Designation by-law for 919 York Road be approved.

1:43:54We are at a presentation now for the next and final item, which is the Notice of Objection

1:43:59to Intention to Designate 919 York Road. And a quick presentation from our senior heritage planner,

1:44:09Stephen, are you available for us? Okay, clerk's just saying they're going to get him for just

1:44:23a second. So just please hold. Hi, Stephen, I think it's Mayor Guthrie. I think clerks have

1:44:37indicated you are available. We just need you to turn your camera on for us. I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor.

1:44:44I did hit that button, but it didn't seem to do the right effect. No, we're good. We can both see

1:44:50and hear you. I'll turn it over to you. You have some brief comments before we continue on this item.

1:44:55Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. I have a few,

1:45:02I have two pages of information I'd like to bring to the committee, and I'm just going to make sure

1:45:09that I'm looking the right way here. And I'd like to provide a brief summary of aspects of the staff

1:45:19report before you regarding 919 York Road. All of the information I'll refer to is already contained

1:45:27in the staff report, but the following points are key to understanding some of the recent changes to

1:45:32the Ontario Heritage Act that make it necessary for Council to make a decision at this meeting

1:45:39regarding their intention to designate the Matthews Farmhouse at 919 York Road.

1:45:44A property may be designated under Section 29 of Part 4 of the Ontario Heritage Act if it meets

1:45:53more than one of the criteria used to determine cultural heritage value or interest as set out in

1:46:00Ontario Regulation 906. Staff maintain the opinion, which is supported by Heritage Guelph,

1:46:08that the Matthews Farmhouse at 919 York Road has significant cultural heritage value and that its

1:46:15heritage attributes should be protected by designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

1:46:21Following the staff report to Council on December 13th, 2021, Council directed the City Clerk to

1:46:27publish and serve a notice of intention to designate the property. A notice of intention to designate

1:46:35was published and served on December 23rd, 2021. An objection to the intention to designate was

1:46:42received by the City Clerk on January 20th, 2022 from the legal council of the property owner,

1:46:50which is Brody Limited. I want to just briefly describe some of these changes that have occurred

1:46:59to the objection process for an intention to designate. Councilors will know that the More Homes

1:47:07More Choice Act, otherwise known as Bill 108, came into force on July 1st, 2021. Schedule 11 of this

1:47:16act made changes to the Ontario Heritage Act, which included amendments to the designation

1:47:22process and its prescribed deadlines. Subsections 6, 7, and 8 of Section 29 of Part 4

1:47:31are new provisions in the Heritage Act added through Bill 108. Subsection 6 states that if a

1:47:39notice of objection to Council's intention to designate has been served, Council shall consider

1:47:46the objection and decide whether or not to withdraw its notice of intention to designate

1:47:52within 90 days after the end of the 30-day objection period. In the case of 919 York Road,

1:48:00Council must decide whether to advance or withdraw its intention to designate before April 24th, 2022.

1:48:10Subsection 7 states that if Council decides to withdraw the notice of intention to designate

1:48:17the property after considering the objection, they shall withdraw the notice by causing a notice

1:48:23of withdrawal. And the third subsection, subsection 8, states that if Council decides not to withdraw

1:48:32the notice of intention to designate the property, a heritage designation bylaw must be passed within

1:48:39120 days after the date of publication of their own notice of intention to designate.

1:48:47So in summary, if Council intends to proceed with the designation process for 919 York Road,

1:48:55you would need to pass a designation bylaw before April 24th, 2022. As you're aware, a proposed

1:49:04bylaw is included as attachment three of the report for your consideration.

1:49:11If Council approves the heritage designation bylaw, a notice of passing of the bylaw is required to

1:49:18be published. Any person who objects to the bylaw may appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal by giving

1:49:26the tribunal and the city clerk within 30 days after the date of publication of the notice of

1:49:32the bylaw's passing, a notice of appeal setting out the objection to the bylaw and the reasons

1:49:39in support of the objection. The Ontario Land Tribunal or OLT would hold a hearing and make a

1:49:47final decision on the matter. So in closing, staff recommend that Council continue with its intention

1:49:55to designate 919 York Road and that proposed heritage designation bylaw number 2022-20689,

1:50:05seen in attachment three, for 919 York Road be approved in order to meet the prescribed deadlines

1:50:13of the legislation. I'm happy to answer any questions that may come from Council. Thank you.

1:50:20Okay, well thank you. Let me see, there's no questions in here. Okay, on screen I have

1:50:27Billings and ALT, please. Through you, Your Worship. In the report, staff say rehabilitate for a

1:50:38practical future use, but given the current zoning and the proposed zoning as natural heritage zone,

1:50:46what would that use be? Like what is the viable after use given the current and the proposed zoning?

1:50:58Through you, Mr. Mayor, the draft comprehensive zoning bylaw has natural heritage strategy zoning

1:51:06going right over the area that's right over the house or the Matthews Farmhouse. Planning staff

1:51:12are currently looking into this to correct it and to add it to the zoning for the commercial

1:51:20mixed use center designation. Okay. I should say that they're currently looking at this

1:51:30possible correction. I'm not necessarily stating that this will happen. It's something that's being

1:51:34looked into by by planning staff. Okay, but if that doesn't happen and if that's not recommended by

1:51:41staff, then what is the viable use? Because right now it's Parkland and if it does get

1:51:49the natural heritage zone, what would a viable use be? What would it look like?

1:51:58Through you, Mr. Mayor, it would be very limited as to how and how well how the buildings could be used.

1:52:09But I don't believe that this is actually a reason to remove the physical building,

1:52:19especially the stone walls that are identified as heritage attributes.

1:52:25Well, let me just ask our general manager planning at Crystal Walkie to also jump in there.

1:52:30Thanks, Mayor Guthrie, and I can respond to that as well. So we have looked at this through the

1:52:36comprehensive zoning bylaw that will be coming back for draft in July and we are looking at

1:52:41amending that zoning to ensure that it does have a viable future use. The preservation of this

1:52:47heritage building and other buildings, which we have done site-specific or committee of

1:52:50adjustment zoning on, is important to the city. So it will be coming back with a future use that

1:52:55would make it more viable for someone. Hope, Councillor Billings, we think you're still muted there.

1:53:08Sorry, I pushed the button. Sorry about that. So if that's the case, Crystal, so then you're

1:53:16absolutely saying it will not remain as park, the zoning as park land right now.

1:53:24Through Mayor Guthrie to Councillor Billings, so the staff report will be recommending something

1:53:28an alternative. It's Council has the final decision, but will certainly be recommending

1:53:32something different. Something different than park. Yes. Okay. Thanks, Crystal.

1:53:41Thank you. And my sincere apologies, Council. I knew there was two hands that went up and I

1:53:46should have wrote it down. Who was the other hand that went up? Alt. Thank you. Go ahead, Councillor

1:53:51Alt. Thank you, Mayor Guthrie. First of all, thank you to Mr. Robinson for the succinct statement.

1:53:59I'm happy to put the motion on the floor and I have one question. So I would be looking for a

1:54:05seconder. I'll go, Councillor Hoffund. Thank you. Thank you. And the question actually is probably

1:54:15through you, through staff to the chair of heritage. I was wondering if there were any

1:54:21comments that the Heritage Committee would like to make or has staff expressed itself

1:54:26appropriately and there's really nothing more to be said. Thank you, Councillor Allt. And through

1:54:34the mayor, I think staff has actually expressed themselves well. The notice of intention to

1:54:41designate exactly says what heritage call feels about the property. It's a very rich property with

1:54:51unusually rich with two streams of heritage involved. The association with the reformatory

1:54:58as well as a rural colonial post-settlement association. So we're very keen to see it

1:55:06designated and stand with staff when recommending that Council does not withdraw

1:55:15their notice of intention to designate. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

1:55:21Thanks, Councillor Allt. Let me go to Councillor Caron, please.

1:55:24Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. There's some of the public discussion and comments we've heard and

1:55:29certainly what we've heard from the current property owner is that it is prohibitive to repair

1:55:35due to the years of it being vacant. And I just want, my comments are that I hope Council will

1:55:42support the designation. It does meet the criteria. I don't want to reiterate that part of the debate.

1:55:51But I do want to add that adaptive reuse of a structure in any state, as long as it's solid,

1:55:56and this is a solid structure, can be repurposed. And so I feel confident that once

1:56:09an appropriate use is examined through our planning staff, and I've seen lots of great

1:56:14examples of dwellings repurposed for a number of uses, anything from education,

1:56:22demonstration site, residential, cafe, like there, I just think exploring those uses is an

1:56:29important part of its adaptive reuse discussion. And I look forward to the owner putting out an

1:56:36RFP to see whether that community interest, an offer went out to the city to purchase the property

1:56:46for a dollar. And I encourage the applicant and the owner to pursue that in the community as well,

1:56:51because I think our community is very innovative in the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.

1:56:57So I'd like to encourage that as a next step. Sorry to interrupt. Thank you. Thank you very much.

1:57:04Councillor Bell, I saw your hand go up too. Did you have a comment?

1:57:08Yes, thank you. So upon reading the objection by the owner, I think he has brought forward

1:57:20points and information that weren't apparent in our original intent. I think it

1:57:31will be very difficult to find an adaptive reuse for this. So I won't be supporting the designation,

1:57:46and I would ask you to separate the two recommendations. Thank you.

1:57:52All right. Thank you. Seeing nothing further, I will do that then, because it has been moved. So

1:58:02let me look to number one. So who is against, is there anyone against, sorry, number one? Okay,

1:58:15so I'll call that as unanimous. And now I'm going to go to number two. I'll just read that out,

1:58:20that the designation bylaw for 919 York Road be approved, and maybe just before I call the vote on

1:58:27that, which I'm going to support this for the reasons that were laid out by the chair of heritage,

1:58:37wealth and staff that are in unison on this. But I think the big takeaway is what we heard from

1:58:46our planner tonight, our head planner, is there is going to be looking to have a zoning that will

1:58:51be applied to this. Yes, it's the will of council. Honestly, I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't

1:58:57approve that in literally a few months. That change of use in zoning will probably open

1:59:07many, many opportunities to rethink that land, either for the owner, or as Councillor Caron suggested,

1:59:15other nonprofits, other opportunities that can be looked upon there. So I think the strength

1:59:23of the recommendation to approve, I believe had some solid ground on it prior to what our planner

1:59:30said about the zoning changes, but even more so now because of that possibility. So I just want

1:59:36to encourage the owner on that as well to look forward to that. Okay, with that, is there anyone

1:59:41against number two? And that's Gibson and Bell. Okay, and so that passes as well.

1:59:52All right. Thank you, Guller, Councillor Goller, we're to bylaws now, please. Over to you.