Moore Avenue Neighbourhood Meeting

Residents of the Moore Avenue/Hales Crescent area are invited to a neighbourhood chat on Thursday, May 14th at 7:00 pm in the Friendship Room at Harcourt United Church (Dean Avenue).

Ward 5 Councillors Lise Burcher and Leanne Piper, along with University of Guelph Off-Campus Living Manager, Kathryn Hofer, will be in attendance.

Topics for discussion:  current conditions in the area, challenges and opportunities for improvement.

For more information, contact Lise at 519-362-2207 or Leanne at 519-824-9000.

Public Tours of New City Hall

Guelph’s New City Hall is likely to be one of the most popular buildings during this year’s Doors Open Guelph event on Saturday, April 25.

The building’s impressive design and the restored Winter Fair Wall are the most striking exterior features, and the event gives the public one of its first opportunities to see the inside of the building.

Visitors will also learn about the building’s green features. City Hall is built to meet the LEED Silver Standard (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) set out by the Canadian Green Building Council. Its use of local and eco-friendly building materials, efficient lighting, its green roof and the heating and cooling systems are designed to reduce the City’s use of water and energy and lower its environmental footprint.

Each year Doors Open Guelph celebrates Guelph’s heritage and local culture by offering free public tours through buildings all over the city. The annual event is organized in partnership by the Guelph Arts Council, Heritage Guelph and City of Guelph Tourism Services. Visit guelpharts.ca/doorsopenguelph for tour maps, site listings and more information.

Lodging Houses

I am opening a new blog heading about Lodging Houses.  There has been a lot of discussion on this topic lately in Ward 5.  Let’s open the dialogue….

But first, here is some background on why, how and where we have Lodging Houses:

http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?smocid=1886

To start the discussion, here is a post added to the W5 blog this morning (followed by my response).

From Walter:

Lodging House Issue Ward 5

Quick question…..why will Ward 5 Councillors not take a position on the Ward 5 Lodging House issue currently facing the City of Guelph – as per the meeting at City Hall March 11th, 2009?

It would seem Ward 5 Councillors either need to support the residents of Ward 5 or disapprove of their actions.

My response:

Hi Walter – that’s a fair question. I hope the answer below helps to set the record straight.

Your question is really two questions:

1) Do I support the neighbourhood in their opposition of the case-specific 29 Hands Drive application?
2) Do I support the neighbourhood in amending the by-laws of the city to protect and preserve quality of life in residential neighbourhoods?

The first question is one I cannot, will not and should not answer. It’s not that I don’t want to — I just can’t and won’t — sorry about that. It is a case-specific dispute related to two applicants and the legal interpretation of the Lodging House certification process. A councillor should never take a public position on a matter of potential litigation between two property owners. It would be inappropriate and unwise. It compromises the city and city staff. I have no authority (and neither does Council) to negate a staff decision on a matter within their delegated jurisdiction.

The second question I am quite comfortable to answer. I absolutely support the neighbourhood in recommending changes to any and all city by-laws that will further enhance the protection of quality of life in our residential neighbourhoods. I have stated this publicly on several occasions.

I am currently working directly with the Rickson Ridge neighbourhood group and city staff to recommend improvement in the enforcement of noise, parking and property standards by-laws. This small working group has come up with some very constructive ideas to make some positive changes.

I also believe that (as a result of the current Hands Drive situation) we have identified several potential deficiencies in the implementation of our Lodging House certification process and the wording of our Shared Rental Housing policies. These need to be addressed. I support the neighbourhood in this action and will follow through with my commitment at the March 11th meeting to bring this matter to Council through the appropriate political and administrative process. This does not mean that I support throwing out the by-law. Well-run, well-maintained, well-spaced, legal, certified, lodging houses have a place in our city.

I do understand the sentiments in your neighbourhood. My initiation into municipal politics was as a neighbourhood activist dealing with a rezoning application for a high density off-campus student residence. I have four lodging houses within two blocks of my house, where my husband and I are raising a family. I know what a good lodging house and a bad lodging house look like and what impact they can have on a neighbourhood — good and bad.

On a related note, I have serious concerns about the proliferation of “four-up-two-down” houses that can legally exist on a whole street,without any separation distance. We, as a Council, need to look at this concurrently with potential amendments to the Lodging House certification process.

I hope this answers your question(s). I am happy to continue the dialogue with you and your neighbourhood and look forward to some positive solutions.

Leanne

Baker Street Redevelopment Concepts

Four redevelopment concepts for the Baker Street Library are available for review as part of the agenda package for Monday’s Council meeting. Link here: http://guelph.ca/uploads/Council_and_Committees/council_agenda_021709.pdf.

Go to page 36 to see Baker Street drawings.

Please tell me what you think — I really need some feedback on this.

Thanks

March Move-in For New City Hall

From Hans Loewig, CAO

I’m pleased to be in touch with good news this morning about the completion of City Hall and our move-in schedule.

Resulting from a thorough inventory of work that remained after Urbacon’s termination, the City’s general contractor estimates that City Hall will be substantially complete by the end of March 2009.  Departmental move-ins are being scheduled to take place even earlier in mid-March.

A report containing these details will be presented to Council next Monday night.

New Main Library – Size Matters

From Norm McLeod, Chief Librarian

Dear Council Members:

Numbers often tell a compelling story. For 125 years Guelph has enjoyed the services of a highly successful public library. In recent years demand for all of the GPL’s expanding services has grown exponentially. As Rob O’Flanagan reported in a recent article in the Guelph Mercury (Feb11, 2008), the age of the Internet has not killed libraries, it has invigorated them.

Circulation of library materials has increased by 49% since 2000, more than four times the rate of Guelph’s population growth. Demand for library materials has more than doubled in the past twenty-five years, with over 1.73 million items borrowed in 2008.
Numbers also tell a compelling story about the space needs for the new central library. The figures highlighted in the attached PowerPoint presentation do just that. Originally presented to the library board at their December meeting, “Right-sizing the Guelph Public Library” supports the need for a new central branch of at least 90,000 square feet.
This presentation will be shared with a number of community organizations and will be made available to the general public via the library’s website. However we first wanted to share our findings with the mayor, members of city council and the senior management team.

We have also included a condensed web-friendly version:

Download document:

right_sizing_gpl4

December 24 Winter Snow Removal Status

An update from Murray Cameron, Operations Department:

On behalf of the Operations Department, I’d like to advise that our staffing and equipment resources are being tapped to assist with the prompt clean-up of this latest snow event.  The clearing of arterial and collector roads is well under way and as of 8:00am, a plow out of our residential streets commenced as snow accumulation has exceeded our 8cm standard.  We anticipate this task to take anywhere between 14 to 18 hours to complete, but may take up to 24 hours depending on resources especially during the Holiday Season.

Once the residential plow out has been completed, our forces will follow behind to spread traction material as required to complete that task. At the same time, priority sidewalks and hand-shoveling locations are being addressed. City owned facility lot clearing, remaining residential sidewalk plowing and hand clearing of city owned steps and bus stops will also take place accordingly. We anticipate this activity, including bus stop clearing, will be completed by December 27th. Hauling of snow in the Downtown area commenced Monday night and was completed last night, in anticipation of this snowfall.

Milder temperatures are forecast for tomorrow, so localized flooding may be realized.  We ask constituents who know the locations of their street catch basins to assist us by clearing them if possible. We thank you for your continued cooperation and patience during the execution of this storm cleanup.

Best regards and Happy Holidays,

Murray

Winter Snow Removal Measures

The month of December has delivered a higher than average snowfall.   We receive many calls about snow removal this time of year.   Rest assured – our city staff are working to keep our roadways clear and safe — before, during and after an anticipated snowfall.

A summary of the standard measures taken during a snowfall can be found at:

http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?itemid=76621&smocid=1627

If you have questions or concerns about your neighbourhood, please do not hesitate to contact our Operations Department  at 519-837-5629 or operations@guelph.ca.
Happy Holidays and a Safe New Year to All!

Conservation Review Board Recommends Designation of 47 Alice Street

The Conservation Review Board has released its decision with respect to 47-49 Alice Street.  The CRB conclusion is:

“Based on the evidence heard, it is the recommendation of the Conservation Review Board that the property know municipally as 47 Alice Street and described at Lot 40 and Part Lot 39, Plan 244 in the City of Guelph be protected under s.29 of the Ontario Heritage Act R.S.O., Chapter 018 as amended 2006.”

Unlike the OMB, the CRB makes a recommendation on its findings as it relates to the Act, however, final decision on designation still rests with Council.   City staff will prepare a report and the matter will likely find its way back to Council early in the new year.

A full copy of the CRB decision can be found here:

crb-decision_alicest

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Sidewalks are For Walking

I’ve been asked by several constituents about my lone vote against residential sidewalk clearing last Monday evening…

I support the city clearing arterial road sidewalks, bus stops, central business district sidewalks and public facilities.  However, I believe residential side streets should be eliminated from the 2010 budget (not this year).  I also support an assistance program for residents who are not physically able to clear sidewalks.

My reasons for supporting the discontinuation of residential sidewalk clearing are as follows:

1.  The quality of sidewalk clearing is not adequate to make the sidewalks walkable.  The current ploughs leave a compacted layer of snow and ice, which is more dangerous to walk on than a sidewalk that has been cleared by residents with a snow shovel or snow blower.  If our goal is to keep our city walkable, we need residents to play a role.   Last year, most pedestrians (including mail carriers and school children) walked on the road, because the sidewalks were not walkable.

2.  Sidewalk ploughs currently dispatched to clear residential streets are not able to meet the established turnaround time for clearing snow.  These same ploughs can be reassigned to clear arterial roads and bus stops faster.

3.  Phase 2 of the Sidewalk Winter Control report will examine new and improved ways to increase the quality of residential sidewalk clearing, ie. using snow blowers vs. mechanical ploughs.  The report states that the use of snow blowers takes a lot more time and resources = the cost will go up dramatically!

4.  50% of residents surveyed (as part of the service review process) indicated they would be willing to clear their own sidewalks, which means we, as a community, can really make a difference.

5.  We are one of three municipalities left in Ontario that still clear residential side streets.  We need to ask ourselves, as we move forward as a growing municipality, if this is a service that is worth continuing, given rising fuel prices and increased development.  Are we creating an expectation that we will deliver a service that is not sustainable?

In the end, I respect the democratic process and the collective voice of Council. The vote passed 11-1 to continue residential sidewalk clearing and therefore, I respect the decision of Council.   We will now move forward with Phase 2 of the service review — to find efficiencies and improvements in delivery of the service.

LP