Owen Sound Council Meeting Transcript — March 23, 2026

00:00:11 Ian Boddy: Good afternoon.

00:00:12 Ian Boddy: This is Owen Sound City Council on March twenty-third, twenty twenty-six.

00:00:17 Ian Boddy: It's about five thirty-two.

00:00:19 Ian Boddy: I'm calling the meeting to order.

00:00:23 Ian Boddy: I'm going to go a little out of order here, Council.

00:00:27 Ian Boddy: As everybody knows, we've been through a boil water advisory, precautionary boil water advisory.

00:00:34 Ian Boddy: So I'd like to read my statement that came out through media on Friday.

00:00:41 Ian Boddy: So last weekend, our community experienced a precautionary boil water advisory, an event that understandably caused disruption and concern for citizens and businesses across Owen Sound.

00:00:53 Ian Boddy: Residents can rest assured that the accredited labs confirmed water sample results on Wednesday, and that there is no confirmed microbiological contamination.

00:01:06 Ian Boddy: At times of challenge, the people of Greenbriar have always come together to support each other.

00:01:11 Ian Boddy: You think back to frozen pipes and arsenals, and how the community came together so quickly then.

00:01:18 Ian Boddy: Now that the advisory has been lifted, I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone in our great community.

00:01:25 Ian Boddy: Thank you to Bruce Power and Ice River Springs for their generous support in donating bottled water.

00:01:32 Ian Boddy: Ice River, as you know, is bottled in South Grey.

00:01:36 Ian Boddy: It's in a green bottle because they recycle plastic for their bottles, and we appreciate what they did for us.

00:01:43 Ian Boddy: A special thank you to many community partners, including Greenbriar, Bruce, sorry, Grey County and supportive outreach services or SOS, United Way of Grey Bruce, Oshawa, Salvation Army, and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Grey Bruce, for immediately jumping into action to ensure that our most vulnerable residents had access to bottled water, with distribution support from Smith & Little, Home Hardware Building Center.

00:02:13 Ian Boddy: I'd also like to recognize and thank the Canadian Coast Guard for their assistance in breaking the ice in the bay to help the source water intake, and that was an idea that came out of the blue from Councillor Hamley, and we thank him for that.

00:02:27 Ian Boddy: Most of all, thank you to our residents.

00:02:29 Ian Boddy: We saw neighbors checking in on neighbors, people sharing updates, and families taking the necessary steps: boiling water, conserving use, and helping ensure everyone around them stays safe.

00:02:40 Ian Boddy: Stayed safe.

00:02:42 Ian Boddy: We had 789 shares on the Facebook page in the first two hours, which is pretty amazing.

00:02:51 Ian Boddy: One resident shared a message with me that captured this moment well, thanking the city for its quick action and recognizing that without it, the outcome could have been far worse.

00:03:01 Ian Boddy: Those words meant a great deal to all of us.

00:03:04 Ian Boddy: I want to assure our community that our water treatment plant was operating exactly as it should.

00:03:10 Ian Boddy: The precautionary advisory was issued because of high turbidity or cloudiness in our intake water source, driven by the natural conditions outside of our control.

00:03:21 Ian Boddy: Following the direction of Grey Bruce's Public Health, a precautionary boil water advisory was issued out of an abundance of caution, and with the health and safety of our community as a guiding priority.

00:03:47 Ian Boddy: A couple of years ago, through the Great Lakes Cities Initiative, I was able to go on tour of the world's biggest water treatment plant in Chicago with the manager of it.

00:03:57 Ian Boddy: I made a comment after that that I was convinced that Troy Pelche, our lead down there, could walk into Chicago and run that system in a heartbeat.

00:03:58 Ian Boddy: And I'm convinced that with the Ontario regulations and the way Troy and our staff do things, that we are probably doing them a little more carefully and better recorded and better systems than what I saw in Chicago.

00:04:12 Ian Boddy: This experience also puts our emergency management training into action.

00:04:16 Ian Boddy: Every year, staff across all city divisions take part in emergency preparedness training, so we're ready to respond when situations beyond our control arise.

00:04:26 Ian Boddy: Plans are built out from those exercises.

00:04:29 Ian Boddy: This was a clear example of that training at work, ensuring departments, partners, and agencies coordinate quickly and effectively to help protect our community.

00:04:38 Ian Boddy: The City of Owen Sound will continue to review experiences like the ones we just had, and add what we have learned to our preparedness training for future events.

00:04:48 Ian Boddy: I want to sincerely thank city staff sincerely, not severely.

00:05:03 Ian Boddy: I want to sincerely thank city staff and our great public health partners for their diligence, professionalism, and long hours, from monitoring water quality and overseeing communications to coordinating and distributing water bottles and supporting residents day and night.

00:05:13 Ian Boddy: Our residents can rest assured that we have a dedicated, experienced, and caring team on the ground at all times.

00:05:17 Ian Boddy: Based on all the information available at the time and guided by the regulations, our staff and partners took the safest, most appropriate actions that they could, and they did it with care, professionalism, and a strong commitment to the community.

00:05:33 Ian Boddy: Owen Sound showed resilience, cooperation, and compassion throughout this event.

00:05:37 Ian Boddy: We say thank you to everyone for looking out for one another, and thank you for your continued trust.

00:05:46 Ian Boddy: So, thanks.

00:05:46 Ian Boddy: So, next on my agenda is a call for additional business.

00:05:50 Scott Greig: Does anyone, Deputy Mayor Greig?

00:05:53 Scott Greig: I have two items.

00:05:54 Scott Greig: One is the Politicians' Day held this past Saturday in Elmwood, and the second relates to the response on the ice, rescuing the ice fishermen from a couple weeks ago.

00:06:07 Ian Boddy: Anyone else?

00:06:08 Ian Boddy: Seeing none.

00:06:10 Ian Boddy: Just before we go too much further, I do notice.

00:06:13 Ian Boddy: I think Councillor Farmer will have most of the motions.

00:06:17 Ian Boddy: Councillor Kukreja is on her way home.

00:06:18 Ian Boddy: Was going to Zoom in, but is on her way home from India, and we look forward to having her back.

00:06:24 Ian Boddy: And I understand that today is her birthday.

00:06:27 Ian Boddy: What a fun way to spend your birthday!

00:06:31 Ian Boddy: So, are there any declarations of interest, general nature thereof?

00:06:35 Ian Boddy: Seeing none.

00:06:37 Ian Boddy: Confirmation of the council minutes.

00:06:42 Jon Farmer: Moved by myself, seconded by Deputy Mayor Greig, that the minutes of the following meetings be adopted as printed: one, the closed session of the regular council meeting held on February ninth, twenty twenty-six, and two, the regular council meeting held on March ninth, twenty twenty-six.

00:06:57 Ian Boddy: Thank you.

00:06:58 Ian Boddy: And all in favor?

00:06:59 Ian Boddy: And that is carried.

00:07:01 Ian Boddy: Next is number five: a motion to move council into committee of the whole.

00:07:06 Jon Farmer: Moved by myself, seconded by Deputy Mayor Greig, that City Council now move into Committee of the Whole to consider public meetings, deputations and presentations, public forum matters arising from correspondence, reports of city staff, consent agenda, committee minutes, matters postponed, motions for which notice was previously given, and additional business.

00:07:28 Jon Farmer: Good.

00:07:29 Ian Boddy: Thank you.

00:07:29 Ian Boddy: All in favor?

00:07:30 Ian Boddy: And that is carried.

00:07:31 Ian Boddy: So we are now in Committee of the Whole.

00:07:33 Ian Boddy: At number six, we have no public meetings.

00:07:36 Ian Boddy: At number seven, we have a deputation.

00:07:39 Ian Boddy: I believe on screen from Karen Kelly, Principal Integrity, with regard to Integrity Commissioner's report regarding code of conduct complaint.

00:07:48 SPEAKER_006: Do I need to go to you?

00:07:53 SPEAKER_006: Welcome, Ms. Kelly.

00:07:54 SPEAKER_006: You're on.

00:07:56 Karen Kelly: Thank you.

00:07:57 Karen Kelly: Good evening, Committee.

00:07:58 Karen Kelly: By way of introduction, my name is Karen Kelly.

00:08:01 Karen Kelly: I'm currently an associate with Principles Integrity, working as an integrity commissioner, largely involved with conducting code of conduct investigations.

00:08:10 Karen Kelly: I'm also currently part-time faculty with Seneca Polytechnic, currently teaching a course within the public administration program, municipal law and ethics.

00:08:20 Karen Kelly: And consistent with Principles Integrity's principles, I'm a retired municipal lawyer, having retired about two years ago from the City of Toronto after practicing for 30 years as in-house legal counsel with a number of different municipalities of varying size.

00:08:37 Karen Kelly: Thank you for the opportunity to provide some opening remarks on the report before you today, and thank you for hearing this matter so early on your agenda this evening.

00:08:46 Karen Kelly: We found it helpful to provide a general overview before getting into the findings of a report, and the report is on your agenda today.

00:08:56 Karen Kelly: That represents a culmination of a process.

00:08:59 Karen Kelly: It's a process established by the Municipal Act, one in which a complaint about an elected official is brought to the attention of the municipality's Integrity Commissioner, who, in an independent and confidential manner, conducts an investigation.

00:09:17 Karen Kelly: We report on the findings along with recommendations to the Municipal Council for determination based on those findings and recommendations.

00:09:26 Karen Kelly: Your role is not to conduct an investigation; that has been done.

00:09:30 Karen Kelly: That's why you have an Integrity Commissioner, and in fact, it's quite impossible for you to conduct or review the investigation because you do not have access to the witnesses, which are the evidence that led to our findings.

00:09:42 Karen Kelly: We are here to respond to Council's questions on how our recommendations relate to our findings, but we are not in a position to discuss the details of our confidential investigation.

00:09:53 Karen Kelly: The investigation was conducted in accordance with the tenets of procedural fairness.

00:09:59 Karen Kelly: Everyone in the investigation was entitled to procedural fairness.

00:10:02 Karen Kelly: Principally, Councillor Koepke.

00:10:05 Karen Kelly: That meant that she was provided information that described the complaint and that she was given a fair opportunity to respond, which she did in writing.

00:10:14 Karen Kelly: At the conclusion, Councillor Koepke was also provided with our draft preliminary findings, and she responded to that findings report, giving her an opportunity to be heard before we finalized the report.

00:10:25 Karen Kelly: That's before you.

00:10:29 Karen Kelly: She is also able to comment on our report.

00:10:32 Karen Kelly: There is a narrow exception under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act that allows her to participate, but not vote on the matter before Council today.

00:10:41 Karen Kelly: What is out of order is for the councilor or any member, Counselor, or any member of Council, to conduct an investigation on the floor of Council.

00:10:50 Karen Kelly: That investigation was confidential, as required by the Act, and it has been done by ourselves as a neutral third party in accordance with the procedural fairness tenets.

00:10:59 Karen Kelly: What is in order for Council though today is your role is to review the report, decide which sanctions, if any, are necessary, and Council will be the final voice in determining what should be done.

00:11:11 Karen Kelly: It's our recommendation on the report that an education and training session be arranged on appropriate conduct and decorum at Council, and best practices for handling difficult situations at Council, and that all of Council be requested to attend the education and training session.

00:11:30 Karen Kelly: I'll speak briefly to the findings themselves.

00:11:33 Karen Kelly: This report results from a complaint against Councillor Koepke.

00:11:37 Karen Kelly: Against Councillor Koepke, alleging that the councilor engaged in eight separate instances in acts of inappropriate behavior directed towards Councilor Farmer, including a single instance where it was alleged that Councillor Koepke physically hit Councilor Farmer, and that all of these actions amounted to a pattern of behavior that demonstrated a lack of decorum and constituted bullying in the workplace.

00:11:59 Karen Kelly: We found that the only specific allegation that was substantiated was during the renaming of Ryerson Park Working Group meeting of September 22, 2025, which is referred to in the report as Incident 8, involving the tone and content of Councillor Koepke's comments while objecting to Councilor Farmer becoming chair of the working group.

00:12:21 Karen Kelly: The tone and content of comments directed towards Councilor Farmer being seen as demeaning and personal in nature that were unwarranted in the situation.

00:12:30 Karen Kelly: We did not find the councilor's conduct, though, to constitute a pattern of behavior amounting to bullying, but rather a single instance of minor incivility.

00:12:39 Karen Kelly: That, while not egregious in nature, constituted a breach of the code of conduct.

00:12:47 Karen Kelly: We did not find the single instance where Councillor Koepke had brief, nonviolent physical contact with Councilor Farmer to be a breach of the code of conduct.

00:12:57 Karen Kelly: We did find that the manner in which Councilor Farmer sat at his Council chair, cross-legged with bare or sandaled feet, while not a breach of the code of conduct, was offensive to those seated beside him, which we find to be a mitigating factor to this complaint.

00:13:12 Karen Kelly: We did find, though, that contributing factors also were that the complaint included a general lack of agreement of what constitutes appropriate decorum, including dress and conduct at Council, and a departure from strict adherence to the procedural bylaw that collectively has given rise to a level of frustration, resulting in routine minor incivilities.

00:13:33 Karen Kelly: We do not believe that a monetary penalty serves any purpose in this instance.

00:13:38 Karen Kelly: Councillor Koepke identified to us in her response to the preliminary findings report that she has now undertaken mandatory thematic training required for her role as part of the Police Services Board, which has assisted her in forming a better understanding of how to deal with the issues that gave rise to this complaint.

00:13:57 Karen Kelly: Rather, as I've mentioned, we're recommending that all of Council have the appropriate training, advice, and guidance to ensure that all of its members share a common understanding of what is acceptable conduct and appropriate decorum at Council, and are able to appropriately identify and handle instances of minor incivility.

00:14:16 Karen Kelly: In this way, everyone hears the same message at the same time.

00:14:20 Karen Kelly: We find that this can be of assistance to everyone in encouraging and sustaining a high standard, and avoiding future incidents.

00:14:29 Karen Kelly: We are hopeful that this experience and the recommended training will lead the councillor and all of Council to better understand what acceptable conduct and what is appropriate comportment Council is.

00:14:42 Karen Kelly: Before concluding my remarks, I did want to bring to your attention a minor error in the report.

00:14:47 Karen Kelly: It's found at paragraph 28, sub-paragraph 3, and it's dealing with the orange shirt day incident of September 23, 2024, referred to in the report as Incident 3.

00:15:00 Karen Kelly: The second half of the second sentence of that paragraph reads: No witnesses were offered by either councillor, and the email exchange that councillor Farmer identified as providing context, was not produced, although requested.

00:15:14 Karen Kelly: It should read: No witnesses were offered by either councilor.

00:15:18 Karen Kelly: Full stop.

00:15:19 Karen Kelly: Councilor Farmer brought to our attention last week that he did not provide that we he had provided the referenced email, and we have found that email.

00:15:31 Karen Kelly: It was not in the investigation file.

00:15:35 Karen Kelly: It was sent to our general post office box, meaning it wasn't part of that file.

00:15:39 Karen Kelly: But we have been able to find it, and he is correct that it did come to us.

00:15:43 Karen Kelly: We have reviewed the email, and I can advise that it provides no evidence in support of either councilor's version of the events, and it does not impact the findings or recommendations set out in this report.

00:15:54 Karen Kelly: We will, and we've spoken with, had an exchange with the City Clerk.

00:15:58 Karen Kelly: We will reissue our report to the City Clerk this week, so that she has the revised report for our minutes.

00:16:06 Karen Kelly: Just simply shortening that second sentence, the first and third sentence of that paragraph remain.

00:16:14 Karen Kelly: I will also note that that particular email also contained an additional witness's name, and that Councillor Farmer was providing to us, and he was providing that to us in a review of my notes with respect to the Community Services meeting of September 17, 2025, incident, referred to as Incident 7 in the report.

00:16:35 Karen Kelly: And what I can say with respect to that is, we had already heard from a number of witnesses and reviewed the committee meeting recording, and had determined that we didn't require any further interviews.

00:16:45 Karen Kelly: So the provision of that name would not have changed the outcome with respect to that matter either.

00:16:52 Karen Kelly: Those are my remarks.

00:16:53 Karen Kelly: We're available to respond to any questions that council may have with respect to the report.

00:17:00 Karen Kelly: Councillors' questions.

00:17:03 Ian Boddy: Seeing one, Deputy Mayor Greig has a question.

00:17:08 Scott Greig: I guess that, and this is probably more so a question to staff as opposed to yourself, Karen.

00:17:14 Scott Greig: Thank you very much for the presentation this evening on the report.

00:17:20 Scott Greig: To staff, do you have a total in terms of financial amount this has cost the city?

00:17:27 Scott Greig: Can you share that, Mr. Simmons?

00:17:33 Karen Kelly: Thank you, Mayor, and through you to the Deputy City Manager.

00:17:36 Karen Kelly: It's our understanding that the most recent invoice from Principals Integrity tallies this to be seventeen thousand dollars for this investigation.

00:17:53 Karen Kelly: Okay.

00:17:53 Karen Kelly: Nothing further.

00:17:53 Karen Kelly: No, not this time.

00:17:58 Ian Boddy: Okay, are there other questions?

00:18:05 Ian Boddy: No. Yeah.

00:18:06 Ian Boddy: Do you want comments as well now?

00:18:09 Ian Boddy: I guess that's up to me.

00:18:10 Ian Boddy: Yes, comments.

00:18:10 Ian Boddy: Go ahead.

00:18:11 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I'd like to speak to two things in the report for the record.

00:18:15 Jon Farmer: First, the report omits the fact that I filed the complaint as a final attempt to address the issues described after multiple invitations and requests over more than a year for informal meetings to name and resolve the tensions in our working relationship.

00:18:29 Jon Farmer: The final request was made on the advice of the integrity commissioner, included which was made on their advice, included an option for a mediated conversation with the support of the integrity commissioner.

00:18:44 Jon Farmer: I continue to believe that disagreement and tension are a predictable part of our jobs, and that the best way to resolve them is through conversation.

00:18:52 Jon Farmer: Second, the report amplifies the opinions of my colleague that the frequency and depth of my participation in meetings is motivated by a desire to monopolize conversations.

00:18:58 Jon Farmer: This is false.

00:19:00 Jon Farmer: It is no surprise to followers of our work that I participate frequently, and that my contributions are not universally appreciated.

00:19:06 Jon Farmer: Those points seem self-evident.

00:19:08 Jon Farmer: I will, however, state for the record that the manner of my participation is in fact driven by a conviction that it is the job of council to be thorough and thoughtful in considering both the material before us and the general needs of our community.

00:19:21 Jon Farmer: To me, that requires reading the material, thinking about it, and using our time together to deliberate about the best possible decisions.

00:19:29 Jon Farmer: I also believe in transparency, and that folks have a right to know why we are voting the way that we are.

00:19:38 Jon Farmer: Voting routinely without comment or reserving my questions and opinions, serving my questions and opinions only for email exchanges or private conversations with staff and members of council would not meet the standard to which I aspire.

00:19:48 Jon Farmer: These are the convictions that motivate me.

00:19:49 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

00:19:50 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

00:19:50 Jon Farmer: Anyone else?

00:19:52 Ian Boddy: Okay, I've got some comments because some of them apply to me as mayor and chair of meetings.

00:19:58 Ian Boddy: I note some comments.

00:19:59 Ian Boddy: One sound city is generally seen as professional and collegial work environment with most council members getting along, and I think that's pretty important when we look at others sometimes in comparison.

00:20:11 Ian Boddy: However, it is recommended that as chair, I need to take a stricter approach to procedural bylaws, and we'll work towards doing that.

00:20:19 Ian Boddy: With regard to the annual change in the seating currently provided in the policy that was set out a number of years ago, and then I changed it a little bit, I would suggest that this is dealt with by the mayor who's elected at the start of the next term with the clerk, and it's something that happens automatically.

00:20:38 Ian Boddy: Given that we've got nine meetings to go, they're not going to start to shuffle chairs now again.

00:20:45 Ian Boddy: And that's something that the next council can look at how they want to deal with where people sit, etc. Concerns were also raised with respect to issues of appropriate dress at council, and I know how I conduct myself, and feel that I owe it to the institution of the chair of the council and of the city to dress the way I do.

00:21:14 Ian Boddy: This is not the first term that there has been people that choose to dress differently.

00:21:20 Ian Boddy: If it's my understanding that if we need to address that, pardon the pun, then it's something.

00:21:30 Ian Boddy: And it's something that again, next council should deal with, given that we've got nine meetings to go.

00:21:40 Ian Boddy: So those are my comments.

00:21:43 Scott Greig: Taking responsibility for the things that I need to.

00:21:46 Scott Greig: Council, there's recommendations there, Deputy Mayor Greig.

00:21:51 Scott Greig: I'll make a motion that council receive the report.

00:21:54 Scott Greig: No further action.

00:21:55 Scott Greig: Do you want to give some thought or some explanation of your thought?

00:22:02 Scott Greig: I can.

00:22:05 Scott Greig: I was awaiting if there's conversation.

00:22:07 Scott Greig: I was going to present at that time, but I think that I don't think another penny should be spent of taxpayers' dollars on this beyond seventeen thousand dollars at this time.

00:22:22 Scott Greig: This was painful to read through, from front to back.

00:22:26 Scott Greig: I think of.

00:22:27 Scott Greig: I watched a sporting event yesterday at the end of a game, a team won on the last second basket, and a player, a young gentleman, was being interviewed on national TV.

00:22:31 Scott Greig: And the camaraderie, the players around him expressing the joy, they were so together as a team in that moment.

00:22:49 Scott Greig: I grew up in sports.

00:22:50 Scott Greig: We should function as a team.

00:22:51 Scott Greig: There's captains on teams.

00:22:52 Scott Greig: There's assistant captains on teams.

00:22:53 Scott Greig: If you have any issues, you interact with some of those mechanisms that exist in corporations, on boards, on teams.

00:22:56 Scott Greig: You learn from that and utilize those resources.

00:22:59 Scott Greig: I think this is this was a last step.

00:23:02 Scott Greig: It's a costly step against the taxpayers of the city.

00:23:05 Scott Greig: And so many times I sit here, and I'm not afraid to put my hand in the air to vote against a good idea or a good proposal in the front of the community, and the fact is, we don't have the financial means to expend resources at times, and then to see us expend seventeen thousand dollars of resources, of financial resources for this, I think back to the last election, there was a municipality in within Ontario had a spat between two councillors effective the next council, neither those councillors were returned to the municipality, so the community is always watching, and the community will evaluate ultimately how council is functioning.

00:23:59 Scott Greig: Councillor Hamley.

00:24:01 Brock Hamley: Yeah, I agree.

00:24:03 Brock Hamley: I think if I were a school teacher, I would break these two up and not let them sit together.

00:24:09 Brock Hamley: That's already been done, and so I think I'm satisfied with that.

00:24:31 Brock Hamley: Comes from Merton.

00:24:32 SPEAKER_009: Thank you, Mayor.

00:24:33 SPEAKER_009: Although there were names within this investigation, the impact affects all of us around the table, and it affects the public because they trust us to be able to do the business of the city to move our community forward.

00:24:43 SPEAKER_009: I feel it is important, whether it's within this council term or the council that sits around the table in the future, to have an improved process around conflict resolution, effective communication, and strategies to be able to utilize our procedural bylaws in the ways that they are intended.

00:25:07 SPEAKER_009: Should council decide no further action for this term, my request would be that we have the opportunity to provide suggestions, as always, to our clerk and our city manager regarding improvement suggestions as we move forward.

00:25:28 SPEAKER_009: We also have training opportunities available to us through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario around how to handle the conflict situations as elected officials, and perhaps it is time to augment our training, not just our orientation for council, to include being able to handle some of these sensitive and delicate situations that arise.

00:26:00 SPEAKER_009: I believe this is an opportunity for us to look forward and to be able to improve processes and enhance the communication around the table, so that we can serve the public better.

00:26:14 Ian Boddy: Thank you.

00:26:15 Ian Boddy: So focusing strictly on the motion that is before us, Mr. Simmons, how many training sessions have we had as a council this term?

00:26:33 Karen Kelly: Do you know?

00:26:34 Karen Kelly: Sorry, through you, Mayor.

00:26:36 Karen Kelly: Definitely new term orientation sessions.

00:26:38 Karen Kelly: Off the top of my head, June of 2024, we had another education session that dealt with this.

00:26:45 Ian Boddy: February 2025 was the most recent, and then we'll be coming up as Councillor Merton referred to with new term orientation.

00:26:56 Briana Bloomfield: Again, so three this term at least.

00:26:59 Briana Bloomfield: Okay, Ms. Bloomfield, how many days of orientation have you got planned?

00:27:04 Ian Boddy: Too many to count.

00:27:06 Ian Boddy: No, there's I don't know, maybe six or eight.

00:27:07 Ian Boddy: Yeah, so I think it's going to get covered by the time we get a meeting organized.

00:27:09 Ian Boddy: It's June.

00:27:10 Ian Boddy: This is the end of March, maybe April, May, but then we're down to five or six meetings to go.

00:27:16 Ian Boddy: That I understand that Councillor Koepke isn't running in the next election.

00:27:21 Ian Boddy: I understand that Councillor Farmer isn't running in the next election.

00:27:25 Ian Boddy: So I'm kind of agreeing with the Deputy Mayor, but maybe I'll just call the vote.

00:27:46 Ian Boddy: There's no other comments.

00:27:48 Ian Boddy: All in favor.

00:27:49 Ian Boddy: That is carried.

00:27:51 Ian Boddy: Confusion on the motion.

00:27:52 Ian Boddy: Are we okay?

00:27:54 Ian Boddy: Yes.

00:27:55 Ian Boddy: Yes, Ms. Kelly.

00:27:56 Ian Boddy: Thank you very much for your work, thoroughness that you put into this, and interviews that you did, and helping us.

00:27:58 Ian Boddy: Certainly, the comments that were directed towards my style of chairing, I hear and thank you for that.

00:28:06 Ian Boddy: It's always an opportunity to learn every chance, every chance we get.

00:28:20 Ian Boddy: And I'll put a little more thought into that.

00:28:23 Ian Boddy: Thank you.

00:28:23 Ian Boddy: Thank you.

00:28:28 Karen Kelly: Thank you.

00:28:29 Karen Kelly: Next at seven B, we have a presentation from the city manager with regard to the update.

00:28:31 Karen Kelly: Thank you, Mayor and members of council.

00:28:32 Karen Kelly: Glad to again bring our monthly updates to you and those watching, and those present here in council chambers.

00:28:36 Karen Kelly: If I could have the clerk forward the slides, thank you.

00:28:40 Karen Kelly: So we begin with highlights.

00:28:42 Karen Kelly: Nominations for the city's arts and cultural awards are still open until this Friday, March seventeenth.

00:28:57 Karen Kelly: Visit owensound.ca/awards for more information and to make a nomination.

00:29:00 Karen Kelly: Tickets are also now on sale for the 2026 Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

00:29:02 Karen Kelly: That's going to be held on the evening of May eighth at 5:30 p.m.

00:29:04 Karen Kelly: And for information about that, owensound.ca/sports/hall-of-fame, and you can get tickets here at City Hall also.

00:29:12 Karen Kelly: Summer programming registration for Tom Art Camps and Sports Camps is underway, and spots are filling up fast.

00:29:18 Karen Kelly: Visit owensound.ca/youth/programs for more information and to register or join a wait list.

00:29:24 Karen Kelly: Patio season is on its way.

00:29:27 Karen Kelly: We think it is at least.

00:29:28 Karen Kelly: So I hope it's on its way sooner than later.

00:29:31 Karen Kelly: The draft sidewalk patio guidelines have been presented to the River District Board and also to the Community Services Committee just in the past few weeks.

00:29:39 Karen Kelly: They'll be presented to the Grey County Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee next week, and the hope is to get those into place and up and running for this season.

00:29:50 Karen Kelly: Slide, please.

00:29:52 Karen Kelly: February saw 12 building permits issued with a value of just more than $22,000.

00:30:04 Karen Kelly: That's compared to $9,500 during the same period last year.

00:30:07 Karen Kelly: The Order of Good Cheer rink at Harrison Park has wrapped up another great season.

00:30:09 Karen Kelly: It was open from December 22nd until March 5th, and I think we had very limited down days, so a lot of outdoor skating was had there.

00:30:14 Karen Kelly: Harrison Park campground registration opened on February 2nd for this coming season, 2026.

00:30:28 Karen Kelly: Spots sell fast.

00:30:29 Karen Kelly: Book online to ensure your spot by visiting owensound.ca/campgrounds.

00:30:32 Karen Kelly: A second public information center for the Fourth Avenue West reconstruction project was held this past week here at City Hall, and winter maintenance operations have continued.

00:30:37 Karen Kelly: We've now reached 444 centimeters of snow so far this season.

00:30:42 Karen Kelly: So I think, on average, from remembering from operations committee, we average about 325 centimeters or so of snow.

00:30:50 Karen Kelly: But again, a lot of snow this past year.

00:30:53 Karen Kelly: I'll go into the upcoming committees.

00:30:55 Karen Kelly: I generally don't have the Grey County Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee as one that I highlight, but I'm bringing this one forward, and I'm going to add into my further presentations of monthly updates when the city does have a report or an item going to that committee, I will put that up so people can see.

00:31:11 Karen Kelly: So this Thursday, April 2nd, we have a full agenda at that Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee.

00:31:17 Karen Kelly: The 2026 Municipal Election Plan, 16th Street East Pedestrian Tunnel Rehabilitation Project, our Fourth Avenue West Reconstruction Project, our Commemorative Forest Monument Proposed Design, Draft Sidewalk Patio Guidelines, and also the site plan for the new Bruce Gray Catholic District School Board.

00:31:37 Karen Kelly: Slide.

00:31:38 Karen Kelly: We have a Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Committee scheduled for Wednesday, April 8th.

00:31:43 Karen Kelly: We have completion of projects on the integration of Microsoft Teams, Project 2A1 investigation of cloud-based solutions for digital time coding.

00:31:53 Karen Kelly: That's going to be an update report.

00:31:55 Karen Kelly: Our Parks Service Levels.

00:31:56 Karen Kelly: The past few meetings, we've been having different elements or different aspects of Parks come forward and looking at the service levels.

00:32:02 Karen Kelly: This coming meeting will be playgrounds and horticulture, and then finally Project 3A3.

00:32:13 Karen Kelly: Finally, Project Three A Three Tourism at the Tom Pilot Project conclusion.

00:32:18 Karen Kelly: Next, Corporate Services Committee schedule for Thursday, April 9th.

00:32:19 Karen Kelly: We have a 2026 Annual Fees and Charges Review.

00:32:21 Karen Kelly: We have a Policy Review Project update.

00:32:22 Karen Kelly: So those are policies in general, and then the 2025 Animal Control Year in Review.

00:32:26 Karen Kelly: Community Services.

00:32:27 Karen Kelly: I want to note that this is a date change.

00:32:30 Karen Kelly: It's usually on Wednesdays, the third Wednesday of each month.

00:32:33 Karen Kelly: This is going to be on Tuesday, April 21st.

00:32:36 Karen Kelly: So it's one day sooner.

00:32:38 Karen Kelly: The reports going to that committee are the Annual Fees and Charges Review, the Vacant Building Conversion and Expansion Grant, Economic Health Report Card, and the Owen Sound Attack Hockey Club is looking for some additional space at the Bayshore Community Center.

00:32:55 Karen Kelly: The Operations Committee for the third Thursday of each month.

00:32:58 Karen Kelly: We have the 2026 Annual Fees and Charges Review.

00:33:01 Karen Kelly: We have frozen water levels of service.

00:33:03 Karen Kelly: I know that sounds odd, but it's really dealing with policy and procedure that's been in place since about 2014, and that's with depth of pipes and how we respond to emergencies with frozen pipes, and then bulk water sales and application is also under review.

00:33:18 Karen Kelly: And in case you missed it, again this is just aggregated all in one place for you.

00:33:22 Karen Kelly: Here's all of the news releases that have happened, media advisories issued between February 10th and March 20th.

00:33:27 Karen Kelly: So you don't have to go back and search through our news portal on the website.

00:33:31 Karen Kelly: You can simply come to the city manager's update.

00:33:34 Karen Kelly: These are all hot links to those news stories.

00:33:36 Karen Kelly: So again, trying to make it more convenient.

00:33:39 Karen Kelly: And as we've talked about, Mayor, in your opening remarks, and through the precautionary boil water advisory, I wanted to put a slide in today that talks about subscribing to our news posts.

00:33:50 Karen Kelly: So if you set up owensound.ca/subscribe, you can get news posts on everything happening at the city.

00:33:57 Karen Kelly: If there's a media advisory about any aspect of what's going on, it will go straight to your inbox.

00:34:01 Karen Kelly: So you don't have to rely on wondering what's happening around.

00:34:04 Karen Kelly: You can simply sign up.

00:34:06 Karen Kelly: You'll get all of the information straight from the city into your email inbox.

00:34:11 Karen Kelly: And then finally, staying connected, and I think it was a theme throughout a lot of the highlights.

00:34:15 Karen Kelly: We have generally a place on our website where you can get all the information.

00:34:19 Karen Kelly: It's the slash and the sort of that vanity landing area, owensound.ca, for all things going on at the city.

00:34:27 Karen Kelly: Our engagement portal, ourcity.owensound.ca, and that was used extensively, I know, in the official plan and zoning bylaw update coming forward.

00:34:36 Karen Kelly: And then we also have owensound.ca/report-a-concern.

00:34:40 Karen Kelly: So again, like to thank Councillor Koepke for this, but it is pothole season coming up, and she always raises it.

00:34:47 Karen Kelly: If you see potholes, go to report a concern.

00:34:50 Karen Kelly: It gets it time stamped.

00:34:52 Karen Kelly: It goes to the right department.

00:34:54 Karen Kelly: If you want, you can take a picture of the pothole, send it in with that.

00:34:56 Karen Kelly: It takes about 90 seconds to do, maybe two minutes if you add a picture.

00:35:00 Karen Kelly: But that gets it right to the right department to go take care of it and get it scheduled for workflow into the system.

00:35:06 Karen Kelly: And then just for things going on around the city itself, Owen Sound River District.ca and Owen Sound Tourism.ca.

00:35:14 Karen Kelly: Also, March 27th for nominations.

00:35:18 Karen Kelly: Oh, sorry.

00:35:19 Karen Kelly: Thank you, Pam.

00:35:20 Karen Kelly: I have that nominations close on the 17th.

00:35:23 Karen Kelly: Correction: They close on the 27th of March.

00:35:25 Karen Kelly: So, typo.

00:35:26 Karen Kelly: So, nominations for the cultural awards close on March 27th, not the 17th.

00:35:32 Karen Kelly: My apologies.

00:35:37 Karen Kelly: Good.

00:35:37 Karen Kelly: Thank you.

00:35:37 Karen Kelly: Any questions for Tim?

00:35:39 Karen Kelly: Seeing none.

00:35:42 Ian Boddy: That gets us through seven on our agenda.

00:35:44 Ian Boddy: Number eight is public forum.

00:35:46 Ian Boddy: Go to you, Miss Bloomfield.

00:35:49 Briana Bloomfield: Through your worship, no comments for public forum have been submitted electronically.

00:35:53 Briana Bloomfield: If anyone present wishes to speak, please begin by stating your name and the municipality in which you reside.

00:35:59 Briana Bloomfield: Each speaker is limited to a maximum of three minutes.

00:36:02 Briana Bloomfield: The total time allotted for public forum is fifteen minutes.

00:36:06 Briana Bloomfield: The mayor may curtail comments that are repetitive or end any presentation for disorderly conduct.

00:36:11 Briana Bloomfield: The mayor will respond to comments where appropriate.

00:36:14 Briana Bloomfield: Council members will not enter into discussion or debate.

00:36:19 Ian Boddy: So, if someone wants to come to the microphone, get to say your name and what municipality you live in.

00:36:32 Andrii Zvorygin: I press the button.

00:36:33 Andrii Zvorygin: Okay.

00:36:34 Andrii Zvorygin: I'm Andrii Zvorygin.

00:36:35 Andrii Zvorygin: I'm Andrii Zvorygin.

00:36:36 Andrii Zvorygin: I live in the municipality of Owen Sound, and I would just like to ask if you would be willing to forgive, love, be kind, and accept one another, and to have the humility to allow each other to speak and be heard.

00:36:53 Andrii Zvorygin: And that if you may have some feelings about someone else in the council, that you may do some breathing and consider whether perhaps it's something about yourself that you haven't yet learned how to forgive, love, and accept, and to cherish and to hold, and to remember that we are here as servants for the community, for a city, to do what we can to provide for our people.

00:37:25 Andrii Zvorygin: So, and I just pray that may peace abide in your hearts.

00:37:33 Andrii Zvorygin: Thank you.

00:37:34 SPEAKER_012: Thank you.

00:37:39 SPEAKER_012: Hello, my name's Christopher Stevens.

00:37:50 SPEAKER_013: There we are, Christopher Stevens.

00:37:57 SPEAKER_013: City of Toronto is where I reside.

00:37:59 SPEAKER_013: Good evening, Mayor and members of Council.

00:38:02 SPEAKER_013: My name is Christopher Stevens, and I'm here on behalf of Glassworks Development Cooperative as a member and president of the board, and as a representative and member of the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers, whose members work, live, and reside here in the region.

00:38:17 SPEAKER_013: Glassworks is proposing a 350 to 500 home workforce housing community and workforce housing community in Owen Sound, designed to support the people who already power the region: tradespeople, healthcare workers, service workers, and young families who are currently priced out of homeownership.

00:38:34 SPEAKER_013: This is not a request for subsidies; it is a delivery model that does not require them.

00:38:40 SPEAKER_013: Glassworks is structured to produce affordable homeownership at scale, serving households with incomes from roughly thirty-five thousand to eighty-five thousand, while remaining financially viable and replicable.

00:38:52 SPEAKER_013: And importantly, this is not theoretical support.

00:38:55 SPEAKER_013: We are backed by regional employers and institutions who are directly feeling the housing shortage, including Brightshore Health System, the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers, the Owen Sound and District Chamber of Commerce, as well as other employers and advocacy groups such as the Social Financing and Housing Group.

00:39:11 SPEAKER_013: They are not supporting this project because it's interesting.

00:39:15 SPEAKER_013: They are supporting it because they cannot hire and retain people without appropriate housing.

00:39:21 SPEAKER_013: At the same time, we are preserving and activating employment lands on the lower portion of the site.

00:39:27 SPEAKER_013: This is not housing versus jobs; it's housing for jobs.

00:39:32 SPEAKER_013: We align with Owen Sound's economic development priorities, and we are prepared to do the work to prove it.

00:39:38 SPEAKER_013: So here's our ask: we are requesting council's openness to allow Glassworks to complete two key studies: the employment lands needs assessment and full planning justification report, and return to council with evidence to seek support in principle.

00:39:55 SPEAKER_013: We then plan to complete all required technical studies, knowing that we have the town support, allowing us to raise the money from our members and our community to pay for the reports.

00:40:04 SPEAKER_013: This approach allows the cooperative to move confidently forward while protecting the town's interest in appropriate development and economic development.

00:40:14 SPEAKER_013: Council has a choice: wait for the market to solve this problem, if it ever does, or enable a model that already has community, employer, and institutional backing.

00:40:24 SPEAKER_013: We're ready to proceed.

00:40:25 SPEAKER_013: We're ready to do the work, and we're asking you to let us prove it to you.

00:40:29 SPEAKER_013: Thank you, and I look forward to a formal deputation soon.

00:40:34 SPEAKER_013: Good, thank you.

00:40:38 SPEAKER_013: Others?

00:40:41 Ian Boddy: Anyone else wish to make a comment, Council tonight?

00:40:45 Ian Boddy: This is the time.

00:40:48 Ian Boddy: Okay, not seeing anyone go to the microphone, so we will move on from number eight to the public forum to number nine.

00:40:56 Ian Boddy: We have no correspondence items being presented for consideration at 10A, reports from city staff.

00:40:56 Ian Boddy: We have no correspondence items being presented for consideration at 10A, reports from city staff.

00:41:04 Ian Boddy: We've got a report on the official plan 2021, and zoning bylaw 2010-078, and preparation of the urban design directions.

00:41:15 Ian Boddy: I go to Ms. Coulter.

00:41:17 Pam Coulter: Thank you, Worship.

00:41:19 Pam Coulter: Certainly pleased to present the final report, the draft official plan, and zoning documents, as well as the urban design guidelines, to council and the community this evening.

00:41:30 Pam Coulter: The documents have been shaped by council and through public input.

00:41:35 Pam Coulter: I want to thank staff and the consultants Dave Aston and Aaliyah Clark at MHBC for the attention to detail that really reflects the importance of these documents to the community.

00:41:45 Pam Coulter: I'm happy to introduce Aaliyah Clark, who will walk council through the presentation and take questions this evening.

00:41:53 Pam Coulter: Thank you, Worship.

00:41:57 Dave Aston: Thanks, Pam, and through you, Mayor Boddy and members of council.

00:42:01 Dave Aston: Good evening, everyone.

00:42:02 Dave Aston: My name is Leah Clark, and I'm an associate at MHBC Planning.

00:42:07 Dave Aston: And Dave Aston is on the line.

00:42:08 Dave Aston: He might have to hop off in a little bit for another meeting, but we've both been working on the project since the beginning back in 2024.

00:42:16 Dave Aston: So we're pleased to be presenting final report to members of council and our final recommendations.

00:42:23 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:42:28 Dave Aston: So this slide provides an overview of our project timeline and the public engagement, which has been completed to date.

00:42:35 Dave Aston: As I mentioned, the project was initiated in 2024, and since then there have been multiple iterations of the proposed amendments and multiple opportunities for public input.

00:42:45 Dave Aston: Most recently, there was the council workshops in November and December 2025, and the council motions which came out of that meeting are provided in detail in the staff report, and our responses to those motions are also provided.

00:43:00 Dave Aston: But I will provide some brief information about how some of those key motions have been addressed in the updated documents.

00:43:08 Dave Aston: We're now in the final phase of the project and are looking for council direction on the approval of the final official plan amendment, zoning bylaw amendment, and the urban design directions, which places us in phase five.

00:43:18 Dave Aston: On this slide, next slide.

00:43:24 Dave Aston: So we've talked about the official plan a few times now in front of council.

00:43:27 Dave Aston: So I'll just provide a brief overview.

00:43:29 Dave Aston: The primary focus for the official plan review was to ensure conformity with the new provincial planning statement and the County of Grey's official plan.

00:43:37 Dave Aston: And the official plan amendment includes updates to reflect policy changes which occurred through the 2024 provincial planning statement and recent County of Grey official plan amendments, which have taken place since the city's official plan was approved in 2022 by the county.

00:43:54 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:43:59 Dave Aston: The major changes to the official plan are a result of the provincial planning statement changes, and the major change was the addition of an employment area designation.

00:44:10 Dave Aston: This designation places additional restrictions on the types of uses which are permitted in employment areas, and it takes the previous employment designation and divides it into two new designations, being the employment area and the flexible employment area.

00:44:25 Dave Aston: And there is another third designation, which is the existing industrial transition area designation, and there's no changes proposed to that designation, and it only applies to one site in the city, so it didn't have any major updates through this update.

00:44:40 Dave Aston: Other minor amendments to the official plan included changes related to the county's updated official plan policies to permit higher residential building heights, as a result of the council working session which we had, and to reflect recent site-specific and Grays Harbor Conservation Authority mapping updates that have happened since 2022.

00:45:02 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:45:05 Dave Aston: One of the major items that was discussed during the council workshops was the retail market studies.

00:45:12 Dave Aston: So, in the staff report, we do go into a lot more detail about our recommendation, how we reached it.

00:45:18 Dave Aston: But as a brief overview, we reviewed the commercial policy review report, which helped inform the 2022 official plan update.

00:45:26 Dave Aston: And this slide identifies our proposed recommendations.

00:45:30 Dave Aston: The main changes are that we would refine the uses permitted in the East City Commercial designation, and when a official plan sorry when a retail market impact study is triggered.

00:45:44 Dave Aston: So previously, any application related to retail or commercial uses between a prescribed size being between 400 below 400 and 65 square meters sorry or greater than 1,400 square meters would have triggered the need for the study.

00:45:58 Dave Aston: We've refined that down to only retail uses and only cases where there's an amendment to the limits of the East City Commercial designation or a rezoning application.

00:46:07 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:46:08 Dave Aston: As I mentioned, one of the changes was the new employment area designation.

00:46:17 Dave Aston: So this slide is just highlighting the key changes that happened on Schedule A, those being the division of the existing employment lands in the city are now divided into the flexible employment and the employment area designations, and that's identified with the blue outline.

00:46:40 Dave Aston: And the red circles are just identifying minor amendments to the limits of the hazard designation, and those were changes to reflect updated Grey Sable Conservation Authority mapping.

00:46:53 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:46:57 Dave Aston: This slide, similarly, is just identifying the revised name of the employment designation.

00:47:03 Dave Aston: So the mapping hasn't actually changed in any way; it's just a minor amendment to the name.

00:47:09 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:47:13 Dave Aston: So in this area of the city on Schedule A two, the changes are mainly to reflect the revised hazard lands again, based on conservation authority mapping.

00:47:23 Dave Aston: But the other changes just outlined in blue, and that's an amendment that was previously made through site specific official plan amendment.

00:47:31 Dave Aston: And this is just consolidating that amendment into the city's official plan, reflecting it through the mapping accordingly.

00:47:38 Dave Aston: Next slide, and then this, similarly to Schedule A one, is just the change of the name to the employment designation.

00:47:46 Dave Aston: There's no change in the limits of employment on this particular schedule.

00:47:50 Dave Aston: It's just a naming change.

00:47:52 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:47:56 Dave Aston: So moving on from the official plan amendment, the zoning bylaw review was intended to implement the city's two thousand and twenty-two official plan and to address housekeeping items which were raised through the council working session and through Historic Planning Act applications that the city has reviewed in the recent years.

00:48:16 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:48:21 Dave Aston: The major so we've outlined on this slide a few of the different amendments that were made to the zoning bylaw.

00:48:28 Dave Aston: The major zone changes relate to the city's residential zones and the employment zones.

00:48:33 Dave Aston: So I'll go through those in a little more detail in the next slides.

00:48:36 Dave Aston: So we can skip to that next slide.

00:48:38 Dave Aston: Sorry.

00:48:41 Dave Aston: So one of the major changes was the change to the residential zones.

00:48:44 Dave Aston: So the city's existing six residential zones are proposed to be condensed into three zones.

00:48:51 Dave Aston: The major two major five zones are the current R one through R three zones will become the R the new R one zone, the low density residential zones, and the R four to R five zones will become the R two medium density residential zone, and the existing MR zone is to remain unchanged.

00:49:12 Dave Aston: So we didn't list it on this slide, but the images here are showing that the city's existing R one through R three zones are now going to be identified through the yellow on the proposed zoning, and the new R two zone is the orange on the proposed zoning.

00:49:32 Dave Aston: So you'll see that there's a lot less variation in the zones in the city.

00:49:36 Dave Aston: The consolidation of zones allows for a wider range of residential uses within each zone.

00:49:42 Dave Aston: So the R one zone previously only allowed single detached dwellings, whereas now it would allow for singles, semis, and duplex dwellings.

00:49:51 Dave Aston: And similarly, in the R two zone, we would be permitting apartment buildings and townhouses with higher heights, which I will go into more detail in the next slide.

00:50:01 Dave Aston: If we can skip to that, as I mentioned, another major change for the residential zones was the heights.

00:50:09 Dave Aston: So we did review heights in residential zones as a result of council direction through the working sessions.

00:50:16 Dave Aston: And this graphic is just a demonstration of how those heights are proposed to change through the proposed amendment.

00:50:22 Dave Aston: So one of the increases was a one meter increase for accessory buildings in residential zones.

00:50:28 Dave Aston: This would allow for a one and a half or even potentially a two-story accessory residential building to be used for an additional residential unit.

00:50:38 Dave Aston: There's no proposed changes to single detached dwelling heights, but we are proposing to increase the townhouse building heights.

00:50:46 Dave Aston: It was previously two and a half stories that was permitted.

00:50:48 Dave Aston: We would now be permitting three stories or a height of twelve point five meters, and this will allow for a wider variety of townhouse types, including stacked townhouses or potentially back-to-back townhouses, which typically require taller building heights so that they can stack units on top of each other.

00:51:07 Dave Aston: Apartments are also proposed having increased height in the R two and the C three zones, so going from three stories or about twelve meters to four stories, fourteen meters, would allow for a wider variety of apartment building types.

00:51:23 Dave Aston: And similarly, in the MR zone and then the commercial zones, which also permit residential apartments, the height would increase from four stories or fifteen meters to six stories or twenty meters.

00:51:37 Dave Aston: Next slide, and then the final major change to the zoning was the employment zones.

00:51:46 Dave Aston: There is a minor typo on this slide.

00:51:48 Dave Aston: I have to apologize.

00:51:50 Dave Aston: It's no longer being called the employment one designation.

00:51:53 Dave Aston: We're calling it the employment area designation, just for clarity.

00:51:56 Dave Aston: The M three zone has been introduced to reflect the new employment area designation, and it has refined the permitted uses of the former M two zone to align with the permitted uses of employment areas in the provincial planning statement.

00:52:12 Dave Aston: So you'll see, similarly to the official plan maps, we've taken a portion of the city's current employment lands and rezoned them as M three to further limit the range of employment uses permitted, and that was done based off of existing uses known on the site as well as the surrounding uses for compatibility considerations.

00:52:34 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:52:38 Dave Aston: The urban design directions document was prepared to implement the urban design policies and objectives contained in the city's official plan, and these directions are intended to streamline the development process by setting out design expectations early in the planning process.

00:52:53 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:52:57 Dave Aston: These design directions will apply to all areas and properties in the city and cover a range of design considerations as listed on the slide above.

00:53:05 Dave Aston: And the urban design directions will be implemented through the city's development review process.

00:53:10 Dave Aston: But the main applications which would utilize these guidelines would be zoning bylaw amendments and site plan control.

00:53:16 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:53:20 Dave Aston: Through the public comment process, we did hear a range of different comments related to the official plan amendment, zoning bylaw amendment, and urban design guidelines.

00:53:30 Dave Aston: One of the key comments was related to housing, and we did review all these comments, and they've been addressed through the proposed official plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendments, which would allow for a wider range of zoning within each residential zone in the city.

00:53:46 Dave Aston: We also reviewed, as noted above, the retail impact study requirements, and have provided a policy recommendation that would help allow fewer developments to require the market impact study within the East City Commercial designation.

00:54:02 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:54:06 Dave Aston: We also made some changes to reduce the limits of the Graceville Conservation Authority mapping, as I did note previously.

00:54:16 Dave Aston: That was a comment we received from the Conservation Authority, and we made sure their mapping was reflected in the updated zoning.

00:54:22 Dave Aston: And we considered the comments related to the provisions associated with greater flexibility of housing, by allowing for greater housing heights in a variety of zones and allowing for greater flexibility of uses.

00:54:36 Dave Aston: We did also look at parking, and ultimately, it was we're recommending that parking be permitted to be decreased within the commercial areas for shopping centers.

00:54:49 Dave Aston: But we aren't proposing any changes to residential parking rates based off of a best practice review of other municipalities and looking at how parking has been dealt with in similar size municipalities with similar transit systems.

00:55:03 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:55:07 Dave Aston: As you see that here, there was only a few main themes for the comments received on the urban design directions, and we did actually address all of these items through the design directions.

00:55:17 Dave Aston: So we have not made any changes to the design directions since they were last presented to council before the end of twenty twenty-five.

00:55:26 Dave Aston: Next slide.

00:55:29 Dave Aston: So this brings us to the recommendations.

00:55:31 Dave Aston: The recommendations were detailed in the staff report, so I am not going to go through them verbatim.

00:55:36 Dave Aston: But in short, staff are recommending that council confirm the background information and public and agency comments have been received, and that staff be directed to bring forward a bylaw to approve the official plan amendment, bring forward a bylaw to approve the zoning bylaw amendment, and approve the urban design directions.

00:55:53 Dave Aston: Next slide, and we can skip to the very final one.

00:55:58 Dave Aston: So that concludes my presentation, but I am happy to answer any questions of council, and thank you for your time.

00:56:07 Ian Boddy: Council, does anyone have a question from Ms. Clark?

00:56:09 Ian Boddy: Council Farmer.

00:56:10 Ian Boddy: Councillor Farmer.

00:56:14 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I've got a couple of questions.

00:56:16 Jon Farmer: First, one that just jumped out to me while watching the presentation.

00:56:19 Jon Farmer: I was wondering if we could get more information about the difference in height being proposed for single single homes compared to townhouses.

00:56:31 Jon Farmer: Looking at or thinking about parts of downtown where an infill might be on a smaller lot, and I think a couple of the documents speak to wanting to promote infill development and to have that match the surrounding neighborhood.

00:56:51 Jon Farmer: I'm not.

00:56:52 Jon Farmer: I'm not maybe clear on.

00:56:54 Jon Farmer: Thank you to the clerks for bringing up that page.

00:56:57 Jon Farmer: I'm not clear why singles and townhouses would have different heights, especially if we're considering the possibility of infill development or density.

00:57:09 Jon Farmer: Of infill development or densification, in neighborhoods in the community where some of the pre-existing brick century homes would already exceed ten meters, hoping to have more information on why those are different heights and why we shouldn't make them the same at three stories.

00:57:21 Dave Aston: Through you, Councillor Farmer.

00:57:26 Dave Aston: So the townhouses are permitted as a new use within the R two and the MR zones, whereas single detached dwellings are permitted in the R one and the R two zones.

00:57:54 Dave Aston: So the single detached being in the R one zone, that's intended to be a lower density zone that would be more in line with the existing single detached dwelling framework you have in place in much of the city.

00:58:04 Dave Aston: The R two is a higher density zone, the medium density zone, so it allows a much wider variety of building heights.

00:58:06 Dave Aston: So the intent is that the R one would remain a lower density zone with lower building heights as existing today, and that the R two would allow for a higher height, and is more of a transition to the higher density residential designations and zones.

00:58:15 Dave Aston: But that's something that if council would like us to report back on, we can do so.

00:58:20 Dave Aston: I will say though, from the review of other municipalities, typically two and a half stories is the maximum building height for a single detached dwelling.

00:58:30 Dave Aston: Townhouses, like I said, based on their built form and the types of dwellings that are being built, because they look at something like a stacked townhouse where you have multiple units stacked on top of each other, a higher height is typically required and typically required by or typically permitted by many Ontario municipalities as of right through their zoning bylaws.

00:58:53 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, a follow-up question to that.

00:58:56 Jon Farmer: So, I'm thank you.

00:58:57 Jon Farmer: You're the expert, and I just want to make sure I understand.

00:59:00 Jon Farmer: Then that the maximum height allowed for single detached homes is the same across R one, R two, and MC, or is there the possibility of a skinnier, taller single detached home also being built in R two?

00:59:20 Dave Aston: Through you, Councillor Farmer, as of right now in the draft zoning bylaw, the maximum height.

00:59:28 Dave Aston: I'm actually just looking at it to make sure I'm not misquoting myself.

00:59:33 Dave Aston: Yeah, the maximum building height is consistent across all residential zones that permit single detached dwelling.

00:59:38 Dave Aston: That it's maximum ten meters, so we've kept that consistent throughout all of the zones.

00:59:46 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

00:59:46 Jon Farmer: A separate question about specifically motion four in the staff report speaks to the possibility—the motion that was requesting possible the possibility or feedback around reducing the parking requirements for additional residential units—and I would appreciate some more information because one of the municipalities that cited as an example is Midland, alongside a couple of municipalities that do not require an additional parking space for a second ARU, but still require one for the first.

01:00:22 Jon Farmer: I note that Midland is of similar size to Owen Sound, also hosts a college campus, and that Midland has a bus service, although my cursory research suggests it only runs on the hour.

01:00:34 Jon Farmer: What was it about the example of Midland or the other municipalities that have a lower parking requirement for multiple areas that should discourage us from taking the same approach, you know, and sound.

01:00:50 Dave Aston: Through you, so when we reviewed the parking requirements, we did note that Midland had a much lower requirement at zero parking spaces, and we looked at Midland because they were previously reviewed when the official plan was being updated, as well as a similar size municipality with a similar mix of transit and demographics.

01:01:11 Dave Aston: However, we also found that other municipalities, such as Gulf, require one parking space per additional residential unit, and there's a quite a discrepancy between different municipalities in terms of whether they're requiring one per unit, one for the first unit, none for the second unit, or none across the board, like Midland, since. additional residential units are still pretty new in Owen Sound, we didn't feel that it was an appropriate time to permit no parking as a requirement for a new additional residential unit, especially given Owen Sound's large snowfall events that happen, which mean that you can't park on the street during the winter months, and the limited transit system.

01:01:55 Dave Aston: Owen Sound's transit system doesn't run on Sundays, so if you did allow ARUs without a parking space, the people in those units, if they don't have a car, would have very limited mobility options on Sundays, for example, or even in evenings.

01:02:10 Dave Aston: So, largely based off of the transit system that's currently available in Owen Sound, the decision it's staff's opinion that one parking space per ARU is most appropriate at this time.

01:02:23 Dave Aston: But this is definitely something that staff will be able to come back. to in future as more additional residential units are proposed and developed in the city, and if we see there is a need to be reducing this parking requirement because there's many minor variances coming in requesting changes, it's definitely something staff will revisit and look at.

01:02:42 Dave Aston: But at this time, we don't have any reason to think that it would be appropriate to reduce the parking requirement further.

01:02:54 Dave Aston: Connected.

01:02:58 Ian Boddy: Here's what I'm thinking.

01:02:59 Ian Boddy: Just before you go with your next one, you're hitting three different topics, and I wonder if it's going to be easier to focus on one of those topics at a time than move to the next one, then the next one.

01:03:07 Ian Boddy: So I'll go back to you.

01:03:09 Jon Farmer: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I appreciate the newness of ARUs.

01:03:13 Jon Farmer: I also appreciate the axiom that it's hard to predict how many people would use a bridge by counting the people swimming across a river, and the in section three point one point five point two of the official plan, it commits the city to providing policies that provide a range and mix of housing options.

01:03:32 Jon Farmer: But it's my understanding that our current policies require every housing unit to have a corresponding parking space, and I'm wondering why are housing options specifically for people without a vehicle?

01:03:44 Jon Farmer: And there are people in Owen County who don't have a vehicle right now.

01:03:48 Jon Farmer: Why are housing options specifically for those folks excluded from the range and mix of housing being permitted in the current update to the plans?

01:04:00 Dave Aston: Through Councillor Farmer, there are housing options within the city that would allow lower parking rate.

01:04:06 Dave Aston: For example, retirement homes don't require one parking space per unit because we recognize that older adults typically don't all. own their own vehicle, but in the in the general parking requirements for your standard single detached residential unit or for additional residential units, one parking space is required.

01:04:26 Dave Aston: But I will note that one parking space is fairly low.

01:04:29 Dave Aston: There's many municipalities that actually require two parking spaces per single detached dwelling unit, and the zoning bylaw does allow for tandem parking for additional residential units.

01:04:40 Dave Aston: So a lot of residential lots will be able to accommodate an additional residential unit, even if they only have a garage parking space and one car parking space within their front yard.

01:04:53 Dave Aston: But like I said, we do need further.

01:04:56 Dave Aston: We would like to have further time to be able to make a better assessment of how Owen Sound is adapting to new ARUs and how parking spaces are being accommodated. but if it's something that council feels strongly about and would like to recommend an alternative option, we can take that back and include that in the final bylaw.

01:05:16 Pam Coulter: I'm going to go to Miss Coulter in the room.

01:05:19 Pam Coulter: Thank you, Your Worship, and just to add to Miss Clark's comments, specifically to Councillor Farmer's question, in the River District where we have a lot of housing and we also have municipal parking, there could be within the existing buildings and minor expansions without providing additional parking.

01:05:38 Pam Coulter: So, specifically for people who might not have a car, you know, finding a housing unit in the River District would certainly be maybe something.

01:05:50 Pam Coulter: What in terms of what you're looking for, having that housing without a requirement for additional parking.

01:06:02 Jon Farmer: Sorry, I didn't hear you.

01:06:04 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I've got a question about the design guidelines, but I don't know if that's if we're on the zoning.

01:06:09 Jon Farmer: Then, if we do that later.

01:06:10 Jon Farmer: If I could, I'd like to just go back.

01:06:13 Ian Boddy: You've set an order there because it's going to be really hard if we start coming in and jumping around back in different topics.

01:06:18 Ian Boddy: I think it's going to be hard for me to follow.

01:06:21 Ian Boddy: So, if I can just circle back to the residential building heights, is there any other comments from council on that, or questions from Ms. Clark that you want to?

01:06:31 Scott Greig: Yeah.

01:06:33 Scott Greig: Go ahead.

01:06:33 Scott Greig: Well, I'm kind of of the same mindset as Councillor Farmer.

01:06:37 Scott Greig: I think 12.5 is probably a little bit more.

01:06:39 Scott Greig: I just, I'm blessed.

01:06:41 Scott Greig: I live in a what would be considered a fairly high one.

01:06:44 Scott Greig: I guess it was built 100 years, 100 years ago, but to what we're looking to approve today, I guess it would be not in conformance.

01:06:53 Scott Greig: However, it's part of the heritage of the city.

01:06:58 Scott Greig: So I understand that you could rebuild if something were to happen.

01:07:02 Scott Greig: It would be grandfathered per se.

01:07:04 Scott Greig: But I'm not sure why we came about this ten meter at some point when when we used to have allowances for for taller.

01:07:16 Pam Coulter: Ms. Coulter.

01:07:17 Pam Coulter: Thank you, and Aaliyah may have some thoughts to this.

01:07:21 Pam Coulter: But without getting into the specifics, and I haven't measured the height of either of the councilors' homes.

01:07:31 Pam Coulter: Just I wanted to share with council a bit of a nuance in terms of how height is calculated for residential units.

01:07:40 Pam Coulter: So typically, the older red brick homes have a pitched roof, and the height is calculated at the midpoint between the peak and the eaves.

01:07:47 Pam Coulter: So I don't want to tell you that neither of your houses is likely over ten meters, but chances are that the top of the peak will be higher than ten meters.

01:07:59 Pam Coulter: But the actual height might be well within.

01:08:02 Pam Coulter: So, it isn't something we've done a lot of variances on.

01:08:07 Pam Coulter: Part of the work we've done did go back and look at trends in terms of variances and zoning bylaw amendments.

01:08:14 Pam Coulter: It wasn't an input we had significantly through the the public process.

01:08:20 Pam Coulter: But but certainly, if councils interested in increasing the maximum height for a single family, we can take that back.

01:08:33 SPEAKER_016: Councillor Koepke.

01:08:34 SPEAKER_016: On the same note of the building height of single family dwellings, our one zone looks like it's kind of a restriction that.

01:08:44 SPEAKER_016: It's kind of a restriction there.

01:08:46 SPEAKER_016: Can you tell me the minimum lot size?

01:08:49 SPEAKER_016: Because there may be smaller lots that do require, if you're building a new, as Councillor Farmer said, an infill lot, building something higher.

01:08:59 SPEAKER_016: And I certainly would not object to it being higher.

01:09:01 Dave Aston: Through you, Councillor Koepke, the minimum size requirement within the R1 zone for a single detached dwelling is a twelve meter frontage, or and a four hundred square meter area.

01:09:18 Ian Boddy: Probably everybody over forty is taking out their calculator to get at feet.

01:09:23 Ian Boddy: Go ahead, Melanie.

01:09:24 Ian Boddy: Councillor Middlebrooks was next.

01:09:26 SPEAKER_017: Thank you, through your chair.

01:09:28 SPEAKER_017: I wonder if we're being a little bit restrictive across all the height. for the city, like we're only going up by two meters, which, if I'm calculating right, is about six feet per townhouse apartment, and the whatever the last category was, I believe that one was going up five stories.

01:09:53 SPEAKER_017: We had a deputation at council recently from a developer who was making the case that building up is a lot more affordable than building out.

01:10:04 SPEAKER_017: So I'm wondering if we should take that into account.

01:10:09 SPEAKER_017: I believe they were asking for thirty or thirty-two meters, I forty-two meters, and we're we're at twenty, so there's a great big discrepancy there.

01:10:21 SPEAKER_017: And I'm I'm curious whether or not you've been approached by other developers seeking leave from from the heights as far as development in the city goes.

01:10:36 Pam Coulter: Thank you, Your Worship.

01:10:38 Pam Coulter: Maybe I'll start, and Aaliyah can can tack in anything I've missed.

01:10:44 Pam Coulter: I would note that under the Ontario Building Code, after eighteen meters above grade, there are special provisions that kick in for high buildings.

01:10:53 Pam Coulter: As we considered the feedback that we received through the the public process, and we examined the applications that we've had in the past, we felt that where we are as a community today, thinking about some of the public meetings we've hosted, where we've been changing those height requirements, is as we've presented it.

01:11:24 Pam Coulter: Not to say that if council's feeling like you want to have higher density, there are things like servicing, transportation infrastructure, flight path, particularly in that East City commercial area, that we'd want to be thinking about.

01:11:41 Pam Coulter: And a few weeks ago, when Mr. Palumbi was here, he did talk about if if we went with higher buildings, stepping those back now, and and we'd certainly be looking for council's direction if you were looking for just overall height.

01:12:03 Pam Coulter: For example, that we're recommending twenty, but if you wanted to go to something like twenty four, I think the the pre consultation that is in for Vandoler now on the east side would be an eight story building, but we're we're recommending six here as of right.

01:12:29 Scott Greig: Hold on.

01:12:30 Scott Greig: Go in this way.

01:12:32 Scott Greig: Comments?

01:12:32 Scott Greig: No. Heights?

01:12:32 Scott Greig: No. Okay.

01:12:33 Scott Greig: Go ahead.

01:12:35 Scott Greig: Well, further to the single-family residence conversation, I'm certainly in support of going to eight meters or eight eight eight stories.

01:12:42 Scott Greig: As soon as I hear that in the building code, there's special provisions kick in after eighteen meters, and our limit is twenty meters.

01:12:53 Scott Greig: That's the cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, and you're getting no economy of scale beyond beyond that.

01:13:14 Scott Greig: You're having to meet a whole new rigid set of of legislation or building code requirements, perhaps, and you're not allowed the opportunity to extract some of that gain back out of it.

01:13:24 Scott Greig: So I think eight meters or eight stories is something that we should look at, given as long as the servicing capacity is there, that's a critical part of of what we need to be considering, and it hasn't been part of the conversation.

01:13:26 Scott Greig: But it always has to sit there.

01:13:47 Scott Greig: We could talk high density, high density, high density, but if you can't move the water and you can't move the sanitary, then you've created yourself one big, big problem.

01:13:57 Scott Greig: So, as long as the servicing does allow for that, I think eight stories is the more appropriate way to go.

01:13:58 Scott Greig: We have to realize in today's changing climate in terms of the cost of constructing housing.

01:14:00 Scott Greig: I think we want to make sure that we are staying alongside the evolving environment in terms of just the cost of building housing and not having legislation that's just too restrictive or not progressing at the same rate as.

01:14:09 Ian Boddy: Grossing at the same rate as what's actually occurring in the community.

01:14:12 Ian Boddy: So we're going to have motions that will come up when the report comes up that we will look at.

01:14:14 Ian Boddy: So we're going to have discussions about potential motions.

01:14:24 SPEAKER_009: We'll wait till we get them on at the table.

01:14:27 SPEAKER_009: This really is an opportunity, as Ms. Clark asked questions and understand what we're talking about, Councillor Martin.

01:14:29 SPEAKER_009: Through your worship, I will have a question once we've moved through the topics that were originally raised.

01:14:31 SPEAKER_009: However, at the deputation that we heard, it was clear that an opportunity to consider developers as partners in building affordable housing within our city is an avenue that perhaps we need to explore even further.

01:15:06 SPEAKER_009: We've just talked about what we think.

01:15:10 SPEAKER_009: Going certain heights, they are the experts.

01:15:15 SPEAKER_009: They know at what threshold the affordability for them to build, whether it's for profit or not for profit, exists.

01:15:17 SPEAKER_009: Before we actually name a number, perhaps we could obtain more information from the developers around what is that range for both their needs but also the needs for affordability, so that we're not inadvertently deciding on a number that later will whoever's around the table will have to be faced with amendments for consideration for them to build in a different way.

01:15:39 SPEAKER_009: I think it's time that we encourage the conversations more to inform us because affordable housing is. it's a goal for all of us around this table.

01:15:51 SPEAKER_009: So it was clear to me that there's an opportunity to learn more from those who are doing the building.

01:16:11 Pam Coulter: Ms. Coulter.

01:16:11 Pam Coulter: Thank you, Your Worship, and I think Mr. Plumbi had mentioned a few weeks ago no one had reached out, but we did follow a pretty robust public process that started with a survey.

01:16:21 Pam Coulter: We had a public open house.

01:16:24 Pam Coulter: I see people in the crowd this evening who had attended that.

01:16:25 Pam Coulter: There was a lot of input and a lot of searching back over the type and style of developments that we are seeing applications for.

01:16:27 Pam Coulter: So not only do we want to hear about from the developers, but the whole community in terms of informing council's thinking.

01:16:44 Ian Boddy: I was just going to hit the same point that you've you can't reach out to a certain segment without reaching out to the whole community, and some of us might remember two years ago, three years ago.

01:16:57 Ian Boddy: I don't know.

01:16:58 Ian Boddy: Time flies.

01:16:59 Ian Boddy: An apartment building going up on the east till north of Twenty Th Street, that the neighbors weren't happy that it was going to be an apartment tower, and there was people around this table that didn't like that idea at that point that do now.

01:17:04 Ian Boddy: So just remember that there's another side from the residents that live in the neighborhood about that.

01:17:23 SPEAKER_017: So I've now got a third thing on there.

01:17:27 SPEAKER_017: If I can go back to the parking, John's second comment was a parking for minimum parking for the residential area.

01:17:35 SPEAKER_017: Anybody wants to go ahead?

01:17:37 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

01:17:37 SPEAKER_017: I agree with John.

01:17:38 SPEAKER_017: I what stood out to me is that we're we're putting a stop to people being able to build an A.R.U. just simply because they don't have a parking spot.

01:17:40 SPEAKER_017: There are tons of people that live in the city that do not have cars, and I don't understand why we would say you cannot put an additional housing unit on your property because you don't have one parking space.

01:18:06 SPEAKER_017: To me, that seems overly crazy in regulation.

01:18:08 SPEAKER_017: If you own a car and you're looking for an apartment, I used to do this in Toronto.

01:18:10 SPEAKER_017: I would search for apartments, and if there was no parking and I had a car, then I didn't take that one.

01:18:12 SPEAKER_017: I think we have to have a range of choices for people, and for us to say no, we're not going to allow you to put an extra housing unit in simply because you don't have a parking space is ridiculous.

01:18:31 SPEAKER_017: I think that we can we have workarounds there.

01:18:34 SPEAKER_017: You know, people ride bikes.

01:18:35 SPEAKER_017: There's the transit.

01:18:36 SPEAKER_017: People walk.

01:18:36 SPEAKER_017: I think that I would definitely say.

01:18:45 Ian Boddy: That I would definitely support, you know, going with zero parking for an A.R.U. I think that that it's overly restrictive and that we could work around it.

01:18:53 Ian Boddy: I don't know if this is my place, but what what happens if the person renting does have a car and it's parked on the street every night, and the neighbors have got now a street that's full of parked cars on the street?

01:19:05 Ian Boddy: There's there's that's the other side of it.

01:19:08 Ian Boddy: It's not just for that person that doesn't have a parking spot.

01:19:11 Ian Boddy: What happens if they've got one parking spot, they've got a car in it, there is they don't have a second parking spot.

01:19:19 SPEAKER_017: Now they're on the street.

01:19:21 SPEAKER_017: Now the neighbors are coming to council.

01:19:26 SPEAKER_017: Go ahead.

01:19:27 SPEAKER_017: That can happen anyway.

01:19:30 SPEAKER_017: You can have a house with one, two parking spots and have four people living in it, which which have cars.

01:19:42 Ian Boddy: It's already happening.

01:19:42 Ian Boddy: So I I I don't see that as an issue.

01:19:50 Ian Boddy: Okay, so I think we've had residential building heights.

01:19:55 Brock Hamley: We're going to be coming back to that.

01:19:58 Brock Hamley: We've had questions about the ARUs and parking.

01:20:03 Brock Hamley: I assume that there is going to be questions about employment area zoning and retail study, but I haven't heard those yet.

01:20:16 Brock Hamley: Go ahead.

01:20:17 Brock Hamley: Yeah, I'm just I don't not a planner, so I can't understand why the proposal is to have an impact study, commercial impact study, for commercial properties that are less than four hundred and sixty-five square meters.

01:20:29 SPEAKER_018: That makes sense. but then it goes on greater than one thousand four hundred square meters.

01:20:36 SPEAKER_018: I just it seems very strange to me because I don't think you're going to fit a one thousand four hundred square meter commercial property in downtown anymore.

01:20:44 Dave Aston: To be honest, clerk, what was what was your thinking there?

01:20:47 Dave Aston: Three worship.

01:20:47 Dave Aston: So that provision has been in the official plan for many years now.

01:20:52 Dave Aston: It was included in the two thousand and twenty two official plan.

01:20:55 Dave Aston: The reason that we're trying to to make sure that an impact study is done for a large building is because those buildings could potentially be taking business away from businesses that exist downtown and then causing businesses to have to close.

01:21:05 Dave Aston: So if you have like a large retail store, they might be taking business from retail stores downtown.

01:21:19 Brock Hamley: The other item is that those will drive a lot of movement.

01:21:22 Brock Hamley: So we want to make sure that you're analyzing the impact on the economy as a whole and how that might be taking away from local businesses.

01:21:34 Dave Aston: Thank you, Councillor Hamley.

01:21:36 Dave Aston: And I think that's a fair position to have.

01:21:41 Dave Aston: But like, what about the square footage in between the two?

01:21:44 Dave Aston: Because in theory, those would move traffic as well away from business.

01:21:47 Dave Aston: If that's your position, through your worship, I'm not the market impact assessment expert.

01:21:50 Dave Aston: I reviewed a report that was done by an expert.

01:21:54 Dave Aston: So if there need to be updates to that report in the future, that's something that the city could revisit.

01:21:55 Dave Aston: But through that assessment, it was found that that was sort of the sweet spot where it wasn't taking away lands from the downtown that could be accommodating the use with those small small square footages, but it also wasn't reaching a scale where it was going to be driving a lot of traffic away. from the downtown and taking away business—that was the determination through that report.

01:22:26 Brock Hamley: Like I said, but I can't go into much more detail than that, unfortunately.

01:22:30 Brock Hamley: Just, I'm also like not sure on process here.

01:22:32 Brock Hamley: Like, if I wanted to make a motion, not yet.

01:22:36 Ian Boddy: Okay, I'm not going to bury the lead.

01:22:40 Ian Boddy: I'm not in favor of having the higher part part of the the fourteen hundred just doesn't make sense to me.

01:22:49 SPEAKER_019: So, I will bring that forward.

01:22:51 SPEAKER_019: Yeah, for now, it's just trying to collect information so we all understand it from from Ms. Clark.

01:22:57 SPEAKER_019: Retail, go ahead.

01:22:58 SPEAKER_019: Thank you, Worship.

01:22:58 SPEAKER_019: And I understand, and I can also appreciate the fact that we're trying to protect the downtown businesses and what is going to be put there.

01:23:06 SPEAKER_019: We talk about that middle spot that five thousand to fifteen thousand square. foot.

01:23:10 SPEAKER_019: I'm going to use square feet because square meters.

01:23:13 SPEAKER_019: I'm under forty, and I don't know what square meters is, so I have to do my own calculation.

01:23:17 SPEAKER_019: But that five thousand square foot to fifteen thousand square foot spot is, as you noted, is that sweet spot where we're not requesting one.

01:23:24 SPEAKER_019: Five thousand square feet in downtown, I think, is still going to be a struggle to find as a space.

01:23:29 SPEAKER_019: Like under 4,605, I think, is probably your ideal spacing. 4,605 square meters.

01:23:34 SPEAKER_019: So under 5,000 square feet is probably where you're going to be able to find a place in the downtown where you'd be able to use that.

01:23:44 SPEAKER_019: Maybe that's the difference between.

01:23:46 SPEAKER_019: I know restaurants have been removed, but the spaces that got put up in the East Commercial District, where that could have potentially been used in the downtown.

01:23:56 SPEAKER_019: If we removed everything else, and it's only north of 15,000 square feet, we're talking about a large development.

01:24:00 SPEAKER_019: So I understand.

01:24:01 SPEAKER_019: So I understand your perspective, saying, yes, number one on the requirements is that it's suitable for the intended scale and type of development that's not available within the River District.

01:24:03 SPEAKER_019: If we were getting an Old Navy, I don't think we'd want Old Navy downtown, right?

01:24:12 SPEAKER_019: You're not going to have Old Navy was planning to come to the city downtown.

01:24:15 SPEAKER_019: You're not going to say, please put you in the downtown because we also have other policies that are saying we want to protect the heritage of the downtown.

01:24:17 SPEAKER_019: And I don't know about anyone else, but the big giant Old Navy blue sign probably isn't going to be something you really want to see downtown.

01:24:19 SPEAKER_019: So you're going to probably want to have that kind of development elsewhere, away from your downtown.

01:24:24 SPEAKER_019: So I guess when I go down to the other spaces where it's available commercial space, we know that's anything north of 15,000 square feet.

01:24:31 SPEAKER_019: I can think of two properties unless we're demolishing parts of neighborhoods to put Old Navy in, which wouldn't happen.

01:24:51 SPEAKER_019: So then we go into the space.

01:24:53 SPEAKER_019: The proposed increase would not be premature by increasing the amount of commercial floors.

01:25:00 SPEAKER_019: Increasing the amount of commercial floor space in the city beyond five years, and finally, that your final one is the economic viability of it.

01:25:09 SPEAKER_019: And my generalized question is: When we've had development come that they're paying for on a market study, have they ever or said that any of those things don't apply to them?

01:25:11 SPEAKER_019: Where we have not approved commercial development through your Worship, kind of testing my memory, but there was a market impact study for the food store that was going into Walmart, and there was considered at that time a negative impact, and there was some recommendations at the time about the time at which that GFA could be brought online.

01:25:37 Pam Coulter: Usually, it's not a full-out refusal, but it's a refinement of types of use categories, size, maybe an upset limit.

01:25:46 Pam Coulter: But certainly, hearing Council when you're saying, you know, you understand the test less than 4,605, but are wondering about, you know, today, and these policies change and grow with the community over time.

01:26:18 SPEAKER_019: And you know, if Council's wanting to try something new with the plus 1,400, we certainly understand that.

01:26:23 SPEAKER_019: Thank you, Worshipper.

01:26:24 SPEAKER_019: And I would just highlight, even though that might have been an issue for Walmart, Walmart still got a grocery store.

01:26:30 SPEAKER_019: So we may have said yes, that could have been an impact on Metro.

01:26:34 SPEAKER_019: They just rejigged it and moved the sports equipment over to the garden center, and all of a sudden, we had a grocery store in it.

01:26:43 SPEAKER_019: So I do think that, you know.

01:26:46 SPEAKER_019: I understand that situation, but we still ended up getting it.

01:26:49 SPEAKER_019: Still, ended up happening for the developer.

01:26:53 SPEAKER_019: So, for me, I just think of are we creating redundancy?

01:26:56 SPEAKER_019: And I do see the valid or the meaning of ensuring that we're protecting the downtown.

01:27:13 SPEAKER_017: But I just when we get to those larger spaces, I just I'll use the Old Navy as that example.

01:27:22 SPEAKER_017: I just don't see that Old Navy stealing business from the downtown.

01:27:27 SPEAKER_017: Turn the microphone back on, Melanie.

01:27:30 SPEAKER_017: Thank you, through your Worship, I I really struggle with the retail market studies.

01:27:36 SPEAKER_017: Just for clarification, if we require a retail study for something under the 4,605 or whatever the number is, and how does that work?

01:27:46 SPEAKER_017: So a clothing store wants to move up somewhere in the East District.

01:27:49 Pam Coulter: We require the retail study, and are you telling me that if there's space downtown for that store, we will say no, you can't go East Commercial.

01:28:00 Pam Coulter: You have to move downtown.

01:28:01 Pam Coulter: Like what?

01:28:02 Pam Coulter: What is the purpose of this?

01:28:05 Pam Coulter: Go to Miss Coulter.

01:28:06 Pam Coulter: Through your Worship, the purpose really is to protect the plan function of the River District, along with the East City Commercial area.

01:28:08 Pam Coulter: So the East City Commercial is to be the area that's and and maybe this will change too.

01:28:24 Pam Coulter: But it's automobile focused.

01:28:26 Pam Coulter: People drive there.

01:28:27 Pam Coulter: It's larger format retail.

01:28:28 Pam Coulter: So it's trying to support the River District by having the businesses, the smaller stores, be located here.

01:28:41 Pam Coulter: So, if someone was bringing an application, and you'll see in the policy test that where this is applying is you know in a fewer number of instances, we would identify this test, the test, the retail market study that they would undertake would be very scoped to that particular use that they are proposing.

01:29:01 SPEAKER_017: So, and then they would look at it, provide information.

01:29:06 SPEAKER_017: The city would through our peer reviewer look at the data, the methodology, and the data, and make a recommendation to Council on a planning application.

01:29:17 Pam Coulter: So, if tomorrow I wanted to put a store on the East Side Commercial area, 250 square meters or whatever it is, I'm going to have to do a retail study.

01:29:31 Dave Aston: Automatically because it's a retail?

01:29:33 Dave Aston: Is that correct?

01:29:35 Dave Aston: Generally, yes.

01:29:37 Dave Aston: Can I?

01:29:37 Dave Aston: Sorry.

01:29:45 Dave Aston: Yeah, and can I put that?

01:29:51 Dave Aston: Yeah, Aaliyah, because we have made some changes here.

01:29:53 Dave Aston: So, where the policy would apply.

01:29:54 Dave Aston: Thanks.

01:29:54 Dave Aston: Sorry, I know I'm supposed to wait for questions, but to clarify, you would not be required to do a market impact study if you had a development that was below 4,605 square meters or above 1,400 square meters.

01:30:03 Dave Aston: If your property is already zoned for that use, you would only need to do the market impact study if you're doing a zoning bylaw amendment application to change the uses or to change something else in the zoning on that property, or if you're doing an official plan amendment to change the. limits of the East City Commercial designation.

01:30:41 Jon Farmer: So, if you were trying to expand where the East City Commercial designation exists onto an adjacent site that's not currently planned for those uses, then you would need to do the study if you're within the size requirements.

01:30:51 Jon Farmer: So, it wouldn't be in every single case.

01:30:52 Jon Farmer: It's only where there's a zoning bylaw amendment or an official plan amendment proposed.

01:30:54 Jon Farmer: Good, thank you.

01:30:55 Jon Farmer: Yeah, okay.

01:30:55 Jon Farmer: We've hit retail employment lands.

01:30:56 Jon Farmer: Good, good.

01:30:56 Jon Farmer: Move on.

01:30:57 Jon Farmer: Go ahead.

01:30:57 Jon Farmer: Through the Mayor to the question of employment lands.

01:31:01 Jon Farmer: The differentiating between the flexible employment lands and just general employment lands, we a large portion of what is identified that way in our plan is currently forest and field.

01:31:30 Jon Farmer: We also heard questions during public question tonight from a representative of Glassworks, which, to my understanding, currently owns a property that would be under the new plan zoned as flexible employment lands.

01:31:40 Jon Farmer: When we consider passing an official plan and zoning bylaw update like this, are we locking in for the length of these documents that those will only ever be employment lands?

01:31:42 Jon Farmer: It might be a farm right now, but we need it to make widgets in two thousand and forty-six.

01:31:47 Dave Aston: So we have to we protect all of that, or are there opportunities for developers to still apply for amendments and variations?

01:31:56 Dave Aston: What's the process if we approve the employment descriptions as drafted?

01:32:00 Dave Aston: Ms. Clark, I think that one's for you.

01:32:02 Dave Aston: Through your Worship, so the intent is that the new employment designations will protect the lands for employment uses in the long term.

01:32:13 Dave Aston: Of course, if anyone wants to come forward with an application to develop the lands, there may be natural heritage assessments required in cases where they're within the hazard lands, for example.

01:32:22 Dave Aston: But in general, the intent is that these would be employment uses in the long term.

01:32:24 Dave Aston: The County of Grey did recently approve an updated growth management study, and they found that Owen Sound was only just meeting the required minimum for employment lands.

01:32:28 Dave Aston: So to remove lands from employment at this stage wouldn't be appropriate because to meet the projected requirements for the city's workforce, we need all of the employment lands that Owen Sound currently has.

01:32:51 Dave Aston: However, if there was an application where somebody wanted to convert the land.

01:32:54 Dave Aston: Somebody wanted to convert the lands from employment to a different designation.

01:32:57 Dave Aston: There is a process through the proposed official plan amendment that would allow for the lands to be removed, but they would have to do assessments of whether or not there's sufficient alternate lands in the city for employment uses, whether compatibility concerns have been addressed, and there are other requirements.

01:33:02 Dave Aston: I don't have them all in front of me, but I can grab those if necessary.

01:33:06 Dave Aston: But there is a process, but it would have to be on a site by site basis by applicants to propose, mainly because of compatibility criteria as well as meeting the town's long term requirements for employment.

01:33:39 Jon Farmer: Councillor Farmer, thank you.

01:33:40 Jon Farmer: One final comment on this point.

01:33:43 Jon Farmer: I'm.

01:33:44 Jon Farmer: This is we're also not being a planner.

01:33:46 Jon Farmer: I get confused because we, in the flexible employment uses, I could put up a whole.

01:33:51 Jon Farmer: I could put up a huge commercial self-storage facility, that employs a small number of people over a large footprint, and that would be applicable.

01:33:53 Jon Farmer: That would be allowed under the current zoning, to my understanding.

01:34:11 Jon Farmer: Looking around to have people correct me, but have a mixed-use development that incorporates both employment uses and the potential for residential uses is not permitted under our draft proposal.

01:34:21 Jon Farmer: And I'm wondering if there are in an industry that I'm not a part of ways for us to be more careful about thinking about density of employment and I like and an ideal density for job creation over the area rather than saying we have these permitted uses for quote employment regardless of how much employment is actually generated on that footprint, through your Worship, I believe that question was for me.

01:34:45 Dave Aston: So the big difference between a mixed-use development in the employment area, which would include residential and a low-density employment use, is land use compatibility.

01:34:56 Dave Aston: So although in theory it sounds great to have some form of employment on a main floor and residential uses above, that then would limit the types of employment uses that are permitted on the adjacent lands.

01:35:09 Dave Aston: So permitting residential as a right in the employment would have major land use compatibility impacts and limit the permitted range of uses in your employment lands.

01:35:19 Dave Aston: To date, the city hasn't identified any need to have minimum densities in the employment designation.

01:35:41 Dave Aston: Employment lands can take on a variety of different densities, and depending on the type of uses proposed.

01:35:46 Dave Aston: But if there were site-specific applications to permit residential within the employment designation, that's something that the city could look at it on a site-by-site basis.

01:35:48 Dave Aston: And the County official plan does identify that with the employee housing policies.

01:35:49 Dave Aston: But permitting it as a right would be a concern from a staff perspective in terms of land use compatibility.

01:36:01 Ian Boddy: If I can follow up, though, I'm find it fascinating the bulk storage or the storage sheds could take up employment land when there really isn't much employment there.

01:36:31 Scott Greig: Could take a chunk of land.

01:36:36 Scott Greig: Is that accurate?

01:36:36 Scott Greig: Yes.

01:36:37 Scott Greig: So, depending on what type of storage, but warehouses, those types of uses would be permitted within the employment designations.

01:36:44 Scott Greig: Okay.

01:36:44 Scott Greig: Interesting.

01:36:45 Scott Greig: Deputy Mayor Greig.

01:36:46 Scott Greig: Which is why, when the County does their next official plan, I'd like to see the County look at locating such uses, such as storage, outside of serviced lands, and that's appropriate for places like Spring Mount that are not on water, sanitary and don't require such.

01:37:05 Scott Greig: But that's another conversation.

01:37:07 Scott Greig: But that's the direction that I would look to place it.

01:37:12 Scott Greig: I absolutely support the.

01:37:13 Scott Greig: I don't have questions here.

01:37:15 Scott Greig: But while you're talking on employment lands, we have we need to preserve those employment lands.

01:37:23 Scott Greig: I think back to a Councillor five years ago.

01:37:26 Scott Greig: I. Councillor, five years ago, I think thereabouts commented about Chamber of Commerce or another similar body that was advocating about the requirement of preserving your employment lands.

01:37:37 Scott Greig: I've seen the County asking direct questions about service employment lands.

01:37:41 Scott Greig: They're critical.

01:37:42 Scott Greig: The County acknowledges they don't have enough of them, which is why I think Hanover is paying five hundred thousand dollars over ten years for parts of West Grey to move their municipal boundaries to increase their employment lands.

01:37:44 Scott Greig: Bedford, I think, just expended three million dollars on purchasing properties to make them serviceable employment lands, and we've been told through a growth management study that we barely have enough right now.

01:37:57 Scott Greig: So to do anything but preserve those employment lands would be absolutely contradictory to the provincial policy statement as it stands right now.

01:38:19 Jon Farmer: And to the guidance of the County of Grey.

01:38:22 Jon Farmer: So, I think it's critical that we certainly preserve those employment lands.

01:38:25 Jon Farmer: So back to questions.

01:38:28 Jon Farmer: Any questions left for Miss Clark before she gets to have a drink of water and catch her breath?

01:38:36 Jon Farmer: Councillor Farmer, one more.

01:38:37 Jon Farmer: Thank you, through the Mayor.

01:38:39 Jon Farmer: A question to the design, urban design guidelines.

01:38:43 Jon Farmer: I note that there are comments about preserving the kind of culture and historic feel of neighborhoods.

01:38:45 Jon Farmer: I didn't, on my last read through, notice what and there's also comments around using high quality materials.

01:38:47 Jon Farmer: I didn't notice recommendations to specifically attempt to preserve things like brick if a heritage building or pre-existing building is being demolished for a new development.

01:38:58 Jon Farmer: Is there the possibility of recommending that kind of reclamation of high quality materials in this document?

01:39:09 Dave Aston: Through your worship, the document does discuss high quality building materials, but we don't go into detail on the specific materials permitted because that can get very restrictive for developers and it can cause extra cost and confusion through the site plan process.

01:39:25 Dave Aston: When it comes to heritage, though, where you have a building that is designated heritage, the designation bylaw is what would prescribe what types of materials need to be protected.

01:39:38 Dave Aston: If that's part of the designation, it depends on why the building is being protected and how the bylaw is set out.

01:39:45 Dave Aston: So that's more appropriate to deal with through the actual heritage designation bylaw on an individual property rather than the townwide or citywide design guidelines that would apply across the city at large.

01:40:15 Dave Aston: Going way down first, Councilmember Brock.

01:40:17 Dave Aston: Thank you.

01:40:18 Dave Aston: I did have a question also on the guidelines.

01:40:23 Dave Aston: They're guidelines, so how restrictive are we being in enforcing the guidelines?

01:40:26 Dave Aston: If someone wants to come here and do a development and don't want to necessarily follow our guidelines, what happens then?

01:40:33 Dave Aston: Your Worship, so like you said, they're guidelines.

01:40:37 Dave Aston: They're something that we would look at if somebody came in with a zoning bylaw amendment application or a site plan application.

01:40:43 Dave Aston: However, like you said, they're not enforceable under the Planning Act.

01:40:46 Dave Aston: So it's something that staff would work with the applicant to try and achieve the best design possible.

01:40:52 Dave Aston: But no, they wouldn't be coming in with amendments to the guidelines or minor variances to the guidelines.

01:40:58 Dave Aston: It's a best practice, and it's meant to be a tool to ensure high quality development.

01:41:02 Dave Aston: But the really restrictive, or restrictive is not the right word, but the prescribed requirements that have to be followed unless amended.

01:41:11 Dave Aston: Those are just the requirements in the zoning bylaw.

01:41:13 Dave Aston: So there'd be a lot more ability to be flexible in terms of the design guidelines, especially since we recognize that each site has its own challenges.

01:41:15 Dave Aston: So these are meant to be a flexible tool that will allow for high quality design and will help give staff a better understanding of what the city is striving towards and consistency across developments and across all different staff members at the city.

01:41:41 SPEAKER_017: But it's not, it's not a restrictive document that's meant to make it more difficult to get development approved.

01:41:47 SPEAKER_017: Thank you for that.

01:41:49 SPEAKER_017: I also had a very simple housekeeping note about the section on the airport.

01:41:54 SPEAKER_017: It still says the city owns the airport, and it's the wrong name and all that sort of stuff.

01:42:03 SPEAKER_017: So, section 5.1.8 on the airport needs to be revised.

01:42:08 SPEAKER_017: And then my other question was on the section under site plan control, and the studies.

01:42:13 SPEAKER_017: I know that when we last were meeting about this, there was discussion on how the province is looking more into the studies that could be required, you know, with site plan.

01:42:27 SPEAKER_017: But we have 41 possible studies listed under their schedule E that could be required, may be required.

01:42:32 SPEAKER_017: So that is certainly concerning to me from a development perspective.

01:42:37 SPEAKER_017: Forty one possible studies that developers have to pay for.

01:42:40 SPEAKER_017: They have to pay for the peer review.

01:42:42 SPEAKER_017: It's more red tape.

01:42:45 SPEAKER_017: It's, it's just another step that I question the need for.

01:42:46 SPEAKER_017: So I don't know if any consideration was given to any of these 41 studies and whether or not we need them.

01:43:04 Pam Coulter: Through your worship, and certainly appreciate the comment.

01:43:11 Pam Coulter: And the city uses pre-consultation to identify for developers what studies are required to support a particular application.

01:43:20 Pam Coulter: And oftentimes, maybe it's an endangered species or sensitive natural area.

01:43:25 Pam Coulter: And the policies that drive those studies are provincial requirements.

01:43:30 Pam Coulter: And in order to give council and the community the assurance that development is happening in a way that respects and reflects those policies, often those studies are required.

01:43:44 Pam Coulter: So, an environmental impact study may be required.

01:43:47 Pam Coulter: A floodplain study.

01:43:49 Pam Coulter: Yes, there is a long list there.

01:43:54 Pam Coulter: Staff works really hard to make sure that the list is suitable and appropriate for the development, the scale, type, and of development that's being proposed, where it's located, considering the environment.

01:44:09 Pam Coulter: So, yes, it is a long list, and certainly appreciate that.

01:44:13 Pam Coulter: But particularly where council may be asked to make a policy decision, making sure that you have the information that allows staff and the community and council to be certain in those decisions, and that they reflect provincial planning requirements, is really important.

01:44:38 Scott Greig: Couple points, just kind of shouldering off of Councilor Middlebro.

01:44:40 Scott Greig: Thanks for the informed, informative responses so far, Leah.

01:44:46 Scott Greig: Just back to the urban design guidelines.

01:44:48 Scott Greig: I'm thinking of one property, essentially in our downtown, but just leading into it on Ten Street.

01:44:50 Scott Greig: Major corner property where it used to be row housing several years ago, and it was leveled, and it now sits as a front street facing parking lot with the commercial building setback.

01:44:57 Scott Greig: Are there protections in place in the current document that there is the one map?

01:45:02 Scott Greig: However, it still wasn't quite clear enough to me.

01:45:06 Scott Greig: What are the protections that we would try to encourage that to a new development to again then be street facing?

01:45:33 Dave Aston: and not situated setback with parking as what everybody sees effectively in your downtown.

01:45:39 Dave Aston: Through your worship, through the urban design guidelines, there is direction to have buildings face the street and be located closer to the street with parking behind.

01:45:41 Dave Aston: There's also similar policy within the official plan, and but outside of those requirements, there's nothing extra added.

01:46:06 Scott Greig: Were you looking for something through the zoning bylaws specifically, or does that does that clarify your question?

01:46:13 Scott Greig: I think that helps.

01:46:16 Scott Greig: It's, it's all planning language.

01:46:18 Scott Greig: As a councilor, you just see it or you hear it from constituents.

01:46:22 Scott Greig: Or you hear it from constituents, so then you ask, "What's in the policy document that is going to respond to items that may have populated in the past?"

01:46:36 Scott Greig: Second question is again back to studies.

01:46:39 Scott Greig: When we had the meeting earlier or late last year, I have particular concern with shadow and wind studies on residential buildings.

01:46:41 Scott Greig: Particularly, I understand they could go to site plan, but I'd like to know it is an extra cost that goes into the cost of housing.

01:47:02 Scott Greig: How does council work to minimize or remove those unnecessary studies?

01:47:06 Scott Greig: Because if it's part of a ZBA or an OPA, comes back to council, it's too late.

01:47:12 Scott Greig: We see the studies have already been done.

01:47:15 Scott Greig: And they've been asked for, so staff have just fulfilled the requirement, and it's extra tens of thousands of dollars onto the cost of housing at this time.

01:47:16 Scott Greig: To be respondent to the ask of the federal government, the provincial government seems to be in the newspaper every couple weeks.

01:47:38 Scott Greig: What municipalities are not doing in terms of chipping into reducing the red tape and bureaucracy on housing?

01:47:43 Scott Greig: Who controls waving studies like that?

01:47:45 Scott Greig: Because it would likely be at the site.

01:47:51 Pam Coulter: Well, I'm not sure what stage it's at.

01:47:55 Pam Coulter: How does council make a decision if there's five of us in agreement to get rid of those studies and do it while we're approving these documents?

01:48:07 Pam Coulter: I'll certainly let Aaliyah respond as well.

01:48:09 Pam Coulter: But through your worship, I anticipate that there'll be a motion before we're finished tonight regarding building height.

01:48:11 Pam Coulter: So those studies would only be required in the instances where they're permitted permissively, but where there would be a height increase beyond that, which council is going to permit as of right.

01:48:36 SPEAKER_009: Councilor Merton, I skipped over you to get to Deputy Mayor Greig.

01:48:41 SPEAKER_009: Go ahead.

01:48:42 SPEAKER_009: Through you, Mayor.

01:48:44 SPEAKER_009: Just briefly to go back to the the issue around the studies.

01:48:48 SPEAKER_009: I absolutely agree.

01:48:49 SPEAKER_009: We've heard time and time again, even from nonprofit organizations and and for profit, that it just adds to the cost that ultimately goes into the the build.

01:48:59 SPEAKER_009: So it would be really helpful to be able to be clear and carve away as much as we possibly can to move towards a more affordable target.

01:49:00 SPEAKER_009: So I support that and would look for other opportunities where we can start to carve those front end costs to be able to reach more of that target of affordability.

01:49:26 SPEAKER_009: So that was a supporting comment.

01:49:29 SPEAKER_009: I also wanted to, before I get to my question, to support the reference to the Hemson Growth Plan study.

01:49:31 SPEAKER_009: There is good news about the employment land, as far as really trying to keep it and secure it.

01:49:33 SPEAKER_009: In the study, it says that Owen Sound is projected to experience the largest increase in employment land employment, with approximately one thousand nine hundred and forty additional jobs, requiring an estimated eighty six Estimated eighty-six gross hectares of employment land.

01:49:45 SPEAKER_009: So yes, we want to preserve it, but there is a really important reason for that, and that's because we're anticipating growth for workers and jobs to our area.

01:49:55 SPEAKER_009: So I think that that's a bit of good news as we're working through this plan to be looking forward to.

01:50:02 SPEAKER_009: My question has to do around the overview of the public comments, and one of the comments was around a community planning permit system or a development permit system, and I'm wondering if a little bit of explanation could be around that.

01:50:20 SPEAKER_009: And if I'm reading all of the documents, I'm not.

01:50:24 SPEAKER_009: I don't see it incorporated as a as a planning possibility, and yet we're hearing about potential large growth three hundred and fifty to five hundred homes within a, and I'm just wondering whether there's an opportunity for those larger projects to have this kind of concept introduced.

01:51:11 Pam Coulter: Just two quick things, Your Worship.

01:51:15 Pam Coulter: Checked with my colleague Anelia was too kind.

01:51:18 Pam Coulter: The legislation is there now to eliminate the shadow studies.

01:51:22 Pam Coulter: The regulations are pending, so that will be a change coming from the province.

01:51:26 Pam Coulter: In terms of the development permit system, timelines are often something that development community mentions.

01:51:33 Pam Coulter: I will ask Anelia to speak because the report does a really good job of summarizing where we're at today in terms of the development permit system and why we're not recommending it.

01:51:47 Dave Aston: But sixty days for site plan approval is pretty good timelines for approvals, but over to you, Elyan.

01:51:53 Dave Aston: Through your worship, so the the Planning Act does permit municipalities to create a community planning permit system, or it can also be referred to as a development permit system.

01:52:05 Dave Aston: And the current official plan does include policy related to development permit systems and the possibility of establishing that in the future.

01:52:12 Dave Aston: But as of right now, staff have not seen any applications that would be a good candidate to go through that process, and also have been really good at meeting all of the provincial timelines to get housing through the process in a timely manner.

01:52:14 Dave Aston: Often, the community planning permit systems are used to help fast track development or to try and incentivize certain forms of development.

01:52:20 Dave Aston: It's not something that the city currently has been looking at, but it's something that if in the future we it was something that council wanted us to review in more detail, we could go through an amendment through working with the County of Grey to implement policies in the official plan.

01:52:35 Dave Aston: But we would have to implement specific policies around the types of development that would be subject to the community planning permit system and the types of incentives that are in place.

01:52:45 Dave Aston: And right now, like I said, the city is already doing a really good job at meeting the timelines and getting housing approved quickly.

01:52:52 Dave Aston: So putting new restrictions in place or new programs in place that would be something that developers would have to be meeting and showing conformity with could potentially actually kind of work in the against the city in a way.

01:53:25 Dave Aston: But also, the province has recently come out with new legislation that's actually stopped municipalities from implementing community planning permit systems.

01:53:32 Dave Aston: Implementing community planning permit systems that were already approved.

01:53:35 Dave Aston: So until we get more direction from the province, we also think it would be best to wait and see how the province reacts once that holding period that they've put into place expires.

01:53:37 Dave Aston: That was put into place only in three municipalities because only three municipalities actually have approved community planning permit systems to date.

01:53:57 Ian Boddy: Good.

01:53:57 Ian Boddy: Okay.

01:53:58 Ian Boddy: Are we done with questions, Ms. Clerk?

01:54:01 Ian Boddy: Thank you very much.

01:54:02 Ian Boddy: I don't know if you're going to hang around and watch the rest of it in case there's other questions, but thank you for answering those questions.

01:54:04 Ian Boddy: Being on top of it, and of course, thanks to Mr. Aston who rides your coattails, I'm sure most of the time, and disappears and lets you carry the freight.

01:54:29 Pam Coulter: Of course, I'm teasing.

01:54:30 Pam Coulter: Thanks to both of you.

01:54:32 Pam Coulter: So I think next we should probably pull up the report itself.

01:54:37 Pam Coulter: I'm going to go to Ms. Coulter.

01:54:40 Pam Coulter: How do you want?

01:54:43 Pam Coulter: How do you want to do this?

01:54:45 Pam Coulter: Thank you, wording or thank you, Your Worship.

01:54:49 Pam Coulter: The resolution is kind of wordy.

01:54:51 Pam Coulter: There are some things that we need Council to say things like that.

01:54:56 Pam Coulter: You've considered public feedback and input in making your decision.

01:55:01 Pam Coulter: That the policies are consistent with the provincial planning statement, etc. But the the first part of the motion is that Council has considered the information provided through the reports, your working groups, and that you would direct staff to bring forward a bylaw to adopt Amendment Number Fourteen to the city's official plan and give notice of that.

01:55:24 Pam Coulter: And that you would direct staff to bring forward a bylaw, to pass Amendment Fifty Seven to our zoning bylaw.

01:55:31 Pam Coulter: If Council wanted to make any changes before you would put, sorry, and lastly approve the urban design guidelines.

01:55:33 Pam Coulter: If Council wants to make any changes to what you're going to approve, some so for example, we've talked about height.

01:55:52 Ian Boddy: You've talked about the commercial policy study.

01:55:56 Ian Boddy: If you want to make any of those changes, you should do that first, and then you can move forward to making those motions with the amendments that you've considered and voted on.

01:56:05 Ian Boddy: Does that make sense, Your Worship?

01:56:07 Ian Boddy: Yes.

01:56:07 Ian Boddy: We're all we're all we're all bobbing our heads.

01:56:09 Ian Boddy: So looking at the study, there's a.

01:56:13 Ian Boddy: Looking at the study, there's about seven things there, and I think the very first one is the retail market study.

01:56:41 SPEAKER_020: So maybe I'll just go through it in the order of the report, and then you can council can decide what they want to do.

01:56:55 Brock Hamley: So let's start with that retail marketing study.

01:57:01 Brock Hamley: Can you go down to the recommendation on that one?

01:57:06 Brock Hamley: I thought in the report, I can't get my.

01:57:10 Brock Hamley: Page fifteen, right now.

01:57:16 Brock Hamley: Okay, Councillor Hamley, you've got your hand up, I think.

01:57:22 Brock Hamley: Thank you, Your Worship.

01:57:24 Brock Hamley: I would move that City Council direct staff to amend 3.5.25 of the official plan to read: For any expansion of the East City commercial designation or rezoning application in the East City commercial designation, for the list, the uses listed in section 3.5.1.1 that are less than 465 square meters, the the city may require the following information and studies acceptable to the city, and that's where I would finish my amendment.

01:58:03 Brock Hamley: So that is a so that is effect is removing and greater than one thousand four hundred square meters.

01:58:13 Brock Hamley: Is that accurate?

01:58:14 Brock Hamley: Yes, yes, yes.

01:58:14 Brock Hamley: So it's it's removing the fourteen hundred square meters and it's changing shall to may.

01:58:25 Brock Hamley: Can you explain your thinking in that so we all understand it?

01:58:30 Brock Hamley: Yeah, like I'm thinking, like if if if someone wanted to build a a car wash that was under five or under four hundred sixty five square meters, I to Councillor Dod's point earlier, like I don't think that's going to go in the River District, right?

01:59:00 Pam Coulter: So I think there needs to be may.

01:59:03 Pam Coulter: I suspect the difficulty with that is you're leaving the discretion to staff.

01:59:08 Pam Coulter: I almost emoted you to councillor Ms. Coulter.

01:59:11 Pam Coulter: Thank you, worship.

01:59:16 Pam Coulter: It and it's just an example, but it wouldn't apply to a car wash.

01:59:24 Pam Coulter: The the the scope of the requirements really only apply to retail.

01:59:29 Pam Coulter: And as Ms. Clark pointed out, it only applies if we were expanding that East City commercial area.

01:59:35 Pam Coulter: So we're making the purple designation bigger, or we're doing an amendment to the zoning to change the uses, and those were retail.

01:59:51 Brock Hamley: So we may may require.

01:59:52 Brock Hamley: You know, staff would probably require it if if that's how it's written.

01:59:56 Ian Boddy: But we, I understand your amendment, the the removal of the and greater than, so it would be directed to those things that are small, as councils discussed, that may be appropriate in the river district.

02:00:15 Scott Greig: Yeah, I'll maybe amend the motion to put shall back in then.

02:00:20 Scott Greig: Okay, and otherwise it's removing the and greater than fourteen hundred square meters.

02:00:24 Scott Greig: Okay, so that's the motion that we're discussing.

02:00:28 Scott Greig: Go ahead.

02:00:28 Dave Aston: Question of clarity.

02:00:32 Dave Aston: So, if a vacant restaurant on Sixteenth Street East went to convert to retail, do they have to do a study?

02:00:43 Ian Boddy: Aaliyah, I'm going to let you answer this.

02:00:45 Ian Boddy: I think I know the answer, but I'd like to hear it from you.

02:00:49 Jon Farmer: Through your worship, so if they have existing zoning for the commercial use, they would not need a study as long as the zoning is not changing.

02:01:06 Jon Farmer: Did you have your hand up, Councillor Farmer?

02:01:10 Jon Farmer: Has his hand up, or maybe come back?

02:01:13 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I appreciate the the commentary that, and as I've been playing on Google Maps to get a sense of like how how big are these sizes.

02:01:24 Jon Farmer: The Walmart is roughly 1,200, sorry, 12,000 square meters, assuming that Google Earth is a reliable tool.

02:01:31 Jon Farmer: But when I also look up what's the average size. of a Costco that's thirteen thousand square meters, and that's this is like ten times more than what we have currently in the draft.

02:01:49 Jon Farmer: I think that I would want us to have some sort of upset limit where maybe it's not fourteen hundred square meters, but maybe at ten thousand square meters that there's still something that would trigger for larger the proposal for changes that would expand for larger big box retail like that.

02:02:08 Jon Farmer: I think that makes sense to still require a plan, but I would also look to staff, yeah, to point out to me if my assumption that Costco coming in and expanding into any of those other places would have an impact.

02:02:38 Pam Coulter: We would want to be able to talk about, or again, if the retail kind of impact study isn't the kind of thing that's going to ever say no to a development.

02:02:54 SPEAKER_021: If I think the question really is around, should in addition to the motion, should there also then be a subsequent motion or a friendly amendment that says, you know, removing the fourteen hundred?

02:03:09 Travis Dodd: But is there another threshold that you're looking for?

02:03:14 Travis Dodd: And I think that's the discussion that that council's having this evening.

02:03:18 Travis Dodd: Okay.

02:03:19 Jon Farmer: So right now the motion on the floor is, and according to the integrity commissioner, I'm supposed to be tighter to the procedures.

02:03:28 Jon Farmer: So that's the motion that's on the floor.

02:03:31 Jon Farmer: Go ahead.

02:03:33 Ian Boddy: I'll make a motion to amend that instead of removing one four hundred square meters, we set it at it's edited to five zero square meters, which is a little less than half the size of a Walmart.

02:03:51 Scott Greig: So there's a motion to amend on the floor.

02:03:55 Scott Greig: That's what we're discussing and voting on.

02:03:57 Scott Greig: If there's any discussion, go ahead.

02:04:00 Scott Greig: I disagree.

02:04:00 Scott Greig: I think it's a point of principle.

02:04:03 Scott Greig: Councillor Dodd mentioned earlier about the ability of the downtown to facilitate certain commercial uses.

02:04:09 Scott Greig: So whether it's one four hundred, two five hundred, five zero, twenty-five hundred, five thousand, or ten thousand—I think—is redundant.

02:04:15 Brock Hamley: There's a point where it's actually not something that is something you can sustain, or business owners are willing to place themselves in the downtown because we just cannot facilitate it.

02:04:30 Ian Boddy: So I'd vote against it on that basis.

02:04:34 Ian Boddy: Councillor Hamley, is that hand up?

02:04:36 Ian Boddy: Yeah, no, I I won't support the amendment.

02:04:41 Ian Boddy: I think it kind of it goes against the whole purpose of my amendment in the first place.

02:04:48 Ian Boddy: Okay, so can I call the question on this amendment?

02:04:51 Ian Boddy: All in favor?

02:04:54 Ian Boddy: One.

02:04:54 Ian Boddy: Councillor Farmer's amendment to increase it to five thousand.

02:04:56 Ian Boddy: Okay, so I'm calling the question.

02:05:01 Ian Boddy: I'm calling the question on Councillor Farmer's motion to amend to increase it to five thousand square meters.

02:05:09 Ian Boddy: All in favor?

02:05:10 Ian Boddy: One opposed.

02:05:10 Ian Boddy: Everyone else, so that's defeated.

02:05:15 Ian Boddy: So we're back to the first motion, which was Councillor Hamley's, that leaves it at nothing less than four hundred and sixty-five square meters.

02:05:28 Scott Greig: Anything further to discuss on that motion?

02:05:35 Scott Greig: Seeing no hands going up, I'll call the question all in favor, and that is carried.

02:05:40 Scott Greig: I think that.

02:05:42 SPEAKER_019: Where am I?

02:05:43 SPEAKER_019: That covers off our retail marketing study.

02:05:45 SPEAKER_019: There's nothing further on that.

02:05:50 SPEAKER_019: Okay.

02:05:50 SPEAKER_019: Building heights is the next one on there.

02:05:52 SPEAKER_019: Deputy Mayor Greig.

02:05:53 SPEAKER_019: I'll make a motion that, as per the presentation, the slide that illustrated the six-story proposal, that Council consider an eight-story maximum height in those zones.

02:06:07 SPEAKER_019: Okay.

02:06:09 SPEAKER_019: Discussion.

02:06:10 SPEAKER_019: Councillor Dodd.

02:06:10 Travis Dodd: Thank you, Worship.

02:06:11 Travis Dodd: Just for clarity, we're talking about just MR C one, C two, C four, and MC, not as as of right, just that those zones.

02:06:21 Travis Dodd: Okay, perfect.

02:06:25 Ian Boddy: Thank you, Councillor Farmer.

02:06:27 Ian Boddy: Also, just seeking clarity that that only applies to apartments.

02:06:32 Ian Boddy: And just to add context, eight stories is, I believe, what Saint Francis Place is.

02:06:49 SPEAKER_012: So, if we're envisioning taking Saint Francis Place around town, Mr. Coulter is indicating yes.

02:06:58 Ian Boddy: Okay, not seeing other hands going up, so I'm going to call the question all in favor, and that is carried.

02:07:07 Ian Boddy: Next was the I've got number three, parking max and minimum.

02:07:10 Ian Boddy: Sorry.

02:07:10 Pam Coulter: Oh, others in building heights.

02:07:14 Pam Coulter: I wanted to move a motion, and it's actually Councillor Farmer's motion that single-family dwellings be allowed to be three stories.

02:07:25 Ian Boddy: Miss Coulter, can you help clarify that motion before we call it?

02:07:34 Ian Boddy: I, if it would be three stories, I guess to be consistent with townhouses, we would go with twelve five meters.

02:07:46 Pam Coulter: That's what you want, Councillor Kecky.

02:07:49 Pam Coulter: Yes.

02:07:52 Pam Coulter: Okay.

02:07:52 Pam Coulter: Any discussion on that?

02:07:54 Pam Coulter: Seeing none, call the question.

02:07:56 Pam Coulter: All in favor?

02:08:00 Jon Farmer: And that is carried.

02:08:01 Jon Farmer: That is carried.

02:08:02 Jon Farmer: Okay.

02:08:03 Jon Farmer: Anything else with building heights?

02:08:04 Jon Farmer: No. Parking max minimum the third one.

02:08:07 Jon Farmer: My notes aren't very clear on that one.

02:08:11 Jon Farmer: So, Your Worship, Council had a discussion about whether or not you would require one additional parking space for each additional residential unit for a in the unit type single semi towns where those are permitted.

02:08:26 Jon Farmer: Okay, Councilor Farmer.

02:08:26 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I would move that additional residential units not require an additional parking space.

02:08:36 Jon Farmer: There are a few places where that would be updated, but including I think specifically section five of the zoning bylaw under general parking regulations.

02:08:49 Jon Farmer: I don't know if it's sufficient to just remove it from that part of the document, or if, like all references to requiring parking, a parking unit for additional residential units would need to be would need to be made across this document.

02:09:05 Scott Greig: And can you clarify what the motion was?

02:09:07 Scott Greig: I move that additional residential units not require an additional parking space.

02:09:14 Scott Greig: Any further discussion?

02:09:16 Scott Greig: I'm going to call.

02:09:18 Scott Greig: Go ahead.

02:09:20 Scott Greig: Just glad to support that.

02:09:25 Ian Boddy: I view it similar to Councilor Millerborough's comments earlier and Councilor Farmers, but also I'm overlaying the same fundamental principle of a retirement home as the director mentioned earlier, where there's different limits in place or different requirements for such an establishment because it's recognizing there's different individuals that might be inhabiting those places.

02:09:56 Ian Boddy: So, glad to support.

02:09:58 Ian Boddy: Okay, I can call the question.

02:09:59 Ian Boddy: All in favor?

02:10:02 Ian Boddy: One, two, three, four, five, six.

02:10:04 Ian Boddy: Let's carry.

02:10:05 Ian Boddy: Now, number four, I've got is additional residence units parking lot.

02:10:08 Ian Boddy: So, I'm not sure what number three was with the.

02:10:14 Ian Boddy: So, is there any motions on it?

02:10:19 Ian Boddy: Seeing none, so I think we just we're good.

02:10:31 SPEAKER_012: Options for protecting employment lands.

02:10:33 SPEAKER_012: There was a recommendation there, I believe.

02:10:36 SPEAKER_012: There's an amendment motion to amend.

02:10:39 SPEAKER_012: Pam or Brian, I'm going to ask you for your help on that one too, because.

02:10:45 Pam Coulter: If we're not amending it, then we just remain leave it as is until we get to the end.

02:10:50 Pam Coulter: Correct?

02:10:51 Pam Coulter: There we go.

02:10:52 Pam Coulter: So we're good with that.

02:10:54 Pam Coulter: Okay.

02:10:54 Pam Coulter: And is there any motions to amend that?

02:10:56 Pam Coulter: Seeing none.

02:10:57 Pam Coulter: Go ahead.

02:10:57 Pam Coulter: Your Worship, I just wanted to note, Council has made some amendments.

02:11:01 Pam Coulter: We will work with the Clerk as these come forward for final approval.

02:11:21 SPEAKER_021: There may be, for example, the A R U may we may need to update the policy of the official plan and the zoning bylaw to capture all those.

02:11:32 Jon Farmer: I know I appreciate Councillor Farmer said Section Five, but if we understand the intent, we will make sure that all the different sections that need to be updated are updated when we bring these documents forward for final approval.

02:11:57 Travis Dodd: For clarity, you bring them forward for final approval when?

02:12:09 SPEAKER_012: I believe the meeting would be April ninth.

02:12:11 SPEAKER_012: Perfect.

02:12:11 SPEAKER_012: Okay.

02:12:12 SPEAKER_012: Thirteenth.

02:12:12 SPEAKER_012: Okay.

02:12:12 SPEAKER_012: Good.

02:12:13 SPEAKER_012: Is there anything else?

02:12:36 Brock Hamley: Through the mayor, I move that we amend the urban design guidelines to include a section encouraging developers to reclaim and reuse high-quality materials if a building is going to be demolished as part of a redevelopment of a property.

02:12:45 Brock Hamley: To encourage, not require.

02:12:46 Brock Hamley: To be really specific.

02:12:47 Brock Hamley: Does this get into building code areas?

02:12:48 Brock Hamley: Potentially.

02:12:48 Brock Hamley: The motion's on the floor.

02:12:49 Jon Farmer: I guess not getting an answer is there further discussion, or do I call the question?

02:12:51 Jon Farmer: Go ahead, Councilor Hamley.

02:13:09 Jon Farmer: I just think it's the kind of thing that, like, if you had asked that a couple months ago when we were looking at these things, I would have asked for like more information on.

02:13:19 Jon Farmer: Like, I just don't think I can support it on the face of it right here, right now.

02:13:21 Jon Farmer: Councilor Farmer.

02:13:21 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, acknowledging that the urban design guidelines are just guidelines that would represent best lines that would represent best practice.

02:13:23 Jon Farmer: We have had a number of developments or redevelopments of properties that, in the past, to my understanding, I'll look to the director to confirm.

02:13:49 Ian Boddy: Where, for instance, if a building was taken down that was constructed with two or three brick of yeah that depth and that there was that much brick involved, that redevelopments have incorporated, for instance, that reclaimed brick into an entryway or part of a building.

02:13:59 Ian Boddy: I think that the urban design guidelines are an opportunity to encourage the kind of best practice that we'd like to see.

02:14:24 Scott Greig: They're not a requirement, and I think that's best practice from both the perspective of using high quality materials and reducing the environmental cost of redevelopments by using stuff that's already been made once.

02:14:33 Scott Greig: Which is why I'm proposing that.

02:14:35 Scott Greig: If that helps to clarify.

02:14:35 Scott Greig: Okay, not seeing anything.

02:14:36 Scott Greig: Okay, not seeing any other hands going up, so I'm going to call the question.

02:14:38 Ian Boddy: All in favor?

02:14:38 Ian Boddy: Two opposed.

02:14:39 Ian Boddy: Everybody else, that's defeated.

02:14:40 Ian Boddy: So, are there any other motions to amend type things?

02:14:41 Ian Boddy: So then we get down to the motions to just the recommendation with those amendments.

02:14:44 Ian Boddy: Councillor Hamley, I would move the recommendation, your worship.

02:14:47 Ian Boddy: With the amendments, yes.

02:14:48 SPEAKER_023: Thank you.

02:14:49 SPEAKER_023: Any questions?

02:14:50 SPEAKER_023: All in favor?

02:14:51 SPEAKER_023: Oh, hold on, hold on.

02:14:53 SPEAKER_023: It's going to say point of order.

02:14:55 Briana Bloomfield: Before you can make an amendment, you have to have an original motion on the floor.

02:15:07 SPEAKER_012: So, did we not already have the original motion on the floor?

02:15:14 Ian Boddy: Good point, but I think we decided to go through the motions and then try and capture them.

02:15:21 Ian Boddy: So maybe it's not as amended.

02:15:24 Ian Boddy: Through your worship, what our intent would be would be to say as amended by resolution numbers and list all the resolutions that made the previous changes in this final motion, so that there's something to refer back to those changes you've made.

02:15:58 Scott Greig: Thank you.

02:16:00 Scott Greig: We're good then with what Councillor Hamley is.

02:16:02 Scott Greig: Okay, so now can I call the question?

02:16:04 Scott Greig: All in favor?

02:16:05 Scott Greig: That is carried, unanimous.

02:16:06 Scott Greig: Good.

02:16:07 Scott Greig: Thank you once again to Ms. Clark and Mr. Aston and Pam and being back there, everyone that's worked on this.

02:16:17 Scott Greig: Ten B verbal report from Deputy Mayor Greig with regard to Grey County Council.

02:16:22 Scott Greig: And I just have to find it in my documents here.

02:16:24 Scott Greig: There we go.

02:16:26 Scott Greig: Thanks for bearing with me.

02:16:28 Scott Greig: There's a lot of windows open when you're doing an official plan and a zoning bylaw amendment.

02:16:35 Scott Greig: But Council supported a notice of motion to have staff prepare a report for the Municipal Services Committee to evaluate shared insurance services between municipalities.

02:16:45 Scott Greig: Council had a presentation from the Transit Services Study Consultant updating on preliminary options and data from survey participation.

02:16:53 Scott Greig: The county awarded reconstruction road projects for Grey Road Two, Twelve, and Three, which saw six bidders on the first two and three on the third project, and two surpluses outpacing a small deficit on the middle project.

02:17:10 Scott Greig: Several elevator rebuild projects in county buildings, including Fourteenth Street West and Owen Sound, resulted in a deficit being funded from various funding resources.

02:17:19 Scott Greig: Council awarded a contract for the building of a new transportation depot in Caledon, which was significantly over budget after having five bids submitted.

02:17:31 Ian Boddy: And lastly, council was presented the annual paramedic response time data, which outlined very strong response times, acknowledging total patient call volumes increasing significantly in 2025.

02:17:39 Briana Bloomfield: Total call volume was 8.96 percent greater than 2024 and is part of a 43.1 percent increase over the last five years.

02:17:45 Briana Bloomfield: I welcome questions and ask for council's approval of the verbal report.

02:17:49 Briana Bloomfield: Council, any questions?

02:17:50 Briana Bloomfield: Seeing none.

02:17:51 Briana Bloomfield: Call the question.

02:17:51 Briana Bloomfield: All in favor?

02:17:52 Briana Bloomfield: That is carried.

02:17:53 Briana Bloomfield: Eleven consent agenda.

02:17:54 Briana Bloomfield: Ms. Bloomfield.

02:17:56 Briana Bloomfield: Through your worship, on the consent agenda this evening is a report on 2025 council board and committee attendance and 2025 council remuneration and expenses.

02:18:06 Briana Bloomfield: There are minutes for receipt from the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force and the River District Board.

02:18:11 Briana Bloomfield: Business licenses were issued to Grey Bruce Art Therapy and Associates at 925 Second Ave East.

02:18:16 Briana Bloomfield: Occur and Peddler license was issued to the River District for City of Owen Sound and River District special events, and home occupation license was issued to Naturally Clean at 735 Sixteenth Street East.

02:18:33 Jon Farmer: Sixteenth.

02:18:33 Jon Farmer: Sixth Street, A West.

02:18:35 Jon Farmer: Sorry.

02:18:35 Jon Farmer: Final approval was given for a City Hall illumination request for United Nations World Drowning Prevention Day, and the last item on the consent agenda is the information package.

02:18:48 Jon Farmer: A full listing is available at 11 H. Councils, nothing to be voted on separately.

02:18:56 Jon Farmer: Seeing nothing, so I'll go to Councillor Farmer.

02:18:59 Scott Greig: Move by myself that, in consideration of the items listed on the March 23, 2026 consent agenda, City Council receives items 11 A to 11 H, and 2 approves the recommendations contained in items 11 A and 11 B. And all favor, and that is carried.

02:19:21 Scott Greig: Go ahead.

02:19:22 Scott Greig: And if I could just have follow up discussion on 11 B, please.

02:19:28 Scott Greig: I have a question.

02:19:30 Scott Greig: Might as well do it right now.

02:19:34 Scott Greig: Thank you.

02:19:35 Scott Greig: 11 B is the statement of council remuneration and expenses.

02:19:38 Scott Greig: One point I just wanted to raise: I think what council should consider is when councilors register for a conference or similar events.

02:19:56 Scott Greig: If we are not able to make it, staff work diligently in finding an alternative.

02:20:01 SPEAKER_024: But I think those costs for the registration of a conference should circle back to the councilor who registered for the conference and not have the full cost all attributed to the attending.

02:20:11 SPEAKER_025: It could be a staff person, could be a councilor, but the actual registration should be a portion to the councilor who registered.

02:20:25 SPEAKER_026: So I would make that motion.

02:20:27 SPEAKER_026: Okay.

02:20:28 SPEAKER_026: Go ahead.

02:20:28 Ian Boddy: Through you, Mayor Boddy, to Deputy Mayor Greig.

02:20:30 Ian Boddy: So this policy, it hasn't been updated since 2010, and it is scheduled for review in 2027.

02:20:35 Ian Boddy: So it is something that staff were already considering putting into that policy.

02:20:37 Briana Bloomfield: Was what you just mentioned having the cost stay on the councilor who originally registered and not whoever takes their place.

02:20:45 Briana Bloomfield: Is that good?

02:20:45 Briana Bloomfield: So he's withdrawing the motion.

02:20:48 Briana Bloomfield: Good.

02:20:48 Briana Bloomfield: Thanks.

02:20:49 Briana Bloomfield: Go ahead.

02:20:51 Scott Greig: Through your worship, just to be clear on that, it wouldn't be reviewed until 2027.

02:20:58 Scott Greig: So we would be going a full year with the current system in place.

02:21:03 Scott Greig: So if you want it changed now, then you should make a motion to do it now.

02:21:10 Scott Greig: Otherwise, it will be looked at in a year from now.

02:21:13 Scott Greig: Back to you.

02:21:14 Scott Greig: Then.

02:21:14 Jon Farmer: Two councils would get a chance to move on, but I'll make that motion that at this time council place the registrant or the cost for registration under the registrant's expense account.

02:21:30 Jon Farmer: Any further discussion, Councillor Farmer?

02:21:57 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, my only concern with that is if a councillor registers for AMO nice and early to get the early bird discount and get to make the spend as few taxpayer dollars as possible, and then finds out that they've got a family wedding, and and trades off with another councillor, if that first councillor can then not use the part of their expense account that could be used for additional conferences, education, or other things that would benefit them, then theoretically, if I've got the wedding and I cancel and.

02:22:15 Jon Farmer: I pass along my registration.

02:22:38 SPEAKER_009: The person I pass along the registration to has now gets one five worth of an expense account because I'm owning the conference that I registered for, not knowing that my cousin was going to elope and invite me.

02:22:48 SPEAKER_009: Councillor Merton, through you, Mayor, a couple of points.

02:22:49 SPEAKER_009: First of all, absolutely, staff are amazing at finding replacements, and that's very, very much appreciated.

02:22:51 SPEAKER_009: There are times when the replacements aren't even in our municipality, so the cost allocation then is charged back to the municipality that budgets for that.

02:23:04 SPEAKER_009: So our taxpayers would then be disadvantaged by allocating a cost to our municipality rather than a reimbursement for that from another municipality, so it's a more accurate demonstration of who's paying for what.

02:23:18 SPEAKER_009: The other is in our budgeting process, we reallocate to cost centers the appropriate funds that are required.

02:23:26 SPEAKER_009: For example, in I don't mean to pick on you, City Manager, but if the City Manager takes a councillor's position, the City Manager has an allocated education fund within the current budget.

02:23:48 SPEAKER_017: It's accurate then to reflect that the cost comes from that particular component of the budget.

02:23:53 SPEAKER_017: We work really hard to have accurate understanding of where the lines are, what's incorporated with those lines, and to have the appropriate cost allocation.

02:24:01 SPEAKER_017: So I believe that for sure we need to look at the policy, but it has budgetary implications and cross municipal and taxpayer funding implications as well.

02:24:08 SPEAKER_017: Councillor Mitterbecher, through you, Chair.

02:24:11 SPEAKER_017: I support the motion wholeheartedly.

02:24:25 SPEAKER_017: I feel like, for instance, if you register for something and and then can't go, basically we're trying to fill that spot just to make sure that that money doesn't get wasted.

02:24:34 SPEAKER_017: So if I agree to take the spot to go to Roma, I shouldn't have to eat my entire budget when I actually wanted to go to AMO.

02:24:36 Ian Boddy: So I think it's only fair that if you're filling a spot because a councillor registered and then backed out, that it's fair to charge the initial registration fee to the councillor that booked, so that you're not constrained then in your ability to go to whatever other conferences that you wanted to go.

02:25:00 SPEAKER_009: Okay, I'm going to call the question.

02:25:04 SPEAKER_009: I don't see other hands going up.

02:25:07 SPEAKER_009: All in favor?

02:25:08 SPEAKER_009: One, two, three, four, five.

02:25:11 SPEAKER_009: Opposed?

02:25:12 SPEAKER_009: Two.

02:25:12 SPEAKER_009: So that's carried.

02:25:13 SPEAKER_009: Briefly, I'm not sure this is in the procedural bylaw, but we've been doing it for the last couple of years.

02:25:23 SPEAKER_009: Anything to report from Grey Bruce Poverty Task Force?

02:25:27 SPEAKER_009: Through Mayor, just a reminder: the 2026 Healthy Communities Partnership Conference theme, building a culture of wellness, is to come forward, April 27th and April 28th.

02:25:39 SPEAKER_009: The Collective Impact Framework was reviewed.

02:25:41 SPEAKER_009: Rent Safe, Well, and Sound is working on strengthening data mapping and analysis of rental standards, and promoting stronger mold bylaws and tenant protections.

02:25:55 SPEAKER_009: Working also on a climate feasibility study on low-income rental housing in rural communities in partnership with RentSafe Ontario.

02:26:01 SPEAKER_009: The Community Foundation Grey Bruce has announced the startup of a Grey Bruce Community Development Corporation to bring social finance mechanisms to support affordable housing initiatives.

02:26:13 SPEAKER_021: And they're also exploring community bonds and ways to address gaps in pre-development funding for non-profit developers.

02:26:20 SPEAKER_021: Tax season is upon us.

02:26:21 SPEAKER_019: The Income Insecurity Action Group and Poverty Task Force promotes tax filing programs, including free clinics and volunteer income services.

02:26:29 SPEAKER_019: And I encourage you to look at the minutes for additional information about the initiatives in the community.

02:26:35 SPEAKER_019: Thank you, River District.

02:26:37 SPEAKER_019: Thank you, Worship.

02:26:39 SPEAKER_019: These are the minutes from January 14th, as well as the minutes from February 4th, which was a special meeting.

02:26:45 SPEAKER_019: January 14th, Police Service notified that there was 100.5 hours of foot patrol in the downtown.

02:26:51 SPEAKER_019: In November, 82 hours in the month of December.

02:26:56 SPEAKER_019: One Sun Police Services Auxiliary collected $6,000 and 1,400 pounds of food for the holiday season.

02:27:03 SPEAKER_019: Board approved the budget.

02:27:04 SPEAKER_019: Council has already approved.

02:27:05 SPEAKER_019: There were 19 different events/initiatives that were held in 2025 by the Downtown River District, which ended the year with $2,300 under budget.

02:27:11 SPEAKER_019: There's going to be a new creation of the events activations team, which allows new events to be tested on an annual basis, so it doesn't impact the workflows of the continuous events with a $10,000 budget moving forward.

02:27:51 SPEAKER_017: On the February 4th meeting, the River District approved a partnership request and a letter of support for the Beth Ezekiel Synagogue application for a Safer and Vital Communities grant.

02:28:00 SPEAKER_017: And finally, they directed staff to prepare a survey for downtown businesses respecting the coordination of recyclable and cardboard collection because that is something that has affected our downtown businesses.

02:28:02 SPEAKER_017: And then when we had our meeting in March, we came back with a resolution from that.

02:28:04 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

02:28:04 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

02:28:04 SPEAKER_017: Yep.

02:28:05 SPEAKER_017: Just further to the River District meeting and the discontinuation of the recycling for downtown River District businesses, just a follow up for anyone who does not have anything in place for April first.

02:28:13 SPEAKER_017: After the survey went out, there was no good results.

02:28:18 SPEAKER_017: So I spearheaded and I contacted Miller Waste on behalf of the thirty some odd businesses that were looking for service.

02:28:27 SPEAKER_017: They said that there's no good way to join together to do the service, and each individual business is to contact Miller Waste, Melissa from the sales department at 519-372-1855 to work out their own individual pickup service for downtown, and that was the best we could do.

02:28:45 Jon Farmer: You shared that through DIA, so it can go out to all the individual.

02:28:50 Jon Farmer: Good, thank you.

02:28:51 Jon Farmer: Thanks.

02:28:51 Jon Farmer: Actually, it's back to you, Councillor Middlebrooks.

02:28:53 Jon Farmer: Minutes of the Corporate Services Committee meeting held on March 12.

02:28:56 Jon Farmer: Hold on.

02:28:56 Jon Farmer: Go ahead.

02:28:56 Jon Farmer: Through the mayor, I just want to highlight that in the correspondence package, the first two items relate to changes to the structure of conservation authorities.

02:29:09 Jon Farmer: The first item is the minister's announcement.

02:29:12 Jon Farmer: The second is the preliminary response from the Grey Salvel Conservation Authority.

02:29:18 SPEAKER_017: Many of the things that we were worried about are still happening.

02:29:27 SPEAKER_017: The board is meeting this week, and there'll be more information after that.

02:29:29 SPEAKER_017: But I wanted to flag that for folks that it is flowing and not necessarily in the way that we'd like.

02:29:31 SPEAKER_017: Good.

02:29:31 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

02:29:31 SPEAKER_017: Go ahead.

02:29:33 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

02:29:34 SPEAKER_017: The Corporate Services Committee met on March 12, 2026.

02:29:38 SPEAKER_017: We confirm the minutes of the February 12, 2026 meeting, which had already been presented to Council.

02:29:45 SPEAKER_017: Committee received an item of correspondence from Owen Sound resident Carolyn Babin regarding a request to review fireworks policy.

02:29:52 SPEAKER_017: No direction was provided by committee, and the item was received.

02:29:55 SPEAKER_017: Reports from city staff at 8A1.

02:29:58 SPEAKER_017: We had a report from the communications advisor regarding external communication strategy.

02:30:03 SPEAKER_017: The city's first external communication strategy includes four directive themes and seventeen different recommendations to be implemented over the next three years.

02:30:10 SPEAKER_017: The goal is to build trust with residents through clear, consistent communication efforts and focus on improving communication tools and channels already in use by the city.

02:30:20 SPEAKER_017: The recommendation of the report, in consideration of the staff report respecting external communication strategy, the Corporate Services Committee recommends City Council direct staff to bring forward a bylaw to adopt the external communication strategy substantially in the form attached to the report, and that was carried by committee.

02:30:41 SPEAKER_017: At 8B1, we had a report from the bylaw enforcement supervisor regarding 2025 bylaw review.

02:30:46 SPEAKER_017: There were 922 bylaw investigations initiated, resulting in 1,435 inspections.

02:30:50 SPEAKER_017: Average rate of compliance was 11.5 business days.

02:30:52 SPEAKER_017: Proper Property-related matters account for 42% of service requests, and 31% are people-related.

02:30:57 SPEAKER_017: The yard maintenance bylaw, property standards bylaw, and traffic bylaw initiate most of the requests.

02:31:01 SPEAKER_017: In 2025, we had two full-time officers, a summer student, and a support staff from corporate services and the clerks, and they operated Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4:30.

02:31:03 SPEAKER_017: And the bylaw had 110 service requests for encampments, down from 139 in 2024.

02:31:04 SPEAKER_017: There will be increased staffing in 2026 to include a bylaw supervisor, which will increase the budget from 340,000 to 431,000.

02:31:12 SPEAKER_017: Bylaw reviews are underway, and new proactive enforcement policy for the River District, with minimum foot patrols and waste management audits, will be underway.

02:31:22 SPEAKER_017: The recommendation was to receive the report, which was carried by committee, and then there was a subsequent motion put forward by Councillor Merton that, in consideration of the staff report CR 2019, respecting the annual bylaw review 2025, the Corporate Services Committee recommends City Council direct staff to include a rental renovation bylaw in the 2026 bylaw review listing, and that motion was carried.

02:31:50 SPEAKER_017: 8C1 report from Fire Chief regarding fire apparatus purchase report.

02:31:54 SPEAKER_017: You'll remember that in May 2024, Councillor approved funding in the amount of 400,000 for the refurbishment of a 75-foot mid-mount ladder truck, with the intent of extending the service life of the apparatus, comply with current safety standards, and avoid significantly higher costs of replacing with a new unit.

02:32:13 SPEAKER_017: Refurbishment took about 19 months, as additional mechanical and structural deficiencies were identified.

02:32:20 SPEAKER_017: Additional work was done.

02:32:22 SPEAKER_017: Significant efforts to reduce and control costs were made, and the truck was on display for committee at the meeting and looks great.

02:32:32 SPEAKER_017: The apparatus is in service, and training required for the staff has been completed.

02:32:37 SPEAKER_017: And the service life of the vehicle has been extended approximately 15 years.

02:32:40 SPEAKER_017: The final cost of the project came in at 502,740 dollars, approximately 100,000 over budget.

02:32:48 SPEAKER_017: Keeping in mind that a new truck would cost approximately 2.1 million dollars, so the refurb actually achieved a cost avoidance of 1.6 million.

02:32:57 SPEAKER_017: That report was received for information.

02:32:59 SPEAKER_017: We had one additional report from the fire chief at 8C2 regarding an update on fire apparatus engine 5.

02:33:06 SPEAKER_017: Engine 5 was involved in a motor vehicle accident on Monday, December 15, 2025.

02:33:12 SPEAKER_017: It is a 2012 Spartan pumper tanker truck.

02:33:16 SPEAKER_017: It was purchased, used in December 2015 for $338,000, and was the city's first due apparatus for almost 10 years until it was reassigned to reserve status.

02:33:27 SPEAKER_017: Damage sustained in the collision rendered it unfit for service.

02:33:30 SPEAKER_017: It was towed to Dependable Fire Trucks in Brampton, where it still remains for damage assessment.

02:33:37 SPEAKER_017: All insurance notification and documentation was done immediately.

02:33:41 SPEAKER_017: On February 20, Dependable Fire Trucks did complete their evaluation of the damage and provided the insurance company report outlining options for repair and replacement.

02:33:52 SPEAKER_017: Timeframes go from three weeks to 300 days, depending on what is chosen, and the damage was more extensive than it appeared immediately to the front pumper and truck.

02:34:04 SPEAKER_017: To the front bumper and truck cab, but also to the frame and body mount.

02:34:09 SPEAKER_017: The temporary loss of the apparatus has required adjustments to the fleet deployment.

02:34:12 SPEAKER_017: Fortunately, the fire department took delivery of the refurbished ladder 4 five days before the collision, so that has been filling in the gaps.

02:34:20 SPEAKER_017: The insurance claim remains active, and the total cost has not been finalized.

02:34:24 SPEAKER_017: The financial exposure to the city is limited to the 10,000 dollar deductible.

02:34:29 SPEAKER_017: Further information will be provided to council as the insurance review is completed, and that report was received for information.

02:34:36 SPEAKER_017: With that, I remove receipt of the Corporate Services Committee minutes, March 12, 2026.

02:34:40 SPEAKER_017: The recommendations contained within, and happy to take questions.

02:34:44 SPEAKER_017: Questions?

02:34:45 SPEAKER_017: Seeing none, I'll call the question.

02:34:47 SPEAKER_017: All in favor?

02:34:48 SPEAKER_017: That's carried.

02:34:49 SPEAKER_017: Thank you.

02:34:50 SPEAKER_017: At number 13, we have no matters that are postponed.

02:34:53 SPEAKER_017: At number 14, we have no motions that were previously given.

02:34:57 SPEAKER_017: Number 15.

02:34:58 SPEAKER_017: Discussion of additional business.

02:35:00 Ian Boddy: Deputy Mayor Greig, noting the time, I'd be happy to remove those items and speak to them at the next council meeting.

02:35:07 Ian Boddy: Okay.

02:35:09 Ian Boddy: Motion: The Committee of the Whole rise and report at 16.

02:35:14 Scott Greig: Moved by myself, that the Committee of the Whole rise and report.

02:35:18 Ian Boddy: And all in favor?

02:35:20 Ian Boddy: That is carried.

02:35:24 Jon Farmer: What's next?

02:35:25 Jon Farmer: Motion to adopt proceedings in Committee of the Whole.

02:35:25 Jon Farmer: Motion to adopt proceedings in Committee of the Whole.

02:35:28 Ian Boddy: Moved by myself, seconded by Deputy Mayor Greig, that the action taken in Committee of the Whole in considering public meetings, deputations, and presentations, public forum matters arising from correspondence, reports of city staff, consent agenda, committee minutes, matters postponed, motions for which notice was previously given, and additional business be confirmed by this council.

02:35:50 Jon Farmer: All in favor?

02:35:51 Jon Farmer: That is carried.

02:35:53 Jon Farmer: Are there any notices of motion being given tonight, Deputy Mayor Greig?

02:35:58 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

02:35:59 Jon Farmer: Here we give notice.

02:36:00 Jon Farmer: Whereas on March 8th, Owen Sound Fire Services responded to a rescue on Georgian Bay.

02:36:05 Ian Boddy: I move that at the April 13th council meeting, I will ask council to ask staff to prepare a report on the cost borne by the city and prepare to issue proportionate invoicing.

02:36:18 Ian Boddy: Good.

02:36:22 Scott Greig: I'll second that motion.

02:36:23 Scott Greig: There we go.

02:36:24 Scott Greig: So motion given.

02:36:26 Scott Greig: Any other motions?

02:36:28 Scott Greig: Seeing none.

02:36:32 Ian Boddy: So we are about to move to go into the close session.

02:36:36 Ian Boddy: But before we move into the close session, I would like to note that if you're watching this meeting on Rogers Cable TV or the Rogers TV website, their feed will not reconnect to this meeting when we return to the open session to report out of the closed session and review the bylaws.

02:36:53 Ian Boddy: If you'd like to view the remainder of the open session, you can watch the live stream on the city's council and committees website at www.ownsound.ca/meetings.

02:37:03 Ian Boddy: The video recording of the meeting will also be posted on this website following the meeting.

02:37:15 Ian Boddy: So, Councillor Farmer.

02:37:16 Ian Boddy: Moved by myself, seconded by Deputy Mayor Greig, that City Council now move into closed session to consider one, minutes of the closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 9th, 2026.

02:37:26 Jon Farmer: Two, minutes of the closed session of the Community Services Committee meeting held on March 18th, 2026.

02:37:33 Jon Farmer: Three, one matter regarding advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose, respecting the Grey County Urban Road Transfer, and for one matter regarding personal matters about identifiable individuals, respecting an appointment to the River District Board of Management.

02:37:50 Jon Farmer: Thank you.

02:37:51 Jon Farmer: All in favor?

02:37:52 Jon Farmer: That is carried.

02:37:52 Jon Farmer: So, take us a minute to switch over.

02:38:02 Jon Farmer: Okay.

02:38:02 Ian Boddy: It is now eight twenty-four p.m.

02:38:04 Ian Boddy: City Council is returning to the open session.

02:38:06 Ian Boddy: During the closed session, City Council reviewed minutes of the closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 9th, 2026.

02:38:14 SPEAKER_027: We reviewed minutes of the closed session of the Community Services Committee meeting held on March 18th, 2026.

02:38:21 SPEAKER_027: We discussed one matter regarding advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose, respecting the Grey County Urban Road Transfer.

02:38:32 SPEAKER_027: No direction was provided to staff.

02:38:34 SPEAKER_027: And discussed one matter regarding personal matters about identifiable individuals, respecting an appointment to the River District Board of Management, and direction was provided to staff.

02:38:46 SPEAKER_027: So, bylaws.

02:38:51 SPEAKER_027: Through your worship, the bylaws listed for approval on tonight's agenda include the confirmatory bylaw, a bylaw to execute an agreement with Joshua Harris for sports equipment sanitizing vending machine at the Rec Center, a bylaw to execute a second amending agreement with FlexBus Inc. for access and use of the Owen Sound Transit Terminal, and a bylaw to amend the Code of Conduct for members of council, local boards, and committees to expand the code's application to city-appointed members of local boards.

02:39:17 SPEAKER_027: Mr. Farmer.

02:39:19 SPEAKER_027: Moved by myself, seconded by Deputy Mayor Greig, that Bylaw numbers 2026-024 through 2 and including 2026-027 be passed and enacted.

02:39:30 SPEAKER_027: And all in favor?

02:39:33 SPEAKER_027: That is carried.

02:39:34 SPEAKER_027: That completes our business for tonight.

02:39:36 SPEAKER_027: It is 8:26.