While the meeting method remains unusual, Guelph City Council will be focusing on its more regular business Monday’s council meeting.
The open portion of the virtual meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. The public can watch the meeting online at https://guelph.ca/news/live/.
The full agenda can be found here.
A key item on that agenda is the Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan – Open Space System Strategy 2020-56, which sets out the plans for parks, trails and open space as the city expands south between Clair Road and Maltby Road over the next several years.
There are 11 people registered to delegate on this matter, the majority of them focused on the issue of a 24-acre community park planned for the area that has been a bone of contention since city planning staff first revealed its plans.
That large community park was recommended by staff to be situated on what is commonly known as the Marcolongo Farm, immediately south of Springfield Golf and Country Club, which is likely slated for future residential development.
But at a Committee of the While meeting at the beginning of March council voted 7-4 to move the community park’s preferred location onto the Springfield property.
That decision is what comes before council Monday for final discussion, debate and decision on Monday.
Proponents of the new location argue that it is the more suitable location on several levels.
The previous park location also compromised a deal in place that would see 35 acres of the Marcolongo property, which is owned by the family’s Foundation for the Support of International Medical Training Inc., sold to Toronto-based developer Options for Homes, who build high-end condominiums.
The nonprofit Options For Homes, a “mission-driven social enterprise,” provides an interest-free loan to boost the buyer’s down payment as they seek a conventional mortgage. They plan to build up to 800 homes on the property.
The Marcolongo family is also offering to dedicate another seven acres of the property toward social housing.
The owner of the Springfield Golf and Country Club property, a numbered company, is opposed to the park being moved to its property and questions whether a community park of that size is needed at all.
“1077955 Ontario Inc. continues to question the need for this Community Park within the Clair-Maltby Secondary Plan area and does not believe clear evidence of that need has been provided by staff to date,” writes company representative Tony Bragna.
The community park is just one element of the open space system coming to council Monday. It also includes eight one-hectare neighbourhood parks, a linear system known as the moraine ribbon, which will be over 20 hectares in size and additional local trails.
A staff report notes that “all components of the Open Space System will have to be acquired by the city” and the estimated cost and acquisition options will inform and be further investigated” before council makes decisions on the overall Clair-Maltby Strategic Plan, of which the open space plan is one component.
Also on Monday’s agenda, council will be voting on recommendations from staff regarding 2019 budget surpluses.
On the operating side, the city had a tax-supported operating surplus of $5,478,013 at the end of 2019. Staff recommends that money be mostly placed in a variety of city reserve funds, ranging from the Tax Rate Operating Contingency Reserve ($3,696,763) to the Police Operating Contingency Reserve ($12,547).
