November’s meeting of Heritage Guelph will see a lot of movement on the preservation of location heritage, which is good because we’re now almost one year into the two year project to save listed properties thanks to Bill 23. There are three new designations, and one designation in progress on this agenda, plus an unusual situation around site planning near a heritage conservation district. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for November 13, 2023”
November is budget month, so maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising that it’s going to be a little bit light in terms of the Committee of the Whole agenda. The agenda is all about the Governance Committee as members of the committee will be asked to look at council education, and the organization of the menagerie of advisory committees at the City. Naturally, there are also a lot of staff recognitions too! Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 6 Meeting?”
It’s a strange meeting at a strange time involving a subject that’s usually reserved for a specific meeting at a particular time of the month. And yet… Here we are. On this Monday, Guelph City Council will have a special meeting to render a final decision about a planning application that was first presented to the previous term of council nearly five years ago. So it’s complicated? Maybe, but maybe not… Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on November 6?”
Maybe you’ve heard the term “dark tourism”, there’s a whole Netflix series about it, but you don’t have to go abroad to somewhere famous to get a taste of dark tourism. Would it surprise you to learn that we have a hot little dark tourism industry right here in Guelph? As we approach Halloween on Tuesday, perhaps it’s time we appreciated just what kind of a sorted little town we have here, historically speaking. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #394 – Guelph, After Dark”
It was two months ago now when former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark resigned from the Ontario cabinet in the wake of the Auditor General’s report about the changes to the Greenbelt. It was a little over a month ago that Premier Doug Ford announced that the government would be restoring that land back to the Greenbelt, and it was just last week that Paul Calandra, Clark’s replacement, finally introduced that legislation. So what’s new this Monday? Continue reading “Remember Those Official Plan Changes? Calandra Says Never Mind”
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”
This week’s podcast is dedicated to you, the people, who sent in questions for this Guelph Politicast mailbag over the weekend. Guelph is filled with lots of curious people who are deeply concerned about issues and politics, and some of you came up with some very deep and probing questions for this first mailbag edition since well before the start of the pandemic. Get ready for 45 minutes of one annoying person talking! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #393 – You’ve Got Mailbag!”
It’s another special meeting about housing. You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: Special City Council Meeting for October 17, 2023”
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”
Budget season begins unofficially with an informative workshop. You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for October 10, 2023”
Guelph Politico 