Now hold a meeting that is closed to the public, pursuant to Section 239(2)(f) of the Municipal Act…

2:46:54parkland dedication bylaw exemptions we're going to kick things off with the presentation from

2:47:00Mallory we're oh right there who is our acting general manager for parks you're doing a good

2:47:06job by the way yeah so I thought I would say that out loud um and then we have a couple delegations

2:47:12as well and some correspondence that's attached but Mallory I'll turn it over to you you go right

2:47:17ahead perfect thank you so good evening Mayor members of council and delegates I'm here to

2:47:24present to you today two proposed exemptions to the city's parkland dedication bylaw the parkland

2:47:32dedication bylaw is designed to ensure that as the city grows the park system grows with it

2:47:36parkland dedication allows the city to require parkland conveyance or cash and lieu of parkland

2:47:41conveyance as a condition of development to ensure the bylaw remains aligned with the evolving

2:47:46provincial and city land use planning policies a comprehensive update to the bylaw has been initiated

2:47:52this update will be presented to council in q1 2027 alongside a new parkland acquisition strategy

2:48:00together the bylaw and the parkland acquisition strategy will assess long-term cash and lieu

2:48:05revenue projections the city's ability to meet official planned parkland targets and other

2:48:10strategies to support the community's recreational needs a goal of the bylaws to establish a

2:48:16framework that balances affordability and adequate parkland provision in advance of the

2:48:23comprehensive update staff are recommending two immediate and straightforward exemptions to the

2:48:27bylaw number one an amendment to the bylaw that removes additions or alterations to residential

2:48:34buildings from the definition of development and number two a project specific exemption for the

2:48:40addition of one unit to the existing apartment building at 671 Woolwich street since last update

2:48:53administering certain aspects of the bylaw has proven to be challenging particularly around

2:48:57the cash and lieu fee for residential renovations that expand home size by more than 50 percent

2:49:03one of the main issues that the is that the calculation methods for development charges

2:49:07and cash and lieu of parkland dedication differ as a result homeowners looking to enlarge older

2:49:12homes are often surprised by the cash and lieu fee which is based on the value of the parcel of

2:49:17land with land values increasing in recent years cash and lieu fees have increased accordingly

2:49:23in 2024 the average cash and lieu fee for residential additions that increased the size of

2:49:28the home by more than 50 percent was approximately 25,400 dollars staff are recommending a targeted

2:49:36amendment to the bylaw that would revise the definition of development to exclude residential

2:49:40additions and alterations this means these types of building permit applications would no longer

2:49:46trigger the requirement to convey parkland or pay cash and loom although a full review of this

2:49:53provision will be part of the broader bylaw update staff believe this exemption is warranted now

2:49:59parkland dedication is intended to support parkland growth in response to increases in

2:50:03population and employment but residential additions typically don't contribute to population growth

2:50:08in the same way that new dwelling units or large-scale developments do this exemption will not

2:50:16apply retroactively will not apply to the creation of new dwelling units and will not apply to

2:50:21commercial and industrial uses and for complete clarity i want to highlight to council that the

2:50:27proposed amended amendment is specific to additions and alterations to existing dwellings and not

2:50:33tear down and rebuild of homes the second proposed exemption is specific to a development project

2:50:44at 671 will which street the owner has submitted a building permit application to convert existing

2:50:49ground floor space in the apartment building into one additional bachelor unit this property has

2:50:56never been subject to parkland dedication fees as its original development occurred before the

2:51:00city had authority under the planning planning act to levy such charges under the current bylaw the

2:51:06proposal qualifies as development because it adds a new dwelling unit and therefore

2:51:11cash and leave parkland dedication is required this situation presents a unique challenge

2:51:17the addition of a single unit is triggering a cash and leave fee of approximately a hundred and

2:51:21twelve thousand dollars a figure typically associated with large-scale multi-unit developments

2:51:28in staff's opinion the magnitude of this fee is disproportionate to the scope of the proposed

2:51:33change because a fee this high could discourage much needed housing in the city staff are recommending

2:51:39that council approve a project specific exemption from the cash and leave requirement as permitted

2:51:46under section 32 j of the bylaw this section allows council to exempt certain developments

2:51:51projects by resolution through the comprehensive bylaw update the project team will explore

2:51:57options to amend the bylaw that will address similar development scenarios on their share

2:52:05the financial impacts of these exemptions starting first with the residential expansions

2:52:10predicting future revenue from residential expansions is difficult as it depends on how

2:52:15many applications are received and current land values both of which fluctuate with the economy

2:52:22that said since 2022 the city has averaged about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year in

2:52:27cash and leave revenue from these type of expansions as part of the bylaw update the project team

2:52:33will look closely at the long-term financial impacts of keeping this exemption in place

2:52:37and other alternatives such as introducing a capped fee and for 671 Woolwich street

2:52:46normally when cash and leave is required applicants must submit a land appraisal to calculate the

2:52:51cash and leave who fee amount in this case because staff are recommending an exemption for council's

2:52:56consideration no appraisal was requested however based on comparable properties staff estimate

2:53:02that the cash and leave amount would be approximately 112 000 so this marks the end of the staff

2:53:10presentation and I understand that we've received questions from council that require solicitor

2:53:15client advice which should be provided in closed session and so I'll pass that back to the chair

2:53:22well thank you so council what we're going to do is look to receive that that solicitor

2:53:28advice in closed right now before we hear from the delegations quickly so if I could just have

2:53:33the clerks just help me with the motion to put up there that the council of the city of Guelph now

2:53:38hold a meeting that is closed to the public pursuant to section 2392 f of the municipal

2:53:44act regarding advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege including communications necessary

2:53:49for that purpose wondering if I could have a colleague a Koran and alts move and second that

2:53:55is there anyone against that hearing and seeing nobody that's unanimous so we will move into a

2:54:01closed session quickly for an update on that and some information I'll do a quick summary I want to

2:54:06come back out and then we'll continue with the delegations and move move on thank you all right

3:46:12everybody and thank you to my online colleagues for putting their their uh their camera on I

3:46:18appreciate it so I always give a kind of a high level summary as we call the meeting back to order

3:46:28here of the in-camera discussion and so it was purely to get legal advice and information in

3:46:35regards to what's in front of us here and we there's no direction given at all we just received

3:46:40information so that we can continue on with the item in the open session okay so with that thank

3:46:46you very much again for the the courtesy for waiting and we're going to go right to delegations

3:46:53Galen Gray is there a Galen Gray here oh I'm saying the wrong one okay next page sorry sorry

3:47:00Charlotte Lewington okay planner with GSP group thank you and then Gary Scanlon we see you thank

3:47:11you you're you're in the wings uh and just so everyone knows this is a five minute presentation

3:47:17time limit now no no longer 10 okay so uh Charlotte thank you very much and please go right ahead

3:47:23thank you good evening mayor Guthrie and members of council and staff my name is Charlotte Lewington

3:47:29I'm a planning consultant with GSP group and I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of my client

3:47:36Riverside Woolwich Apartments Inc. I did submit a written letter uh outlining our support for

3:47:44recommendation number two which is the site specific exemption for 671 Woolwich Street

3:47:52um so I just wanted to reiterate our support here tonight like Mallory said

3:47:59um staff estimates that adding this bachelor unit could result in a cash in lieu of parkland

3:48:08payment of 112 thousand dollars um we believe this this is quite disproportionate to the

3:48:16proposal at hand to add a bachelor unit um we've been told from our client that that costs because

3:48:26it's so disproportionate would result likely in not building this bachelor unit um and just from

3:48:34a planning perspective as a planning consultant um we note that the official plan does highly

3:48:41encourage intensification whether that be redevelopment or renovation or um uh expansions

3:48:54or conversions of ex existing buildings and so that's what we're aiming to do with this proposal

3:49:00and this exemption will really facilitate that so thank you for your time tonight well thank you

3:49:08very much and um can I see if there's any follow-up questions at all on this one no

3:49:16um I appreciate I'm so sorry that you waited to like two and a half hours or whatever just for

3:49:21that but we do appreciate you coming down and and making your case okay thank you thank you um

3:49:27moving right along then uh Gary Scanlon is going to come down I think Gary might have

3:49:32a presentation aligned with his delegation so we'll get that set up that's pleasure

3:49:50to be before you um my name is Gary Scanlon Mr. Mayor, members of the council, staff always a

3:49:56pleasure, I'm in a different capacity before you this evening I'm here with my son Ben and his wife

3:50:06Caitlin who owned the property that we're speaking about uh I'm not sure how to use this

3:50:13okay got it so um we're here for for two particular reasons the first is with respect directly with

3:50:21the the bylaw amendments uh and then the second is uh and a matter which extends off of the current

3:50:28bylaw we've been working uh we have a situation which um uh with the current bylaw and we were

3:50:37going to be coming forward with a petition to be before council anyways it seems to be the proper

3:50:43opportunity to kind of combine both of these matters um number one we're supportive of the

3:50:49changes um it's in part consistency uh imposing the um this particular charge

3:50:58seems to be inconsistent with some of the other policies you have development charges if we

3:51:03with a development charge you knock down a house you replace it within 48 months there's no charges

3:51:09we take a look at the zoning bylaw that talks about density density talks about the number of

3:51:14dwelling units on a lot uh divided by the uh the net lot area in this particular case it would appear

3:51:21that the density is how much building there is and it's not even a calculated um uh against the lot

3:51:31from a density perspective it's what's there right now and at the end what is what's the new

3:51:37building like so def uh density can be um you know a thousand square feet two thousand three

3:51:44thousand four thousand and it's not very clear uh how that basically warrants additional charges for

3:51:53growth because the under the planning act the parkland dedication is supposed to generate

3:51:59additional funds in order to provide additional parkland for growth but it's not necessarily

3:52:05present in this particular uh sense so in our particular and actually even consistency with

3:52:11other policies where you can add on a single family home i can add a secondary unit a third

3:52:17unit i can add an apartment and no charge is imposed but if i basically knock down the house and

3:52:24increase it by more than 50 i get charged and there's not even a what did you have before what do

3:52:30you have in the future any adjustment so a lot of things are missing from that particular policy

3:52:35so we support uh moving head to to change it in our particular case uh we just go through quickly

3:52:42we've given you a uh a more detailed summary but uh the situation hand is um they purchased the house

3:52:51that we're going to knock it down and replace it so it's a four bedroom side split with a carport

3:52:58and replacing it with a four bedroom two story so four bedrooms the the amount of the true density

3:53:05if you define it by bedrooms and the number of people that would be there there's no change the

3:53:11increases in square footage and it's mainly due to having a slightly bigger kitchen a bigger living

3:53:18area added bathrooms and modest increases in the bedrooms once again not facilitating additional

3:53:25growth but just changing slightly the size of the the building we've gone through a process

3:53:32and what's what the one of the key things is is that through this process in december talking

3:53:38with the building department we were going to or they were going to submit the the building permit

3:53:43demolition permit in january the building officials basically advised us there's no hurry you can

3:53:51submit it into march and you'll still be able to move ahead with construction in the spring

3:53:57so on that basis they held back on putting the um uh the uh the permits uh forward on february 25th

3:54:10they submitted the uh application for the building permit uh demolition permit and then on february

3:54:1527th is when the change to the bylaw occurred which basically doubled the amount of the fees

3:54:22it was a walk on it was an adjustment to the agenda so it was uh not the initial agenda it was uh

3:54:29the amended agenda there was no staff report and um and there was no notice there was no

3:54:35transitional matters to anybody who's in the process it was just changed and immediately approved that

3:54:41evening subsequent to that this is when they realized that they had increased the the amount of the

3:54:48charge from 20 000 uh to over 40 000 dollars just one second just just just one second sorry just one

3:55:00second maybe it's just me that that felt like a very fast five minutes was that the clock from the

3:55:05previous the previous delegation no okay just me then okay so um thank you i will have i will have

3:55:12to stop you there because of the of our rules there but um no it's okay if you could just put

3:55:17that back up on the on the screen for a second we because we know that you are talking about this

3:55:22this extra this extra part here so we appreciate that um i know that was part of your presentation

3:55:29it's part of our our package as well so we do see that the request that's that's there um thank you

3:55:35let me let me stop you there and then we just ask if there's any questions at this time for many

3:55:40my colleagues there is there's not so thank you very much we appreciate it yep

3:55:49um okay to to my colleagues i'm just wondering we do have the recommendation in front of us

3:55:57um from our our staff would someone be willing to move and second that okay uh downer and and

3:56:05class okay thank thank you and is there is there anything further on on this item for uh from

3:56:16council to staff at all any questions no all right i will i will look any comments no okay i will

3:56:25look to call the vote then uh is there anyone against okay there is not okay so that that matter is

3:56:37finished thank you yes i don't want to lose uh the delegation but it wasn't part of the uh the

3:56:46motion before us um but the delegation has raised something for council to consider

3:56:53and i wonder if you could provide um some direction on the way to have it um move forward to council

3:57:03in a different in a different format yeah i think i don't know if it was in the presentation or if

3:57:11it was in the letter that was provided in the correspondence in either one uh but i remember

3:57:16reading that there was a potential opportunity for um like a petition like a petition to council

3:57:24and i think actually i think you mentioned it that's a microphone as well um

3:57:29um that's probably the best arena and best route for that something like that to flow um

3:57:36that that's my that's my initial reaction to that so uh and that's available to anyone on

3:57:42and really any topic really so i would almost suggest that that would be the best way for somebody

3:57:48like they could looked into the petition process it's it's it's a little bit it's connected definitely

3:57:54to the agenda item that's here today that for sure but i think it is separate enough that

3:57:59would warrant a separate process so the petition process would probably be the best council cron

3:58:06and that's laid out with our how that can be done and then if it if it goes through that process

3:58:12and it's determined that it comes at a later date um or not it is dependent on the will of anybody

3:58:19here then we can go from there is that okay and maybe that is good that you ask that question to the

3:58:24to the people in the audience too okay thank thank you and now you understand too so okay um