Protests at Hanlon as Bell Goes Green

Definitely not your father’s groundbreaking

Given the rather contentious nature of the issue, it was a bit surprising that the City would have so public an event in honour of the Hanlon Creek Business Park like a ground breaking. When the announcement was made Tuesday, you could practically smell trouble in the air. The proverbial ink was barely dry on the press release when LIMITS (Land Is More Important Than Sprawl) sent out a flyer calling for a peaceful demonstration at the Downey St entrance to the site. The flyer further declared that instruments and street theatre were welcome.

Well there was certainly theatre, but the calls for a peaceful demonstration seemed to fall on deaf ears. About 75 people were there for the rake out on the other side of the barricades at the groundbreaking as several city officials and other guests there by “invitation only” had to walk past shouting protesters, at least one grim reaper and “Barnie,” the purple Jefferson salamander dinosaur. As Mayor Karen Farbridge and others overturned the sod for the future business park, protestors dug an effigy grave for Barnie and his brethren.

But if getting in was rough, getting out was murder. Or at least there were shouts of it, anyway. “You will pay for this. Your life is on the line,” shouted a hooded protester according to the Mercury’s Rob O’Flanagan. Over on his Ward 2 blog, Councillor Ian Findlay said that while returning to the bus with a city staff member, “We were greeted by what could be described as a feral mob of protesters, dressed in Halloween costumes chanting ‘F**k You Scum! F**k You Scum!’” Buses were only able to leave the site once the police had cleared a path. In a City press release celebrating the groundbreaking, there was no mention of any troubles on the site.

Bell goes Fed for the Greens next election

After Mike Nagy’s three at bats for the Federal Green Party in Guelph, Ward 1 Councillor Bob Bell will step up to the plate for the team in the next federal election. Bell was acclaimed at a meeting of local Greens last week. The first-time federal candidate said that he was drawn to the idea of taking more action on the environment and feels that it’s the most important issue facing Guelph and Canada. “Climate change is an issue that I find is the biggest driver,” on other issues, Bell told me by phone on Saturday. “It trickles down to transportation planning, energy pricing, food security and international trade.”

Bell added that he thinks that the way environmental issues and how people see them is continuing to evolve. “Most people have thought of issues as independent but my perspective is that other issues all fit into the environment, but I think that’s typical of the Green Party.” The newly minted Green candidate also said that he thinks a federal election is far off, but in the mean time he’ll be learning the fine art of a federal campaign along with getting some helpful pointers from his predecessor Nagy.

Flu shots come to those who wait

Swine flu fever hit Guelph last week… Oh, wait. Poor choice of words. Okay, so swine flu vaccination fever hit Guelph last week as the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Unit began flu shot clinics last Friday, including the controversial H1N1 shot. The shot was recommended, as per usual, for pregnant women, children between the ages of six months and five years old, people with chronic health conditions and health care workers but because of the looming, media-hyped threat of pandemic, 2,000 people and a four hour wait were what people showing up at the former College Avenue Public School got. Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has received two allotments of the vaccine. The first was 12,000 doses and the second was 14,500. For clinic times and locations go to http://www.wdghu.org/ or follow updated info on wait times on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wdgph

Linamar, Frogs and Irony

Harper brings cash to Linamar

Last Monday, Linamar had its grand opening for the Frank Hasenfratz Centre of Excellence in Manufacturing, a new Teaching and Technology Centre at 700 Woodlawn Rd., and the guest of honour was the Prime Minister himself, Stephen Harper. Harper’s gift to the company: $54.8 million in a repayable interest-free contribution to fund the development of the company’s green and fuel efficient powertrain projects. That’s a pretty big slice of the Automotive Initiative Fund, a provision from last year’s budget that provides $250 million over five years to car and part manufacturers in order to support strategic, large-scale research and development projects.

“The auto sector is an essential part of the Canadian economy. It has created hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs for Canadians,” Harper said in his remarks following a photo opportunity. “Parts and assembly plants fuel the growth and prosperity of cities like Guelph… they are a major contributor to the wider economies of Ontario, Quebec and Canada as a whole.” Linamar CEO Linda Hasenfratz added that the pursuit of green technologies made good environmental sense as well as good business sense and she estimated her company will have spent a total of $365 million of such projects by 2013. “We should never wait for the good old days to come back and wait for (auto) production volumes to resume,” she said. “You have to be proactive and find new markets and new products… and continue to grow the company. You have to be proactive about staying ahead of the curve.”

Quick action saves frogs

After weeks of warm, dry weather, a rain finally fell last Monday. Now normally rain is a good thing for plants and animals alike, but for several amphibious animals in the Laird Rd. area between the Hanlon and Downey Rd. it mean a high stakes game of Frogger. Confused? Let me explain. The migratory path of several species of frogs and toads crosses from one side of Laird Road to the other. At this time of year, during particularly warm and wet weather, the amphibians travel from one side of the street to the other, retuning to the waters in which they’ll collect food and hunker down for the winter. Literally hundreds of the animals were killed by passing motorists on Laird Road at the beginning of last week until action by environmentalists and local residents forced the City to close the road to traffic last Tuesday.

Norah and Richard Chaloner along with friend Judy Martin were amongst the people trying to save the frogs and petition the city to close the road to prevent further deaths. But Rajan Philips, manager of transportation planning said that closing the road was not an option because advanced notification was required and appropriate detours needed to be established. On Tuesday afternoon, the Chaloners and Martin, along with members of the group LIMITS brought the remains of 200 dead animals to city hall to prove how big a problem it was. By late afternoon the City’s chief administrative officer, Hans Loewig, told citizens that the city will indeed be shutting down a section of Laird Road between McWilliams Road and Downey Road, from dusk till dawn, for the duration of the migratory season. A more permanent solution of a culvert under Laird Road is being considered by the city.

Other notes in brief

Ward 2 Councillor Ian Findlay posted some statistics on his blog from the first half-month of operation of the pissoirs on Macdonnel and Carden Streets. Between September 1 and 14 over 1,500 litres of urine had been collected between the two locations, over one-third of that total was collected on the weekend of September 11-13, or the first weekend after the University of Guelph opened for business again. So far the only downside is some damage to the privacy screens and one instance of graffiti on signage.

Then, last week in an act of cosmic irony, a vote to end street parking on Elizabeth St. in order to install bike lanes was defeated in a tie in a meeting of the emergency services, community services and operations committee. The tie breaking vote belonged to Coun. Maggie Laidlaw, one of City Hall’s most outspoken advocates for biking in the city, who was in Waterloo that night attending the Ontario Bicycle Summit. The Summit was billed as being dedicated to a vision of "creating a bicycle friendly Ontario for everyone.” Oh, the humanity!

City Versus Protesters, Part III

The week started back in provincial court on Monday as Justice Bonnie Wein’s one week reprieve for the protestors came due for final arguments. This time it was Justice Douglas Gray that would be hearing the case, sitting before another packed courtroom of friends and supporters of the occupiers of the land upon which the city wants the future HCBP to sit.

So walking into court Monday morning, as they had only six days early, many were wondering if this moment would indeed mean the protest’s end. But the system surprised once again as Gray reserved his decision to grant the City's injunction until his written decision was delivered to attorneys on both sides at the end of the week. Justice Gray also upheld the conditions put down by Justice Wein in her decision the week before, but the protesters had to allow the city to do additional repair work such as removing log barriers and filling in trenches dug by the protesters that obstructed vehicles from entering the site.

Basically it came down to our old friend the Jefferson Salamander. Amongst the evidence presented was a correspondence from the Ministry of Natural Resources in May and July that recommending the City not proceed with construction until further examination was done for the presence of the salamander’s habitat following the discovery of a hybrid salamander on the site in April. Ian Hagman, Guelph district manager for the Ministry of Natural Resources, as a witness for the city, testified that no legal action was taken to stop the city from doing construction on the site. Basically, without knowing the exact spot of the salamander's habitat, the Ministry's hands were tied. The Friday before this latest court appearance, the HCBP protesters through their attorney filed their own motion of injunction against the city claiming that their environmental assessments weren't extensive enough.

It was Thursday morning when Justice Grey delivered his decision, and while the city’s injunction to have the protesters removed from the HCBP site was upheld, so was the protestors injunction to stop construction and giving the Ministry of Natural Resources 30-Days to decide if its going to issue a stop work order on the site. True, it was one of those rare cases in life where everybody wins, but the victory was immediately taken up by the protesters and their supporters as a sign that you can beat City Hall. “So it would seem that we beat them at their own game,” said a message from the Facebook group ‘Save Our Old Growth Forest.’ “[This means] that work at the HCBP cannot continue for 30 Days! 30 days ahead brings us to September 13, just two days before the city's deadline to have work completed. It has set this deadline in order to comply with restrictions around fisheries and habitat protection.”

The City did its own spin on the day’s events though. “The City was successful in obtaining an injunction to keep people from trespassing and interfering with construction activities in relation to the Phase 1 lands,” said a press release issued later on Thursday. The mayor added, "We're pleased with Justice Gray's decision," said Karen Farbridge. "It sets the stage for more constructive dialogue with MNR in the coming month and beyond." The press release continued by saying that the city takes its responsibilities seriously and that they look forward to continuing a dialogue with the MNR.

On Friday, the protesters left as peacefully as when they arrived. In summation they noted on the HCBP occupation blog the circumstances of their last morning there. “Today was a hot day, and after camp was taken down, a few of us had a special dip in the creek, saying our goodbyes and humble gratitudes to this sacred place. The blue heron circled around the meadows as we hung around the front gate, and as much as we will miss this place, it feels great to give the heron its home back.” The question is though: for how long? (Not) The End.

HCBP Update and Bike Racks

Apparently, You Can Fight City Hall

The Tuesday following the Civic Holiday dawned with the anticipation that the occupation of over 50 protesters at the site of the future Hanlon Creek Business Park was just hours away from a forced end. The call went out the night before as organizers spread e-mails, IMs and Facebook messages to get as many people out to the provincial court house on Woolwich St. The intention was to show as much support as possible in the court room to make the inevitable harder to follow through on. But in an act of cosmic irony, Justice Bonnie J. Wein decided to give the protesters a six day reprieve, effectively allowing the occupation to continue an extra week.

There were provisos however. Judge Wein ordered that there cannot be more than 30 people on site at a time and that only included people who had set up shop on the site for at least 24 hours. The protesters also had to allow the re-staking of survey stakes and the repair of the silt fencing and they were barred from adding any new structures to the site. A rope was also ordered put up as an ad hoc fence around the site, and all that work got underway on Wednesday morning. “So in short, this is a huge victory, and nearly unprecedented in Canada for the Defendants of an injunction to be allowed to stay in place while the case is adjourned,” wrote an anonymous poster on the HCBP Occupation blog. “The plus to that is that this case law is now available to support other such land defence actions!”

The city was pushing for a complete removal from the site to a designate protest area in the spirit of so-called “free speech zones,” similar to the type used at party conventions last year in the United States. The judge was concerned about the protesters health and safety, but was reportedly impressed with the cooking and toilet amenities used on site. Further, the protestors came prepared, hiring Toronto attorney Eric K. Gillespie, who’s familiar with Guelph development issues having represented the Kortright Hills Neighbourhood Association in their fight against the HCBP at the Ontario Municipal Boar; he was also part of the decade-long epic struggle to keep Wal-Mart out of town. The protesters are now looking to raise about $6,000 for legal expenses, and are accepting donations to keep up their fight. Everyone was back in court Monday for the next chapter of the story, the full details of which can be conveniently read now on my blog at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Guelph Transit racks ‘em up

Bikes that is. Perhaps you noticed the odd metal racks on the front of Guelph Transit buses last week. Well, it turns out that this is part of Transit’s priority to make alternative, and green friendly transportation in the City of Guelph a little more viable, and are taking citizen’s advice seriously in order to make it happen. The City conducted a survey back in April asking Guelph residents to send it thoughts and suggestions about how to improving biking in the Royal City. A press release last week stated that of the 400 residents polled, 31 per cent said that bike racks on buses would motivate them to cycle more frequently in Guelph. “Providing our riders with travel options that make their daily commute more convenient and enjoyable is important to the success of our transit service,” said Rudy Stehle, Interim Manager of Guelph Transit. Now following in the footsteps of other transit systems in K-W and Toronto, for example, Guelphites can use a combination of bus and bike to get around. “Guelph is committed to providing many sustainable transportation options to residents,” said Mayor Karen Farbridge. “This logical public transit enhancement will help further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make our city more bicycle-friendly.”

A Week in the Life of a Protest

I got the call at 6:30 am on Monday morning; I was half asleep as I answered the phone. Typically people don’t call me in the “wee hours,” so it surely must have been important, right? Well, while I didn’t remember the details of the conversation, I did remember the context: a small group of about two dozen protestors had taken to occupying the grounds of the future home of the Hanlon Creek Business Park. But this story isn’t just about occupied land it was about occupied time, as the story garnered province-wide attention all last week.

The story started back in January, when new, grassroots opposition to the HCBP started to get louder in the town. The property located in the city’s south end between the Hanlon Expressway and Downey Rd. has been on the books to be the place for new business development for sometime. Concerns have been growing though amongst the Green-minded as the site is home to an old growth forest, which coupled with the possible presence of the endangered Jefferson Salamander makes the HCBP site highly sensitive.

The occupation began at 7 am on Monday. The protestors made camp and proceeded to disrupt workers from Drexler Construction who were hired by the city to construct a four-lane road. The workers were sent home and their equipment moved to avoid damage. Meanwhile, the protesters prepared for the long haul. Their intention, as I was told later on Monday, is to stay on the site until forcibly removed or the date of September 15^th, when it would be too late in the season for construction to begin. It wouldn’t be until Wednesday afternoon when the city responded officially to the protest.

I first visited the protest site on Monday afternoon and I was greeted by two individuals who identified themselves as "Faren Carbridge" and "Keter Partwright." The talked about how they weren’t surprised that the “bureaucratic process” had failed, meaning the pursuit of stopping construction on the site through direct interaction with stakeholders and advocacy through awareness. “Faren” added that she was disgusted by the City’s promotion of its green roof and other environmental initiatives at the new city hall even as they planned to plough over such a huge tract of land for development. While the number of people on-site increased to anywhere between 40 and 60 at any given time, “Faren” and “Keter” said that many more are with them through letter writers to demonstrations put on in the city.

Wednesday afternoon saw delivery of an eviction notice by Peter Cartwright, the city’s Manager of Economic Development Services. It ordered that all protestors must vacate the land by 4 pm Thursday or be charged with criminal trespass. Come Thursday afternoon, the group had become literally entrenched on the site; blockades were put up along the farm path to the protesters camp and roads in and out of the area had ditches dug in front of them to prevent vehicle entry. Numbers at the camp had also swelled, as the protesters were prepared to stand their ground. "Everybody's decided what their own response is going to be," is all "Keter Partwright" would say in terms of the group’s plans in the event of forced eviction by police. Mostly though, he said that they were trying to focus on the positive experiences.

By 5:30 pm it seemed that the police weren’t coming, at least not that day. No further communication from the city was received until Friday when the protesters were served with notice that the city was seeking an injunction in court on Tuesday to force their removal. By that point though the occupation will have been eight days, and already a powerful point’s been made by a small group of dedicated local citizens. It should be noted for those occupying the HCBP land are not affiliated with the group Land Is More Important Than Sprawl (LIMITS) or other groups. They are individuals acting on their own in common purpose. For updates on these and other stories go to Guelph Politico at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com

Driving and Taxes

Improved Hanlon gets approved

Despite continued public dissension over the proposed plan to upgrade the Hanlon Expressway between Wellington Street and Maltby Road, City Council voted in favour of the province’s preferred plan at last Monday’s meeting. The marathon session went until 1 am with councillors voting twice to extend the meeting so that the issue could be dealt with till its conclusion.

The timetable for the completion of the project is still to be determined, but project manager Rob Bakalarczyk of the Ministry of Transportation confirmed to council that some of the interchange upgrades on the $60 million project may take a decade to complete. Top priority will be given to the Laird Road intersection so that greater access to the future site of the Hanlon Creek Business Park can be offered. Money for this part of the project, budgeted for $17 million, will likely come out of development charges.

The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) will complete and publish the Hanlon Expressway Transportation Environmental Study Report make it available on for a 30-day public review period in May. You’ll be able to view the details for yourself at http://hanlonimprovements.ca/

Guelphites taxed a little less

It looks like the tax increase for home owners in the city is going to be a little less than predicted thanks to “changes in Guelph’s property value assessments, a decrease in the Province’s education tax rate, and adjustments to the City’s multi-residential tax ratio and its operating budget,” according to a city press release.

“Despite the current economic challenges facing municipalities, Guelph’s financial position remains strong,” says the City’s Treasurer, Margaret Neubauer. “The City continues to provide high quality public services and ensure good value for people’s tax dollars.”

When the budget was passed in December, it called for a 3.74 per cent increase to cover the costs associated with protecting services and responding to changing community needs. Now the increase will stand at 3.41 per cent over 2008 rates. At the same time, the Province reduced Ontario's residential education tax rate by 4.76 per cent, which made property value assessments higher than expected. Finally, the City is changing the way it taxes multi-residential properties in order to spread the tax burden more fairly across property categories and as a result is lowering the multi-residential tax ratio from 2.74 to 2.5965 this year.

So what does the tab come to? Well, for the 2009 tax year, if you consider the average residential property value is $257,000, then you will have a tax bill of $3,433, which amounts to an increase of $113. "We have approved the lowest tax increase of the past six years, while investing in priority services and infrastructure," says Mayor Karen Farbridge. "I want to thank our City management team for its diligence and hard work throughout this year’s budget process."

  

This ain’t over

Since the beginning of the year, Guelph Beat has covered the renewed activism to block the development of the Hanlon Creek Business Park in the City’s south end, and now a new voice has joined the call to stop development in this area. Residences and businesses in Guelph may have received a pamphlet from the Victoria, BC-based Wilderness Committee calling for action to “Save Guelph’s last old-growth forest.” The Wilderness Committee is working with Land Is More Important Than Sprawl (LIMITS), who is continuing to hold meetings, events and nature walks in the affected area to raise awareness. Visit there new website at http://www.landismoreimportantthansprawl.com/

Emotions Stirred at Community Meeting

It was billed as a discussion and a dialogue, and sometimes that was the case. The Guelph Civic League hosted a town hall-style event last Thursday in Norfolk United Church, where members of the community were invited to hear from all sides about the issues involving the development of the Hanlon Creek Business Park. It was a packed house, as evident by the fact that more and more chairs had to be brought out to accommodate the masses. Clearly this issue has struck a chord in the public, and though the atmosphere was mostly collegial, there was something else there under the surface.

The panel was made up of Judy Martin (Sierra Club Canada and Guelph Urban Forest Friends), James Gordon (Wellington Water Watchers), Matt Soltys (Land Is More Important than Sprawl), Councillor Lise Burcher (Chair of Community Design and Environmental Services Committee, City of Guelph), Peter Cartwright (General Manager of Economic Development and Tourism, City of Guelph) and Lloyd Longfield (Guelph Chamber of Commerce). The panel was kind of split up along Crossfire lines. Everybody had five minutes to open with their point of view, comment on they’re position or their organization’s position and maybe wrestle with a Power Point presentation.

During the Q&A portion was where the civility of the evening suffered the biggest threat of fracturing. Cartwright, and to a certain extent Longfield, took the brunt of the questioners’ tone. Many seemed to suggest some sort of conspiracy theory on the part of the city to get the HCBP done as quickly and quietly as possible. A third year zoology student from the University of Guelph accused Cartwright and of his office of denying her the chance to study the Jefferson Salamander in the HCBP site, and that he’s been ignoring her phone calls and e-mails. Cartwright responded that he’s done no such thing and the reason she was denied access to the site was for a liability issue. Panellist Gordon riffed on this statement later when he said that he didn’t realize he was a liability issue when he’s gone there to walk the grounds.

But of more universal concern was a lack of information about the current plan, or the fact that this plan is being pushed ahead in spite of the fact that there are currently no tenants lined up, or just generally the prevailing economic conditions. Also mentioned was the prevalence of brownfields and the increasing number of vacant industrial areas in the city limits. The question was why do we need to lose more greenspace because of all these factors, to which Cartwright said that the point was to have a “good product mix” for potential businesses in the city.

As the meeting wrapped, it seemed that the civil feeling of the room was sort of encountering a rough patch. Obviously, with everyone piling on the city staff, things seemed to be a little one-sided. Burcher was the last one to speak during the one-minute wrap-up, and she got a “Shame” and a “How about you listen?” in response to a couple of her comments. Clearly, many of the people at the meeting were of one mind on the issue of this development, if not development generally. While some agreed that development, to a degree, was necessary, others were emphatic in their belief that any amount of development on the HCBP site is too much. This debate is far from over.

In memoriam…

By the time this hits newsstands, the Family Thrift Store will be no more. Despite the protests and the lamentations and the media attention, Ray Mitchell’s mecca of all things practical and curious shuttered its storefront after a week long celebration affectionately called “Thrift Stock.” Bands like Evan and the Sad Clowns, The Magic, The D'Urbervilles, Tacoma Hellfarm Tragedy, The Saltlick Kids, Richard Laviolette and His Hollow Hooves, The Neutron Stars, and The Burning Hell all played sets during the seven night celebration. Family Thrift Store: you will be missed.

Environment and Travel News

LIMITS Making an IMPACT

It appears that the actions of the environmental activist group Land Is More Important Than Sprawl (LIMITS) quest to bring attention to save the greenspace scheduled to be the future home of the Hanlon Creek Business Park is bearing fruit. Two posts made on the Ward 2 blog maintained by city councillors Ian Findlay and Vicki Beard articulated their concerns with the development project.

“I hear the argument that this development has been so long in the planning that we have to just ‘get on with it,’” says a letter writer identified as JG. “I don’t think we can threaten our futures just because we want to ‘get on’ with something, and I think that there will be a wide reaching negative reaction towards our current city government if we do not offer a public forum at a council meeting to revisit these concerns before it is too late.”

“The proposed irresponsible destruction of the natural heritage on this site is unforgivable,” adds another writer called BK. “I beg you to reconsider the future of the Hanlon Creek Business Park lands. In a better world this property should be known as the Hanlon Creek Natural Heritage Park and it would be a much more farsighted use of this land to be developed as such. The citizens of Guelph now and in the future would be much happier to live in a better world.”

Green Fighting Gets Dirty

Guelph got dragged into Green Party infighting last week when Mark Taylor, an Alberta Green who left the party’s national council after a conflict with leader Elizabeth May, wrote a fairly incendiary comment on his blog. "Money was funnelled into the riding to open two campaign offices," he wrote. "Staff was hired to run these offices. I know, from a personal contact, that requests were made of the Guelph team to turn their focus from (get out the vote) efforts in Guelph to (get out the vote) efforts in Central Nova." May has come under fire over her inability to win even one riding, including her own, in the last election. But on money matters, Elections Canada records show that May’s campaign spent significantly less than allowed under federal election rules in her riding, and May herself said that there was a "lack of focus" on winning Central Nova.

Settlement Ratified

Guelph City Council ratified the negotiated settlement between the City of Guelph and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Locals 241 and 973 at the City Council meeting on March 9. The Guelph Public Library Board ratified the same agreement with CUPE Local 1946 at its board meeting the same night. With the 550 CUPE employees also ratifying the deal, it means that the matter is settled for these city employees. The deal contained wage and salary increases of 2.5 per cent in 2009, 2.6 per cent in 2010 and 2.75 per cent in 2011. The three year contract also contains modest benefits changes to more closely align CUPE benefits with other employee groups at the City of Guelph.

City wants to send Mitch away

The City officially sanctioned Mitch Moffit’s quest to secure the Best Job in the World last week by posting a link on their website. The contest is being sponsored by Queensland Tourism, to find someone to fill the position of caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef and be paid a handsome, six-figure salary to do it. Moffit is one of the Top 50 contests now in serious contention for the job thanks to his 60-second video, a Broadway style musical shot in Downtown Guelph last month. To throw your vote to Mitch got to http://www.islandreefjob.com/Mitchell.

Save the Date

This is just a reminder that starting on April 7, you’ll be able to access city services from offices in the new Civic Administration Building. The City’s tax payment system, and the building permits and inspection systems were moved over the March 6-9 weekend, and the moving process of other offices will take place all month long.

Downtown Troubles, Union Issues & Hanlon Headaches

Downtown redevelopment brings out crowd

Last Tuesday, it was a full house at a City Council meeting as councillors approved the new variation of the C2 plan to build the new main branch of the public library at a site at the north end of Wyndham. Good news for fans of a new library, but really bad news for the business owners and patrons of the current occupants of the four properties that’ll need to be demolished to make it happen. In fact many of the people in the gallery, along with six delegations that spoke at the meeting, were there to support Ray Mitchell and his business, the Family Thrift Store, which Mitchell has owned and operated for the last 16 years.

Despite the interest and the speakers, the motion passed by a vote of 10-2 with only Gloria Kovach and Christine Billings voting against. The vote seemed to come down to more a matter of supporting the new library that’s been in the works for years, rather than being against the businesses on that corner. In s city press release, the Mayor touted the vote as a measure to help rejuvenate the city’s core. "I am delighted that after years of work and study, we are moving forward with a design concept for our much-needed new central library. This design concept is the best choice for the library, and the best choice for the revitalization of the north end of our downtown," said Karen Farbridge.

The property between the Family Thrift Store and Cowboy Bar has been in limbo for the last few years as debate over library plans raged. One of the block’s biggest tenants, Wyndham Arts, moved to another location on Wyndham last fall, seemingly in anticipation of this decision. As for Mitchell and other business owners, the Guelph Downtown Business Association says that they’re going to assist displaced business owners and tenants, but that won’t do much for the artists and musicians renting studio space above the Family Thrift Store, or those living in about 30 affordable apartments in the same buildings. We’ll be covering this story as it develops.

Feel like a municipal strike?

It could be in the cards as the City of Guelph continues its collective agreement negotiations with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals 241, 973 and 1946. The unions’ previous contracts expired on January 31. A provincial conciliator has been requested and appointed to provide mediation services to both parties in an attempt to reach a settlement. The next meeting is set to take place on March 2; a tentative strike deadline of Friday March 6 at 12:01 am has been arranged. CUPE locals 241, 973 and 1946 represent approximately 550 outside, inside and library employees.

Hanlon improvements mean headaches for some

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario unveiled its latest plan for upgrading the Hanlon Expressway for the consideration of city council in March. So you can only image what happened next. If you said, somebody’s against the plan, you’d be either a lucky guesser or a long-time resident of Guelph. Yes, residents on Old Colony Trail are quite displeased with the plan which calls for a service road on the west side of the Expressway connecting Kortright/Downey to Stone Roads, to be built right behind their homes. The MTO says that the plans, if initiated, would not encroach on the properties on Old Colony Trail, with the exception of three at the south end near Woodland Glen Drive. Further, the MTO has pledged to work with affected residents on a one-to-one basis, but they are firm in their contention that this is the best of all options following public consultation and feedback last Fall.

Meanwhile…

The LIMITS (Land Is More Important Than Sprawl) press conference scheduled for last Thursday (February 19) was postponed until Friday because the group didn’t want to compete with U.S. President Barack Obama’s official visit to Canada. But due to the move, the conference was held a day too late for Echo’s deadline, so for details head to “Guelph Politico” at http://guelphpolitico.blogspot.com for more information.

GO Trains, Cash and Attendance

Now we know, where to get on GO

We’ve talked a lot about the fact that GO Transit is coming back to Guelph in 2011. The biggest part of the plan to bring GO back was the question of where the new station’s going to be; it wasn’t always a forgone conclusion that it would be at the VIA station downtown, although that would be logical. In fact there were three sites in the running including the VIA station, as well as new stations on Watson Rd. or the Lafarge site. But GO Transit released an Environmental Assessment on the impact of expansion this week that seems to have settled the matter.

In the report, GO with its partners cited that the downtown station would be the best option based on environmental, cultural, technical and economic grounds. Both Lafarge and Watson Road were turned down due to the potential, deleterious impact on the local environment, and inadequate access to the site from the outside. But most importantly, the other two sites were too expensive to convert over the pre-existing VIA station. This is good news for the downtown and Ward 1 Councillor Bob Bell who told me in December that host the GO stop downtown is “the single biggest thing that will happen to downtown Guelph this decade.”

Interestingly, the plan had an addition previously unknown to city staff, a park-and-ride on Neeve St. at Farquhar. Richard Henry, the city’s manager of engineering said he was “a little surprised” to see the notation on GO Transit’s plan for the downtown stop, but added, “It is a potential site. It is not firmed up at this point.” According to Bob Chapman, the city’s manager of parking and traffic, the 210 spaces required for the initial rush can be handled by pre-existing parking downtown, plus the on-the-books development of a parking structure on Wilson St. What’s unclear though is how the creation of new parking on Neeve St. will be paid for. Chapman said that discussions about cost sharing could happen as soon as this April.

Social services cash fractures city and county

The social services and housing budget at a joint city and Wellington County social services committee meeting last week failed to pass after a tie vote. The vote fell along party lines as the three county councillors and Wellington County Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj voted in favour, while Mayor Karen Farbridge and three Guelph City Councillors voted against. The committee’s budget called for Guelph to pay $1.25 million more than the $23.5 million the city approved in its Dec. 15 budget vote. “We're sitting at a 21 per cent (caseload) increase over January of last year,” County treasurer Craig Dyer said, adding the previously expected 20 per cent increase through 2009 is not enough. Despite the failed vote, the social services budget will now go to county council on February 26 where it can be reopened and approved with the county's entire budget.

Roll Call released

The city recently posted attendance numbers for councillors at all meetings in 2008. There was a three-way tie for first in attendance at 47 out of 47 council meetings; Mayor Karen Farbridge and Councillors Vicki Beard and June Hofland were counted present for every meeting of the whole council. Reversely, Ward 5 Councillor Lise Burcher has the worst attendance at 37 meetings, followed by Ward 3’s Maggie Laidlaw at 38. Interestingly, Gloria Kovach tied for third best attendance even though she spent three months in the middle of the year running for higher office. You can find all the numbers on the Mercury’s 59 Carden St. blog.

LIMITS Update

The group Land Is More Important Than Sprawl will be holding a press conference today (Thursday) at 11 am at the (maybe) future site of the Hanlon Creek Business Park. For more information, jump over to my blog, guelphpolitico.blogspot.com, or come back to next week’s Guelph Beat.

The Origin of a Protest

It may have been cold and blustery outside last Monday night, but the resolve was on fire at Fresh Start on Baker Street as the first official meeting of the Land Is More Important Than Sprawl, or LIMITS began. Over 50 people filled the small space on the first floor of the Baker Street Centre in order to discuss direction in terms of mounting an appeal to the construction of a 675-acre industrial and business park development. The long in the works Hanlon Creek Business Park has been on the books for years, but it looks to moving forward to a groundbreaking sometime this year.

The problem? That nearly a quarter of that land is home to an old growth forest, where some trees are as old as 500 years, with many more well above the age of 200. As presented in the meeting, the land, which is west of the Hanlon with Laird Road running through the centre of it, is also home to 90 species of birds, 20 species of reptiles and several mammal species including deer, coyote and fox. The focus on local wildlife had a purpose, or as one member of LIMITS observed, “It’s about respect and realizing that there are things that belong here besides us.”

Much of the main presentation was about the environmental impact on the specific area where the HCBP hopes to set up shop and the Guelph area generally. The Downey Well sits on this tract of land, a source of water that supplies Guelph with 20 per cent of what it drinks. The Hanlon Creek itself feeds into the Speed River acting as a “recharge zone,” as well as being one of the four, major tributaries to the Grand River, which serves Cambridge and the Six Nations Reserve.

The way LIMITS sees it, there are some fairly large stakes for not just Guelph, but the surrounding community, should construction of the HCBP move forward. The point of last Monday’s meeting was two fold: to gage interest in making this activist start-up a more formal entity and kicking around some ideas about how to launch the “official” protest, so to speak. And time is of the essence, members of the group feel, they believe that the melting of the snow may herald the beginning of the end for this patch of greenspace.

Several options were discussed including make appeals to Environmental Commissioner of Ontario Gord Miller and bringing the issue back to the City Council. LIMITS is also interested in exploring brownfield options, considering so much land in the inner city is already built on and simply waiting for business to make use of it. First and foremost, they want to avoid a situation where the wetlands and forests on the proposed HCBP site are drained and clear cut.

They’re concerned about a recent trend in construction called Speculative Development, where an area is cleared by the landowners as they try and sell the space and find tenants and finding tenants maybe an issue given current economic conditions. According to Statistics Canada, the number of new building permits issued nationwide declined by 12 per cent in November, the most recent month numbers have been released for. In Ontario, non-residential building permits were down by 30 per cent over the same period in 2007.

As for LIMITS’ next stage plans, they hope to keep up their momentum from Monday night with more meetings in the next couple of weeks. They’re also seeking out alliances with other environmental and pro-responsible development groups in order to make an impact on the public consciousness and get their message out before any shovels dig into the earth on the HCBP property. For full details on the city’s plans for the Hanlon Creek Business Park, you can check it out on the city’s website for this link: http://guelph.ca/uploads/business/documents/Flyer07.pdf. And to learn more about LIMITS, you visit their Facebook group or fire off an e-mail to guelphlimits@gmail.com

Budget, Input and LIMITS

Guelph’s Got Budget

Just before Christmas, in what was comparatively a quite session over last year’s ruckus council meeting, Guelph now has a budget for the 2009 fiscal year. The good news is that the tax increase is coming in at 3.7 per cent, the lowest rate increase yet in the last five years. The bad news though is that just hours prior to the meeting, the Provincial government said that Guelph would not be receiving Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding for 2009, leaving a $1.45 million shortfall. But overall, staff was pleased with the result. “Our goal with this budget is to continue to provide high quality public services and ensure good value for people’s tax dollars,” says the City’s Treasurer, Margaret Neubauer in a press release. “It’s a matter of balancing the quality of service people expect from the City, with the cost of providing those services.”

But aside from keeping up present services, including making permanent seasonal overnight parking and free two-hour parking downtown, as well as the 20 minute bus service, there are some other new additions. Money has been promised to the completion of the east-end library and an additional $25,000 will be earmarked for the Neighbourhood Support Coalition. As for new city hires, additions to staff will include a new staffer for corporate communications, a supervisor of arts and culture and the hiring of one new police officer and four full-time and one part-time staffer for the police station. The Guelph Police force had originally asked that four more officers be hired for the new year.

City Council also directed city staff to investigate the impact of the OMPF cuts, be it in the form of service cuts or looking for new revenue. At the very least, the city will be appealing the Province’s decision, but other money issues did arise. Council was given notice the Friday before that Wellington County Health and Social Services revised its funding requirements and is asking for an additional $625,000 from the City. “While Council has approved the 2009 budget, the tax rate will be set early next year after further discussion with the Province and the County. We still have some time to consider our financial alternatives,” says Neubauer.

The vote passed unanimously and in a relatively reasonable amount of time for a budget meeting. Last year, the vote was disrupted by protestors that heckled council throughout the meeting before a fire alarm was pulled just prior to the taking of the vote.

Council wants your input

The City is inviting input from residents and delegations on the Development Charges Act, which is the proposed new development charges by-law. The background study and proposed by-law will be available for viewing on the City of Guelph’s website on January 12th while the meeting itself will take place in the Main Council Chamber on January 26th at 7 pm. To register as a delegation and speak to Council at this meeting contact Joyce Sweeney, Council Committee Co-ordinator at 519-822-1260 x 2440 or joyce.sweeney@guelph.ca or Dolores Black Assistant Council Committee Co-ordinator at 519-822-1260 x 2269 or dolores.black@guelph.ca by Wednesday January 21st.

New Group looking to set LIMITS

Speaking of development, a new group called Land Is More Important Than Sprawl (LIMITS) is getting a jump on the new year to organize against the planned creation of the Hanlon Creek Business Park in the south end. Saying that the City of Guelph is looking to start development of the 675-acre site this spring, LIMITS is looking to light a fire under current or potential city activists to take up the cause. They’re holding a meeting on Monday January 12th at 7 pm at Fresh Start, 40 Baker Street downtown. “Currently we are only a few people, and we would love to diversify and be part of a strong community opposition to such reckless development,” said an e-mail. If your interested in joining up, helping out, or otherwise learning more about LIMITS and its cause, e-mail guelphlimits@gmail.com.