City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 13, 2024 Meeting?

It’s a packed agenda for this November planning meeting, covering a lot of bases and requiring some pretty big decisions. Whether your jam is development charges, heritage protection, affordable housing, or student residences, there is something on this agenda for everyone and it is surely going to generate a big number of delegations. So, fair warning, this may be one of those “pack your sleeping bag” council meetings. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 13, 2024 Meeting?”

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Cranks Out Several Designation, and Are Looking for More

November’s Heritage Guelph meeting was largely straightforward, but at least three more designations are on their way to council for final approval at some point in the future, and now there are a couple of more items are on the drawing board, But as we reach the end of 2023 it seems like heritage staff are running our of work, which is why they queued up the committee to start thinking about 2024. For right now though, this is the recap of this month’s meeting… Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Cranks Out Several Designation, and Are Looking for More”

MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for November 13, 2023

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”

GUELPH POLITICAST #391 – A National Park (If We Can Keep It)

Since it closed in 2000, the Ontario Reformatory, and the 108 hectares that surround it, have been the source of much conversation, optimism and fantasy. We got the Guelph Innovation District Secondary Plan, we’ve got a Heritage Conservation District Study, and now we’ve got a project to turn the area into a national park. Is creating a national park the end game for the OR Lands we’ve been looking for? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #391 – A National Park (If We Can Keep It)”

This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero

This month’s regular meeting of city council brought to an end the great zero parking minimums debate for new residential developments downtown. That was the big item of the meeting, but there was one item of new business to take care of first, the matter of a certain wall that’s been making getting a lot of press in the last several weeks. So there’s all that, plus a new Indigenous territorial acknowledgement on this week’s council recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Wall and the Race to Zero”

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for September 26, 2023

It’s the last council meeting of the month! 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 September 26, 2023”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on September 26?

It’s been a pretty busy September so far at Guelph City Council, a couple of long summer meetings after almost a month off, so perhaps it’s fitting then that this month will go out like a lamb with a lighter agenda. For the regular meeting this month, council will approve the consent agenda from Committee of the Whole, including the new version of the Territorial Acknowledgement, plus one bit of new business on the heritage file. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on September 26?”

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Gets Unsuccessfully Waved Off from Designating Old Farm

It was a very busy day for the Heritage Guelph committee who had a slate of new designations for their consideration, plus the surprise destruction of a heritage feature on the OR Lands. As for those designations, one got deferred, and another was challenged by the property owner’s lawyer, who seemed to suggest that there could be further legal trouble ahead for a really old asset in need of some defending. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Gets Unsuccessfully Waved Off from Designating Old Farm”

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Digs Into Next Phase of OR Land District Plan

For a while it looked like there wasn’t going to be an August Heritage Guelph meeting, and then there was! There was one item on this agenda, but if you’ve enjoyed a walk on the old Ontario Reformatory Lands this summer, then you might be interested to know that the subject of this meeting was the heritage conservation district plan for the OR Lands. Where the work is now, and where it’s going next, was the one subject of this special summer meeting! Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Digs Into Next Phase of OR Land District Plan”

MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for August 14, 2023

We interrupt this summer vacation for a Heritage Guelph meeting. The time and day was reserved, though staff weren’t initially sure that there would be a need for this August meeting, but it seems like there’s one thing that they want to get done before September arrives. Put your thinking caps on because we’re going back to the property formally known as the Ontario Reformatory for a look at its future on paper. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for August 14, 2023”