A new centre that would provide a broad range of youth and youth mental health services is being planned for Woolwich Street north.
The four-storey building would be on the home of the former McDonald’s Restaurant and an adjacent lot that was the home to a Greek restaurant for several years.
The Centre for Children's Developmental & Mental Health Services would open in the winter of 2021 if everything goes according to plan.
A total of 30 service providers would operate out of the building.
Helen Fishburn, Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Waterloo Wellington, said the building would offer mental health services on the upper three floors of the four-storey building and a broad-ranging integrated youth services network on the main floor.
Fishburn unveiled the plans publicly at Guelph City Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday. She was representing one of three non-profit or charitable organizations requesting the waiving of development charges that totalled almost $1 million.
Fishburn asked council to waive $700,000 in development charges for the project, which would be reinvested into programming and services at the location.
“We don’t have that kind of money, we’re really looking for a break,” said Fishburn.
She said negotiations for the properties in question are still ongoing, but the project, which is a private/public partnership with Vesterra Property Management, will go ahead regardless of if the CMHA gets the break from council in regard to the development charges.
The CMHA Waterloo Wellington was one of three organizations seeking breaks on development charges on Monday.
The Guelph Humane Society is looking for a $267,000 break on fees it paid in development charges for its new home in the south end.
The Guelph Black Heritage Society is seeking an $11,000 development charge to be waived for the accessibility extension it is adding to Heritage Hall on Essex Street.
The city does not currently have a process for charities and non-profits to request a break on development charges, other than coming before council with the request.
The city’s development charges bylaw does not currently allow for exemptions for not-for-profits. Any deferral has to be paid for out of taxpayer funds.
City CAO Scott Stewart said it’s a complex matter, one component being that there would be a lot of other worthy groups in the city looking to take advantage of any program that waived development charges.
“There might be a whole bunch more that say ‘I’m in as well,’” Stewart said.“A million dollars today might be five in five months from now.”
The city has paid an average of $4.5 million over the past two years for statutory and council-approved exemptions.
Mayor Cam Guthrie said council has three options: (1) do nothing, (2) find the money somewhere or (3) follow staff’s recommendation and set about looking at establishing a source of funding for such requests along with parameters and process involved in making the request.
At the end of the discussion, council voted to explore the creation of a program or framework to support the exemption of development charges for charitable and non-profit organizations.
Staff will report back and a final decision will be part of 2021 budget deliberations.
The report back to council would come after all the information regarding provincial Bill 108 is resolved, including possible changes to development charges.
