Tag: OR Lands

This Week at Council: This Land *Is* Our Land

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At February’s planning meeting, council showed some love to community advocates by voting their way on a couple of key issues. First up, the last meeting about the heritage conservation district for the OR Lands will now be the second-to-last meeting after council sent it back to staff for a change. Council also asked staff to make a change to the Official Plan in the name of protecting a well-loved, and long ignored piece of property. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: This Land *Is* Our Land” →

RECAP: City Council Meeting for February 10, 2026

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If you love planning, this is going be a good meeting for you! 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 during the meeting on Blue Sky or recap the complete thread after the meeting below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for February 10, 2026” →

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 10, 2026 Meeting?

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You better show your love of planning policy at this February planning meeting of city council because it’s going to be a very busy one. There are a couple of new heritage designations on the docket, plus a new development plan for consideration, but mostly this meeting is about approving another heritage conservation district and an update to the Official Plan. Pack your pajamas? Maybe, here’s the preview… Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 10, 2026 Meeting?” →

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Endorses National Urban Park Idea for OR Lands

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In the second Heritage Guelph meeting for January, the focus was on a piece of heritage business that has gotten a lot of attention lately: The Ontario Reformatory Lands and the Heritage Conservation District plan meant to protect them. The committee got their chance to weigh in on the plan, and they also go their chance to weigh in on a very specific proposal for the lands in the form of a national urban park. Let’s recap! Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Endorses National Urban Park Idea for OR Lands” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for January 27, 2025

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You know it’s a treat when you get two Heritage Guelph meetings in the same month! There’s only one subject for this one and it’s going to be the always popular and contentious Ontario Reformatory Lands. The work on the Heritage Conservation District plan continues and Heritage Guelph will get their chance to formally review the work to date and give staff further advice about the direction they’re going in! Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for January 27, 2025” →

RECAP: Heritage Guelph Pushes Staff to Do More on OR Lands and U of G!

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It was rough going for the first Heritage Guelph meeting of 2025, and not just because of the content! It took the better part of an hour for City of Guelph staff to work out some technical difficulties, including a switch involving online platforms, and then they dug into the agenda, which leaned heavily on a lot of committee concerns about the future of the OR Lands, and the future of heritage buildings at the University of Guelph. Here’s the recap! Continue reading “RECAP: Heritage Guelph Pushes Staff to Do More on OR Lands and U of G!” →

MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for January 13, 2025

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Heritage Guelph gets back to work promising a busy 2025 after what was definitely a very busy 2024! No major heritage designations this week, or any complicated fights about demolitions at this meeting (we think). There will be a kind of demolition discussion at this month’s meeting though, and there will be some discussion about the workload ahead, and then we will head downtown for another big project! Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Heritage Guelph Meeting for January 13, 2025” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #447 – The Strong Mayor Year (feat. Cam Guthrie)

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What do you think this year will be remembered for in the annals of Guelph history? Will it be the debate over the Public Space Use Bylaw? Was it the announced closure of the consumption and treatment site downtown? Was it when the mayor re-opened the 2025 budget to try and shave off two-thirds of the proposed levy increase? In any event, all roads lead back to one place, or rather, one person. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #447 – The Strong Mayor Year (feat. Cam Guthrie)” →

RECAP: Constituents Push Schreiner to Fix… Ontario at Town Hall

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Now less than a week before the end of the Ontario Legislature’s 20-week “summer” break, Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner held a town hall with a small group of constituents to hear about their priorities. It turns out though that everything is on the front burner. From housing to affordability, from healthcare to community living, and from hospitals to national urban parks, see what Mike had to say about these issues below… Continue reading “RECAP: Constituents Push Schreiner to Fix… Ontario at Town Hall” →

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

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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)” →