An enhanced level of streetscaping be approved for the Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program giving priority to improved tree canopy, flexible streets, public seating…

39:23is the Downtown Streetscapes Level of Service and Construction Mitigation. Mike Darman from

39:28the Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation is here in person. Mike, come on down.

39:39And you as well, Mike, have been here before. You know the drill, so I'll turn it over to you.

39:44And no more than five minutes, the chime at four minutes and 30 seconds. Go ahead.

39:49Thanks Mayor Garthier. I haven't used one of these before, so you can give me a couple of seconds just to try it.

39:56Okay, good. Good evening, Councillor Mayor Garthier and City staff. My name is Mike Darman and I'm

40:02co-chair of GCAT Advocacy. We love the design of Wyndham Street because it is a crucial part of the

40:08overall vision we have for a more equitable, comfortable, active transportation network

40:15connectivity into and out of Downtown. In other words, a minimum grid of protected infrastructure.

40:21I echo Mayor Guthrie's comments at the Committee of the Whole that the staff

40:25presentation for Downtown Renewal is quote, the best he has ever seen, and I fully agree.

40:29The use of animation videos of Wyndham Street immediately makes you think,

40:34I want to visit a place like this. We are huge supporters of our Downtown and love the wide

40:39sidewalks, trees, benches, and public spaces which will transform our Downtown into an even more

40:44desirable destination. Regarding the shade trees, I really like what Project Manager Reg

40:49Russ Worm said at the cow meeting. No one can deny that a mature tree will have the biggest

40:55impact. We cyclists and walkers love the shade provided by the canopy. Public washrooms are

41:00crucial for a place to go and the waste container plan will vastly improve the look and feel of the

41:05space and make it a place you truly want to linger in, show off to your friends, and stay for a meal

41:11on a patio on a warm sunny day. An investment in our Downtown will reap many benefits but we need

41:17all the elements of the complete vision to make it work. Increased AT Motor Share is a main goal of

41:23the TMP. Protected bike lanes on Wyndham Street is a big step but investing in making a fully

41:28connected and protected minimum grid into and out of Downtown is crucial to success. So we are

41:35working and advocating with City Sustainable Transportation and Park staff on our vision of

41:40making Downtown an accessible and enjoyable destination by AT. We are very pleased with the

41:46current flexible, complete street design which includes protected bike lanes. I'll remind City

41:51Council that we compromise on choosing the flexible street design over permanent, unmovable

41:56protected infrastructure because we love the patio program and supporting local businesses.

42:01The protected bike lanes on Wyndham will encourage more people to use bicycles but we also need to

42:06make it pleasant and safe to connect. Wyndham from many points in the Downtown, for example if one is

42:12coming into the Downtown on a bike from the north like me, the obvious choice is the TCT Trail

42:18which is part of our active transportation network but it suddenly ends at Healy-Aremassa

42:24Road but no safe means to connect to Downtown or the new Wyndham Street protected bike lanes.

42:28I'm going to attempt to answer it. There's one solution and another and I think there we go. Good.

42:48I hope you can kind of get that. I can't get it to play again over and over but we're proposing

42:53making low slope cardigan street from the Norwood Street pedestrian bridge to a protected Eremassa

42:58Wyndham intersection bi-directional for bikes with a multi-use trail on one side. The trail would

43:04curve around and behind the cenotaph to the intersection which which continue the trail-like

43:09experience into Downtown quite unlike the current situation. High slope Eremassa will never get

43:14high modal share shift. So we have some good active transportation infrastructure and we have some

43:20great active transportation trails but they're disconnected networks when you reach street

43:26crossings with unsafe infrastructure and unfortunately this fact rings true every

43:32time we organize a GCAT ride into and out of our Downtown and sadly the ghost bike ride we are

43:37leading starting at City Hall this Saturday for a former GCAT member who died recently from her

43:41injuries following a collision while cycling on Victoria Road is no exception. If we are truly

43:47committed to making the Downtown an attractive destination and place to live we need complete

43:52AT grid connectivity to and from it. So consider the wise investment in flexible street design,

43:58trees, public washrooms and public amenity space only when it is all fully connected do you realize

44:03the vision and return on investment. Cycling master plan update will start in 2025 and I hope

44:10you will continue your support for Downtown renewal by also supporting the budget for the

44:16cycling master plan update. We hope many of the improvements for connectivity will be

44:20considered in the plan. In conclusion I would like to quote General Manager of Engineering

44:26Terry Gayman's comments from the COW meeting. We have a rare once in a generation opportunity

44:31to examine and build the things we love about Downtown Guelph connecting all the dots and all

44:35the opportunities. I couldn't agree more and hope you keep this in mind when we have the opportunity

44:40to support active transportation connectivity dots into and out of Downtown. Thanks.

44:47Thanks Mike appreciate you and your delegation looks like I have a follow-up here from just

44:52Councillor Goller. Thank you through your worship to Mr. Darwin. Thank you for your presentation.

44:59I wanted to get a little bit of clarity. You spoke about three options to connect the

45:05the Royal City Trail coming from Riverside Park into the Downtown. Which of those options would

45:13be preferred from the perspective of GCAT? I think by far if we could convert Cardigan Street

45:20into bidirectional it's the lowest slope you'll find of any direction coming from

45:24north into downtown. Aramasa is extremely just right near the end just before we get in.

45:32In fact I've seen bicyclists bike up right near the top and in one instance their chain snapped.

45:37It was so much effort they had to put onto it. So even putting protected bike lanes say from

45:42the lower slope at the bottom right up to the top wouldn't really get too many people actually

45:46biking in that in on that street. Another great connection though would be at

45:54Arthur Street where it meets Aramasa and we've actually suggested again to city staff that

46:00there's a pedestrian light further up the hill if you move it to that location.

46:04It's actually part of the bike route too so it would actually lead into downtown

46:08downtown too from several directions but also lead over to the ward actually

46:12where I travel all the time actually and anybody trying to cross Aramasa at that point knows it's

46:17a horrible way to cross it including the existing trail. The existing trail you know goes behind

46:23the large apartments and it's a there's a very tight section just before you get to Aramasa

46:29which is also a very you know it's actually kind of a dangerous spot for a lot of people especially

46:33at night time so and then you reach Aramasa again and it's very dangerous to cross there but you see

46:39people flying across all the time so I think ideally to offer the lowest slope or pedestrians

46:47and cyclists by the way just into downtown. Pedestrians it's a no-brainer but cyclists of

46:51course need that ease of getting into downtown and I see many cyclists illegally doing it already

46:58and it would be the same as actually what's happening on what we have right now on Wilson

47:02Street very similar situation. Thank you for that and the proposal then for Kartigan Street

47:08are you suggesting that we eliminate one of the lanes of parking on one side and make it

47:14active transportation or what is a request? It probably would need to be eliminated. I'm not

47:21sure we would have to get staff to look at that it might involve removing some parking which

47:28be an issue for some people. Okay well thank you thank you for your presentation.

47:31Thank you worship. Thank you and Councillor a work please. Thanks Margarit through you to

47:38Mr. Darman first of all condolences on the on the loss of your GCAT member and just because I'm

47:45focused on the agenda item which is the streetscapes downtown you're just connecting the docks

47:52so that we're thinking about it when the cycling master plan comes back correct you're not asking

47:57us to make a decision you're not you're just priming the pump for those future conversations

48:02that correct because we really do need to stay on the agenda. Yeah exactly yeah that's I'm asking

48:06for the next opportunity to just you know complete that vision and also get a return on what you're

48:10investing on downtown by you know by investing in this early in the cycling master plan hopefully not

48:18delaying it any further. Okay and through omega three to Mr. Darman you have no reason to believe

48:23that staff wouldn't consult with GCAT right like in that next so so it's quite likely that that

48:29staff will consult with GCAT when we develop that cycling master plan you have a good partnership so

48:34we expect that that is going to happen correct. Yep okay it's correct yeah great okay thanks.

48:41Yeah great thank you Mike thank you very much thanks okay may I have someone put the recommendation

48:50first number one and number two on the floor for me please okay Guller, Karan will do will do the

48:56seconder for that thank you. So I passed a motion that I thought would be interesting for us to at

49:05least have a little bit of a discussion on as we move forward I don't know I won't speak to it

49:10unless someone wants to actually move it and second it for me for discussion it has to do

49:16with looking to save a little bit of money on the sidewalk pavers issue and concrete so I will just

49:24ask to see if anyone wants to move their second that for me if not then we'll move on okay we'll

49:31move on thank you is anyone want to comment before we move on to number for either of those

49:38no oh yes okay Guller and then I'll call the vote thank you through worship just a question for

49:44staff with regards to the delegation we received from GCAT if I could just have a confirmation and

49:51understanding the importance of the connectivity into the downtown as we build the the downtown

49:57active transportation infrastructure could you confirm that that staff will be exploring those

50:02connections as part of the transportation master plan update that's coming early next year

50:09through the through the chair to council Guller so yes connectivity for cycling is always very

50:15important to us that's always what we're trying to achieve as we go through some of our designs in

50:22the downtown so we've as councillor roark had mentioned that we have a really good relationship

50:28with GCAT we value their input so of course they will be part of the stakeholder group that we will

50:34consult in order to be able to do when we start to go into detail design perfect I really appreciate

50:39that and could we could we expect a response once the the staff information comes back to to council

50:47that reflects that these options have been considered as part of that work in next year

50:53well we probably wouldn't come back to council I think what I'd like to be able to tell you is

50:58that we will we will take that away and as we normally would we would consult with all stakeholders

51:04but again I I think we're violently agreeing here that we all want the same thing so we will come

51:11up with a solution that that works the best for everybody thank you very much thank you worship

51:17great thank you all right we're ready to call the vote then is anyone against those two motions for

51:24for this councillor Caton did you have a comment or I had a question okay go ahead okay I will remove

51:36okay next time get your get that get that hand up for me I will not I will just revoke that

51:43call for the vote and I'll go to you go ahead thank you sir through you to staff I had a question

51:49about the AAC feedback and how that would be incorporated during the design phase I just

51:56had a concern about the potential of the pavers I just heard in the past from the AAC that they

52:02preferred no pavers so I just wanted to know how that would go if the AAC is very against the type

52:10of pavers used then what would happen in that case um through the through the chair to councillor

52:18caten I'm actually a little a little bit surprised that they might be um not in support of the pavers

52:25a lot of times when the pavers do allow us to demark some different areas of the right-of-way

52:32that is desirable from an AAC point of view we are actually going to go back to the AAC when

52:39we start to do our detailed design when that design is ready we will go to the AAC and get

52:46some advice from them in terms of what their concerns are and how we might be able to address

52:50them so we would do that with any project councillor Caton um and try to take everybody's I understand

52:56that we're not going to make everybody happy we certainly do try um and we do take the advice of

53:01the AAC uh very seriously so um we are going back in December to review um what we have in terms of

53:09design with them so we will take that away and try to incorporate that into our design

53:14thank you very much thank you okay with that for real for really easy this time I'm going to call

53:23the votes anyone against those two motions for the downtown construction and streetscape

53:29unanimous okay that's that's great is there anything else on that item at all no okay we're

53:38moving to the next delegation an item I'm improving access to public washrooms in Guelph again Morgan