, but the real news was in two different development projects; the first was a new project being developed by Habitat for Humanity in the north end, and the other was a final decision on a big project in the south end. Let’s get into the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: A Tale of Two Projects”
Just a few more meetings to go before council and council watchers can enjoy summer vacation, but there’s still a lot of important stuff to wrap our heads around before that needed time off. At this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday there was new moves to protect heritage and make an impact on light pollution, but the big news was around whether we should take park land and use if for housing. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: No Walk in the Parks”
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