Guelph City Council approve the Water and Wastewater Servicing Allocation Policy attached as Attachment-1 to this report. That Guelph City Council delegate authority for the administration…

2:09:22we have our water and wastewater servicing allocation policy which is is a very timely

2:09:29discussion based on what I've heard from staff and and the media about what's happening with the

2:09:34city of Waterloo so I'm really looking forward to the presentation and the discussion so over to you

2:09:40thank you very much so good afternoon Chair Klassen and committee of the whole

2:09:44my name is Nectar Tampacopoulos and I'm the general manager of environmental services

2:09:49uh today we're going to be presenting on the water wastewater proposed service allocation

2:09:55policy for your consideration and review uh with me today to provide a short presentation

2:10:01are Ms. Christo Walki general manager of planning and building and Mr. Wayne Gallower general manager

2:10:07sorry divisional manager of water services great thank you very much Nectar and good afternoon

2:10:24Chair Klassen and members of committee to begin in sharing some background on the report before

2:10:30you today my first slide here essentially bill 185 the cutting red tape and building more homes act

2:10:39was essentially released by the province in 2024 and received royal assent in the Ontario

2:10:43legislature in June 2024 this act aimed to fast-tracked housing development by streamlining

2:10:49approvals cutting bureaucracy and amending 15 Ontario statutes to meet the goal of building

2:10:551.5 million homes by 2031 through the statutes revised by the act use it or lose it servicing

2:11:02provisions were introduced under the municipal act to encourage more housing sooner and provide

2:11:06municipalities with tools for added water and wastewater servicing capacity management should

2:11:11approve developments not proceed to construction in a timely fashion specifically the ability to

2:11:16reclaim capacity holdings of aged approved development and reallocate these service the

2:11:21servicing capacity to shovel ready development furthermore change to the acts identified that

2:11:27local servicing decisions made under council approved servicing bylaws including use it or

2:11:32lose it provisions would not be appealable to the Ontario land tribunal these revisions introduced

2:11:38through bill 185 are in alignment with the city's official plan specifically section 6.1 6.14 and

2:11:466.15 which speak to the needs for adequate servicing or to permit development defining a

2:11:52process for servicing allocation and the land types that allocation would be applicable for

2:11:58I'll now invite Christa walkie our GM of planning and building services to speak to our next slide

2:12:07thanks Wayne so managing growth approvals and servicing needs are becoming more complex

2:12:13from bill 185 60 17 we could go on and other recently regulatory changes that were implemented

2:12:21by the province as well as provincial density changes to our official plan which is our growth

2:12:26management document examples of these include allowing three or four units as a right on properties

2:12:33to allow more housing on an individual property basis this was not planned in our servicing

2:12:40systems and has not been accounted for so we need to ensure that we are accounting for that

2:12:45and tracking it in our systems changes by the province to our density in specific areas of

2:12:51the city such as GID as well an additional units that come forward to this council on individual

2:12:59planning applications for more density that is proposed that is proposed by individual

2:13:04proponents on applications as well as more recent changes to development charges and

2:13:09collection requirements delaying payment and timing of two from building permit to building

2:13:16occupancy thus delaying revenues needed to construct new servicing infrastructure to support

2:13:22future community growth taking into account all of these challenges it's important for the city to

2:13:28maintain a proactive approach to tracking servicing capacity and its existing servicing commitments

2:13:34to best manage our available servicing capacity further continued tracking of our servicing system

2:13:40flows and understanding the pace of development best informs the city of infrastructure timing

2:13:46investments not only to the the larger playlists but to our linear infrastructure as well making

2:13:53the most of our available servicing capacity also includes allocating capacity to those who are

2:13:59shovel ready and as you'll see in the last bullet point we have 176 units that are in

2:14:05registered plans of subdivision that have been there for more than 10 years no permit pulled yet

2:14:11we have 1158 units that are in draft approved plans for more than 10 years and again not

2:14:19advanced to the next step we also know we have 6000 units that are short-term supply so by tracking

2:14:25this better and ensuring we have allocation for those who are shovel ready will better position

2:14:30us to bring housing on quicker and faster back to me great thank you so much christa

2:14:43as discussed with members of council during the may 2025 water and wastewater servicing

2:14:48capacity council workshop the amount of the city's water and wastewater servicing capacity is approved

2:14:53by the ontario ministry the environment conservation and parks and is defined in the form of

2:14:59certificates of approvals or permit to take water amongst other regulatory tools and defines

2:15:05what is a finite volume of servicing in 2025 environmental services and planning and building

2:15:12services staff undertook a project to develop a detailed water and wastewater tracking model

2:15:17to account for servicing capacity allocation on a plant basis through the comparison of current

2:15:22system servicing demands versus what are planned planning and building approvals

2:15:29that we expect to join our system in time through ongoing planning work

2:15:34looking to the city's permitted water supply wells and wastewater treatment processes the model as of

2:15:39year end 2024 identified 16,474 meters cube per day in water servicing capacity and 4,805 meters

2:15:48cube per day in wastewater servicing capacity specifically for in water and the number that's

2:15:54stated there is to note that essentially this does include what is an operational contingency

2:16:01as recommended through the waters there the council approved 2022 water supply master plan

2:16:07which comes to account for what our resiliency needs and our operations when wells may need to be

2:16:11taken offline for what is required maintenance or shut unplanned critical failure of infrastructure

2:16:17occur to support the anticipated growth of our city's water services and wastewater services

2:16:22capital project managers continue to pursue new permits to take water as well as design and construct

2:16:27new servicing capacity in accordance with both the 2022 water supply master plan update and wastewater

2:16:33services master plan or wastewater and biosolids master plan plant capacity based projects of

2:16:41significance that council may recognize from ongoing reporting are the clife water treatment

2:16:46plant again starting construction in 2027 the water resource recovery expansion phase one

2:16:54starting in 2026 as well as the Guelph test well environmental assessment and northeast

2:17:00northeast Guelph test well environmental assessment it's important to note that at this time no

2:17:11council approved water and wastewater servicing policy exists to direct the city's servicing

2:17:16allocation processes in absence of this policy staff see risk to both proponents in the city alike

2:17:22for proponents significant financial and time investments are made to gain planning approvals

2:17:27but serving out servicing allocation is not currently formalized until the time of development

2:17:31agreement approval uh under past processes this could mean that servicing allocation is still at

2:17:37a risk until the time in which a development agreement is executed and creates um you know let

2:17:43that potential risk of execution for the proponent for the city the lack of a robust capacity

2:17:48management system could lead to overallocation of servicing capacity creating the need to halt

2:17:53development allocation approvals and may even introduce level of service impacts to existing

2:17:58customers further servicing capacity and commitment tracking is essential to understand

2:18:03future servicing needs and ensure ensuring the timely budgeting for construction of new

2:18:09infrastructure both on the plant and linear basis in looking to our process to develop the policy

2:18:20here before you today essentially we employed what was a two-phase process through the first

2:18:26phase in May 2025 staff released through the have your say engagement platform a 30-day survey

2:18:33essentially seeking from community stakeholders interest and support for common terms of municipal

2:18:39servicing capacity bylaws as well as seeking suggestions as to what would be best in class

2:18:44municipal policies to consider when forming our own local policy based on stakeholder requests

2:18:51through uh phase one uh from there an interdepartmental staff team with representatives of economic

2:18:57development and tourism engineering and transportation services planning and building

2:19:01services and environmental services worked to develop what was a plain language policy which

2:19:06was then released on september the 22nd for a 30-day public review through have your say

2:19:11which ended on october the 23rd coming from phase two feedback revisions to the policy were completed

2:19:19and a follow-up meeting held with grant highlands home builders association to discuss their comments

2:19:25share revisions completed to the policy since that that was shared through public engagement

2:19:29as well as share the revised policy that would be coming to council through our reporting

2:19:35similarly at this time following the initial engagement in 2025 staff had brought forward

2:19:39the draft servicing allocation policy and report to the economic development and tourism advisory

2:19:44committee of council and planning environment and water advisory committee of council in january

2:19:492026 to discuss changes from the policy coming from phase two of the engagement and plan next

2:19:55steps and bringing this policy to council coming from this both respective council advisory committees

2:20:00received the report and provided endorsement of the draft water and wastewater servicing

2:20:04allocation policy at their respective meetings of january 12th and 13th as far as what we heard

2:20:15through the engagement process request to clarify the scope of capacity checks in the past we may

2:20:21have looked at individual services but through the new process we're looking to validate both on

2:20:26the plant from a water and wastewater standpoint as well as in the system from a water and wastewater

2:20:30standpoint that capacity works in all those circumstances costs or questions of cost of

2:20:37capacity check i would note that more simplistic capacity checks can essentially be completed in

2:20:43house under limited costs whereas higher volume or more complex checks may involve engagements of

2:20:50external engineering consultants who oversee management of our detailed water and wastewater

2:20:54services linear models to complete the checks and those costs would essentially flow through to

2:20:58proponents as far as the work needed to complete those requests in support of their applications

2:21:04the first draft of our policy came to mention the need for independent servicing agreements

2:21:09however through further discussion with legal services on this matter and looking at feedback

2:21:13received through the engagement it was determined that ascension independent servicing agreements

2:21:18would not be needed and that essentially through the modernization of some of our development

2:21:23agreements looking at site plan and subdivision that the lapsing provisions and the capacity

2:21:29holds would be noted through those respective processes through this in turn we were well

2:21:35questions around the lapsing period lengths proposed through the policy and when the clock

2:21:39would start on these respective processes looking to planning applications versus approved

2:21:45applications that are moving head to construction and suggestions were provided as well on the

2:21:51process criteria and future instruction to proponents as far as supporting making those

2:21:56extensions lastly we also received some feedback from the builders association

2:22:03associated just with the narrative around capacity at the city itself and again reflecting that you

2:22:10know the city is open for business although our capacity holdings may be finite for council's

2:22:22awareness just to overview some key terms under the policy itself key to the whole policy itself

2:22:28is early engagement we want to speak to proponents early understand what their the project is what

2:22:32their servicing needs are and provide an early indication that we're in a place to support the

2:22:36project under the policy there are two different types of checks both an informal and a formal check

2:22:45the formal check process is a is essentially a application put forward by the proponent

2:22:51looking at support again of what is a planning application once we've completed that check

2:22:57that would hold the capacity as required for the planning development for 48 months within our

2:23:01model as they progress towards what is an approved application uh spoken to previously capacity

2:23:08checks do have costs and it is based on the scope of those respective capacity checks under the policy

2:23:14you'll also note what is a community economic development investment proposal hold this is

2:23:20looking at our our competitive process between us and other jurisdictions and looking looking to approve

2:23:25or attract new business locally and ensuring that while we're having those discussions that

2:23:31there is a respective hold around the servicing needs for those business again to ensure we can

2:23:36facilitate that from a reputational perspective and continuing those discussions as part of

2:23:42approval of a site plan subdivision or building permit again the capacity hold would be put against

2:23:48that project reaching that milestone for what is a 36 month lapsing term to be defined through the

2:23:53respective agreement those who are reaching the end of a lapsing term either under what is you know

2:24:04development of a planning application or an approved application have the ability to request

2:24:09extensions again if they're unable to deliver within either that 36 or 48 month window through

2:24:18these extensions requests these would come to the gm of planning and building services again the

2:24:24circumstances would be that the lapsing period would have been met for either process without

2:24:30seeking an extension that would be the circumstance under which we'd seek to potentially reclaim that

2:24:35capacity beyond the extension request there is also an appeal mechanism under the policy

2:24:41and through the report today we are seeking council support to delegate authority to the deputy

2:24:46ceo of infrastructure development and enterprise to essentially administer that appeal process

2:24:51furthermore under monitoring and reporting under the policy shared there would be an annual report

2:24:56to council embedded within the existing growth management report to share with council what is

2:25:02our unallocated servicing capacity to inform you in your decisions okay so just looking to next steps

2:25:22beyond the terms of the policies next steps to enact and support administration will be as follows

2:25:28procedurally we'll be seeking approval of the enacting bylaw which will be completed at a

2:25:33future meeting of council and the copy of that bylaws included as an attachment to your report

2:25:37today as discussed within the report following bylaw approval planning and building services will

2:25:43be working to notify stakeholders with age planning approvals over 10 years in age of the lapsing

2:25:48periods requirements of the policy and use it or lose it policy provisions with the intent of

2:25:52looking to reclaim or reallocate servicing capacity holds associated with these projects

2:25:57if not reaching substantial performance in 36 months from the time of notice

2:26:02instruction is being developed to support stakeholders in developing and submitting

2:26:06extension requests and appeals as defined are the policy staff are working to put these in

2:26:11place currently and hope to have them on the web for future instruction and proponents by the end

2:26:15of q1 lastly staff are working to update the initial version of our plant tracking model

2:26:22with most recent customer demands as well as approval and commitment information coming from

2:26:28planning approvals within 2025 I'll now pass thing back to Krista for the final slides great thank

2:26:39you aene so before closing today I just wanted to provide some focus to a continuous improvement

2:26:44in our development process coming from this policy so it is customer focused engaging customers

2:26:50early on their servicing needs and conforming our ability to service and support their project

2:26:56is key to our project throughout the life cycle of an application from pre consultation meeting

2:27:01through to development approvals and then again when a development is ready to move into site

2:27:06plan approval and is getting ready for shovels in the ground we have embedded in the policy notice

2:27:11requirements for an app when an applicant is meeting the end of their hold on allocation

2:27:18so that we can have further discussions on timing of construction and potential extensions of that

2:27:23allocation hold if they're working towards getting toward a permit in the ground capacity

2:27:29tracking for decision makers we're ensuring that our tracking systems are robust to maintain where

2:27:34we stand at capacity holdings so we can inform available capacity decisions and making timing

2:27:41for budgets for infrastructure upgrades and to bring forward more servicing capacity when it's

2:27:46needed transparency this process is transparent it provides stakeholders with a transparent and

2:27:54consistent approach by which capacity allocation is administered maintaining our service resiliency

2:28:01maintaining throughout our capacity tracking and management systems the need needed surplus capacity

2:28:06for routine operational asset management as well as emergency events which may occur

2:28:12and best management of capacity so this allocation tool will give us a tool in which

2:28:17capacity can be reclaimed from those age developments and relocate reallocated to shovel ready developments

2:28:24who are prepared to advance a project or a housing related project today so in the in the council the

2:28:36staff report you'll see resolutions that we are asking council to support today first that they

2:28:43approve the water and wastewater servicing allocation policy as in attachment number one to

2:28:48this report and that the city of gulf council delegate authority to the administration of the

2:28:53water and wastewater servicing allocation policy to the deputy CEO of IDE currently mr. gayman at

2:29:01the end of the end of the table and that the city of gulf approve our water and wastewater servicing

2:29:08bylaw and that is an attachment too and with that i will turn it back to mr. tampa tampa coplas to

2:29:15wrap us up so thank you very much for the presentation i think it's important to also thank the staff

2:29:29that were working on this it was very challenging it was a long road to get here so thank you to them

2:29:33and i think we also need to acknowledge as we did the external stakeholders who are willing to

2:29:38engage us in our outreach and engage us in our engagement and for the feedback they provided

2:29:44those were good discussions they were fruitful discussions and as was mentioned those will continue

2:29:50just to close it out wealth is a groundwater community and we all know that and there are

2:29:56challenges with groundwater communities that other communities with large great you know lake surface

2:30:01based water don't have and when we looked at putting these three recommendations together

2:30:08around allocation policy whether it's water that's needed to maintain our current max level demands

2:30:16whether it's allocated water that's already been allocated to developments whether it's future

2:30:21and allocated water whether it's water that we require as a buffer to ensure we do our operations

2:30:26and maintenance to ensure that we're able to meet our emergency repairs and requirements as needed

2:30:31it's important to track those and the way i kind of look at it there are business decisions that are

2:30:36made and the way we create allocation or we create capacity in the system is through capital budgets

2:30:45so the capital budget that's been approved for water wastewater for this year and beyond is really

2:30:51meant to increase that capacity for future development for future growth for future investment in the

2:30:57city and in order to be able to make those decisions we need to provide you with the data

2:31:03that you need to be able to make those decisions and how you allocate those budget dollars for capital

2:31:09facilities and upgrades and improvements with that when we look at the recommendations again

2:31:19we we kind of look at

2:31:23where's the positive coming out of this what's a good story because there's a good new story coming

2:31:27out of this it isn't about whether or not someone loses capacity if it's 10 years or more the good

2:31:34news is the council has approved budget the good news is there is capacity out there and we have

2:31:39capacity going forward for the next 10 years what we're building to bring business into

2:31:43gulf to bring development into gulf to allow the community to flourish the good new story i think

2:31:49is and when we're looking at our external stakeholders and mr galler mentioned it the city

2:31:55is open for business i think what the what we're showing putting these recommendations together

2:32:02is that uh external developers external business owners want to bring business to gulf

2:32:09want to help develop and grow the community want to revitalize and vitalize the community further

2:32:15they can trust in gulf because we are working together as a business partner they can trust in

2:32:21gulf because we're looking at data that can allow us to create intelligent business decisions

2:32:29i think they can trust in gulf that they can come and invest in development invest in business

2:32:36invest in industry have all those secondary impacts that employment and that kind of investment has

2:32:42in the city and we can ensure that the capacity that they are looking for the capacity that we've

2:32:49allocated the future capacity that's unallocated that when they're shovel ready when they're ready

2:32:54to dig when they need that capacity it will absolutely be there for them and that's what

2:32:59these recommendations allow us to do so on that note i will close it out and open the florida questions

2:33:09thank you mr tampocopolis and mr galler and miss walkley for your presentation

2:33:16um we have uh three recommendations and i i had a hand up from councillor Goller for questions

2:33:24and i'm also wondering if you'd like to move the recommendations yes chair class and i would

2:33:28love to move the recommendations and i see councillor Caton would like to second so they're

2:33:34now on the floor and i'll pass it back over to you for questions thank you so much chair class and

2:33:39uh to staff thank you so much for the report and for all the work that has led up to this point

2:33:44um we did have two pieces of correspondence attached to to this that raised some concerns and i was

2:33:51wondering if you had a chance to review them and if you could speak to to the concerns raised in

2:33:55those two two letters or or if you wanted me to to sort of highlight some of those and walk through

2:34:01those uh through the chair to councillor Goller i'll get started and assume that there may be

2:34:11others who want to speak to this as well um certainly coming from phase two we made a

2:34:17a point to essentially meet with the grand highlands home builders association

2:34:21and discuss the policy there um in addition essentially other questions that we had received

2:34:28through the have your say report we had positioned those and provided direct response as well so

2:34:34i guess what we had heard through the process and and similar to my slide was you know seeking a

2:34:40little more detail around what the extension process would be and uh coming to you know categorize

2:34:47and help coach what those applications may be in the future um we acknowledge that with today's

2:34:53an action of the policy the soonest that we'd be using those extension clauses was three years down

2:34:57the road so um obviously we have some time to again uh implement those have some discussion with

2:35:04the community and uh as well as we you know start to operational operationalize this policy

2:35:10implement this and other changes as we move ahead um beyond this again i talked a little

2:35:16bit around the narrative uh that again was a concern to some of the stakeholders that we had

2:35:21spoke to uh felt that there was just a challenge with some of the mixed messages around work around

2:35:26water were finite based and what type of water do we have to grow within our community so um

2:35:31heard that loud and clear and essentially can understand as we talk of uh servicing into the

2:35:37future and being opening for business and i think the added transparency of communicating what we

2:35:41have for an allocated capacity that these things are coming forward uh beyond this there were some

2:35:47concerns just simply i think looking at the 36 month period that once you have a planning approval

2:35:53and looking again to is this an adequate amount of time to essentially reach completion of my

2:35:59development uh i know through this again from a planning services perspective there was talk of

2:36:04right sizing applications to ensure that again uh we have capacity that we're managing between

2:36:11various parties and various interests um however you know looking to a large uh legacy type application

2:36:18where the intent would be you know over 20 years we're doing so many per year um it makes it challenging

2:36:24if you're committing to you know something over that time frame and then you know working with others

2:36:29again who may have smaller scope projects and you know have a smaller implementation window so

2:36:36um i'll start there and maybe open things up to chris if there's anything else you might like to offer

2:36:41no okay um thank thank you for that i think that that is very helpful um one of the the concerns

2:36:48that that comes to mind uh was the the fact that we don't have a report listing exactly the water

2:36:54capacity at this point but i believe that that's coming in the next couple of months so because

2:36:59this is going to be you know three years before we start enforcing would there be any any benefit

2:37:05or any value to council actually waiting to see the report before approving this policy um through

2:37:15the chair to councillor Goller um as discussed in in my report i guess you know there there is risk

2:37:22present in absence of what is an enhanced process at this time um maybe if i could ask the clerks

2:37:28we did prepare some information that didn't get into the report some additional slides here today

2:37:32that we can bring up um i'll start with the water side of things and my colleague tim robertson here

2:37:39we can speak to wastewater if we can start with slide one please um so the following graph itself

2:37:47comes to define for council i think two things that are important um okay yeah i'm sorry that

2:37:54you're seeing this for the first time but happy to explain it and discuss it further uh essentially

2:37:59the blue lines that you see are what is what is contingency or resiliency based holds within our

2:38:05operation understanding that essentially you know in our planning of systems we have to look at our

2:38:11largest source being offline and looking to the community beyond that to say you know just because

2:38:16we're taking something offline we don't want to see an impact with the customer or with servicing

2:38:21demands within the community so that blue line represents the hold within operations to ensure

2:38:25that again the changes and maintenance that need to happen in our system have adequate capacity

2:38:30to do that the red line represents what is an allocated uh capacity that's available for growth

2:38:37at this time and essentially the uh the orange line that you see there and the figures on top of it

2:38:43represent the years of growth that are remaining um to the point where we construct and implement what

2:38:49are new sources of water supply so um i guess the growth management report for 2025 will be coming

2:38:56ahead for council's information in the near term i understand uh at this time based off staff's figures

2:39:02and looking at what our 2020 what is 2025 we anticipate about 6.3 years of growth and that

2:39:08is based specifically on what is the uh the average goal of the growth management plan of 947

2:39:15residential units per year so i guess a couple things that council may want to consider just

2:39:21with this in mind that um you know water services managing leakage within our system is significant

2:39:27we want to keep that down that means that our capacity goes further so again this would assume

2:39:31that we're managing our losses at current levels um beyond that this is a residential only forecast

2:39:37so we respect that industry is part of the mix as well but based on new industry that comes to the

2:39:42city and service and commitments that may come around this again that may make accelerate what this is

2:39:48but generally essentially we're looking at uh you know 6.3 years with remaining capacity

2:39:54your next new source that will be onboarding is the klythe water treatment plant which will complete

2:39:59design this year and be implemented between 28 and 29 uh thereafter you see gulf southwest which

2:40:07i know is an ea and not a permanent source at this time but um thereafter as we're able to

2:40:13implement a klythe you can see there's just about 8.4 years of growth remaining giving us some more

2:40:19time as well to onboard that next next source this would be something that we take a look at again

2:40:24on a year-to-year basis because we're getting our planning information our commitments

2:40:28understanding the changes in flow things like peak demand as our community grows

2:40:33to validate what is our unallocated capacity and you know stage those future infrastructure

2:40:39investments through the budget accordingly to ensure that again from a capacity standpoint

2:40:44things are ongoing and we're not seeing stops and starts perhaps if we could see slide two now and

2:40:51Tim will allow you to speak to the wastewater side of things

2:40:54sure thanks Wayne good afternoon council I'm Mirgothry uh three years here class and then to

2:41:01council Gullar so a bit less intricate than the water one but uh essentially I guess is some

2:41:08we want to give this slide to provide some confidence so we we know what's going on um you know

2:41:14well we need to build ahead of when capacity is required of course um this the flows that you

2:41:20see here and the flows we build to is everything that comes to the city uh industry commercial

2:41:27residential mother nature with rain and precipitation as well so we always have to is a slightly

2:41:32different look at it than than we do in our water team um we've always been aiming through the master

2:41:39plan to be ready for additional capacity by end of 2028 um this little bit of buffer and and those

2:41:49it's not an exact sign so um through council support we've got some great investment happening

2:41:55at the facility shovel breaking the ground this year on one of the major projects um all four

2:42:01projects if I can take you back to last May we had a bit of a workshop in here for that

2:42:07still on on target to be completed by end of 28 which will put us in good stead to apply for

2:42:14re-rating for the capacity to take us through to uh at least thousand and thirty eight of this moment

2:42:20through the master plan that'll happen between 28 and 38 will determine on what the next phase

2:42:26to expansion is so always staying ahead of it uh I guess you know what we've heard today obviously

2:42:32we there is a restriction on a limitation potentially on water so is always water right we have to

2:42:37make sure we we're staying well ahead of that and we are we're also looking for business so

2:42:42hope that helps uh provide some confidence uh yeah it is it is quite helpful to see that and it

2:42:48could we just go back to the previous slide so that I understand the um the red line that you're

2:42:54presented Mr. Agala heard the um sort of the the um yeah the unallocated capacity is that the unallocated

2:43:01capacity considering all the applications that are being held so the moment that in three years time

2:43:07when this policy comes into effect will that change because we will be freeing up um capacity

2:43:13that is always otherwise tied up by developments that are not being built through the chair to

2:43:20Councillor Goller that's correct and that's what our plant model does that we've spoke of in the

2:43:25report so essentially as we form these commitments it's shown as an intermold and capacity that's

2:43:30held um and I think yeah again through our our May workshop there was a question that had come

2:43:36from Councillor Busuttil as well saying we may allocate a certain volume but is that volume the

2:43:43performance of that built form when in place so moving ahead certainly we'll be monitoring as to

2:43:49when something comes from an application to what is a constructed environment and becomes build

2:43:55demand in our system such that we're not double counting you know those investments at the end

2:43:59of the day but as well we're able to you know sharpen the accuracy of our tool and time as we

2:44:05come to see um again the projected versus what's the actual performance of the building

2:44:11or developed site into the future thank you very much thank you chair class and I

2:44:18I hope we can approve this here and at the end of the month I think it's very important to

2:44:22monitor groundwater allocation so that we we can approve with more certainty down the road thank you

2:44:29thank you Councillor Goller uh Councillor Caiten and then Mayor Guthrie please

2:44:36thank you very much um I think this is great I think especially

2:44:41due to the recent announcements in Waterloo and how they had to stop permits um because

2:44:49they've run out of water pretty much uh this is really prudent to do um I also like how

2:44:57it encourages groups that do have permits out to get shovels in the ground because

2:45:05it's kind of a first come first serve we have a max capacity you know get your stuff built because

2:45:12if someone else builds faster you may not get to and um I was just wondering about one part of it

2:45:19because when I was reading through I didn't see anything about a use case for um folks who have

2:45:29approvals for developments that are in a zone like maybe they've under done for the the zoning

2:45:37level um and then they go to the committee of adjustment and they are able to go up to a

2:45:42certain height like maybe we've rezoned since then we've had a lot of times now we're building heights

2:45:47have just gone up and up and I didn't see anywhere in there that the water servicing plan had to be

2:45:57reviewed if they go to the committee of adjustment because I figured there could be depending on

2:46:02the situation quite a big gap in what they were approved for and what their study showed

2:46:09was necessary versus going to committee of adjustment. Yeah through the chair to to Councillor Caiten

2:46:17so committee of adjustment one of the tests is does it conform to the official plan

2:46:22and that is a test which they have to meet the committee of adjustment so they can't as a right

2:46:27through the committee of adjustment increase their density they can change a height they can change a

2:46:32side yard but they can't increase their density so the density is calculated in our official plan so

2:46:37as far as what that site is planned for we already have that captured um if it's a large

2:46:43development and they go to committee of adjustment for some variances to a side yard or parking or

2:46:49bike parking whatever it may be they still would have to go through the site plan process and then

2:46:55that's where again the allocation policy comes in and they would be captured with that you know at

2:46:59site plan you have 36 months to to move from site plan process to to building permit so we would

2:47:05have captured it and a lot of times they go through the development approval process in which they have

2:47:1048 months before they get to site plan um so it would have been captured at that point in time as

2:47:17well so I do think we I am confident that we do have it covered off great thank you so much thank

2:47:25you Councillor Caiten Mayor Guthrie thank you and through you Madam Chair and uh to staff I just uh

2:47:34I just wanted to try to understand something maybe just rephrased if so I can try to understand it a

2:47:39bit better but Councillor Goller asked about the main kind of water report that's coming in a little

2:47:47bit and I'm wondering why we're not waiting for that to influence what's in front of us now

2:47:57and if there's do you think that that might influence whatever the outcome of that report

2:48:03is to this or no uh are we going to be surprised to find out new information in the other report

2:48:09that then may impact this and so I just wondered if you could just uh lay that out for me a bit better

2:48:20I'll once again start it through the chair to Mayor Guthrie uh essentially the growth

2:48:26management report that'll be coming forward to council in March that speaks to commitments and

2:48:30again as per the policy we would seek to define at that time available capacity in the system

2:48:36um that is the same information that essentially we shared um I apologize for walking those slides

2:48:42in but the slides that we talked about today it's essentially the same information that council

2:48:47will receive uh in one or two months time okay I appreciate that and then my final question

2:48:55just through you Madam Chair to staff is uh maybe it's to Krista maybe just from a planning

2:49:02perspective um you know concerns that are out there that you know development large larger

2:49:10scale developments occur in phases and um it's dependent on the market uh as we all know that

2:49:18right now um so uh that that developers are going to have to jump through hoops every few years or

2:49:27they lose it and then they've got to like come back again when them and I'm just I'm concerned that

2:49:36that the policy isn't taking into effect the market that could fluctuate up and down

2:49:43um where developers are ready to put shovels in the ground and then they've lost the capacity to

2:49:48do that and I think that the policy states that there actually is a pretty good time frame of

2:49:56years and there's some discretion actually allowed within the policy to staff as well

2:50:02can you just state that for the public record so that that you know that can kind of be put to

2:50:08rest somewhat that even in these longer term larger scale developments that are in phases

2:50:16that there's that workability um as Nectar said we're open for business uh to try to make sure that

2:50:24the policy isn't so restrictive that really developers would would come you know butt up

2:50:30against that sort of this policy to make it unattainable to move on to put the shovels in

2:50:36the ground for the next phase through the chair to to America three so yes so the policy has built

2:50:44in extension requests and uh we will take a take a look at those when they come in and if a subdivision

2:50:50application or a site uh multi-phase to site plan application is coming in and they're you know

2:50:55actively kind of continuing to move forward and you know you've got four years from your

2:51:01zoning or plan a subdivision approval to get to a site plan and then you've got another three years

2:51:07after that so you kind of have seven years if you're coming in with a development application

2:51:11and if it's moving along and we absolutely recognize things in phases we have the allocation

2:51:16committed for that development and if they're continuing to to move phase by phase um then we

2:51:22will extend the allocation to that site um if they don't move and we you know we talked about

2:51:29having a plan 1987 there's some locks that have not yet moved forward um that has not demonstrated

2:51:37that commitment that they're ready to move forward but we're going to be reaching out to those those

2:51:41folks and it might hopefully spur a few more to come on which would be great for for the city

2:51:46but yes there's extension provisions and we would see that happening and as Mr. Gallagher

2:51:53said we have capacity in the system right now so we will you know we'll take a look at that on

2:51:58on every application as we move forward and we do expect there will be a significant amount of

2:52:03extensions as we move as we move forward this but it really helps us track the the allocation to

2:52:10make sure that we're making investment decisions when we need to make investment decisions and

2:52:14that we have a really good good handle on the capacity as we change processes but yes lots of

2:52:20capacity available and I see a lot of extensions happening delegated through through the DCO

2:52:26great thank you and I'm very just to ask one more question thank you through you is there anything

2:52:31that's thought of kind of a grandfathered in um or the existing sort of applications the existing

2:52:38developments that are sort of in the works a little bit um that are moving and trying to move

2:52:44along but then the market the housing market is what's impacting them it's not it's there's no

2:52:49lack of effort to try it's just that they've sold nothing for pre-sales and so when the market

2:52:57rebounds they're ready to go so my my question is kind of twofold is there kind of grandfathering

2:53:02in of the stuff that's already in the works and there's effort being made um and also how onerous

2:53:10if this policy comes through is it going to be for a developer to have to come and sort of ask

2:53:15permission you know from a speed of doing business or the speed of the market will it be onerous on

2:53:21them or are they going to be able to get the permissions and go fast I just see uh DCO game in

2:53:27this hand up yeah thank you through you chair class and to the mayor and and so the sort of

2:53:33theming of some of the questions tonight really this policy is is prudent management of the water

2:53:37system council as owner of the water system making those decisions to to ensure that Guelph is

2:53:44poised for growth development investment the things that we've been talking about tonight

2:53:47but part of the idea behind the administrative piece of this is that delegated authority so

2:53:52that we can move at the speed of business this is not about grinding anything to a halt this is

2:53:56about making sure that we're being responsible on our allocations and so that it's transparent and

2:54:00everyone understands exactly where they are in the rules and in the playing field and so that we

2:54:04can keep moving forward at the right speed so that we can see Guelph grow thank you mayor

2:54:13got three and staff I have up two hand three hands that have gone up in order that I saw them was

2:54:19Gibson Bucitil and Karen Koran yeah thank you um through you chair 100 what mayor got three just

2:54:27said we don't want to be stymie and growth and we want to encouraging them but I do want to

2:54:33counterbalance that with like I've heard this from staff but I've also seen this myself

2:54:39when it comes to property and very sophisticated developers you know god bless them they're really

2:54:45good at what they do but a vacant lot with no development plan no no zoning and no site plan

2:54:53approval is not as valuable as a lot that is pre-zoned and site plan is finished and then

2:55:01you're prepared and then you can sell it I've met developers out in western Canada that specialize

2:55:06in this they take over vacant lot they get it zoned they get it serviced with a site plan and

2:55:11then it's ready for market real market and that sometimes takes time so I admit that that happens

2:55:17but what we don't want is for developers with the ability to get it to the zoning get it to the site

2:55:23plan approval and then be able to bank it for 10 15 years knowing that it's a really great savings

2:55:30account for them because it's only appreciating over time I'm not I'm not accusing anyone in Guelph

2:55:35doing that I'm just saying that is kind of a prescription for why we're seeing this policy so

2:55:41I appreciate that from staff it's a delicate balance we don't want to be stymie growth

2:55:46we don't want to be stymie activity but we do have to nudge some of these files along so thank you

2:55:54no question there Councillor Gibson I apologize I should have made it clear it's a statement thank

2:56:01you thanks Councillor Boussotel please yes thank you and through the chair to the staff

2:56:08in the presentation you talked about accessory units and there are the accessory units that we

2:56:14know about and the ones that we don't know about so my question is uh is whether or not the staff

2:56:20are concerned about or is it significant the unknown significant unknown accessory units

2:56:28and that I have some more questions through the chair to the Councillor so I guess for

2:56:37unknown ADUs um I guess if they were unknown we'd be following our process so we do

2:56:44search warrants we do proactive enforcement when we hear about them but certainly there there may

2:56:49be some illegal units out there but we do our best to ensure that we're aware of them and bring

2:56:54them into a conformity we we do would would think that would be very small number would not impact

2:57:01the scale of this proposal thank you that's what I was looking for and through the chair my second

2:57:07question is about in the I think it was a schedule one at the bottom talks about institutional

2:57:13and I know I emailed you Christa about this so my question is about servicing do we hold back

2:57:20servicing for things that are growing community we know we'll need a hospital schools more recreation

2:57:28facilities um given that we know that it takes a long time to get ministry funding or approvals

2:57:34and things like that uh and those are things of a public benefit and I have a supplementary question

2:57:43yeah through the through the chair to the Councillor so one of the provisions that we

2:57:47have set out um in the policy framework is to make those extension provisions for for servicing

2:57:55we know a hospital can take 10 years um four years for zoning amendment and three years for site plan

2:58:01is seven but we know it can take up to 10 years to get through the ministry process and schools

2:58:05are very similar to that so one of the the criteria for extending services and the extension of the

2:58:11allocation is to comply with the OP and we have a section in the OP that is complete and healthy

2:58:17communities which is to provide local services and public service facilities including affordable

2:58:22housing and schools uh so we do feel that the policy addresses uh those uses and as we you know

2:58:28know a school is coming on or a hospital is coming on to ensure we have that capacity so uh yes we do

2:58:34feel that the policy allows for it and extension requests if they're if they're in a process but

2:58:39get delayed at a provincial level as well thank you and your comments dovetail into my next question

2:58:47the policy talks about you know first come first serve you know get to the trough first kind of thing

2:58:54but you also talked about a balanced community um and so if applications come in is there is there

2:59:02a priority in in approvals of we need the hospital we need this uh is there kind of that screening

2:59:16through the chair to Councillor Bustel um there isn't necessarily a screening process

2:59:22uh but like any other applications that come in or come into the city um it's not

2:59:29first come first serve does sound maybe not the best way to put it but the reality is as the

2:59:35applications come in those are the ones that we process those are the ones that we work through

2:59:39and as they proceed we assess whether or not there's capacity that we can allocate to them as they

2:59:46start the planning process there's capacity allocated to them so really it is to some degree

2:59:51first come first serve that being said again there's opportunity for us to look at applications

2:59:58that are coming through there's opportunity for us to gauge our capacity going forward

3:00:03there's opportunity to look at what we want to deal with that capacity so to some degree it is

3:00:10first come first serve but that being said there's always the chance to look at other industry or

3:00:16anyone who wants to come in and gauge the level of readiness and gauge the capacity that we have

3:00:22to allocate to them thank you thank you Councillor Bustel Councillor Caron please yes thank you um

3:00:32my question actually has been answered but I wanted to comment that I'll be absolutely supporting

3:00:37the the recommendation um because you identified that there's there's actually a risk not only to

3:00:43the city but a risk to the developer in an uncertain and unstable market they could make

3:00:49significant progress on an application and then find out after expending all of that

3:00:55that the project can't proceed because of water capacity so I think this is you know this there's

3:01:00there's there's a nice balance to why we're doing this it's not just for the benefit of the city it's

3:01:05also for the benefit of of the project leaders and developers who who need that certainty so

3:01:12thanks for bringing it forward thank you for those comments Councillor Caron I have two questions

3:01:19if you will uh unless there's somebody else who I didn't see a sneaky hand go up so I'll go ahead

3:01:24um I did have a question we we referred to it a couple of times which is the which is Waterloo

3:01:30and the issues that they've been having with their water supply I was just wondering if we could we

3:01:35could share that with the public what what those issues are um and and the situation there uh to

3:01:46the chair um I don't think it would be appropriate for staff to speak to what's happening with our

3:01:54partners I don't know if we have a full assessment of what's actually going on other than you know

3:02:00what's been shared with us publicly or through our peers

3:02:06yeah what if yeah if I if I could just build a little bit um I guess as part of

3:02:14we've been watching this situation with interest as well uh their staff's understanding and it was

3:02:19published as part of an agenda for the Region of Waterloo I believe about two weeks ago that there

3:02:23was a third party review um of the the circumstances and the issues within the system we could certainly

3:02:32share that with Council if you don't have it already for subsequent information from today

3:02:38okay thank you um and then finally my question is with regard to Council's role in in in water supply

3:02:48um it's just it's it's something that I mean I think that it's we know our we know our fiduciary

3:02:53responsibilities to the community but I specifically like get asked ask you to elaborate on our role

3:03:00for maintaining our water supply for current and future growth uh back to the chair as we look at

3:03:12design standards from the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks certainly as we look at

3:03:19water systems and the health of water systems it's having adequate water for growth or the unknowns

3:03:26that come along with that and it's I guess some best practice materials that certainly look to

3:03:31you know at least a horizon of three to five years that we can say we have adequate water for our forecasted needs

3:03:38um I think this information and and what will come through the growth report annually to inform

3:03:44Council of where we stand as far as available capacity both to ensure resiliency of our system

3:03:50as well as to support our our open for business objectives with the public

3:03:56this will supplement the information that we're sharing with you annually around the water system

3:04:01and the performance of the the system um and the various aspects as far as providing water supply not

3:04:08just domestic needs but looking at fire supply and all those things again that are part of the mandate so

3:04:14I think this is a healthy complement to the information that you're getting and allow you as the system

3:04:19owner and the main decision maker again to make informed decisions with respect to investment in

3:04:25the system and understand where we stand from a more detailed basis thank you for that answer and

3:04:34thank you for the respectful discussion that happened and I would like with that to call

3:04:41the vote if that's okay and I nobody's asked me to separate them so I'd like to call them all

3:04:48together so is anyone opposed to the three recommendations from staff um that it passes

3:04:58unanimously and I just want to thank everyone uh for the discussion and we will be moving on to 11.2

3:05:07I'll just give staff a couple of seconds and thank you again very much um with your