This Week at Council: Official Plan Decision Debate Takes Over Planning Meeting

This month’s planning meeting was probably always going to be a controversial affair, but,  as it turned out, making a decision about a 23-storey tower at the corner of Wyndham and Wellington is something council didn’t have to worry about… for now. Instead, council had to find a new source of friction and boy was it delivered thanks to a staff report about the Ontario government’s decision on the latest Official Amendment. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Official Plan Decision Debate Takes Over Planning Meeting”

RECAP: Committee of Adjustment Hands Out Minor Variances and Talks Bylaw

As compared to April’s marathon Committee of Adjustment meeting, the May meeting was a breeze. There were just four applications on the agenda, but there wasn’t a lot to fight about, and after that, staff gave a presentation about recent changes to two big committee-adjacent matters: the Ontario government’s decision about the latest Official Plan update, and the newly approved Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw. Continue reading “RECAP: Committee of Adjustment Hands Out Minor Variances and Talks Bylaw”

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for May 9, 2023

City council is proud to present this month’s planning meeting. You can click here for the amended agenda 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 May 9, 2023”

MEETING PREVIEW: Committee of Adjustment Meeting for May 11, 2023

This month’s Committee of Adjustment meeting will hopefully not be the marathon that April’s was; there are significantly fewer than a dozen different applications to dispatch. The committee will hear a couple of applications that will look at some building expansions, and then they will hear from staff about the approved changes to the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw and the Provincially approved changes to the Official Plan. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Committee of Adjustment Meeting for May 11, 2023”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 9 Meeting?

May’s planning meeting was all set to be a contentious affair, 23-storey contentious. But you know what? Never mind. See more details about that below, and also see details about the next building in the heritage planners’ list of buildings to save, the effects of Bill 23 on the Building Code, and, at last, a full discussion about the impacts of the provincial changes to the City’s primary planning document. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 9 Meeting?”

GUELPH POLITICAST #369 – What’s the Deal with OPA 80?

This has been an exceptionally busy week for the City of Guelph’s planning department. As the staff were getting for the final approval of the new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw this week – the first update in nearly 30 years, remember – the Government of Ontario dropped their decision on Official Plan Amendment #80, the latest version of Guelph’s Official Plan. It never rains, but it pours! Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #369 – What’s the Deal with OPA 80?”