Corporate climate action plan approved

All right, everybody. If I could have my colleagues on online. Just to put their cameras on. I'd appreciate it if you're there. Thank you. Right off. The bat. I have a regress. Official regrets from councilor Clawson for tonight. And we're also looking to move into a closed session. Before I do that, though, does anyone have any disclosure of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the matters for closed session. Hearing and seeing none. Thank you. So we have just two items. That are on our closed agenda, and they're titled Chief Administrative Officer 2026 Performance objectives. Update. Section 2392, B and D of the municipal act regarding personal matters. About unidentifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees and labor relations or employee. Negotiations. And the second one is Sloan Hill park encroachments section 2392

f of the municipal act regarding advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose. Those are the only two items that we would look to be discussing. As our colleague of mine that be willing to move councilor Richardson and alt will second thank you. I'll call the vote, if that's okay. Is anyone against those two items? To talk about enclosed. Nobody. That's unanimous. Thank you very much. So we'll have that meeting now. And then we will look to have a summary when we come out of closed session to continue. With the open. I probably will do the summary. At 06:00 when the public meeting. Is actually to start at six. So just so if anyone is watching online or. Is in the room. Which nobody is. Then just be prepared that we probably will not come back out until 06:00. No matter. What to start at that time. Okay? So thank you very much.

All right. Good evening, everybody. It is about five minutes to six, and normally our open session meeting would start at six. We've had a little bit of a delay, so we are going to start the open session. At 615. Okay, so we're sorry about that. I will give the. In camera summary. At that time when we start the open session. Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, everybody, this is your 1 minute friendly warning. Before we start our open session.

Okay, if I could just have my friends online. Maybe throw their cameras on just so I can see how many are there to see if we have quorum. Okay? We do. I am going to call the meeting to order in the open session right now. We did move into a closed session earlier around 430, and as described on the open agenda, we had two items that we went in camera on. The first one was the chief administrative officer, 2026 performance objectives update and the second one was the Sloan Hill park encroachments. I'll just start with the second one. As the high level summary there. So we did give. Direction to staff in regards to the Sloan Hill park encroachment issue in regards to the chief administrative officer. 2026. Performance objective update. We have actually a motion that's coming. From closed session into the open session right now, and I'll just ask councilor Koran. To consider moving that, please. Sure happy to move it. Seconded by councilor Richardson that the report 2026, chief administrative officer performance

review proposed objectives dated January 20, 2026, be approved. Great. Thank you very much. And just before I call to vote on that, because this happens every year. And what we changed several years ago was to actually. Have. Once it's approved, the CAO actually come in open session to do a delegation and presentation to everybody about what these objectives actually are, and that will be happening in the next couple of weeks. We're going to have Tara come and speak about that, just so everyone knows. From the open session. She'll come and she'll speak about that. Here as well. Okay, in a couple of weeks. So with that, I'll call the vote. If that's okay, everybody. Yeah. Okay. Is anybody against? Nobody. So that's unanimous. Thank you very much. And that's the only two issues. That we had for our in camera, and that's my summary for that. So let's, kick off our open session meeting now. Stand if you're able, please. As we recognize our national anthem.

Thanks, everybody. We'll just have a moment of silent reflection before we move into our territorial acknowledgment.

Great. Thank you. As we gather, let us take time to reflect on our privilege to live and work here in Guelph. A city built over rich indigenous histories. We're guests here. And to reflect upon the responsibility to care for this land, the people who live here today and the generations to come. If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation, we should take pause and make those decisions with intention and gratitude. This place we call Guelph is served as traditional lands and a place of refuge for many peoples over time, but more specifically the Anawaterok and the whole Nishoni this land is held as the treaty lands and territory with the Mississaugas. Of the credit first. Nation. Coil flies directly adjacent to the Haldeman track and as part of a long establish traditional hunting grounds for the six nations of the Grand river. Many First Nations, Inuit and mat people. Who have come from across Turtle island call Guelph home today. Thank you. Is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the items in front of us tonight. I'm not hearing anything, not seeing anyone. So I'll consider that matter closed. We do have confirmation of the open minutes, and that is from the meeting held on November 25. December

9 and 16th, 2025. And the open minutes of the committee, the whole meeting that was held on December the second, 2025, to be confirmed and as recorded and without being read, would summon. Be willing. Busatool and Hauser. Thank you. Anything further on the minutes, anybody? No. Okay, I call the vote. Is anyone against those minutes? Okay. Hearing and seeing no one that's unanimous, I'll consider that matter closed. We have a presentation to kick us off on our corporate climate action plan from both Ian Scott and Brian Hoyan, and I'm going to ask both of them to get prepared to come up and give us that presentation, and then after that we have a couple of delegations. As well. So welcome to them. But, Ian, I'll kick it on over to you right away. Go. Ahead.

I'm ian scott. Thanks. Sorry. Good evening, mayor and counsel. I'm Ian Scott, general manager of facilities and energy. Management. And today we are here presenting to you the corporate climate action plan. This plan builds on momentum and work that the corporation is currently undertaking and has direct control over. This includes electrifying our transit and fleet, along with investments into our buildings for energy reduction. Such as led lighting upgrades, building envelope upgrades and solar panel installations. These investments have saved the corporation $11 million since 2018 and continued to save $3 million annually on our utility bills. The annual savings will continue to grow as utility rates increase into the future. Moving forward. This plan provides a roadmap for reducing energy and greenhouse gases across. City operations to meet the corporation's climate and energy reduction goals for race to zero and 100% renewable energy by 2050. While there is still much work to do, the information presented today and investments in the associated actions provides measurable impacts,

reductions and returns to the corporation. And with that, I will turn it over. To Brian Hoolan, our manager of energy and climate change, to present the corporate climate action. Plan.

Okay. Back in May 2025, we presented the community call to Climate Action, which detailed the focus areas and actions for all residents, businesses and institutions in the city of Guelph. Referring back to the sphere of influence model. Municipalities operate across three levels. The community call to climate action spoke to where the municipality has indirect control and limited or no control. And plays more of a supporting role to foster and encourage climate action in the community. Like the Gulf Greener Homes program. Free Gulf transit bus rides and healthy landscape visits. During that council meeting, we also said we would come back to you and discuss the direct control part. So. This is the part where we're more focused on the ways we can support. And how we run our business. This would be optimizing the municipal operations and what the corporation can do with the assets. We manage to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Defining further on energy and emissions for municipal operations. This is a diagram that illustrates the corporate energy and emissions boundary. Within the dash lines is our operations, where we include the energy usage and emissions from all buildings. Like city hall parks, washrooms, West End Community center and also the more industrial and process driven facilities like water pumping stations and wastewater treatment at the water Resource Recovery Center. We also include things like street lights and traffic signals. Also included is all the fleet vehicles that drive around and provide services throughout the city. And these include vehicles like, well, transit buses, ambulances, plows, fire trucks. We also look at the energy we generate, like the biomethane or digester gas. We recover from waste or the electricity from the solar panels on a bunch of our buildings. Finally, we also need to consider things outside of our operations, specifically where we get our energy from. What different types of energy and how clean or dirty they are, like where our electricity comes from. Say, nuclear, solar, natural gas

plants, et cetera. So why a corporate climate action plan?

The corporate climate action plan sets the direction and roadmap. On strategic actions that are needed to continue building on our progress and get towards our targets. And as we continue that progress through smart investments, we keep reducing operating costs by lowering our utility bills and reduce exposure to increasing rates. These cost savings really come from being good environmental stewards that eliminate resource waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Overall, running a strategic, fiscally responsible, and environmentally conscious municipality is what Guelph residents expect. To the corporation. As we've been at this for some time, it's good to check in on how we're doing. Here's our progress for each year up to 2024. Since we set the baseline back in 2018. On the left in the blue bars is the total energy use. This is the amount of energy from all different types of fuel we use, like electricity, natural gas, diesel gasoline. Last

year, we used 27.5 million less kilowatt hour equivalent of energy than we did back in 2018. This is more than a 17% drop compared to the 2018 baseline. On the right, in the gray bars is the greenhouse gas emissions per capita. This accounts for how much of all of the different fuels and energy sources we use and how clean or dirty they are and puts that against wealth population as an indicator of how the municipality is growing. Here. We are also seeing long term reductions with more than an 11% drop from 2018 levels. This progress is not only good for the planet, it's also good for the pocketbook. Energy costs are a large part of the operating budget. The annual spend on energy and fuel is around $14 million, 4 million of that on flea fuels, 10 million on facility energy. On top of that, energy rates fluctuate a lot, excluding rates dipping during Covid. Overall they increase over time. If we use the same

amount of energy each year as we did in 2018. And were charged at the actual rates over the years, we would have paid over $3 million. More than we have in real life. This is what the top row is showing. Our savings from escalating energy rates. But we did better than that. We did better than just maintaining our levels of energy usage. In reality, we became more energy efficient. Since 2018 and lowered how much energy we consumed. Every unit of energy we don't use. That's a unit of energy we don't. Pay for. By using less, we saved more than $8.2 million. Putting this together. Since 2018, the accumulated savings from energy efficiency efforts has been over $11.2 million. Worthy of note. The cost savings is even more when you add the millions of dollars of grants and rebates we've received for energy management projects. Essentially investment in energy projects, unlock grants and rebates that discount the capital costs. So as we see good progress and cost savings, there's a strong case to maintain the momentum

and keep moving forward towards our climate change target. Let's refresh on the climate change targets. The municipality is a part of the community. And supports wealth's race to zero. By doing its part to help the community reduce per capita emissions by 63% by 2030. Against the 2018 baseline and become a net zero carbon community by 2050. Putting this in the context for the corporation and applying population growth projections to achieve 63% reduction. By 2030, this works out to about 10,000 tons. For the corporation.

To remove the 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. There are key areas of focus across the corporation. Policies and standards such as training, setting policies and operating procedures, and tracking energy and emissions. Having high performing buildings through reviewing building systems, implementing energy retrofits and zero carbon new construction. Optimizing process equipment to be more energy efficient through process upgrades and recovering waste heat. Transitioning to low emissions fleet vehicles by right sizing the fleet, building, charging infrastructure and going electric. And generating renewable energy where we get further utilization out of our assets by installing solar on facility roofs and convert waste to energy. Diving into these areas of focus. Key strategic actions have been identified that will move the needle and achieve the 10,000 tons reduction. For policies and standards. Maintaining ISO 50,001 is important, as it is the systematic backbone of how we manage corporate energy and emissions by ensuring we track data, identify opportunities, develop

action plans, implement those actions and. Monitor and verify performance. It's one thing to install a new piece of energy efficient equipment. It's another to make sure you run it right to get the benefits. HVAC systems for heating and cooling. Corporate facilities are the largest energy users. When looking around the whole facility portfolio. By implementing clear building temperature standards for the different zones, we can better operate, maintain and optimize the HVAC system with no capital cost. For municipal facilities. We need to consider both new and existing buildings and how to get them to be high performing. For new buildings. Nothing comes for free. When we build a new building and add it to our portfolio, we use more energy to build it and run it. We have to ensure that we don't go out of control and aren't just adding in a wasteful way. New facilities like. The South End Community center and Baker library are prime examples. By meeting zero carbon building standards, where they have been designed to be well insulated, use energy efficient

heat pump technology throughout and recover heat when would normally be wasted. It greatly reduces that impact. This also applies to our existing building stock too. Through energy audits and billing recommissioning, we must continue to implement capital retrofit. Projects and operating changes. Like upgrading HVAC systems to heat pumps, optimizing building controls or LED lighting. Retrofits. Some facilities we have include industrial process equipment, although more complex and at bigger scale, there are key strategic actions that can yield significant emissions reduction and cost savings. The organic waste processing facility were residential green bin waste gets processed and converted to compost is approaching the need for refurbishment in the coming years. This. Is an opportunity to further optimize this process by introducing anaerobic digestion to recover methane and convert it to renewable biofuel that can be sold and injected into the natural gas grid and used as a renewable alternative by others. Anaerobic digestion isn't new to Guelph. The Water Resource Recovery center. Has incorporated this into its wastewater

treatment process for years. This facility recovers the gases from the digester and burns it in engines that generate electricity. And process heat. As the cogen equipment and infrastructure are getting on in years. They will need replacement in the future. This is another enhancement opportunity. For process. Heat can be recovered from the wastewater stream and leaving it all, leaving all of the digester gas to be converted to a renewable biofuel that we can sell to the grid. As mentioned, there are more complex and bigger scale projects. Further work is required to take the findings from preliminary investigations to a detailed level to determine more of the technical constraints as well as the capital requirements to determine how best to deliver these projects. Significant emissions come from fossil fuels used to power our fleet vehicles by transitioning to low emission flea vehicles. We are reducing ghg emissions in a big way. A lot of good work is already underway with the electrifying with electrifying the conventional 40 foot buses, the largest fleet grouping responsible for the most

emissions. With 19 electric buses now in service and charging infrastructure being incorporated into the new Gulf Transit and fleet services facility. More electric buses can be used so we can continue to provide affordable public transit. In an energy efficient way. For mobility buses. Electric options are available and are being explored and evaluated for when lifecycle replacement comes up. Good progress is being made with light duty vehicles. As more options become available on the market. That said, there are more complicated vehicles to electrify the solid waste packers. Another vehicle that does lots of travel, also has a lot of heavy equipment on it that makes it tough to electrify. Other municipalities and businesses have piloted electrified waste packers, and we will monitor their progress. And see what can be adopted. Finally, generating renewables is a way to offset our energy consumption and emissions and a way to get more utilization out of our sites to reduce energy costs or generate revenue. The corporation has expanded its

facilities over solar pv portfolio from 78 over 500 kw over the past few years. On a larger scale, the East View landfill is a big opportunity to install ground mount Solar on the lens that can't be used for much else. The design of the system must consider continued gas management, stormwater and other environmental impacts. Looking at these corporate strategic climate actions, there is a range of no cost or low cost measures. Through to large capital investments, with the overall investment estimated at 247,000,000 over ten years. Alternative project delivery models will also be considered. These actions lay out a practical path of how to invest resources and capital so we can build and improve. At the times, we need to replace infrastructure and equipment and do so in a more energy efficient manner. And through these investments, significant energy savings can be had. Which, as demonstrated,

reduces energy costs and mitigate risks. Forever increasing energy rates in a big way. Not only is it smart money, it reduces corporate emissions by 12,452 tons of carbon. Dioxide equivalent, which gets us to our 63% reduction target levels and really moves the needle towards net zero by 2050. And on that, I will hand it back to Ian Scott. Thank you, Brian. So the plan today or the plan before you today for council's approval as per the recommendation on the screen. Presents core investments to move the corporation towards our goals of race to zero and 100% renewable. Energy by 2050. The recommended investments have defined and measurable returns for the corporation in both energy and greenhouse gas. Reductions along with the associated cost savings. This can be seen through the savings the city is currently experiencing from previous energy retrofits and replacements. Along with solar panel installations, the greenhouse gas. Reductions and savings will increase as

the city progresses with transit and fleet electrification. Many of the actions recommended within this plan are in alignment or have a direct impact on other key initiatives within the city. Examples of this include long term affordability by reducing our energy usage and associated costs or indirectly supporting the community, called a climate action, by providing cleaner and more sustainable forms of public transportation. This plan is the next step towards meeting the city's long term goals with the associated actions, realizing a reduction of approximately 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Meeting our interim target. Of 63% reduction for greenhouse gas emissions. More work is still required to meet our long term climate goals by 2000 and. 50 after the actions contained within this plan are completed. Staff will continue to work to advance this plan and the associated actions. Updates will be brought to council, as appropriate, through the multiyear budget or the corporate energy reporting. As items become more defined as time progresses. And thank you. And with that, we will turn it back over to you, Mr. Mayor, and we'll be happy to answer any

questions. Great. Thank you very much. I think, if you don't mind, everybody, we just have two delegations and we might. As well hear from them and then we can wrap it up with questions back. And after they're done, okay? The first that we have on our list is martin collier. And joining us, I believe, by telephone, And Martin, I see your name on the screen. I believe you have to hit star six to. Unmute. Hello, mayor? Yes, we can hear you, and it's no more than five minutes. And so I'll interrupt if you're getting close to that point, but I'll. Turn it over to you, Martin. Your time will start when you start. Okay, go ahead. Okay. Hi, I'm Martin Collier here. As you know, I'm a sustainable transportation planner. And spokesperson for the residents for a safe speed. Vale Avenue RSSA we support sustainable transportation infrastructure where it meets the mobility needs of the most people at the lowest cost, while reducing emissions projects like the Emma Earl Bridge and speed Vale Rec.

Reconstruction exacerbate issues related to our environment, public safety, and city finances, especially in this Covid altered and tariffled tariff altered world we live in in terms of the corporate climate. Action plan, the RSSA recommends that staff update it to include transparent calculations, evaluations, and communications of environmental impact. Impacts from road and bridge construction projects. This includes embody GHD emissions from onsite and offsite construction of infrastructure. We'd like to see clause added to the city's. Procurement policy bylaw number 201-82-0259 the contractors provide the same data. When submitting tenders and while construction is taking place. Now, on the demand side of the equation, we like to see free parking passes. The free parking passes for 2400 city and police staff be phased out. The revenues should be earmarked. To sustainable modes that reduce ghds. Guelph Brands itself is a progressive community making a difference. But on the transportation front, it appears we're failing where emissions. Are concerned. According to local journalist Adam Donaldson, 30% of the city's emissions come from 100,000 registered vehicles in Guelph, and Guelph Transit isn't providing a viable alternative. Of course, inbound vehicles

from across the GTHA contribute as well. In relation to emissions that the city has control over. The elephant in the room is how the selection and construction of. Road and bridge infrastructure increases CO2 emissions. Case in point is the MRL bridge, which doesn't help the majority of vulnerable road users traveling along and across Feedvale. It was extremely depressing to watch the destruction of speed river habitat due to the construction of this bridge to nowhere, even though it's proposed to reduce emissions due to increased. Biking and walking, which hasn't happened to date. The bridge must be analyzed for embodied g she's spewed during construction operations. This includes emissions from three sources. Burst from materials and equipments that were imported from all over the world and subsequently trucked. In from Ontario and Quebec and massive emissions spewing excavators, bulldozers. Trucks drove in and out of the destruction site each day. Diesel generators ran all week and off. And through weekends, when nobody was working the manufacturing and installation of concrete and. Steel are two major contributes to climate change. The bridge is constructed with 35 slabs of concrete each weighing five tons. That's 175 tons shipped from Rodney, we believe. And four massive steel beams totaling 164

meters. I have no idea how much they weigh, but they are shipped 900 km from Quebec City. Second is transport emissions from contractors. There were maybe up to 50 companies working on sites since habitat and climate destruction started in late 2023. Male engineers contracted some laborers. All who lived outside Guelph drove their f 150s from locations 50 to 100 km. Away for at least one month. One looby construction drove 390. Sorry, about 320,000. Km. For the eight month projects, it'll take at least 390,000 bicycle. Pedbridge trips over to recover emissions from the spun construction worker. Third is the emissions by loss of natural CO2 absorption due to destruction and loss of habitat according to U of T Professor Shoshana sex. The calculation of the embodied GHD in a construction project requires first accurate assessment of the quantity and types of material. Materials and energy needed to construct the facility and second, the GHD intensity of the materials energy use and construction. I can go into more detail on that if you'd like, calculating and communicating PhDs in a transparent way must happen at the planning stage, but also at the procurement stage if it gets

that far. Goods and services. Bylaw number 201-82-0259 has a great definition of environmental sustainability, the protection and enhancement of the climate, ecology, and natural resorts for future generations through approaches that reduce carbon dependency, enhance energy resilience, conserve energy and resources. Another thing that the city has control. Over, but is not mentioned in the staff report. It's the free parking pass. It's. Provided to 2400 city and police staff. These should be phased out with revenues earmarked to sustainable modes that reduce ghgs. Eventually, council should phase out free parking on all street. City streets, city streets which isn't free. Hopefully that dishes and will be made through. The citywide parking strategy. So I don't have time to reiterate. Those three recommendations, but would be glad to do that, and we're grateful, if you will. Support them. I'm just sorry I couldn't be there with you in person, but. Wanted to save time and admissions instead. Thank you. And thank you for your delegation. We appreciate that. Is there any questions for Martin at this time? No. Okay. Thank you very much, Martin. It's all clear. Thank you,

sir. Okay. Take care. Evan Ferrari. Come on down. Evans here in person. Thank you for coming. And you know the drill of it. No more than five minutes. I'll turn it over. To you whenever you're ready. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of council. Professor Daria Taran from the University of Guelph was planning to co present with me this evening, but unfortunately he's come down with the flu and unable to make it. Professor Taran and I are in the early stages of a joint research project. I say. Us at emerge and I'm here somewhat prematurely. However, the corporate climate action plan encourage us to share our intentions of this research project publicly. This evening. First, I want to say how encouraged we are by the project staff has brought forward in the plan. At the same time, it's disappointing to see that five of the most significant projects fall outside of the city's ten year capital plan. That's where we believe that we can help. Emerge. Sustainability, in conjunction with Professor Tehran

from the University of Guelph, would like to advance. One of those projects as a community, call it project a climate project that we've called making climate lemonade. When the world hands us a lemon, let's make some lemonade. In the plan that's before you tonight. This project is referred to as the east view. Landfill site. Thus. The lemon. So the East View landfill site solar pv projects using available land at the landfill to generate solar power. We want to explore the feasibility of delivering this as a community invested solar project. In this model, solar electricity. Is generated and sold to the grid or to a large user, potentially the city of Guelph. The city would not be responsible for capital or operating costs. It would simply pay for the power. It receives local residences. Local residences and businesses could invest directly in the project, with minimum investments of as small as $1,000 this isn't about large investors. It's about making climate solutions and investment opportunities accessible

to as much of the community as possible. Instead of installing panels on their own rooftops, community members would receive bond style payments over the length of the contract. This also allows participation by renters, homeowners, the business community and without any of those without suitable rooftops. Community. Solar is not a new idea. There are a dozen examples across. Ontario, including at least four projects that have been operating in the city of Guelph for more than ten years. There are also Ontario based companies, at least two Ontario based companies that are capable of facilitating. This type of a project and have done so in, in the past. At this scale, we estimated. A capacity at the site, a solar capacity at the site of approximately 11 mw, which aligns closely with the staff, suggesting of somewhere between ten and 15 mw. We're a little conservative. I think on that end. Pardon me? For context, the city staff are suggesting ten to 15 mw. For context, the entire city. The entire community of Guelph. The city's average peak

electricity demand is 250 mw. So, as you can see, ten to 15 mw is a sizable amount. Of power that we could bring into the city. What makes making climate lemonade different is the challenge of building solar infrastructure on a former landfill. Site. Fortunately, there are examples we can learn from. In Calgary, the Shepherd landfill solar project was completed. In 2018 and 2019 and now generates enough electricity for. Approximately 750 homes. To put that into context, the size of the project that we would be talking about. At the ECU landfill site would be significantly over. The same amount of electricity significantly over 1000 homes. Hamilton has studied solar development. Solar development on its closed Glanford landfill site in Saskatoon operates solar alongside its landfill gas. Collection system. Like these projects, Eastview will come with technical and regulatory challenges. We are currently in the early stages of developing the research scope and criteria, and we recognize this as a long term effort that will take years to develop. There is considerable amount of background information we

need. Already. That's already available throughout the city's website or ask of council this evening. Is a simple one, that we request assistance from staff in accessing possible additional information as the research progresses, the. Information would allow us to better define the scope of our research and assess whether a community invested solar project at east us feasible. We look forward to sharing our findings with council and the broader community and helping to build a movement that gives Guelph residents the opportunity to invest in a local renewable energy project take meaning. And make climate lemonade. All right. Thank you, Evan. We appreciate your delegation. Especially if you're not feeling the best. So thank you for making the effort. I know. I have a question, but it looks like I saw some hands, so I'm. Just going to go. Sorry, councilor alt and Koran and Galler. And then if they don't ask. My question, then I will go. But you go first, Councilor Holt. Thank you very much, mayor. Bob. Through you to Mr. Ferrari, the delegate Mr.

Ferrari. I appreciate your metaphor of making climate lemonade. But what I heard from you, I think, is an elevator pitch. I was wondering if you could. Outline. In perhaps broader terms. How this community investment project. Might work. And. You'd mentioned other jurisdictions, but what I'm really curious about is Guelph. And so I'm wondering how Guelph compares to other communities in Ontario, and I guess if you have to go overseas to talk about it, fair enough. But I am quite curious about this through you, Mr. Mayor Guthrie, there are sort of two aspects. To this one is the actual landfill. And there are multiple examples of landfills being turned into solar. But through you, Mr. Mayor, I believe the counselor is specifically asking about the business model, the actual model of what houses would show me if you could. Yeah. So there are a couple of different entities that. There are two relatively large entities. One that's a solar, not for profit co op with over $80 million worth of assets in Ontario, solar assets within Ontario, and it's built on this model. That essentially, while

there may be. Some debt. On the capital costs of the initial project. That might be through traditional lenders. The bulk of. The financing of the program, of these programs or by people investing small amounts like $1,000. It's essentially exactly the same thing that many of you on council will know is the bonds that tend c issues as an operation. That their financing an awful lot of their debt by going down this path. As it turns out. Not that. Full disclosure. I'm the chair of a solar co op here in Gulf and. We have approximately 300 kw worth of projects. All of our board members are volunteers. We don't have the capacity to take on this type of a project in no way. Shape or form that's wearing my hat as the chair of that solar project. But there's also another company called Sedco. That has at least three, if not four. Solar co ops as well, where people have invested as little as $1,000 or

as much as $50,000 into each one of those things. And. Essentially, that's the financing model of being able to come up with a capital essentially. To start the business in the first place, and it's paid out over the length of the contract. In Ontario. It's through. The contract that's guaranteed through the Ontario Power Authority, as some of you will know. That have solar on your house, you're guaranteed. That amount of revenue over a period of 20 years. I hope that's a little clearer, your worship. Thank you. Maybe the harder question, because I understand what you said. That it's just. Yes or no? It would appear that there's community interest, but. The harder question. I'll ask this to staff as well. How does this fit into the corporate energy strategy. Well, the simple thing would be that. What we're looking at is. Can the model be used in such a way where at the end of the day, the city would put out a tender for companies to come forward with a business model that appeared like this. But essentially. But what the city would be

looking for is a power purchase agreement with that company. Or with that co op and. What that power purchase agreement would be. Currently, the city is buying electricity, an awful lot of electricity, and this would provide the city to the opportunity to buy 100%. Renewable energy from that specific facility. So that's ultimately where we would like to go. We know there are going to be many trap doors along the way. And we're not shy. We want to give it our best shot and see how far we can take this. Thank you. Very much. Councilor Koran and then Galler, please. Thank you. Along a similar line, capital investment seems to be. The key roadblock to these large scale projects, and our staff have brought for their best recommendation. With the resource we as council have given them, but we know there's payback and you've outlined in your presentation, there's payback. We also know there's more than one lemon, and I'm just wondering why. You. Or perhaps it's because it's in the presentation. Why? Eastview is the focus. Because we do have pollinator habitat there and we

have other projects happening there. Disc golf et cetera. Maybe it's my algorithm, but I get all kinds of pop ups in my social media. About parking lots. We have the west end parking lot, and we have the vic road parking lot, and that parking lot. Solar arrays can be one to two acres and. Can also have co benefits of not having to plow those parking lots because there's warming infrastructure underneath as well as storage on site. And closer to actual residences and homes and buildings. I wonder if you could just talk about. What lemons are the best lemons to choose in this lemonade making lemonade stand. Through you, Mr. Mayor. We landed on that one. We also are considering IMaco. And the only reason we're talking about this one is because it's what? Was in the report. We were also putting some effort into the Imokok site. I understand that there are a whole other set of trap doors associated with that, including some legal issues. That have been ongoing. You make excellent examples of

all the others. But the short answer to your question is the economy of scale. The size of the EC landfill site is such that enables us to put somewhere between ten and 15 mw on there Immaco in comparison would be approximately 1.8 mw. You start understanding the size and the scale of it. And I think your instincts on parking garages is a good thing. Of course, the economics of it tend to be different. And I'm doing this off the side of my desk here. On this part of it is that. Going with solar carports, the mounting systems wind up being significantly more expensive than ground mounting. Ground mounting systems. So the cost, per what's called the Lcoe, the levelized cost. Of energy. Over the price. The time frame of the contract would be significantly greater. That's not to say that it won't work, but I think it's good to be looking at all of those. It was a size issue, and the larger the system,

the lower the lcoe becomes with a larger project. Granted, there are other challenges. Galler, please. Fear, worship. Thank you for your presentation, Mr. Ferrari. Very exciting prospect. Have you already reached out to city staff and presented them this project, or is this the first? Time that they're hearing about it. I did have a conversation. With Mr. Hoyan on Friday. Just to say I don't want to blindside you. On Monday. We wanted to have a little more work involved with. The scope of the research project that we're working on. So we're still working. On that piece, but I felt that this was an appropriate place to bring it forward because I think it's an idea that. Provides a wonderful opportunity for collaboration. And I think for creative thinking on all of this, I would agree. Thank you so much for bringing this to us, and I look forward to asking. Some more questions of staff. Thank you. Great. Thanks. I didn't see anybody else. I'll just quickly say pretty much did. Owe to what my colleagues

said. They did kind of capture some of my questions already, thank goodness. Because now I only have one question left. So it's a little bit along the lines of what Councilor Quran said, and I'll ask staff this as well, but from an economy to scale or options perspective, I'm almost wondering if it would be better for us to have a catalog. Of all of our assets. Across the entire city. All the rooftops, all the parking garages. The landfill included. And almost have that. As an open bidding sort of bidding. Maybe the wrong word, but an open process of a stock. Aid of all of our assets that could accommodate this and then open it up. For groups to be able to come forward and say, look, I can't afford to do we can't do this for this reason, but we can do it here. So it's. Almost like. A plotting of a map across a bird's eye view of all of our available assets. Where this kind of idea could happen. And then groups could come in and go, like there could. Be one group that goes, I can handle the big one, but there could be seven other groups. That go. I can do

a medium sized one or a small size one, but at least then. We have a. Lay of the land, of all of the assets that might be doable for this type of idea. Is that something that might be warranted here over and above just what the landfill site is? And the second part of that question is, have you seen that sort of, because I'm just thinking about it on the fly. But have you seen that sort of idea happen in other cities at all where they've mapped out the available assets. To do this type of infrastructure from a community. Based fundraising initiative. Maybe co op ownership. Other than the idea that I'm just coming up with on the fly. Mr. Mayor, I think we've got a number of questions there. The first one is, I don't know of other municipalities that have taken that approach, but I believe staff has a good inventory of where potential projects are. At least I know that they've done that kind of analysis in the past. And I know that historically, just to put things. Into context that I believe Mr. Hoyan mentioned that the city has about 500 kw. Of solar capacity right now, 400 of which is

across the street, so there's another hundred. But those are primarily in very small projects. So ten kilowatt microfit projects. If I'm not mistaken at the time. And I get why that was done at the time, even on buildings. That could, in some cases, accept larger capacity, but. There may be. There are permitting issues around putting a second project, and it's not permitting issues from the city standpoint, but from the Ontario Power Authority in the ISO. Not the unto power authority. That would change it, so. There is a bureaucratic side of that as well, but the concept. I think I like where you're going, and I think the concept of. Saying we don't want to build it. We want to buy the electricity, come and impress. Us, I think. Is ultimately to put the city in a driver's seat under those circumstances, and if the research that we're doing can help move along that path. And then we'd like to help as much as possible. Okay,

well, look, I really appreciate you answering that in your question? And I see nothing further, so I'll come back to us just to engage with staff now. But thanks. Hope you feel better, too. Thank you. Okay, I see a few hands going up, but I did know that councilor Gauler wanted. To, I think, move the motion that was here. Councilor alt, you want a second? If that's. Okay. Councilor Galler, I think, had a question of staff, and then I'm going to go to Alt, and then I see Gibson on the screen as well. Okay. Thank you through your worship to staff. First off, thank you so much for this report. It's really good to see where we are and where we're going, and I really appreciate you showing us the reality of the funding limitations of how far you can go. In the given time. Along the lines of what Mr. Ferrari said. Are there opportunities when we look at some of these large projects that are partially funded. To borrow internally to fill out those costs. One of the big projects that I see here is. That it's partially funded as the internal fleet conversion. Is there an opportunity to do that? In lieu

of finding new dollars for that or for the high efficiency building upgrades, if we know that there will be cost savings. Is there an opportunity to borrow internally to fill out, knowing that there will be cost savings in the future. So through the mayor to Councilor Gauller, some of these items are what we will be. Bringing back to council as part of the multi year budget as well, or the alternative project delivery. Methods that we talked about before. This is really the start of the plan, and we have more work. To do. And so, yes, we will look at those items as you have suggested, and where they fiscally make sense, and we'll work with our finance team to put that together as part of budgets in the future. Thank you for that. When are we looking at receiving that next step information? Of that alternative funding method. So this is a long term plan. Our goal is 25 years in the future, so. A lot of these projects are large capital projects, large capital

investments, long term projects. That do take time to go through the process. And so this isn't a we're going to come back to council later this year or next year on some of these items. This will. Take multi year budgets and budget cycles to get through. And develop these projects. Into the city's work plan. I appreciate that fully. These are big ones. I'm looking at items like the building energy retrofits, the $12 million that is not in the ten year funding window, but we have here between 2025 and 2029. We could realize 350. What is it, tons per year. So when I look at that on page 14 of the presentation, that 350. Is that something that we are not going to realize because the funding is not present? For that. So it's hard to give an exact answer to that, unfortunately, because

there are instances where our asset renewal. We can provide those upgrades where the existing equipment matches and fits. There are other instances where, if we don't have the funding to do ancillary upgrades like upgraded structural. We can't upgrade the equipment to the full energy efficient potential. So. That's where we sit with the funding that we have in our asset renewal accounts, right? Now. Okay. What I'm hearing is that the exploration of borrowing internally is not something that is in your work plan for this year that we could do. Through the mayor. I'm going to just jump in here. I would just say that through our budget and through all of our financing and capital planning, we are internal borrowing already. To a high degree, if you recall, as it relates to our growth and because of the development charge. Exemptions and as well as just the downturn. In the pace of housing right now. So I would just say, We absolutely look at internal borrowing

all the time. We are actively involved in it. And really, this is about trying to look at as many alternative financing options that we can. To be able to move these types of projects forward, so we're looking for grants. Having this plan. Helps us now to focus as we look for financing options. Okay. I really appreciate that. Thank you. And I hope that many grant opportunities come our way in. The next couple of years. Then my second set of questions going along the lines of what Mr. Ferrari said, does the city have the ability to do. That crowdfunding sort of project, or would we have to go to a nonprofit third party? To do that sort of work. Could we choose how to build? The East View Solar Plant as a community funded project by the city? Or is that beyond the scope of what we should be doing at a municipality. So through the mayor. In the past, I had looked into a bit of. The bonds and the community bonds. And so I

can't recall in the moment here, but it is something that I think we can look into. It would be something we'd need to report back on in terms of the city's. Authority and the legislative framework for that. But that is something we can probably look into in a bit more of a shorter term to understand. I don't know if we'd report back to council immediately, but. It's in scope for understanding that. Okay. Thank you. Along those lines, if you will be exploring that, is that something that could be done in the next year or two to look at the visibility of either doing it ourselves or going to third. Parties that have the experience and having them work with us to build out. These energy generation projects. Yeah. I'll just through the mayor. Yes. We will be looking at those types of things in the shorter term and that will then inform longer term planning and these ideas and how we start moving the needle on financing. So I think all of those will be in the shorter term kind of investigation stage. Okay.

And then in terms of the feedback to counsel and to the public. Would we be looking at next year? Around this time? The next report will give us more information. Or would there be any time before that? Maybe I'm going to just ask Ian. To jump in here on the annual reporting that we do as it relates. To climate. That would probably be the time in which we're giving those updates, but may I defer. Over to the team. Through the mayor to you, councilor Galler. Yes. I think I agree with. Cao baker that. The annual reporting would be probably the place where. We could respond to that. Or through projects in the multi year budget cycle as well, would be another place that we could if there was some investigation that made sense for the corporation. Perfect. I really appreciate that. Thank you. On

my last question to your worship. Do you need direction to have conversations with emerge and with Mr. Ferrari about this, or would you? Be doing that anyways as part of the research that you're going to do. Through the mayor to you, councilor Galler. No, we would be doing that anyways. Great. Thank you. And to alt, please. Thank you very much, Mayor Guthrie. I only have one question for staff, and it really is a follow up, but one of the things. That I'd like to. State. First of all, I don't want to get bogged down in just this particular initiative, because I think that what we're here for is the corporate energy strategy as much as anything else. But what I do like about what has been proposed is that this provides a bit of an amalgam of the community energy initiative and our corporate energy strategy by pulling. The two together. Eight years later. But really, the question that I have is. In my mind, the way Mr. Ferrari presented this, this does fit into the corporate energy strategy and I look to you. If you wouldn't mind, if you could please comment upon that.

I mean, there's alignment. Sorry. To council at all through the mayor. There definitely is alignment in terms of renewable energy generation and how that will assist. In offsetting our energy usage and reducing our emissions. As we were discussing. Just through the other questions, too, about that financing gap and whatnot, too. So there are alternatives. Or considerations that we can have to move those projects forward. I just want to caution, though. There are complexities and constraints when dealing with such a large scale project. Also working. With a landform like the landfill in terms of the gas monitoring that we have to do. There as well as. They was mentioning about the lands and other uses there in the environmental heritage, the natural heritage aspects. Of it. So that was all considered as proposing this to make sure that we're looking at just the unusable lens. So not impacting as well as a pollinator. Parks I think it was disc golf that was mentioned. And then also

just looking at from a solar optimization and what makes sense. From a solar irradiance just where the sun is shining on that southern slope. And thank you. As I said, I don't want to just pick on or cite this. Particular aspect of what we're doing. I think that we need to be very mindful. About. Building. Refurbishment new buildings, so on and so forth. I expect that much of this is also going to be affected by changing. Construction standards as well, moving into the future. So we are really looking at a plan that will evolve over time as national and provincial standards change as well. Would that be correct? Through you, Mr. Mayor to the councilor alt. Yes, we're always monitoring the Ontario building. Code, looking at how we can make improvements on top of that as we see it with the south end community center in Baker being going over and beyond the Ontario building code and. Achieving the zero carbon building design standard as per the Canadian Green Building Council. And. It's smart in the way that we operate in looking at the overall lifecycle cost. Of running these buildings. We also have to

consider technology as well as that's changing, so. We're constantly adapting and seeing where we are applying these technologies in a suitable manner. Thank you very much. Very happy to support the report. Okay. And councilor Gibson is last go. Ahead. Councilor Gibson. Yes. Thank you. Through Mr. Mayor. Thank you to staff for a great presentation. A couple of questions and maybe a couple of takeaways. The microfit projects that we have installed at the city, those are. The previously installed through, I gather, the microfit program, but. Are. They contracted for 20 years. Back to the grid. They're not net metering for. Our own energy use at this point. We're selling that energy back to the grid for the time being. Through, Mr. Mayor to Councilor Gibson. Yes, that's correct. So the smaller microfit sites, which were 10 less. They do have the contract with, at the time, the Ontario Power Authority. Now with the ISO. It is a 20 year contract. Based on the install date of when they were, so some of them were kind of in later. Years. And yes. They are being sold to

the ISO for them. Right? Thank you. I assume so. When that 20 year, contract comes up. That's when I'm assuming. And when you we talk about buying someone else's. Power or someone else's got the power and are ready to sell to us. We're assuming that. Those contracts would likely turn into a net metering contract. Rather than a straight sale back to the grid. Am I safe in assuming that, or is there? A chance to renegotiate and keep selling to the grid. Through you, Mr. Mayor. It's my understanding. However, I would have to confirm this, but yes, that they would transfer. Over to, say, a net meter or a behind the meter load displacement arrangement. I haven't. Heard any. Cases where it would be direct fed, at least at that size. Direct sell to the grid. That's my understanding as well. Thank you for clarifying. So just a little bit about again, just to talk about the complexities, and I'm not going to spend too much time on the Eastview site, but the current lt two electricity procurement program in Ontario. There's no longer financial incentives

associated with certain technologies. So to my understanding, I'm reading it here from the website that it's technology neutral, as in solar now competes with wind, competes with hydro, competes with bioenergy. For grid contracts. Not net metering contracts, but grid contracts. So my question is. Even if we wanted to. I'm not pouring cold water on this, but even if we. Wanted to say, build a partnership that created a project life. Like maybe we had an association of. Power producers of Ontario approach us and say we'd like to lease the east v landfill. And propose something back to the ieso for power sell. That would be almost like a competitive bid process to see if there was interest out there to see, if someone wanted to. Create a proposal to the ISO. It would be less in our control unless we wanted his net. Meter to ourselves. Through you. Mr. Mayor to council Gibson. Yes. We would have to if we were to go through something like the Lt two. Competitive sale to direct grid. That could be a way to go about it. And.

We would likely have to procure for those services. And determine the commercial terms that. Are going to be through that project. In terms of ownership. And who is doing what and what proponents we'd want to look at. So as we develop, say, if we go down that route in terms of reference. We would be still in a position to set those terms as we see the project going, however, it would be in the framework of, say, an LT two program. Where we'd be competing with other projects for that energy space. Okay, I'm going. To flip switches because I'm really interested in the bio collection program that you talked about. I think I was aware of that almost ten years ago. Now, you guys were looking at that. As a heat source or something like that. At the waste resources, the wastewater resource facility. I think that's really exciting. Is that energy? Going to be used to power the facility and not as a contract back to the grid. Am I correct in understanding that? Through you, Mr. Mayor to Councilor Gibson. So currently there is digester gas that is being collected at the wastewater treatment plant or the Water Resource Recovery center. Currently that is

being run through the cogeneration. Engines, and it is powering the wastewater treatment process equipment as well as. We're recovering heat off of that to feed or to keep the digesters warm. So. Process heat. What is being proposed here and yet still to be determined and detailed, but in some initial investigation. Is looking at alternative ways of doing this so we can continue on with a cogenlike facility. And continue on doing that, or there is opportunity to recover waste heat from the wastewater stream. Have that be recovered as heat for the digesters and then allowing us to capture more of that digester gas and not having to burn them in the cogen engines. And then almost like a fit contract, but for renewable. Sorry? For natural gas. Sell it. To the likes of Enbridge as renewable natural gas. That's great. Thank you for that. Explanation. So two comments to end with my last tour of

the wastewater treatment plant. I remember there being a large flume of water and. There's a very consistent flow of water. I think it was two or three, maybe even. 4 flow through this concrete flume and I always wondered what it would look like. To bring in a consultant or bring in someone who understands the business well and talked about a kinetic turbine or a hydrokinetic turbine to go into that flume because. I gather it's a very consistent 24 hours a day flow that could be easily captured. For quick renewable energy generation. I'll leave that with you. That's a comment. The last comment I'll make is that I think I talked about this about ten years. Ago too. Is what? The common currency that's in this file. If financial return on investment is your currency is what you're looking for. You can find it. If GHD emissions reductions is your currency. And you want to see that in this file, you can find it. And. I think. It's a great, unifying topic, and I appreciate staff's effort on this. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much, Councilor Gibson. So it's already been moved and seconded? And I'll just make a quick comment to say thank you very much to staff for this. This is a maturing, I think. In this area. It's something that council really

wanted this term to see more of and more communication of. I've started to. Hear feedback from community members how much they've appreciated the annual reports about the presentation that you brought to us in May of last year. I've even talked to some about this. Here that's in front of us today, and it's just ongoing sort of positivity. That. I've seen come from this type of an opportunity to present these types of things, because people are interested in them. And I think, as councilor Gibson said, depending on where you're, coming from. You can see both the environmental benefits and the financial benefits as well. As our CIO said, because I wrote it down here myself, and then she said it. But this is a great opportunity for us from an advocacy point of view. I can. And whoever's talking to ministers or whoever can now actually point to this report. And be like, we need money for this. Oh, this, this fits. This. Grant opportunity. So even just by bringing this up is a really great opportunity for us to know. More about the asks that we might have with upper levels of government or other people, and then my final just takeaway and you can just take it away is just. And if it's not a good idea, I'm fine to hear back another day. For you to say no. But the idea of sort

of taking a look at all of the assets that we have that might be able to be leveraged into sort of energy or options. I don't know. I think that's kind of a neat idea. So just take it away. You don't have to do it. But if it's something that you. Would ever. Need council direction on or whatever, or just, like, if you think it's something of value. I would love to explore that a little bit more. And in the meantime, Our delegate. Evan mentioned his partnership with someone from the university. If there is that ability for staff to continue to engage on that opportunity just to get some more research value. Looking into maybe the site to see if there's opportunities there. I personally think it's. A great idea. So I would just leave that with you as a comment to take away to check that out. So with that, I'll call the vote. Is there anyone against this? Unanimous. So again, thank you very much. For this. We really appreciate it. We only have one more item in front of us today. And it is going to be. Let me just get to. My. It's a petition on the Parkland development fees at

53 Woodside Road. We only have one delegation that's going to come up. Gary scandalin in a second, if you don't mind, Gary. I'm just going to ask Councilor Quran. Just to kind of give us a little bit of an overview of the issue that's here, and then after she's done, feel free to come right on down. Okay, councilor? Kran. Sure. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. This items come before us. After basically about a two year period. Where it came to the attention of my colleague in Ward five, Kathy Downer, and myself about a year ago. And. The applicants are following this process because it's the only process available to them. They have followed all directions that the process has allowed. It's not very often in my terms of counsel that we've ever, I think maybe two or three petitions that have come before us. Of this nature. So I think we'll go to the delegation and they'll present. Their case. And hopefully this will be a very quick resolution. I do believe this is a very unique one. Off situation. A sandwiching of permits applications over

three different bylaws. So I'll turn it over to back to the mayor. To hear the delegation. I do have motions. When the delegation is complete. Yeah, as soon as the delegations. Donald, go right back to you. So thank you very much for bringing it forward. And Gary, thank you for coming back again. We appreciate it. So please know you have five minutes and you'll hear a chime at the four minute. 32nd mark as your warning. If you need to hold five minutes, so be it. If you don't. So be it. Just in case there's a question, as a follow up. Just stay there. There may not be, but please go right ahead. The time will start when you're ready. Thank you. Okay. Just to make sure that I know. How to. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of council, staff, thank you for the opportunity. Doesn't seem to be working.

The top one. There we go. Thank you. So obviously through council. The reason why we're here. We were here when you were considering an amendment to your. Current bylaw. Basically that. Was to remove. Alterations and additions from having to pay the cash in lieu on the parkland. That didn't provide for demolitions. Either. Generally, we think it should be. I can give some perspectives on that, but I want to stay on course. The property that is in question. 53 Woodside Road. It was purchased by my son and daughter. In law July of 2023. The intent was redeveloping it into a modern home. The original home was four bedrooms, but it was the side slit with an open carport. Now. It's a newly constructed home. Once again, four bedrooms, two stories. And with. A full two car garage. Basically the increase in the square footage. You can see that it's a four bedroom to a four bedroom.

So from definitions of development charges, it's basically. The same density. However, density is defined slightly different in the bylaw, where a 50% increase would activate the requirement to make a payment. Now, this 50% increase is solely in areas of kitchen and general living areas, the uniqueness. And thank you for using those words, because I think we are unique. Through this process of looking to demolish and then get a building permit in December 2023. My daughter in law was in conversation with the building department. She said that they were going to apply for the permits in January. The billing official indicated that there was no rush. If you wanted to start construction in May, you've got until the end of March, probably. In order to put those submissions in. If we had not gotten that advice, what would have happened was we would be paying about $21,000 less than what ultimately had to be paid. So it was the direction where kind of. The suggestion through the building department that actually caused us to incur an

extra $21,000 that's where the uniqueness is. We had in order to ensure that. The construction gets going in May we actually put in the demolition permit? February 25. And then put in the actual building permit. In March 11. We could have very easily, as you can see, have moved the dates by over a week. And had been before. The bylaw. Now, the bylaw, when you received it. It was on an amended agenda. There was no staff report, there was no advertisement, there was no notice on websites. There was no notice to anybody coming through the process that this bylaw was being changed, which would basically double. The fees for Parkland. And that's where a big impact because no notification, no public. Notice. And as I say, because of the advisement, we're in a unique situation. We tried to have a discussion with staff. Their perspective is if the bylaw was applied properly. We understand that the bylaw was applied once again, our uniqueness was if you take a look at the broader process, the broader

advisement, by the city on what we should be doing. It cost us an extra $21,000. And what we're looking at is to try and recover that at least the $21,000. Through the process because of the timing. We were told, well, if you want to pursue this matter, and pay. To pay. With further discussions. We had to do it in protest, and that meant applying to the olt. That costs money in order to apply the OLt. As soon as we applied, we were told we couldn't talk to staff, we couldn't talk to council, we couldn't. Talk to anybody. We did apply the rules. I know myself because I do this stuff. That we could talk without prejudice. But once again, staff had the perspective. They applied the bylaw. Properly. This is where we subsequently, after we removed. The LLT submission. We then got in touch with our councilor Koran and she has advised us the process to come forward, so I just like to indicate that.

What we're looking for. Is a refund of at least $20,260 because. Of the unique situation we have. Well.

The second was because of the broadness and some of the changes that you have made with the bylaw, we really fall under a similar type of thing. In that the density, truly the density hasn't changed on this unit. A four bedroom with a four bedroom. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Looks like I can go back to Councilor Quran then. So thank you very much, Gary. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So just to summarize, when councilor Downer and I became aware of it, we conferred with staff on what was and was not possible. Right up until this afternoon. Just ensuring that we're in compliance with what's allowed. Under the Planning Act. I just want to point out that staff are following the policy. This is in no way a reflection of the staff decision on this, because staff are only following the policy. Using the authority that they are permitted and allowed under. The Planning act and they don't have the authority to exempt. Only council has the authority. To do that. Which is why the petition was the only recourse for the property owners. So to that end, I want to thank staff for confirming what.

Is not possible. And I understand from staff's advice today that the Planning act allows only. A all or nothing full refund. So I've prepared a motion. With the assistance of clerks. And that'll come up. On the screen momentarily. And. It is for? Specifically for this site. Seconded by Patty. Okay. That council for section 32 J of the Parkland dedication, bylaw 2022 20 7117. As amended, exempts the project completed pursuant to building permit, specifically two 4000-102-8000. Two BRC from payment of the Parkland dedication, cash and lieu in connection with the renovation. Of 53 Woodside, as specified therein, and that council further direct staff to issue reimbursement to the property owners of the payments previously made. Okay? And councilor Downer has been willing to second, okay? At this time at all. Alt and then Gibson and then Katen, please. Thank you very much. Mayor Guthrie through you to staff, and I actually don't know which staff to

whom. I should direct this. But. When I heard councilor Koran present her motion, statement was made. This is all or nothing. So prior to February the 25th. There were parkland fees due after February 25, there were different parkland fees due what we're now talking about is no parkland fees or all of the parkland fees is that correct? Through the merit of councilor alt. So the petition process council can only consider the petition that is before them. Petitions must be within council statutory authority to decide on your statutory authority in this. Circumstance is limited to the options in the bylaw, which is? Council retains discretion to exempt. Specific properties from the application of the bylaw. The Planning act does not allow you to determine or grant individual rates, and so a partial refund would be akin to granting it a specific rate for a property which you do not have the authority to do under the Planning act or the bylaw and to address the other part of your question. Councilor alt it is correct that

Parkland dedication or cash and lieu was due as at the earlier date with respect to the bylaw amendment. What changed in the bylaw was the schedule, which includes sort of standardized rates which people can apply to the valuation. It's sort of an assumed valuation. If you wish to pick from that suite of options. And those rates increase every year. Sort of as things would do with respect to property values. It is always available to applicants to obtain their own valuation of their particular property. And that right existed at the earlier date and also at the second date, so they could have obtained. An actual appraisal of their particular property rather than pay the kind of listed rate in the schedule, which did change. And those do not require public notice of change. That is an administrative process that is provided for. In the bylaw to update those rates. Let me just carry that on because. That was a lot of legal stuff. We'll just put it that way. So that is. Contained within the statutes of Ontario related to Parkland dedication fees. Am I correct? Three year Marigot three. The Planning act allows council to develop bylaw for parkland dedication, so council has approved the

Parkland dedication bylaw, so. The actual charging of cash and lieu or. Losing my language here on the actual granting of land, which doesn't happen very often, is within the bylaw itself. But your authority to pass that bylaw is through the planning act. And the Planning act does not permit individualized rates, and the bylaw does not reflect individualized rates, nor does it give counsel any further discretion. So just to be absolutely clear, what we're looking at is. The data is in some sense is immaterial, that. There were a number of concerns that you've raised, but what's most important about this is that. We are being asked either. To acknowledge and enact. The bylaw or. In this particular case, to set aside the bylaw. Is that correct? What council would be doing? Would be granting the petitioner's request for a full refund on the basis of a provision in the bylaw that allows council to exempt certain developments and properties from the application. Of the bylaw, so you can only give the full refund. Because that's part of what they ask for, and that is within your

statutory authority. Finally, one last question. I don't know whether this is appropriate, Marica, actually. Conventionally. What the city has done is. We have lack of better words for a given Parkland dedication. In unique situations such as. Nonprofit housing development. I think I could be even wrong there. Through the merit councilor. I actually cannot recall any particular examples. Perhaps Colleen is raising her hand. She may have one. Okay, thank you. Through the merit of council Alt, I believe we came to council. And you amended to exempt all places of worship as an example. But that was an across the board exemption for all places of worship. It was not specific to one particular. I think there was also once during the pandemic where you waived parkland dedication fees, where it was related to testing locations. But again, It was for all, it wasn't a specific site location. So those are the two examples. That I can think of. And Mr. Matthews is nodding in agreement. Thank you. So it does sound to me, without any comment

needed from staff, we're in. Our chartered territory on this one. Thank you. Thanks. I believe it was Gibson, then Katen, and then I'll go to busatill. Yeah. Thank you through Mr. Mayor. So thank you to staff councilor alt you asked my questions. Where did staff. I wanted to hear staff's interpretation of how. They've sort of implemented the bylaw and their interpretation of the bylaw, they believe correct question to the mover. Where are you? In disagreement with staff that they've not interpreted the bylaw correctly. Well, there's two factors. I did state that the interpretation under their authority. Of the bylaw. Is that on February 27, the. The fees changed. What I'm suggesting is a one off. And what we've heard from the delegation. Is that the. Owners specifically ask staff. About the timing of their permits and were specifically advised that there was no rush, when in fact, there was. And also that within three days of filing the demolition permit, the fees doubled. I think that this is a unique situation where that sandwich of

timing and the advice that was received. It brings it into the reason why we're here today, as a petition from the property. Owners, and I think there has to be. Some humanity in this decision about the advice that they were given and the timing of the permits. That they filed. Thank you, Councilor Gibson. Councilor Cayton, please. And then Busato. Thanks through you, Mr. Mayor to staff. I was wondering. About. The notification. So they mentioned that there was no notification. On the bylaw being enacted, but do we have notification processes? On all of the changes that were going to be put into the bylaw up until that. Point. Through the mayor to councillor Katen. I apologize if I'm misinterpreting your question, but the bylaw itself. Was not amended. The bylaw contains a mechanism to update the schedule of rates and so that is a change, but it is not a bylaw amendment. In the same way that there would be public notice of bylaw amendments on

a council agenda or coming on at the end of the night. It is a mechanism within the. Bylaw in the form that was approved by council. And again, those are standard rates that are at the option of property owners. It is always available to owners to obtain their own appraisal. Regardless of what rate is in effect at what time. Thank you. And also through the mayor. What would this do in terms of setting up precedent? Like how many other groups come back to us. That applied for demolition somewhere close to winter. Rate change happens. What is the impact? Of saying yes to this.

Through the merit. Councilor Katen, I think. We would want to avoid any kind of precedent or answering that in the abstract. We would deal with this on a specific case by case basis. I wouldn't want to respond to hypotheticals in the moment. Thank you. Thank you, Busatil. And then. I have one or two questions. Thank you. Thank you. And through the mayor to staff, I need to hear it for a third time, just to make sure that I'm very clear. I'm looking at. Put it into mayor's terms for me. Yet. So we have the Parkland dedication bylaw. That did not change. What changed were the schedules and the amounts of the schedules. And what I heard you say is that. When an application comes forward, it says in there, here's our schedule with the rate or you can do your own appraisal and then bring that in. Am I missing that there? Is always that. It's not prescriptive. It's not. You have to pay. This, there is always that other option there, and. That was

there before the date changed, before the schedule, the amounts changed and after. And that stays. In the bylaw that's still there today through the mayor to Councilor Bustel. I can't speak to the actual process, which he started your question with, but yes, that is correct. The rates are in the bylaw, in a schedule. Those rates that are sort of choose your rate based on your category are always in there. The notification. If we're asking the question in terms of how does the public get notification of that? Update. It's built right into the bylaw. It was described in the information report that accompanied the bylaw when it came to counsel for approval. And when maybe one of my colleagues can speak more to the process, but certainly when people go through the process. They are directed to contact park staff about parkland dedication or cash in lieu and park staff would give them the information at that time, including the fact that. It is absolutely at their prerogative to obtain an appraisal on their actual property. Thank you. That's all. Great. Thank you, Councilor Busatill. I have one or two questions. Then, as a follow up. And then just bear with me. I'm trying to figure

out a way maybe for it. Here. If. Nothing had changed. In this. Time frame. The applicants here. In this situation, they would have been responsible to pay. The 20 ish $1,000. That's my question. Yes. Sorry, Mayor Guthrie, could you repeat the question? You're saying if the rates had not changed, So based on what their presentation and petition is? Based on my conversations with councilor Quran and others. If none of that had changed at all, which triggered almost a doubling of the amount. The applicable amount that would have been charged would have been. The 20,000 ish range. That would have had to have been paid. And that's what I feel the petitioners are not really here arguing. That was sort of known. It was the delay of 1012 days, and then all of a sudden, Almost a doubling, or at least a doubling of the issue. So I just want to make sure. I'm hearing from

you that if that change had not occurred, Then status quo. There would have been a 20th, 20 ish thousand dollars charge. And the process for them, building their home and whatnot. Would have. Would have continued. Thank you for that clarification. Yes. So Parkland dedication is law. So those fees are payable. They are applicable law for purpose of building permits. So if they apply, they must be paid in terms of the timing. If the change in. Those sort of schedule rates had not occurred or if the timing had not overlapped. They would have been had the option of sort of paying. At the assumed appraisal value based on that schedule of rates or obtaining their own appraisal. And I am not speaking with respect to this property or these owners, but many property. Owners. Will just defer to those kind of schedule of rates for convenience. It's also likely possible that certain properties are actually. More highly valued than those scheduled rates. So those are there for administrative convenience so that everybody doesn't have to go and get a valuation or appraisal of their property. At the time. The fees would be due. Okay, but just

as a clarification. Forget appraisals, forget that process. There was. A rate. And then the rate basically doubled within that twelve day period. If I may just clarify. So we're using the term the rate change colloquially. The rate didn't change the rate is actually based on value of property calculated based on a formula in the bylaw. The schedule. Gives essentially standard appraisal values that get plugged into that formula. So the rate did not change the schedule of standard valuations that you can use for that formula was updated. Okay, so in other way of me saying it was the outcome, Changed within that ten to twelve day period from x amount of dollars to y amount of dollars. That is correct. Okay. Here's where I think I'm probably not alone. You're now telling us? If under our authority, we have to refund the entirety. Am I hearing you right? You're saying, basically. They were able to do what they were able to do. And we're going to go right back. And they're going to have to pay

nothing. Is that what you're saying, three year mayor Gray? I'm not saying that you. Need to refund them at all. That is certainly council's prerogative when you receive a petition. You must consider what the petitioner is asking you, so that is before you. That is what we are here to consider. I'm here to provide information. I'm certainly not suggesting your decision one way or other, but I am telling you that you can only make decisions on petitions that are within the scope of your authority. It says right. In the city's petition policy that petitions must be within council's statutory authority. So on its face. It must be that your decision is scoped to that authority and you do not have the authority to create individual rates under the planning act or under the bylaw. Okay, but to dumb it down for me. All I'm asking you. I'm not suggesting that you're giving us advice. To do something or not. That is under our preview. I get that. But ultimately. Under the authority. It's all or nothing. Even though there's an admittance from the petitioners. That they would have paid the original 20 ish thousands of dollars. It's the extra doubling of the amount which is

triggered why they're here. I personally get that? But the authority that you're saying that we would have is. All or nothing. That's all I need to hear from you. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. May, I would like to have a three to five minute break for a moment. I'd like to. Confer with my colleague for a moment. And if I could please just have a five minute break, we're going to come back. I appreciate that. And councilor Cayton, I will go to you when I come back. Okay. Thank you.

Okay, we'll call the meeting back to order. I appreciate that break. I needed to confer just with the mover for a moment. And councilor Kran has done that. So thank you very much. If I could ask the applicants just to come back up to the microphone for a moment that's. What I was going to suggest. The petitioners, whatever. You want to call it? Yeah. They do a preamble or do you want to do that? If you don't mind, I'll just. Quickly, quickly do something and I'll. Write to you. Just trying to work together on this. Thank you. Please come forward. And. I just wanted to just ask. You. What the friction is that council has in front of us on a decision here. When you, I believe, of course, have been upfront in regards to the issue of. The difference between. What was owed versus

a few days. 1012 days later, having to have that almost doubled, right? But from a decision point of view. It may be a requirement for us to look at a full. And, of course, it's. Up to the will of council here? I have no idea. About a full refund. And so my question to you. Is if that were to take place. Can I ask if there would be a commitment on your behalf? To actually look to give that half back to the city of Guelph, into our parkland. Reserve where that money would have been. Normally. Given. Is that something that you'd be willing to consider, Mr. Mayor? I'm sure we'd be more than happy to donate the money back to the Parksland reserve fund. Okay. Thank you. And with that, I'll go over to Councilor Quran to consider next. Steps council. Remember that. You can go back. Thank you. Just remember that we technically have a motion on the floor, right? Now. So. We either need to continue with kind of debating and discussing the

motion on the floor, or we can. Take that back and maybe look at something else, but I'll go to the original mover. Now. Thank you. Actually, you've framed it very well. Mr. Marion. William asked the question of the petitioner. I think from the discussions and the questions and also from the many discussions that we've had from staff. In the last year about this case is that. The partial refund was certainly. The intent when the petitioner came forward. It was certainly my intent when I brought this forward and pulled it from the green sheets. We used to call them green info sheets. To bring it forward to council. And that was my intention right up to the point of sending a draft motion to the clerks. It's only after we got further advice that it became an all or nothing scenario, so. I think what is. The motion can't change. So the motion that's on the floor is a standing motion, but we have heard from the petitioner that the amount that would have been due prior to February 27. Will be returned to the Parkland reserve. And I think. That is a win win and add some fairness to the process. So thank you. Thank

you. Alt, please. It is a point of order. I believe Mayor Guthrie. I would like to move into closed session for client solicitor. Advice. We're going to confer with the clerk on the exact wording that we would. Need just to have up on the screen there. So just wait a moment, okay? First of all, sorry to the clerk. Sorry but to interrupt you. We would need a little bit more, just high level as to the reasoning why. And also, I would need to look to see if there's even. A seconder to do that. Instead of kind of. Let me just see if there's even a seconder that feels. Like we need to do that on this matter. Okay? Busatill and Caitlin as well. So go ahead. Thank you very much, Mayor Gothic. I am very concerned that this potentially can put us into either a situation of prejudice or can in fact, actually have an impact reputationally upon the city. If this ever arises at some other point, I think I need to hear from the solicitor. I have no advice. And I know that

others were discussing things I don't have it right. Now, and I'm uncomfortable voting on anything without that. Sure. Thank you very much. And so. It's moved. By yourself. Seconded by Councilor Busatil. And here it is. Here that council held a meeting closed to the public pursuant to the municipal act on petition for Parkland development fees at 53 Woodside Road, section 2392 f of the municipal act regarding advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose. And so I will call the vote on that as anyone against that. No. So I would imagine we'll be 1015 minutes or so enclosed and we'll. Come back out and continue from this point forward. Thank you very much.

Are we? Okay, clerks, for me to speak right now. We're making sure that we're. Live. Yeah. Okay. So again, as I normally do. With a summary, high level summary of the closed session. We did just move in to get solicitor. Client privilege information. And we received that information. And no direction, no, nothing else was given. We just received information on that, and now we are. Back out here in the open. So we have a motion that is still on the floor. And I would ask the clerks to maybe put that just up on the screen for all of us just to look at one more time. And there it is. There. It's already been read out loud by the mover. And we've also heard. From the petitioners as well in regards to the question I asked them earlier, so. I'm looking to call the vote. Before I do that, though, this is the last opportunity. For any questions of staff. So, Councilor Gibson, please. Thank you. Through Mr. Mayor to staff. So based on the

arguments two and four of this evening, Is it safe to say that? Can you quantify the number of building permits that were perhaps within a five to six month? Window of this change in the schedule. That may be watching this evening and maybe making decisions on their own based on the decision here. Through the mayor to council. I don't want to give an exact estimate or number in the moment. I can say that. The Parkland dedication bylaw is applied with great regularity across the city on a number of files, so it certainly wouldn't be zero or nothing. But again, very hesitant to. Give a more detailed estimate of that, but again, it is an ongoing topic. In the planning end of things. So you're telling me that it's more than a few. Council. I'm comfortable with that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Gibson, just to the mover, please. To Councilor Cron. Yeah. It was going to be dependent on the answer to this,

because councilor Gibson asked for a six month window. And I do think we're really talking about a much, much shorter winter. Window. We're talking about a twelve day window and a three day window prior to February. 27 on the demolition permit. So my question. Was going to be. During a pre consult. What is the process? For a property owner to be advised related to the schedule of Parkland fees being revised. That if a property owner were to come in at any point during the precon phase, Would they be advised by a member of staff that Parkland dedication fees are annually. Updated. At the council meeting every February that there's an annual cycle of updates. Is there anything in the pre consultation that would have flagged this for any property owner. I mean, obviously larger developers would be aware of this, but. An individual. Property owner doing renovation or a rebuild on a single family home. How would they have been flagged that this was an annual schedule update. Sudham, the merit council. So part of

the package that planning building will give to property owners. Will include a number of city departments to reach out to for their own specific needs. Reaching out to the parks department for this parkland dedication. Bylaw matter is part of that. Documentation and is part of that process. From there, should park staff be contacted, they will answer specifics to the bylaw in terms of questions that the property owner may have to their file. The exact specificity of those kinds of conversations. I don't know. In the moment, though. It would give opportunity. For good conversation, good expertise from the parks department as to the application of the parkland dedication. Bylaw. So on February 25, when the demolition application came in, prior to the February 27 change, of the schedule of fees. A property owner could calculate their own. They would have an assessment value. On their home if it was a recent purchase and they could calcul. Calculate the fees based on the way the formula works in the schedule. They would have a sense of what the fees would be based on their own calculations. Without an appraisal through the parks department. Is that correct? Through the merit council, property owners are allowed to get their own appraisal. There's a process for that and that can

be engaged against through that process. Okay, and then my last question has. To do with whether you are aware of. Any annual update in the schedule of fees that. This was approximately 50% increase, a doubling of the parkland fees at any point. In. I don't know how long you've been here, Mr. Matthews, but are you. Aware of. Any major increase to that schedule of fees to that significant level through the mayor to council, so 2019. I've been here, and right about the time we were kind of getting to this bylaw from the onset. And as Ms. Charles mentioned earlier, we're talking about property value. Here, which is a factor in determining the fees. So as property values increase, The fees obviously change with that. In the moment, I can't speak to whether we've. Seen that jump. That's something that I can take away for future consideration in the moment. I can't speak to that, though. But conceivably, if someone had a. Property value. From the fall of 2023. To February of 2024. The property assessment value. I guess you can't answer that question. But within a six month period from the purchase, price and the

property valuation. One would not assume that. There would be a great increase in the valuation of the property in that six month period. Through the mayor to councilor Koran. So the formula cannot be based on the assessment value. So tax assessment value is significantly behind. The update of those standard rates in the bylaw, the city actually engages a professional appraiser and so in any given year, those rates, the percentage of increase in those sort of standard appraised values would be based on experts with market intelligence. It is not a matter of sort of staff arbitrarily updating that schedule of. Values. Right. Understood. I appreciate that. Just for clarity then, that appraisal values. Are something that is normally done at the time of a home purchase. So obviously, to qualify for a mortgage one. Would get an appraisal done by a qualified professional at the time of purchase. Through the mayor to councilor Kran. You can procure an appraisal at any point. Certainly people probably do at purchase, but it's not limited to that point in

time. Okay, thanks. All right. I appreciate you, Councilor Krant. Thank you very much. For bearing with us and for everyone in the room bearing with us. I'll just say the word out loud. That's been said many times. This is very unique. So I just want to thank you very much and also thank the petitioners for coming forward. And for stating that. You would help. With. Call it a donation if you wanted to. And I trust that that would occur. Personally. So I think this is a very unique situation. So I'll call the vote. So if anyone is against, please raise your hand. Okay, so. We got alt and busatill and Keaton and Gibson and Richardson. That's five. Want to make sure? Because we've lost a couple of counselors here. Through you, Mr. Mayor. We have eleven members present. That's five against the vote. Carry 65.

Okay, thank you very much. So that carries. And so thank you very much. And with that, we'll move on to our last item. Which. Will be the bylaws. Councilor Clawson is not here as the Lord mate would. You be willing to move those for us, please? Councilor Galler? Yes, that bylass 2026. 21119 through 26 21 22. 212-4212 well, I guess. It's 2200 and 221 200 and 421 205 p, subject to section 284114. Of the municipal act. All right, thanks. Alt, would you second the bylaws for us tonight? Thank you. And with that, anything further on the bylaws? Seeing none. I'll call the vote. Is anyone against the bylaws? No. Okay, so that passes. I got no mayor's announcements. Everyone loves that. And so now we'll do adjournment. Hauser Busatil will second anyone against adjournment.

Nobody. That passes. And I wish everyone a good night. Thank you very much.