Transportation Advisory Committee

0:05I'm not calling the meeting to order at 5.30 am.

0:18As we gather, let us take time to reflect on our privilege to live here and work in wealth.

0:23A city built over rich indigenous histories.

0:26We are guests here and we should reflect upon the responsibility to care for this land.

0:31The people who live here today and the generations to come.

0:34If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation, we should take pause

0:38and make those decisions with intention and gratitude.

0:42This place we call Guelph has served as a traditional land

0:45and placed a refuge for many peoples over time.

0:48But more specifically that at Arandak and the Kodunomushi.

0:55This land is held in the tree lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

1:00Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Haleima Tract and is part of a long

1:04established traditional hunting ground of the six nations of the Grand River.

1:08Many First Nations and UNMT people have come across Turtle Island to call Guelph home.

1:17Is there any precunary interests or general nature thereof?

1:32Next is the approval of the minutes.

1:35So the recommendation is that the minutes from February 19,

1:392026 meeting of the Transportation Advisory Committee be approved.

1:43Can I have a mover?

1:46Backender.

1:51All in favor?

1:57That carries.

2:05So next we have the committee items.

2:09The Gordon Street and Claire Laird road schedule,

2:12seeing, and useful class environment assessment.

2:15By Colleen, the manager of the capital planning and growth.

2:23Hi, can everyone hear me okay?

2:27Excellent.

2:28Thank you for having me.

2:29My name is Colleen Gammie.

2:30I am the manager of capital planning and growth within our Engineering and Transportation

2:35Services Division at the City.

2:37And I'm also the project manager for a class environmental assessment that we're undertaking

2:43for the Gordon Street, Claire Road and Laird Road corridors in the south end of Guelph.

2:50So I'd like to share my screen and just go through a brief presentation with everyone.

2:55And then I'd love to hear questions and feedback afterwards.

3:03So we've already gone through that stuff.

3:06Why am I here?

3:08This project is an environmental assessment.

3:10It requires the city to do numerous amounts of engagement with the community and also various

3:18interest holders.

3:19And so we've just had our second of two public open houses last week.

3:25And I am doing the advisory committee to council circuit in and around the same time.

3:30So that's why I'm here at this time.

3:33I'll go over what we shared with the public last week.

3:36And we'd love to incorporate any feedback from the Transportation Advisory Committee kind of in

3:42and around the same time as our public feedback cycle that we're in right now.

3:49So what is a municipal class environmental assessment?

3:53It is a process that the city follows for all projects to make sure that we are in compliance

3:59with the Environmental Assessment Act.

4:02It's a process that is proponent driven, but it kind of encourages us to look at all possible

4:08options for a problem, consider impacts on various environments, and also incorporates feedback from

4:17many different engagement opportunities.

4:20There's a few different phases in the municipal class environmental assessment process.

4:24The first two have actually been completed through previous study, which I'll talk about a little bit

4:29more. So we are right now in phase three, which is alternative design concepts for the preferred

4:35solution. And part of our projects will be also to complete phase four, which is really documenting

4:42everything, including impacts and mitigation in a summary report. And then phase five will

4:47happen later down the road when we get into detailed design and construction.

4:54This is the study area shown in the red boundary here. It just demonstrates that we're looking at

4:59Laird Road from Highway 6 to where it transitions into Clare Road, and then Clare Road over to

5:06Victoria Road south, and also Gordon Street in between Clare Road and Maltby Road in the south end of

5:12Guelph. Why are we doing this study? It's a great question. You may have asked yourself.

5:20This is furthering recommendations from several background documents. They're listed here. We

5:27have Guelph Transit Future Ready Action Plan, Guelph Transportation Master Plan, the Clare

5:33Maltby Secondary Plan, and the Associated Engineering Document, the Master Environmental

5:38Servicing Plan. We have the Complete Streets Design Guide that we have, Vision Zero.

5:44Lots of these documents have directed us to look at these corridors, and then the documents are

5:52also guiding us in how we look at those corridors. So from the Master Environmental Servicing Plan

5:58and the Transportation Master Plan, both of which were also completed as environmental assessments,

6:04we have been, the recommendations were to widen all of the corridors within the study area,

6:12to have four lanes of vehicular traffic, and then to supplement the rest of the cross-section to

6:18include pedestrian and cycling facilities. So those are the recommendations that we're

6:24carrying forward, and the scope of this study is really now to look at how can we widen the road

6:30while trying to understand and minimize and mitigate impacts to the maximum extent possible.

6:36So these are some of the things that are kind of governing our study as we move forward.

6:43Every environmental assessment has problem and opportunity statement. So our problem statement,

6:48I won't read word for word here, but essentially there's limited infrastructure in the south end

6:52of Guelph, and we need to look at servicing, stormwater management, and transportation needs

6:58to support the future growth in this area. All of these solutions will need to consider

7:04future anticipated traffic volumes, walking, cycling, transit improvements, stormwater management,

7:11wildlife crossings, and many other things that are, is too long to list in one,

7:17one problem and opportunity statement. I'll go over the existing conditions briefly for those

7:24of you that may not be familiar with the south end of Guelph, but we have layered road as it

7:31transitions to cleared road, which is kind of more of an industrial area. This is a two-lane

7:37rural cross-section at this time. Then we have kind of a more urbanized section in the middle.

7:43This is already four lanes, and there are painted bike lanes. However, they do not meet the all-age

7:49as an ability criteria. And then over further on clear road, we go back to a two-lane cross-section

7:54that does have sidewalks on part of the road, but not the entire road. Looking down Gordon Street,

8:01the first kind of red section is somewhat similar to this green for clear road. It's already four

8:07lanes, and there are painted bike lanes and sidewalks. And then as we look down towards

8:14Malpion Gordon Street, we have a two-lane rural cross-section with no sidewalks, no cycling

8:20infrastructure, and also no stormwater management. Lots of documentation has been undertaken for

8:30the existing conditions far too much to share on one slide, but we have done natural environment

8:36inventories. We've looked at cultural heritage. We've also collected transportation data. We

8:42have a transportation impact study that talks about the existing conditions and then all the

8:47models, future needs based on growth in the area. Things that we heard from the public at our first

8:55open house, maybe just highlight the ones that are related to this committee here. Lots of

9:01excitement about better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and then also lots of interest

9:06in transit as well. So we have some feedback. We have the existing conditions. We have our

9:15problem statement, and we have the recommendations from the previous study. Now we're just looking at

9:21how can we widen the road, and what are the impacts of that? So we're looking at changes

9:28to the already urbanized area, and then changes outside of the urbanized area is how we've split it

9:33up. What we do for the environmental assessment, as I mentioned at the beginning of the slides,

9:40was we evaluate various solutions based on environments, and so we have a technical environment,

9:48socio-economic environment, natural environment, and archaeological and cultural heritage

9:53environment. We're also looking at policies. The secondary plan for the south end of Guelph,

9:59the Claremont B secondary plan, had a lot of policies about the vision for the area, and for

10:05requirements from a transportation perspective. Are we meeting those? And then also we look at the

10:12costs, not only the upfront costs, but also maintenance and operations. So under these six

10:19categories is how we've evaluated various alternatives to try to make a recommendation

10:23on which one is preferred. So for the kind of existing build-up area, we looked at do nothing,

10:31which is always an alternative. We looked at implementing the full complete streets cross-section,

10:38and then we also looked at implementing the full complete streets cross-section wherever possible,

10:43and then reducing some of the boulevard features where absolutely necessary to

10:47respect hard constraints that exist. So that could be an existing building or a wetland.

10:55And the evaluation, I won't read through all of this text. There's a lot of information here,

11:00is that alternative three, which is to implement the full complete streets design guideline where

11:05possible, but modify it where required, comes out with the highest score, and is the recommended

11:11alternative for that existing build-up area. Next, we looked at the areas that are sort of

11:20more supportive of a, they have a two lane cross-section at this time, and they may have a

11:25rural cross-section as well. So again, the three alternatives are the same, do nothing, implement

11:31a full complete streets design guideline, and also to implement that where possible, but reduce it

11:38where necessary. On Gordon Street, there are some kettle wetlands on either side of the road,

11:43and so we're really trying to narrow our impact through that section, and that does result in

11:47some narrow boulevard features. Claire Road, same options as well. The only difference I'll

11:55highlight is that the complete streets design guideline typology for the three corridors

11:59does change, but the principle of the alternatives is the same, where we're looking at, are we able

12:06to implement the full cross-section, or do we need to reduce where possible, or where required,

12:13and then same on Laird Road for an employment boulevard. The big change I'll highlight on this

12:19one is that this particular typology recommends a multi-use path versus a separated cycle and

12:26sidewalk facility, and when we kind of bundle up the evaluation of all of those, the same

12:32alternative three is coming out with the highest score. It has the best

12:39least impact on all of the criterias, so that's implementing a full complete streets cross-section

12:45where possible and feasible, and recognizing that we have some habitats that we cannot impact,

12:51or we need to try to minimize impact, and also recognizing that there are some existing buildings,

12:57there's some areas of significant typography, those are the types of things that we're respecting,

13:02when we decrease the width of the cross-section in a handful of spots.

13:08Another thing that we looked at is the intersection of Gordon Street and Malby Road.

13:15The options that we considered for this are do nothing to have a signalized intersection

13:20and to have a roundabout. The desire to study a roundabout was specifically called out in the

13:26clear Malby Secondary Plan policy language and the traffic studies that were done for that,

13:33so that's why we've looked at it for this particular intersection.

13:38After the evaluation across the various environments, the roundabout configuration has the highest

13:45score and therefore is what we've put forward as our preliminary preferred alternative.

13:53That doesn't mean we're not upgrading other intersections in the area, we will be

13:58upgrading all existing and future intersections with future roads that will get approved through

14:04the draft plan of subdivision process, we'll be upgraded to have a protected intersection typology

14:11like what's detailed in the Complete Streets Design Guideline as well.

14:15And for those that aren't not familiar with the Clear Malby Secondary Plan, this kind of gray

14:20future road network is coming from the mobility schedule in the Clear Malby Secondary Plan,

14:26which has set the conceptual location and number of collector roads that will be required in the

14:33future, but the exact configuration will be confirmed through the draft plan of secondary plan,

14:39sorry, draft plan of subdivision process. I have a couple more slides for you guys if you can

14:46bear with me. So last thing we looked at was a, we're crossings of the corridors. The policy

14:55language in the secondary plan required us to do a feasibility assessment of a multi-use

15:00crossing at this location approximately, as this is an ecological linkage, as well as a future

15:07active transportation network east-west crossing of Gordon Street. We looked at an overpass,

15:15an underpass, and an at grade, and we looked at combined and separated crossings, and essentially

15:21after some analysis, the recommendation is to have a separated pedestrian and wildlife crossing.

15:29We were really struggling to figure out how to support those two ecosystems fitting together,

15:35having the wildlife crossing underpass and have it to be of a certain size such that it could

15:43accommodate larger mammals, and then have a signalized crossing at grade for pedestrians

15:49and active transportation users. The other dots on this map show wildlife tunnels, which are more

15:55standard size to support smaller mammals and reptiles and amphibians, and those would also be

16:02strategically located based on the environmental impact study that we're doing. Another thing that

16:10we're looking at is ensuring that the design of the road and the width and the property impacts

16:16we're looking at are supportive of future transit infrastructure. So we have shown

16:23at locations where we've worked with our transit team staff, as well as to look at the feasibility

16:29based on the property that we have. We have shown bus queue jump lanes at some strategic

16:36intersections throughout the study area. We've also had some conversations and we'll be including

16:43in the transportation impact study recommendations about future lane conversions, signal priority,

16:52and also improving transit stops along the study area. There's also a policy document that will

16:58show that there are bus stops within 400 meters of every residence and business, including the

17:05future residences. And then I will just also highlight that part of the secondary plan was

17:11the inclusion of a transit hub. That will be acquired, kind of the land for that will be acquired

17:18through the development process. However, it's important to note here that the location of that

17:24and therefore the routes that will be generated around that we're sort of using that information

17:29to consider where we should have queue jump lanes, etc. throughout the study area.

17:37After we've assessed the preliminary preferred alternative and when we're finished receiving

17:41feedback from the community and from interest groups such as yourselves, the next steps in the

17:48environmental assessment process are to analyze the impacts of that preferred alternative across

17:53the various environments and then come up with mitigation measures. These are just a handful

17:58of kind of preliminary conceptual impacts and mitigation measures. There will be several

18:03chapters of a giant report that will be dedicated to this section. So this is by no means the final

18:08list of impacts and mitigation measures, but these are some of the preliminary thinking so far.

18:18And I think I almost just said the same slide again, but where we're at in the study now is

18:24kind of the comment collecting period. We'll review all of that information and see where

18:30we're able to make tweaks to accommodate some of the points raised in comments and how we can

18:35respond to those. We have some policy tests to meet with respect to ecological impact.

18:42We'll be looking at the advancing the preferred solution to a level of detail

18:48after considering all of the feedback that we've received and then we'll prepare our

18:52environmental study report, which is essentially just documentation of this whole process and all

18:58of the feedback and engagement that we've done. And then in the future we'll be proceeding to

19:03detailed design and construction. I'm happy to hear some feedback here today, but I did also

19:11just want to share if you wanted to participate as an individual. We have a survey on our Have Your Say

19:18page, which can be accessed through this QR code, which is in the agenda package, and you're welcome

19:23to leave any comments there as well. So I will stop sharing now and I'm happy to answer any questions

19:31or receive any feedback. Any questions? I've got one. I've got a question regarding the median

19:43planting zone on some of your designs here. How much consideration has been given to the

19:50maintenance of these zones? Will they be able to be maintained without shutting down traffic?

19:56Is that something that's normally considered? Yeah, that's a great question.

20:03So I can say we've had a preliminary conversation with our operations group that would be in charge

20:08of kind of doing road maintenance. It's very initial and conceptual at this time, but certainly the

20:15maintenance requirements of something like that would be worked out and discussed as part of the

20:19project. Thank you. Any other questions? I'm Redine. Hi, can folks hear me? Fantastic. I was

20:41curious if there was some sort of traffic study done for the layered road portion because I was

20:47basically living in kind of the Clairfield neighborhood for a period of time. And while I

20:52could see how it could be a bottleneck because it connects to the highway, I don't think I've ever

20:59actually seen that road busy before. And so seeing an extra two lanes of traffic added in what's kind

21:07of an industrial area, just curious if there's data that shows that or is this like projections

21:14in terms of newer development? I'm curious about that. Yeah, a little bit of both, I think,

21:21is the answer to your question. So from the Clairmulti secondary plan, which was completed

21:26between 2015 and 2022, there was data collected and future traffic modeling. I think I missed

21:35actually quite an important piece in my presentation is that the Clairmulti secondary plan area will

21:40look to bring an average of about 16,000 new people to the south end of Guelph. And so there will

21:49certainly be more mobility trips generated with that number of residents and businesses moving

21:56into that area. So through the transportation impact study that was completed at the time of the

22:02secondary plan, and then also through the transportation master plan that was also finished

22:08in 2021 or 2022, I believe, through the future trip generation and future mode studies, the

22:17recommendation to widen Laird Road came to be. Thank you. Any more questions or comments? No.

22:33So the recommendation is that the Transportation Advisory Committee receives that information

22:39about the Gordon Street, Clair Laird Road and Environmental Assessment.

22:47Can I move on? Second? Sure. Thank you. All in favor? Anybody oppose?

22:59Any other moves on to the second item is the draft priority risk areas for Guelph's community

23:17safety and well-being plan update. And so should I, Stephen?

23:22You know, something to make sure that we do not get a little acid over to

23:46everything. Can everybody see that clearly online? No issues. Perfect. Okay. So I'll pass it over to

23:53my colleague. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for having us and looking forward to some active

23:59participation. Some faces online I recognize and some very new ones in the room here as well.

24:04But happy to be here. I'm going to read the first little bit of this. So we get the clear guy

24:09and I said as to what the purpose of the community safety well-being plan is. I'm going to turn it

24:12over to the project team to take it away from there. So as I was introduced, my name is Andrew

24:18Goody and I'm Inspector of the Guelph Police Service as a co-chair for the Community Safety and

24:22Well-Being Plans Community Advisory Table. I want to briefly talk about the important work happening

24:27to update the SWB plan. Today, we're here to share information, ask questions, and hearing your

24:33feedback on the draft priority risk areas for the Community Safety Well-Being Plan update.

24:38What you share with us will help shape a plan that truly reflects the world's realities

24:42and the experiences of people in our community. Under the CSPA, the Community Safety Policing

24:47Act, the city best update and adopt a CSWB plan every four years. Our role as partners in community

24:54safety with the city is to support this update by working with community organizations, identifying

24:59the key risks facing our community, and helping set a shared direction for continuing community

25:05action. The Community Safety Well-Being Plan is a community document representing community safety

25:10and well-being risks and community actions needed, advanced change. However, another risk we talk about

25:16today can be addressed by a single agency. They are complex, connected issues that require all of us,

25:21service providers, organizations, and community groups to work together. Can't do it alone,

25:26so this is where you come in, and this is why we're here today. The project team is going to walk

25:30you through kind of a rough outline of what our plan looks like, identifying some priority themes

25:36that have come front, and I really encourage any honest, open feedback that you have towards those

25:42themes, those priorities, as well as any questions you might have that we can either address here,

25:46or we can take away with the advisory table and try and bring back some signatures for you. But

25:51again, thanks for having us. So, I'll just quickly talk about sort of our process around the

26:01community safety and well-being plans update, and as Andrew mentioned, we're really focusing on the

26:06purpose of the document is to identify and highlight those big issues that are present

26:11within our community that are impacting safety and well-being. The other piece to this as well

26:17is we're working with community organizations to really identify those big community-level bodies

26:22of work that are happening to reduce harm to support safety and well-being. The big piece to

26:30this as well as we're establishing through this work, we're establishing a shared agenda,

26:34where we're trying to strengthen collaboration that's already happening across wealth.

26:38So, I'd like to think of this document as a bit of that lighthouse. What are the big issues that

26:43we're seeing in the community and using this document to sort of rally and bring everybody

26:48together on these issues so that it can help expedite those conversations, collaboration,

26:54things like that that are happening in the community to help really support the valuable

26:59work that our community organizations are doing because Citi is a fantastic actor in supporting

27:04so many different things within the community. But as Andrew highlighted, there are so many other

27:09things that our partners are doing in the community where we can't just do that alone,

27:13we have to work collaboratively. So, the first step in updating community safety and well-being plan

27:19really is focusing around identifying those big risks. So, we looked at our community organizations,

27:24we looked at programs and services, we looked at the collaboration that's already happened with

27:28our community partners, and then we pulled in and started to identify and looked at the community

27:33risks that are present. So, we looked at reports, the available data, things like that to sort of

27:38help articulate what our draft priorities are that we've brought forward today. We've also in

27:44that process worked with a community advisory table to sort of help make sure that we've identified

27:49the bigger issues and sort of get us to where we're at today. So, part two and what we're hoping to

27:56get feedback on is where we're at in terms of priority risk areas. So, what do we need, what

28:01are we missing, what are the information that or what are the pieces of information that we need to

28:04sort of help articulate and make sure that the plan is reflecting those realities in the community

28:11and gathering that feedback as well. So, we're still moving forward towards and the next step

28:18after that will be to sort of jump in, identify those big community level actions, identify those

28:24shared measures on how we report on progress in those spaces. So, we're at the big blue,

28:30we're still yet going into sort of step three and our focus is really there. So, when it comes to

28:36different actions, tactics, we're always happy to take feedback and things like that, but we're

28:42not at that stage yet that we can actually articulate and focus on those types of things.

28:48So, all of that, the priority risks, the community level actions and the measures

28:53make up what is the community safety and well-being plan and our role at the city is to

28:57facilitate that process to help update the community safety and well-being plan because as it is the

29:02city's responsibility under the Community Safety and Policing Act to tackle this, this document

29:07really is a collaborative piece that supports all community organizations and members to help us

29:13address these issues. So, our goals overall for the plan update, right now we're working with

29:22community partners to identify and validate the issues that we've identified in our background

29:28research, working with our community organizations to sort of articulate or try to bring in sort of

29:35more ground level lived experiences, things like that. We're still in the process and we continue

29:41to identify local service providers, community agencies to bring in and work with and really

29:48today what we're hoping to do is explore those transportation related considerations surrounding

29:54big risks. So, before we jump in, in the staff report we identified seven priority risk areas,

30:06so I just want to talk a little bit about them and sort of how we've come to identify them. We

30:12recognize that a lot of these issues are very interconnected, they're highly complex and so

30:17what we've tried to do is sort of distill and simplify these risks down as best as possible,

30:23but we recognize that one very much influences the other vice versa. So, again, we try to distill

30:30this so that it's straightforward but recognize that there's so much going on in these spaces.

30:36So, the first priority risk area that was identified, not necessarily a risk per se, but

30:42was around the built environment, which I'm sure folks around the table are quite familiar with.

30:47Really, the built environment as it was identified came up due to serious injuries and deaths

30:54related or happening in Guelph related to vulnerable road users, so you're probably familiar with the

30:59Vision Zero work. That sort of kicked off the conversation but then it became a little bit

31:05more recognized that this isn't just road safety but there are more nuances, more aspects to this.

31:11So, climate change and mitigating those impacts was another factor that came up

31:17with climate change, increasingly impacting those marginalized populations, whether we're

31:22looking at extreme temperatures, impacting those that are on sheltered or low-income

31:27populations, struggling to afford heating and cooling. We see some of those pieces as a huge

31:33risk notable within Guelph. So, the other priority risk area that we identified was around

31:41discrimination, systemic inequity and hate. So, what we've identified was hate motivated

31:53incidents and experiences of discrimination are increasing, they're undermining people's

31:56sense of safety, belonging and trust in community institutions and we've found that these harms

32:03often go unreported, meaning the real impact is deeper and more widespread than they suggest.

32:09When we spoke with some community partners, we recognize discrimination through ageism

32:15and factors like this that impact the community's ability to participate.

32:22In a 2022 study done by the Guelph Wellington local immigration population just to help

32:28provide a little bit of context, nearly nine in 10 indigenous respondents and seven in 10

32:33immigrants or visible minorities reported experiencing discrimination in the last three years.

32:40We go into early adversity, so this is the trauma or stressful experiences occurring in

32:46childhood and adolescence that are leading to negative mental health or health outcomes

32:52or socioeconomic outcomes. And so, we look at local child and family service agencies

32:58continuing to experience rising service volumes and complex cases linked to exposure to harm,

33:03conflict and unmet family needs. These early experiences can create that long-term instability

33:09that are highlighted increasing risks such as homelessness later in life that segues into 2024,

33:15a point in time count done by the county, 28% or almost one in four people in the homelessness

33:23count reported having lived in foster care or youth group home. The next program is gender-based

33:32violence and exploitation, so we're seeing local data showing persistently high demand for crisis

33:38response, shelter services, court supports and police investigations with intimate partner

33:43violence and human trafficking occurring at notable levels in Guelph. Even with known under

33:48reporting, the volume and complexity of cases demonstrate ongoing risk and sustained pressures

33:53on frontline systems where even violence intersects with housing instability, income and security,

33:59and child and youth well-being. Guelph police service reported in 2024, they investigated 1,644

34:07introvert partner violence incidents in 2024 while local crisis support served 1,188 women,

34:1569 children and responded to 2,448 crisis line calls. Apologize for the numbering. So, fifth one

34:24is homelessness and affordable housing. Homelessness and affordable housing remain priority risks

34:30because system pressures are worsening with rising shelter use, more chronic homelessness and

34:35deepening affordability barriers that limit people's ability to receive stable housing.

34:40Long-term projections show that supply gaps and increased costs will continue to strain the community,

34:45especially from women-led, senior-led and newcomer-led households. In 2023, emergency

34:51shelter use rose sharply with 726 people using shelters for nearly cumulatively 41,000 nights.

35:0040%, this is 40% higher than the previous year. We look at income and security as our sixth

35:09draft priority risk, rising living costs, especially around housing or leaving many households unable

35:14to consistently afford healthy food, leading to record high food insecurity and growing resilience

35:19on overstretched food support programs. So, in a 2020-25 report monitoring food affordability,

35:28food insecurity in Wellington doubled from 12% in 2019 to 25% in 2024, reaching a reported record high.

35:39And the last priority risk area that we identified was around mental health and substance use.

35:45Demand continues to be high across crisis lines, police response, mobile crisis teams,

35:51and community services. While long wait lists make it difficult for people to transition from

35:55crisis into ongoing care, we look at these system-wide pressures, leaving many needs unmet,

36:01increasing likelihood of housing instability, preventable harm, and safety concerns in public

36:06spaces. As it relates to mental health-related issues, this appeared as the fifth highest call

36:13type for wealth police service, with 1,990 calls occurring in 2024. So, that gives you a bit of

36:22significance of why we have these as our draft priority risk areas and part of the process.

36:28We're working towards solidifying and finalizing them so that they represent the priorities over

36:35the next four years. And so, we come to the Transportation Advisory Committee asking,

36:41as it relates to these community risks, how does moving around, how does transportation around

36:47the city, things like that, and our current network and levels of accessibility, how do those

36:52factors affect how people are able to get the help they need? Is that something that is notable,

36:59is accessibility a challenge, things like that? And so, just to kind of help provide an example,

37:05do the way people move around, like using sidewalks, trails, cycling paths, or buses,

37:10make it harder to access critical services across wealth. So, I'll sort of open the floor to the

37:16question, feedback. If there's any questions pertaining to what was presented today, I'm

37:22happy to answer that as well. Go ahead, Chelsea. I think you're just muted there.

37:39Hi, everyone. My name is Chelsea. I work with the poverty elimination collaborative.

37:45And in terms of transportation for folks, I think one of the biggest things is a lot of our services

37:52are centered around downtown, which is a double-edged sword, because it's really great. It means that

37:58once you're downtown, you can access a majority of the services you need. But it's also quite

38:04difficult, because it means that if you are not downtown, it is a very difficult task to get back

38:11downtown if you're not close to one of the major routes. Or if you're being housed in a space where

38:18you're not on a bus route, it can also be quite difficult to get to the services that you're looking

38:23for. I know this is not something within the control of the group, but one of the things I will

38:29point out is that Service Canada and Service Ontario are not quite located in areas that are easy to

38:37access. They're oftentimes within plazas that are mostly accessible by cars. So, we see a lot of folks

38:46who are facing a lot of these priority risk areas who are not able to get identification to even

38:52begin the process to apply for the supports that they need, because to get to the identification

39:00locations is quite a difficult journey. So, those are some of the big ones.

39:05Thank you, Chelsea, for sharing that. It's incredibly helpful, and it's the type of feedback

39:13in situations that we're trying to understand so that we can articulate that in the plan itself.

39:18And while we're looking at these big priority risk areas, it doesn't mean that we want to lose that

39:25voice of people and the experiences in our community. Behind you. Yes, sorry. Sorry. So, sorry. We can

39:35only take pre-registered delegates. Okay. No worries. I do have a comment or question about

39:45getting around this winter. I know it was an exceptional winter, and sidewalk maintenance was

39:50probably a little lackluster, but it was incredibly difficult walking anywhere. You know, you're

39:56talking three, four days after a snowfall event before sidewalks were clear enough to even begin

40:04to walk on. They were still several inches of ice. They were very difficult to travel, and people

40:09with mobility issues would be starting to move in. I don't have any mobility issues, and I was

40:15starting to move in. So, I don't know if there's a way to emulate other municipalities. If we take

40:25a model from Waterloo and, you know, the residents are responsible for clearing sidewalks for other

40:31houses, you know, the city should still be managing areas that might be more necessary like schools and

40:38that, but the level of service isn't there to be able to allow people to navigate the city, not by

40:45car, especially this winter. Chelsea's hand going up. I'm just going to piggyback off of that and

40:57say that on top of snow clearance, the other issue that some folks have is ice. It's quite

41:05difficult to navigate ice. I know the city is trying to balance environmental concerns with

41:10overuse of ice with the maintenance of the streets, but we find even if you don't have mobility issues,

41:18but you're trying to pull a cart or you're trying to get your kids to move and you're hitting large

41:25patches of ice because the sidewalks are kind of dividend or are slanted in a way in which water is

41:33pooling and not draining and then freezing over. So, that is something that we've had for folks of

41:39all mobility levels. Thank you, Chelsea. That was a good question based on Chelsea. Does the city

41:52do, I don't know if you know, but does the city do any sort of inspections where water pools on

41:58sidewalks? I unfortunately can't comment on that. It may or may not. It's something that I could

42:05definitely take away and find and respond back to the committee as well or if anybody from the

42:11city on the screen is able to comment as well. Yeah, so that just because there's a runoff that

42:17go onto the sidewalks from like stout's abouts and that freezes over when I walk the dog,

42:23like it should never go onto the sidewalk. It's just be away from, it's not done like that way. So,

42:29I don't know. If you do make a report, it goes anywhere. I believe it does. I know we do have

42:35a reporter problem that we have available. I believe we're also looking at revamping it. Don't

42:42call me, but it's definitely, I can take the question back and follow up with the

42:47transportation, accessibility, or advisory committee. Are you looking for comments about

42:54enforcement? Enforcement of issues around the built environment? Can you give me an example,

43:02please? Especially in the winter, people have a tendency to park on the sidewalks, park their cars.

43:08That makes it difficult for people to walk around a car. You're often walking on the road,

43:15which is not safe, not great either. The problem that I've often run into is when you take a photo

43:22of something like this and send it to the cops, the cops say contact the city. You call the city,

43:27the city says contact the cops. So, where do you turn to in a situation like that?

43:35It's a good point to make. It's unfortunately not within the scope of what we're hoping to

43:41get feedback on in terms of enforcement. But it is a relevant piece to bring up related to

43:48built environment on how we're using public spaces and community spaces in that regard.

43:54I'll document it. It's a very good point, actually. I actually like the comments around the room,

43:59because all the comments really speak to isolation. And what we want to do is try and improve that

44:04ability to move into the voter city, one to access resources to support some of the other

44:10the other priorities that we've identified here, but also to within the built environment address

44:14some of those concerns around road injuries and around road safety. And from my perspective,

44:19as a word with the police service, continue to call because there is often a disconnect

44:25between whether it's a police response that should be going to that or a bylaw response that should

44:28be going to that. But we would not want someone to not call because they haven't had them ready

44:33answer previously to be encouraged to keep calling. Okay, it's weird. We need to go.

44:42Well, you know, hi everyone. My name's been the tech. Can you hear me okay?

44:51Okay, perfect. My name's been the time here with the transportation planning team here at

44:57the city of golf. So I'm filling in for hell yeah today is one of your subject matter experts.

45:02My apologies, my team's just crashed. We were having a little bit of a conversation about

45:07maintenance, winter maintenance, ice clearing, water pooling on sidewalks, etc. So I was going

45:14to just chime in on some of that if I'm not too late. So I guess a couple of things that came up.

45:24So in terms of the snow pooling on sidewalks, what we do have is a program.

45:30For my understanding, I'm not on the operations team, but my understanding is that we have a

45:34program that goes through every year and evaluates and notes where sidewalks have become uneven. So

45:40maybe there's trees with roots that are causing, you know, some lifting or heaving within the sidewalks.

45:48They'll go through and do sort of an audit of the sidewalk network in the city and mark those

45:53locations that sidewalks are becoming uneven or where there's a bit of a heaving happening,

45:59which of course changes the grade, which can result in ice pooling. And we do have a program that

46:04goes and addresses those locations and tries to remediate them so that they're flat and smooth

46:10and that the grading is working and the drainage is working in that area.

46:14So that was the first thing I wanted to mention. I wasn't sure if the committee was putting forward

46:19some kind of a suggestion or emotion related to the transportation and to the maintenance of

46:28things like the sidewalk network. I think that that's a really valid point and that that's helpful

46:34feedback for council and for the operations team to hear, but I don't know because this is my first

46:41time here at the committee. I don't know exactly what the process is if you did want to put forward

46:46some kind of motion or recommendation or if maybe it's more that you're recommending that police

46:52services put forward a motion to help with maintenance so that transportation for more

46:59vulnerable members of our community can be insured all year round. I would sort of look to

47:05clerks for a little bit of advice there or if it was just kind of a back and forth conversation then

47:12that's great. But here to answer questions as needed and sorry about my team's crashing.

47:20For you, chair, as one of the recommendations for this item, it's soliciting feedback from

47:26the Transport Advisory Committee and as clerks staff, I'm just trying to record what all the

47:31members are saying and once we've finished providing feedback, I'll put it up on the screen

47:37and we can continue to discuss what they would like to refer back to staff. Does that clarify the

47:46matter? I was going to comment so I live like in a junction area near the food bank so there's no

47:58direct bus route to the food bank so that impedes a vehicle bank access. As well, I don't know if

48:08this is going to make sense but St. Joseph's become a KV6 school so the grade seventh and eighths will

48:13not have to walk over to Lourdes so they have to cross Edinburgh but the boundary as it sits for

48:19lunch school is not crossing Edinburgh so you have the train tracks and then there's that path that

48:25goes beside the cemetery I think and you have the traffic that goes right onto Edinburgh going

48:32right so cars barely stop for someone trying to cross and I can have sevens and eights who would

48:37never walk that way when they're walking that way and that's a concern and I don't know where

48:42that falls into maybe built environment. So that's the type of feedback we want and that's another

48:48thing that's maybe contributing to road related injuries which is ultimately what started the

48:54direction towards built environment being our priority so you know if that's something we can

48:58address by improving routes that can go that's the type of feedback that we do want so that's

49:03absolutely well done dear. Thank you. Hello and thank you I can maybe just quickly address the

49:16food bank on Crimea so there are as you mentioned there are no buses that go directly in front

49:21of Crimea down Edinburgh but in the 2027 budget at the will of council if they approve it there is

49:28a new route 97 which runs north south down Edinburgh so that there will be better coverage to the

49:34food bank because we realize right now Waterloo and Paisley are the closest stops so if council

49:39approves in 2027 because the election will be in early 2027 if they approve the route 97 we will

49:46have better coverage for the food bank for sure. That's great. John. Yes. Yeah I'm I'm hoping my

49:58comments are within the scope of the safety and well-being planning framework just on like the

50:03social development and prevention ends but please correct me if it's not I think one element of

50:11this especially when we talk about housing and transportation and work those kind of interlink

50:15affordable housing and easy access to downtown where services are particularly we have there's

50:23a limited land inventory and the co-op I work with we've completely foregone upzoning of potential

50:30redevelopment because of our limited resources it would add an extra year to that development

50:35timeline so that is a bit of an issue there's also the cash in lieu of parkland as a barrier to

50:45I think we are in a special position where we can offer land to develop but that's ultimately a

50:53six-figure charge on top of developments and we're talking about cooperative housing this isn't like

50:58traditional private development where maybe you're marking like 10% of units to be affordable and

51:02the like and so that might be one barrier when it comes to things like non-profit housing

51:07that might be an issue because you could build affordable housing on the corner of town but

51:11especially when it comes to our most vulnerable neighbors and stuff like that all these core

51:16services and programming they're downtown so that's one the mobility around housing and housing that

51:23is central is key and I think those are a few blips in the system that impede the development of

51:31housing that could offer that core mobility for vulnerable populations so hopefully that's related

51:37but thank you. It is John and thank you and I know like it's tricky because through this plan

51:45I think even some of the scoping like you can't we're not at a point yet regarding those specific

51:51tactics and a lot of the what we're trying to articulate and gather in terms of feedback are

51:57some of the broader issues that we as a community in the city has a pretty notable footprint and

52:03hand in the built environment so like as we're talking about some of these experiences and

52:08articulating especially for challenges around homelessness and affordability and accessing

52:12services these are really important pieces of feedback that help us characterize what the

52:18need is within the community as it relates to those risks as well so I just wanted to clarify

52:22that we may not be able to action everything of course like with Glenn on the call and the feedback

52:29that we do take we can share with the departments but the scope of this plan is a little bit limited

52:34as well just in terms of the broad feedback that you're providing but it's all relevant and it helps

52:40us define some of these things so I just wanted to clarify that. Sorry go ahead. Just maybe something

52:50that's been going right. There was a new pedestrian crossing that was installed next to Margaret Green

52:57Park on Westwood and every time probably three or four times a day and there's kids running

53:05across all the time and it's working great it's nice to see like younger children being able to

53:11access the park without having to dodge traffic so more of that would be great. That's true

53:18again it's a little bit evidence-based and we can you know demonstrate value on certainly

53:23actions like that further within the plan so thank you.

53:33If anyone would like to go before me I've spoken quite a bit today I'm

53:37feel free to speak I just have two other points I'd like to make. Chelsea. Okay so one of the

53:48things I've been thinking about as this discussion is going on is how isolated some of our vulnerable

53:56communities end up being mostly because when I look at the priority risk areas a lot of these

54:03experiences overlap right if you're experiencing an ascent early

54:10childhood experience and in first-hand experience you're most likely experiencing

54:14some form of housing instability or income instability you might be exposed to gender

54:19violence what we find in communities where you're more likely to fall into one of these priority

54:24risk areas is that they're quite isolated from the rest of the city whether they are like onward

54:31willow or the willow area where they're surrounded by an industrial space and a highway that essentially

54:39cuts them off from not just the services they need because the services might be in their area

54:46but just connecting with the rest of the city to build a sense of belonging within the city

54:52and we see the same in other areas across the region and especially when we know that the

54:58south end is being built up I think there is some thought that needs to be put into how do we create

55:06an experience that is not sectioned by where you are if you are experiencing any of these risks

55:12areas because you're less likely to have the need for police intervention if you feel a sense of

55:20belonging within your community even if you are falling into a priority risk area.

55:26So that's my first point the second point I'd like to ask is really I don't I know we've spoken

55:34about it but we don't have it on here anything about disability or folks who are in need of other

55:43disability services outside of physical accessibility so folks who might have developmental

55:51disabilities or just need a little bit more support with accessing services some of those

55:57services are not located downtown but they are interconnected as an effort.

56:04Well I'm just trying to talk you as much of this. No it's an incredible point that you bring up

56:14Chelsea and well said on both points as well when we look at built environment sort of the

56:20bigger pieces is around not just road safety but around movement and accessibility in the community

56:26and how do we as a city but then also with our community partners in the services that we provide

56:31making sure that we don't create those sort of pockets of isolation where people don't have the

56:36ability or feel that they're locked into certain parts of the city and looking at broadly how do

56:42we make our entire community accessible whether that's through you know active transportation

56:48things like that so I really appreciate that and that's that's incredible feedback that we can

56:53take back and reflect in the plan. So first recommendation is to have the

57:12transportation advisory committee receive the information on the draft priority risk areas of

57:18wealth, wealth community safety and wellbeing plan update dated March 19th 2026. Second?

57:34All in favor? Anybody opposed? Okay that carries. And now the second recommendation is

57:52that the transportation advisory committee recommend staff consider committee feedback

57:56in the update of the community safety and wellbeing plan drafts policy and risk areas

58:02and everything's listed on the screen. For you chair I have attempted to capture all of the

58:08committee's comments. If you see something that you've said that I didn't quite capture you want

58:13to workshop the wording remove or add something and now would be the time to do that. I'll hand it

58:19back to you chair and Kristen to thank you. Hi can I have the last point changed from expanding

58:27disability services to interconnecting disability services? Yes we can absolutely do that. Awesome

58:41thank you. I just have a question. I should hear what you're saying. Sure.

59:10And that the transportation advisory committee consider the following barriers to acquiring

59:17ID required to access municipal programs, challenges associated with winter pedestrian

59:24travel, snow and ice and a need for increased mobility, tracking water runoff and pooling on

59:31sidewalks, clarifying enforcement responsibilities between peak police and bylaw example when

59:38reporting cars blocking sidewalks, improving routes to food banks to allow for better accessible

59:44coverage, expanding the use of protected crossings near parks, the isolation of vulnerable communities,

59:52those that fall into priority risk areas are frequently cut off from services and the city at

59:57large and interconnecting disability services. I don't want to delve in but with routes is it

1:00:05possible to put the word transit in front of it to specify that it's transit routes not just routes?

1:00:19Sorry can I just jump in for a quick second on that? Yes go ahead. Sorry thank you. So absolutely

1:00:28I'm very comfortable with the transit piece. The other piece that I should have said earlier as well

1:00:34is that currently for the food bank we do have an on-demand bus stop that goes right in front of

1:00:40the food bank so that if somebody wants to get from their place to the food bank they can always

1:00:45use on-demand they just have to call and book an appointment for that and they'll be able to

1:00:51be dropped off right in front of the doors of the food bank. So there is a temporary solution in there

1:00:55but the long-term plan obviously is to have a regular conventional route that goes right down to Edinburgh.

1:01:06I just want to hop in. I'm not sure if folks are aware but the food bank has also moved to a

1:01:12decentralized model. So if you are under the impression that everybody in the city who utilizes

1:01:18the food bank is going downtown that has changed that changed over the pandemic years. Now there are

1:01:26local food hubs where if there's an area where there's large amounts of food bank users there's

1:01:33usually a local food hub where they can go and get their allotment from rather than having to travel

1:01:39downtown. So there are other ways for people to access the food bank without needing to go downtown.

1:01:46Absolutely. Could we expand upon the challenges for winter pedestrian travel by maybe adding and

1:01:56consider alternate models of sidewalk clearing? I don't think we have any awareness.

1:02:06Like fines? Or even just I'm hoping that residents would do it.

1:02:19Does that capture? I think that is broad enough. I don't know if that's beyond the community's

1:02:26safety well-being plan but maybe it's recognition that someone will read at some point.

1:02:34Yeah it's something that again we can share with the departments as it relates to the plan itself.

1:02:40There are things that we can kind of pull out and articulate in terms of like the importance of

1:02:47especially in winter time and in extreme weather the ability to

1:02:51clearly move and things like that. But yeah the document is a little bit limited in scope

1:02:58especially in that like it is also broader community focusing. So again there's ways that we can

1:03:05interpret it and then bring it in but not necessarily directly action it through the

1:03:12plan itself. Kelsey? I just noticed that my first point wasn't included which was that the

1:03:23location of most services folks who are facing any kind of vulnerabilities are located downtown.

1:03:31And then I'm wondering if we can change the first point that says barriers to acquiring ID

1:03:39to say something along the lines of the locations because it's more the physical

1:03:49locations of the service Ontario and service Canada spaces and that they're not downtown.

1:04:02Sorry perhaps we can say barriers to acquiring or to accessing government.

1:04:13Yes government locations or government office locations.

1:04:21And then sorry Chelsea just going on your at the first point that you you mentioned that the

1:04:27location of most services are located aren't located downtown correct.

1:04:33No that most services are located in the downtown core.

1:04:40And can you clarify do those two points go together or it's okay that they're separate

1:04:45bullets? It's okay that they're separate bullets. I think I will share because we have our community

1:04:52voices groups they often come up in tandem but you're not necessarily seeing them happen

1:05:00one after the other. Okay thank you for clarifying we'll just share our screen.

1:05:30Chelsea it is what's on the screen does that that work for you did I capture the word in there do

1:05:36you want to make any other changes to it? That looks fantastic thank you. Just think something

1:05:48that's worth mentioning to kind of add a point go back. Just hear all this discussion I think

1:05:57something worth noting would be making it clear and getting out there all the information and all

1:06:04the services and everything that's available to everyone like hearing about the food banks and

1:06:09how hubs and the bus service you can use to get to a food bank I think those kinds of things

1:06:18are just good things to like just get out there so people know what's available.

1:06:24So clarification of services and access to services but yeah yeah just get the information

1:06:30out there recently. A question you mentioned earlier that you liaison with different groups

1:06:39community members and whatnot. I'm assuming the school board is one of them but do you do specific

1:06:48schools like the principals like first st. Joseph's for example like lots of parents are worried

1:06:54about the kids now having to walk and that's the reason they're being separated so now the

1:06:59younger and older things will not go to school together. So when I was delegating at the school

1:07:04board I asked these questions like how do I know my daughter would get there safe because the route

1:07:08to st. Joseph's is very different to lords they had no answers like none.

1:07:16I just said I don't know how. So ultimately we're not speaking to every single principal

1:07:26that is there but because we have a representative delegates from each board that are there it's

1:07:31incumbent upon them to speak to their superintendents and then ultimately the the principals have

1:07:37reported to them to have that information shared through to come back to the committee.

1:07:41So the demographic in our school is about 90% immigrants so that's not going to happen.

1:07:49But from your principal's perspective so I can tell you in speaking with so it's Brent

1:07:53McDonald representing for the upper grand district school board he has been in contact with

1:07:58the number of the principals bringing that information forward so that

1:08:02we would encourage those families to bring it forward to their schools but

1:08:05so at least the school itself is bringing it forward to the board. So put pressure onto the

1:08:10principals. Absolutely. And again to add a little bit as well that that point actually did come up

1:08:15in our community advisory table meeting as well and not just road related injuries but around

1:08:21sort of the safer movement of people which is why it's part of or why we're bringing up this part

1:08:25of the environment recognizing that there there's more to safer roads and safer commuting than trying

1:08:32to avoid car accidents and things like that but it's something that has been discussed.

1:08:38I'd rather have a plan for that to go to school safely versus there's an accident now we're finding

1:08:43a way for the two of us to save life. Thanks. Any other comments or questions? Okay so I'm at the

1:08:57screen and I believe everything that's written is correct. So I'm going to put the motion forward

1:09:06that we accept the draft policy risk areas for the community safety and well-being update

1:09:16listed on the screen as one motion. Can I have a mover? Okay. Seconder?

1:09:26You're the first. All right. All in favor?

1:09:30Okay. Anybody oppose? No. Okay. That has carried.

1:09:43So that is it for today. My recommendation is that the Transportation Advisory Committee

1:09:49be adjourned. Move. Second?

1:09:57Oh, announcement. Yeah.

1:10:01No. Do we have any staff for chair announcement? Sorry.

1:10:07So all in favor? Sorry. Jeff, can we get a seconder? Was it Joel? Okay. It was very good. Sorry.

1:10:14Good. Okay. Anyone against? All right. So that is we have been adjourned. The next meeting is

1:10:25April 16th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone. I appreciate it.

1:10:33Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night.