It was plan-ageddon at city council this week with three meetings that each dealt with planning matters. From the latest Official Plan amendment to the public meeting for the new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw and the regular slate of planning applications, those of us that follow council business closely are planned out from the week’s activities.
Out in the city though I sense a stirring anger. There’s a growing friction between those that think the city is planning too much and those that think there’s no real planning at all. It’s also a friction between the pressures on the city to manage growth, and those that don’t really want it to grow.
And then I thought, “I heard, as it were the noise of thunder…” Maybe this is plan-ageddon, and the lamb has started to open the four seals as it were in Revelation 6:1-8.
Come and see.
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
There’s a message inherent in a lot of the discourse around growth that city policies are turning Guelph into another Mississauga or Brampton, but while there’s a seed of truth in that concern about the real cost of growth unchecked, it ignores another fundamental truth: Cities grow from the inside too.
One letter in the agenda package hit a chord with me. It noted the difficulty for a growing family to find new, more fitting accommodations on a budget, and that’s in the rental market. This person has more or less cast off any notion of buying a house in Guelph, but the act of finding a bigger rental home brings with it the same long-shot odds and price wars as buying a house in the city. Why bother?
Plus, and if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, not everyone moving to Guelph is looking to find the cheapest detached home with a yard closest to Toronto, and not everyone buying a house is looking to flip it or make it a rental investment opportunity. Many of the people, if not most of them, are coming to Guelph because they want to make themselves a part of the city’s social fabric.
“And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another…”
Well, maybe not kill one another, but burning students in rhetorical effigy? Definitely.
Student bashing was back in vogue at this week’s meeting, and while I admit that the sheer size and scope of the proposed student residence at the site of the old (current) Days Inn is intimidating, revisiting the reliable trope of university students as untamed, sociopathic, green-skinned Gremlins is just sad and disappointing.
Here’s the thing, we don’t want all the students in one place, and we don’t want students spread out across town either. We don’t want them because we dislike students, but the U of G is one of Guelph’s largest employers and worth billions in economic investment for the greater city of Guelph.
Those students you dislike also eat at Guelph restaurants, shop at Guelph stores, and often staff our service industry businesses to help pay for school. If you treat a massive population of 30,000 people like a blight, that’s how they’re going to act. And regardless of how you feel about one development, we have to understand that students are a real and active part of our community, but I doubt we ever will.
“And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.”
At the Official Plan meeting, a majority of council agreed to amend the new OP to make any future development at the Armtec site on George Street medium density instead of the high density designation filed on the site nearly 20 years ago.
Again, council sent a message to the community that there’s only two places in town you can build high, and that’s the Metalworks site, and anywhere south of Stone Road. That wasn’t the intention of the motion but that’s its consequence.
Let’s be clear: Go to anywhere in Guelph that is mostly two-storey residential and propose anything bigger, you’re going to have a bad time, but for some reason we ignore those voices if they live south of Stone, and we put them up on a pedestal if they live north of the river. It’s why those south end voices were so angry this week, and it’s why they need more representation on council.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Hopefully not, but we are desperately entering a crunch time, and there’s no greater proof of that the zoning bylaw debate Wednesday night when at least half of council enunciated their belief that there should be as much room for parking and cars as humanly possible.
Here’s the thing, you can’t be a green city with a laissez-faire parking policy. You can’t have green boulevards with all the room for parking that one could ask for.
Yes, there are driveways in older parts of Guelph big enough to accommodate four cars, and they do, but all that proves is what we already know: You build more space for parking, you’re going to get more cars needing parking. The more roads you build, the more traffic you create, so if you think making room for more parking will result in less street traffic, you’re wrong.
So what are we left with? The hot sun beating down on concrete covered neighbourhoods where all that lovely greenspace has been eliminated in the name of metal beasts filling the air with gases that are only exacerbating the climate crisis and nobody thinks they’re part of the problem.
Sounds like Hell to me.
