The Council Roundup (June 2022)

An overview of what's happening at our local council meetings

Waterloo:

At Waterloo council’s June 13th meeting, council voted (against staff’s recommendation) to reduce speed limits on residential roads to 30 km/hour. Staff were recommending a reduction to 40 km/hour because “people are less likely to be killed or hurt in collisions at lower speeds, and because 40 km/h has more support among people and agencies.” However, ward 2 councillor, Royce Bodaly proposed a reduction to 30km/hr instead and that passed 5-3 (councillors Royce Bodaly, Jeff Henry, Tenille Bonoguore, Diane Freeman, and Jen Vasic in favour). The new reduced speed will be phased in beginning this year, with completion expected in 2025. Last Fall, Kitchener voted to reduce its residential speed limit to 40 km/hour.

Waterloo council also unanimously approved an affordable rental housing grant program. According to the city’s press release, “The program will help not-for-profits offset some of the costs, including fees/charges, of creating and/or retaining affordable housing units through a grant.” Staff are preparing to accept applications to this program as early as this Fall.

At the council meeting two weeks later, council approved two affordable grant applications. Receiving support are: 

• Parkwood Mennonite Home Inc., for 730 New Hampshire Street. 

• Region of Waterloo, for 555 Beechwood Drive.

Have you noticed more e-scooters around lately? On June 27th, Waterloo Council approved the Region’s pilot micro-mobility implementation plan. That means e-scooters are permitted on “all multi-use trails, municipal roads of 50 km/h or less, and all municipal roads with boulevard multi-use paths and/or reserved bike lanes”. 

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Region of Waterloo:

The Region of Waterloo raised the income limits for the Affordable Transit Program by 15% at a cost of $120,000/year, at its June 7th meeting. The program “provides a 48% discount on the price of a monthly pass, stored value or MobilityPlus tickets.” Learn more about the program, including about how to apply, on the GRT website.

The region continues its work on the Official Plan review, presenting a draft amendment to council at the end of June, which included “a recommended approach to growth, as well as draft policies related to affordable housing, economic prosperity, Indigenous relationships and reconciliation, equity and inclusion, growth management, and transformational climate action to support all residents.” Additional information on the Regional Official Plan review process, including upcoming public meetings (July 27th), can be found on EngageWR.

Of course, what the Region is currently making headlines for is their approach to the encampment at Victoria and Weber. I wrote a Citified post last month on how we got to this point. Much has happened since then and you can expect a more fulsome update on that from me soon. Until then, here are a few notes on what the Region has been doing in response to the encampment.

At the June 22nd meeting, several people, including some residents from the encampment, delegated to Regional Council. If you have time, I recommend watching the delegates speak to this issue as it was extremely informative and helpful in understanding what is happening at the encampment and what’s at risk if the Region decides to evict these residents.

One of the ongoing issues around encampments is the so-called ‘encampment risk assessment’ which is used by regional staff to assess whether the encampment is ‘safe’. There is little public information that I can find on this tool, but here is some information from the April 27th staff report (starting on page 114):

“Part of the development of a coordinated approach and response to encampments will include the creation of an encampment risk assessment. This risk assessment will enable stakeholders like Street Outreach, Municipal Enforcement, and Waterloo Region Police Services to assess the factors of risk that are present at an encampment. Some of the factors that are being discussed in creating this risk assessment include:

• Location: surroundings, proximity to services, identification of landowner, and impact on neighbourhood.

• Encampment Residents: number and demographic characteristics of residents, presence of pets, and residents’ connection to housing, community, health, and income support services.

• Encampment Description: number of tents and structures, presence of biohazards, presence of fire safety risks, proximity of site to roadways, train tracks, or other hazards.

Based on the factors present at an encampment and the level of associated risk, the encampment will be assessed as vacant, low risk, medium risk, or high risk. The risk assessment can also provide an overview of any steps being taken to mitigate the risk factors. The risk factors identified through the assessment will help to identify next steps and recommendations for responding to the encampment. Responses could include: coordination of clean-up of a vacant site, supporting encampment residents to connect with housing, community, health, and income support services, supports/resources for garbage removal and sharps clean-up, and enforcement. This assessment tool is being formalized as part of the development of the coordinated approach to encampments protocol. Once finalized, this protocol and the encampment risk assessment will be shared with Regional Council and other stakeholders.” 

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Kitchener:

Similar to Waterloo, Kitchener has also approved the region’s micro-mobility plan to permit e-scooters.

You may have heard that Kitchener now allows backyard homes (also called ADUs, or Accessory Dwelling Units). At the June 20th council meeting, staff provided an update on that program, now one year in. A total of nine building permits have been issued for backyard homes (and 21 permits for semi-detached duplex units). Well, that’s not going to solve the housing crisis on its own, but staff have issued a survey to those who applied for a permit in hopes of learning what they can do to help expand the program.

In that same meeting, council approved “moving forward with an equity-driven community engagement process to gather ideas and feedback from the community related to the Queen Victoria Statue in Victoria Park.” This is expected to take 8-12 months and, according to the press release, “will provide opportunities for the public to provide input while prioritizing the voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized community members.”

Council also made a final decision on the proposal for Victoria and Park. This proposal has 3 towers (38 storey, a 36 storey, and a 25 storey building) with a combined total of 1124 homes. This proposed development was discussed in committee on June 13th and you can see my Twitter thread from that meeting, if you want additional details. Council deferred a decision to the June 20th council meeting, where it was voted down, against staff recommendations. Again, if interested, check out this thread from that discussion. You can also watch that June 20th meeting where this, and all of the above issues, were discussed.

I was somewhat surprised, and quite disappointed, to see this proposal (and its $2 million contribution to affordable housing) voted down. I suspect that this will be appealed and taken to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Of interest, is that this is a somewhat unique situation where staff recommended the proposal but council voted against it. If I understand the process correctly, that means that city council and city staff will be on opposite sides at the tribunal.

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Those are the main issues that caught my attention at council last month. Most local councils do not meet in July, so the next Council Round-up will focus on August council meetings. As always, thanks for reading!