Council Planning

September 09, 2025 · 5 recorded decisions · 20,820 words of debate

Decisions

5.1 Statutory Public Meeting Report regarding a proposed Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment application submitted by the owner… be receivedCarried (12 to 0)
6.1 Now hold a meeting that is closed to the public, pursuant to Section 239(2)(f) of the Municipal Act…Carried (12 to 0)
6.1 Enacts the draft amending bylaw attached hereto as Attachment 1, amending the City’s Parkland Dedication Bylaw (2022)-20717 as amended…Carried (12 to 0)

Routine business (2)adopting minutes, adjourning and similar

The whole meeting, as text

Transcribed automatically from the City’s recording. Times run from the start of the recording, which begins before the meeting is called to order.

Read the full transcript (20,820 words)

20:47All right. Good evening everybody. It is Tuesday, September the 9th, 2025.

20:54It's 5.30 on the dot and we are here for our planning meeting.

20:59And right off the top on the agenda, we're looking for authority to move into a closed

21:05meeting. It is under only one item that is disclosed and it's titled Handling Creek Land

21:14Disposition. Section 239 to see the Municipal Act regarding proposed or pending acquisition or

21:20disposition of land by the municipality or local board. Before I ask for a vote to consider moving

21:30into closed, is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the

21:36item enclosed? Hearing and seeing none. So who would like to help me out? All right. Councillor

21:43Quasen. Thank you. We'll move to go into closed and I'll call the vote. Is anyone against?

21:50Nobody? Okay, great. We'll move into closed. We'll do a high level summary when we come out.

21:54Thank you very much. All right. Good evening everybody. It's six o'clock. I'd like to

50:44just call the meeting and open session back to order. We did move into a closed session just a

50:49little bit earlier under one item and it was on the agenda listed as Handling Creek Land

50:58Disposition. And so from a high level summary on that, we received information from staff on

51:05that item and then council did give direction on that item to staff and that was the only item that

51:10we talked about and it's the only thing we considered. And so with that summary, I'd like to

51:14ask everyone if you wouldn't mind to stand if you are able as we recognize our national anthem.

52:47Thank you. And as we continue just a moment of silent reflection and for now our territorial

53:04acknowledgement, excuse me, as we gather let us take time to reflect on our privilege to live

53:09and work here in Guelph, a city built over rich indigenous histories, guests here, should reflect

53:16upon the responsibility to care for the land and the people who live here today and the generations

53:20to come. Our actions today can move us towards reconciliation. We should take pause and make

53:25those decisions with intention and gratitude. This place we call Guelph is served as traditional

53:30lands and a place of refuge for many peoples over time but more specifically the Aniwaterok

53:35and the Holonoshoni. This land is held as the treaty lands and the territory with the Mississaucas

53:41of the Credit First Nation and Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Haldeman Track and is part of a

53:46long established traditional hunting grounds for the six nations of the Grand River. Many First

53:51Nations Inuit and Métis peoples who have come from across Turtle Island call Guelph home today.

53:59Well thank you for that and again is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest, any general

54:03nature thereof for a couple items here, the few items we have on this agenda?

54:09Don't hear or see anybody jumping up and down so consider that matter closed and just for the

54:15record we do have regrets today from Council Richardson. With that we as I said we only have

54:22really two items on the agenda. The first one is the public meeting for one Claire Road East and

54:27the second one is in regards to the Parkland Dedication Bylaw Exemptions. We're kicking things

54:32off with the one Claire Road East which is a proposed official plan amendment and the Zoning

54:37Bylaw amendment. Today is just an opportunity to see a presentation here from the proponent,

54:45hear from anybody in the public and then we'll take it away from there. So to kick things off

54:51we'll start with our own staff to kick us off with the presentation. Thank you Anand. It's

54:57over here. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Good evening Mayor Guthrie, member of City Council, member of the

55:04public and staff. My name is Anand Shah and I will be representing the statutory public meeting

55:09for the official plan and zoning bylaw amendment application submitted by FCHD Holding Corporation

55:15on the lands municipally known as one Claire Road East to permit the development of four mixed

55:20use, four mixed buildings with five high-rise towers including a total of 715 residential units

55:27and 2127 square meters of ground floor commercial and retail uses. This is a statutory public

55:34meeting as required under the planning and no decisions will be made on the application tonight.

55:42The subject lands are located to south of Claire Road East and to the north of Poppy Drive East

55:47between Gordon Street and Hawkins Drive. The total lands are approximately 5.35

55:52hectares in size and the lands for the proposed development are 2.20 hectares in size with approximately

55:58145 meters of frontage along Claire Road East, 155 meters of frontage on Hawkins Drive and 130

56:05meters of frontage on Poppy Drive East. The current uses on the lands proposed for redevelopment

56:10include galaxy cinemas, RVs, the beer store, states and main and associated surface parking areas.

56:17The subject land is surrounded by commercial plazas to the north and west including

56:21public library west minister branch, a storm water management facility to the east and a

56:26nursery and townhouse development to the south. The application is proposing a mixed use residential

56:34and commercial development comprised of four mixed use buildings with five high-rise towers

56:39ranging in height from 10 to 14 stories with 715 dwelling units comprised of one, two and three

56:46bedroom units and 2127 square meter of ad-grade commercial space. A combination of underground

56:53and surface parking spaces are proposed for the residential visitors and commercial parking needs

56:58of the mixed use buildings. In regards to access, one access has been provided from the extension

57:05of the Farley Drive which further connects the property development with Poppy Drive East

57:09and another site access has been provided from Hawkins Drive. This is the proposed site plan

57:16showing four mixed use buildings with ad-grade commercial space facing Claire Road East and

57:21extension of Farley Drive and proposed ad-grade residential facing Hawkins Drive and south of

57:26Farley Drive extension. A 0.18 hectare area of the subject lands is proposed to be dedicated

57:32towards required parkland dedication which is located at the corner of Hawkins Drive and Poppy

57:37Drive East. The current official plan land is designation that applies to the subject land is

57:46commercial mixed use center and it is within the strategic growth area of Gordon and Claire Road

57:51The permissible uses within the commercial mixed use center include retail and office uses,

57:56leave work opportunities and medium to high density residential uses. The maximum net density

58:02allowed in commercial mixed use center is 150 units per hectare and within the strategic growth

58:08area the allowed maximum net density is 250 units per hectare. The required minimum net density is

58:14100 units per hectare. The maximum permissible height for the commercial mixed use center in the

58:20current official plan policy is 10 stories while within the strategic growth area the maximum allowed

58:25height is 14 stories. The lands to immediate north and west of the subject lands are designated as

58:31commercial mixed use center with part of northeast designated as medium density residential. The lands

58:38to the east are designated as natural heritage system and low density residential and the lands

58:43to the south are designated low and high density residential and service commercial. The application

58:53proposes to continue the land use designation to be commercial mixed use center. This commercial

58:59mixed use center is further divided into commercial mixed use center sub area A and sub area B. The

59:05lands to the west of Folly Drive extension are proposed to be sub area A and the lands to the

59:10east of the Folly Drive extension are proposed to be sub area B. The 0.18 hectare lands on the

59:17corner of Hawkins Drive and Poppy Drive east are proposed to be of open space designation.

59:25This the purpose of this division is to amend the official plan policy part 3 subsection 943102

59:31to maintain the applicable net density of 250 units per hectare within the strategic growth area to

59:37the entirety of the lands known as one railroad east and to further increase the maximum net

59:43density to 351 units per hectare for sub area B and balancing the remainder density with a maximum

59:49density of 184 units per hectare for sub area A. In terms of existing zoning the property is zoned

1:00:00as commercial mixed use center with parking adjustment suffix and a holding provision under

1:00:04the comprehensive zoning bylaw. The existing zoning permits a minimum residential density of 100

1:00:10units per hectare and a maximum residential density of 150 units per hectare and a building

1:00:16height of 10 stories with other applicable requirements. The holding provision is related

1:00:21to municipal services to ensure that municipal services are adequate and available to the

1:00:25satisfaction of city prior to the construction of new buildings and additional residential

1:00:30development. The proposed the application proposes to continue the zoning designation of the entirety

1:00:38of the property to commercial mixed use center with site specific provisions and parking adjustment

1:00:44suffix. Similar to the proposed official plan designation the requested site specific commercial

1:00:49mixed use center zoning is further proposed to be divided into site specific commercial mixed use

1:00:55center one and site specific commercial mixed use center two with a parking adjustment suffix.

1:01:01The 0.18 hectare lands to be designated for parkland dedication are proposed to be zoned

1:01:06neighborhood park zone. There are a number of site specific amendments requested through the

1:01:14application to support the proposed development. This amendments are for the entirety of the block

1:01:21a maximum combined net density of 250 units per hectare is requested whereas a maximum of 150

1:01:27units per hectare density is permissible. For the land zone site specific CMUC1 a maximum density

1:01:34of 184 units per hectare is requested whereas a maximum of 150 units per hectare density is permissible

1:01:42for the land zone site specific CMUC2 a maximum density of 351 units per hectare is requested

1:01:49whereas a maximum of 150 units per hectare is permissible. For the land zone site specific CMUC2

1:01:57the maximum building height of 14 storey is requested whereas the maximum building height of

1:02:0210 storeys is permitted. For the land zone site specific CMUC2 the building step back from the

1:02:09private street is requested to be 1.5 meters whereas a three meter step back for all portions of the

1:02:15building above the sixth storey facing a street for building located within 15 meter of a street is

1:02:21required. For the land zone site specific CMUC2 no minimum first storey height for only the

1:02:31residential component is requested whereas a minimum of 4.5 meter first storey height is required for

1:02:37the entire first storey. For the land zone CMUC2 the angular plane for the street is requested

1:02:44to be 66 degrees whereas 45 degrees of maximum angular plane is permitted. For the land zone

1:02:51site specific CMUC2 the angular plane from a lot line up at Tinga park is requested to be 66 degrees

1:02:58whereas 40 degrees of maximum angular plane is permitted. For the land zone CMUC2 a minimum

1:03:04common amenity area of 9.9 square meter per unit is requested whereas a minimum of 20 square meter

1:03:10common amenity area per unit is required under current zoning bylaw. For the land zone site

1:03:15specific CMUC2 the additional regulations related to common amenity area specifically 4a and 4d

1:03:22are requested to be exempted. Condition 4a requires common amenity area shall be aggregated into one

1:03:28area or grouped into areas of not less than 50 meter square and shall be designed and located so

1:03:34that the length does not exceed four times the width and 4d requires rooftop common amenity area

1:03:40shall be located a minimum of two meters from the roof edges facing an interior side yard. Additionally

1:03:53the common amenity area requested to be shared between all lands subject to the site specific CMUC2

1:03:59zone. For the land zone CMUC2 the minimum private amenity area is requested to be provided at a

1:04:06rate of 4.8 square meter per unit where no such private amenity area requirements are under current

1:04:12zoning bylaw and because there are no private amenity requirement for high density residential

1:04:17units under current zoning bylaw the private amenity regulations under table 6.18 foot north

1:04:23conditions 11 to 13 related to private amenity area for townhouse developments are requested to

1:04:29be exempted and as these conditions are mainly related to private amenity area intended for townhouse

1:04:35development I'm not going to read all the conditions 11 to 13 specifically for townhouse

1:04:43private amenity development but if anyone in the meeting here today wants me to read them I can

1:04:47am happy to do so and those like the next slide kind of it rates those conditions condition 11

1:04:56condition 12 and condition 13 related to private amenity area requirements. In terms of parking

1:05:20in terms of parking for the land zone CMUC1 a minimum requested parking for all non-residential

1:05:26uses are zero spaces for the first 500 meter square gross floor area plus 3.5 spaces per 100

1:05:32meter square of gross floor area in excess of 500 meter square and up to 5000 meter square

1:05:38plus 2.5 spaces per 100 meter square of gross floor area in excess of 5000 meter square.

1:05:44These rates are permitted in the current zoning bylaw for a multi-unit building.

1:05:48For the land zone CMUC2 a minimum residential parking rate of 1.1 parking space per dwelling

1:05:56unit is requested where one parking space per unit plus 0.1 parking space per for visitors is intended.

1:06:04In addition a minimum required parking for all non-residential uses is requested to be

1:06:10zero spaces for the first 500 meter square of gross floor area plus 3.5 spaces per 100 meter square

1:06:17of gross floor area in excess of 500 meter square and up to 5000 meter square plus 2.5

1:06:23spaces per 100 meter square of gross floor area in excess of 5000 meter square which again is

1:06:28permitted in the current zoning bylaw for a multi-unit building. Furthermore residential visitor

1:06:34parking spaces and non-residential parking spaces are requested to be provided on a non-exclusive

1:06:39basis and may be shared above and below ground. My apologies for the member council and member

1:06:46of the public for a typo in the in the parking space count there but a total of 850 parking spaces

1:06:54are provided where 956 parking spaces are required under current zoning bylaw. Regarding EV parking

1:07:07spaces for the land zone CMUC2 a minimum of 95 percentage of the total required parking spaces

1:07:13are requested to be provided as designed electric vehicles parking spaces where a minimum of 80

1:07:20percent of the total required parking spaces for residential use and 20 percent of the total

1:07:25required non-residential parking spaces are required to be designed EV. No provision for EV

1:07:32ready parking spaces is requested for residential and non-residential use where 20 percent of total

1:07:38required residential parking spaces and 10 percent of total required non-residential parking spaces

1:07:45are required to be EV ready. To put this into number zero EV ready parking spaces and 808

1:07:53designed EV parking spaces are proposed where 186 EV ready parking spaces and 731 designed EV

1:08:02parking spaces are required under the current zoning bylaw. Also included in the presentations

1:08:11are the rendering of the proposed development. This is the view from the clear road east looking

1:08:17at the building C and D. This is the view from the private driveway of the building blocks B and D

1:08:31and this is the view from the owner looking at the primary building A and to the right

1:08:37partially visible is the proposed neighborhood park. In terms of next steps once the application

1:08:47has been reviewed and all issues are addressed a staff recommendation report will be presented

1:08:52at a future council meeting. If anyone in the audience or at home who would like to be notified

1:08:57of any future revisions or decisions on this application can reach out to clerks at 12.ca

1:09:03and provide their full name and email address or mailing address. This concludes my presentation

1:09:09and I would be happy to answer any questions at this time or later as required.

1:09:17Great thank you very much really appreciate you walking us through that. What we'll do is we'll

1:09:22head to the delegations and then we can swing back if we have questions then to staff and others

1:09:26okay but thank you very much. We do have two delegations that that did sign up and so Galen

1:09:36Gray is Galen here okay welcome and is is Cara Green here okay great you're in the wings

1:09:48so for everybody here including the two of you that are here just so you know you have no more

1:09:54than 10 minutes you'll hear a chime in the room at the nine minute and 30 second mark which is your

1:10:0030 second warning to wrap it up you don't have to take the whole 10 minutes if you want to but you

1:10:06have the right to take the whole 10 minutes if you wish and then at the end just don't run away

1:10:10right away just in case myself or my colleagues have any follow-up questions for for everybody okay

1:10:16so thank you for joining us and I'll turn it over to you your time will start when you start okay

1:10:21thank you your worship and I wanted to say good evening ladies and gentlemen and members of our

1:10:25council as well as the public that are here today my name is Galen Gray I am not a developer I am not

1:10:32an architect I'm not even somebody who really knows a lot about city development I am a long

1:10:41member of the community I've been in Guelph for 26 years and I'm a taxpayer I've owned my home here

1:10:49for 22 of those 26 years and I am currently living in the tri-car development that is directly

1:10:58south of where this proposed development is being slated and you know I don't think I've ever had

1:11:07a reason to come to council before I love Guelph and I'm really happy to be here I've provided a

1:11:13written document outlining some of my concerns with this development I'm not going to read the

1:11:19document I'm hoping you've read it I'm not even going to speak to it in deep detail I really

1:11:23wanted to take this opportunity to just highlight as a member of the community and somebody who's

1:11:28living in that area what it is actually like to live in that area now Ward 6 and I am in one of now

1:11:36three buildings at the Tri-Car Development and it has substantially increased the number of

1:11:42individuals cars dogs and others who live in that area and it is a very dense area we open our

1:11:51drive in and out of that complex has two entrances and exits one is on Gordon Street but the other is

1:11:57on Poppy Drive and I will tell you that in addition to the increased amount of traffic that has been

1:12:06the case with our development and we don't even have the third building with residents living in it

1:12:11yet parking along Poppy Drive garbage collection around Poppy Drive the fact that there's only one

1:12:18sidewalk along Poppy Drive the limited amount of parking in the area the amount of pedestrians

1:12:25that have increased in that area and of course it's a highly dense area in terms of shopping

1:12:30people accessing all the other amenities in that area as well so I've laid out a number of arguments

1:12:37related to parking density traffic concerns reflecting also on some of the information I was able to

1:12:45glean from the city's own websites about some of its limitations or zoning for that area and I know

1:12:52that the gentleman who spoke referenced some of those and is looking for some changes to those

1:12:57as well my concern is about the amount of people we're putting into one area how quickly that will

1:13:05change the area not just visibly but also in terms of the amount of people that will be

1:13:11going through that area and the impact to those who are already there but also the impact to the

1:13:16people who would be moving into that area as well and I'm just hoping that this group of esteemed

1:13:23members of our council would take some deep consideration to the requests that are being

1:13:28made by the developer to change some of the intended planning that the city of Guelph has put

1:13:36in place already related to developments in this area and consider I'm not suggesting I mean I

1:13:43understand we need to keep building and making residential areas possible to the community

1:13:50however I do think we have the opportunity to think carefully before we move forward on how

1:13:57we want this part of our city to look how dense we want it to be and perhaps go back and ask for

1:14:03some amendments to some of the planning so it better reflect some of the good thinking that has

1:14:08already happened by the city of Guelph over time with relation to its planning its overall city

1:14:17planning items I had laid out a couple of proposed recommendations in this obviously my concern is

1:14:27really around giving second thought to this proposal as it stands right now and the impact it would

1:14:31have that could include either deferring the application demanding a redesign asking for more

1:14:39of a cumulative impact study in order to better understand some of the traffic impacts etc

1:14:45and obviously to consider your own city planning and how that's been presented and whether or not

1:14:51this is in line with that so as I said I'm not a professional but I am a keen and interested

1:14:58party as somebody who lives in that area and who's already impacted I can tell you that from a

1:15:02building perspective we already have challenges even within the the complex that I live in with

1:15:10parking for visitors for delivery for people coming and going and even though they've laid out

1:15:17the parking specific to this building I will say that we are not yet in a world where everybody is

1:15:22relying on public transportation and in the south end of Guelph I can tell you there are a lot of

1:15:26people using their cars so the car impact in this area will be huge it already is it's only going to

1:15:33get worse so respectfully I just hope that you'll give some consideration to my comments today

1:15:39and the document that I've shared with you and I really appreciate that these are difficult decisions

1:15:43when you're faced with opportunities but I trust all of you and your good thinking on this matter

1:15:49and so your worship that is all I have to say. Well thanks thank you very much Gail and we appreciate

1:15:54your presentation is there any follow-up at all? I just have a couple then thanks. So Gail and

1:16:02there you understand I'm sure that there's the land is actually already zoned and allowed for

1:16:09residential today yes and at like a certain height obviously and some parameters put around it but

1:16:16there's like they can already go like 10 stories as it is they could build and if they met some of

1:16:22the criteria of our current zoning and official plan today they wouldn't even have to come to

1:16:26council at all they could just start start building right? So what is the degree of your

1:16:31issue that you would say is between like what's triggering you and maybe some other in the community

1:16:36maybe that you've talked to um to say like but this is a problem because I think some people that I've

1:16:43talked to um have thought that there was just never any permission for for all of that at all

1:16:49and then this is brand new but really it's only a degree of kind of a difference of what they're

1:16:54looking to do over what's allowed today so what what is that portion there that is making you pause?

1:17:00Um well some of the things that I highlighted in the document have to do with the density and the

1:17:04planning uh already planning uh documents and standards that you've put in place as a city

1:17:10I think that the the 14 stories I am in a 14 story building it casts a broad shadow so this isn't

1:17:19you know this is lived experience and understanding what that impact is and how that changes the

1:17:23overall environment within the area so if you add another four to five of those at that end of the

1:17:30city I think it is quite an overpowering grouping they are all going to be right next to each other

1:17:37I think one of the things that we've done as a city which is very advantageous is we've tried to

1:17:43pick locations where we have these tall buildings but not trying to move into a Mississauga like

1:17:47environment so for me I think it is important to think about the difference between 10 stories

1:17:53and 14 and could there be multiple levels in that area to better address some of the density

1:18:00concerns that I and and other citizens have? No I appreciate that thank you and I appreciate you

1:18:08your self-awareness as well in in the building that you live in because I was the mayor and many

1:18:12of us were on council here when we actually had neighbors to your development they wouldn't have

1:18:17enjoyed standing at the same microphone not wanting you to live where you live either so you can

1:18:21well and so interestingly I lived on Lynch Circle which is that's just around the corner if I had a

1:18:27better throwing arm just throwing distance from where this building is and watched it go up from

1:18:31my front doorstep yeah um so I understand that and I know that these are concerns that are raised

1:18:35across the city at all times as I said I'm not suggesting in any way that we stop progress I am

1:18:41thinking that it's important that we think very carefully about what this will look like and the

1:18:46impact on the area so would I prefer that we maintain a beer store a state of Maine a movie and

1:18:53some parking space and more open spaces sure but again I understand that we have to continue to

1:18:59move forward what I'm hoping we can do is be very considerate of the city planning as it stands right

1:19:04now and whether or not we really need to change any of the zoning that you've already set up

1:19:08sure no I appreciate that well thank you very much and is this your first time coming it is

1:19:14okay we did a great job all right so thank you very much thank you I'll enjoy the rest of the

1:19:18conversation okay thank you okay up next is Cara Green on behalf of the applicant coming on down

1:19:36thank you for joining us Cara and you heard me say the whole 10 minute spiel so I'll turn it over

1:19:42to you go right ahead thank you so much mr. mayor this is can I use this to click through the slides

1:19:51here okay great good evening everyone my name is Cara Green I'm a director of development with

1:19:57first capital reed we're thrilled to be here tonight to talk about this proposal with you

1:20:01first capital is the owner of pergola commons shopping center which is the site that is subject

1:20:07to the redevelopment polls in front of you tonight we are also the owners of the adjacent

1:20:11clearfield commons shopping center thank you and on for providing a very thorough presentation

1:20:16earlier and I will follow up with a brief overview of the proposal and I'll try to not cover too much

1:20:22of what you've already said I will be available to answer any questions but I've also brought with

1:20:27me tonight our project team Oz Kamal of MHBC is here he's been our planner on the file

1:20:33sunny rye our architect from SVN and then besides sunny we have Luke Richardson and

1:20:38hedrick rollaman from BA group our transportation engineers as well as Daniel Bancroft from civil

1:20:44go our civil engineer on the file to start out this evening it's probably helpful to share a bit

1:20:57about who first capital is and mainly what it is that we do we have a strong history as a premier

1:21:04commercial reed by way of owning and operating grocery anchored retail centers Canada wide we

1:21:08know the retail space really well in recent history alongside continuing the success of our existing

1:21:14shopping centers we've been expanding our mixed-use residential portfolio many of our sites are

1:21:20located in areas that are ideal for increased residential density we believe that having very

1:21:26we have a very unique advantage in this mixed-use space we see that well thought through retail

1:21:32within a mixed-use building really allows for a thriving community and in turn this creates a

1:21:37really wonderful place to live our real true retail first approach to mixed-use development

1:21:43really bolsters urban neighborhoods and it generates value for both the residents and the

1:21:47communities in which we operate just want to give a sense of some of our other sort of ongoing

1:21:56and relative relevant mixed-use work I've just called out a couple of examples here first you'll

1:22:01see an example that we have at young in roseland it's a development that's located in Toronto

1:22:07it is currently under construction it is entire purpose entirely purposeful rental housing

1:22:13sustainability has always been at the forefront of this project it incorporates geothermal energy

1:22:18and has ambitious lead and net zero carbon targets a second project which is recently

1:22:24zoning approved in the gta and this one is relevant it's our old oakville site and it really showcases

1:22:30a site that was shopping center a portion of it is remaining a portion of it is being redeveloped

1:22:35in an area it is transit connected and is primed for for mixed-use residential development there are

1:22:42many other examples that I could provide but in the interest of time I just want to provide a flavor

1:22:47of some of the projects that we currently have I think it's also important to touch on just briefly

1:22:54our company's environmental social and governments initiatives or esg well this proposal is still

1:23:01at a zoning stage and the particulars on the exact sustainability strategies that we will employ

1:23:07you know the specifics are not quite developed yet but we do have quite ambitious corporate esg

1:23:12mandates that we follow and those follow through with two our projects oftentimes you are also

1:23:17partnering with other companies that have similar initiatives as well just to name sort of a few

1:23:24built-form specific targets that we have focused on in past projects implementing geothermal design

1:23:30such as our young and rose lawn project incorporating biodiversity and green spaces

1:23:36and overall as a company having a very ambitious net zero emissions target by 2050

1:23:42fcr also puts a very strong focus on the social help of the communities that we operate in

1:23:47we have a thriving neighborhoods foundation which supports various charitable initiatives

1:23:56Anand did sort of touch on the context of the site but I thought I would sort of highlight and

1:24:00situate us within the area so you know pergola commons is just south of clear road east I've

1:24:06highlighted that in the black triangle here the whole site is 5.3 hectares but the important thing

1:24:12to sort of note and highlight is the redevelopment area that we are discussing today is only a portion

1:24:16of pergola commons it's represented by that orange square bound by hawkins to the east

1:24:21clear to the north poppy to the south and it is 2.2 hectares so this is of course within

1:24:28the site covered in opi a80 and it is within the strategic growth area some critical key design

1:24:36principles that were established at the outset of this project is something I'd like to highlight

1:24:41an svn has prepared the following diagrams which really sort of illustrate some of that design

1:24:46thinking here when we look at blocks and connections you can see on that first diagram the east west

1:24:51road in blue is where the existing services run in particular an existing stormwater connection

1:24:56that is connected to the the stormwater pond and really this is in vision to maintain on the site

1:25:02as an access to the commercial units maintain itself as a connector and a service spine in the

1:25:07site and really allows us to approach the phasing from a very methodical point of view and then

1:25:14you'll see this north south connection that feeds into that east west road this will be a

1:25:18vehicular connection but it will really have a focus on sort of a pedestrian first approach

1:25:25under built form we do not exceed the heights that are outlined in opi a80 we wanted at 14 stories

1:25:32and we wanted to use the built form and the park placement to really address the public and private

1:25:37roads appropriately but also to really take advantage of sunlight optimal daylight not just for the park

1:25:43and the the sort of site itself but really within the units and the quality of those

1:25:47residential units and the daylight that they will be getting sort of the third key design

1:25:55principle is really the the landscape and moon earth concept here this was alluded to on the

1:26:00previous slide but a real focus on from day one most creative site plan that allows for ample

1:26:06pedestrian connections through and across the site as you can see and as Anand had mentioned

1:26:12there is a public park that is being proposed here at 1800 square meters there is a sort of

1:26:18natural pedestrian connection that's going to wrap that park to the south of the site you can see in

1:26:24gray east west is that sort of service spine that I talked about that service road and then that

1:26:30orange road will be this moon earth style and when I speak to moon earth it's really a sort of living

1:26:36street a pedestrian first street not dissimilar to what you see outside this very building in

1:26:42cardin and last but not least ground floor activation so really I think what is important here is I

1:26:49won't go through what all these colored areas are as we have another sort of zoomed in ground floor

1:26:54plan for you but really ensuring that the uses are addressing the site purposefully activating

1:26:59that site and making sure that there's no real sort of back of house that this is very permeable

1:27:03for residents and there are a lot of eyes on the street when it comes to the specifics of the project

1:27:13we are proposing some of the the following sort of key statistics to keep in mind so again stories

1:27:18between 10 to 14 not exceeding 14 if you look at the the site plan in front of you every single

1:27:27building has a 14-story component and the building at the southwest corner that kind of fronts poppy

1:27:33is the a 10-story component again these are within the heights of opa 80 there is a large park of 1800

1:27:41square meters and over 2100 square meters of commercial space which for those of us that think

1:27:49about this in square meters it's just a little over 22,000 square sorry square feet of commercial

1:27:54space there are 715 residential units and 850 car spaces and this allows for just over one

1:28:03space per residential unit and there's ample bike parking space here as well at about 819 spaces

1:28:11again for the density we do not exceed the sort of 250 units per acre across the sort of holistic

1:28:18pergola common site that was outlined in opa 80 and sort of another thing to note here is the text

1:28:25may be small but you can see the four buildings all have very ample rooftop space that is proposed

1:28:31as amenity as well flipping to the ground floor plan here you can see how the spaces are programmed

1:28:42to really provide that activation across the site so the commercial spaces are in the purple color

1:28:48that are front and clear and sort of wrap that corner that sort of light blue purple color

1:28:54those are all of our commercial uses the residential lobbies are in pale yellow and they sort of

1:28:58highlight that intersection of those two interior roads the townhomes that are in dark blue are all

1:29:06lining the Woonerf and Hawkins in a portion of poppy and the amenities both indoor and outdoor

1:29:11are adjacent to the park and the Woonerf the two buildings to the site have internalized private

1:29:17courtyards and a private courtyard also exists on the north of the site between the two buildings

1:29:22that are front and clear note that no vehicle or access comes from the north the north south road

1:29:31and it really creates for a unique pedestrian experience there kind of flip through in the

1:29:37interest of time here just last but not least this is really a view from poppy showing that that Woonerf

1:29:44this is the service spine which still has a focus on pedestrians and landscape

1:29:54in context with the tricard developments adjacent that shows the and your slide that says thank you

1:30:03well done apologies for being a bit over no no it's all good you're right on right on time thank

1:30:08you everyone um well thank you very much for your presentation let me see if there's just any questions

1:30:13of clarity from any of my colleagues or myself okay I'll just I'll start this way I'll go with

1:30:19Koran and then couple over here and then up to Kate on the screen on the screen here great thank

1:30:25you and thank you for your presentation I really appreciate the visuals because that brings it to

1:30:29life and I am intrigued by your commitment to net zero and the Woonerf use of space and pedestrian

1:30:38activated spaces um this is already a developed site and so I do want to talk about some of the

1:30:46you know embodied energy in the buildings that are no longer in the plan I'm assuming that those

1:30:52are all on leases and that this is fully owned by I just want to confirm that that those buildings

1:31:00won't be there any longer those current structures the current structures are in place of the plan

1:31:05correct in the fullness of time when this development you know fully develops those

1:31:11buildings will no longer be there um you raise a good point about sort of the timing of this

1:31:17so we do have there there's sort of two factors of this there are current leases in place on the

1:31:21site some of those leases have longer term than others and so that is one sort of factor in timing

1:31:27here that it's something that is we don't have control over but we certainly want to be in a

1:31:31position that um you know in the future when those leases do sort of come up when the site

1:31:37becomes available we are able to phase this in a way to sort of unlock a building at a time

1:31:42and and and bring the the development to light and have a plan that really is well thought through

1:31:48what we believe reflects the city of Guelph's initiatives as well um as we all know the the

1:31:53planning process takes some time and so to have that sort of zoning secured with that vision

1:31:58despite sort of the the timing factor on the leases is something that we wanted to do okay

1:32:04thank you and getting back to the the energy efficiency of the buildings and the commitment

1:32:08to net zero that is a corporate commitment but you indicated that nothing on this site

1:32:13is committed to being um 100 net zero geothermal until the site plan stage or is this something

1:32:20that you're willing to commit to as a condition in the zoning it's it's not something that we

1:32:26typically would commit to at this stage just because the detail design isn't there yet this is

1:32:31so high level that those details really come into play once we get into sba and your site plan

1:32:37approval um again there's there's things though that we would definitely consider for the site

1:32:42geothermal is one um it was something that we even sort of brought up during our application

1:32:49commentary was that this site could potentially support geothermal um and so that is something

1:32:54that we would absolutely consider but it is something that we don't sort of lock in at this

1:32:58stage it's something that has to come with that detailed design which would be further to down the

1:33:02road okay and then along those lines although it's not related to a net zero commitment the

1:33:07low impact development standards this is the periscope marine there's a lot of sensitive

1:33:12groundwater recharge in this area would the redevelopment of this site enhance ground

1:33:17water recharge through things like um impervious surfaces and uh the stormwater plans more green

1:33:25space this is something that would enhance that currently it's a it's asphalt so i'm i'm hoping

1:33:31the answer is yes by looking at the design that it would actually be enhanced over time yeah that's

1:33:36a very good point um it is and i actually i may call on our civil engineer dangle just to speak

1:33:41to that a little bit more but you're absolutely right yeah that's a question came from council

1:33:57karin yes thanks karin yeah so i can confirm that the site although it is paved as as it stands

1:34:03does have an existing system of below grade infiltration uh facilities and the proposed

1:34:09development actually retains the biggest portion of those it's actually located underneath the

1:34:16proposed east west driveway uh and we're proposing to replace like for like uh in size and capacity

1:34:24the existing below ground infiltration facilities okay great thanks and two more quick questions is

1:34:30one of the delegations raised um the the monolithic impact of five 14 story buildings and i wondered

1:34:38whether you had considered um and if you did why it was rejected a little bit more variety so even

1:34:45even uh trade-offs like a 16 story and an eight story to give a little more dimension um and less

1:34:52of that monolithic architectural impact that one would get with five 14 story buildings

1:34:59that's a great question so we wanted to keep the heights within the official plan

1:35:04under that for 14 stories and under and really kind of breaking up that pedestrian experience i

1:35:11think comes from the ground plane and what we're doing with the woo nerf and the adjacency of the

1:35:15park and how it's really experienced from a ground plane perspective with the activation of that site

1:35:20from the ground floor and so that's really the focus in terms of the massing itself we have certain

1:35:26urban design plays that we we've brought in so along that woo nerf style road there are additional

1:35:32step backs to the towers to sort of create that more of that openness and like break up that monolithic

1:35:37sense materiality also go a very long way in breaking that up um you know it's very early

1:35:43days at zoning but you can see some indications of breaking up that sort of commercial space and

1:35:47ground floor playing that for the podium with the rest of the building and that sort of helps to

1:35:51offset um and create some variety there as well okay uh the um the pergola was if i if some others

1:36:03don't counsel may recall that when this original site went from becoming the pergola which is a

1:36:09very well loved recreational and and community um commercial um location um there was a lot of

1:36:17talk about replicating some either design features or at least recreational uses things like a mini

1:36:23putt that kind of thing in any of the parkland that that would would come into a future development

1:36:30i don't see any parkland uses as i i'm assuming that the parkland would be conveyed to the city

1:36:35and it's up to the city to put recreational uses there or will there be recreational uses in the

1:36:40amenity areas within the um public realm inside the development that would kind of replicate

1:36:48some of what was lost when the whole site was developed many years ago yeah that's a great

1:36:54question um so the park that's proposed is going to be conveyed to the city so that will be um

1:37:00city owned park um and again we're so sort of early at the zoning stage to really start to

1:37:06program those spaces but you can see that the way that the site is designed can create some

1:37:10opportunities and some connections um with that Wooner being so adjacent to the city park so

1:37:15i think there's really opportunities there to explore in sba but at this stage we haven't

1:37:21programmed or designed those spaces out fully okay great thanks and i i do have questions for

1:37:26staff so i'll let you go thanks thank you i think what council pran's asking is the mini golf coming

1:37:33back to that if you've been in golf long enough that used to be a mini golf place used to go there

1:37:38all the time all right uh i'm heading over to this side i'm gonna go galler and then uh clauson

1:37:46back to downer back to katin then to alt thank you for your worship thank you for your presentation

1:37:55i wanted to start with the parking spaces um i saw in the representation that you're asking to

1:38:04combine the visitor and the residential so that you're providing so does that mean that you're not

1:38:09providing exclusive visitor parking spaces for people that come to the towers i'm going to call

1:38:15upon our transportation consultants from ba great yeah yeah and my question is to understand

1:38:28you know how you will manage the visitor parking spaces because in other towers that we've had built

1:38:32in the city when there's not enough visitors spaces it overflows into the neighboring streets so how

1:38:37would you prevent that from overflowing uh what people come yeah absolutely that's a very good

1:38:43question um thank you for the question um i would say that so our approach to parking here is we're

1:38:49going to provide uh or we're proposing to provide um i'll start with just resident parking so resident

1:38:54parking is one space per unit is what we're proposing which is in line with zoning bylaw 2023

1:39:002790 um and then the proposed approach for the visitor parking as well as retail parking

1:39:07proposes essentially a shared pool of parking that's what the sharing provision in the zoning by

1:39:12the draft zoning bylaw amendment is intended to support um so there will be parking available

1:39:18to visitors um it will also be available to uh retail patrons um and so essentially what that

1:39:23means is that you're not restricted as a visitor to you know any uh space signed as a visitor space

1:39:29for example um and dedicated so it's that use um the we've called it i think on the the plan and

1:39:34the supporting reports uh just a pool of non-residential parking and so that will be um you know supporting

1:39:39all non-residential uses on the site okay and and the numbers that you're providing in terms of the

1:39:45non-resident parking is it both combine the minimum that we require for visitors for the building

1:39:51plus the minimum that we require for commercial space yeah that is also a very good question um so

1:39:58the way we've approached the supply of the non-residential parking is we've reviewed the

1:40:02zoning bylaw requirements for both the residential visitor parking as well as the retail parking

1:40:08requirements um we've also looked at essentially industry guidance related to the ability for

1:40:15you know complementary uses to synergize in terms of peak time of day

1:40:20demand and so the parking supply for non-residential uses that's proposed is 108 spaces which

1:40:27we feel is appropriate given the opportunity for synergies for those uses okay okay um thank you

1:40:35thank you for that along this line i wanted to get clarity on the number of bicycle parking spaces

1:40:41what is the total number of bicycle spaces that is provided for the for the site

1:40:46yes the total number of bicycle parking spaces is proposed to be uh 817 currently so um that's a mix

1:40:53of resident and um residential visitor so essentially long and short term residential

1:40:59residential parking bicycle parking as well as commercial bicycle parking so there's a mix

1:41:04within that 819 spaces okay okay i appreciate that thank you um my other question uh not related

1:41:12to this uh was with regards to the uh the zero ev connections at occupancy so just trying to understand

1:41:20why we're not having some of them already be be ready for electric vehicles yeah absolutely that's

1:41:25also a good question um we've deliberated this internally as well um i think the intent with

1:41:30the approach to the ev parking is really related to providing the flexibility to provide that

1:41:36infrastructure um at you know tenant or a kind of condo occupancy um so it provides that flexibility

1:41:44while not committing necessarily to um infrastructure that may or may not be used at the outset of

1:41:51development so it's kind of a come introduce as needed kind of principle um there's you know this

1:41:56obviously ev vehicles are a very merging trend and there's not a really strong guidance in terms of

1:42:02uptake demand things like that so um you know the key that we kind of took from this was

1:42:07that we're providing the ability to introduce that infrastructure as needed without necessarily

1:42:15you know providing it at day one because there's also variances in how different auto manufacturers

1:42:21you know the types of infrastructure that's required and things okay so okay okay that helps

1:42:25explain i'm through your work my last question a few of the constituents um mentioned how much

1:42:31they appreciate having the theater there as a community space would there be enough space in

1:42:36the commercial space so that if a theater wanted to open in one of the new commercial spaces could

1:42:42it allocate something like that as currently designed um there's about you know 2100 square

1:42:48meters of commercial so a theater wouldn't be able to backfill those spaces is currently designed

1:42:53um but yeah i just wanted to reiterate that theater has a lease in place um you know we have to

1:42:59respect those leases in place um but yes it's currently designed that wouldn't be sized for a

1:43:04theater it would not be okay thank you very much thank you worship all right thank you are you

1:43:10allowed to disclose how long that lease is right now uh i don't believe i'm allowed to do okay no

1:43:16problem i totally respect that uh okay class on your next yes thank you through you mr mayor

1:43:25i had a question regarding um the commercial space as well so just piggybacking a bit off of

1:43:31what councillor Goller started to talk about so um just to say it out loud what is the reduction in

1:43:38square meters of the current commercial space so how much is it currently and how much will it be

1:43:44reduced to in the new uh development it's a great question i do have the stat

1:43:53just bear with me for one moment it's about half of what is there today i'm

1:44:39probably i don't have the exact number in front of me it is in here but thank you um yes and and

1:44:52just to echo again what councillor Goller said we heard that there was some concerns from the

1:44:56constituents in that area around the loss of amenities um that would that would come about as

1:45:02as we shift and i appreciate you know retail culture also is shifting um but my my next question

1:45:08is around um what would the experience of somebody visiting the area um from a commercial perspective

1:45:15be just from you know i'm starting to understand what this looks like my understanding is that the

1:45:21commercial is along claire road with some of this interior corridor that would be pedestrianized

1:45:28but if i was you know coming from the north end to the south end um what would what would my

1:45:33experience be you know i appreciate that there's cars there's bicycles there's you know let's

1:45:38say i'm driving my car i'm just wondering um where where would you park like how would you get into

1:45:43those spaces and finally what what types of commercial spaces would we be seeing in this

1:45:48new smaller footprint yeah but that those are great questions so in terms of sort of access

1:45:54to that commercial space let's say you're coming from the north coming from the west um that east

1:45:59west sort of like service spine that i referred to is really also um a place where you could you

1:46:04could drive through you could pull in there are some convenience parking spaces there as well

1:46:09and so the the commercial spaces can be accessed that way um there was and this was came out of our

1:46:15sort of conversations with staff as well we'd originally shown commercial front in claire

1:46:20and then we decided that it was advantageous with staff to wrap that around sort of the corner

1:46:24we'll call it the farley drive extension but it's that sort of private um road that sort of abuts

1:46:29the rest of pergola commons that isn't the redevelopment site um and then so i guess the

1:46:35second part of that question is what are the types of of commercial spaces um we don't have those

1:46:41exact tenants so it's locked in place that's much too early but um it could be a range of uses and so

1:46:48being a retail first um development company those spaces and the depths of them are really

1:46:53designed to provide flexibility um they're very usable units they can be further redimized for

1:47:00smaller units they can be you know singular units so we really try to provide that flexibility to

1:47:05encourage a good mix of of retailers and commercial tenants okay thank you um and then finally i'm

1:47:15just looking into one of one of the one of the constituents asked a question around um transportation

1:47:20impact and i figured since you had your transportation engineers here um i would just ask if you could

1:47:26speak a little bit to um this area and you know some of the concerns that we heard from um our

1:47:31delegate gaylene who came in person around you know the tri-car building and some of the congestion

1:47:36that happens there maybe could could you just have one of your engineers speak to that a little bit

1:47:41and how things might feel in there now if we are going to you know increase density as much as

1:47:47you're suggesting we do absolutely thank you again for the question um so as part of our

1:48:04transportation report that we submitted um for review to to staff um we did do a traffic study

1:48:12um so i might just quickly outline what a traffic study entails um kind of just the key elements

1:48:16and then what we've kind of assessed um so we begin by looking at existing traffic conditions

1:48:21in the area um we then look at a future condition where there's additional development that's

1:48:28planned in the city or in the area um considered but without the site traffic um so this included

1:48:35in our case specific site developments um that are planned as well as the clean multi-secondary plan

1:48:41growth that's planned in the south um and then we also looked at a future condition

1:48:46with uh you know all that background traffic as well as the site traffic um and what our

1:48:51analysis concluded is that the study area road network it will be busy in the future

1:48:56there's a lot of planned growth in the area um particularly along the the claren gordon corridors

1:49:03we identified mitigation measures um at a couple key intersections particularly the claren gordon

1:49:08intersection which i believe was mentioned prior as well as the um hawkins and clare intersection

1:49:15um so we submitted some mitigation measures for staff review um however our key conclusion

1:49:20was that um our key key recommendation i should say um was that staff continue to monitor

1:49:27the area road network as development occurs um so that's kind of with respect to the the

1:49:32broader area road network um with respect to poppy drive specifically um under future conditions

1:49:39it's meant to or it's anticipated to operate as a collector road um so you know there is

1:49:44traffic on that road um i would note that that's the current designation of poppy drive so um it's

1:49:50operating effectively within its means as a collector road great thanks all right moving

1:49:58along we got downer than katyn my question was already answered thank you okay great thank you

1:50:05and to katyn please and then alt thank you through you mr mayor um so i see in your design that you

1:50:13got a couple of above ground accessible parking spaces and um i was just wondering in terms of

1:50:20the commercial and the visitor uh sharing were you intending on sharing the accessible spaces as

1:50:27well or is that going to be good i believe that there's requirements for more right thank you

1:50:38councillor for your question hendrick is going to come up in an address yes thank you very much

1:50:44for the question um the intent of the uh from an accessible parking standpoint the intent is to meet

1:50:51all um of the accessible parking requirements so that would not be um so it would essentially if

1:50:58you were to sum up the you know uh retail accessible parking requirement as well as the um visitor

1:51:04parking accessible parking requirement those would be reflected in the parking supply so there's no

1:51:09effectively reduction of accessible parking that's proposed great and so the the above ground show

1:51:18there would be more underground as well yes absolutely so the access so the non-residential

1:51:24parking that kind of shared pool of parking is distributed across the site it's um you know it's

1:51:28makes of above or at grade as well as below grade um and so uh likewise the accessible parking supply

1:51:35both for residents as well as non-residential uses is is distributed across the site great um i was

1:51:42also wondering it's not clear from the the diagram and i never realized we're in early stages and so

1:51:48you're not going to have all of the details in there um but are you are you planning on having

1:51:53bike lanes within the interior and and the exterior so the key kind of um active transportation

1:52:04connection that's proposed on the site currently is that Winnur street which will provide kind of an

1:52:08all-mode north-south connection um there's not currently um dedicated cycling facilities

1:52:15proposed on the site but the intent is to provide connections uh internal state particularly

1:52:21through that Winnur design to the planned external active transportation network

1:52:28okay for myself personally i think that the way that you've got it set up um you're going to have

1:52:34people trying to bike through that area so just for safety that's something that you might want to

1:52:40consider um have you got to the stage yet where you're thinking about pricing on uh rentals versus

1:52:49purchase affordable units uh no we have not yet um there are no affordable units but we have not

1:52:57we're too far out from redevelopment to really think about pricing and and that that's um that'll

1:53:02be market driven um once we actually come to development great thank you thanks alton chu

1:53:12thank you very much mayor guthrie through you uh to miss gray and and other staff thank you all of

1:53:18you for um for coming forward i think my questions are fairly simple uh the first one you had uh

1:53:26the quotation was uh this will be built in the fullness of time and so i'm somewhat intrigued by

1:53:33the fullness of time given that we have 7 000 units currently on the books but not being built very

1:53:39quickly what do we mean in terms of years or decades and i'm not being facetious with the decades

1:53:47yeah i so i spoke to one of our limiting factors earlier which is our leases in place on the site

1:53:54and as i mentioned you know i disclose specifics but some of those leases have shorter term than others

1:54:00and so we've you know we've looked at how we could potentially phase this with certain phases

1:54:04going first versus others depending on how the site opens up um so that's sort of one element

1:54:09the other element is market um well we completely see this as an appropriate amount of density and

1:54:16scale for the site we all know the market residential right now is a little bit challenged

1:54:21and so that is another factor that will come into play and you know typically you wouldn't see a

1:54:26development like this be built all at once it would be in phases um as the market can absorb it

1:54:30and so it's really difficult to say sort of like a fullness of time real timeline but those are some

1:54:36of the aspects that we have to work with so you know once those sort of factors start to shape up

1:54:42and we can proceed there of course we need to go into detailed design site plan approval

1:54:46so there's those considerations as well for timing okay thank you the last question is

1:54:52a much simpler one i think but as you were speaking i was looking on your websites and i noticed that

1:54:57there is a great image of bees on a rooftop and you'd made and this is a serious question um you'd

1:55:03made reference to the usage of the the rooftops is part of the proposal green roof and endeavors

1:55:11like beekeeping and i think that's fairly important for for the local environment yeah it's a great

1:55:17question um i think you know those things are absolutely possible um we're not at a stage yet

1:55:22where we're getting very specific about the program of amenities there has to be sort of a lot more

1:55:27detailed design that comes into that um you know other sort of market considerations partnerships

1:55:33a lot of like factors that play into what those amenities will be um but it doesn't prohibit anything

1:55:38like that and i think that's a very creative um idea and it's yes it's absolutely we have um that

1:55:44at the our office as you noted so thank you it's a honey of an idea i hope no one gets stung

1:55:53wait just one second i want to write that down that's very good i'm gonna write a book phil

1:55:59all right you got some good ones all right uh two Gibson billings then we'll wrap it up

1:56:06thank you through you mr mayor thank you for coming it's good to see you um so i just live

1:56:13just outside that 120 meter uh planning catchment so i am besides a lot with some of the residents

1:56:18in this area on poppy so a few questions on the traffic and circulation i'm just curious

1:56:30with the wounder of design is there opportunity to kind of close it off just for service

1:56:36vehicles only because i understand that it's important for the for your waste management plan

1:56:41that you'd have to have some sort of access coming in directly to buildings b and d however

1:56:50there are a lot of people that are concerned about the thoroughfare traffic that's going to

1:56:54accumulate on poppy primarily because poppy is going to be extended out to where's the future rec

1:57:00center that's going to open up next year and also we have about 715 we're actually you know

1:57:07just under 500 units in the tricard property that currently uses that access on poppy and

1:57:15there's a lot of issues with the waste management currently and it's a legacy issue and that's

1:57:19something that we're hoping to avoid so some of my concerns really is just with the access on

1:57:26the wounder and would there be an appetite to kind of close it off just for service vehicles only

1:57:34thank you very much for the question and i do note that some of the

1:57:38commentary that you just provided was also heard in the open house that we held in 2023

1:57:44particularly with kind of some of those existing you know issues along poppy drive with respect

1:57:49to like waste management and things like that and and those comments that we did here within the

1:57:55open house dialogue were included in our transportation report for staff consideration and

1:58:00we have received some preliminary commentary on some of those considerations that we had identified

1:58:06in our report with respect to the Wunurf access and vehicular access while it's not intended to be

1:58:15you know a primary access point to the site it is you know kind of an important access point as

1:58:24you noted for the waste management you know the the waste collection as well as kind of a

1:58:31supplementary vehicular access to provide enhanced distribution traffic while we have located the

1:58:40you know parking garage accesses and loading facilities as close to the service road as possible

1:58:45to you know preference that as the primary vehicular connection point there is a sense of

1:58:51importance to the that supplementary access component of the Wunurf. I can also speak to

1:58:58you know the location of the Wunurf access relative to the tri-car kind of that secondary

1:59:04access point to the tri-car developments. We have aligned it so that it is a excuse me it is a

1:59:10essentially becomes a four-way intersection which does provide you know potential future

1:59:16opportunities if if city staff deem appropriate you know for some sort of like enhanced pedestrian

1:59:22crossing and things like that and we have identified that as something that we heard

1:59:26in the open house commentary as well you know the need for enhanced kind of north south pedestrian

1:59:32crossings there and so that location of the Wunurf access provides those opportunities as well.

1:59:38And thank you just the follow-up comment I guess this is really for staff and I'll

1:59:44preface this to staff waiter but it really comes down to where we're going to build out the signalized

1:59:52intersection down the road. I just have a concern with the alignment of the Wunurf to that access

1:59:56to the tri-car towers just because it's within it's less than 200 meters away from Hawkins

2:00:03and typically you want the intersection to be signalized out more than 200 meters away.

2:00:12So it's a bit of an awkward configuration and I see there's an opportunity to kind of

2:00:18utilize Hawkins as one of the two primary access just because the stacked townhouses

2:00:24along Hawkins has less has more porosity and there's less there's less people living there

2:00:30right and it's a quite dense area all as it is especially with this third tower being fully

2:00:37operationalized so that's just my comment and maybe that's something within the site plan

2:00:42please can really take to heart. Yeah I appreciate that thank you.

2:00:48Thank you to then give them billings. I think maybe that I mean I meant Gibson and then Billings sorry

2:00:56it's sorry Dan. Yes ma'am. You and then Billings. Yeah thank you I stepped away from momentarily well

2:01:02Councillor Kloss was asking her question about the reduction in commercial space.

2:01:06I heard there was a slight reduction or some reduction is that correct?

2:01:11Yes and I actually was able to pull up the specific stats so on the development site itself

2:01:16it's about half so we went from 50,000 square feet to 23,000 square feet but on a Pergola Commons wide

2:01:24statistic we have about 150,000 square feet and now if you look at it sort of in totality it's

2:01:29123,000 square feet with the redevelopment. Right okay thank you so I guess my question is just a

2:01:34little bit of experience I've heard in these sense sort of supporting and trying to develop and

2:01:39encourage commercial space. Has the developer or will the developer be doing any kind of justification

2:01:46comprehensive study on what the reduction in commercial space might mean for the amenity

2:01:51needs for the community? I know that we've done a few of these studies in the east end when we're

2:01:56seeing sort of the collapse of our commercial node trying to justify sort of a floor minimum.

2:02:04Is there any kind of comprehensive study that the developer's done to support that justification?

2:02:09Yeah so with our zoning application we did file a commercial function study as well

2:02:16and you know the reduction and then the amenity space that's provided still provides lots of

2:02:22opportunity for different types of uses and this is one of the things that I was speaking to

2:02:27Councillor Claasden's question about but the flexibility of the spaces so the depths of them,

2:02:33the ability to readimize them, you could certainly have uses in there that are more of a recreational

2:02:38use, you could have retailers, personal service so it does really provide sort of that flexibility

2:02:43that the market will demand at the time that this comes to redevelopment.

2:02:48I understand that thank you. I guess my last question will be around servicing but I'll

2:02:52wait to ask that of staff so thanks. Great thank you. I won't say chew for a third time by accident

2:03:01so Billings, you're up. It's true Mr. Mayor I just wanted to ask about the access point off

2:03:08of Claire Road into the development site and I was just curious is the width going to be the same

2:03:15as it currently is or it will be widened anymore and it's only because it's a very very busy access

2:03:22point currently so that's my question. Councillor Billings are you referring to the access off on

2:03:36the private drive? Off Claire coming in now you would be coming in if you're coming to

2:03:43the beer store or the cang. Thank you. Thank you for your question. In terms of the

2:03:50dimensional component of the access it's not currently proposed to be altered significantly.

2:03:58There might be some minor alteration through site plan but that's not something we've looked at

2:04:03necessarily in detail at this point. We have assessed that access and staff had raised some

2:04:10commentary for us to review with respect to the current operation of that access so we have looked

2:04:15at that in detail and as well as under future conditions and we can say that you know there

2:04:23were no concerns with the operation of that access raised. I think that's one of the benefits of having

2:04:29multiple site accesses is there's opportunities to distribute traffic onto the area road network

2:04:35and so I think that yes we do acknowledge that that can be a busy access point but we don't foresee any

2:04:43operational issues necessarily in the future. Okay and while I have you can we just go back

2:04:49to the parking with respect to the commercial that a buts Claire wrote so you answered about the

2:04:56accessible parking there so surface so surface parking for the commercial

2:05:03is that basically all going to be then the shared underground parking spaces because when I look at

2:05:10your site plan I'm not really seeing a lot of parking spaces for for commercial so what's the

2:05:16plan to have surface there for commercial? Yeah that's a good question. So the current non-residential

2:05:25parking supply proposal includes a mix of surface parking as well as underground parking

2:05:33distributed across the site so the current proposal includes 23 non-residential parking spaces

2:05:40at grade which will provide convenient access you know for folks who are just kind of you know

2:05:44popping in and out to a commercial space as well as the balance of the 108 spaces underground which

2:05:51can be used you know either by essentially residential visitors or commercial patrons so there

2:05:57is ample supply of commercial parking or non-residential parking. So through you Mr. Mayor of the 23

2:06:04though will not all of the accessible parking spots be within the 23 that is surface? The so the

2:06:13current accessible parking strategy proposes accessible parking for the non-residential

2:06:19use is distributed across the site because as it will be used by both it can be used essentially

2:06:26by both residential visitors as well as retail patrons and so the accessible parking is located

2:06:33there is accessible parking located at grade proposed to be located at grade as well as

2:06:38underground for the non-residential parking supply. Okay and then the last question for you

2:06:47is I think I believe you're just short 17 parking spaces?

2:06:55Is that um compared to what is required? For the overall parking supply of the site sorry

2:07:02um so I believe there was a um so we're proposing uh 850 overall parking spaces where 844

2:07:13are required of and that's combined resident and non-residential um so we have a overall surplus

2:07:19of six spaces. Okay I didn't read it that way in the in the zoning I read it that you were short

2:07:2817. I think I think there was a um there was a typo uh which demonstrated 827

2:07:36spaces um but then clarification uh resulted in 850 spaces. Okay thank you for that.

2:07:43Great thank you um so it's just it's just left to me and uh I'm just

2:07:53bear with me in my questions okay so did you ever think about going higher than the 14

2:08:02and increasing the commercial square footage on the bottom like why not go 18 stories

2:08:10or why not shift you know some of the density in one building to a higher building over here

2:08:17you know a little bit of playing chess I get it but that way you get some more commercial now I

2:08:23know you did the commercial study I get that but I'm just wondering did that ever come across

2:08:29your plate as an idea at all so that you could end up with 35 000 square feet of commercial space

2:08:37still get your residential um yours going a little bit higher. It's a great question um

2:08:44you know there's many ways to sort of look at the massing of the site um ultimately we decided to

2:08:49sort of keep it within the city's official plan and within the 14 stories we thought we could

2:08:54you know get the density that's still aligned with those that sort of density target of 250

2:08:59units per hectare for the whole site um get an appropriate amount of density and still sort of

2:09:05play with the massing to really optimize sort of light and and the building forms but um yeah I

2:09:12guess to answer your question we we'd considered it but it we thought it was appropriate to stay

2:09:16within that that 14 stories um and then the commercial locations were areas that we thought

2:09:21were were viable and had good visibility and access um and would thrive as commercial spaces

2:09:27in the fullness of the redevelopment. Okay I want to circle back to Councillor Allt's question

2:09:37I'm not trying to put you on the spot but I did I just want to focus a bit more on the answer that

2:09:43I don't think I heard. You have leases and such which we totally respect you don't have to tell us

2:09:49what those terms are no problem but from an expectation point of view are we looking at

2:09:56the first building maybe within or one or two buildings within five years ten years and then

2:10:02two more buildings in 25 years like is this like a 30 year build out or potentially a 15 year

2:10:09build out like this would be interesting to know you know what what what are we looking at here.

2:10:15Yeah and um apologies that we can't be sort of more specific on timing but it's just one of those

2:10:20things that if I say a date um it's really hard to commit to that date at this point um

2:10:25you know I could see you know within let's say 10 years something changes in terms of the

2:10:31market um leases that we could we could move forward but it's really sort of difficult to

2:10:36say at this point exactly the timing. Yeah and I'm not trying to hold you to anything just curious.

2:10:41But I appreciate the question and understand where you're coming from.

2:10:46Other than that my colleagues asked all the other other questions so I would just encourage you to

2:10:51just hear the feedback that you got there's going to maybe be some more feedback tonight

2:10:54and and work with staff and and and we get we get the the environment is obviously very very

2:11:03odd right now in housing and all development we get it and it might change in the future we get it.

2:11:10Um I think most of the people that I've spoken to have more been concerned about the commercial

2:11:17differential which you've now explained a little bit better because of the built-up area that that is

2:11:23and the need for more commercial in in what was originally designed in our official plans way way

2:11:28way way way back because nodes commercial nodes we have like four commercial nodes in the city right

2:11:34so in a way you're sort of eating away at a commercial node to do the mixed use which you're

2:11:38allowed to do already I totally understand that but I think I think as you move forward just make

2:11:43sure that you're open enough to kind of consider some of those nuances over the years as things

2:11:49kind of maybe play out if it gets to a recommendation and approval later on okay. With that thank you

2:11:55very much we're going to go on to another delegation that's already called in but before I do that

2:12:01I'm going to just put a phone number on the screen and I'll just say that out loud so just in case

2:12:08anybody else wants to call in it's 519-837-5603 we're going to leave that up just for a few

2:12:18moments maybe a couple minutes or more just to see if there's anyone that wants to call in

2:12:23but before I do that is there anybody else in the audience that wishes to speak to it?

2:12:29No okay thank you so I believe it's a Maya Fernandez that has already called in so Maya

2:12:36we're going to go to you in maybe a minute or so just as we leave this number up on the screen

2:12:43so just if you hear me just be prepared and I'll come to you in a minute thank you.

2:12:46All right thank you so we just had two call-ins here Maya it's Mayor Guthrie can you hear me okay

2:14:13you have to hit star six to unmute. Hi there we can hear you okay how are you? I'm good how are you?

2:14:26Good good thank you very much for joining us so I know you've been listening in for a while

2:14:32so maybe some of your questions have been answered but we're happy to hear your opinions on this if

2:14:37you would like to do so you have up to 10 minutes and once you're done just stick around in case any

2:14:43of my colleagues or myself have a follow-up question okay? Okay I definitely I am a tenant

2:14:50it's my first time ever doing this but just stare at me if I get nervous I put some of

2:14:55this together if I'm just reading off of it okay? Yep no problem you go right ahead.

2:15:04Okay um so I recently moved in to Guelph back in 2021 from Oakville prior to Oakville out of the

2:15:13Mississauga for our team cities change and become overpopulated that it almost becomes

2:15:19an uncomfortable feel. Um don't get being thin here we go. We the undefined residents of the

2:15:28Gordon Clair neighborhood firmly opposed the proposed redevelopment of the Gordon street

2:15:34Clair Road Plaza into 750 residential units. This Plaza is a viral community hub home to the

2:15:40Cineplex, Spain, Trestaurant, a gym, Dalarama, a dentist, and other essential services many of

2:15:46which were recently invested in upgrades. Allowing these renovations while putting demolition is

2:15:52unacceptable and the residents of the next generation. Converting this hub into high density

2:15:57housing will eliminate essential amenities and force residents to travel further for basic services.

2:16:04Overalum already congested roads, compromising safety, and emergency response time. Add to

2:16:10school overcapacity local schools are already full for take care to commute children outside the

2:16:15district. The least benefits for two families scheduled. This installation is not as close to

2:16:20families before they buy or live in the area. Strange healthcare, parks, and policing which

2:16:26is already stretched in. Undermarring affording housing and claims and free parking is not free,

2:16:31creating hidden costs and reducing accessibility. We are not opposed to growth, we are opposed to

2:16:37reckless growth by sacrifices community well-being. We therefore request that the city

2:16:41suggest a significant and scale back this project. Publish a concrete plan for managing

2:16:47traffic, safety, school capacity, and infrastructure before any approval. Explain why coffee

2:16:53renovations were permitted if demolition was planned. Guarantee free or low cost parking for

2:16:58any ground floor retail fee and home meaningful and personal consultation with neighborhood

2:17:02residents before making a decision. Growth character and visibility are at stake. We call

2:17:08to the city to put residents first and protect their heart of the community.

2:17:13That's it. Thank you so much for for joining us and giving us your opinions there. Is there any

2:17:20follow up as a question to any from any of my colleagues there isn't so Maya thank you very

2:17:26much for reading that and joining us tonight. Okay thank you so much. Take care and then the other

2:17:33call and the last one is Brian and Rachel Wood. Can you hear me Brian or Rachel?

2:17:40Yeah we can thank you. Great well thank you and I don't know if you heard before but you have

2:17:46up to 10 minutes and so please feel free to go ahead the clock will start whenever you're ready.

2:17:52Thank you. Hello Mr. Mayor thanks for having us everybody. The first speaker tonight

2:18:01did such an amazing job with her presentation. I'll just be ad-embrating her points.

2:18:06I thought she did a tremendous job of bringing forth our concerns here. I'll bring the most

2:18:12obvious ones. If the realtors here were just thinking of knocking out a few parking spots

2:18:18that's one thing but as far as I can understand from the polls this evening we've lose a lot of

2:18:23local businesses in the process as a brand new tie place they would probably get the boot

2:18:27and these are people that have struggled to make a living and they might have a tough time

2:18:31finding their spot. The movie theater is half the reason we live here. We saw the naked gun

2:18:39twice in August. Brilliant film by the way I recommend it. It would also I think the real

2:18:46impact of this if all the towers are built in the near future is traffic. Traffic is already a

2:18:51nightmare here. I was nearly run down on my way to the library today it happens a lot. The traffic

2:18:57is getting worse and worse by the day and I think these towers would make a bad problem worse.

2:19:06To be brief this area is dense enough and I think this problem would make a bad problem worse.

2:19:15Lastly I think a proposal like this would take away some of the shops and services that attract

2:19:21dust to this neighborhood in the first place. We've been here seven years it's almost an ideal

2:19:26there's a you know we're close to everything here and it's a nice mixture of balance that I think this

2:19:35this would have set. Lastly there are many areas on K Crescent where we've been for five years that

2:19:43have gone unsold and I'm not sure these towers would help either the people who live in them

2:19:51or the prices in the market. Again thanks to everybody and especially thanks to Ken

2:19:57for helping us with this. Rachel? Yes thank you very much for the opportunity just to state

2:20:04something. The previous caller Maya mentioned about the 915 units that are going up on Claire

2:20:12which are just two blocks away from Pergola Commons and with the influx of density there

2:20:18we're going to need actually more amenities and there don't seem to be any guarantees that leases

2:20:23are going to be available at a good rate for retailers to move in underneath these proposed

2:20:30units. One of the things that I know the city doesn't keep track of is when there's a population

2:20:38increase of humans there's also a population increase of pets and this area I took it upon

2:20:45myself to check to see how many dogs we have in this area and from Hawkins up to K Crescent

2:20:53along Poppy we have 52 dogs in this area leaving a lot of cramped spaces for children. The Dallin

2:21:04Park is not set up for dogs it is for kids. I know there's a proposed park there but would that be

2:21:11allowed for dogs as well? When dogs are part of the area the bylaw calls go up the nuisance parking

2:21:19goes up the population of issues goes up and as well as just the general area of cleanliness and

2:21:28myself being a dog owner it's something that we battle with every day because it's every 10 minutes

2:21:35is going to be another dog walking in front of our place and so I would love to know if there's

2:21:42anything in place to kind of handle the influx of pets which is going up by 27%

2:21:50each year to handle this amount of people because it's not just us it's the pets as well

2:21:58and I just feel that that amount of influx between the 915 units down the street as well as 715 here

2:22:08is going to be a real issue with this area as it is in terms of not only human population but of

2:22:17pet populations and that's my only area that's I mean traffic as well no one stops at the stop

2:22:27signs and no one goes 40 kilometers an hour and having seen those studies in traffic I think

2:22:34there's an underestimation of how busy this area is and that's all I have to say and thank you very

2:22:43much. Thank you Brian I think and thank you Rachel we appreciate you calling in

2:22:50and we now have a movie recommendation that we need to see thank you very much I may have

2:22:59already seen it as well so thank you very much I don't have any questions from any of my colleagues

2:23:07I'm just looking around nope nope so thank you and have a great night great thank you all right bye

2:23:14okay uh council it's to us so for anyone here and for anyone listening in or watching

2:23:20there is no decisions being made tonight we are just moving a motion to receive the information

2:23:27can I at least get the motion to receive the information on the floor okay Gower and

2:23:33all right Hauser as well perfect um so thank you it's technically on the floor this is my gentle

2:23:42reminder staff have already for over an hour taken all of the comments down that they need to

2:23:50address do not rehash them is there anything that was not stated already that we need to maybe let

2:23:57our staff take away Gower Gibson Hauser and Koran thank you through worship to staff um

2:24:09with regards to the timelines for this development I believe that you're working on the possibility

2:24:15of having use it or lose it if we're looking at a development that could potentially be 10 plus years

2:24:20how would that work with with those changes we're looking to do through the merits of the

2:24:29councillor so those provisions are related to the servicing so the to water and storm water

2:24:34management so the zoning would be in place but if they came in for a site plan approval and didn't

2:24:39build within three years then their site plan approval expires that's a provincial legislation

2:24:44same with draft plan of subdivisions if that's the process they undertake so it's a little bit

2:24:50premature but when they come in through a further process if it takes too long once we're in that

2:24:57process there will be a maximum amount of time in which we will hold capacity for them but if

2:25:03once that expires and someone else comes in then that would be potentially someone else's but that

2:25:08policy is still a draft and it's coming back to council later this year okay thank you for that

2:25:13that's my question thank you worship great I think I saw Gibson and then I'm going to Hauser and

2:25:20Koran yeah thank you through you mr mayor um just picking up a little bit just because I think it'll

2:25:25be a top conversation tomorrow as well the size and scale of the density and the amount of housing

2:25:31coming in for staff uh my questions are on water supply long term water supply and um and what that

2:25:37might mean to our plans with the amount of housing being proposed also with the um unknown

2:25:45timeline associated with it I will staff be looking to accommodate uh supplying the site with uh

2:25:51with water for all those residential units great thank you that oh sorry did you want to respond

2:25:58or did you want to do that as a takeaway you can do whatever you wish okay I think it's

2:26:02important to do maybe a little bit of both on this one so council Gibson I will take it away

2:26:07but the density for this site is applied to the site as a whole like including the exist

2:26:12the commercial that's going to remain so they've they've capped it out across the site certainly on

2:26:17the end that's going to develop as part of this development it's it's higher than is contemplated

2:26:24in all our water master plans but they've applied the cap across the site as a whole so they actually

2:26:30meet the density for the entire site as a whole so that's how we've secured it that we won't go over

2:26:37that cap that was anticipated for water and wastewater okay thank you just picking up on a

2:26:44few things the the community is being built out Claremalpia is right there but this this specific

2:26:50community um has sort of established and and sort of the commercial sort of not the commercial but

2:26:55the services that are associated with supporting this neighborhood or established schools

2:27:00I just put down here schools traffic management support water supply all those things need to

2:27:07support the growth and so this this new idea of the density in this area I guess a comment

2:27:13needs to be taken away with staff to to consider all those other things the one thing that's done

2:27:19on me in the last couple months of conversation in in Canada on population growth is just how we

2:27:24needed to support the rest like the population growth we've had as a country how we needed to

2:27:28support it with schools roads hospitals things like that so just a general comment on that I'm

2:27:35going to put on my Councillor O'Rourke Speard animal costume for a second and talk about parking

2:27:41I need to express the same voice that she would have in this instance not supportive of the

2:27:47significant reduction in parking it sounds like we're almost a hundred units short across the

2:27:53site when it comes to both above ground and and below ground that's a huge deficit I'm not

2:28:01I'm not privy to the pro forma of the developer but my thoughts go to instead of 14 stories in 100

2:28:08than 100 spots short does 12 stories get you to your parking minimums again not not not privy

2:28:15to the pro forma for the project but maybe 12 stories gets you closer to that parking parking

2:28:21requirements thank you thank you how's her caron possible thank you

2:28:33so we've heard significant concerns about the traffic and waste removal and the capacity of

2:28:39poppy drive is there any possibility or could we look at maybe extending that or widening that

2:28:48space is there even room there through the merits the councillor so we can we can take that back and

2:28:57have engineering respond when we come back I would also like to remind council that we initiated

2:29:02in April this year that the Gordon Street a EA from Claire down to Maltby and that will address

2:29:10some of the the traffic concerns that word six has along that stretch of Gordon as well thank you

2:29:17great caron please yes I don't know what other term to use other than air rights

2:29:24um to go so for example 14 stories times five is 70 total stories does council have

2:29:32delegated authority to modify maximum stories if there's a commensurate reduction in a nearby

2:29:41building or is that something that would have to come back to council for approval through the

2:29:49the mayor to the councillor so um council can approve increased heights through the official

2:29:56plan processes which is where where we are tonight so they can decide on that once council

2:30:00makes a decision and the heights are are in place unless it is appealed at some point in the future

2:30:06it can be reconsidered through different planning applications or through op review as well there's

2:30:12also setbacks between buildings based on openings and windows between buildings as well which will

2:30:19also limit the how close they can or the actually ultimate building design at the end of the day

2:30:25okay and I ask that because I would like to see a little bit of variety in building

2:30:29sizes just to reduce that massing impact um and then the only other comment I had and I know staff

2:30:36usually do it but um we didn't talk about it in our discussion about light impact I know with

2:30:41a mixed use residential and commercial there might be different lighting impacts for parking and

2:30:47certainly um lighting light mitigation and pollution is a concern that many and council have

2:30:53expressed great thank you um looks like I got claus and then didn't you um so thank you so this

2:31:05is a little bit of a comment is that okay okay um so first of all thank you for bringing this

2:31:11application forward I'm I'm always intrigued when I see areas that were traditional commercial

2:31:17you know one single story big huge parking lot being converted into mixed used mixed used spaces

2:31:24I think I'm not a planner but I don't know and I don't know if there's a term for that but I think

2:31:29it's interesting and it's it's a good way of getting more density into our cities while also

2:31:34having the functions of uh commercial and residential and recreation and so on and so forth um that said

2:31:42I do have some concerns around the loss of commercial space and um maybe this is an offline

2:31:48conversation to be had but um you know things have been mentioned that are shifting um but I am

2:31:56curious whether that's something we're concerned about um and then to that point um in the same

2:32:04vein like amenity space like are we concerned that you know there's a lot more people going into

2:32:08this space do we need more amenities uh for people who are going to be spending their time and their

2:32:13lives there um and then finally going back to you know this is harkening back to uh Councillor

2:32:19Caron and uh Mayor Guthrie's comments about you know the the the story of this land it used to be a

2:32:26golf mini golf place I've heard and then now it's a movie theater and potentially we're hearing it

2:32:32might no longer be that space um so it's a bit of a cultural hub and you know movies and that's it's

2:32:39it's a way that people consume culture and in the south end you know I hear that we need spaces

2:32:45like this for people to go and spend their time and yes it is a business but it's also a place

2:32:50where people can spend leisure time and enjoy themselves um and so to lose a space that's a

2:32:56bit of a cultural space for people um you know it does ring I have a little bit of a concern with it

2:33:02although I do know it's a private business and they follow their own rules um and then similarly

2:33:07there's a good life fitness there while it's a business it's also a leisure activity where people

2:33:11spend time um so losing losing commercial space also potentially means that we're losing

2:33:17important cultural spaces for people to spend time uh whether that's you know sports uh or or arts

2:33:25so those are my comments um and I will stop there so thank you great thank you and and to chew

2:33:32uh thank you through you mr. mayor uh just the staff can you maybe paint a picture for me as to how

2:33:41we're going to address poppy drive I know this is traffic engineering's purview but from your

2:33:46standpoint um how do you seek to address of the concerns with alignment primarily from the

2:33:53Gordon Square um and do you see Hawkins as a as a viable um entry point um to subsidize for maybe

2:34:04that entry not being one of the three nodes through the mayor council to I will have to take

2:34:13that back and report back in the final report okay no I appreciate that um and also I know that EA

2:34:21just started uh but the primary focus of the EA is to go from two to four lanes um what are some

2:34:31active transportation and frontage uh improvements that you can foresee taking place to align with

2:34:39some of the planning and coordination of first capital if they so choose to go through with some

2:34:44of the phasing um I know we're looking at a crystal ball here but can you just kind of paint a picture

2:34:48for the public as to what to expect with the EA process and with this uh rezoning process where we

2:34:55have conversations uh ongoing yeah thank you councillor too so that the EA process has really

2:35:03just kicked off and it's a public process and through that um there will be options delivered on

2:35:08on what that road alignment is for uh Claire as well as Gordon and what that looks like and

2:35:14whether it's active transportation including bike lanes and with the sidewalks and pedestrian

2:35:18roads so all of those will be options that will come out of the EA process there'll be various

2:35:23options come forward and then there's the recommended one that comes out and that will take a look at it

2:35:27in conjunction with our you know transportation master plan that's recently done uh we're working

2:35:32on our active transportation and pedestrian plan so all that will be considered and fed into those

2:35:36those processes and what those roads ultimately look like um and then what the site plan looks like

2:35:41once we get there and as uh the applicant has indicated we don't know timing so we will wait

2:35:47for that and see what policies and programs we're in place at that time okay and just a comment

2:35:52if I may mr. Mayor uh yeah just so we're to clout sir Colostin's comments this area is starting to

2:36:00see a lot more uh independent small businesses and I know first capital has been very respectful of

2:36:06their long-term lease holders throughout Canada and uh you know I've personally witnessed as well

2:36:12growing up in Vancouver uh some of the transformations first capital is made to some of the commercial

2:36:17plazas you guys have acquired and some of the work that you guys have done have been very

2:36:21spectacular and in turn you've supported a lot of small businesses that have occupied those spaces

2:36:27for a long time and I just say that uh because uh there's a fear that some of these spaces can be

2:36:33gentrified especially in the commercial ground floor and we just hope that we can maintain some

2:36:37flexibility and some open mindedness especially for how Clair Road looks down the road because

2:36:45it is right now a busy uh transportation uh arterial corridor and there's an expectation

2:36:55especially along Claire and and Maltby and Hawkins that uh we are able to soften up those

2:37:02sections of Claire um and I know I just say all this because the plans are long ways away

2:37:09so there's opportunity to kind of how the public provides feedback for what how we imagine the

2:37:15the frontage configurations look like and yeah I would really consider as well how can you guys

2:37:22from the private side help to create some alignment and opportunities for you know how that road

2:37:28configuration looks because there are uh significant issues regarding safety that are pertinent um

2:37:35and we don't want you know we're still a baby here in Guelph uh we're not quite used to the mixed use

2:37:44just quite yet but if we're going to do a trial run on how these conversations are facilitated

2:37:52if you guys can open up these conversations especially to the public for you know how we're

2:37:56going to address traffic circulation that would put a lot of people at ease and have a lot more

2:38:02people buy into the plans that you guys are trying to put forward so that's just my two cents um

2:38:07looking forward to more conversations and what staff have to say as well thank you all right thank you

2:38:15um nothing for me to take back to staff um my only comment is is a repeat I wish you'd gone higher

2:38:24to be honest with you I wish I wish like on the corner of Hawkins and Claire you did like an 18

2:38:30story there it's not near like any residential really that would be a bother you could have had

2:38:34more commercial I think the commercial is still a needed amenity in in that area so I I I think you

2:38:42you think you could have done a bit more on the commercial side I know that there's justification

2:38:46through the report for future on commercial but there there was I think some good thinking in the

2:38:52past I'm giving credit before my time to the commercial node um that were the commercial

2:38:59nodes that were done across the city for for the reasons why there's commercial in these areas

2:39:05which include jobs too right so there's the employment part too right so I just uh I would say

2:39:11I'm like I get that you're basically you're basically already allowed to do this anyways

2:39:17I think that's probably a big takeaway you're like you're already allowed to sort of do this

2:39:21you're just asking for a little bit more here and there and we get the variances that are required

2:39:25for certain site specific things we get all that but I I would say that if you can talk to staff

2:39:32about about the commercial loss there I I would personally appreciate that moving forward okay

2:39:41and if there's a way to do the math and move some things the chess pieces around to accommodate that

2:39:47um for your own future development and performer and more residential which we get

2:39:55but also try to hold on to as much commercial space as possible I think that's something that I would

2:40:00really appreciate okay um that's it I think staff you're good okay and thank you to the public

2:40:08so call the vote is anyone just against the receiving of this application

2:40:12okay nobody thank you very much thanks for your time again thank you to the public as well we

2:40:18appreciate it okay um we are you know what I think it's warranted a five minute five minute

2:40:25break we know we see some people ready to to jump into the next one but five minutes won't kill

2:40:30anybody so let's let's just take a five minute break before the parkland dedication bylaw exemption

2:40:35matter uh it is right now 751 let's be five minutes everybody come on back as soon as you can

2:45:26all right this is your 30 second warning everybody my friend's online if you could just

2:45:31throw your camera on so I can see enough for quorum all right thank you counselor Gibson

2:46:08Dayton okay everyone I'm going to call the meeting uh back to order we only got one item left the

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

3:58:33councillor gibson are you okay to uh move those bylaws for us please yep uh that by oh thank you

3:58:41for putting up on the screen i have it here as well but that bylaws 2025-21133 2025-21139

3:58:50and bylaw 2025-21147 be approved subject to section 28411 section 4 of the municipal act

3:59:00i apologize i'm getting a bad cold i'm losing my voice all right no problem uh how about

3:59:08fayton your ward mate second that awesome thank you any questions on the bylaws

3:59:13no okay i got a call of those anyone against those nobody that's unanimous thank you uh looking for

3:59:22adjournment is councillor howes are good to help me out with that all right and how about clausen

3:59:27you're gonna help me out with seconding that okay that's good and is anyone against adjournment

3:59:34nobody okay thank you everyone have a great night take care

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