A key city advisory committee will not be asked for its advice on an important city heritage plan heading to council next month, much to the dismay of the councillor who moved its deferral for that exact purpose.
Heritage Guelph has not offered opinion on the latest version of a proposed cultural heritage action plan (CHAP) – a series of recommendations to council aimed at protecting the city’s heritage features for future generations.
The advisory committee had reviewed an earlier draft of the report last year and raised several concerns. The report heading to council is a final report.
Consideration of the plan went to council’s planning meeting last month but it was deferred to an unspecified future meeting.
In moving the deferral, Coun. Leanne Caron stated she wanted the report to go to Heritage Guelph for input and that the plan “causes me some concern” without endorsement from the advisory committee.
“I will send it back again,” Caron said when contacted by GuelphToday this week. “I specifically asked for it to be reviewed by Heritage Guelph for a reason.”
That reason, she explained, is two-fold: First, Heritage Guelph is an advisory committee made up of heritage industry professionals whose input on the plan she values; Second, when the committee reviewed a draft plan released last year, it identified a number of errors and concerns.
Among those errors, Caron noted, is the report stated Guelph was built along the banks of the Grand River. In fact, Guelph is located on the Speed and Eramosa rivers, which combine within the city and join the Grand River beyond city limits.
“I would like to know that the members of Heritage Guelph have endorsed the report, in which case I’m more likely to support all of the recommendations within it,” Caron said of the latest draft, dubbed the “final” plan in the staff report to council. “The draft report from a year ago, as I understand it, is different than the final report. … A year ago, they had serious concerns with the report.”
The CHAP was put on Heritage Guelph’s Oct. 26 meeting agenda “for information” and was not discussed, nor was a recommendation to council approved in support or opposition of the plan. The issue is not included on the agenda for Heritage Guelph’s upcoming meeting on Nov. 9.
Asked whether the advisory committee would be approached for comment ahead of council consideration, Melissa Aldunate, the city’s manager of policy planning and urban design planning, said it would not.
“They will not be discussing it further,” she said in an email, stating the committee was provided an opportunity to comment on the previous draft and those comments were taken into consideration when the latest version of the plan was crafted.
“Their terms of reference was fulfilled with the provision of comments on the CHAP.”
Under the committee’s terms of reference, the mandate of Heritage Guelph is to provide council with “advice on the conservation of cultural heritage resources within the city of Guelph, including identification, designation and listing of such properties.”
“They are our ADVISORY committee,” Caron said, stressing the importance of advisory. “Do you need me to yell so you can quote me (in all caps)?
“I would like to receive their advice.”
Caron's October motion didn't speficially call for Heritage Guelph to be consulted on the latest version of the plan, though she said so outright when explaining her reasons for the motion.
Heritage Guelph chair P. Brian Skerrett confirmed his group has not been provided an opportunity to comment on the most recent version of the CHAP. Minutes for its Oct. 26 meeting have not been approved and are not posted publicly.
Because the committee has not addressed the plan in its current form, he offered only personal comments on the situation.
“I’m disappointed. I think that it’s well within our terms of reference to respond to council – that’s part of our job,” he said of reviewing the latest version. “We didn’t see that version of the CHAP until it was posted for city council prior to that council meeting and we’ve had no opportunity to discuss the final draft version.”
When Heritage Guelph commented on the draft plan last year, they provided “very granular detail” in an effort to help city staff “in making a very robust document,” he explained.
“It appears to me that not all of that feedback was taken into account,” Skerrett added of the current version of the plan.
Heritage Guelph did not pass a recommendation to council on that draft plan.
Skerrett, who is considering registering as a citizen delegation when the issue returns to council, won’t speculate on whether Heritage Guelph would approve the CHAP as-is but said he personally doesn’t support it.
