That, prior to issuance of a building permit, staff be directed to offer, and if accepted, enter into a deferred payment agreement…

36:02by law deferred payment agreement.

36:06Says Mayor Guthrie will speak to this.

36:08So I'm gonna give a very high level

36:11and Paul you might wanna get ready

36:12to come down to delegate, okay?

36:15Myself and a few other councilors as well,

36:18we're approached with an issue that came up

36:23for a nonprofit charitable group here in our city.

36:27That group is RCMPI,

36:29Royal City Music Productions Incorporated.

36:33And I wanted to try to do this as much justice as possible,

36:36but they have been in a spot,

36:39a location for a very long time

36:43that is embedded in the same location

36:45as all of the buildings owned and operated

36:49by the Guelph Food Bank area, if you could call it that.

36:52And in the same spot there for a long time.

36:55And an opportunity came up for them

36:57to find another unit in the same complex

37:01so that they could move to this one,

37:03they could renovate it.

37:04And this is where their theater and theater group

37:08is able to do their sets, build their sets,

37:12store their sets, do their costumes.

37:15And have everything sort of under one area

37:18in this better space.

37:20And as that project was progressing,

37:24somewhat of a sort of surprise came that with this issue

37:29is now a $30,000 development charges request.

37:36And not just in Guelph, but in many other cities,

37:42there's sort of what you can and cannot do

37:44within the allowances of our current development charges

37:48bylaw.

37:49And waving them outright is just not possible.

37:56I wanna really thank staff big time

38:00for what I'm going to suggest is the solution to this.

38:04And that is that there can be,

38:06we can as council, if we approve,

38:08enter into a deferred payment option with no interest.

38:13And it's being proposed at 15 years.

38:18And the first payment would be starting next year.

38:22So it wouldn't be upfront.

38:23Because remember, the permit can't actually be given

38:26to them for their renovations unless they pay.

38:29So it's kind of this catch 22,

38:31they can't start the work they need to do if they don't pay

38:34unless they enter into this deferred payment agreement.

38:37And the secondary part to the deferred payment agreement

38:40is also to ask our staff that when they do a review

38:45of our development charges bylaw next time,

38:48that they also consider what I would call it,

38:52like a companion option, a companion option

38:55to the DC bylaw of potentially a grant

38:59or potentially other options of waving.

39:02Because this is about this moment

39:04about Royal City Music Productions Incorporated,

39:06but it's about other charitable groups,

39:08other nonprofit groups that might find themselves

39:11in a similar circumstance.

39:13And so to ask our staff to just at least acknowledge

39:17the opportunity to look into that, to review,

39:19and to bring recommendations in regards to that

39:22at the future DC bylaw review date.

39:25I hope I've done it justice.

39:27I do have one delegation here.

39:30It is Paul Barson from Royal City Music Productions.

39:34And if Paul wouldn't mind coming down,

39:36it is up to a five minute delegation.

39:40There is a buzzer at the four minute 32nd mark.

39:43And that gives you that 32nd warning.

39:46And then just in case there's a question

39:48from my colleagues, just stick around at the end.

39:51And if there are none, we're done.

39:53But thank you for coming, Paul.

39:54And I'll turn it over to you.

39:57Thank you very much.

39:59Mayor Guthrie, members of council,

40:01I am here as the facility chairs

40:03and I'm with Jane Martin, our president

40:05representing Royal City Music Productions.

40:08We are here to support the recommendation

40:10that was just put forward.

40:11And we ask all of you for your support.

40:14So RCMPI is a volunteer run not for profit

40:16that's been running on community spirit

40:19and fiscal responsibility for almost 50 years.

40:21We're in 1978, we started.

40:24We've made space for thousands of artists

40:26to come through our company.

40:27We've entertained hundreds of thousands of patrons

40:29in that time.

40:30We've also paid roughly $1.5 million

40:33to the Riverrun Center for rents

40:35wages and capital reserve funds.

40:38So through the decades, RCMPI has been spread out

40:40with temporary storage and building spaces

40:43in members' garages and basements and sheds and barns

40:46and commercial units all over town.

40:48We currently have two separate units

40:50that we're leasing as commercial storage units.

40:53And so in February, we signed a lease on a new unit

40:56as the mayor mentioned, large enough

40:58to bring us all under one roof.

41:01We took, this was a very exciting time.

41:03We took a big risk to help RCMPI thrive

41:06and survive through long into the future.

41:10However, as unexpected costs have piled up

41:12over the last five months of working

41:14through the approvals and permits,

41:16the excitement has remained strong

41:18but the risk to our future is now very real.

41:21Every month that passes increases this risk

41:24as we are forced to carry double rent.

41:26We're paying about an extra $2,000 a month in double rent.

41:30More recently, obviously was the addition

41:33of the almost $30,000 in development charges

41:36for the interior renovation we're doing.

41:38So this amount as a one-time payment

41:41would put us from financial risk

41:44into severe financial risk.

41:46So deferred and then installment payments

41:49would allow us to get our permit, do the work

41:51and move on so that we can end the rent

41:53on our previous units.

41:54We could then as a company look for creative ways

41:57to offset the $2,000 annual payments to the city.

42:01So please help us complete this build

42:03and support the powerful work being done

42:05by RCMPI in the community.

42:07We would love to be in our new home

42:10before it's time to build our set for Oliver

42:13which is on stage at the River and Center in November.

42:16So I appreciate your time and thank you very much

42:18and thanks, Kim, for all of the support on this.

42:21No problem at all.

42:23Thank you.

42:24Are there any questions for Paul always here?

42:27No, okay, so thank you and thank you, Jane,

42:28for coming, appreciate it.

42:31So the recommendations are in front of us

42:33at Councillor Downer and actually Councillor, sorry.

42:39Oh, okay, yeah, Councillor Downer and actually Councillor Caron

42:42had mentioned to me that they'd be willing

42:43to move and second that, so I appreciate that.

42:46By the way, there was almost 12 hands up to do that,

42:49so thank you.

42:51It's officially on the floor.

42:53Are there any questions in regards to this

42:54at all before I call the vote?

42:57No, okay, I'm going to call the vote.

42:59Is there anyone against these recommendations?

43:03Nobody, that's unanimous.

43:04Thank you very much and thank you to staff.

43:07I just want to really mention again to staff,

43:09this is a creative way to facilitate this

43:12and so I really want to thank you very much.

43:15Councillor Downer as well, good conversations with you

43:17on this, so thank you very much.

43:19Okay, we're moving right along.