Ward 2: Always Stable, But Ready for Change

Welcome back to part two of my six part series, “Better Know a Ward.” This week: Ward 2 – St. George’s. Located in the northeast corner of the city, Ward 2 pretty much covers everything east of Woolwich and north of Eramosa and Eastview Roads. Amongst its attractions are Riverside Park and Goldie Mill, the oldest saw mill in the city established the same year as Guelph: 1827.

Vicki Beard and Ian Findlay, both elected in 2006, are the councillors responsible for speaking for the residents of Ward 2, which boasts the highest number of long time residents, including seniors and young families, and is home to a lot of Guelph’s post-war development. On the cutting edge of innovation as well, Ward 2 also has the world’s first “Pollination Park,” which lies atop the old Eastview landfill and is a research project commissioned by the University of Guelph for which Beard is an excited and passionate advocate for.

“It’s probably the most established ward in the city in that there’s not a lot of new development,” says Findlay when I meet up with him and Beard at the Cornerstone, downtown. “There are not a lot of infill opportunities either; it’s pretty much built up. There’s a little bit happening on Woodlawn and Victoria, but I would certainly suggest it’s the most stable.”

Stable, except for the fact that Ward 2 is “ground zero” as Findlay describes, for the city’s termite problems, although their number have gone down in the last few years. A repurposed and dedicated city department has been exceptionally helpful in tackling the problem, explains Findlay. “One of the first things we did when we got on council was retain Dr. Tim Myles from the University of Toronto. He’s one of the pre-eminent termite experts in all of Canada.”

Another change that Ward 2 residents have been positive about is the expansion of service on Guelph Transit and the new “Downtown on the 20” schedule. Beard and Findlay say that they’ve heard from poeple a desire to do more for the environment and conservation on a local level, and giving more support and money to buses was a good, first step. “We’re not done fixing transit, but this was a big step, a huge commitment on the part of the city but we’re not suggesting that all the problems are solved yet,” says Findlay. “And we need a strategic transit plan and that’s coming up in the next little while,” added Beard.”

Less pleased, were Ward 2 residents, about their councillors’ votes over the recent proposed expansion of the Wal-Mart at Woolwich and Woodlawn. A vote that both Beard and Findlay say has been mischaracterized. “I did not vote ‘No’ on the Wal-Mart expansion,” says Beard emphatically. She was in favour of the expansion as presented in a city staff report, which called for numerous environmental and energy friendly benchmarks, but what she ended up voting against was the 6&7 Developers plan as presented to council at the July 7 meeting which didn’t include any of those things. “Their answers did not match that report,” she adds.

“A final decision has not been made, I think we need to make that clear,” continues Findlay. “The motion was to approve [the proposal] as was, and that was defeated. We still need to give formal direction to city staff, but this will be coming back to council for further consideration.”

“We represent people in our ward that want that expansion, we see it as a non-issue – it’s going to happen, we want it to happen,” says Beard, who adds that other developers in Guelph have gone out of their way to meet the city’s commitment to sustainability and environmentally friendly alternatives. “We have to get this straight,” adds Beard, “It’s not the developer; it’s how we want the development to happen.”

The vote certainly got people talking which was good news for Ward 2’s biggest act of transparency: the Ward 2 blog maintained by Findlay and contributed to by both councillors. Findlay says the blog serves multiple purposes: not only can he and Beard talk directly to their constituents, and they respond back, but serves as a paper trail, so to speak, in highlighting residents concerns before the council. Plus the blog has a pretty liberal open door policy. “Any letter that comes in, providing that they’re not too personal, I will post,” says Findlay. “Critical: absolutely. But if they start identifying people and getting derogatory then they don’t get posted. I don’t filter it in any other way.”

To keep up-to-date with the goings on in Ward 2, you can visit the blog at http://ward2guelph.wordpress.com/

Dion Comes to Town and Wal-Mart Fight Flares

Dion sees Green Opportunity in Guelph

We will be taxed less on what we earn and more on what we burn. This was, in short, the message at the heart of Stéphane Dion’s new Green Shift, a plan both bold and controversial, as presented during the Liberal leader’s visit to Guelph last Thursday.

In many ways it was a visit long overdue; Dion is the last of the Federal Party leaders to make the trip to the Royal City in anticipation for the coming by-election this Fall. Guelph’s Liberal candidate, Frank Valeriote, and his team hosted Dion and a couple of hundred Guelphites to a town hall meeting at the Italian-Canadian Club on Ferguson Street.

Although the party faithful were heavily in attendance for their leader’s visit, one of several stops for Dion through Southwestern Ontario, the meeting was open to the public and it appeared the public took full advantage. Volunteers kept bringing out more seats into the main banquet hall and when that wasn’t enough, they opened the divider in the middle of the room. Although the riding is Valeriote’s, this was Dion’s day in the spotlight as he continues pushing his radical new environmental agenda.

The Green Shift is either Dion’s carbon tax plan or his “Tax Everything” plan depending on who you ask. The Liberal leader though sees it as the key platform that will return his party to the head of the country with the help of an electorate hungry for a substantive dedication to fighting climate change. Basically, the plan calls for a per tonne tax on pollution generated and returns money to the pockets of taxpayers in the form of income tax cuts and other credits.

Dion dedicated an hour to taking questions from the audience, mostly they were about the Green Shift, but others touched on subjects like intergovernmental affairs and education. He reiterated his feeling that the Green Shift will breed an environment (pun intended) for research and development and will promote, not an end to the Canadian economy, but a shift to a Green economy.

At a media scrum following the town hall, Dion reiterated his excitement for the Green Shift and his belief that that it will be an easy sell to Canadians looking for change in the environment. “We have seen how much its going well,” said Dion when asked about the difficulty of selling his plan. “I am very impressed by the fact Canadians want to do the right thing and there is a way to tackle climate change, have a stronger economy and a fairer society.”

Dion went on to say that he looks forward to seeing a by-election in Guelph fought over environmental policy in spite of the fact that Guelph has a strong Green Party candidate in Mike Nagy. Meanwhile, Valeriote said that he looks forward to testing this new policy on the campaign trail. “It may well be a test for the Green Shift plan, but I can tell you a lot of non-Liberals that I know have come to me and expressed their gratitude that something so bold and something so innovative has been undertaken by this party because something must be done about global warming.”

Council Strikes Back at the Empire

In what had to be one of the biggest forgone conclusions in municipal politics, Guelph City Council rejected 6&7 Developments’ proposed plan for expansion of Wal-Mart and new commercial development at the corner of Woolwich and Woodlawn. By a vote of nine to four, only Christine Billings, Gloria Kovach, Karl Wettstein and Mayor Karen Farbridge voted in favour of the plan which called for an expansion of Wal-Mart by 65,000 square feet and the addition of another 135,000 square feet of other stores.

Although the debate was more muted this time around, strong words are still being spoken by both sides in reaction to last Monday’s vote. On the Ward 2 blog I found both words of derision and words of support.

For the former, one citizen had to say that, “This council is very much a ‘lobby-oriented’ group, listening, not to the “silent majority” of us, but to the vocal anti-development minority lobby which has held sway over this city for so long!”

Anonther area resident wrote in asking “What will happen to Community Commercial Plazas such as Speedvale and Stevenson, which has served the community well since the 1950s? There are many seniors living in this area including my parents who can walk, take a cab or a small drive to get their necessities. 6 and 7 will have a negative impact on small community centers like this.”

Lafarge Plan Approved, Wal-Mart Wants to Expand

Council Takes Charge of Lafarge

The development debate has geared back up in the last couple of weeks, with breaking news in terms of the planning for a couple of controversial sites.

At a council meeting on June 3, a plan endorsing the large scale commercial development of the Lafarge lands in the city’s west end was unanimously rejected in a 10-0-1 vote. The triangular shaped land is currently an open green field bordered by the Hanlon Expressway and two sets of CN Railway tracks that run parallel to Paisley Rd. and Waterloo St., respectively. The land is owned by the Lafarge company, which formally had a plant on the property until it closed in the 90s.

Plans for the Lafarge lands have been the biggest development controversy in the Royal City since the fight to stop the construction of Wal-Mart at the corner of Woodlawn and Woolwich. Many residents in the area of the Lafarge site, most of whom are part of a group called the Howitt Park Neighbourhood Residents' Association (HPNRA), have been fighting against the proposed commercial development on the land out of worry of the drastic effect such a facility would have on the neighbourhood.

Ward 3 Councillor Maggie Laidlaw has been one of the strongest voices in City Hall for the con side of the commercial development. “From beginning to end, several delegates have said (big box stores are) unanimously opposed by the neighbourhood, yet big boxes are still in the proposal,” said Laidlaw. “So much for neighbourhood input. This was mere lip service by the developer in my opinion.”

But the game was not over however. Silvercreek Guelph Developments Ltd, the developers behind the push to rezone the Lafarge site, pre-emptively took the case to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), who has the ability overturn council’s decision. A pre-hearing was set for late last week, but details were unavailable before deadline. Steve Zakem, a representative for Silvercreek said that no matter the decision, his group is still prepared to work with the city, but HPNRA appears intractable saying that any reworking of the site is like “fiddling around with the application and is like putting lipstick on a pig,” according to Susan Watson, an area resident.

While a few of the councillors weren’t opposed to development of the site per se, the vote came down to a matter of logistical problems with the proposed plan. Chief among those was access to any commercial shopping centre on the land that would that would draw more traffic to already congested arteries on Paisley and Waterloo. As well there’s some question as to who would be responsible for the construction of an underpass where the CN tracks divide Silvercreek Pkwy, north and south.

Expanded Service for the Smile?

Mark your calendars for July 7, because that’s when a development oldie but goldie comes back to council: Wal-Mart, who this time is looking for approval to expand.

Scott Hannah, the city's manager of development and parks planning, says look for planner’s recommendations to be released prior to that meeting, but basically it comes down to this: 6&7 Developers want 195,000 square feet of new space. Of that, 65,000 will go to Wal-Mart to add a grocery store while the remaining 130,000 will be up for grabs to other retailers.

The not-entirely unexpected expansion proposal was brought forward just over a year ago and was immediately met with strong opposition from Wal-Mart’s arch-nemesis Residents for Sustainable Development. “Given that this site's location is in one of the least populated areas of the city, and that the vast majority of residential growth is to the west, east and south, allowing more commercial development on this site now would only delay or even stop commercial development in areas where shopping and services are more needed,” wrote anti-Wal-Mart crusader Ben Bennett in a letter to the city’s planning department last summer.