Good afternoon. Folks having trouble getting in. I'm on my
phone right now, but the link will not be accepted
by my iPad. There might be others having challenges. Hi
Councillor, it's Garrett here. Thanks for the heads up. We
can get somebody to reach out for you to support,
okay? Yeah, actually, if they wouldn't mind, have them give
me a call because I wouldn't mind it on my
iPad, not on my show. Thanks. I'm gonna sign off
you. Thanks. Bye.
Good afternoon, just to my colleagues, just wondering if everyone
could turn on the cameras for me for just a
moment. Just so I can make sure that we have
quorum. Thank you, Lianne and Phil. Aaron, thank you. Yeah,
we're good. We have Corum. So thank you very much.
And Christine, thank you. I'd like to call the meeting
officially to order. It is Tuesday, July 14th, and it
is three o'clock PM and good thing it's not three
o'clock AM. That would be very bad. And I will
look to see right off the top a recommendation for
us to move into a closed meeting. Now the closed
meeting, I'll just read this out here, is for an
item, 1242 to 1270 Gordon Street, nine Valley Road, the
Ontario Land Tribunal Update as per section 239 to E
and F of the municipal AF regarding litigation or potential
litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals affecting the municipality or
local board and advice that is subject to solicitor client
privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose. And the other
one is potential land acquisition, and that's as per section
2392CNF and K of the municipal act regarding a proposed
or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality
or local board, advice that is subject to solicitor client
privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose, and a position
plan procedure, criteria, or instruction to be applied to any
negotiations carried on or to procure it on by or
on behalf of the municipality or local board. Those are
the only two items. I did get regrets from Councillor
Galler just for the beginning of the meeting. So maybe
for the in - camera portion might not be joining
us. But that's all that was stated to me. And
so with that, is there anyone that would be willing
to move to go into clothes on those two items?
I got Busatil and Downer here. Thank you. And just
before I do call the vote on those two items,
is there any disclosure or pecuniary interest on any general
nature thereof for those two items. Don't hear, see anybody.
Okay, so I'll call the vote, is there anybody against
moving into closed on those two items? No, I don't
hear see anybody, so that's unanimous. Thank you so much.
And we are meeting in a. Link for our friends
online is the same. We're good. We'll be back out
for a summary later. Thank you. Bye - bye.
Okay everybody, I'd like to call the meeting to order.
We are here on Tuesday, July the 14th, 2026, and
it is our planning meeting. And it is four o'clock.
So thank you very much for joining. Just before I
move into the rest of the agenda as I normally
do, we had an in - camera meeting just before
this meeting. And it was on two items. And just
from a high level summary point of view, we went
in camera for two items. The first being 1242 to
1270 Gordon Street and nine Valley Road. And on that
topic, we gave staff direction. And then on the second
topic, it was potential land acquisition. And we also counsel
also gave direction in regards to that matter as well,
okay? Just to make sure that those are stated. So
with that, out of the way, please stand if you're
able as we recognise our national anthem.
Great, thank you. Everyone. As we continue. On with. Our
agenda. If we could just have a moment of silent
reflection.
Thank you. And for our territorial acknowledgement, as we gather,
let us take time to reflect on the privilege to
live and work hearing wealth, a city that's built over
rich Indigenous histories. And as guests here, we should reflect
upon the responsibility to care for the land. And the
people who live here today and the generations to come.
If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation, we
should take pause and make those decisions with intention and
with gratitude. This place we call Guelph assert as traditional
lands and a place of refuge for many people's over
time, but more specifically, the anointing, and the whole Noshoni.
This land is held as the treaty lands, and the
territory with the Mississauga, Mississaugazov, the Credit First Nation, and
Guelph also lies directly adjacent to the Haldeman track, which
is part of a long - established traditional hunting grounds
for the Six Nations of the Grand River. Many First
Nations Inuit and Maity people who have come from across
turtle island, called Guelph Home today. Thank you. Is there
any disclosure at pecuniary interest or any general nature there
are for the items in front of us. No. Okay,
thank you very much. And I'm good to go right
into the consent agenda. Just everyone jumped their hands up
in the air or let me know if he wants
something pulled, but the 19 Dublin Street South with the
notice of intention to designate along with seven Belserok place,
notice of intention to designate. Those are the only two
under the consent. Does anyone need them pulled. No? Okay.
Coran will move consent for me and Colossen will second.
Thank you, and I'll call the vote then. Is anyone
against those two items? Nobody, so that's unanimous. No, look,
everybody, just let me jump in here for a moment.
We have. If it's, if it's okay with everybody, we
have a very quick presentation. And no delegations to the
rental replacement bylaw. And I think, I really do believe
we're all sort of behind this issue. I think it's
important to publicly state the presentation part. If you don't
mind, I'd like to just jump to that part in
the agenda. It makes sense to do that for our
staff time too. So is Kushla here. Oh, yes. Okay,
that probably helps. So that's good. Okay, so I'm gonna
just jump to 6. 3 very quickly. It's the public
meeting and decision report for the proposed rental replacement by
- law and the enabling official Plan Amendment. We're just
gonna have a quick presentation. And then we got the
recommendations right in front of us here, okay? So Kusha,
if you don't mind coming down, clerks, if you just
get the presentation ready, thank you.
All right, look at that. I had good evening, Merica,
three and members of Council, but it gets to be
good afternoon. So this is a statutory public meeting and
decision meeting for the official Plan Amendment. Number 117, that
would enable the rental replacement by - law. So, uh,
really what the Rental Placement bylaw is, is a new
tool that would let the City Protect existing. Affordable rental
housing when someone applies to demolish or convert it to
another use. Kushua, I'm very sorry to interrupt you. Yes.
I just need to make sure of something. Before you
continue. Sure. I need to confer with the clerk for
a second.
I'm just making sure about timing for something that I
just remembered about. So I'm very sorry. I'm just gonna
confirm Krista. The public meeting noticed that would have gone
out, said that this meeting started at four. For all
of the agenda items. And so we're okay here. I
just want to make sure. That is correct, but you
will have to open up for a calling. No, I
know that part. That's not a problem. I just wanted
to make sure we weren't. Jumping something on that. So
we're okay on that part. Cushla, I'm very sorry. I
wanted to make sure that I was dotting all the
eyes and crossing all the T's there. So, um, I
heard good afternoon. Start from there. Okay. I will. Go,
good afternoon, everybody. Um, so yes, this is a statutory
public meeting, a decision meeting on official plan amendment number
117, which has to do with the rental replacement bylaw.
Um, as well as demolition control balla, um, and really
what the rental place and by - law does is
help us protect existing affordable housing. Um, when someone tries,
would like to apply to demolish it or to convert
it to another use. So the purpose of the report
generally, um, is that we're asking Council to approve three
connected items. The draft rental replacement, um, the Draft Retro
Replacement Bylaw itself, an official Plan Amendment, known as OPA
117. That gives us the policy footing to administer it.
And a companion amendment to our demolition control bylaw. Uh,
the rental replacement by - law is consistent, which is
attachment one is consistent with the policy direction provided to
staff at the June 10th committee, the whole meeting. The
three pieces in this report move together, the official plan
sets the policy direction. And the two by - laws
that are included in the report, uh, are the practical
mechanisms that carry it out. Approving them as a package
is what makes the entire framework enforceable. So the specific
decision in front of you, um, is on the amendment
is to approve, as I mentioned, the City initiated OPA
number 117. So that staff have the clear policy authority
to administer the rental replacement bylaw and everything that, um,
that follows builds on that single enabling step. So the
first policy, um, proposed amendment is to policy 7. 2.
4 in the official plan. And really, you could consider
this almost the heart of the amendment. It states plainly
that the city will act to retain, maintain, and where
units are demolished or converted, replace rental housing. Um, it
adds the text that you see on the screen. And
it ties together the tools that we already rely on,
which are our condominium conversion policies. Our demolition control under
the planning act. Our property standards Bylaw for upkeep and
would now add the, um, reference to the Rental Replacement
Bylaw alongside them. The goal of this is simply, as
I mentioned earlier, to keep our existing rental housing stock
in good shape. And to make sure that lost affordable
rental units are replaced. The second proposed amendment is to
policy is to add new wording to policy 7. 2.
5, which deals with converting rental housing to another use.
The new provision says that we are building, um, says
that we're a building has six or more dwelling units.
And that's, um, it converting it away from rental must
follow the rental replacement bylaw. That six unit threshold is
deliberate. And it is aligned with the municipal act and
it focuses the rule on the sort of the larger
buildings where the loss of affordable rental units might have
the biggest impact on residents. The third proposed amendment is
to OP policy 7. 2. 6 so that we track
results, not just our intentions. It requires us to record
the number and types of affordable rental units lost through
demolition and conversion. Um, and that have actually been replaced.
In practical terms, this gives counsel and the public a
clear ongoing picture of whether the bylaw is doing its
job. And it also aligns with our commitments through our
housing affordability strategy to report and monitor on this particular
item. The fourth proposed amendment is to policy 10. 14,
which governs how we apply demolition control. Again, it's the
addition of the text on the screen and it confirms
that to preserve existing affordable rental housing, the city will
use demolition control hand in hand with the rental replacement
bylaw wherever it applies. And this makes sure that the
two tools work together rather than in isolation. So an
application to demolish rental units triggers the replacement requirements. The
final, uh, change adds a formal definition of the rental
replacement bylaw to the official plans glossary. Part 12 glossary.
The definitions simply describes a dozen municipal bylaw. Passed under
the municipal act that lets the city regulate the demolition
of rental properties and their conversion to other uses. So
having a clear definition in the plan, again, removes any
ambiguity about what the terms mean. And as it's referenced
throughout the policies of the official plan. And finally, this
brings us to the recommendations and the report. There are
five. The first is to approve the public meeting and
decision report itself. The second is to approve the draft
rental replacement by - law included as attachment one. The
third is to approve the draft official plan amendment by
- law. OPA 117 included as attachment two. The fourth
recommendation is to approve the companion demolition control bylaw amendment
included as attachment three. And the fifth and final recommendation
confirms that under the planning act, Council has determined no
further public notices required for these three instruments. Um, staff
are recommending approval of all five. And I'm happy to
answer any questions. Great. What we'll do is we'll just,
uh, I'll open it up now for anybody before questions.
I'll open it up just to see if the, um,
in the room, uh, for those online, uh, that would
like to call in. Is there anybody in the room
that wants to speak to this? No. Okay. So I'll
just put a phone number up on the screen. And
we'll just wait a couple minutes to see if anyone
wants to call in on this. It's 519375603. Again, that's
519 - 837 - 5603. And please just give us
a few minutes as we wait to see if anyone
wants to call in. And then we'll come right back
to us. Okay. Yeah. We'll just, we'll just wait. Councillor,
um, alt. And I think Councillor Cayton wanted to move
in second, uh, this, uh, if that's okay with them.
Yep. Thumbs up. So I think the people that would
be happy to move it. So, uh, we'll just wait
for to see if there's any, anybody that wants to
call in. Okay.
I'm sorry. My volume. Are you guys having trouble hearing
me. I see 50 of you say yes and 50
percent say no, which has been basically my whole 12
years of, of, of being mayor. That's how it feels.
All right. So I will make sure that, uh, clerks.
Are you okay maybe hitting the volume button there? And
we will project a little bit more. So thank you
for letting us know.
Uh, I'm going to call the meeting back to order
here because no one has called in to speak to
this item. If you just give me a 30 more
seconds.
Okay. Um, the one that's called in and no one
here. I do have Councillor Alt and Councillor Caten that
was willing to both move and second. This, thank you
very much for doing that. And, uh, Councillor Galler, you
were just wanting to move it. So you're good to
go. And does anyone else in the room at least
good to go. Yes. I'm going to go to the
screen now alt. Would you like to go ahead. Uh,
yeah, if I could, I'd like to speak Mayor Guthrie.
Is that all right? Yep. Go for it. Uh, thank
you very much. Um, first of all, I apologise for
not being there in person. Uh, I would have preferred
to be there, but I hurt my back yesterday doing
young people things, which I should learn not to do.
But I wanted to thank, um, actually, I suppose it's
actually Dr. Matthews and her team, uh, for the work
that's being done on this. As I've been thinking about
this more, I think that this is most fundamentally a,
uh, significant element of consumer protection that we are offering.
Um, we, we have consumer protection for everything from bicycles
to cars to, to food. And yet, uh, one of
the most important things is, uh, housing security. So I
appreciate that, uh, we are doing this and recognise that,
uh, that, um, that property owners who rent our myriad.
This is not intended on hurting anyone. This is merely
intended on recognising that a large percentage of our population
are very much dependent upon a rental market. And we
as a city assumed the responsibility of protecting those, uh,
through protecting these supply and demand market. Thank you very
much, Mayor Guthrie. Thanks Council Old. So with that, um,
I think I would just say ditto, which makes it
easy. And I'll call the vote then okay. Is anybody
against these recommendations. And that's unanimous. So that's a big
piece of policy work that I'm pretty proud of for
this term of council. So thank you to staff, uh,
as well. And thank you for joining us, Jump on
that at the beginning of the agenda. I appreciate it.
So going back to the top of the agenda there,
we are going to go under the public meeting portion
to hear the applications, uh, under the planning act here.
And the first one up is 266 to 280 Claire
Road West, also 950 Southgate Drive, the proposed official Plant
Amendment and Zoning Bylaw Amendment. We're going to have, um,
presentation from our senior planner, uh, Anad Shah is going
to come up. Thank you. And, uh, then we'll get
into some delegations after that. So Anand, thank you very
much for coming up. And I'll turn the microphone and
presentation over to you. Thank you, Medicatry. Good afternoon, omega
three members of Council members of public and city staff.
My name is Anun Shah. I am a senior development
planner at the city. Today, I am presenting the application
for an official plan amendment and zoning by l'Omenment for
the lands municipally known as 266 and 280 Claire Road
West and 950 Southgate drive. This is a statutory public
meeting under the planning act. And no decision will be
made this evening. The purpose of tonight's meeting is to
provide information on the application and receive comments from Council
and the public for consideration as part of staffs ongoing
review. The subject lines are located on the south side
of Clair Road West and includes property to 66 to
80 Claire Ode West and 950 Southgate drive. The combined
land area is approximately 35. 5 hectares with approximately 8.
5 hectares proposed for the development. The Claire Road Westlands
are currently vacant and has seen in the image, the
approximately half of 950 Southgate drive properties used for industrial
and illegal purposes while other half contains natural vegetation. The
surrounding area includes Industrial uses to the West Bishop McDonald
Catholic High School to the east. An additional residential uses
and NHS lands to the north. The application is proposing
a mixed residential development consisting of 116 and 114 story
apartment building, 15 blocks of back to back town houses
and 16 blocks of stack townhouses. The proposal would result
in a total of 940 residential dwelling units. A total
of 1077 parking spaces are proposed through a combination of
structured and surface parking. Access to the site is proposed
from Clair Road West. A significant component of the proposal
involves relocating the existing ecological linkage from the east side
of the property to the west side, reducing the width
from approximately 100 metres to 60 metres while also accommodating
a proposed term, water management facility within the new linkage.
This slide illustrates the overall site layout. The apartment buildings
are proposed to the interior of the property away from
Claire Road West with townhouse blocks distributed throughout the site.
A 6 story parking structure and surface parking areas are
proposed. The Western portion of the site area and to
the south on this map contains the purpose ecological new
ecological linkage and stormwater management facilities. Staff will review the
land use compatibility, viability of the ecological linkage swap. Site
design access arrangements building placement, open spaces and pedestren connections
through the application review process. Another cities official plan. The
lands are currently designated industrial and significant natural areas and
natural areas. The surrounding context includes additional industrial designations, natural
heritage areas, open space and parks and residential neighbourhoods. The
application is requesting an official plan amendment to readesignate portion
of the lens to hide density residential and significant natural
areas and natural areas. This amendment is intended to facilitate
the proposed residential development while identifying lands for the proposed
ecological linkage. The application is also a requesting site -
specific official plan policies, including permission for townhouse - built
forms in addition to currently permitted uses under high -
density residential designation, building height ranging from 3 to 16
stories. Net residential densities ranging from a minimum of 100
to a maximum of 160 units per hectare. And the
class 4 noise area designation in accordance with NPC 300
guidelines. Under the cities 2023 conference was zoning by -
law. The lands are currently zoned part industrial and part
natural heritage system. The reasoning application proposed to proposes to
zone 260 and 280 clairroad west to a site -
specific high - density residential 7 zoning with a holding
provision and natural - headed zoning. Lens on 950 Southgate
Drive are proposed to remain industrial zone with an expansion
to current natural heritage system Zond lands. In addition to
the proposed Zone Change, the application includes several site -
specific zoning reliefs. This includes permitting various townhouse - built
forms not currently permitted in the RH7 zone. Increasing maximum
density from 150 units per hectare to 154 units per
hectare, increasing maximum building height from 10 to 16 stories
and removing maximum floor plate requirements for apartment buildings. Additionally,
the site - specific policy includes eliminating prescribed setback requirement,
step back requirements, reducing common amenity area requirement from required
20 square metres per unit to 18. 1 square metre
per unit. And reducing parking requirement to a minimum of
1. 1 space per dwelling unit. The application is also
requesting a holding provision on the lands 266 and 280
Claire Road West. The purpose of the holding provision is
to ensure that development does not proceed until specific conditions
are satisfied. This conditions include completion of the required land
exchange and establishment of lands intended for the ecological linkage
and provision of commitment that at least 50 percent of
proposed dwelling units will be maintained as affordable housing at
level 6 seeding the CMHC's definition of affordability.
The rendering shown on the following few slides illustrates the
applicant's current vision of the development from several vantage points.
The images are conceptual and are intended to demonstrate the
proposed build from massing and relationship of the apartment building
and townhouse units within the site and to immediate context.
The first image is a view, a reel view from
the Claire Road West. This is a CDView of the
interior of the site. And the next one is overlooking
at the site from a distance. I have identified several
key issues that will form part of the review of
this application. First is the employment line conversion. The proposal
involves the conversion of conversion of approximately 4. 65 hectares
of designated employment lands to residential use. Due to a
loss of approximately nine hectares of employment lands in GID
and another two hectors at 81 Royal Road preserving employment
lands for cities long - term employment needs is essential.
Staff will assess the proposed employment and conversion in respect
to its conformity with provincial planning statement policies. And official
plan employment land policies and cities future employment land needs.
Next is Impact on the JSON Industrial Uses. Star will
evaluate whether the proposed residential development could impact existing or
future industrial operations in the surrounding areas and whether appropriate
mitigation measures can address compatibility concerns due to the number
and type of existing lawfully established Industrial uses and the
elevator deceptor at the proposed development source - based mitigation
measures are not feasible. Hence the class for noise class
for noise classification is requested for this development. For the
proposed development in addition to noise mitigation measures such as
noise wall, the upgraded building construction and supplied ventilation and
air conditioning system. Several warning clauses may also be required.
Next issue is the ecological linkage conformity. The ecological linkage
is proposed to be relocated and reduced in width. Furthermore
the stormwater management facility for the new development is proposed
to be within the lands dedicated for the ecological linkage
which may require access to the linkage for maintenance purposes.
Through the review process staff will assess the proposal to
ensure that the ecological function overall connectivity and long -
term integrity of the ecological linkage are maintained or enhanced.
Next is private infrastructure on future city lands. The stormwater
management facility for the proposed development are located within lands
designated as ecological linkage and anticipated to be under City
ownership. This raises concerns regarding occupiers'liability risk to the city.
This matters will also be evaluated through staff review. Finally
staff will review all applicable policies and regulations including the
provincial planning statement, the city's official plan, development engineering manual
and zoning by - law for the overall site layout,
built form parking provisions and pedestrian connectivity. Furthermore as the
development is proposed to be affordable dwelling units. The policy
review will also confirm that the proposed affordable housing model
meets the Cities oficial Plant Policies and Provincial Bulletting Requirements.
With this I will conclude my presentation. Uh, the application
remains under Review. The N - staff will continue evaluating
the proposal technical studies agency comments public input received today
and Council Feedback receive today before bringing a recommendation report
forward at a future council meeting. Residents wishing to stay
informed or receive notice of future decisions regarding this application
may contact the City Clerk's office at clerks at 12.
ca. And that thank you Medica3 and I'm available for
any questions Council may have now or after hearing delegation.
Great, thank you. You did a great job with the
overview of what's in front of us. Thank you very
much. We'll save questions maybe just after all the delegations.
So thank you very much again. And speaking of delegations,
here we go. Uh, so, uh, the delegations. I did
the math. If every single one of the delegations takes
10 minutes, which you're allowed to do. And the questions
were here for two hours and 40 minutes. Okay? Which
is fine. That's the way the process works. It's fine.
But I just want to make sure everyone kind of
knows that just to kind of settle in. And maybe
this is your first time in the room, but my
colleagues and others will know that I've said this before.
And I don't mean it with any ill will in
any way. But if the person ahead of you kind
of said what you were thinking, you can say ditto.
Okay, we gotcha. Okay. But we also recognise that you've
probably taken the time to prepare. To make sure your
presentation is ready for us. And we want you to
make sure that we're not trying to cut you off
either, of course. You have up to 10 minutes, okay?
After you're done. There will be an opportunity for myself,
for my colleagues to maybe ask a question if they
have one. So just make sure you stick around for
a moment before I kind of dismiss you and we
go to the next person. Uh, you will hear a
chime. At the nine minute and 30 second mark. Which
is your heads up. You only got 30 seconds left.
And at 10 minutes, your microphone gets turned off. And
we don't want that, okay? So make sure you wrap
up. You got the warning, make sure you wrap up.
Um, I think that's good. After that delegations that I
have on the list are done. Just like the last
one, I have to ask to see if thebody else
that wants to talk. Or if thebody else that wants
to call in and talk. Uh, before we even get
to questions of us to be discussion, things like that.
And a reminder right off the top, we're not making
any decisions tonight. Okay. This is just, this is the
public meeting to hear about it. And we're receiving the
application just to hear more about it, to get feedback.
Okay. We're not making any decisions tonight. I think I've
covered that off pretty good. So just be aware time
and be aware of how we're moving things through. Okay.
So the first one is Hugh Handy. From the GSP
Group. Is coming down. And is Mike Lab here. Okay.
You're in the wings. Okay. Thank you very much Hugh
whenever you know the role, the Reagan role. You've been
here before. So I'll turn over to you when you're
ready. Thank you Mayor Guthrie. Members of Council staff members
of the public attending, both in person and virtually. My
name is Hugh Handy and I'm Lanji's Planner and Vice
President with GSP Group. I'm here this afternoon. On behalf
of the Ontario Limited Company 2742707. The owners of the
property, Home Opportunities. And the TDL Group. On the screen
is the nature of the application and the properties that
Mr. Shaw has given you an overview this evening. I
also have with me this evening, Michael Whitmer, who is
in the front row and a senior planner with our
firm, who's been working with me closely on the application.
I've John Farley. And Mike LaBay, both with Home Opportunities.
You'll hear from Mike LaBay next in more detail on
affordable housing. Nature of the project. I also have Jake
Houskin's with Dylan Counterpoint Engineering. Our Civil Engineer on the
Project. I also have Stali, who is with north -
south environmental, our natural heritage consultant. I also have another
number of other consultants that are listed on the bottom
that were part of the Project Team for this project.
Also on the right, just so the public is aware.
This is also all the documents are on the website
for the municipality in terms of materials that have been
submitted with the application. The site context, Mr. Nunn, has
gone through in detail, um, overall it's about 35 hectares
as he's indicated frontage on Claire and Southgate Drive, two
bus routes service the property. It's also in an area
that's about 800 metres from the Claire Gordon intersection and
the node that is there with commercial activities, retail, uh,
it's also as part, which you'll hear my presentation is
near employment, uh, and that is important as well near
Park schools and other amenities that are part of the
south end. The development posal and this new community, uh,
would be a product, dwelling units and about a thousand
parking spaces and we'll have a significant affordable housing contribution
as part of this. I've colour coded the site plan
that you saw with Mr. Shaw had provided previously. And
I'll just go over that in a bit of detail.
Tower A is the yellow. That's the 16 story apartment
tower, tower B is an orange. It's a 14 story.
The back to back, uh, townhouses are in purple. On
the diagram Stocktown houses in blue. Uh, the parking structure
is the pink on the diagram. There is about 960
spaces in there. 89 spaces, um, on surface parking lot.
And that will be closer to Claire Road, as well
as lay - by parking on some of the internal
roads. The Ecological linkage is in tan, and that is
at the bottom of the diagram. It's also two access
roads in, one at the south end of, or sorry,
at the bottom end of the drawing just north of
the Ecolog east of the ecological linkage is the main
driveway. And then an emergency access would be closer to
Bishop McDonald. The development proposal, as Mr. Shaw, has indicated
the gradual change in density. So the lower density would
be towards Clair Road and building up to the rear
of the site where the buildings and parking structure would
be providing a gradient of uses and the higher density
near the rear of the site. Um, this just in
again, Tower A, just for reference is a 16, 14.
And then the, uh, lower three and four story townhouses
would be at the front of the site. Ecological linkage
to the right. So the existing policy context has, Mr.
Shaw has gone over in some detail. I'll just give
you maybe some of the highlights. And then if there's
questions, uh, I can take those through my delegation. Uh,
but it's within the built - up area. It's part
of the employment areas and industrial. There's significant natural heritage
areas and the ecological linkage. Uh, there's also, as part
of this, uh, the, uh, zone is P1 conservation and
urban reserve. And as well, that's in the 95, but
we're also dealing with a 2023 now currently be industrial
and NHS. The main, uh, issues or policy objectives, as
Mr. Shaw has indicated, are really moving, uh, from the
redesignation of employment to residential. And as you move across
the screen, your removing it from employment, putting it into
high density residential, moving the linkage, then to the, to
the left of the screen. And that's kind of following
along from right or from left to right. There's a
long history through OPA 80, which this sum of Council
will be aware of, uh, that this was discussed in
this Chamber moving through that process to designate to residential.
Uh, and then ultimately this reverted back to the current
designations. And hence the reason this application came forward, uh,
to look at this in more detail. Uh, number two,
uh, official plan policies indicate that, uh, policy, you can
move a linkage. It could reduce the size of that
corridor, but that also requires an EIS to look at
the, uh, the location and impacts. Thank you, Mr. Anand
has gone over this slide. So I'll just skip over
the site - specific policies, but there are a number
of policies that we're looking to change. Zoning by -
law amendment will also add a number of site -
specific regulations. Some of those are noted, or they are
noted on the screen. Um, as part of our application.
Zoning Bylaw Amendment also proposes a holding provision, which Mr.
Shaw has gone through one of them related to the
natural heritage system and the movement to the west of
the site. And then ensuring that there is exceeding the
CMHC's definition for affordable housing. And I just mentioned, uh,
Mike Le Bay will be up next to talking a
little more to that. I wanted to touch on a
few things as part of our delegation Taiwin Thomas is
our economist on this project. He had a family celebration
of life in the US and couldn't be here with
us tonight. So I'm going to try not to dance
too far into what the economist does. Uh, but I
think the important point here are that in terms of
this site, warehousing and transportation, uh, we feel that we'd
create, uh, use on the site. You might be getting
up into 80 or 100 jobs. The City, we know
is updating its economic land strategy, uh, to comply with
or conform with provincial legislation. Uh, urban metrics has looked
at things initially and feels and suggests that changes could
result in a surplus of employment land. That's noted on
the right in the second bullet. Um, key finding, um,
on this land, it would reduce obviously the estimated employment
land for about five hectares. There's, in our opinion, in
our metrics opinion, there's no material impact to the city's
ability to achieve its overall, uh, employment goal. And it
has the potential, um, obviously to, we're in going to
be looking and continue to look and work with staff
on protecting the industries, uh, that is all part of
this application. Uh, that it's geared to workforce housing to
try and ensure that the businesses that are there and
the importance of Denzo TDL, Linamar, others who are all
part of that. Um, there's hundreds of local jobs during
the development phase of this. There's 470 affordable units. And
the annual tax revenue. I
touched on the Environmental linkage, the importance of that, uh,
to the site to our city of Connecting. That's. For
your presentation. Just before you come up, uh, Mike, if
you don't mind, just stole back for a second. Um,
you're any questions just to you at this point or
do you want to move on. Uh, we'll go to
Councillor Karan. And then did you have question two Councillor
Hauser? I think I saw Councillor Alt. So those three.
Okay. Go ahead. Uh, thanks. I have a few questions
and I'm not sure if you're the one I should
address them to. So if they're not just say it's
coming in a later presentation, um, you said you're representing
the ownership group, The Owner and TDL. Uh, so that's
a bit of a mixed bag. So TDL is the
adjacent industrial owner. What stake do they have in this
application? Is it mostly, uh, the mitigation piece. Uh, through
your worship to the Councillor, as part of the, bringing
forward the application, uh, we worked with City staff, uh,
on some of the initial comments, uh, in relation to
the movement of the ecological linkage that we then had
further discussions with, uh, TDL, uh, to bring their land
in as part of that, uh, the linkage then as
part of this application would be relocated on TDL's land.
And that is really the essence. So I appreciate the
question. Yeah. Uh, of why TDL is involved. Um, as
well, I mean, the lines of communication have been open
with TDL for them to understand the application as well.
As part of it, but that's really the connection on
the aerial. I saw that there was kind of a
piece of another piece of land. So that makes sense.
Um, a lot of the conversation in your presentation was
about the provision of affordable housing. Did you anticipate or
is your ownership group and your client expecting that we
would add a condition to the zoning that it be,
um, affordable housing or certain percentage. And the reason I
asked that is that we have in our community a
lot of concern about, um, I don't know what else
to call it, but bait and switch that they get
landed, you get land use zoning. And then it's repurposed
or resold to another owner. And I just, I think
that's a really good conversation to add to the first
meeting under the planning act is whether or not that's
a condition that your ownership client would be willing to,
to put on title. Through your worship to the Councillor,
that is what we've brought forward to ensure that there
is no bait and switch that we agree with the
terms of that in order to provide. And Mr. Laybei
will talk more to that, uh, by way of his
presentation. Okay. Great. Thanks. And then I know you expect
this Mr. Handy, but I always ask a question about
how this will help us achieve our community energy goals
is that, um, under your presentation or will there be
someone else who will be addressing? I'll, uh, maybe try
to address that, uh, to the Councillor in terms of
this Kiwi Newton, uh, will be involved in the project.
It's intentionally, I think there's, uh, letter within your package
talking about how, uh, their building fabrication and will address
that. But of course, and maybe I've answered this the
same way through detailed design. We'll be looking to continue
efforts to address that. Okay. Thanks. And I know that's
a site that plan issue. Mr. Mayor, but I always
ask a question and it's good to have that on
the public record. So thanks. I wouldn't allow the meeting
to go further if you hadn't asked that question. Yeah.
No, those sounds good. Uh, and then Hauser and then
Alt. Thank you through the mayor. Um, on I just
wanted to ask a question about the, uh, ecological linkage
on your fifth slide. There's a picture of the rendering
from Clair Road. And the ecological linkage list looks like,
um, like green space. Will it be green space or
will it be like protected and fenced off? Like will
they be able to use it or will it be
completely protected. Uh, through your worship to the Councillor, it
will be protected. It will, uh, be fenced off. Um,
and, uh, we'll be revegeted or vegetated as well as
part of that. Um, I can have our cell. Do
you want to come up and talk to detail? Or
if, if allowable. Just to make sure I'm. Hopefully I
haven't stepped off in the wrong direction, but. Thank you,
Mr. Mayor. Uh, I'm Sos Vitali Senior Colleges with North
South Environmental and did the Environmental Impact Study, uh, for
this application. So through you, Mr. Mayor, uh, yeah, so
you already mentioned it would be fenced. A naturally vegetated,
some of it is, but it will be enhanced and
restored in areas that are currently under agricultural production. And
the intention is intended to maintain. Be maintained as a
wildlife corridor, uh, and so we've considered the wildlife that
might be using it. The vegetation that should be planted
there and how it should function recognising it's being moved,
uh, from what it's currently map does to the location
to the west and recognising it's also being narrowed from
what was initially mapped in the official plan at a
hundred metres to 60 metres in width. And we did
our study to look at if that was appropriate, how
it would function to maintain the movement for wildlife through
that corridor. If I may, um, will there be a
fence across the road as well or that would be
open so they can cross through you, Mr. Mayor Mayor.
Yes. It would be open. And there's also a note
or a discussion in our environmental impact study that speaks
to, uh, mitigation measures for wildlife movement, uh, majority wildlife
we expect to use it are large to medium and
small mammals. Um, so we would be making recommendations for
signage, possibly flashing lights at night, uh, indicating that there's
potential for deer movement across there and recommendation for, uh,
a small culvert under the road for smaller mammals, uh,
but it is intended to remain open to allow wildlife
to move. Thank you very much. And just so you
know, the signs aren't for the animals. It's not directional
for them. Okay. Um, could you just stick with me
for a moment? I'm going to go to Councillor Alt,
but Councillor Downer, I think has a question that might
involve you as well. So I'll go to Councillor Alt,
then go to Councillor Downer. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. Thank
you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for. Okay. I will go
to you first because you're at the microphone. No, it's
okay. Councillor Al is very accommodating. I know that already.
So Councillor Downer, you go first and then I'll go
to Councillor. Thank you for the accommodation. Um, yeah, I
had a question around the linkage too. Um, I noticed
the two questions. I have one, it's, it's slightly offset
from across the road. Is that going to be a
problem? It's not like currently where it is, it's completely
right across. But now moving it puts it halfway. Where
the other side is. Is that, is that an issue
in these issues? Three, Mr. Mayor, uh, to the Councillor
directly with, uh, what we're recommending even on the other
side, the north side of Clair Road. Again, it's mapped
even on the north side of Clair Road towards the
east of what is a natural area or naturally vegetated
area. We're recommending it to be widened to entirely overlap
with the linkage on the side of the road. Okay.
That helps. Um, now, so there's also, um, one of
the key issues and considerations in this, in this slides
we just saw was around the stormwater management being part
of this linkage. Could you, could you sort of explain
that? And I mean, the concern around that is, is
that going to be able to be worked out or
like, how is that going to be working? Just in
layman terms, please. Yes. Through you, Mr. Mayor and myself
not being the stormwater engineer, also speak about it in
layman terms. From my perspective as any collegist. So our
first priority in the linkage and its form and function
was that it be maintained and enhanced to provide that
function. A recognising that, uh, the policies permit or provide
opportunities for stormwater management within linkages. Again, so long as
the form and function isn't impacted. And that's something that
we're looking at working with staff to make sure that
that is the intent and that is achieved through the
design. And of course working with our engineer, civil engineer
to have that achieve those objectives. Thank you. And Councillor
Al, please. And thank you Mayor Guthrie. And I think
Mike Carson's probably for Mr. Vatali as well. Um, uh,
my questions do focus primarily on the ecological linkage. And
I hope you'll pardon my, my ignorance. Um, I'm having
some challenges understanding how an ecological linkage could be removed
and then added. That strikes me as destroying an ecological
linkage and then substituting it was something else. So I'm
all in favor of the ecological link. I just want
you to clarify. How do you do that. Yes. Through
you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, that's a great question. Um, so
the ecological linkage as it was mapped in the official
plan was done at a relatively high level. And it
was done with no studies or scientific studies ground truthing.
It was done at a desktop high level to identify
the need for that linkage through that area. Notwithstanding, uh,
the part of it being farmed, uh, currently. And in
the past. And it's a previous history. So through our
study, we looked at that area, the vegetation and considered
the wildlife that would be using it. So, uh, it's
not that the linkage is being destroyed in terms of
its current form or function. It's the movement of the
linkage to the west side will still maintain that function.
And as I mentioned, it's primarily for large mammals such
as deer, possibly coyotes, raccoons skunk so on. Um, so
that function won't change. And through the vegetation, that will
be planted on the west side. It will be enhanced.
It's a bit of a matrix of cultural meadow. Agricultural
land and thicket. The entirety of the linkage would be
vegetated. And with native vegetation, trees, shrubs, and other native,
uh, grasses and wildflowers. So it did linkages and destroyed.
And I would suggest that the linkage itself would be
planted as a part of phasing to ensure that that
function doesn't cease through any part of the development of
the lands. It's maintained during that time. So there isn't
a break in habitat connectivity, uh, during the construction of
the, and the development of the lance. Okay. Actually, that
raised another question for me. You use the word, I
believe it was should or that you think it would,
um, I'm going to be a little emphatic here. It
could not be, must be maintained. That's fair to say
through you, Mr. Mayor. So you're suggesting that yes, it
must be maintained. The linkage in its form and function
must be maintained. And that's the intent of the design
and how it would be planted and how it would
function for the future. Yeah. And I thank you for
that. Uh, when I first got married, I actually lived
in a farm on that property and actually did farm
some of that land. So the next question is really
important to me. There are a number of catalakes in
that area. And there's clearly a very, uh, vibrant aquifer
that actually, um, I think probably is part of the
whole puss lunch aquifer as well. Uh, you had made
reference to stormwater, but I'm actually concerned about groundwater. Can
we address that, um, are you confident that that's not
an issue that needs to be considered. Yes through you,
Mr. Mayor. I would suggest I'm not qualified to speak
to groundwater. Um, as, as any colleges, I don't know
if, uh, anybody on our team is here today that
is qualified to speak to, to that. But, uh, yeah,
unfortunately I won't be able to answer that question for
you. Okay. No, that's fine. I don't expect you to
be able to answer everything. Um, uh, last comment. Thanks
to Mr. Vitaly is for Mr. Handy. Uh, thank you
very much for making reference, uh, in Councillor Coron's concern
about bait and switch. Um, I'm just going to follow
up and expand that a little bit. Is there any
potential for an irrevocable Covenant on this. Through you, uh,
Mr Mayor to the Councillor. We can, we can look
at different forms to ensure. I don't think our team
is shying away from the fact that this is affordable
housing to ensure that we deliver on what we're in
front of you this evening. Uh, so if there is
something that, uh, is palatable to staff, uh, to your
legal team, uh, we're open to considering it. Unless somebody's.
That's fine. Okay. Councillor Alt, is that good for you
then or that's absolutely fine. Thank you very much, Mr.
Harry. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And maybe in
regards to the aquifer groundwater issue, did you want someone
to come up for that at this point? Yeah. Might
as well since Councillor Alt brought it up. Might as
well just have the answer come right away. Does make
sense to flow that way. No pun intended. You brought
Jake to the meeting. So we're glad to have him
speak. Yeah. So go right ahead. Yeah. So I'm Jake
Hawkins, the Civil Engineer on the file, uh, a lot
of the soils on this site are sand and odorless
gravel. So it has really high porosity. So the intent
from a stormwater management perspective is to implement low impact
development measures to make sure that the groundwater gets recharged.
There is no designated stormwater outlet on the site. So
by that nature, we have to find a way for
the flows to get back into the ground. So the
game plan for this development is to have the hundred
year runoff from the site infiltrated and percolated back into
the groundwater table. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you
for answering that right away. That's great. Okay. Is there
any further questions for Hugh at this time. No. Okay.
Thanks a lot. You appreciate it. And Mike, you're coming
up next from Home Opportunities Nonprofit Corporation. And then Jeremiah
Vanderland is going to be, oh, it's going to be
joining us by video. So, uh, Mike, I'll turn it
over to you whenever you're ready. Okay. And Mike, actually
anybody that comes up here might just a foot over
from your right hand. There's a little white button. Yeah.
If you hit that button up, it will move that
desk up for you and make the microphone come closer
to your, yes. Yes. And I sit on the desk
when I do it. Yeah. So just, just to make
sure that the microphone's picking up everything, I'm just cautious
of the, of the making sure everyone can hear. So
for those of you that are coming, you know, a
little taller, a little smaller, there's that button there. You
can make it go up and down so that the
microphone is close to your, your voice. Okay. So over
to you, Mike. Thank you. Hey, Mr. Mayor, Councillors, members
of the public. My name is Mike Labei. I am
president of Home Opportunities, nonprofit corporation. And I have a
very strong interest in the bait and switch comments that
have been made because we only do affordable housing. And
so that's a great interest to us. The H designation
requires us to prove that it's going to be affordable
housing before building permit can be issued. And that gives
you very strong, gives us very strong control to make
sure we get what we want out of the piece
of land. Um, I want to mention that this is
my second turn back in front of Council. Last time
I was here, Council approved changing this land from employment
to residential in support of what the province had done
previously. So we're just deja vu in terms of what
we're talking about today. Um, there was a question about,
uh, oh, yes, let me. Add it. Which button. This
one. S not listening to me. It is. Okay. Sorry.
So home opportunities. And this is me bragging about how
long I've been around. I have been working since 1979
working with groups of people forming nonprofit corporations and helping
them build their own homes. That's effectively been my job
for all of those years. Um, and some of the
people I worked with back in the 80s are still
with me today. So we have a long history of
dedicated to doing this kind of housing. And it's, it's
something that effectively, because we've got such a strong solution
at this point in time has stolen my retirement from
me, but I'm not complaining. Um, so I've been doing
this for 47 years. 30 of those years is creating
opportunities to use home ownership as the solution to affordable
housing. And we have worked on as a group over
10, 000 units and 200 projects, including two in Guelph
itself, Montfort condos and market commons. At the current pipeline
we're working on is nearly 7, 000 units in 12
different communities. Because if you're the only solution, you get
a lot of attention. So we're really proud to be
here in Guelph and are looking forward to being able
to do a large significant project for this community. How
does it work? Um, and we don't intend to stay
unique, but right now we are unique because we've used
home ownership as a mechanism of allowing people a chance
to get into housing. Virtually no matter their income, as
long as they have a steady income, we can provide
housing for them because what we're in essence doing is
adjusting the size of the mortgage to allow their income
to match the carrying costs. And so that's the mechanism
that we use, but I've given a couple of examples
here because this is what we've run into over the
years is you can take a parent with two kids
who can only at 85, 000 dollars of four to
two bedroom rental. But because we're able to adjust the
carrying costs, we can get them into a proper three
bedroom townhouse, which will change the circumstances for their law
is quite significantly. Um, we are proud of targeting three
percent of our units to people on minimum wage. They
are of course our studio units. But if you can
start in your 20s with an ownership, some people in
this room have been able to do that. If you
can start in your choix, it changes your trajectory of
your entire life. And that's one of the things that
is important to us since those owners are our clients.
We're working on their behalf. Seniors. At some point in
time to get tired of taking care of their home.
It's nice to be able to go to a place
where they can protect their equity and continue to live
in a community that will watch out for them. One
of our projects, I do have enough time. We actually
had a case where people moved in after they'd been
in for six months, a woman fell in broker hip.
And within a week, her neighbours had taken her out
of the hospital and were taken care of her until
she was back on our feet and moving from there.
So that's the type of community that we love to
be able to build. So what we've started to do
with the communities we go to is we go first
to the economic development department. Because one of the biggest
impediments to economic development these days is affordable housing. There's
5, 000 empty jobs across Southern Ontario because of the
lack of affordable housing. So for us, we want to
provide the housing for those workers that give them a
chance to live and reside in wealth. And somebody who
looks close to work, who doesn't have to commute is
a more productive worker, a more productive worker means that
your industry is more productive, more productive industry can protect
itself against the vagaries of people to the south. And
so it's something that's useful and valuable to the community.
And it's quite significant in Guelph. Um, you know, Linamar
will be speaking later, 10, 000 employees, 50 percent of
them. Are actually commuting into town. And to do that
is quite a significant task when the snowstorm's hit. And
you find that a few people can't make it in
your production line is affected. We are open to the
idea of having industry say to us, we will ask
you to set aside 25 units so we can offer
those units as an attraction to bring industry to town
or open to doing that with your economic development department
as well. We can be a tool to making this
city stronger. So deliverables.
940 units, all of which will qualify as affordable housing
because we have a range of affordability, but all of
them will receive some degree of help towards your down
payments. So they can become owners. Which is based on
the incomes that carry a certain rent, level in wealth.
This is an important job growth opportunity for Kiwi Newton
because it's a new company in the residential that we
want to help expand into a significant producer of a
thousand units a year. We're hoping to be done within
12 to 18 months. And will be contributing to the
city's targets for housing for your housing targets, both in
terms of numbers and in terms of the target for
affordability. We're going to be supporting local employers and attracting
new ones. And the work that we do is intending
to do these 940 units, which will lead to another
940 units. We'll lead to another 940 units because as
an organisation that doesn't need grants and subsidies, we can
start to provide all of the housing that you need
as long as we get the leg up that the
first project starts for us. Oh good. I've given you
two minutes and 55 seconds to ask questions. Well, thank
you Mike. Thank you for your presentation. We appreciate you
being here. Is there any follow - up for Mike
at this point. Okay. Catherine, I'm sorry. Councillor Hauser and
then Councillor Downer. Thank you very much. Um, through the
mayor, can you explain, um, a little bit about, so
when somebody purchases a property, um, to keep it in
the affordable realm, they are not allowed to sell it
for like an exorbitant profit. But can you, can you
explain that part for me? Yes. Thank you for the
question through you, Mr. Mayor, to the Councillor. That is
an intriguing question that I do like to answer. So
the way that we work is that you come in
and you purchase a home like anybody else would, um,
you sign an agreement of purchase and sale. We adjust
your mortgage so that you're going to afford to carry
it. And then you carry it like any other owner.
And a portion of the home that you carry is
what you make your money on. The portion you don't
care, we make that money on and we reserve and
use it to be able to help someone else afterwards.
This is a pay it forward idea. Because it's a
pay it forward idea. We don't need grants and subsidies.
If you need grants and subsidies, you can only produce
a few units and you can't solve the problem. So
the idea is to pay it forward constantly as people
sell to help more people. And every time we get
a sale, we can build two to three more units.
So we actually expand the solution by virtue of not
restricting what people do with their homes. Thank you very
much. Thank you through you, Mr. Murray. Uh, so I
just want to, this may be, there were some places
in Gwelph. So this has to do with the impacts
on the adjacent industrial uses that some of your residents
may experience some noise or anything. Sometimes there's something untitled
that can be put on. I'm not quite sure what
it is. They do it in, um, I think with
housing that was built around the door lime area, I
had to have it on titled as a warning to
say that they acknowledge not even a warning. It's just
acknowledging the existence of the site or being close to
industry. Will that be happening as well? Cause you're right
adjacent to it. Correct. We've done quite a number of
projects close to industries because we've built in the City
of Toronto. And what we do is we put in
the condo documents, the warning clause. So it gets passed
on from owner to owner as the condo docs are
passed on. And that's already been something that's been discussed
with staff and something that we're quite committed to because
we want people to understand. Now having said that, the
buildings are designed so that inside the units, you're not
affected by. But the warning is still there because when
you open your windows, there's industry there. Great. Oh, and
Councillor Galler is our final go ahead. Uh, thank you
through your worship to Mr. Bay. Thank you so much
for being here today. Would you be the right person
to talk about the time lapse for the project and
when the units might be expected to be available for,
for our Guelph employees. Sure. Uh, and, and to some
degree, you can also pose the question to Kiwi Newton.
It'll be our contractor. Um, but, but what our expectation
is, um, given support from council, we're hoping to be
under construction within a year. We, I'd like it to
be preferably a late fall of next year because certain
types of servicing work can do best when the ground
is frozen. Um, and because of the keywun system, which
is a prefabricated panelize system, it can build faster than
you normally would. So we're hoping for an 18 month
construction period before the first people start moving in. Now
that will certainly be the case with the townhouses with
our wood construction. But with the apartments, it's a challenge
for them to see if they can do it in
18 months. But certainly 24 months that we'll be pretty
well done. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Russia. Great. Say nothing further. Thanks Mike. Appreciate
it. Uh, moving right along, uh, Jeremiah Vanderland from Kiwi
Newton is going to be joining us. Uh, believe by
video. Hello everyone. I'm hoping you can hear me right
now. Yes. We can. It's, uh, it's Mayor Guthrie. Thanks
a lot, Jeremiah, for, for joining us. We appreciate it.
And I don't know if you heard at the beginning,
but you have no more than 10 minutes. Okay. So,
and then once you're done, just stick on the screen
there. If I, if anyone has a follow up, a
question. Okay. But, uh, please go right ahead. Thank you.
There should be some slides that are coming up. So
I'll just, uh, I'll start talking in those should join
on the screen in a minute or two. But good
afternoon everyone. My name is Jeremiah Vanderland and I am
speaking on behalf of Kiwi Newton, who is the plan
builder for this project. So Kiwi Newton is a Guelph
- based design builder in advanced construction manufacturer with more
than 30 years of experience delivering residential, industrial, commercial and
institutional projects. Kiwi brings together capabilities that are often divided
among numerous companies. And we employ people with skills in
design, engineering, construction management, project management, manufacturing mechanical, electrical, and
on - site construction. Go to the next slide. Kiwi's
mission is to provide high quality, affordable and sustainable construction
at scale. Now each part of this mission is important.
High quality means creating buildings that are durable, comfortable, energy
efficient and intended for long - term use. Affordable means
improving both the cost of constructing the building and the
ongoing cost of living in it. Sustainable means reducing energy
consumption waste and emissions while creating buildings with long service
lives. And then lastly at scale means moving beyond isolated
projects and developing the facilities, employees, production systems and repeatable
building designs required to produce a meaningful volume of housing.
Canada cannot solve its housing shortage by treating every new
building as a completely unique prototype. The industry needs more
repeatable systems that serve architectural flexibility while improving productivity, quality,
and cost predictability. Next slide. So the question is, how
do we do that? Well, our strategy is built upon
three principles. First, we think like an automotive company. We
employ an in - house team for planning, design, engineering,
manufacturing, and construction. This allows us to make sure that
the design works optimally for manufacturing the components and assembling
them on site. Second, we leverage process standardization with design
flexibility. We know that the more we can standardize our
processes, the more efficient we can become and the more
affordable and high quality the end result can be. Standardization
does not mean that every building needs to look the
same. We can standardize the underlying systems. We'll still allowing
flexibility in the building's design. Third, once a process has
been standardized automation can be designed around it. We have
invested in equipment to increase our productivity for manufacturing, shipping,
assembling, and finishing buildings. With this strategy, we are able
to produce buildings that are high quality, affordable, while also
being extremely energy efficient. This is how we reduce cost,
not by lowering quality, but by improving the process. Next
slide. Kiwi has made significant investments in wealth to support
this approach. Uh, Kiwi has recently working on phase 205
of our expansion plans. One's phase two is complete. Kiwi
will be able to produce roughly 760 housing units per
year. And future phases increase that to 1, 875 housing
units per year. Now these capacity figures are not simply
long - term aspirations. Kiwi is actively investing in the
floor space equipment technology and workspace required to make them
happen. This capacity, this production of housing units doesn't happen
by accident. It requires equipment, robotics, engineering, training, logistics, steel
fabrication, pre - cash fabrication, skilled people and a predictable
pipeline of projects. That is why Clair Road is important.
It helps put local housing manufacturing capacity to work so
that we can increase our capacity. Next slide. Kiwi's investment
and housing capacity has been recognised and supported by the
province of Ontario and the federal government. The province has
seen what Kiwi is building in wealth and is supporting
our expansion through the southwestern Ontario Development Fund. That support
is helping us expand our facilities at Advanced Manufacturing Equipment,
improve production processes and increase our residential construction capacity. The
federal government has also recognised the potential of this approach.
Kiwi is a lead partner in the initiative supported through
NGEN's Advanced Manufacturing Home Building Challenge alongside the Linamar Innovation
Hub and Home Opportunities. Kiwi contributes to the building system,
design build expertise and manufacturing capacity, Linamar contributes advanced manufacturing
and automation expertise, home opportunities contributes the attainable home ownership
model. The province sees the value in what Kiwi is
doing. The federal government sees the value in what Kiwi
is building. And the development at Clair Road gives Guelph
the opportunity to help put that investment support and manufacturing
capacity to work here in our own community. Next slide.
Now I want to be very clear on quality. Cost
effective housing should not mean low quality housing. Affordable housing
should not be disposable housing. The Kiwi precast system is
based on durable concrete walls and floor panels. It is
designed for long - term performance energy efficiency, acoustic separation,
fire resistance, and reduced operating costs. Affordability is not just
the purchase price. A home also has to be affordable
to heat. Cool, maintain and operate over time. Next slide.
Our Kingston housing study demonstrates this. The Project uses the
same QE precast system with energy modelling showing a 61.
5 percent reduction compared with the applicable national energy code
baseline. Next slide. It also reduces the greenhouse gas intensity
by 83 percent compared to normal construction. So the goal
is not simply to build Hone's cheaper. The goal is
to build homes better, more predictably and more efficiently. That
is what Kiwi Newton does. Next slide. The other point
that I want to make is about the construction economy
in a larger sense. It is very difficult to make
new housing projects work right now. Contract construction costs, financing
costs, municipal costs, and buyer affordability are all putting pressure
on housing projects. The construction industry is not simply holding
back an unlimited supply of easy to build projects. It
is searching for viable ways to get housing into construction.
The Home Opportunities model provides a credible path forward at
a time when many conventional projects are struggling to proceed.
Now I want to be very careful with my tone
here. I don't want my tone to come across as
arrogant, overconfident, biased, or suffering from tunnel vision. I want
this to come across as a genuine plea, a genuine
piece of advice from someone who sees the construction industry
across all of Ontario right now. Council should not assume
that if this project is delayed or lost, that another
developer will automatically arrive with a replacement project offering the
same combination of attainable home ownership, local manufacturing and appointment,
high quality construction, strong energy performance, a committed nonprofit partner
and a realistic path towards construction. Next slide. Kiwi is
a Guelph employer. This project would help Guelph employers attract
and retain talent because housing availability is an economic development
issue. Kiwi was recently recognised as the 2026 Guelph Today
Economic Development Community Builder. That recognition came as a result
of our commitment to invest in our Guelph office, manufacturing,
expansion, uh, expansion and high value local jobs. The development
at Clair Road would build directly on that investment. And
for Guelph, it is a chance to show that housing
targets can be supported by local innovation, local employment, and
real construction capacity. This is an opportunity to build housing
in Gwealth using Guelph Expertise, Wealth employees and Guelph Manufacturing
Capacity. Next slide. And so finally Qwi Newton respectsfully ask
Council to consider this application positively and support the development
as it advances through the Planning Process. This is a
rare alignment of housing need, local capacity, committed partners, and
a model designed to move Holmes forward. Let's make this
happen together. Thank you. It's all I got. All right.
Thank you, Jeremiah. We appreciate that and we appreciate you
taking the time. Councillor Altaza, quick question for you. Thank
you very, very much, Mr. Vanderlan. I truly appreciate your,
your passion. And also I would say compassion, uh, for
those that are in the housing market, uh, of which
you have described, um, I'll also point out that I'm
one hundred percent fully supportive of your pitched for the
Ikea model of home building. I'm just looking for a
key and, um, I might join you. But I do
have a couple of questions that, that might be a
bit hardball. And if they are, the, uh, malice intended.
First of all, the, the time frame from shovel in
the ground to occupancy. What are we looking at in
terms of, uh, specifics. Uh, yes. Great question. So definitely
depends on what kind of building we're constructing. So there's
two different towers that are being considered there. I would
say that largest tower is about 18 months. So shovel
ground to occupancy is about 18 months. Thank you. Um,
theoretically, um, and I'm only going to ask you theoretically
because I'm sure you don't, you're not able to give
me the hard numbers on this. Uh, what percentage below
market value are we looking at for, um, for these
units because you, you, you sold me. Okay. Um, and
I'm hearing that it's affordable. So now I just need
to know market value What are we looking at. Yeah,
um, I'm going to assume you're talking about construction costs
there. Yes. So on construction cost, we find we're anywhere
from 10 to 20 percent less than kind of industry
average on construction costs per square foot. And thank you
and thank you Kiwi Newton. Uh, I am keen on,
on Kiwi Newton and maybe I'll have you come to
one of my breakfast one day to pitch people on
this as well. Thanks very much. Thank you. Just make
sure he pays for your breakfast Jeremiah for sure. Wait
a minute Councillor Corinne as a question for you as
well. Thank you. Thank you. Your energy efficiency numbers were
incredible. Um, very impressive. Are they related to the form
of energy and the, the, uh, you're using Renewable sources
or is it just the building envelope and the, um,
you know, the design and engineering piece. Great question. Um,
so those numbers are related to the design and engineering
of our building system that can be further increased by
renewables. So the project is considering a large solar array
for the property as well. But the, you know, roughly
60 percent reduction in energy usage. That can be done
with basically it's our air tightness, our strong insulation details
are strong window details and really just the, the detailing
of the system itself. Great. Thanks very much. Great Jeremiah.
That is all the questions we have. We'll let you
get back to building more homes. Awesome. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you very much. All right. Sean Scott is
up next from Lindemar. Thanks, Sean, for coming. And is
Valerie Vanderwick here. I'm sorry. I don't have my glasses
on. Is Valerie here? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. You're
in the wings. Okay. Thank you. Uh, so Sean, thanks
a lot for waiting and it's over to you. Okay.
Thank you. Excellent. Thank you Mr. Mayor Councillor City staff.
Appreciate your time. Uh, I want to bring greetings on
behalf of the almost 10, 000 employees from Linamar, uh,
to you today. I've been resident of Guelph proud Lee
since 1995. And I've been employed at Linamar for 30
years and I've seen, uh, the tremendous growth. The organisations
had and the incredible impact that it's had on the
community. And of course that the employees have had on
the success of Litamar. I'd like to thank Home Opportunities
in our community partners for bringing attention to your attention,
one of the most important issues facing working families today,
which is affordable housing. At Linamar, we see firsthand how
affordable housing effects our employees. How it affects our business.
And the overall health of our community. Many of our
employees are highly skilled individuals contribute everyday to manufacturing, to
innovation and to economic growth. Yet an increasing number of
workers face housing that they can't afford. Face finding housing
that, uh, sorry, yet an increasing number of workers find
housing. They cannot, they cannot afford housing in the community
that they live. Across Canada housing costs have risen faster
than incomes in many communities making it hard for workers
to live near their jobs. Recent research from CMHC has
shown that high housing costs are reducing labour mobility. And
making it more difficult for employers to attract and retain,
uh, talent. Research shows and we believe that when employees
can afford to live in the same community where they
work, everyone benefits. Employees have shared with us their desire
to spend less time commuting. More time with their families.
And they experience the financial stress. Of turning on the
TV every day, seeing the news and the impact of
the increase of gas prices on their lives as well
as everyday essentials. They want to assure better quality of
life for themselves and their family. Research shows that stable
housing's linked to improve wellbeing. Stronger community engagement. And greater
economic opportunity. Linamar and all employers will benefit from more
affordable housing as well. Affordable housing supports workforce stability. It
improves recruitment and retention. It helps reduce our turnover costs.
And helps organisations rang competitive in attracting skilled employees. The
more of our employees who can live locally, the more
they can support local businesses that can volunteer and communities
that can participate in civic life and help create more
vibrant neighbourhoods. Therefore, we know affordable housing is not just
a social issue. It's an economic development issue. And for
us, it's a workforce issue. I want to thank you
for listening to, uh, this afternoon. I want to thank
you for the work you're doing, building stronger communities. A
community where everyone can live, work and thrive in the
same place. Thanks for your time and for investing in
the prosperity of the region. Thank you so much, Sean.
Um, we really appreciate it. Uh, on behalf of Linamar
being here today. Thank you. And is there any follow
- up questions for Sean. There isn't. So thank you
very much. And Valerie Valerie's coming up here, uh, on
behalf of the Indigenous skills, employment apprenticeship and development. So
thank you Valerie. And is Lainey here. Okay. You're in
the wings. Okay. Over to you Valerie. Thank you. Good
afternoon. Uh, your worship councillors Chimique Witch. Wilayland for having
me here today to speak with you. My name is
Valerie Vanderky and I am a Mike Mal First Nations
woman. My family originated from what is now known as
Halifax Nova Scotia and Blackpoint Rusty - Gush County in
New Brunswick. I currently reside in the traditional territory of
the Hodneshone people of the Longhouse. Six nations of the
Grand River in Haldeman County inside the Haldeman tract. I
am forever grateful to the Six Nations of the Grand
River and the Mississauga's of Credit for their stewardship of
the land, where I am allowed to live and raise
my family. Um, I come here today representing Indigenous skills
employment apprenticeship and development. And I'm just going to take
a couple of minutes. I have no slides. I wrote
nothing down. I'm just going to wing it for everybody.
Um, we are a national not - for - profit
organisation whose mandate is to ensure equitable access and opportunity
for Indigenous people in their communities to access employment, training,
and apprenticeship in the skilled trades along with economic development
and social enterprise. So we cover all sectors of training
through funding and grant monies that we receive through partners
in the building trades corporations through other community groups. And
it covers all spectrums of opportunities for employment and training.
Um, when I was first approached by Home Opportunities and
the inquiry that they were making with regards to those
pieces that are so important for eye seed, as we
call it. I'm reminded, again, as a First Nations woman
of the Crown's duty to consult. Under sections 25 and
35 of the Constitution Act of 1982. I am reminded
of the truth and reconciliation commission call to action number
92, asking business to stand up and do their part
and reconciliation with the First Nations people of this country
across the land. I am reminded of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people and the act
that followed it here in Canada when it was adopted.
And my opportunity to work with, uh, Mike Le Bay
has shown me that with the right intentions, with proper
consultation, these partnerships can be formed relationships built and obstacles
overcome before they even begin. It's been my sincere pleasure
to work with this consortium ensuring that the Mississaugas of
credit First Nation. And the Six Nations of the Grand
River both had their voices heard with this group of
individuals. Um, a large portion of Indigenous people live off
reserve the vast majority simply because housing space, affordability, multi
- generational families living together, overcrowding, uh, leading to increased
illness, disease, poor water quality. I could go on, but
I only have six minutes left. So, um, these opportunities
in working in partnership with this consortium affords Indigenous people
living off reserve, the exact same opportunity as anyone else
to enter into affordable home ownership based on their income.
Which is not something that many of them have the
opportunity to attain living on reserve. So we're very proud
of the fact that we've been able to facilitate these
discussions and that we've been able to forge forward with
partnership and understanding and clear support from both of these
nations as is so important considering where we're looking at
putting this development. I'm going to share with you a
personal story. My husband passed away a year and a
half ago. Five years prior to his passing, he worked
for Jerôce Manufacturing here in Guelph. As a project manager
and manufacturing engineering technologist throughout the pandemic, throughout everything. We
live in Kiyouga, Ontario. His commute was an hour and
a half. Here. And sometimes two hours home, depending on
traffic. Many's the time I wanted to relocate to Guelph
to take that load off of him so that he
could give back to his family the three to four
hours that he was spending commuting. Unfortunately for us, we
were unable to afford a home. In Gwelph. So a
large portion of his time was spent commuting instead of
spending it with his son, his daughter and myself. Were
grateful to Jerô's manufacturing for providing us with an income
that allowed us to maintain our lifestyle in Kiyuga. So
I would ask Council to please put forward your best
and foremost consideration on the impact that developments like this
can do to change the lives of individuals who want
to live, work and flourish. In Guelph. Chimique Wedge, Will
England. Well, thank you so much. And thank you for
sharing that story difficult to do, but we appreciate that
very much. And, uh, thank you for coming to make
the presentation. Is there a follow - up at all
at this time. There isn't, but on behalf of Council
again, thank you very, very much. Uh, let's go to
Lainey. I think that's next. And then is, uh, Viran
here. Okay. You're in the wings. Okay, Vern. All right.
Thank you very much for coming. I'll turn it over
to you. Okay. Good afternoon, Mayor Council members and everyone
else here. This is my first time in this Chambers.
So. I'm relying on you to educate me on the
way this goes. My name is Lainey Hayles and I'm
an immigrant to Guelph. I came 30 something years ago
as an immigrant international student, University of Guelph. And I
have left and lived overseas and came back. I work
here. I am an adult educator. I raised a teenager
here. And I have been a volunteer. I've coached basketball.
I worked with or volunteered with the Guelph Museum. And
a various other organisations, Black History Society, black heritage society.
But I just recently graduated from Wilfred Laurier. I just
completed a master's degree in clinical psychotherapy. And I'm looking
for working wealth. I've been doing a lot of commuting
back and forth. Um, but I am a long -
term and a long time renter in wealth. I have
never owned a house in Guelph. And I have been
living in Guelph for a total of 15 years now.
So I'm very grateful to Guelph. I have a history
here. My father came here as a university student in
1957. And my brother and sister were born here as
well. But today I'm here to support The Call for
Affordable Housing Projects in Guelph for Working People. For working
families, particularly. I have three points I would like to
share with you. First and foremost. And I think this
goes, and I hope this goes without saying. Everyone deserves.
The security and dignity of a safe, affordable home and
community. Working educated, single - headed households like mine.
We are forced to spend a significant amount of our
income and time. To meet a basic need called shelter.
And we already service for profit landlords, rich bankers, mortgage
corporations, which may not even necessarily be in Guelph. So
my question to you is will you really consider what's
being presented here and serve working citizens, local citizens like
us. Second, wealth working residents, we need a range of
housing alternatives in various geographic areas. Restrictive boundaries and the
stigma of subsidized housing projects, also known as hoods in
my vernacular. Um, it deters working individuals and families like
myself from finding a stable place to call home. So
my plea to you is, would you consider releasing spaces
that encourage us to live locally? Because that way we
can live and work. More in a more productive and
satisfactory life locally. Third. Your wealth territorial
acknowledgement states that we're guests here. And we have the
responsibility to care for the land, the people who live
here now. And generations to come. I appreciate it hearing
that in the territory acknowledgement. And I'm wondering, don't you
think it behooves us to. Now make intentional sustainable decisions
regarding land stewardship and local humanity. Please make good on
reconciliation. Rhetoric. Um, and move towards making land access more
equitable. So overall, basically what I'm asking for is to
choose compassion and ethical decision making in your decisions and
considering, um, what we're talking about today. Um, I'm asking
for investment. Invest in solutions that centre people in dignified,
um, and for a mutual benefit. Allow affordable access to
land. That it can so it can meet our basic
housing needs and maximize housing opportunities. Let's show that our
city is not backed by single focus, high level establishment.
Parties. Um, and welcomes residents of all types and backgrounds,
all types of backgrounds and income levels. I also want
to mention that as an adult educator, I teach immigrants
and refugees mostly in the Kitchener Watler area, but I've
also been an educator at University of Guelph and in
the community here, action read downtown Guelt of my students
are, the majority of them are actually refugees and immigrants
or low income. And a lot of them work at
Linamar. Eritrean students particularly. And they're commuting from Kitchener Waterloo.
So I've seen them and I hear them and they
speak to me about what, you know, wealth means to
them. And for me, you know, I'm speaking for citizens.
I am a, I'm working. I'm actually educated as I
mentioned. But I'm constantly wondering, can I stay in Gulf?
I really have roots in Guell from my family, as
I mentioned. But I am constantly debating whether I can
stay here. And whether, you know, the work that I'm
constantly commuting to or school in Kitchener Waterloo is worth
it for me to stay here. But I have my
feet here. I want to be here. I made a
choice to come back to Guelph at my more advanced
age. So Mike, please, um, ask you to really consider
these points and to think about, um, the other people
who are like myself and working people, people who work
very hard. Thank you for this opportunity. Well, thank you
very much. Was it difficult your first time here? We
make it pretty comfortable, right? Oh, you mean right now
here? Yeah, it was pretty easy, right? It's a little
chilly in this. Okay. Other than the temperature, it's pretty
good. All right. It was pretty good. Good. I like
that. Um, well, you did great for your first time.
Okay. Just want to make sure everyone, everyone's always comfortable
here. So it's, it's good. This is community. Right. So
is there any questions by anyone? Okay. Councillor Busatil has
a question. Through the mayor. Thank you very much for
your presentation, Lainey. Resonates very much with me. I often
talked about my dental hygienist that drives all the way
in from Shelburn. Same kind of situation, affordability here local.
But in your delegation, you talked, you urged us to
think about a range of housing. And you made reference
to, you know, subsidized public kind of community housing. And
so I'm asking you in your on the ground kind
of experience, if this kind of a model creates space
for some of the residents who are in paying market
rent in community housing, social housing, public housing to move.
Because when you talk about a range of housing, we
desperately need more public housing. So when you think about
your range, is there that possibility to create a movement
in that parking lot where we're kind of stuck. When
you say, if I may ask, when you say a
range, you're talking about same location. In the City of
Guelph, yes. A range. You talked about a range of
housing. Okay. So it can be both ways. It can
be various locations, which I refer to. Right. I'm also
talking about diversity in one area. You know, there is
more things that connect us. And there are differences if
we actually are connected. Like somebody had referred to. I
can't remember who it was, you know, helping people in
the community. So when I talk about arrange, you know,
you get one time, yeah, you get can get, have
one type of income in one place that kind of
creates a stigma, you know, as I mentioned. But you're
talking about in the same location. That's a very good
thing, but I was also referring to different locations in
wealth, you know, for diversing the city of Guelph, different
places. So you're not thinking of the inner city. You
know? Is that answer your question? Perfect. Thank you. Great.
And seeing nothing further, thank you again for joining us.
We appreciate it. We'll see you back here another time,
hopefully. Okay. Varying, command forward. Just as Viren is getting
ready, I just, I'm just minding to make sure from
a, come on for it. Yeah. I was an agenda
management. I want to make sure everyone's kind of hearing
me out on this. We have one, two, three, four,
five, six, we have seven at a minimum. Of more
people that are signed up for delegating. Then I have
to open it up to the floor. Then I have
to open it up for people to, to, to call
in. And I'm just going to be really upfront with
everybody here. Council has to take a break. Okay. We
have to have a break. So when I look at
the agenda and I look at all the other stuff
that's on our agenda, I just want to say that
the next agenda item. Is the ward heritage conservation district.
And we have a presentation. And then one delegation. And
we have the urban design master plan for Duke Street,
Midtown Village. I would not be surprised that we don't
even start. The ward heritage is conservation district. Until like
730 quarter to eight. So if the reason why I'm
saying that is so that if there are people here
that are waiting around for that agenda item, okay? If
you are here in this room for the urban design
master plan and the delegations that are signed up for
that, like that, that could be eight, eight, 15. Okay.
Like, so I'm just trying to make sure everyone is
hearing, hearing what it is in case you want to
go for a coffee or something like that. Come back
later. Okay. So please just be aware of time everybody
as we continue on in our agenda. And we are
going to go through the delegations, which is another hour.
At least. And then we're going to take a half
an hour break after that. Okay. So right now, uh,
Veren, thanks for letting me interrupt you. And, uh, you
have the floor. Okay. Go right ahead. Hello, Councillor. And
hello, everyone. My name is Viren and I'm working for
a Linamar in a Gulf. I live in a boost
talk. And I travel about an hour each way. To
work every day. While I enjoy my job commuting has
its challenges. I spend around two hours on the day.
Uh, sorry. I spent around two hour a day on
the road. Which takes time away from my family. Exercise
and work community. This is my first time. Sorry. And
community activities. The cost of gas vehicle maintenance and repairs
at sub quickly. Weather can make more weather canuting even
more difficult. Winter storm snow ice. And poor road conditions.
Can make travel unsafe and cost delays. In December 2025,
CVR weather close highway 401 between V stock and gulf.
Preventing me from getting to work. Another winterstorm on January
15 2026 also made travel unsafe. This disruption affect many
workers who commute from nearby communities. The main reason I
live in Vstock. Is affordability. Housing there is more within
my budget than housing in a Gulf. Like many families.
I choose to leave where I could afford a stable
home. If more affordable housing were available in a GOV,
I would seriously consider moving here. Living closer to work
would reduce commuting time and cost. Give me more time.
With my family. I know many other workers. Faced the
same situation. More affordable housing in a gulf would help
people live closer to their jobs. Improve their quality of
lifes. And strengthen the community. Thank you for considering the
experiences of people like me. Who would welcome to who
would welcome the opportunity to live and work in the
same community. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very
much. Yeah, we appreciate your presentation and your thoughts on
it too. Let me just see if the follow -
up question from Councillor Galler. Okay. Thank you. And through
your worship too. Mr. Chara. Thank you very much for
presenting today. Could you let me know how long have
you been looking to move and to unleaven wealth? Almost
from last two years past two years. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
I appreciate that. Thank you very much for presenting. Thank
you. Seeing nothing further. We appreciate your point of view.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Okay. Terry. You already
are in the wings. We appreciate that. Marva, you're here,
right? You're in the wings now. Okay. Terry, thanks for
joining us. Go right ahead. Hello everyone. My name is
Terrie Jarvis. I'm a retiree living in Ward 6 and
I'm also an active volunteer in our Great Gulf community,
especially through my rotary club. I love this city, but
like many of us are worry about our lack of
affordable housing. So I'm here tonight to speak from the
heart. And I have just three brief points. The first
is that I see it's, the near impossibility for many
young people to get onto the Home Ownership ladder. Secondly,
without affordable housing, many talented employees often cannot come to
nor stay in Guelph, which also places stress on businesses
and employers that need their local talent to be living
nearby. Furthermore, point not mentioned so far is that I
believe there are many older folks on fixed incomes who
also need affordable housing and would love to downsize perhaps
and live independently in a multi - generational neighbourhood near
shocks. We have before us a really remarkable opportunity here
that has been spelled out. And so I have today
just a simple request to the City. Please prioritize this
rezoning so that an amazing project can move forward and
make a lot more affordable housing available in growth sooner
rather than later. Thank you. Well, thank you, Terrie. Thanks
for hanging around for that. And is there any follow
- up for Terry at all. There is not. Thank
you very much. Oh, I'm sorry, Terry. I do need
you to stick around. I did not see Councillor Choose
Hand go up. So please stick around Councillor 2 over
to you. Thank you, Thierry, Mr. Mayor. Just a very
quick question. Uh, Terry, would you mind sharing where you
live? I'm just curious to see if you live in
proximity to this project. And if, uh, that played any
influence in your support for this project. No, I'm going
to just interject. That's not relevant where people live anyone
that can come up and speak their mind on something.
It doesn't matter about location. Um, so Terry, I don't,
I don't think, I will leave it up to you
to answer that question, but it's not something that's normally
needed to be answered. Okay. So I'll lead up in
the air, phrase that question. Sure. Okay. I'm just curious,
uh, what your experiences in this area. And if that's
influenced your support for this project. I speak really as
a concerned and compassionate citizen worried for others. Perfect. Thank
you. Council Archer, are you okay then? You still have
the floor if you have a thank you. Okay. Thank
you, Terry. Marva, come on down. Mike, I think I
saw you here in the front row, right Mike? Yep.
You're in the wings, Mike. Marva over to you. Thank
you for joining us. Uh, thank you, your worship.
Members of Council and members of the community, uh, the
Home Opportunities team. I first met, um, uh, John Farley.
Who made a presentation to our rotary club, uh, probably
about two and a half years ago about this incredible
opportunity for our community. And so I am thinking that
we're a little bit behind in terms of, uh, the
delivery of the presentation that you made that we were
also excited about many community members. As the mayor has
said, my name is Marva Bailey Wisdom. And I am
a proud gulfig since 1985. As that's 41 years ago,
uh, I moved here to Guelph. And at the time,
I think I was 25 years old. Don't do the
math. Whatever you do. But we were able to afford
to purchase a home then. And I know now that
would be really impossible for 25 year old to move
to Guelph and purchase a home. Like many in this
room, I love my community and together we work to
make it a welcoming place, uh, when we all can
strive. We can thrive and we certainly can flourish. This
evening I will share the whys and the promise of
Guelph very briefly. And I do urge counsel to consider,
uh, the designating with, with of course staff, appropriating industrial
or employment lands for affordable residential housing. The benefits are
significant and wealth can become a model for other Canadian
communities. And listening to qualifieds, some of the promises includes,
uh, what I heard I was very honoured to be
a member of Wells Community Plan and External Lead Advisor
to the plan, which was 2018 and 2019. And in
the plan. Uh, it talks about the plan becoming Guelph's
foundational vision for the City's strategic plan and that it
has guided many of the city's master plans. Its vision
is one that I believe this proposal directly supports. The
community plan has several planks, including housing, including affordable housing.
And it tells us that we love where we live.
That's what a lot of things that we heard, um,
in the community. That we value green, walkable neighbourhoods where
people are connected and can remain in their communities as
they age. The recreation centre that is going to be
in the South and certainly the emergency services that are
there shopping the green spaces. It is uniquely situated for
families and for individuals who need housing now. We want
to preserve our unique wealthiness. They continue to say while
accommodating growth. And most importantly, the community plan recognise that
Gualth needs more housing. That is affordable, accessible and suitable
for people of all incomes ages and circumstances. Why did
I share that? It's because I want to remind us
that we have asked the community already. Like we have
been out there. Having these deep, deep conversations. And we
have said we hear you and we want to cast
forward 10, 15, 20 years from now. And casting forward
as to what you need and what you wish to
see. And the housing vision is very synergistic with this
proposal that everyone has a safe home that meets their
needs. That affordable housing choices are available throughout the city
that accessible housing options are expanded and that young people
can afford to staying gualth and new residents can choose
to make gualth their home. That people feel safe and
supported in their homes and neighbourhoods. And you can find
that on. Go to City of Guelph Community Plan website.
This proposal advances those goals. So what are we hearing
today is hardly new. And it is again, reemphasizing. I'm
also a fellow with the Enveronics Institute for Survey Research.
And I want to share a little bit of findings
in the 2024 Confederation of Tomorrow Survey. The survey found
that affordable housing has become one of Canada's most pressing
public policy issues. More than 6, 000 Canadians were surveyed
and the results were clear. Canadians are much more likely
to disapprove than approve of how governments at all levels
are addressing the supply of affordable housing.
And municipal governments came in at 42 percent disapproval. And
after listening here tonight, this is the opportunity to take
action. Guelph leads in so many areas. We have an
incredible community. And I believe we can lead in this
area as well. In closing, council does have this opportunity
to make home ownership possible for the people who keep
Guelph running. Our workers, our young families, first time buyers,
seniors looking to downsize while remaining in the community they
love. Converting appropriate industrial or employment lands to support affordable
homeownership is more than a land use decision. It's an
investment in Guelph's future. It strengthens our workforce. This proposal
is consistent with the vision of the Gualth Community Plan,
a city where everyone has access to safe, affordable. And
suitable housings. And imagine 940 new affordable housing. So I
respectfully ask Council to support this proposal and approve the
necessary planning changes to allow affordable residential housing on these
lands. Together, we can ensure that Guelph remains a city
where people not only work, but also afford to build
a life. Raise a family and afford it home. Thank
you for your time. Thank you for your consideration, your
service. Thank you for listening and leaning into your caring
and compassionate community. Great. Thank you, Marva. Thank you so
much for coming. We appreciate it. Is there any follow
- up for Marva's presentation. There is not. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Mike Darman, come on forward. And
is Amina here. Okay. Perfect. You're going to be in
the wings. Okay. Uh, so Mike over to you. Good
afternoon, Merry Guthrie. Councillors and City staff. My name is
Mike Darman and I'm co - chair of GCAT, The
Guelph Community for Active Transportation. I will admit that I
was unfamiliar with this development site as is a surrounded
by natural heritage industry, a school and a recreation centre.
So it decides to bike to it on site visit.
Looking at the drawings on laptop or phone simply doesn't
work for me. I need to get a feel of
the property. By actually walking around and seeing it in
context to its surroundings. I found a sign for the
application on Player Road West by the water tower and
got my bearings. Unfortunately the site is inaccessible from Southgate
Drive area due to the prevalence of major fence -
off industrial sites. So I continued my ride back to
Claire Road and Poppy Drive and explored the property from
the rear Fisher McDonald High School and the South End
Recreation Centre. What immediately struck me. Was the thought that
this development is an ideal opportunity to actually allow people
to live almost directly beside where they would work. Live,
play and shop. The second thought was that came to
my mind was how actually how quiet it was compared
to other places in the city, even with major industry
so close by. It seemed far quieter than living near
an arterial road, adding high - density residentials seemed like
an ideal mixed use opportunity. And especially for much needed
affordable housing for employees of adjacent businesses and industry. Zoning
was created for many reasons in the past. There were
justified at the time. The housing crisis justifies rethinking rigid
zoning industrial zoning. Ontario faces a severe housing shortage. Large
areas of urban land remains reserved exclusively for industrial uses
even where industrial activity has at client or change. Preventing
any residential development on these lands reduces the supply of
available for housing. Allowing residential uses on appropriate industrial sites
like this one could increase housing supply without expanding city
boundaries. Many industrial areas are no longer heavily industrial. Modern
industry often consists of warehouses, distribution centres, technology firms, research
facilities and small - scale manufacturing. These uses frequently generate
far less noise and pollution. Than traditional factories along Southgate,
this is almost exactly the case. Perhaps the strongest argument
to redesignate these lands comes from industrial from these lands
from industrial to residential comes from the local industry sector
itself. Reading through the correspondence from industry supporters like Kiwi
Newton, Linamar and Denso. It struck me that this is
a unique combined economic development, employment and affordable housing development
opportunity all in one. This is an opportunity that far
exceeds keeping the site only for an employment lands and
may only ultimately include a similar industry that employs fewer
employees. Kiwi Newton's analysis perhaps is the strongest. They have
the capability of producing low - cost prefabricated factory built
energy efficient affordable modular housing building systems. This development will
offer a built example showcasing how it can be done
in other communities at scale and potentially lead to the
expansion of their facilities, employing many more workers. The technology
for the robotics part may come from Linamar, which will
further increase for both companies. And ultimately how is this
built will help all of them to retain and get
new employees by enabling employees to live close to where
they work, shop and play, reduces their housing and transportation
expenses. And the money stays local. This is a win
- to - win opportunity for Guelph. Regarding our GCAT
vision for Active Transportation and Future Planning Application Steps, GCAT
respectfully asked Council to direct the applicant to work with
City staff, The Wellington Catholic School Board. Bishop McDonald, Catholic
School and Laboring Land Owners to explore direct pedestrian and
cycling connections from this development nearby destinations. In conclusion, I
hope Council ultimately agrees to supportesignating these lands. This is
such a unique opportunity to showcase a solution to deal
with the affordability issues of housing in our area. It
will foster economic development, boost employment, and provide a community
where people can live close to where they work, shop
and play. It really is a unique opportunity to show
how it can be done in Guelph and showcase how
it can be done in other cities. Thanks. Great, Mike.
Thank you very much. Any follow - up for Mike
at all. Councillor Kron. Thank you. Mr. Darman, I know
this is a land use planning meeting for this particular
site, but I am curious about accessibility from the trail
system because I tried to follow where you might have
come from to the north along the Claire Fire or
along the South Creek trail that you described. I'm just
wondering if you came from the downtown area. Where did
you get spit out. Well, I spot out actually on
Claire Road off an existing trail. Somewhere near the water
tower. I'm actually not that familiar with that Andrew Guelph.
I've been there a few times, but I actually did
actually take the whole trailer system mostly to there actually,
believe it or not. Okay, so on water towers too.
It's very close to this site. So. There was an
exit for you to use. Yeah, yeah, the was actually.
Yeah, it was very close actually. Yeah. In fact, once
I left it, I was, you know, trying to remember
where I got back on. It was just basically up
the road back onto the trail system again. Yeah. Okay,
that's helpful. Thank you. Great, nothing further. Thanks Mike. Thank
you. And Amina's coming down. Thank you for being ready.
Barbara Man, I see you Barbara. Yep, you're in the
wings. Welcome, Amina. It's over to you whenever you're ready.
Okay. Hi. My name is Emina Sakar. And I'm a
new resident to Group. I just heard about this meeting
a couple of days ago. And I thought I can
pass up a chance to put in my two cents,
uh, to get a project, a development like this integral
for. I know a lot about it because I worked
with, uh, this type of, uh, model for over the
12 years. And in six developments. I don't have any
presentation or anything like that. So I'm just going to
wigger. I love golf. I've been here a couple of
years now. And, um, I love the people. People are
so polite. Drivers are so polite. I came in from
Toronto. I left Toronto, but it's quite nice here. Drivers
applied people stop and a friendly. And I think it's
my home now. So I'd like to settle here. And
I'd like to see a lot of people get into
home ownership. The way this model's worked.
During my career. I worked in engineering and contraction. I
worked in accounting. I worked in banking. The federal government.
I worked in Montreal. I was educated in Middle. I
lived and working in Toronto in Vancouver and back to
Toronto. And I discovered option for homes. I discovered this
model. And I was just so impressed with it because
I myself as a single woman and a single mom.
My dream was home ownership. And I did get into
it, but it was so difficult. So when I saw,
uh, option for whom I thought, Oh my God, we
have I been, you know, this could have helped me.
But anyway, I did not buy an option for homes
because I'd already been into home ownership. But again, like
I'm saying, it was not easy. Uh, I knew if
I had gotten an adoption for homes, I would have,
you know, the, it's geared to my, to income. So
it would have been so much better. Anyway, when I
discovered it, I, um, thought what a wonderful thing that
people can actually get help. Because I never got help.
You know, I had to do it on my own.
And here people can get help. And I thought this
is something I can do to also help. So I
got in as using all my experience and skills. And
I helped, I worked on six. Yeah, I think at
six, uh, developments in Toronto. And I helped hundreds of
people get into home ownership. By. You know, people who
didn't think they can, they can own a house. On
a property. And we were able to get them. Into
home ownership. I, um. I remember my first, the first
development I worked on. And there was a young man
and he made about what. I don't know, 25, 30,
000 at the time. And but he had very good,
good credit. And he had a study job. He got
himself, we got him, uh, studio. And he, you know,
a couple of years after he came back and he
sold that, uh, he had put down about 10, 000
dollars when he came back the second time to buy
another police. He had about 50, 000 dollars in equity.
So he was able to get himself a mega place.
Um, and there was so many families who were able
to. Get into homes. And not just homes. One of
my first project was in an area of Toronto called
a junction. And when we started, before we started, the
place was really down. And businesses were going out. There
were lots of old Victorian homes. It's sort of like
in the North part of hyperconblue area. Um, it was
really, nobody wanted to be around it. And I thought
it was a big risk that, uh, options are going
to develop there. And one's the place was built. I
can't remember how many units, but there were hundreds of
units. The place became so vibrant. There were so many
restaurants and artists around and so many people moved in.
Actually, it was written up in the New York Times
that it was one of the most upcoming place in
North America. And I think a lot of it had
to do with our development now. So yeah, uh, there
was another project we did at Bathurst and Lawrence where
there's a very strong Jewish community. And we catered to
that. You know, we had a special elevator for the
Sabbath. And so many others. What can I say? I
love Guelph to have this. I have nothing to gain
from this except I Guelph is now my home. And
I'd like to see a lot more people come. Like
I say, I love Guelph. I don't like the property
tax compared to Toronto. And I figured more people I
can get into growlf and the more businesses develop into
Guel. I guess it's the reason we, our taxes are
so much higher compared to Toronto. We need a lot
more people and a lot more businesses to pay taxes.
So I think properties like this would really help that
a lot. Uh, another thing is, you know, dealing with
the customers one - on - one, I would have,
you know, they would first come in and I'd explain
everything to them. Like, uh, I mean it could take
an hour, two hours. I'd explain what her mortgage is
because they were all lingoed. Sometimes people don't really understand.
I'll explain what's fixed rate and what's variable rate. And
we would get through, you know, go through their preliminary
data. And I'd figure out, okay, can you afford this
and how much can you get a mortgage? And if
they wanted to move forward, we go ahead and, uh,
fill out the forms with them and find out from
the bank homage that heck in my forward. And depending
on what they can afford, then we stepped in. And
held them with arrest. So it could be affordable and
comfortable. Because I'll tell you, for me, it was not
comfortable. Uh, it was a lot of train. But I
worked it out. And thank God now I am mortgage
for you at this time of my life. So I'd
like to see people go get help like that. There's
so much more I can see, but, um, anyway, I
think you'll get the gist of order. I hope it
works out. And, uh, we can get this going. Thank
you. Okay. Thank you very much, Emina. Thank you for
sticking around for your presentation. And let me just ask
my colleagues if the follow - up for you. There
is, not. So thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank
you. And Barbara Mann is coming down. Scott, I saw
you sitting there as well. So you're in the wings.
Go ahead Barbara whenever you're ready. Hello everybody. Thank you
for having me, Staff. Thank you for all the hard
work that you've put into this. And a lot of
your councillors may have come here not sure what your
decision was going to be on this. Um, to be
honest, it breaks my heart anytime we disrupt an ecosystem
or we develop, uh, green space. However, it's much easier
to support. A request such as is happening with 2A
declare road when you know who's behind it. And you
know what's behind it. Um, I'd rather do that than
give over productive farm fields to mansions personally. I've listened
carefully to the team. I've asked hard questions. I've read
the information and I'm glad that it's home opportunities who's
behind it because I too know a lot of people
who were able to achieve home ownership through this model
at 35 Manford and five Gordon Street. So we already
have it on site in Guav. Um, second, I believe
that the team has done their due diligence. Um, of
course now that I've got the ear of, uh, an
environmentalist here. Don't forget that farm fields and meadows provide
small mammals, which provide food for hawks and foxes. Don't
forget that high buildings putting light out on a corridor
changes circadian rhythms of the mammals that you're trying to
protect. Um, but that's the only segue I'll have there.
Um, because I know it's a model that's financially possible
for people to achieve home ownership. I also know that
lion was the first person in Canada to offer employment
lands and 25 foot housing lots along Alice Street to
entice employment and employers in Guelph. This is not a
new thing. But it's an important thing because as Layanne
Karen knows from smart golf, people used to live in
Guelph because it was cheaper than Toronto and commute to
Toronto. Now we've heard Varencey and thank you for being
here. As do two other people, I know who work
at different employers, they're commuting from Woodstock. But the request
is the same thing. Everyone wants to live and work
in the same place that they are. And I see
that with this. I see what's being offered to us
is multiple types of units. We have to talk about
the actual accessibility in those units. But it's a chance
for people to scale up and down depending on their
time of life where they're at in the same neighbourhood.
Imagine an old - fashioned neighbourhood. You walk to work,
you walk to school, you cycle over to get your
groceries. And you've got three quarters of it surrounded by
your own green belt. What's wrong with that picture? As
well, I think it's really important that we look at
the idea that density. It's not a huge space, but
it's creating a ton of housing. So with that in
mind, I thank you from everybody else that there's pretty
much an agreement that this is a one - time
thing that makes sense for our community. Thank you. Thank
you Barbara for sticking around. Any questions for Barbara at
this time. There is not. Thank you very much. And
Frederick coming up next. And then Claire Braden is good
to join us by video after that. Then we just
have a couple more. So Scott, thanks for waiting and
I'll turn it over to you. So, um, I have,
um, some familiarity with this area. As I, uh, used
to work just around the corner from it on Southgate
for quite a few years. Previously to that, I worked
in siliculture field in BC, which is basically the business
of recovering forests after some kind of disaster, which is
usually, uh, clear cut logging. So I'm afraid I'm going
to oppose this proposal on two grounds. There's a lot
of merit in the proposal from the housing point of
view. There's two values which are impaired by this proposal.
The impairment of the existing important wildlife corridor and reduction
in employment lands. So I'm going to talk about the
employment lens issue first. Guelph is short of employment lands.
The past conversion of employment lands to other uses is
added to the existing employment land deficit. A case in
point is the recent proposal for the Gulf Innovation District
with a proponent presented a plan with less employment lands
than called for in the official plan. They stated, and
I'm paraphrasing here. In effect that developing industrial properties was
not their thing. And a more appropriate place for it
would be in the Southgate industrial park. So guess where
that is? It's here. So basically it's like pointless are
like the hot potato that nobody wants to, uh, the
proponent for this project bought land. It was zoned for
employment and once converted to housing. Why? Why not buy
land zone for housing and build it there. We hire
professional planners at considerable expense to plan the entire city
in accordance with provincial higher level plans and mandates. We
should stick to our official plans more often. And now
I'm going to talk about the wildlife corridor. I have
a slide here. Oh good. Um, so this shows the
location of currently existing wildlife corridors. The one on the
table today is the one at the bottom of the
photo. And connects the wildlife protective areas in the clear
maltply plan to preservation park, which is the big green
blob in the centre. The one at the top left
crosses the handling corridor and connects preservation park to the
Speed River corridor. So we have a continuous link between
Speed River and Claire Maltby. The one of the upper
right, or to the right, basically crosses Gordon just so
the Vettenberg. That path is still open, but it's effectively
lost because of multi - story development has been proved
for that site, which will effectively block that corridor. If
a corridor is lost, it makes any remaining corridor much
more important. Okay, there we go. So this shows the
subject glands from the south with. Clair Road behind. You
can clearly see the overclown planted strip in the rear,
which is the current walllife corridor.
Oh, there we go. Uh. So in front is the
recently cultivated field, which is proposed to be the new
wildlife corridor. This is not ideal because ready to road
crossing. Is previously cultivated field. Which is disturbed land with
low biodiversity. Current corridor is much better quality for a
while left quarter. So at this point it'd be good
to review corridor sizes from the Ontario Technical Guide. Local
corridors, less than 50 metres, best for small animals. Mammals,
amphibians and birds moving between small remnant patches of woods
and wetlands and urban settings. I think we need more
than that. The post corridor is 60 metres. Also from
the manual regional and sub - regional corridors, larger animals
such as deer, elk, or bears require fat wide quarters
often exceeding 350 metres to avoid the noise and presence
of human development. Obviously two kilometers is out of the
question. But bigger is better. And de facto, corridor that
we have now is about 150 metres, which is probably
not bad. Also to be effective, longer quarters need to
be wider. Okay. Delay.
There. So, um, this is a planted tree in this
current corridor. The ribbon on my shovel is about one
metre from the ground. So this tree is about two
metres high. In the background, there are some naturally regenerated
woodland. Over a thousand trees of implanted by volunteers and
a current wildlife corridor. No doubt it would be discouraging
for them to learn their work would be undone. Uh,
years later. This is valuable habitat for wildlife. Havanna with
woodland patches. Dense woodland is good. Open land is good.
Edges are good.
So this is hard to see with the arrow's point
to a flint wildlife trail. So we know this corridor
is used. And, uh. Actually that's a slide for that.
And. I'm going to save some time by skipping that
one. This is a copy of slide number two, which
is a mistake. Okay. So. Right. Yeah.
It might seem that I'm arguing against myself, butvocating for
the employment land doesn't need to be routine, but I'm
not having a warehouse or light manufacturing there. We have
less impact than a dense housing development. My previous workplace
on Southgate was 30, 000 square feet on eight acres
and had about 30 employees. Our impact on a natural
world was minimal. So the hierarchy of wants would be
fees the land unoccupied as is. Or to retain the
employment designation, which may mean that it is never developed
or would have less impact if it is developed. And
number three, if development proceeds acquire some of the lands
to the rear of some of the Southgate properties that
join this proposing corridor. So this slide shows somewhat messily
in blue to the right, the current corridor. In blue
to the left, the proposed corridor. And in green, there
were some remnants of privately on land. There's adjacent to
the current proposed corridor, but could be added if these
lands are required for this purpose. This were done to
new quarter would be widened and enhanced. And in red,
this looks like more wild land. But in fact, it
is now a truck parking lot built after the photo.
So this shows how easily new wildlife corridor could be
degraded. If more lands are not acquired and added. So
that concludes my presentation. Well, thank you, Scott, for sticking
around for your as well. And your opinions here. We
appreciate that. And as our follow - up for Scott
at this time. And Councillor Alt has a question. Thank
you very much. It's a very quick one. I just
didn't catch, uh, the width for a large animal corridor.
Did you say beyond 350 metres, 50 metres or 150
metres. Uh, for the small local one, it's less than
50. For regional sub - regional 300 to two kilometers.
Uh, and I was saying, well, obviously. And the current
one is 150. So we're on the low end there.
So that's why I'm advocating to retain all of it,
if possible. Councillor Alt, uh, I'm so sorry to interrupt
you. Council, I'll just unfortunately muted by accident. He had
a follow - up question for you, Scott. Go ahead.
Apologies. The 350 then is for larger mammals. That's, that's
what I'm seeking clarification on. Because I heard earlier that
this would be a corridor for deer and coyote and
others. And what I think I'm hearing from you is
precisely the opposite. Yeah. Um. Yes, it says the
manual, this is the Ontario Provincial Manual says, uh, 300
for the large mammals. And we need large metals to
move. They're moving there now with the court that they
have now. To take my takeaway from the manual was
biggers better. So you, you want the largest one you
could fit into that spot. Thank you very much. Okay.
Thank you Councillor Alt. Nothing further, Scott. So thank you
again for your presentation. Claire is going to join us
by video. And, uh, Everesto, am I saying your name
right? Yes. Okay. You are in the wings. Okay. Uh,
Claire, are you going to join us by video? And
Claire is also from the Gulf community for active transportation
group. Hi, thank you, Mayor Gusserie. Just let me know
if you cannot hear me and good evening counsel. My
name is Claire Braden. I'm a resident of Ward three
in Guelph. I'm also an active transportation advocate. And, uh,
I want to offer my support for the plan to
redesignate the land at 266 Clair Road West from Industrial
to High Density Residential. And I want to talk about
active transportation according to the City of Gwelp's Vision 0
action plan, the most effective way to reduce vehicle collisions
with pedestrians and cyclists is to reduce vehicle dependency by
building affordable housing near amenities. This proposal is a great
example of both. The parcel's proximity to the Southgate Drive
Industrial Area, Bishop Mack High School, The Claire Gordon commercial
corridor and the Hamilton Go Bus Root, which by the
way, services for universities. Um, Hamilton, or sorry, uh, McMaster
Guelph Laurier and Waterloo provides the opportunity for residents to
walk, ride, or take transit for everyday activities. We can
gradually shift people away from expensive dangerous car trips to
active healthy travel. If we allow different land uses to
mix in close proximity and to thrive. I was heartened
and intrigued to read about the, uh, affordable and kind
of the innovative lending model for this program and the
affordability of it. But let's not, um, downplay the natural
affordability that comes simply by having residents, um, simply by
the proximity between residents and amenities. The choice to be
independent from car usage, even if it is intermittently independent,
even if you're just, you're permitted to reduce your car
usage to far less than before, it relieves you from
a huge strain on your pocketbook because of the cost
of gas. Gasoline, which is not going down anytime soon.
That is a choice that few other gull fights, including
myself, are lucky enough to have. For example, my summer
job, uh, is away from Gwelph. It's of an hour
and a half drive from my house. And therefore I've
had to move to new market. To save on board
in new market just so that I can get to
work. My colleagues in York region routinely complain about spending
hours in highway 404 gridlock and the impacts that high
gas prices are having on their pocketbooks. So being able
to live within a 15 minute walk of jobs, groceries
and school is a luxury that many people would be
delighted to have. I very much hope that Council approves
this official Plan Amendment and Zoning Bylaw Amendment. So that
hundreds of people can get a foot on the housing
ladder and a chance at safe, active transportation. I also
hope that future site plans will include pedestrian cutthrough pathways
that make it easy for families and residents to access
Bishop MAC, the south end community centre, and Southgate Drive.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Claire. We appreciate you
joining us. And is there any follow - up for
Claire. For my colleagues. There is not. So thank you
again. Everest O, come on up. And then our last
one that has signed up is Hugh Whiteley, which will
join us by video. And just to reminder, uh, just
cause I've heard a couple of comments over the last
couple hours. This is not a meeting where we are
making a decision. We are only here to receive the
application today. The option for approval is much later. Okay.
So, uh, just making sure everyone hears that before we
continue. And as a reminder, so, uh, Everesto, the, thank
you very much for joining us. And I'll turn the
mic over to you. Okay. Okay. So my quality tick
lock. No talk. I vari cerramos. So I'm leap on
Apache for my father's side and on my mother's side,
I've been able to trace it back to the Nawat
people in central Mexico. And so I was saying, uh,
good evening. And my name is. And so I did
turn, I did, uh, I did turn in a document,
uh, for a statement, but listening to, and so I
know we're very late or this has gone on for
a very long time. But for me, the biggest thing.
When I look at things, because I walk in many
worlds and I look at things from different perspectives because
of my, my teachings. And, you know, the time that
I spent here in Guelph. And so for me, the
biggest thing from having when I met with them and
then walking the land this weekend and seeing the actual
property or what they're proposing, you know, for me, it
seems, it's a good, it's what they provided an opportunity,
an opportunity for people to have a choice and for
them to be able to achieve housing. And, you know,
and to achieve a lot of the other things that
we've heard from the previous speakers, you know, having a
sense of community, you know, this is adding, you know,
900 plus locations for people to live and maybe potentially
work in the close area and be able to live
and to, you know, have a sense of dignity and
have a sense of being able to provide for themselves.
And so for me, when I, when I was considering
the statement that I made and listened to everybody speak
today, that's really the biggest thing that I wanted to
highlight was, you know, it is my hope. You know,
that when I understand that, you know, this is just
the planning meeting, but when, you know, US councillors and
as leaders who are ultimately, we'll have to make the
decision to make the modification of her diese amendments or
to accept them is understanding and thinking forward. What the
kind of opportunity does this present for the citizens of
the city and potentially people who are coming in. Because
over time over my six years that I've been here
and the building where I live, I see lots of
people coming, go because of the, them not being able
to afford to live in the apartment that they are
in. Or because of where they work. They would love
to live in quote because this is what their job
is. But they're not able to stay here. Or because
they live in the apartment or, you know, where they
live. It's not conducive for their families. It's grown. And
so it kind of makes me sad that there's not
opportunities for people to be able to do those things.
Indigenous or not. And so, uh, when they first approached
me to look at all of this and they wanted
that perspective, but I think this is a, I don't
want to say it's, it is bigger than just looking
at it from just from the perspective of indigenous people
because we're all here. And so we need to look
at it from that perspective of being able to speak
up for maybe people who can't speak up and for
also our neighbours. And so again, for me, it comes
back to the original scheme that I, that I see
here, it's just making an opportunity for people to be
able to do the things that they would like to
do either a single league, like they explain them having
like a studio apartment. If somebody's starting you in their
life or somebody who's growing their family and, you know,
they're, they have, they maybe they are going to college
here at university Gulf or maybe in comics Vilga. And
so it gives them a good way forward. One of
the things I did appreciate in the conversation with the
people with him was the fact that they thought about
the Cord War and about moving for the making that
lane available for the animals. So for me and trying
to think when I walked to land and trying to
understand like when, if I weren't animal, you know, I
wouldn't want to cross Claire Road because I would probably
be afraid of getting hit or maybe denoise. And so
I would naturally try and stay away from, from that
area. Um, but as they explained today how that area
would be separated. So then that would probably give them
an opportunity for the for our animal to relatives to
happen. You have somewhere to live and somewhere to be.
That's not really accessible by the humans. And so I
think that's quite important. Um, the other thing when I,
the other thing I liked when I walked on the
land and looking at what the information they provided from
the slides and putting the pictures they showed in trying
to imagine whether it would be, um, that cord or
makes a, as I made them, my statement, it makes
basically a natural sight line. It does give you a
bumper from that industrial area. And so my hope would
be eventually maybe between us, this progressives along that the
discussion with the city and these developers. And maybe some
other community voices are maybe making sure that there's access,
uh, more access like to the, to Bishop Mack or
maybe potentially, um, more of those green spaces that are
not part of that, uh, ecological corridor that would be
available for the residents. Not just this development, but I
think that would be helpful for everybody else in that
particular community area. So glanzo komathy between thank you and
all that. And if there are any questions, be more
than happy to answer for, for you. Great. Thank you
very much for coming, uh, and speaking to us. Is
there any questions at all as a follow up for
my colleagues. There is not. But again, thank you very
much. And last that is signed up here as Hugh
Whiteley, who will now join us by video.
First unmuting. And then. Start the video. Certainly hear you.
We're just waiting for the video to start if you
wish. I'm trying to see where to accept the
video. No problem. Take your time if you want to
try to find it. And if not, we can hear
you very clearly here. It's not a problem. If you
want to just do, let's go ahead without finding the
video. Okay. You go right ahead. Thank you. Greetings mayor
councillors and members of the public. My intention in addressing
you today is to provide information on the planning issue,
which the day is about, should the boulder pavement, remnant
glacial spillway feature. Which occupies 280 Clair Road West. Be
protected as a core greenway feature. As has been the
cities intent from 1997 till 2024. Or should this 8.
5 hectare parkland, the same size space as the much
contested Niska Road property? Should this 8. 5 hectare Parkland
be converted to high density residential use. Since 1997 until
2024, the 8. 5 hectare subject property was 7. 1
hectares of it. Protected P1 Zone Parkland. The remaining 1.
4 hectares were urban reserve ready for adding to the
parkland. Currently the 8. 5 hectare property is partitioned from
2024. With 4. 5 hectares of the natural heritage system
zoning remaining. And four hectares zoned. B industrial now. The
proposal being considered for the development of this site. Takes
down the 8. 5 hectares of open space currently or
until recently protected. And Shrink said to 2. 5 hectares.
With outwash Valley that has been preserved now obliterated. The
planning history of 280 Plair Road West has an important
bearing on the decision made about the property. The handling
creek watershed Plan of 1993 and the South Guelph Secondary
Plan of August 1996 had the following description of the
naturalized areas which starts at the subject property on Claire
Road and extends, uh, over a kilometer to the exit
onto Maltby. Here's what the watershed plan in the Southwelve
Secondary Planned said about that strip of land. The provincially
significant wetlands within the area. And the contiguous upland forest
old field habitats associated with the Hamake Boran topography. Are
core natural areas. These features represent a high constraint to
development. Due to their important ecological features or functions. Which
include habitat for rare species. Wildlife habitat and quarter functions.
Groundwater Recharge and Discharge function. And a buffer to sensitive
wetland areas. And coming to the particular property we're talking
about tonight. In addition to these features a quarter lickage
connection, which is a remnant glacial spillway, old - field
thicket area, the next, the wetland's near Maltby with the
main handling creek swamp to the north of Claire Road,
as was illustrated by the preceding speaker. In 1996, during
the preparation of a Zoning Bylaw for the newly acquired
annex land between Clair Road and Maltby. Denso came to
Guelph and expressed an interest in purchasing industrial property for
sale on Clair Road. And the resulting consultations between Dencel,
the City and the landowner. It was determined that the
Eastern portion of the property Denso was interested in. Was
a bolder pavement remnant Glacial Spillway Valley. That had been
identified as part of the City's Core Natural Area. In
which the City was now to protect. By adopting the
ideal alternative when the Hanland Creek Watershed Plan was approved
by the City in April 1994. So in order for
the property to be sold to Denso, it was necessary
for the city to complete the Zoning for the property.
The resulting discussions with the City included Denso and the
Property Owner. And all three agreed that the property for
sale would be divided into two parcels. A Western 4rd
43 - Acre Parcel. Would be created for Denso with
the irregular Eastern boundary of that property being what you
see on the mapping of this property now, the surveyed
top of slope of the Western side of the outwash
Valley. This created 43 acre parcel would be zoned by
the City as B - 1 - 2 Industrial. And
was subsequently purchased by Denso. And that's what they occupy
today. The remainder of the property to the east, which
constituted the outwash valley feature was Zone P1 conservation. And
retained by the property owner. A small triangle of upland
east of the eastern slope of this valley. Which is
now parcel three, would be zoned urban reserve and also
retained by the property owner. So that was the situation
in 1997. Of the outwash Valley from possible
future. And cursions by industry use from the denso property.
The city took the unusual step of purchasing from the
landowner. A six metre wide strip along the western edge
of the denso property. That should be the eastern edge
of the denso property. To mark the permanent boundary for
development. Nothing east of that was to be allowed. There
is an intervening application of OPA 42 that I don't
have time to go into, which reduced the protection for
the property, but didn't change the intent of the city
to have it protected. Where we stand today is that
there's been first a proposal for the conversion of the
industrial zone part. What is currently industrially zoned part of
280 Claire West to a high density residential place in
23. The application has subsequently been withdrawn. Because it was
found that it was just not feasible to put and
had tight density residential on just that property.
And at that time staff correctly, I, in my opinion,
opposed the idea of creating residential use on that part
of the property because, um, the official Plan Prohibitions of
intrusion of sensitive land use as residential is. Into an
area with high. Major industrial facilities. The night we have
a new proposal. Which in effect substitutes. High density
residential on the land previously retained as Parkland.
So my request of the City is, if you're going
to remove 8. 5 hectares of potential parkland. Provide the
justification for that in the report that comes back to
Council. Hello Hugh. It's Mayor Guthrie. I just, you're 10
minutes is up. Um, so I hope you're still with
me. I just wanted, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but
you're 10 minutes is off. And I just wanted to
ask my colleagues now to see if the follow -
up question for you before we let you go. Okay.
So to my colleagues, is there a follow - up.
Okay. There is not. So thank you very much Hughes
for joining us. Okay. That's all of the delegations that
have signed up. And thank you very much to everybody
who gave their opinions on this matter. Uh, before I
move into something, uh, into the next sort of stages
of our evening. I have to ask, is there anybody
else in the room that would like to appoint on
this like to speak on this. Okay, hands up for
me as I put my glasses. On. Two. Okay. And
can you please put the phone number up on the
screen so I can see if there's anybody that wants
to call in as well. I need to get a
sort of a totality of how much more time we're
allotting to this. So 519 837 5603. Again, it's 519,
8375603. We're going to just wait a couple moments to
see the totality of anybody else that wants to speak.
And then we can make a decision there if we're
taking the break now or after. Okay. Um, for those
that have, I've seen some other people kind of come
in in the last hour. Again, for agenda management, just
in case the people that have arrived for other items
on the agenda, um, if you have arrived in regards
to the ward heritage conservation district plan, which is next,
or the, um, urban design master plan, uh, it would
not surprise me if we do not start those issues
until. Between a quarter to. Eight. O'clock
range. Okay. So, um, I'm just giving everyone a heads
up because if you want to go grab a coffee
or something. You can take our orders too. If you
wish. Uh, and staff, uh, then we can go from
there. So again, we're just waiting to see if anyone
else wanted to call in on this at 5198 37
5603. Please give us a couple minutes.
Okay. Everybody. Thank you. I call the meeting back to
order, please. So there's been no one else that is
called in to give opinions on this, uh, on the
receipt of this application. And we only have two people
here in the, in the room that has erased their
hands. And so I think it would be beneficial for
us to hear those two people out. And then we
are done with the delegations. We are then going to
take a half an hour break. And then we will
come back where council can throw some extra stuff at
staff as a takeaway. Okay. And then we'll move on
to the other agenda items. So Laura Muir, I know
you, of course. And, uh, saw you put up your
hand. You wanted to give your opinions on this. No
problem. Come on down. I saw someone else's hand and
you're going to be the last, you're going to take
us home. Okay. You're going to be the last one.
Okay. So Laura will be first and then I'll get
your name when you come on up. Okay. Thank you
very much Laura over to you. Well, thank you, Mayor
Guthrie and Council members and members of the public for
allowing me to speak today. I just wanted to say
that 32 years ago, I stood before council and delegated
after a long and fair extensive public process. To protect
the 21 most important areas of the Hannah Creek watershed
in order to preserve it for ours and future generations.
This area was one of them. And the question today
is what this land is suitable for the proposed use.
Now I'm here also to speak on behalf of the
five endangered bad species. And the species of special concern
that live in the Meadow area, these are all areas
owned by the City of Guelph currently. And so that's
why I'm here to speak for them. Because in this
world, what's happening on the planet right now are these
animals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas. And
the city had every intention of protecting them. Otherwise, why
would they allow the public to go out and plant
a thousand trees for a future forest on this land?
Now those trees are now going to be. Removed or
bulldoze. They say they can transplant them, but I don't
know how successful that's going to be. But I think,
you know, that, that we had a commitment to protect
this area. And I don't know why how this whole
development evolved on land that was supposed to be protected.
So we also stand to lose eight hectares of conservation
land or parkland still zone P1 under appeal. I'm not
sure what's happening with the appeal. And I think that,
uh, you know, we ask the GRCA during the meeting,
the NISCA meeting, we told we were told that we
couldn't ask the GRC to give up their development, uh,
plans on their eight hectors of the land. But here
we are in the City of Guelph allowing a developer
to come forward and put in a proposal for land
that we protected for 32 years. So to me, this
is not right. Any other point is, is where are
we going to connect these people to the nature of
this land? If you go out there and walk, it
is quite beautiful still. They're going to put up a
chain link fence and there's no trail through the land
to protect the ecological link. So these people are going
to be living in a very high density area with
no connection to this land until a trail is put
in for the area farther to the north. Or so.
So sorry. And I wanted to know why only 50
percent of the units are affordable. Why not 75 to
100 percent if affordable housing is so short in the
city? Why are we not allowed? Why don't why are
they not proposing more affordable. I didn't see any, um,
The walk score is 47, which is not a very
good score. So it's not exactly accessible for people who
have to take, who need to get to the grocery
store at the corner of Claire, wrote and go unless
they take the bus. And if you've ever carried your
groceries on the bus, you know, how difficult that can
be. And I think, uh, and the other point is,
is that the major portion of the people who are
going to be living in the studios, et cetera, are
at the very back of the property. So that adds
even more distance to the properties to the amenity areas
that people are talking about, you know, the stores and
everything. And also I looked at the plans, the common
space amenity areas have been decreased from what the City
requires. I didn't see any, I didn't see any children's
playground on the site plan. So where, and I don't
know where the community gardens is, but they're going to
have to be pretty big for 940 units if people
want to have a garden on their property. And I
did send in a lot of comments. And I want
to thank staff for providing me some answers for them,
but the still didn't get answers for. So I'm hoping
before this comes back to Council again for approval that
I received some comments on those. But I think my
major thing is, is here we are, we're putting in
affordable housing. You're going to require a class classification for
noise for people to sign a waiver when they buy
the, by their unit that they're going to be living
in an area where there's noise. Now this was only
recently brought in by the province of Ontario. And it
was facilitated to putting in areas for infill, where there
were going to be existing industry. And there was areas
that could be infilled with housing. This is not the
case I don't believe in this. This is more of
a green field area. And also the ambient noise levels
in some of the noise parts that we have difficulty
in some areas of the property attenuating noise less than
50 decibels. Now the World Health Organisation is already, uh,
we already know that noise level is over 50 decibels
at a constant 50 decibels and over is very detrimental
to your health. It can cause, it causes a low
stress response that can bring cost people to have hypertension
and other health issues just from the constant background noise
of what you're listening to. And this is even with
the fixed windows and some of these in the units,
I believe. So, um, anyway, I'm not going to comment
anymore. I sent all my comments in. And I think
if you read them, they're in the report. Both sets
comments that I put in. And I believe for me,
I oppose this development. I support affordable housing, but I
don't believe this is the right place for it. And
so that's all I have to say. Thank you. And
thank you very much, Laura. Is there anything for Laura?
Any question as a follow - up from my colleagues.
There is not. Thank you. And yep. Come on, Ford.
Come on down. And if you could just state your
name for the record, we would appreciate it. Go right
ahead. My name is Sandipkar S - A - N
- D - E - P - K - A
- U - R. Thank you very much. We appreciate
it. Um, okay. I just wanted to make sure that
wasn't an alarm going on. It's okay. It's a cleaning
machine. I think. Okay. So we're good. You have up
to 10 minutes if you need it. Go right ahead.
Sure. My name is Sandypkar and I'm here today to
share my story as someone who wants to build a
future in Gulf. I started working at Alinamar in December
2022 and my husband also works at Linamar. We both
have a full - time job. We work hard every
day and proud to contribute to the local economic and
the community that we call Home. For the past few
years, we have been renting in Gulf. We choose to
live here because we, because it is a wonderful city
with a strong sense of community, great opportunities and a
place where we can see ourselves our family. We have
built our lives here. Made friends here and become part
of this community. Like many young families, our dream is
simple. We want to honour modest home in the city
where we live and work. We are responsible with our
finances. When we save, whenever we can. And we continue
to plan for the future. However, despite having two full
- time incomes, buying a home still feels out of
a reach. Every time we get closer to our saving
goals, housing prices seems to rise even faster. As we
plan to grow our family, this challenge becomes even more
difficult. We think about the future often, having a safe
and a stable home, a backyard for our children to
play in, and the security. That comes with knowing, we
stay in one community for a long time. These are
the themes. Many families hope for, yet for us and
many others in similar situations, they feel increasingly difficult to
achieve. What makes this especially frustrating is that we are
exactly the kind of people who want to stay and
invest in Gulf. So we work here, we shop here
pay taxes here and contribute to the community every day.
So we are not looking for luxury housing. We are
simply hoping for a realistic opportunity to own a home
and build a future in a city we already call
home. I know my story is not unique. There are
many hardworking families, young professionals, newcomers and essential workers facing
the same challenge. That is why affordable Home Ownership Opportunities
are so important. This they can help families like mine
stay in golf and continue contributing to the community for
years to come. Thank you for your time for listening
to my story and for considering solutions that can help
make Home Ownership more achievable for families like arts. Thank
you so much. Thank you for reading and bringing that
to our attention. Thank you very much. Thank you. And
is there any questions as a follow - up for
this delegate. There is not. And you were the last.
So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Okay. I'm
going to get a vibe from my colleagues. Before I
make a decision. Should I take the break right now.
Or should we move to receive this and kind of
bring this to a conclusion and then take the break?
I'm seeing a lot of nods to bring this to
a conclusion. So I'm going to go that way. Okay.
But to bring it to a conclusion. I need all
of you to very focus, including me. Okay. Um, we
are here to receive an application. Councillor Alt has agreed
to move that. Galar will second. Thank you. Please. Tell
our staff anything that has not already been said as
a takeaway. And I'm going to go around the room.
And if we need to take the time, we will
do it together. Right. I'm not trying to rush it.
But I just, we don't need a huge comment here,
things like that. Okay. Like tell staff and in a
way you're telling the proponents too. You're telling them what
you're feeling as a takeaway. But let's do it succinctly.
And let's, let's get going. Okay. To get bring this
to a conclusion. I'm going to go Coran. And then
Galler. And then Hauser. Okay. And then Alt. Stop there.
I can't remember past four. So Coran. Thank you Mayor
Guthrie. I will be laser focused. I won't talk about
site plan issues or brick colour or anything like that.
It is, uh, we are here to talk about land
use planning. And I know that we cannot people's known.
But we've raised some questions about, um, perhaps conditions on
land adding clauses to deeds. And so I think we
would need some legal advice from planning as part of
the report back on whether we have any authority on
that. And if so, whether there is any liability to
the city, if there are adverse effects, um, from noise,
for example, and it would be good to know whether
or not that is even a land use planning issue,
because so much of the delegation, uh, information that we've
heard tonight is in support of the model and support
of the affordability. I think that was very powerful. The
stories that we heard, uh, through the delegations were extremely,
um, powerful in terms of what this potential project and
opportunity can mean, uh, so I have a better sense
of where that falls within our land use planning authority
when it comes back. Thanks. Thank you. And that I'm
sure many colleagues, including myself, would say Ditto, what you
just said. So thank you. Uh, how's, I'm sorry. Galler,
houser and then alt. Worship to staff. Um, one question.
We are receiving this tonight. When can we expect this
to come back to Council. Meadow Councillor?
Uh, we are expecting to bring the report back in
September. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you,
worship. Okay. Thank you Councillor Galler and to Hauser, please.
And then alt. Thank you. And through the mayor, um,
I was just, uh, concerned about, uh, some of the
comments about the endangered species and wondering about, um, if
you can bring us some more information on that, uh,
just like what we'll be put in protection for them
in the, in the link. Thank you. Uh, to alt
please and then Busatil. Thank you very much. Mayor God
following up on my colleagues. Um, clearly we are here
to balance the issues of housing ecology. And this is,
um, a significant challenge. Um, with regards to wildlife corridors,
I would hope that staff will address the assurity of
the corridor being protected as required by Bylaws. And I
think provincial statutes as well to sustain its functionality and
its connectivity. And the question specifically that I'd like to
ask is, does the stormwater management plan protect that linkage
or does it potentially block it? Uh, similarly, what will
the effective construction be on the wildlife or in our,
cause it potentially could, uh, block, impede it for some
amount of time. As well on page 16 of the
report, some references were made in point private infrastructure on
future City lands raises a concern regarding potential impacts on
ecological functionality as well as occupiers liability risks to the
city. I was wondering if staff could please, um, flesh
that out so that I know what it is that
we are talking about beyond the obscure reference to occupy's
risks to the city. I think we need some details.
Perhaps that's even something that has to be done enclosed.
But I think it needs to come back at some
point. Thank you. Great. And thank you. Uh, over to
Busatill actually has said that I think Councillor Alt, you've
captured, uh, what her takeaway was as well. So thank
you. Is there anybody else that would like staff to
hear anything before I call the vote. There is not.
So just from me, I would suggest that, um, and
I'm just kind of taking an observation of the vibe
in the room here. There seems to be a lot
of support. I think around where the project is going.
And I believe where the issues that my colleagues have
raised are just around the technical. Like it's, it's the
technical side of things. And I think, I think the
project proponents have, I've actually addressed a lot of that
within the detailed reports that are there. But working together
to, to figure that out before it comes back in
September would be, would be just, just to have it
really clear would be great for, for me and for
us. Um, and I just wondered one quick question. Is
there a tunnel for, um, animal linkage already under. Claire
Road going across that road there? Is there already a
tunnel to help with, with that? Or is there not
one there? I can't remember. Because I know on Eastview,
when we redid Eastview, we put those tunnels under East
View and people really like that. In fact, you could
watch a live video. Did you know that? Of, yes,
there was turtles and people were like, Oh, there's teenage
mutant ninja turtles going across the thing there. So is
there already a tunnel for animals going across Claire to
date. Uh, to the mayor. No, there is not this
time. There isn't. Okay. Because if that's what's being proposed,
that would actually be an enhancement to animals. Right. It's
not there now. So, um, okay. And, uh, other than
that, looking forward, I'm looking forward to have this come
back in September. That's great. So thank you. And we'll
have a discussion and debate then. Uh, with that, I'm
going to call the vote then. Is there anyone against
receiving the application. Nobody. So that's unanimous for receipt. Thank
you very much. Everyone take a breath. And, uh, we're
good. And this now it's 7 10. We are going
to come back here at 735. I'm calling it a
25 minute break. I'm already cutting five minutes. When we
come back, we will. Jump to the ward heritage conservation
district. The draft plan and guidelines. Okay. And that's another
receive only. Okay. Just show everyone knows. No decisions on
that one either. Then we get indecision into decision mode.
And we'll do the urban design master plan after that.
And. Also we have the growth management presentation too. So,
uh, 735. See you all then. Thank you.
To my colleagues online, if you can hear me, this
is your one minute warning, okay?
And to my colleagues online, this is your 32nd warning.
Okay, I am calling the meeting back to order. Thank
you very much for waiting through the first item there,
and we are now to the Ward Heritage Conservation District.
It is the draft plan and guidelines. We have a
couple of presentations here from both Jack and Rebecca. I
don't have my glasses on. Rebecca, where are you? Hello,
thank you. So I will turn it over to you.
To hit us with that presentation. We have one delegation
after that. So go right ahead, Jack. Thank you. Good
evening, Mayor Guthrie, members of Council and members of the
public who have joined us to discuss the draft ward
Heritage Conservation District Plan. Recognising that you have a long
meeting tonight. I will try and conserve your time as
carefully as I can serve heritage. Tonight presents an opportunity
for Council and members of the public to provide feedback
on the draft Ward HCD plan. I will be presenting
alongside Rebecca Shara, Cultural Heritage Manager with ASI, and Project
Manager for the Ward HCD Project. To provide a brief
recap, in 2023, Council directed staff to initiate a heritage
district study for the Western portion of the Ward neighbourhood.
Heritage Conservation Districts are proven strategy for conserving community character.
While making room for needed growth and change. Last June,
Council approved the proposed boundary for the district and directed
staff to begin work on the Heritage Conservation District Plan
that would guide conservation and development in the word HCD.
From the beginning, we envisioned this district to be shaped
by the community within its borders. We hosted three very
well - attended public open houses. We received valuable feedback
and advice. What we heard loud and queer was the
desire to have Heritage Buildings and landscapes protected from loss
without restricting change or property owner's ability to be creative.
Similarly, we consulted development stakeholders whose feedback was critical that
developing a plan that balances conservation with flexibility. It is
appropriate that we are presenting this plan on the same
evening as the urban design master plan for the Midtown
Village. The two reports tell different parts of the same
story. That heritage and development can go hand in hand.
Preserving what makes a place special and accommodating growth are
not mutually exclusive goals. They're both essential to building a
city that is vibrant, resilient, and distinctive. Heritage district is
a conversation between past, present, and future. It is about
deciding what is worth caring forward and how we can
manage change without losing the character that makes a place
special. In Planner Speak, we call this stewardship of the
ward's unique cultural heritage resources and landscapes. A resident of
one of our open houses had a more direct way
of putting it. Keep the board weird. After several hundred
pages of reports, maps, inventories, studies, and policy recommendations. It
was humbling to discover that the goal of this project
could be summarized so concisely in just four words. I
will now hand it over to Rebecca to tell you
more about the word HCD District Plan.
Thank you, Jack, and good evening. I'm Rebecca Sharra, principal
inheritage planner with ASI Heritage. I've been leading The Ward
Conservation District Study and Plan since the work began in
2024. I am here with UTA, Maya Jean Batista, Principal
and Urban Designer with O2 Planning and Design. We've prepared
a short presentation tonight to walk through the Ward Conservation
District Plan. I will start tonight with a quick refresh.
Of what The Plan is covering. I don't think. This
is advancing. Yes. Yes, I am.
We go. I'm here. Thank you. So a formal heritage
district in the ward is being recommended under the Ontario
Heritage Act within the area shown here in front of
you. The goal of this district is to establish a
flexible. Yet place - sensitive framework to guide future development
in the ward. The goal is not to freeze the
place and time. Instead, this district plan presents a path
forward for how it can continue to adapt while remaining
special. This is a place with memories, with historic fabric.
Yet also very contemporary. In all of those elements are
at their best when operating and mixing together. The plan
responds to and celebrates. This potent mix of elements that
characterize this part of the ward. A place that is
in a constant state of shaping, making, adapting, and celebrating.
Almost a year ago, City Council directed staff to begin
preparing a planning document for the Ward Heritage District. It
covers the West Side of the Ward area. Where development
happened earliest and in a distinct way. It was shaped
by its location on the speed and eramosa rivers. The
confluence between them would have likely been an important meeting
place for Indigenous communities long before the area was intensified
in the late 1880s and early 1800s and early 1900s.
It's Riverside location encouraged industry and rail to emerge here
and also laid a blueprint for any regular and curious
arrangement of streets and blocks. Its low - lying and
wetlands kept the land affordable. And between the 1880s and
1930s when the area built up. The buildings and street
scapes that emerged reflect the lives and traditions of the
communities of newcomers that arrived here, making it their new
home. The district plan for the ward has been developed
based on this kind of understanding of this place. That
understanding has involved looking at the history and features of
the area, how it was developed, and how it has
changed, and the patterns that are on display here today.
This understanding also takes into account what the area is
intended to become based on the cities and provinces land
use planning vision and goals. It also reflects what we
have heard from talking to the public. People who live
here, people who own property here, people who want to
build and develop here. People who work here paint here.
Walk here. Visit here. We have also talked to The
Mississaugas of the New Credit and Six Nations of the
Grand River, and a project - specific working group and
the City's Heritage Advisory Committee. The Ward neighbourhood may not
be a conventional or obvious candidate for a Heritage Conservation
District. 40 years ago when districts started to be protected
in Ontario, they tended to focus on areas of sameness
or high - end architecture. Impressive examples of grand buildings
built by people of means or streets lined with nearly
identical buildings. 40 years later though, districts and approaches to
Heritage Conservation are far more reflective and insightful. Heritage is
not a beauty contest. It's about understanding places that are
part of our collective history and contemporary communities and how
those layers can survive as they continue to evolve and
thrive through this century and beyond. This historically working class
area contains a number of large, late 19 and 20th
century Industrial Buildings, located along the Speed River and around
a series of rail lines that were introduced to the
neighbourhood. These industrial buildings are surrounded by tightly packed Worker's
Housing, built following Simple Designs and using modest materials. The
neighbourhood has long been home to newcomers and immigrant populations
with a particularly large population of Italian immigrants who brought
their traditions and ways of life to the community. Many
of the buildings here have been altered and adapted over
time as people converted parts of their homes into shops
and storefronts. These conversions were an important part of the
local economy and vital to the resilience and self -
sufficiency of the community. These changes left physical traces throughout
the neighbourhood that today communicate its evolution. There is no
question that this area is of cultural heritage value and
meets the requirements for designation under the Ontario Heritage. Over
the last year, this project has had a robust engagement
program, virtual public engagement activities ran in the winter, and
we shared preliminary work with a project working group and
the Heritage Advisory Committee at the same time. In the
spring, we had a public open house to share draft
policies and guidelines at the Italian Canadian Centre. One -
on - one communications with interested stakeholders and the Ms.
Saugas of the Credit. And Six Nations of the Grand
happened in the spring as well. We are now here
today having the statutory public meeting of council. A draft
version of the plan was released in its entirety in
June, and I'd like to now share a bit of
what we heard through these rich and engaging sessions. We
heard through the engagement program that this is an area
with important community anchors. This map shows some specific features
and sites that the community hopes are still there in
2050. Some are institutional buildings and sites like churches and
schools, places that have served the community for decades. Others
are places, like the intersection of Arthur, Ontario and Manitoba
Street. Summer contemporary. Or of the more recent past, like
the two rivers community garden, or the Ukrainian church. While
others are from the 1800s like the Spring Mill Distillery.
At March, the Italian Canadian Centre, our understanding of this
place continued to be refined. We talked with people and
discussed sample policies and guidelines for the district. We heard
from kids, parents, people who live in the ward, and
people who do business here about the features that should
be stewarded as the area moves forward. In summary, through
the process we heard recurring themes about what is important.
To steward as the community continues to adapt and evolve.
Freedom of self - expression was emphasized. We also heard
that retention of a unique mix of historic buildings was
important. And also an emphasis on a commitment to a
strong public realm network supporting walkability and human connections. And
it is with all of this input and knowledge that
we have crafted a district plan that responds to what
we have heard.
The district plan for the ward is not a cookie
cutter type of conservation plan. It is different than the
usual heritage document. It documents what we have learned about
this place. It's unique and curious patterns of built forms
and streetscapes and what we have heard. It presents a
highly permissive and flexible policy framework instead of guidelines. And
this is exactly part of the ward's cultural and built
form DNA. Historically and today. The plan allows for and
encourages people to continue adopting and altering their buildings and
properties. It recognises that streetscapes and the public realm can
help promote walkability and pedestrian experiences. The plan presents policies
that consider how private property meets shared public space. The
plan recognises the historical and contemporary importance of commercial building
typologies within the district and continuing this important historical pattern
of small businesses. Finally, the plan serves as a record
in and of itself documenting this working class area where
newcomers establish themselves and built communities. The plan creates a
framework for stewarding the buildings and telling their stories and
also a path for continuing to tell those stories, even
when the bricks and mortar are no longer there. In
the Planned Document, you will see that properties within the
boundary have been categorized into contributing properties. These are the
properties that reflect or express the district's heritage values. Most
state to the 1880 to 1930 period. Others are much
earlier from the 1850s to 1870s. While others are later.
Like the Ukrainian church. Others go back to time immemorial,
such as The Rivers. Many are house - formed buildings
also included our churches, schools, former sites of industry. As
well as homes that operated cottage industries inside their walls.
Also included our gateways such as the 100 steps or
places such as the intersection of Arthur, Ontario Manitoba, and
Alison here on Street. As required under the Ontario Heritage
Act, the Plan Presents a process for Heritage Permitting within
the Proposed District. Dependent on the kinds of activities proposed,
activities can fall into one of four categories. Activities can
either be exempt. Or considered a minor activity. Or considered
a major activity. And then the fourth category includes new
constructions and or demolition activities. Exempt activities require nothing more
than is otherwise required under the building code. Minor, major,
and new construction, or demolition activities, require a heritage permit
process. Permits for minor activities. Are approved at the staff
level. Major or new construction or demolition permits are also
approved at the staff level with input from the Heritage
Advisory Committee. There is no cost for heritage permits. And
if there is a recommendation from staff to refuse a
permit. The permit would then go to Council to make
a final decision and property owners can appeal council decisions
to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Many activities on contributing properties
within the proposed district are exempt. Exempt activities include things
like interior renovations or constructing an accessory dwelling unit. That's
not visible from the public right - of - way.
Additions of elements such as dormers, for example. As well
as repairs or replacements in kind. For example, existing existing
siding with new siding. As well as additions of replacements
or removals of porches. Those are all activities that would
be exempt from a specific heritage permit. Other activities on
contributing properties would require a minor heritage permit, which would
be approved at the staff level. These kinds of minor
activities involve things like adding new or extending parking pad
areas, constructing an accessory - dwelling unit that is visible
from the public right of way. Or even making additions
at rears and sides of primary buildings on contributing properties.
Which in some cases may also be exempt from any
heritage permit, depending on the scope of the addition. Other
more substantial activities on contributing properties would require a major
heritage permit. Things like picking up an entire building and
moving it to an entirely new property or adding a
full second story edition on a single - story building.
Or making an addition that fully conceals the front facade
of a contributing building. If a contributing building. Is proposed
for demolition, a new construction or demolition permit would be
required. For non - contributing properties, so those are all
the properties that are considered to not express the Heritage
Values of the District. The Planned addresses two future permitting
scenarios for those types of properties. So one would involve
when a new building is proposed for construction in the
district on a non - contributing property, a new construction
heritage permit. Process would be required. Or in other cases,
demolitions of non - contributing buildings would either be exempt
or in some cases require a minor permit. The plan
presents a series of policies and guidelines as well. In
chapters 10, 11, and 12 of the document. And it's
very important to understand the difference between policies versus guidelines
in the plan. Policies define the expectations for the district
and use words like shell. These are mandatory. In contrast,
guidelines provide practical how - to strategies to achieve policies.
They are not mandatory and use words like should and
encourage. I now want to walk through some sample policies
and guidelines from the draft plan, and I'd like to
show how policies differ from guidelines and also give a
taste of their substance. Within the Planned Document itself, all
policies are clearly identified in purple text and is numbered
statements. In chapters 10, 11, and 12. Guidelines are presented
after policies and are in a lettered list. Here's an
example of a policy and to guidelines for making additions
on contributing properties. The policy states that additions to contributing
properties that contain representative or unique residential building types shall
be permitted at rears and sides. The Plan provides a
clear statement that side and rear additions to buildings are
permitted in the district. Two text guidelines, as you see
here, A and B, and visual diagrams pair with this
policy to help explain how one can achieve. The policy
while not introducing mandatory rigid and cookie cutter requirements. So
for example, side in yard editions can exceed existing ridge
lines of roofs in the district. And this is because
in the ward, we are not interested in hiding additions
and changes. Seeing additions is very much what this place
is all about. And this kind of policy approach invites
a wide range of different ways that a property owner
can add density to their lot and are livable space
to an existing building. Another guideline that pairs with this
policy advises that full story additions are discouraged. But where
contemplated they should be set back from the primary facade.
As part of our technical analysis of existing buildings and
streets in the ward, we found that full - story
editions can often dramatically impact a contributing building, reducing the
extent to which it's even recognisable as a sort of
historic part of the place. So this kind of flexible
wording provides guidance on how to do a full story
addition, if necessary, without introducing strict requirements that would forever
and always preclude them from happening. These policies were informed
based on an understanding of what is here in the
ward in its evolved form. Therefore the policies welcome and
invite additions that are added in highly visible ways. But
in a matter that allows for the original building or
the older building, and its history of add - ons
to be visible. In contrast, the photo on the right
shows a former one - story building with full -
story edition added without any setback, which as you can
see distorts some of its original form, scale and understanding
as a historical piece of the district. And therefore this
kind of approach to an addition is discouraged. I now
want to walk through another sample policy, but this time
for non - contributing properties. So a key thing to
remember in a district is that it's concerned with guiding
change on heritage properties, but also ensuring that new buildings
add positively to the district and support its heritage values
and the objectives of the district itself. Chapter 11 of
The Plan presents policies. About how to introduce new buildings.
In terms of building location and orientation, for example, the
Planned Directs that new buildings shall have a varied street
wall rhythm. The plan again is not interested in uniform
setbacks and monotony. That is neither in the cultural DNA
of this neighbourhood, nor an objective of the district. Therefore,
the guidelines that support this policy advise property owners to
take cues from elsewhere in the district, embracing creativity, insight
- specific solutions, rather than matching existing adjacent properties. These
examples clarify the difference between requirements, i. e. policies that
are presented in the plan versus guidance. Those being the
suggestions that property owners are recommended to consider when planning
new buildings or alterations to existing ones. In summary, I
want to wrap up with five key highlights for property
owners, as it's so important to have clarity about implications,
for property owners as we move closer to possible implementation
of this plan. One, policies and guidelines of the plan
apply to building exteriors and the primary buildings on the
lot. Interiors are not impacted, neither are ancillary structures. Second,
the plan does not require that contributing properties be restored
to a previous period in time. Three, there are no
fees for Heritage Permit applications. For the policies and guidelines
presented in the plan, also work in coordination with existing
zoning bylaws and community planning permit systems. And finally, the
plan is premised on welcoming building adaptations and new buildings
and developments that are compatible with the area and fit
its context. Such new construction may also be subject to
other requirements such as site and area - specific policies,
secondary plans, and or urban design master plants. We're here
today sharing a complete draft of the HCD Plan. And
based on feedback received today and since the plan was
publicly released in June, our next steps will be to
update the plan with a targeted release of the final
plan in early August and with a formal recommendation to
Council for Approval in September. Thank you. Well, thank you
both very much. We do have one delegation I'd like
to go to Barbara Man right away, please, on this
topic. So, uh, we'll come back to staff in a
moment. Barbara Man is here on behalf of the Ward
Residence Association. And again, it's no more than 10 minutes.
Okay, there's a chime at the 9 minute 30 second
mark. I'll turn it over to you, Barbara. Thank you.
It'll be a lot less on that. Um, I just
wanted to tell you what we've heard from the residents
of this has been going on. Um, basically there's been
no full - on opposition at all. Uh, some people
have said they want to designate because they're actually afraid
of what could happen in the future. Uh, like Road
Widenings and things like that. Others have said that, uh,
they don't understand it completely. And they're afraid to designate.
But that last part, thank you, was really helpful. We'll
get that up on, uh, the website for them. Um,
and as an individual, I'm going to speak to that
as soon as Kilmore got hold of the wood site,
we wanted the ward to be a heritage district site.
So it's really exciting for me as an individual to
hear that this is a possibility coming now. So thank
you for all the hard work that you guys put
into that because we know it was a lot of
hard work. Thank you, Barbara. Is there any questions for
Barbara. There's 10 questions you got to come back. Notice,
okay. Okay. That's it. All right. Uh, is there anybody
else in the room that would like to speak to
this item. Okay, come on down, sir. Um, actually take
your time. I'm going to throw a phone number up
on the screen very quickly. Okay. So if anyone wants
to call in on this topic as well, it's 519
837 5603. Again, that's 519. 8375603. And as we hear
from Musa, we will also let our clerk see if
anyone calls in over the time limit for yourself as
well. Okay. So, uh, if you could just state your
name for the record, we'd appreciate it. Go right ahead.
Sure. Um, my name is Brian Lauder and I live.
And actually one of the weirdest streets in the ward.
Our street is very much, uh, mix up, I would
say a mash of different properties, which to me contributes
to the, I call it heterogeneous neighbourhood of quality of
the neighbourhood. I guess one of my, I think the
heritage, uh, proposed her designation district. Is an excellent idea.
I guess one question would be, um, Rebecca stated that
the plan is not going to require the ability to
be brought back to its appearance at a specific moment
in time. Although I believe when, um, Planners were looking
at contributing properties. They actually did do it in a
specific moment of time. Many of the properties in the
ward, for example, were corner stores. That have since been
converted to, uh, residential uses. So the corner stores are
sort of part of the original character of. The district.
And yet, their use is residential. Is there any encouragement?
I know it would probably have to go through a
Zoning by - law amendment, but is there any encouragement
in the plan for some of these original uses to
be brought back, so to speak. Yeah, that's, that's a
question that maybe one of us here could ask on
your behalf to staff once the delegations are done. You
do still have more time. If there you wanted to
add. I would just be filling up space. No, no
problem. Okay. I think I'm good. I mean, one of
my concerns was how much teeth is there in this,
uh, in the plan because I, I have seen, um,
I used to work for Planning Department myself. And I
used to see properties that had received heritage designations. And,
um, The Heritage Conservation Officer recommended preservation of the property,
but there was, uh, that planner had no means by
which they could say this does not comply. And so
the property would end up getting demolished. So I would
just hope that this plan would have some kind of
similar teeth. And I know Rebecca did mention it. That,
um, an application could be refused by staff or amendments
requested or appeal that could go to Council. I would
just want, I would just like to make sure that
there is a very clear process in place for that
to happen. Great. Yeah. I think maybe we'll ask that
on your behalf, those two things sort of the encouragement
incentive side and the, and the, you know, regulator teeth
side of, of it. We'll ask those for you. Yep.
Is there any other questions for the delegate while the,
while he's here. Uh, no, thank you very much for
coming forward. And while we were listening to him, is
there anybody that called in on this one. No. So
are you good? Do you want to wait another minute.
Or. Are you okay? Okay. All right. Perfect. So. My
whole time. I'll be kind of. Jumping. Sorry. No Barbara.
We just from our procedural by - law. We can't
go back and forth. I, it pains me to say
that. Um, but no, we can't go back and forth.
Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll,
uh, I won't block them, I promise. So thank you.
Okay. Um, is there someone that would at least be
willing to move receipt Quran and Downer, okay, for, and
it is to receive. Now is there any questions of
staff, any comments you want to give to staff as
a takeaway. I'll start with, uh, Claussen and then Coron.
Yes. Good evening. Um, as your resident council ward weirdo,
um, I want, I just want to thank you. Also
the granddaughter of Proud Italian immigrants. So, um, I feel
excited to be receiving this, this today. Um, and the
thoughtful process that you have undertook. And before I ask
my question, I did want to read a very short
sentence from a resident who contacted me, um, and I
don't have it. Wait, sorry. I'm sorry. It's coming. But
basically it was, we should be proud and gualth. Um,
for the work that this team did on this report.
And so I just wanted to thank our staff for
this. It's not every day that we get thank you
from residents about the process. Um, and about the report.
And I just want to echo that residence sentiment as
well. Um, and so my question is, um, with regard
to, and I'm sorry if this was said and I
missed it. But I just didn't quite understand the ADU
not visible from the public right of way. Uh, if
you could just maybe paint a picture for me again,
I would appreciate that. Through
you, your worship. Um, at the moment, the draft plan,
um, uh, has policies to encourage and welcome the EUs
on contributing and non - contributing properties. And makes a
distinction at the moment that if it is visible from
the public right of way versus not visible, a different
permitting process proposed, that if it's not visible, then it
would be exempt. If it is visible, there would be
some permit, um, required to ensure that there is, um,
a compatible fit given its visibility. Um, I think we've
already heard some feedback on that topic since we've released
the draft plan that maybe that's something to think about
further. Um, about perhaps not having two different permitting streams
and not being too concerned about visibility from, from the
public right of way. So, um, right now there's a
distinction made, but I think that's something we're already looking
at. Does that help clarify. Yes. And I would appreciate
that clarity. Um, in the September report. And then do
have one more. With regard to the incentives coming back
in September. Could you just describe what the process will
be? Will the proposed incentives include, um, a budget? Be
subsequently integrated in the next budgeting process. What would be
process for that. Through the merit to Councillor Quest, and,
um, in September, it staff's intention to bring forward, uh,
heritage grant program proposal that we will seek your direction
to pursue and develop. So we will not be bringing
forward a specific budget request at that time. That wouldn't
occur until the next multi - year budget. Okay. Thank
you. So then that would be in 2027. Eight. 2028.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Quran. I think I had
next. And then I have Galler. Great. Thank you. The
body of work here is incredible and it's been a
long time coming. So thank you to staff. Thank you
to the whole team that put this plan together. One
of the things that is unique about this particular Heritage
Conservation District is the industrial and residential interface. And one
of the delegates asked about returning potential, you know, a
shoemaker shop into, back into a shoemaker shop and an
industrial and commercial uses being reintegrated into properties that have
been converted to residential. So I wonder if you could
speak to, you know, whether that is going to be
incorporated into the plan as a mixed use or a
zoning recommendation, uh, and then part two of that is
that industrial architectural form. I know often in Heritage Conservation
Districts, we're trying to identify a singular, uh, architectural form
like Victorian or, or Eduardian or, you know, Regency Cottage.
And in this neighbourhood, that's just impossible. But one of
the architectural forms that you've highlighted in many of the
examples that you've given is that kind of industrial, and
I even, I believe the Biltmore towns development, tried to
put an industrial design into the townhouses where the old
Biltmore hats was, which I thought was an homage to
that industrial form. So I wonder, the variety and diversity
of architectural forms that would be permitted, um, in terms
of new development. Through the merit to Councillor Quran. As
to your first question, the planning does not, uh, contradict
the Zoning bylaw. However, it encourages flexibility for, uh, zoning
Bylaw Amendments or variants requests in terms of commercial uses,
especially in historic commercial spaces. Uh, as mentioned, these exist
throughout the ward. And we wanted to create a plan
that would encourage that type of small business revitalization. Um,
as to your second question, the plan intentionally defines compatibility
broadly. We believe that in an applicant should be able,
uh, to be creative and how they believe that a
new development may fit into the neighbourhood. That's, that's why
we aren't too prescriptive with wanting new development to specifically
emulate industrial forms or certain materials. Um, we want to
look to proponents to tell us how a new development
may be compatible. And this isn't something that I want
to come back when we, when it comes back in
September, but it's more of a community buy - in
conversation because it's very clear in the plan that this
is not intended and turning the ward into a museum,
frozen in time. It is a planning tool to guide
change. Um, but I think that the community, and thankfully
we, we have enough experience now in Guelph and high
satisfaction rates with our very first Heritage Conservation District in
Brooklyn. I'm the College Hall. I believe it was very
satisfied with our first conservation district. So these, uh, these,
you know, the, um, the impression that its onerous or
that insurance will go up. I know you've done a
lot of work to make sure that those assumptions and
those stereotypes have broken down. And I know that's not
part of the conservation district tool, but I want to
give you an opportunity to speak to that because community
buy - in is something that's very important for this
plan to be successful. So if you could just take
a moment and talk about, um, satisfaction rates, um, the
insurance issue and reassuring the community that, um, that this
is not an ownerous, um, process that is trying to
freeze that district in time as a museum. Through the
mayor. Um, something we heard again and again from the
community was that yes, they really want the historic landscapes
and buildings protected, but they wanted also a high degree
of flexibility to make changes that sometimes might be kind
of creative and weird. And we, we didn't want to
stop that type of, um, artistic expression in the neighbourhood
that has existed for decades. Um, which is why we
aren't very prescriptive in the plan as well as, um,
the vast majority of alterations that a property owner might
make are actually exempt from the heritage permit process. Um,
we also have expanded. What permits our approvable at the
staff level so that heritage permits can be more expedient
than they have been historically. So we were really trying
to, uh, to streamline this plan as much as possible
and make sure that property owners had a high degree
of latitude to make changes to their properties. Also, uh,
making a plan that would be able to protect a
property if loss were contemplated. Um, as to the insurance
issue, we have included a statement on insurance, just outlining
that designation does not increase risk and that in the
case of four partial loss property does not have to
be reconstructed as it was. And so far this has
sufficed to help many property owners of designated properties. Fight
increased insurance. Thank you for that. And my final comment
is it's really nice to know that weird is welcome
in Ward West. Say that five times fast. And to
our weird Councillor over there. Thank you. All right. Thank
you. And I have Councillor Galler is my last. So
go ahead. Thank you. And through your worship to staff.
Thank you so much for all this work. Um, I
want to refer to the letter from a resident Robert
Cardoran who wrote he had a couple of concerns. Uh,
with regards to, to the policy, the discourages a full
story edition. Could you help me understand? As I walked
through the ward, I noticed a lot of additions, different
kinds and many are a second story additions. And I
really appreciate that there's an emphasis on accepting the weirdness
of the community. So Barbara, I feel that there's a
bit of a disconnect when we're saying we appreciate the
weirdness and the oddities, but we don't want any more
of that to happen. So could you help me understand
that restriction. Through the merit to Councillor Galwehr. I'll begin
to answer that and I may invite Rebecca to jump
in. Subordinate editions to Heritage Buildings is Heritage Conservation best
practice. However, we did not want to make that a
policy. Again, that is phrased. It's we use the word
should just as a general best practice for property owners
to consider. But it's not something that would be enforceable
in the plan. And additionally, I was really thankful for
that letter specifically. It's helpful when property owners come to
us with a specific project, um, because it lets us
think about how the plan may actually be applied. And
so we've been discussing expanding exemptions for ADUs and editions.
Um, just because of, if a property owner is retaining
a heritage building, uh, there are very few circumstances where
we might actually want to refuse a permit. For context
too. In my four years here as a heritage planner,
I have never once refused a heritage permit. We always
work with property owners to find a solution. That works
for both them and the Heritage property. Okay. That is
really reassuring. I really appreciate that. Uh, one of the
other comments on that letter refers to the tables where
it says minor or exempt. Will there be an opportunity
to include somewhere in the plan so that people know
whether they're looking at an exception or, or a minor.
Through the mayor, we included, uh, that minor or exempt
because we wanted again, flexibility in the plan, but we
recognise that that letter pointed out that that creates a
lack of clarity. And so we're discussing possibly expanding what
might be exempt in the plan. And we'll look to
include that in the plan that we bring forward in
September. Okay. I really appreciate that. Uh, and just to
follow up on some of the other comments about ADUs,
I think we, we hopefully we can allow them and
we can provide some guidelines of, you know, if you
do want to have a side jar ADU, you know,
these are some of the things that you should do.
So it fits in the neighbourhood. Thank you. Thank you,
worship. Thank you. And then, uh, Councillor Caten, please. Thank
you. Through you, Mr. Mayor, um, I really like it.
I agree with some of the comments about ADUs. I
also think that there's not a lot of lot sizes
that are quite big enough for extensive ADUs in the
ward. But I think it was a challenging ask because
the war doesn't really have a uniform heritage profile. It's,
um, it's more of a vibe. So I think that
you did a really good job in balancing that. And
I look forward to seeing the next iteration. Great. Thank
you. Is there anything else before I call the vote.
There's not, okay. So you just get a little bit
of questions from me. And then you'll get my opinions
based on your answers. Lucky you. Um, you mentioned the
street. Wall rhythm. Very unique. My concern about that.
And please correct me if I'm wrong. But the way
I heard you say it is that you are encouraging
that. But then you're going to have, you're going to
pick winners and losers then for who can build A
to use in their backyards. Because if you're pushing some
properties back, now you're restricting the ability for them to
potentially do a tiny home in their backyard. So I
just wondering how are you. Allowing someone to have their,
you know, theirs up front and then they have the
ability to have more units built. And then three houses
down because of the rhythm. And I'm a drummer. So
I love rhythm. So don't get me wrong. But now
that house might not have the room to be able
to build that ADU, how are you. Am I saying
that wrong. No, I'm not. Okay. Is that just a
takeaway for you to consider that? Three, well, to you,
Mr. Mayor, not for you. Um, um, the, they want
them. It really speaks to the different conditions that you
find across any given street. So it's once again in
that attempt to not encase restrictive setbacks to create a
uniform, more cookie cutter environment or a street scape. So
it respects the setbacks back and forth and it introduces
that rhythm. However, it's up to the proportion that comes
forward to put forward the design solution. So for example,
if it's not contributing, they may want to, um, push
forward the building in a way that, that also fits
the wall, but allows them to build in the back.
So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's an attempt to provide
that flexibility, but not prescribing a specific rhythm to a
particular lot. So you are the one that draws the
short straw and get bush into, into the back. So
it's, it's more of a principle on how you conserve
or preserve that, that rhythm in any given street scale.
Okay. You don't get everybody at the same closeness or
everywhere the same setback. So. Okay. Okay. Um, yeah, I
think you've answered that, that well for me. Um, to
give me some comfort there. Um, sorry Krista, did you
want to jump in as well? Yeah. Sorry. I was
just going to add Mr. Mayor that it is encouraged.
So certainly when an application came in on any development,
we would take a look at it and to see
if there is the lot depth for an ADU or
not. We obviously don't want to preclude that from happening.
So the way it is written is encouraged as well.
I appreciate that too. Okay. Thank you. Um, my next
question was just about, um. Contributing versus non contributing. So
please correct me again if I'm wrong. But if you
have a non contributing site and someone just wants to
build a brand new home there. It could be like,
it could be a modern looking home like in today's
modern design. They could just go ahead and do that.
Yes. I'm seeing shaking events. Okay. But I'm just setting
up my question. But if the neighbour. Has across the
street, let's say, no, let's say the neighbour is a
contributing piece of land or property. They would have to
adhere to all of these rules. So I'm a little
bit. It's feeling like a little bit of big government
to me. I like this. Don't get me wrong. Bye.
I don't like big government. So I've just, can you
help me feel a bit better about that. Through the
mayor, I can. So I'm just going to step back
to the first part of your question about non contributing
properties. So scenario, non contributing property proposes a new build.
A heritage permit would be required for that new build.
And the policies that are presented in the plan, um,
are quite broad in nature. And don't say that it
needs to, you know, conform to a certain style. It
doesn't need to look old, but it does need to
respond to the context in which it's fit. So there
is a process for non - contributing properties. Um, there's
a chapter, um, chapter 11 in the plan provides all
of that guidance for how do you do new good
development that fits well in the ward. And then chapter
10 is how do you keep on adapting the existing
heritage buildings contributing properties in the ward? So there are
two kind of frameworks in place within the plan. Um,
both are very flexible. And, um, permissive in their structure.
So it's not heavy handed. Um, and it's and it
cuts both ways. So it's, so it's not like just
because you have an old building. You're the only one
that has to follow some roles. The whole idea here
is everyone needs to be, um, adapting and shaping and
introducing new development in a way that fits with this
place and keeps, keeps it weird. Um, so I'll leave
it there. Hope that helps clarify. No, you're, you are.
You're helping me. I'm open - minded. It's good. Yeah.
Um, so I guess where I'm a little, I'm just
still having a little bit of friction on this and
a Councillor Galler with us talking kind of brought it
up a little bit is that the nine contributing light
or house can sort of be somewhat flexible and weird
and have two stories. But the contributing one isn't allowed
to have a second story. Well, I'm sorry. I exaggerated
that. It can't have the like you're going to push
back on a second story like that. Not that it's
not allowed. But you're going to push back. So, you
know, I'm trying to be fair about those that are
there and those that are coming. That's just a comment.
You could just take that away as you, this is
a draft. So you're, you're here to listen to comments.
So that's fine. Uh, my last comment on a takeaway
is on the ADUs that you can see from the
street. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want you. I
don't want government to be involved in that. Okay. So
that's just my opinion on that. I do not want
government to be involved in that at all. If someone
is building an ADU in their backyard and it's going
to look a little bit different, like just let them
build the ADU. I don't want to add more costs
to those that are, that are doing that. The front
facing, like the primary property, I totally understand that. But
they're building something new in the backyard. Just let them
build something new in the back here. I want more
housing. I don't want, I don't want that. That's just
my opinion on that. Okay. Um, and then finally, I'm
really glad Councillor Crohn brought up sort of the percentages
of like, uh, you know, people are satisfied with sort
of how heritage districts are going and stuff like that.
I've referenced that before in the past too. Um, can
I just ask from a process point of view? Is
there actually like an exit interview from people that are
interacting with our planning staff and our heritage staff in
regards, uh, to this that will be captured for this
one if it's approved. To add to what's being captured
in the other ones so that we're going to get
more data about sort of satisfaction rate and what, what's
working well and what's not. To the mayor. Um, that
satisfaction survey, that was a council direction when Brooklyn and
College Hall was designated that we do that. And, uh,
that's something we can take away and look at doing
again now that we have two more new heritage districts
and possibly a third that would be a useful exercise.
I would appreciate that. Um, not that it matters for
me anymore, but for whoever the next term council is,
they, they, they I'm sure they would appreciate that. And
to be honest with you, it's good for us to
hear. It's good for the public to hear. But I
think it's good for you to hear. I think it's
good for staff to hear. Like what, what is our
interaction with the public working well, not working well from
our customer service point of view? That's good data and
good feedback for you just as much as it is
for council and for the public too. Right. So, okay.
Other than that, my only comment as a now not
questionable comment is one of the things, and I hope
I'm not going to get in control here, but like
I'm talking like 30 years ago or whatever, more than
that. There was like, I apologise if it was just
who I was growing up with. Like there was like
a stigma about the ward. Like, Oh, you lived in
the ward. You lived in that area of the city.
Now when I talk to people nowadays, it's like I
got a place in the ward. Like no, it's totally
changed. Uh, 100 percentage complete 180 from the way it
used to kind of be talked about to the way.
So I totally understand why we want to do the
things that you've captured here very well might I add.
And so it is a, it is really like one
of the places in Guelph. It truly is. And so
keeping that character and that heritage, I'm fully for that
as long as sort of the, the big brother, big
government thing doesn't go too much, which I think you're
taking away as a comment. And we'll see how it
comes back. So I appreciate my, my final comments on
my opinions on that. I did see another hand go
up here though as a final comment. Okay. Councillor Galler
and then I'm going to call the vote. Thank you
through worship. Just going back to the delegate. I wanted
to take a moment to ask, will there be an
opportunity to encourage corner stores and those sort of small
businesses to come back as part of this? Or would
that be discouraged through this plan. Through the mayor to
Councillor Goaler? There are some policies in the plan present
that speak to particularly in certain locations, uh, bringing that
those, those historical uses back, um, at the same time
there are also policies that provide flexibility that the kind
of the history of conversions of going from residential to
commercial or back again is very much welcomed. So not
requiring it, but creating space for it is, is there?
Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you, worship. Thank you.
And you know what you reminded me and Council, we
kind of made a nod to the delegate that came
up and I didn't, no one asked the question. So
I'm going to ask. We've talked a little bit about
the incentives. It's coming in September, things like that that
we'll talk about. You ask that question about budget, things
like that. But the other part of that gentleman's question
was about the teeth, the regulatory role, like how, how
can, can you just answer that question publicly before I
call the vote? Through the mirror. So this is like
the heritage conservation district that is not a Zoning by
law emendment. So I want to make that clear is
part of our OP work that we're doing. So we
brought phase one forward, the second phase is the employment
lands, the third face will include the commercial land use
analysis as well. But that's a couple of years out.
Okay. Let me rephrase the question. I believe the delegate
was asking about sort of the teeth, the regulatory framework
for making sure things are actually being followed through on
within the plan. So there's something that is there. Within
the plan that gives more authority to see things through
that need to be. There's a lot of shall or
a lot of encouragement wording. But are there things that
are going to protect, I think is where the delegate
was going. To the mayor, um, as, as we've mentioned,
we wanted to give a lot of flexibility to the
plan, but it is worded in such a way that
we will be able to prevent loss if it is
proposed. So we would be able to deny a demolition
application for a significant heritage building where that to come
forward. I think we just need to capture that just
for the delegate. So. Yeah. Okay. That's it. Then we're
going to look to a vote now of council to
receive. And thank you for listening to all the feedback.
Appreciate it. Uh, is there anybody against. Nobody that's unanimous.
So thank you again for your work. Okay. Moving right
along. We are at. The Guelph growth management monitoring report.
And then after that. Is our last one. The proposed
urban design master plan. So. For this, we have a
presentation from our staff from Jason. And then just a
recommendation to receive as well. Okay. So, uh, thank you
and welcome Jason. I'll turn it over to you for
whenever you're ready. Okay.
Good evening Mayor Guthrie and members of Council. Tonight I'll
be taking you through a brief presentation of some of
the highlights of the Guelph growth management monitor part for
2025. And while the City's growth management strategy, uh, is
to the year 2051. In the interest of time this
evening. I promise my presentation will be finished well before
then. Before I begin, I wanted to highlight that there
has been a change in the scope of the report
this year. The Affordable Housing Monitoring that used to be
part of this report is now provided as a separate
information report that was released last week titled The Housing
Affordability Strategy, first annual implementation and monitoring report. That report
now tracks the City's progress towards a 30 actions of
the housing affordability strategy adopted on December 10 of 2024.
And it also set the Affordable Housing thresholds for the
coming year.
So. My apologies. The purpose of this report is to
provide information on Gulph's progress towards achievement of official plan
and provincial policies. Progress towards provincial housing, the Provincial Housing
Pledge of 18, 000 new homes by 2031 information on
recent development activity and the City Supply of Approved Housing.
This report will also highlight some of the steps we've
taken as a City to help increase that supply despite
the challenging housing market. To begin, I'd like to start
by explaining the City's growth management framework has shown on
its schedule 1A of the official Plan shown here. The
Cities official plan sets policies and targets for growth and
development for specific areas of the City that are identified
on this schedule. This includes the intensification targets for the
built - up area, density targets for the designated greenfield
area, downtown, also referred to as our protected major transition
area towards the centre of the schedule and strategic growth
areas. And through this presentation, I'll be highlighting some of
our progress towards achievement of those targets. Now by the
end of 2025, Gulf was home to an estimated 150,
700 people and 87, 550 jobs reflecting an annual growth
of approximately 1, 100 people and 550 jobs. Now should
be noted that this population estimate is reported as a
census equivalent population, which does exclude those people that were
missed during the census. But when factoring it in those
people, uh, are estimated population is about 155, 750 people.
Who also official plan is planning to achieve a population
of 208, 000 people and 116, 000 jobs by 2051
and to achieve those forecasts. We need to continue to
plan to accommodate additional 52, 000 people and 28, 000
jobs. In the official plan also sets a target of
57 jobs for 100 residents and we are currently aligned
with that target. In this slide shows the breakdown of
the number of new residential units created each year over
the past 20 years by dwelling type. In 2025 through
building permits, we allowed for the construction of 664 new
housing units, which is below the 20 year average and
also our target of 947 units per year to achieve
our population forecast in 2051. Townhouses led, um, as the
dominant type of housing with 47 percent of the total
units created last year followed by additional residential units at
39 percent. The slower than expected housing construction activities result
of challenges that are currently being faced by the housing
market across a country. But most notably in Ontario. These
challenges include higher construction costs ongoing supply chain and skilled
labour shortages. The Canada U. S. trade conflict, weaker employment.
And for the first time ever last year, Canada lost
population since its confederation due to the tightening immigration at
the federal government level. Interest rates have also begun easing
from their peak in 2023, but new home prices continue
to remain higher than resale prices driving down the demand
for new homes. Now, despite these challenges that a moderated
growth in the short term, the longer term trend does
remain positive. And since adopting the City's growth management strategy
in 2022, Guelph has delivered housing growth within 130 units
of that forecast to date. And we do remain on
pace to achieve our 2051 population target. In 2025, Guelph
exceeded its intensification target of 46 percent of all new
residential growth occurring within the built - up area. We're
also meeting our greenfield area density targets of 68 residents
and jobs for Hector. Uh, density of 74 residency jobs
per hectare. An increase from 73 in 2024. And over
the past few years, we've seen both residential and job
growth within several of our, uh, strategic growth areas. And
we do remain on track to achieve those density targets
as well. And each of the city's 13 strategic growth
areas do have individual targets and more information on that
can be found in section 4. 4 of attachment 1
to the report. And while the issued residential permits that
we saw on the previous slide indicate planned housing activity,
housing starts provide a measure of projects that are actively
moving forward to construction. Those issued residential permits turn into
housing starts once construction on those units do begin. Last
year, Guelph saw 531 housing starts. And this represents 29
and a half percent of our provincial housing target of
1800 housing starts for 2025. Now through recent provincial legislative
changes on how development charges are collected by municipalities, the
province is now tied some of that lost revenue to
housing start performance. The municipalities who achieve a minimum through
the Ontario building faster fund. Now, eligibility for Gulf, sorry,
eligibility for Guelph to be to achieve this funding would
have required 1, 440 housing starts. And that is a
level that's nearly 100 units above the highest annual total
achieved engulfed over the past 20 years. And given current
The Housing Marketing conditions, achieving this target is even more
challenging right now. Furthermore, a municipalities do have limited control
over when approved developments proceed to construction after building permits
have been issued. And as I said, this slowdown isn't
unique to Guelph. Housing starts are down across Ontario. And
even the province in its budget has lowered its forecast
for housing starts for the second year in a row.
And by the end of last year, the province had
also begun describing its goal of creating 1. 5 million
homes by 231 as a soft target. However, the housing
targets and funding framework for municipalities under the Ontario Building
Faster Fund do remain unchanged. Moving on to the city's
downtown. It is currently achieving a density of 96 residents
and jobs per Hector up from 95 in 2024. And
this does represent a slight decrease from the peak of
105 in 2023. And this decline was due to the
cooperator's moving approximately 1, 200 employees to their headquarters in
the Han Quick Business Park in the fall of 2024.
Now it is anticipated the portion of these jobs will
return when Conneswell College does move their satellite campus into
the building. However, that project has also been placed on
hold until student enrollment numbers were able to sustain the
operational success of the satellite campus. And our downtown is
targeted to achieve a density of 150 residents and jobs
per hectare by 2031, 175 by 2041 and 200 by
2051. Now just to put this into perspective, uh, recently
24 story mixed use building was approved at 70 fountain
street east. And if we build an additional 10 to
12 of those, uh, within our downtown, uh, prior to
2051, the downtown density target could be meant. Respect to
our overall housing supply. Guelph is meeting provincial policies required,
which require a minimum of three years of housing supply
on lands that are zoned with adequate servicing available for
development. And we term this Guelph's short - term housing
supply. In 2025, we added more than 1, 300 units
to our short term housing supply, increasing that supply of
homes to 7. 7 years up from 6. 4 years
in 2024. And our lands that are designated for residential
development, we have an additional 18. 3 years worth of
housing for combined total of 26 years of housing supply,
where a minimum of 15 years is required under provincial
policy. The City's expanding housing supply reflects continued progress towards
advancing development approvals to better position the city to become
housing ready for when that housing market does begin to
recover. And we've also made efforts to increase the supply
of housing that are ready to proceed to building permit.
And last year, that was 647, 645 units, which is
an 85 percent increase over the 325 units in 2024.
However, should be noted that some of our current housing
supply is constrained by additional. However, it should be noted
that some of the current housing supply is constrained by
additional development conditions and is not quite ready to proceed
to building permit. Some of the lands that do contribute
to Gulf Storm Housing supply do have development constraints such
as Brownfield remediation requirements. Requirements for records of site condition,
or zoning holding provisions, all of which must be addressed
prior to construction beginning. And in many cases, the timing
of meeting these conditions is under the control of the
developer or home builder. Overall, approximately 30 percent of Gulfshort
Term Housing Supplier subject to these conditions to be met
prior to construction of the site, representing about 2, 166
units. And the local development community is also identified that
approximately 600 units are also affected by factors and constraints
that are not within provincial or municipal control, such as
issues around land consolidation, utility easements, financing challenges, and matters
of private litigation. All of which would contribute to delays
construction of the site. And just for context, here is
a map that highlights the sites that contribute to Guelph's
housing supply. And red is the short - term housing
supply and in yellow is the designated sites for residential
development, most of which do exist within our secondary planarians.
Now look at how our existing housing stock breaks down.
The majority of the units in Guelph are low density
single detached and semi - detached units. A shift in
the demand for different forms of housing, uh, resulting from
decreased housing affordability, combined with policies that promote transit supportive
densities and complete communities. It was resulting in a shift
towards the approval and construction of more townhouses and apartments.
And as more medium and high - density housing is
approved and built, the City's housing stock is expected to
continue to shift, offering a wider range of housing choices
to serve the needs of current and future residents. And
by 2051, it's anticipated that 38 percent of the cities
housing stock will be in the form of low density
housing. So as we all know, it's been a challenging
couple of years in the housing market, both here and
across the country, especially when it comes to new housing
construction. But the City has stayed focused on, uh, what
is within our control to help encourage new development and
position growth to be ready for residential growth for when
demand for new housing returns. Despite these challenges, the city
continues to meet key official plan and provincial requirements on
growth. The City has advanced a range of policy and
process improvements to increase development potential, such as through the
downtown Height Study that now allows up to 24 story
buildings downtown. And the Cindy does continue to increase efforts
to streamlined approvals of development applications. We've also made strategic
infrastructure investments to increase service and capacity to enable future
residential development. And the City has worked to remove infrastructure
barriers to growth, all aimed at make it easier for
development to proceed. The result is a stronger and more
resilient housing supply. And through the continued efforts to advance
approvals of development applications, the City has increased its short
- term housing supply. And by additional 20 percent in
just one year. And increase the number of units ready
to proceed to building permit by 85 percent. These actions
have made Guelphore housing ready and puts a seating a
good position to support new housing construction when that market
does recover. Now, looking at the focus will be turning
the groundwork we've laid to improve our housing supply and
turning that into actual homes, uh, by helping those units
move from approval through to construction as market conditions improve.
We'll continue our ongoing monitoring and development activity and continue
to improve our processes so that approvals can stay as
efficient and predictable as possible. We will also continue investing
in the infrastructure needed to unlock growth, especially across our
strategic growth areas, downtown within our designated greenfield lands and
within our secondary plan areas. With provincial legislative changes that
have now changed how on Tinicipality is able to collect
municipal development charges, the City will continue to advocate to
other levels of government for the funding and tools that
will enable more housing so that Guelph continues to remain
on track to meet its growth and housing targets through
2051 and meet the needs of current and future residents.
And over the past two years, staff's advocacy work, uh,
has resulted in the city being awarded 83 million dollars
in provincial and federal grant money to help reduce those
infrastructure barriers, support growth and infrastructure renewal and ensure that
service delivery does keep pace with population growth. With these
priorities in place, they will continue to share that Guelph's
well - positioned to respond quickly as that housing market
does recover. And this concludes the presentation of the highlights
of the Guelph Management Monetary Report for 2025. Thank you.
Yeah, thanks Jason. Uh, yeah, your presentation's great. Um, thank
you very, very much. Um, is there any questions and
or comments just at the same time? I'll start with,
uh, Councillor Alta C Councillor Galler and then Downer. And
then Coron. Okay. Thank you very much, Mayor Guthrie, through
you to staff. Um. I hope that this question doesn't,
uh, appear too cynical. Um. With the statement that we
are housing ready, are we more housing ready than other
jurisdictions, less housing ready or equally housing ready? Because I
see us potentially competing for the same purchasers and equally
for the, uh, the same construction, uh, workers to actually
build these houses. So I'm wondering if, if we're doing
a lot of work just to stay where we are,
proportionate relative to, uh, other, uh, municipalities in Ontario.
Through the mirror that take councillor alt. Certainly through the
housing pledge, we committed to be housing ready and doing
what we could within our control to be ready for
housing. And we've been working diligently on that. They have
funding program also, um, allowed us to advance policies the
four units as of right. The CPPS, uh, Council did
hear earlier this week. We signed off on our first
CPPS, which was, uh, again, being housing ready. Um, all
municipalities are working a lot. Anyone who received half funding.
We generally have the same type of initiatives. We're working
on. So, um, I think we're keeping, keeping in step
with our neighbour, Ms. Pelleties to ensure we have, have
everything ready. Uh, we're planning our infrastructure dollars where we
see development happening, uh, Wellington Street opening up. And that
work that was done last year, um, allows development kind
of south of the tracks to proceed. So it allows
that 70 fountain to proceed. So we've been making strategic
choices on where we're, we're being housing ready. Um, we,
you know, every, every municipality is doing what they can
to attract, uh, attract individuals to, to come to their
cities, uh, with the numbers we have and the increases
we have in our short term housing supply and our
policy work. I think we're in great position for that.
And, and thank you very much for that answer. I
certainly do appreciate the work that staff has done with
a very challenging public policy approach from the provincial government.
But I don't want to be too cynical. I certainly
don't want to be too Pollyanna. I just want to
be realistic. And what I'm hearing is, um, we're running
as fast as we can. Great. Thank you, Councillor Alt.
Um, Galler. And then, uh, Coran and then Downer. And
then Cossa. Thank you through your worship. Uh, thank you
very much for the presentation. It's really helpful to have
this data in front of us. Uh, I wanted to
ask about the employment forecast. I see that for the
population. We're on track, but for the employment, it's listed
as, um, working to improve. I believe there has been
a significant shift in the last few years to more
work from home and more. So how is that taken
into account? Because as we saw in the presentation earlier
today now a big manufacturing facility that might have employed
two or 300 people could now have a dozen employees
that are supervising robots to do that work. So how
are we shifting that expectation of implement unemployment lands to
employment elsewhere. Through the Mayor to Councillor Galler, uh, work
from home is considered still employment. Um, and we're actually,
uh, undertaking, uh, an update to our employment land strategy
to look at the changing landscape post COVID, uh, where
there is more work from home. There's more work that
doesn't have a standard workplace where people go to delivery
drivers and whatnot. The gig economy as well. They're all
still jobs. And we're trying to get a good handle
on how that will impact our employment forecast. And we
will pivot from there, definitely. Okay. I really appreciate that.
Cause I know many traits people that now they'll meet
in someone's garage in the morning and then their trucks
go out and they're doing the work within the residential
areas, but they no longer require that warehouse facility. Or
so I, it's good to know that there is an
update coming on that. Um, my, my other question was
to, to the degree that the downtown infrastructure improvements, uh,
once they're unlocked, how soon do we expect to catch
up to, to, um, growth forecast? Do we expect that
once the pipes are underground, it would be like that
year. We might see enough builds too or not approvals
to meet the provincial requirements. Is that when we might
see it. Through you, Mayor again, to Councillor Galler. Most
of the larger developments within downtown Gwealth have been constrained
by, uh, servicing capacity, uh, and we do have approvals
on several sites that actually do have Zoning holding provisions,
uh, that require us to ensure that there is servicing,
uh, adequate servicing available. Um, once the infrastructure does go
in, it's expected that we'll be able to lift all
of those, uh, holding provisions across downtown. And then those
developments will be able to, uh, proceed. 70 fountain street
yeast is actually they're holding provision just got lifted. Yeah.
I just got left. Um, and we expect more, more,
uh, to be lifted shortly as well. Okay. Thank you
for that. And so that I understand does account towards
the provincial targets when we live to restrictions or when
that shovels go on the ground. Patient. Yeah. That's correct.
Okay. Okay. So, so it's when the foundations are, are
poor. When the, it's generally when the building permit is
issued and then construction does begin on the site. Okay.
Okay. Okay. So, so it can't just be that the
city approves the development, but then the private sector has
to have their, their own work done. Okay. Thank you
for that. Thank you, worship. Yeah. I'm just going to
jump in. Okay. They count by the foundations port. And
actually that's through CMEC that does the numbers. I think
sends it down to the province. And then that's how
things are kind of determined. And that's why every municipality
everywhere has been saying, well, we could approve 5, 000
homes. But they're not built. And the foundation is important.
Then we get penalized. That's not fair. Right. Anyways, I'll
get to that later. Just a little, little taste of
what I'm going to say. Councillor Corona's next. I can
feel the emotion in your voice, Mayor Guthrie and my,
my questions have been answered, but my comment was very
similar to yours in that, um, the complexities of the
reason why concrete isn't being poured in shovels aren't in
the ground. And cranes aren't in the sky is massive.
And you've outlined a lot of those reasons. And I
think, you know, from people that I've talked to over
the last little while, the primary reason that I'm hearing
is instability. So not just in commodities and steel and
concrete, um, but the market and the interest rates and
the buyers and the, and the market costs. So you've
outlined a lot of the reasons. And that, that's really
helpful for us to, as policy makers, uh, to know
that we're doing everything we can. Uh, and, um, what's
out of our hands and what is in our hands.
Is very different. Great. Thank you Councillor Karan and to
downer, please. Thank you through you, Mr. Mayor. I just
wanted to, um, I just ditto to what others are
saying. I really enjoy reading these reports every year. There's
often really interesting information about trends and things like that,
you know, and what's being, um, impacting growth here on
a sort of a, but on a macro level and
how authentic comes down to us. Um, one of the
things I just wanted to be, uh, I think I
know the answer to this, but the university, like they're
building those units on college. They don't require, uh, a
site plan, but they do require building permits. I'm assuming.
So does that, will that get be put into the
next year's, um, update at that time. So is that,
so does the university development start playing out into these
reports. Too. Through the mayor to Councillor Downer, I may
have to defer to Christopher this one, but it would
depend on, um, how the structural makeup of the units,
if they're, it needs to be a kitchen, uh, needs
to have, uh, a bathroom to be considered unit. And
I'm not sure if there's communal bathrooms there. I may
have to defer to Krista. I haven't seen the actual
interior plans for that yet. Yeah. Through the Mayor to
Council Downer. So, um, the one build in particular would
not be counted as units. Um, but the province is
also recording now student beds as part of the Bill
Better Faster Fund. So they include long - term care
facilities and student beds. So some of the projects, the
private projects that are geared towards students, uh, are self
- contained units. And they would count as units. Um,
the one in particular on college and Montgomery that's coming
forward, would most likely not, but they are also keeping
a separate sheet on student beds. And that would count
toward the Bill Better Faster Fund and, you know, the
mayor certainly talked about that a little bit, but the
way they calculate, like the foundation start part. Plus the
ADUs. You have to pull a bunch of information for
different spreadsheets to get our starts every year. Okay. Great.
Thanks. The next question may not be through the planning
staff. It might be with the CAO baker, but we're
sort of ready for when the market changes, uh, through
all the building and our plans for infrastructure. But how,
how will we, um, the financially ready for this, for
anyone, the market changes. Because as we know, at one
point, a couple of years ago, growth was paying for
itself at a point of about 80 percent and now
is probably down well below 70 percent. So that means
that existing, uh, residents pick up the cost of infrastructure.
Um, and, and other capital costs. I'm not talking about
operating, but that again, but buying buses and all of
those things are part of that. So how are we,
how, how are we planning to be ready financially for
when the uptick in the market? And then there's, and
we could see, you know, while we're at 0. 7
or 9 now in growth, we could suddenly go to
1. 5 again. Um, yeah, so thanks for the question
and through the mayor to Councillor Downer. I feel like
right now we're going through our low, like our lowest
of the low, um, in terms of our revenue and
they impact financially. Um, we've deferred significant capital. We continue
to look at that as we look into 2027, 28
to, to help us manage through these reduced revenue periods.
Um, we definitely continue to work with planning on this
pipeline and really try to anticipate revenue projections tied right
to develop it now. Like where we're getting to like
a very granular level of planning because of the financial,
um, situation. And so, um, the team continues to work
on that. If we do get the, when the, when
the shovels go in the ground, the building permits get
pulled. That's great news for us. That is one The
revenues rebound. That's when we can start to really feel,
um, more stability. And our, our revenue projections starting to
return to where we expect them to be, um, I
think the longer term, just with what the province has
been doing to development charges, I think we do need
to expect that over the long term here, this trend
of, um, reduced DCs. It is going to continue. Um,
and that, and that those, uh, pressures are going to
be on our taxes and our rates long term. And
then we're, we're, we've been building those costs. And now
over the last couple of years, just with the changing
legislation, but I, I fully expect that those are going
to, those are going to continue to be real pressures.
They have to be, uh, picked up in, in our
tax and rate budgets unless the upper levels of government
come to the table, which, which I, you know, we're
advocating for all the time. So I hope that, uh,
helps answer that question. Great. Thank you, Councillor. And now
I have lasses Claussin. Yes. Thank you through you, Mr.
Mayor. Thank you for the presentation. Um, I had a
quick question about the Conestoga College satellite campus downtown. I
was here a few years ago when we made it
an announcement in, in the atrium about, about the Conestoga
College coming downtown. And it was really exciting at the
time. And there was a promise of not just jobs,
but like lots of different students who would be living
in this area. And so reading the report, I appreciate
you made comment about it in the presentation, but there
doesn't seem to be any illusion to a timeline or
what a return to a level that can support, um,
the operational success of the campus. Do we have any
concept of when that satellite campus might come online. Through
you, Mayor, to Councillor Klaus, and we, we currently don't
with the federal government really restricting international student missions, which
was what Connorswood College was really banking on. I don't,
I haven't heard any, any updates, perhaps tarot might have
done some. Yeah. So thanks Jason. I would, I would
say we've been continuing to be in contact with Conestoga,
um, we don't have a date, but we continue to
stay connected. We are advancing kind of in terms of
an advocacy effort. This will become more of a priority,
I think as we looked into 2027 and we think
about our priorities. This, that's an important building in the
downtown. We need to get it active. And so, uh,
you'll see that, uh, be front centre as we look
into 2027. Thank you. Is there anybody else before. I
do a speech. Okay. Nobody else. All right. Um, we
Guelph met. Our housing targets in 2023. Do you know
how many. Cities in Ontario met the housing targets in
2023 out of the 50 plus cities that are required.
Only 12. Guelph met the housing targets. In 2024. Guess
how many cities only met the target in 2024. Does
anyone know? 15. Cities. We did not meet it. For
2025. Okay. Guess how many cities got met in 2025.
I've been told 13. Okay. So. The
program, this is my own thoughts. The program. Was, in
my opinion. A valid attempt to try to sort of
lay the match to get things going. Which we needed
to do in this province. It was the way it
was measured. And implemented that it did not work. And
taking into consideration like Councillor Gull are set, like how
do you count. Is it by us approving. Nope. It's
by a foundation port. Well, we can't control when a
permanent is pull for a foundation. So why are we
being, why are we getting the money. And then it's
circular, right? It's like, well, we need the money. So
that we can unlock more infrastructure that helps build more
homes. But then you're not giving us the money. To
unlock the infrastructure to unlock more homes. So why don't
you just give us the money. Right? Cause they have
the money. To an envelope. I've not seen it, but
it's an envelope somewhere. Okay. So. It was, it was,
it was valid. In my opinion, it was still valid
to do. But it just, the implementation just didn't work.
And the province has acknowledged that now. They have. They're
stopping this. They're stopping this stuff now. Like they're moving
on to something else. They're working with the Ontario Big
City Mayor's caucus and staffs. I know trying to figure
out a new way of doing it. Because they acknowledge
it. But I just, what I hate is when I
hear like, Oh Guelph this and Guelph that I just
gave you the stats. We met it for two out
of the three years. In a bad sort of arena
of home building. We met it two out of the
three years. We did a good job. And, uh, and
that should be acknowledged. And like kudos to counsel with
policy changes. But major kudos to staff, like getting to
yes, thinking outside the box, figuring things like, please believe
me, we could collectively. Guess how much in DCs we've
collected this year so far. It's July. Guess how much
in DCs we've collected this far? I think it's like
65, 000 dollars. A little bit more. It's now a
little bit more. I don't have the exact number. It's
about, I think around two million now. So we did
get, we did get some, some non - residential non
- residential non - res. All right. But like a
month ago it was 65, 000. Yeah, it was. So
yes, you, you're accurate. Well, we did get some June.
Okay. Thank you. Whoever that was. But, um. Like this
isn't a Guelph thing. Okay. Now look. I say that.
I'm getting to my ending here. Thanks everybody. I say
that. Not to be like because we're done. And like,
I'm not here to be here in a few months.
So here's my little speech to anybody that's coming back
or anyone that's elected. Do not let up on this.
Just because there's province this and federal government that and
DC, like we can be concerned and we can have
our opinions and we can advocate, but we cannot let
up on this housing issue. We cannot. For the sake
of my own kids, please don't, please. Okay. We have
to have a culture like we have of staff getting
to yes and figuring stuff out. We have to work
with the development community. That includes the for - profit
and the nonprofit community development sector. We got to figure
out new policies. We've got to continue to push and
push and try to figure stuff out. Because to be
ready doesn't mean we are ready, meaning we don't do
anything else. To be ready requires us to continue to
make more changes so we can be even more ready
when the market hits and when the market is ripe.
Okay. But this sort of data to me is so
good, like Councillor Downer said. This stuff is so good,
but it's not fair. It's not fair to take the
data out of context and throw, you know, throw the
grenade in the room and walk away somehow, somehow, you
know, my colleagues here or staff or things like that
are, you know, bad people and not wanting to get
development done or things like that. So we've come a
long way. I'm very proud of this council and staff
this term. I'm very proud of that work. And we
cannot let up. We cannot. We have to keep pushing.
And we have to keep changing things, uh, to continue
to be more ready when it comes together. But I
thought I would hit you all with those stats there
because I just want everyone to know that even though
this report says, Oh, we didn't make it. And, you
know, all respect to our media partners, but like, you
know, I can just see the, I can see the
headline, you know. But we made it for two years
out of the three. Where many, municipalities did not. And
that's because we hit the yes button a lot of
times or raised our hand in, yes, a lot of
times, uh, this term of council. So all right. Who's,
who's, who's moving this recommendation for me? Did we already
do that. No, who's doing it Galler and Richardson. Okay.
Anything more. I'm calling the vote. Does anyone against receiving.
Nobody, that's unanimous. Thank you very much. Now speaking of
like the heritage stuff. And speaking of housing. And density
in a built up area. This is a good segue
into the proposed urban design master plan for 64 Duke
Street. And just as a heads up, I did have
one delegation, Ken Thompson emailed to mention that he was
not able to do, uh, the delegation just to recognise
that. But we have a presentation from Scott who's going
to be our, uh, Scott, uh, is it Plant Plant
or Plantee? Am I saying. Okay. Plant, thank you. Who's
a Project Manager? Uh, with the Planning Development who's going
to do a presentation for us. And then we have
one, two, three, four, five, six. Different delegations. And then
it comes back to us to discuss a little bit.
Okay. Uh, Scott, thank you for coming forward. I'll turn
it over to you whenever you're ready. Okay. In respective
Council's time, I'll keep this presentation short and concise tonight.
Uh, good evening, everyone. My name is Scott. I'm a
Project Manager and Planning and Building Services. Thank you for
listening in tonight on this important future project in the
City of Guelph. Their purpose of this report is to
seek Council's support and the urban design master plan for
the Midtown Village Project. It is noted that Council's support
does not approve any zoning or strict design details tonight.
Uh, as this is a conceptual document that will provide
a framework to guide future development applications. The subject
properties municipal addresses are 333739 and 45, Elizabeth Street, 64
Duke Street. 69 here on Street and 60 Al Street.
The support of this master plan will be required before
the applicant submits a formal development application through the City's
downtown community Planning Permit system. Again, uh, the recommendation before
you does not approve any zoning, uh, which will be
evaluated in detail at a future community planning permit application.
And urban design master plan is required to proactively manage
large scale growth on the existing industrial lands that will
support the arrangement of land uses, infrastructure, and public spaces
to ensure a high quality of life and environmental sustainability
for the neighbourhood. Generally, there is a positive public reception
in the community and generally this urban design master plan
supports the city's growth targets and urban design objectives. 39
Elizabeth Street on the north of the site is included
within the project area, which is a more recent small
land edition to the boundary area of the master plan.
The number of proposed dwelling units is estimated at approximately
800 to 875 in total, which on the top of
growth would help the city meet its growth targets. The
square foot adjustam for commercial space has not yet been
specified. And the buildings will primarily be residential with opportunities
for small - scale commercial and community uses serving the
neighbourhood and ground floor spaces - oriented to the public.
And the downtown secondary planned land use schedule. The lands
are currently designated residential one, residential two, mixed use one,
and parks designations. In the downtown secondary plan, maximum building
height schedule, a concept plan includes seven buildings that range
in height from two stories to 23 stories with the
tallest buildings on this project being located at the centre
of the site. Transitioning to lower building heights at the
edges. Four stories along Elizabeth Street and three stories along
Duke Street. The
Guelph Junction Railway runs through the urban design master plan
area generally from west to east. Uh, influencing the phasing
of the lands. Since the north parcel is independent from
the South Parcel in terms of access and servicing, this
phase may develop independently at any time once a community
planning permit has been approved. Phase two includes the redevelopment
of the North Parcel with three new buildings. A new
vehicular access, Elizabeth Lane will be built and the existing
axis lane to the east will be rebuilt. The northern
portion of the park will also be developed in the
space. On the south parcel, the work in phase one
will see the demolition, the existing warehouse structure while preserving
the historic factory building and we'll see stormwater and sanitary
infrastructure to be built within the rail corridor. In phase
two, the West Block will be developed with two large
buildings and a pedestrian mu's. Land for the enhanced schoolyard
is intended to be dedicated to the school board, which
could commence improvements to the public open space. In phase
three, The Heritage Building will be restored and the 16
- story residential building will be developed on the East
Block. Here on Lane will be built in its ultimate
location and the final improvements of the edge of the
enhanced schoolyard can be completed. This phase will conclude with
completion of the park, including the rail trail extension, construction
of a public square, and improvements to here Ontarios here
on Street. The existing Zoning
Byla regulations will be enforced and effect until there is
a resolution of the appeal of the community planning permit
Bylaw. The existing under appeal community planning permit regulations are
not yet in effect. These proposed community planning permit system
regulations are to be determined at a future community planning
permit submission by the applicant. Based on the timeline of
the woods projects, it is anticipated that the community planning
permit Byla will be in effect when development projects are
ready to proceed. Three in - person public open houses
have occurred since June, 2024, including in November 2024 and
June 2025. This public feedback helped to shape the current
urban design master plan. If you wish to be notified
of any future revisions or decisions on these applications, please
email planning at golf. ca. Thank you for listening. That
is the end of the presentation. Great. Thank you very
much. Well, if we have any questions or comments to
you, uh, we'll get them to you and staff right
after, okay? Sounds good. Scott, was that your first time
at the microphone. For us. Really? Nice to meet you.
Is it? No, this was where I get in trouble.
How long have you been with the city. Well. Just
go over. To your year. Just over a year. I'm
in trouble. Thank you. Okay. Well, you did a great
job presenting for us. Thank you very much. That's great.
Um, okay. We have several delegations. We're looking forward to
hearing from you all. Susan Frozen from the Wood Development
Group is first. Actually, it looks like we have three
from the wood development group. So we have Suzanne frozen,
Tim Smith and Ian Panabaker. And are you all coming
as a team. Vis. For 15. Yeah. Okay. No problem.
Okay. So, uh, yeah, this is five minutes. Not 10
minutes. And again, you'll hear the chime at the four
minute 30 second mark with the warning just before you
hit the five minute mark. So Suzan over to you
whenever you are ready. And thank you so much for
joining us. Good evening, honourable Mayor Guthrie and members of
Council. Uh, I'm Suzan Frasen. I'm president of wood development
group and it is truly a pleasure to be here
tonight to present to our urban design master plan, uh,
consisting of 64 Duke Street, 69 Huron Street. A small
sliver of Alice Street 33, 35, 37, 39, and 45,
Elizabeth Street. This is a site
that is, how do I go back? This is a
site that is steep in history. Uh, for the possible
for over 100 years, it has been industrial. Uh, the
majority of this site has seen various factories on it
over the years. Um, and, uh, but the city recognised
the need for residential development in 1990 and rezone the
site in 1994 residential. Recognising the contribution that this site
had the potential to give to downtown. So while you
will see that our urban design master plan, we've worked
on this for four years. The reality is that our
family has been reimagining this site for the past 36
years. And there's been a lot that's changed in 36
years. But one of the things that has not changed
is the incredible complexity of this site. In fact, with
every year, it continues to become more and more complex.
It's a brown field site. That has a railway that
runs right through it. It has a private easement on
it. It has a historical heritage building on it. It
has an elementary school sitting adjacent to it. And most
significantly, it is a high density residential site that exists
in a low rise residential neighbourhood. So unless you specialize
in brownfield or heritage, uh, which we don't, uh, most
people would take advantage of the high density and heights
that the City of given us on this site. And
sell it to maximize their ROI. Our family and our
staff chose not to. We signed up for this challenge
because we honestly believe that what we can deliver to
this community and to this city on this site is
better than anyone else. One of the reasons that we
believe that is because we've been accumulating properties. Throughout this
neighbourhood. For the past number of years. To ensure that
this site touches all four corners. All four streets on
this block. And that will allow us to open up
the site to both the community who live there. Um,
and, and rent there. And they can access the neighbourhood
and the downtown through this site. But we also wanted
to be able to welcome the community into this site
because we believe it what we will build here would
be very special. We'll create new public spaces. Including a
dedication of land to the Catholic school board to allow
them to increase their play yard and potentially grow that
school as the community around them grows. We will clean
up the site. We will green up the site. And
we will also help to protect their neighbourhood from potential
floods. So we will try and floodproof the neighbourhood. As
well. We'll build a mix of housing units. Both in
size and in type to allow for a broader range
of, um, homeowners and tenants to be interested in living
here. We recognise that you can't, you just continue to
put up high rise condo buildings and expect that everyone
is going to want to live there. So we'll be
very intentional and very careful about what it is we
develop here. We'll restore the historic building on this site
to celebrate the history that existed within those walls. And
we'll do our best to reflect and compliment the character
of the ward. And the spaces that we create. Will
it be different. For sure. But different doesn't always mean
bad. Remember that we live in this community and we
work in this community. And we can be held accountable
for what it is that we develop here. Thank you
very much, Suzan. Any follow - up, uh, for Suzan
at this point? Or did you want to maybe I
can do that or I can let Tim and Ian
like all from the wood development group speak. And then
I could do questions to all three. So that makes
sense. Yeah. Do you mind if I do that? Okay.
Perfect. So yeah, let's do that. So, uh, Tim Smith,
you're next. And then, and then all three of you
can come together and get, get ready for questions. Welcome,
Tim. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of Council,
pleasure to be here again to talk about this exciting
project. Um, my name's Tim Smith. I'm the Planner for
the wood development group who has been part of the
team. Let's put this together over the last few years.
What I'd like to do is kind of build on
what Scott Outline and his presentation and some of the
things that Susan touched on to describe, give you a
bit of an overview if I can in five minutes.
It's a lengthy document. An overview of what's in the
plan, which really is at its heart a concept that
has informed us at a guidelines that we expect future
development to adhere to. Um, you see on this slide
really just a list of those sort of key elements,
key features that we see being built on the site
as Suzan mentioned. A mix of housing types, different unit
sizes, townhouses, some embedded into the base of the buildings.
We're restoring, converting that historic factory building doesn't look like
much today, but believe me underneath that. And once you
open up the windows, it's going to be quite fantastic.
We'll be adding two stories to that for more housing.
Um, a new neighbourhood park expanded schoolyard for the Sacred
Heart School, which I'll talk about in a moment other
public open spaces. And as you heard from Scott, there
will be opportunities for some small scale commercial and community
uses that we think the community will really appreciate. And
finally, as Susan said, we're opening up to site, bringing
people into what we're creating here, also allowing them simply
to get through the site. And in many ways, that
opening up this side, I think will be as significant
a change to the neighbourhood as the development itself, what
we're building here. Uh, let me talk a little bit
about those connections. You see them in the orange lines
here, uh, a pathway from Alice Street up through the
site crossing of the tracks, uh, so that people can
go right up to Elizabeth Street as a muse off
of Duke Street, allowing people to come in from that
direction. There'll be some private, but publicly accessible streets with
sidewalks on them. You see in grey here. So lots
of porosity. And can't forget the rail corridor will have
an extension of the multi - use path that one
day we all hope a continued eastward eventually reaching all
the way over to, um, the wealth innovation district. Three
key open spaces I want to highlight here. A new
park in the rail corridor, an enhancement to the sacred
heart schoolyard and what we're calling here on Square, a
new open space on here on Street in front of
the Heritage Building. Let me talk a little bit about
the part here. This is really going to be about
bringing nature back into the city. The idea is a
heavily vegetated green space. We have 50 metres between the
future buildings on either side of the rail corridor to
work with. Yes, the tracks will run through it. We'll
keep those, I'm sure the safety barriers against that. But
the green space we have on either side will be
lushly planted. There'll be opportunities for public art, for recalling
recreation nodes where you might find a ping pong table
or something for kids to climb on, uh, simply seeding
for people to hang out in places where we can
interpret the site's heritage, the wards heritage. We've heard so
much about today. The enhanced schoolyard is a really big
idea. We've had lots of discussions with the Catholic school
board about this to really see how we could actually
not just expand the schoolyard, which will be a great
benefit to the students, as you can appreciate. But actually
how this space that after school hours and in the
summertime can actually be opened up and available to the
community. And the school board has agreed that we don't,
they don't need to build fences around the schoolyard. It
can be managed through landscaping to ensure that the kids
are corralled during the school day, but you can get
into that space and really make it function like a
park with flexible play yard playground, uh, more space for
basketball in other court sports. Here on Square, we'll actually
be a private space, privately owned, but it will be
landscaped and have amenities in it for the public. As
you can see from the rendering here, trees will line
it. We'll have seating under the trees or people can
come and meet and socialize with their neighbours. We do
hope to have a cafe, perhaps other uses in the
base of this historic factory building. It's spill out onto
this space. We may need a little bit of parking
in the front to support those commercial uses, but we
also see an opportunity to remove those, um, parking so
that the space can be used for community events. Now
I do need to speak about the building's briefly and
to really emphasize here what we've done to push the
taller buildings toward the heart of the site and provide
transitions down to the neighbourhood. We've buried heights. They're all
well under 24 stories, one to 23 stories, the remainder
are at lower heights as Scott mentioned. And I'll just
kind of wrap up. I do want to, this image
gives you a sense of how the development will blend
with the neighbourhood. And I. Would. So just, just one,
just one, just one second. Sorry. Your time is, is
up. Um, I'm going to look to my colleagues just
to just, okay, you've gone off screen there. Did the
screen just go off. Can you put the screen back
on? Yeah. For me. Thank you so much. Um, to
my colleagues, uh, this is an important sort of, I
think. Is anyone, as the chair, I'm going to make
a call to allow this last slide to be talked
about. Um, does anyone want to challenge me on that.
No. Okay. Please like 20 seconds. Talk about this cause
we got to go to the next delegate. Okay. Go
ahead and talk about this last slide. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. I appreciate I'd be less than 30 seconds. I
do have just a few slides, but very quickly we
go through them. There are three images I want to
show to really emphasize what we see as how people
will experience this site and why the transitions, how the
transitions and the design of the edges of the site
will really contribute. So the view you have of Duke
Street today is this, looking south, and I'm sorry, I'm
having trouble advancing the screen. There we go. Um, that
will look something like that in the future. These are
renderings. You have to take renderings with a grain of
salt. But what we've done is line Duke Street with
three story townhouses. And then if you look at the
rail corridor today, imagine it being widened, lushly planted and
lined with buildings with units that face the space with
winding paths and so forth. And then this is the
favourite view really. This is what looks like from here
on Street today. Um, but imagine something that looks like
this with that restored building more green space. Taller buildings
in the heart of the site at a distance and
really a lot more space for the community to meet
and gather, um. And have a higher quality of life.
Perfect. Thank you very much for wrapping that up. I
appreciate it. Uh, go and take your seat. And Ian's
going to come up and then all three of you
can be ready for any questions. Okay. So Ian O
over to you. Um, I gave a little bit of
grace there, but please know, no more grace for the
evening. You got it. You got to get in your
five minutes. Okay. Go for it. Thank you, your worship
members of Council staff and members of the audience. I'm
just going to untrug and truncate what I said because
the, um, obviously Council tonight is being asked to support
the, uh, the urban design master plan, which is a
requirement of the secondary plan for these large sites within
the area. And at 10 acres almost, we are the
largest of those areas to be planned, um, in this
kind of collaborative way. There have been a lot of,
um, work to date to get here. Uh, a number
of years, multiple preconsultations with staff and agencies and extensive
community engagement program. And along the way, the navigation of
provincial and city policy changes and evolutions, including, uh, The
six that the City undertook for the downtown Heights and
the mentioned downtown CPPS developments over the last year. This
decision tonight, this decision to support is the first step,
believe it or not, in us solidifying a vision, which
then creates a whole myriad of projects for us to
start really implementing the site. Sitewide environmental and other audits
and approvals have to be undertaken for the infrastructure renewals.
The parks and school agreements for these open space land
dedications and concepts, all leading to individual block applications. The
site had a lot of, uh, input and analysis. I
won't go into it. We've had a great team helping
us to do this and set us up for success
in the future. There's been a lot of research to
done to actually illustrate this to you. What's possible. And
we know what's practical. We, uh, as Scott alluded to,
we had three public meetings. We kicked off in June
24, two years ago. The first of that was an
introductory session and visioning session with the community. And while
we didn't show a concept that night. We did talk
about the need for additional density and heights. The VB
- seeking. And with all the events that we did,
there was an online component. There was surveying and commenting
periods much longer than those events. The second meeting, uh,
was, uh, in November of 24, which we did presented
a concept and took folks through the rationale for the
density. There's a tiny little picture there in the corner
of all the inputs that go in to reconfiguring a
site like this. Susan Bench and them about Brownfields and
working in a railway corridor and replacing trunk infrastructure and
making commitments to creating great public space and gifting public
space. All that goes into factor into the land value
for this project. We do not have access to brownfield
community improvement plans. We don't have access to downtown investments
programs through replacing infrastructure. All of it's being born by
the density and height. But we did show a 24
story building in the centre. And the basic structure that
Tim alluded to in terms of opening up, uh, to
all corners. And that led to a second, uh, consultation
session with a revised plan that you basically see today
documented in the urban design master plan. This one incorporated
the OPA 106 heights that had happened in the meantime.
Um, we did revise the massing and move it slightly
further west towards downtown. It helped with shadowing and, um,
some of the, um, the relationships between the Heritage building.
And, um, the, uh, the project on the north side
of the tracks on Elizabeth Street got, um, enlarged because
of the direction the Council set with OPA 106. Following
that meeting, uh, there was, uh, protracted period to get,
gets it today. We, we added 39 Elizabeth Street, gratefully.
It allows us to have a consistent, um, frontage on
that street. That's now incorporated in the document. We clarified
and expanded the land dedications and park distribution over the
meantime. We had been talking about a shared space between
the school and the park department. That became on wieldy.
And we are now showing, um, clear dedications of lands
for the neighbourhood park and the gift to the school.
For which they can then operate and program these with
our assistance and support, uh, with clarity and operation. Uh,
the floodproofing concept that was mentioned was included in the
next iteration that you see. And we've incorporated the update
policies on CPPS and heritage districts and things like that.
So in summary, um, we're very excited to present this
tonight. We believe it conforms that the secondary plan intent.
It supports the city's growth management objectives and ambitions and
housing objectives. It sets the stage for meeting a very
large brownfield in the centre of town. And that's my
time. Nope, no problem. Thank you very much. To all
three of you. So, um, maybe I could ask all
three of you to maybe just come up to the
microphone. And then if there's any questions from my colleagues,
uh, I know Councillor Downer, I believe I saw you.
Am I right? I was going to ask about. I
was going to ask about the timelines, but you put
that up. But while you're up there, I'll say congratulations
on getting to this milestone, well done. Thank you. Thank
you. Is there any questions, got Karan and Galler. Echoing
those comments. Thanks for the sticking with us along this
journey. Um, you've got such a complicated site. Everything from
Brownfields and Heritage to Parkland, uh, low density to medium
density and high density, just quite a complex site. And
the landscape has shifted considerably from beginning to today policy
changes, affordable housing incentives, development charges, uh, Parkland dedication, uh,
provincial regulations with respect to, uh, incentives and infrastructure. So
much has shifted. Is there, is there anything that is
holding you back from proceeding? Like is there still that
instability in the market and in the planning landscape, uh,
that would prevent you from moving forward on this project
in the timelines that you've established. That's question number one.
And question number two is there anything you've heard in
the policies locally that even tonight we talked about the
Ward West Heritage Conservation District. Is there anything we're doing
right now at City Hall that you have any concerns
about as you move forward with the project while the
landscape is still shifting around you.
Three Mr. Mayor. I'll jump in. There's a lot in
that question. It comes down to confidence. There is a
lack of confidence in the market. Uh, real. That has
happened over the last, uh, at the time that we've
been doing this project. We were far more confident about
starting four or five years ago. Than we are today.
When you see, um, deescalation of prices, real prices in
the world when costs haven't come down. For all manner
of reasons. That's what's happened in the, in the blockage
of market housing. And that has to work its way
out still. There's kind of predictions of a couple of
years out will be in a more positive market again.
And, uh, as a group, we need to collectively get
a sense of that confidence building because we have a
couple of years of work to do before we can
actually entertain the CPVS applications that would have to come
through. We have to, like you saw Fusion do at
Metalworks. We have to take the site apart. Uh, and
reconstruct trunk infrastructure that cuts through what was Ferguson Street
that went through the site. And that's years in the,
in the works and actually getting the record to site
conditions in place to entertain partners in the various projects.
So it's, it's, that's, that will be the sense. There's,
there's a building confidence in, uh, Guelph in the economy
and in the market that will have us start going.
That said, the lot of planning work that actually has
to happen from today to get some of these base
agreements in place with the partners and build that understanding
before we can actually have development partners in place as
well. So we're not, we're not idle. When this is
happening. Okay. Thank you for that summer. And I really
appreciated the opening comments from Susan about the legacy part
of this. That, you know, you over 30 years, you've
really want to make sure that this project, um, is
successful because it, from what I've seen in my 20
years on council, this is the singular largest kind of
redevelopment in this area. Um, so it's quite a legacy
piece. And thanks for sticking with us. I hope you'll
stick with us a little bit longer, get the shovels
in the ground. Cranes in the sky. Thanks. Great. Thank
you. Very much. Um, Council Galler is next. Okay. Uh,
and yeah, and just to, just to remind, and I'll
pull to you as well, Councillor Caten after Gallard. And
just a reminder that, uh. This is like the, the
urban design plan, um, so if the, just make sure
we're referencing that. Okay. Councillor Guard. Thank you. And through
worship, uh, to all of you. Thank you so much
for, for coming here today and presenting this blend. I've
mainly heard good things from the community. Uh, that are
looking forward to this development. Uh, there was one, one,
um, concerned resident that I wanted to bring some of
the questions about in terms of what was proposed originally
and what is proposed now. Can you clarify for me?
Has there been a significant change? I know that some
of the buildings moved around. Has the density increase decrease
and the total heights. Are we seeing more than what
was originally proposed just for, for clarity. So what you
saw in the original proposal that was up on the
screen earlier, uh, we presented 24 stories, uh, rated adjacent
to the Heritage Building. One of the things that we
heard from the community was that that is a drastic
change from five stories to 24 stories. It seems it
is a lot. And it seems like a lot. Um,
and so we took that information back and we reconfigured
the site in the process of reconfiguring the site. The
City also went through downtown Heights study. Um, which then
gave us greater density on the site, um, and in
order to help the city achieve their downtown goals for,
um, both residents and jobs. Um, we made some changes
to the site to both reduce the dramatic change between
the five and the 24 stories. Um, and also centre,
um, the 23 story building that we now have on
there, um, closer to the centre of the building so
that we also changed any of the shadowing on the
site. Um, so yeah, there have been some changes. There
are a reflection of the density and the heights that
the city gave us. Um, as well as listening to
community feedback and responding to that. Okay. Okay. I really
appreciate that clarification. So, so the changes were to, to
reduce the height a little bit and also to shift
it away from, uh, from the edges. Okay. I really
appreciate that. Uh, for the, uh, for the Shadow Studies,
uh, it points that 10 a. m. 4 p. m.
And then are those set by the city that the
times for those studies. And then the fact that they
were in the spring, summer and fall and not in
the winter. Is that, is that a city restriction that
you were following? Or did you sort of, you know,
pick times that worked well. Through you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah.
And in fact, I mean, Scott's helped answer this because
we did those strategies a while ago, but my, at
my recollection is that those are the key times that
they look at. They may also look at other times,
particularly in the summer, like at six o'clock, but we
did focus on that 10 to four period, which I
think is, is the primary concern wintertime, December shadows are
long everywhere. It's a little hard to really evaluate a
project based on winter shadows, but I did want to
point out that I didn't have a chance to kind
of go through those tiny little diagrams. But, you know,
we were careful. And this is why with the North
Parts, the one other change on the north parcel was
where we had before 10 and 12 story buildings. We
now have one 19 story buildings. And rather than having
too taller buildings, we recognise pulling that in going a
little taller. If anything had less of a shadow impact
on those backyards and those impacts are very minor on
a handful of properties and only in the morning. So
afternoon shadows really are well away from all private properties
and none of the neighbouring street surrounding streets will be
shadowed during the daytime. Okay. I really appreciate that. Uh,
and lastly with the win study, I noticed that there
was a good section that talked about it. How further
is the wind study go? I mean, could you clarify,
will this have impact on the surrounding streets? The wind
created by, by the buildings. Based through you, Mr. Mayor,
based on the wind study that was done, the significant
impacts that are expected, um, on the streets or even
within the site. And this is part of the massing
approach, having those transitions, putting tolera buildings onto a podium
really helps to mitigate wind impacts on the windy days.
I will point out though, and, you know, when we
go into a community planning permit application, we will need
to submit more detailed wind studies at that point for
individual buildings. So things will be looked at more closely
then and measures may have to be incorporated into the
design of the building to mitigate impact. So we did
a kind of high level initial study to understand what
we could do with massing to mitigate any impacts. Detailed
design will need to look at more closely at individual
properties and their context. Perfect. Thank you very much for
that. And through your worship, just one last question. Um,
in terms of the facing, I saw that phase one,
you're removing the buildings and then face two, you start
building them. What are your expected timelines for you to
get through phase one that the demolition part for us
to see the phase two begin. Through
three, Mr. Mayor. It largely will depend on, you know,
how things go with the approval processes with the city,
change in market, but we're looking like two to three
years. Um, so we, when we were talking about, um,
the market and the fact that we've got to, we're
in a down cycle right now, um, you know, time
is on our side in that sense because we're coming
to you with urban design master plan now during the
down cycle. We're hopeful that as we do all of
the work behind the scenes to get this project, you
know, out of the ground, um, that as we're, you
know, getting there that the market will also return. But
even simply like things like the CPP being held up,
um, that, you know, plays havoc with our timelines as
well. Okay. Okay. And just so that I understand two
to three years before you get into the phase where
you're building. But in the meantime, you would be doing
the demolition of the existing warehouses. Is that correct? Or
would you wait two to three years and then start
the demolitions? Yeah. A lot like I said, a lot
of it was dependent on the timelines in the market.
We, I mean, obviously us holding onto this site as
I talked about before every year that we wait in
this development, this site becomes more complex. You know, the
environmental, um, regulations change and become more stringent. Um, there
are more stringent rules around rail. Um, there are more
rules around heritage buildings. So every year we wait this
site becomes more and more difficult to develop. So it's
not our intention to wait. Um, but there will be
lots of things that, um, barriers that we have to
overcome in order to develop. Okay. Okay. Thank you for
that. Thank you, worship. All right. Thank you. Caden and
then Busatil. Thank you through you, Mr. Mayor. First off,
I really like it. I think it's a very cool
concept. I love the, the kind of market common area.
And, um, I, I've always, I moved too well from
bigger cities. So I'm not height adverse. Um, I think
that you kind of done it in a very thoughtful
way. And I like this stuff how it steps up.
Um, I have questions about just the accessibility through the
site. I saw within the design that there was kind
of like meandering pathways, which looks really nice design wise,
but accessibility wise, it's, it's a lot better for folks
to just kind of have a straight path through and
maybe have offshoots that are a little bit more laundry.
So I'm just wondering if that's something that you've considered
when you kind of think of your flow through throughout
the site. Thank you through you, Mr. Mayor, to the
Councillor. It's, um, it's something that we've spent a lot
of time on thinking about, uh, currently the, um, floodlines
that we need to maintain of the buildings outside of
the flood height. And so some of the meandering paths
that you're seeing us design are actually minor ramps to
get us up and down to various levels because of
the need to raise or lower the habitable floor heights.
This is something that's happened late in the day is
when we did that flood analysis and realised that the
project on the Duke Street side could actually act as
a levy and prevent everything eastward from actually being part
of the flood area. In the future. It changes our,
it will change our approach to some of the levels
and grades inside the project itself if that's accomplished. And
so grading actually becomes much more simpler. If we can
accomplish this initial levy of the floodway in the first
phase of that South project. And so it's, it's a
work in progress. Um, but we're, we're keenly aware and
looking at the grades constantly. Yeah. Some of those meandering
past are two accomplish accessibility on those grades. I might
just, I'm just at if I may, uh, as Ian
described, the site basically in the South Parson kind of
comes up to deal with the flooding issue. And the
rail yard obviously is not moving and stays down. So
in particular worked a lot with our landscape architect to
really understand how we can have an accessible crossing safe
and accessible acrossing. So there will certainly be a little
zigzagging there. They'll be stairs for those who want to
use stairs. But we gave a lot of that. There
were, I think a few back and forth to get
that right. I'm sure that you'll, you'll be working with
staff over stuff like that too, but overall I think
it's a great concept. Great. Thank you. And last is
Busatil, please. Thank you. And through the mayor and to
the delegations, you've come a long way since the first
public meeting that I went to. So awesome. And I
will echo what Councillor Caten said. Just love the design.
Um, I did have a question. I'm a little bit
confused. Maybe I'm just tired. It's been a long day.
Um, when you talk about, and yes, sacred heart needs
additional playground space. My kids have been there before. It's
not the greatest. I'm curious because it talks about an
agreement between the Wellington Catholic District School Board and the
City for Maintenance and program and things like that. Um,
was there an exploration about giving that strip to the
City of Guelph? I think of gateway school that has,
uh, school board land and City Land and programming space
there or waverly or a bunch of other places. I
was a little bit surprised by that. Through Mr. Mayor
to the Councillor. This has evolved since the initial unveiling
of it a couple of sessions ago. Um, we had
talked with parks and with the school board about, uh,
an actual shared, uh, facility where during the day it
would be largely off limits and controlled by the school
board. And during the evening and off season, it was
fully public park. And for which there would be this
agreement for maintenance and operations of it, uh, that's different
than some of the more suburban parks where you have
school board lands and city lands adjacent. But not overlapping.
And when it came down to was, um, parks came
back to us with the need for, um, the technical
need for the park dedication to be fully accessible, i.
e. like available to the public 24 hours a day.
They couldn't deal with the legality, if you like, of,
uh, receiving Parkland dedication that was not accessible 24 hours
a day. And hence the separation. So where we were
talking earlier about that strip of land contributing to a
bigger park, which would be shared, it's now being given
to the school board. With the same intent that is
actually a recreational facility for the community off hours and
off season. And so there is an expectation that there's
a, uh, a form of agreement between the city and
the school board for that facility. Thank you. Okay.
And actually a class and we'll bring us home here.
Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for
the presentations. Um, I liked a lot about the, a
lot about it. It looks really exciting from a space
that I think is, as we all know, quite underutilized
by the public. It's not accessible really, uh, to something
that is, is going to bring a lot of new
availabilities to the public. So I'm excited about that, but
I'm going to get to my question. Um, there were
a couple of, of course, pieces of correspondence. And I
received a few emails from residents concerned about the heights
and the massing. And in one, I think, uh, in
one piece, the correspondence, it's attached to, um, the package.
There was, uh, McCommon about the heights. And if, or
maybe it was an email, I'm not sure. And I
think that on page 37, you outline, um, when apartment
buildings are greater than four stories. They shall generally incorporate
one to two - story grade related units. Um, and
their comment was, um, they really liked the metalworks and
how the metal work towns on either side contribute to
the street scape and feels very walkable and very accessible.
And so that you don't have, you know, single story
residential followed by, you know, amassing of a wall that
is accommodating a 24 story, 23 story building. Um, so
I was just wondering if you could speak to that
a little bit. Um, to talk about what that might
feel like, um, at the street level. Through you, Mr.
Mayor to the Councillor. Um, yeah, we, we agree that
Metalworks looks lovely. It faces out on the street in
a beautiful way that helps make it feel, uh, very
much like it fits into the residential neighbourhood. And so
we took note of that. Um, and it was one
of the things that we incorporated into our plan. So
I don't know if the misreading the plan, um, but
if you look at, um, Duke Street, um, there are
three stories running down there of, you know, townhouses along
the rail. We've tried to incorporate the same anywhere we
face out onto the community. We've tried to keep it
as low rise as possible, including on Elizabeth Street to
really try and keep that same feel of residential neighbourhood.
And our tall buildings have been pushed into the centre
of the site to create that cascading effect down to
the street that really, um. You know, on 10 acres,
um, it really does kind of swallow up those big
height buildings that are in the centre. Um, so I
don't know if they're misreading the drawing or a misunderstanding
it. Um, but we agree. Metal works faces out into
the street lovely. It's two and a half to three
and a half stories there. Ours are three. So we,
we tried to capture that as best we could. Thank
you. I appreciate that response. With that, um, nothing. Oh,
I'm circling, one question from, uh, from Councillor Coron. And
then we'll go, we just have three more delegations, everybody
just remember. Okay. Go ahead. It is a really quick
question. What would you like us to call it? Should
we call it plant number two or should we be
calling it Midtown Village? What do you, what do you
folks call it. Through Mr. Man. Thanks for the question.
We, we, um, very carefully called a plant number two.
Mis have villages our corporate name for the holdings. The
land holdings. And that's what staff have picked up on
because that is the legal ownership title of the property.
But it's plant number two to us as a working
title to eventual, um, building names. Let us know if
the name change. All right. Thank you very much. We
appreciate the three of you very much for coming and
delegating Mike Darmon. From Guelph. Community for act of transportation.
Gcat. I bet you we know what you're going to
say. We appreciate you Mike. Thank you for sticking around
for the whole, uh, whole night. And then Michelle, I
see you. Oh, you see you're in the wings coming
down next. Mike over to you. Marigothy City Council and
the City staff. My name is Mike Darmon and I'm
Advocacy co - chair for the Guelph community for Active
Transportation. GCAT is pleased to finally see the woods to
plant to at this stage of the planning application process
as the walking, biking, transit and neighbourhood connectivity is finally
being revealed through this urban design master plan. I could
basically read verbatim, the introduction and vision for woods on
the first page because it encompasses an exciting and carefully
crafted urban design plan along with a once in a
generation opportunity to transform the legacy industrial site into a
new neighbourhood that will integrate well with the historic ward
neighbourhood and our downtown. Personally, I love the same Patrick's
Ward. And not just because I'm Irish. I bike through
it almost every day on my way to my sons
and my grandkids'house. I'm quite familiar with the woods two
plant site as it sits right beside where my grandkids
tend school at Sacred Heart. And we write our bikes
or walk to school together quite often. I'm excited to
hear that the playground area and Parkern will be expanded
through the Lanterns for from the woods of element and
that we can explore more areas safely after school with
the increased connectivity through to development. Affordable housing is arguably
the most talked about concern of citizens of Guelph. GCAT
looks at development which by design and location make overall
expensive cheaper by enabling a car light or car -
free lifestyle and more active transportation. Schools, you couldn't be
closer for Catholic and King George Public School is just
a 15 minute walk up here in the street and
up to 100 steps. Coffee shops, including the ward, neighbourhood
double rainbow cafe, Sugu Mercado for food, and Canada's smallest
bar will be more accessible via brilliant new cutthrough connection
to Alice Street. And of course our downtown will be
a major attraction to many other businesses that will bend
from this development's density and walkability. Local and regional transit
are also within a few minutes walk and with more
frequent go trains, including on weekends. I took the new
20 - minute no - stop go train to Kitchen
on Saturday. The work and pleasure possibilities are endless. I
kind of stress enough the importance of what this development
will enable through the implementation of protected minimum active transportation
network grid. Similar to what the Iron Horse Trail has
achieved in KW and attracting high quality high - density
residential and commercial developments along its transit and protected active
transportation minimum grid systems. We can achieve similar in Guelph
and extending our primary active transportation rail trail is one
of the lowest costs, safest, and most enjoyable ways to
achieve it. When protected minimum grid networks are connected by
safe crossings and connected to places where people need to
shop, work and play, they will encourage people to try
alternative mobility options like walking and bike in transit. The
woods development design encourages this lifestyle shift within and expands
active mobility options outward in many directions. Trail development. I've
delegated so many times for an extension of the existing
in north of downtown trans - Canada GTR rail trail.
With the recent Council approval of the McDonald Road and
Bridges structures EA along with the new war to downtown
Bridge, we now have the gateway to the extension from
the MacTonnell Bridge to Arthur Street. And with a much
improved trail crossing design, continuing from the woods to plant
on Duke Street, we will have a more direct, safer,
enjoyable act of transportation connection to the ward to Huron
Street. The Imoco site and the GID are just really
up the tracks. I would remind Council at the current
City Budget for all new trail development is completely out
of the town. Your budget cycle forecast. This development will
get us to Huren Street, but to continue the network
trail connection to Imiko and GID. We will need your
support to fund this expansion to Victoria Road area. We
are working closely with woods on our vision for Active
Transportation in, out, and throughout the development area, an extremely
pleased to see many of our ideas being incorporated, but
also thrilled to see even more than we could not
envision like that 24 - 7 accessible public path from
Al Street into the centre of the development, enabled by
woods. Um, GCAD is fully in support of the stack
of recommendations to support the master plan. I hope you
agree that this has been very thoughtfully planned to integrate
well into the historic award neighbourhood. And we'll vastly improve
this former industrial legacy site into a vibrant new community.
Overall, this development will make our CD continue to achieve
its ranking as one of the most livable cities to
live, work and play in. I am truly excited to
see it move to this stage of the planning application
process. Thanks. Thanks Mike. Thank you very, very much. Is
there any questions for Mike today? There is not, so
well done. Thank you very much. Thanks. And, uh, Michelle
Bowman's on her way down. And then bringing us to
the end is Barbara and Scott in the front row
there. You're in the wings. Okay. The two of you.
So Michelle, welcome again. And over to you whenever you're
ready. Okay. Is this working. Yeah. So as we have
heard, there are many advantages to the pro's Midtown village
or Plant II, an active transport corridor, a larger schoolyard,
built within the City's footprint. And one of my favourites,
all the native plantings. However, the generally positive public reception
in the community cited in the staff report largely came
before the increased building heights. So 1B, building 1B, moved
closer to existing housing, 1C doubled from 8 to 19
stories. The height's fronting on Duke Street, large part doubled
from 2 to 3 stories. 2A from 9 to 14
and 2B from 16 to 23. Um, so we're glad
that the 24 decreased to 16, but there were a
lot of increases as well. When the newest plan was
presented in the I live or lived in the ward
group, um, not by me, by the way, there were
about 40 very negative comments and 10 positive ones and
the positive ones came from outside the ward. So concerns
included the height increases, low demand for condos, traffic, loss
of heritage and affordability, all of which I'll talk about.
But I'd like to start with the parkland. So, um,
proposed building to these sits on land that was slated
for parks and open space in the downtown secondary plan.
Um, so building it would add to our parkland deficit.
Instead, point four acres was donated to the school, which
residents appreciate. Um, and the rest of the half acre
came from required setbacks. So in the by - law
20717 10b, it says in 800 - unit development would
require about 1. 66 hectares of parkland, but they're only
providing 0. 9. So that's 56 percent of what's required
The existing schoolyard makes up the rest to get to
the minimum requirement. So as I mentioned, there's concern that
condos are not in demand. We CNBC that the federal
government is buying empty condos. Traffic was also a big
concern for local residents, um, feeding onto Elizabeth as manageable,
but feeding on to Huron, which is directly adjacent to
the school is problematic. And I'm not sure about the
idea not to fence a schoolyard that is directly adjacent
to a laneway that hundreds of residents will be using.
Um, main for commercial spaces are also important for a
walkable neighbourhood. There's very minimal one cafe. And I think
one other, um, so I was glad to see staff
are looking to secure more non - residential uses, but
I think we should ensure that these make it into
the final plan. So we heard about the ward heritage
conservation district earlier. And this plan doesn't conform to some
of those recommendations. So again, heritage plan emphasizes commercial uses,
which are traditional in the ward. It directs that a
maximum height of one or two stories or suggests hopes
that they'll just be one or two stories adjacent to
streets like Duke and Huron. Um, and the last, and
maybe most important thing is that the ward residents care
deeply that the neighbourhood remain affordable for the working class
that built it. So Guel's affordable housing strategy says we
need 33 percent of all new builds to be affordable.
And that definition is the provinces. Um, which is only
affordable for the top 40 percent of our city. So
I think the community is asking that the developers make
as much of these as many of these units as
portable as possible. And I think it's a fair ask
that if the developers say they just can't meet this,
they, they can't make it work. With higher levels of
affordable units that it's fair for us to ask about
their profit margins. So show us how it's not possible
to get more affordable units in this development. Um, but
I'd like to, and where I started and that there
is lots of advantages to this development. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you. Is there any follow - up questions. For
this delegate. There isn't. So thank you very much. And
last is Barbara Man and Scott Frederick on behalf of
the Ward Residence Association. Come on down.
Thank you. Hello again. And thank you for having us.
And thank you for all the hard work that you
guys have done with the community and with staff. Um,
Michelle mentioned a lot of things that we've heard and
we hear often about developments. So I'm going to throw
some, some ideas for solutions to add it. While this
has a 1. 2 spaces per unit of parking, which
is more than the minimum that's required, it still doesn't
mean that as we've said to you over and over,
people move here from cities like Montreal, they move here
from Toronto and they end up buying a car. So
what we're saying to you today is that the leadership
of Guelph, which is in front of us, has a
couple years to fix our public transit and bring it
up to the state that is expected for this day
and age. If you're looking at Kitchener, I don't know
if you've seen their transit hub that they're building, but
it's incredible. And it's our time to join into that.
Any of us who've been anywhere else in the world,
we come home and go, I'm going to get on
the bus. And then when you go, but it's going
to be such a household to get where I'm going.
And that also means that I think it's up to
the developers to start demanding that now as well so
that that doesn't create the chaos that we all know
is going to come as Michelle is this describing about,
um, congestion, about parking problems in a neighbourhood that's already
very, very challenged. Uh, the second part is about the
heights. That is a huge concern because the plan has
changed a lot. But another idea was how about what
we in Ontario call micro units to bring the height
down. But what everybody else in Europe, New York City,
et cetera, considers a normal smile apartment. Um, I think
these are things that we can be looking at to
try and bring breast practices to go off some of
the challenges that we see in the future. Uh, so
I'm talking about the parkland now. Um, sorry. We're pleased
that, um, the dedicated, I thought it was more than
a minimum, but Michelle thought it was less. I don't
have to look at the numbers again. Uh, but it's
good to have linear parks, but it's also important to
have larger tracks and accommodate sports field, which we're short
of. And we're losing opportunities to create that. And on
the eco park rail trail, this is most of the
parkland dedication and it's about 50 metres wide, including the
Guelph junction railway right away, which is about 20 metres
wide. The drawings show this corridor to be mostly fenced
off. This means that possibly up to half of the
eco park will be fenced off from public access. Now
currently there's no offence. And the access to the whole
corridor and have been for many decades. Uh, we would
like to see these fences to be as close to
the rail line as possible. We could take as an
example, the Kent Street Rail Corridor or even better the
trans candidate trail that's parallel to Duffren Street. Um, that
seems to work perfectly safely. So I don't see why
we couldn't have that kind of setback to the fence.
And then we'd have much larger, uh, public space available.
Uh, it's not much of a public space of its
fenced off. You can't go there. And that is it.
Some dead. Okay. Um, one thing that I'm very confident
about having met one of the tenants at nine, Elizabeth
Street is that, well, the affordability is a challenge with
this, the accessibility of the units, I think, is going
to be above standard because I understand that that tenant
took five years to find somewhere where she could shower
in her wheelchair. And that, um, Susan and her team
has asked her to be a consultant on these, on
the development with this. The affordability part is huge. Our
neighbourhood is known for being affordable from rent gear to
income through the luxury accommodation. And that's one of the
big things that I fear with this is that there
won't be that within this partial community, uh, within the
ward. And I hope that that's something that can be
looked to. And we have, we keep reminding you. We
have one of the oldest best examples at Victor Davis
Park right on Steve Street. Great. Thank you both. Thank
you very much. Is there any follow - up questions
for the representatives from the award residents association. Nobody think
you again. All right, everybody. It is back to us.
There is a recommendation for this Midtown village concept plan.
B, supported. Um, I would imagine the councillors would love
to maybe do that. Okay. I'll go Klausen and, and
Galler. We'll move in second that is there anything more.
And again, this is just, this is an urban design
master plan. It's not like the applications we had earlier
at all. Um, all that stuff comes way later as
the staff and the proponents both said. So this is
just saying, yep, they're on the right track. Right. But
all the details stuff comes later. So is there anything
about this that we need to say anything more on
colour. Thank you through your worship. Um, I have a
couple of full of questions for step for staff because
we did ask the developer, but I just wanted to
verify. Just confirmation from you that the wind impact the
shadow studies and they were all done in accordance with
the City guidelines. And then they meet your requirements. Is
that correct? That is correct. Uh, those precise dates that
the applicant identified are also within our terms of reference
for sun and shadow studies with the City of Guelph.
So, um, okay. Yeah. Just wanted to clarify that that
and the, the traffic impact study, I believe that there
was a reference to a baseline in 1995. Can you
help me understand, um, when we look at that, what
did we use such an early date for, for, for
the baseline. Just so that, that I understand that, you
know, does it fully meet the cities requirements, um, the
traffic study. And we believe I just need the verbal
confirmation. So they would have completed their traffic study requirements.
And accordance with the requirements that were provided or the
direction and guidance given by our transportation engineers and transportation
planning staff and house. So I would have to, uh,
speak to our transportation planners in hoes to get a
precise answer on that. But I could certainly get back
to you. Okay. No, but that is fair. I mean,
they're following your requirements. I appreciate that. Um, and as
each phase gets built and each building gets built, will
there be more detailed studies to confirm that the streets
can indeed take that capacity. That's correct. Okay. Okay. So
one at a time. Um, and let's see, the question
about Parkland, will that be addressed? When does that get
addressed and when does the parkland dedication, when do we
confirm that we're getting what we require in terms of
whether it is green space or in new payments or
what stage of the process do we confirm that. So.
We will take the parkland dedication as the phases come
in. And we'll ensure that the overall parkland, um, based
on the entire site, um, is received ultimately, but it
would be assumed if we take within each phase. Okay.
And where there's none of green space available, then the
city would take payment in lieu. Is that correct? That's
correct. Okay. Okay. I really just wanted to appreciate that.
And just your worship comments if I may. Um, I,
uh, I know that projects like this can be divisive
when the big change in the community, but I ultimately
believe that the work that this developer is doing between
putting up the flood barriers to get a large portion
of the word out of the floodplain is going to
be very positive. Uh, transportation advocates mentioned. I really appreciate
that they are bringing in the connection from the downtown
all the way to Huren Street. I think that's going
to be a very big positive for, for the community.
Um, and I, I like the thoughtfulness that they have
taken to include the more apartments into the word, which
ultimately will increase affordability. Um, I think that it is,
it is well designed and well thought through. And I'm
happy to support this, uh, design guidelines. Great. Thank you
Councillor Galler. Can I call the vote then on the
support for this urban design master plan. Great. I'm going
to do that right now. Um, all I'm going to
say is, um, I love it. There you go. So
is there anybody against. Nobody that's unanimous? All the best
in the next steps, uh, in front of you. To
bring this to life. And Councillor Galler. Over to you
if you don't mind to help us with the bylaws,
please. Um, that by us, 2026, 21, 255, 2026, 21,
26, one 2026, 21, 270 through 2026, 21, 272,
2026, 21 to 75, 2026, 21, 276 and 2026, 21,
280. Be approved subject to subsection 284 dot 114 of
the municipal act. Council Coron. You're okay to thank you
to second that. Thank you very much. Anything on the
bylaws anyone. No? Okay. I'm going to call the vote
on the Bylaws. Is anybody against. Nobody that's unanimous as
well. I'm going to find a couple people that have
been quiet. To move adjournment. I think billings and chew.
Will do that for us. And I'm calling the voters.
Does anyone against adjournment. Nobody. That's unanimous. A very thorough
meeting everybody, but we got through it. Congratulations. And thank
you to staff and all the delegates too. Have a
great rest of the night. We are adjourned.