Category: Council Post-view

This Week at Council: Downtown Renewal, Recycling Revamp

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After a pretty light January, the first week of February brought a couple of packed agendas to the council’s agenda management software on their iPads. First, Committee of the Whole contained an unexpected report about the Housing Accelerator Funds, plus some grand plans about downtown. Also, there was a field trip to the east end of town for a special council workshop about the proverbial Cadillac of City services: waste management. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Downtown Renewal, Recycling Revamp” →

This Week at Council: One and Done For January

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It’s a slow start for 2024, at least if your jam is the business of Guelph City Council. At the one and only meeting for January, your friends around the horseshoe handled some very particular business in closed session and then quickly dispatched three piece of business in the open session. There was some discussion about the new development charges bylaw, and whether growth pays for itself, so it may be a new year, but we’ve still got the same problems. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: One and Done For January” →

This Week at Council: The Last Meeting… of 2023!

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Perhaps a bit anticlimactically, the year at council came to end this week with two back-to-back meetings that laid out the progress on the City’s shift to a new customer service strategy, and the approval of several hundred new housing units. Also, Mayor Cam Guthrie gave out some medals, including one for a Guelph recipient of the Order of Ontario who’s pictured above. So how did 2023 end at council? Let’s recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Last Meeting… of 2023!” →

This Week at Council: Official Plan Drama as Council’s Lobbied Hard

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This week at Guelph City Council, there was a little meeting and a big meting. The little meeting was the Committee of the Whole, which was over and done in about 20 minutes. As for the big meeting? Well that is – what’s the word? – complicated. The fallout from the Ontario government’s flip-flop on the Official Plan proved more trickier than you might have thought for a motion that was simply meant to reverse previous changes, but that’s what this recap is for… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Official Plan Drama as Council’s Lobbied Hard” →

This Week at Council: Royal City Mission Saved (For Now) and The Budget

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This week council took a couple of tough meetings. On Tuesday, there was a question about homelessness downtown, but the controversial motion proposed by Mayor Cam Guthrie had been pulled. Still, there’s was a matter of funding for Royal City Mission and their daytime shelter services, council had to decided how and if they were going to fund that further. And on Wednesday, it was the big one: The passage of the 2024-2027 multiyear budget! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Royal City Mission Saved (For Now) and The Budget” →

This Week at Council: Planning is Easy, Budget is Hard

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Two meetings at council this week; one was easy and the other was somewhat harder. The easy one was the planning meetings, some straightforward applications and designations, but the hard one had to do with the budget. The added workshop meeting about finding options to reduce the budget was predictably difficult, but there’s still a few more days until a final decision has to be made. For now, here’s the recap of this week’s meetings… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning is Easy, Budget is Hard” →

This Week at Council: Budget Feedback

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Compared to last week, council business this week was light and breezy, but still really on the serious side. This week, it was all about what you, the people, think about the proposed 2024-2027 multiyear budget, and boy were there a wide variety of thoughts. From concerns about cuts to concerns about cost to requests for some changes, there was a lot of new information to cover for the members of council. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Budget Feedback” →

This Week at Council: Mad Money, Madder Residents

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It was a very busy 30 hours at council this week with three meetings. First up, there was Committee of the Whole with one item main item about governance. Next, a special meeting of council that determined the fate of one development, it was a big development but it was still just about the one. And then, speaking of big items, we dug into the 2024-2027 multiyear budget and it’s big tax levy increase. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Mad Money, Madder Residents” →

This Week at Council: Livable Income; Accessible Playgrounds!

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Nothing really scary at this pre-Halloween council meeting, unless you’re devoid of compassion. Council revisited the Parks and Recreation Master Plan from Committee of the Whole with a wider accessibility lens this time, and then there was a special motion from one councillor about encouraging the creation of a Guaranteed Livable Income. There was also one last word about the Culture Plan, so let’s see all about it in this meeting recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Livable Income; Accessible Playgrounds!” →

This Week at Council: Housing, Heritage and Hesitancy in Double Header

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It’s tough to summarize a nine-hour council meeting, but it kind of helps that this one came in two parts. In the first half, council tried its best to use the limited tool kit they have to generate some housing solutions amidst the crisis, and then, in the second half, it was the usual monthly planning meeting with some big new applications, big decisions, and some big heritage designations. Here’s the (lengthier than normal) recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Housing, Heritage and Hesitancy in Double Header” →