South End Community Centre construction approved

Thank you. Okay, everybody, I'll call the meeting to order for our City Council meeting. Again, it's March the 28th, Tuesday, 2023 to 10 o'clock and we'll get right into our agenda here. But to start things off, I'd like to ask everyone to please stand if you're able and to join with our national anthem.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you and as we continue, just a moment of silent reflection.

Great, thank you and our territorial acknowledgement. As we gather, we're reminded that Guelph is situated on a treaty land that is steeped in rich Indigenous history and home to many First Nations, Inuit and Métis people today. As a city, we have a responsibility for the stewardship of the land in which we both live and work. Today, we acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation of the Anishabek peoples on whose traditional territory we are meeting. Is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the items in front of us on the agenda? I don't hear or see any, so I will continue. you I do need confirmation of the minutes held November 12th and 13th 2022 February 7th 8th 14th 15th 22nd 28 20 23 and the committee of the whole held February 7th 2023 who would be willing to move those minutes for me okay counselor Kwasan is moving it seconded by counselor Alts anything those minutes hearing and seeing none so i'll call the vote on that is anyone against the minutes

again i don't hear or see any so that is considered closed and unanimous we're at the consent report so what i'm going to do is i'm just going to go through them all and see if there's anybody that needs anything pulled okay the 2023 property tax policy the revenue budgeting policy transit advisory committee the terms of reference one canopy tree planting strategy the implementation strategy the south end community center want that pulled just a comment okay Internal audit work plan 2023 to 2025. And the COVID-19 general vaccine expenses grant for the paramedic services. Okay. How about, would you mind moving all of the consent for me, Councillor O'Rourke? Thank you. Seconder Richardson will second.

And then why don't you give us a comment on the South End Rec Centre? And which I don't know why you would do that, but anyways, no, it's good. And then we can look to move the consent. Go ahead. Thank you, Mayor Gretzger. I just wanted to flag for folks that under the very boring title of implementation strategy report, South End Community Centre is really a historic move forward. I want to thank staff and all the previous councils and the community members who've been advocating for this really important recreational facility in the South End. So I'm thrilled that we're passing that today. huge leap forward it's 117 million dollar facility that's going to serve the needs of the community now and into the future so thank you we can't wait to see everybody at the groundbreaking this fall 2023 fingers crossed and so just wanted to highlight that that's on the consent agenda perfect i'm sure it's a ditto from everybody so thank you or anything further on the consent no okay i'll call the vote then is anyone against all of the consent yeah i don't hear or see anyone so i consider that matter closed and unanimous thank you we have only one item for discussion because we have a delegation that's come to us today

on the business licensing short-term rental accommodations morgan dandy is here and so i'd like to invite you up Morgan and you have up to five minutes you've been here before so I'll start my clock whenever you start and we'll go from there thank you mayor councillors I'm here today to support the staff recommendation that council direct them to create a new schedule under the city's business licensing bylaw 2009-18-885 to regulate the licensing of short-term rental accommodations before council today. Online short-term rental platforms have afforded homeowners an opportunity to make extra money by hosting guests for short stays in their home and has been a disruptor in our hospitality industry since 2009 when Airbnb launched in Canada. I'm grateful Guelph is set to regulate this business

model which is dependent upon the commodification of our homes. The fact there is a housing crisis in Ontario has been predominant in the news including here in Guelph and even in this chamber as is evidenced by the mayor's poverty tax force. The 2001 census data shows Guelph has a population of almost 144,000. The 2001 point in time by name list has approximately 250 of those Guelphites identified as experiencing homelessness on October 20th, 2021, including 40 individuals under the age 25, with half of those being minors under 16. On February 16, 2023, Guelph Today reported that our city is the ninth most expensive city in all of Canada to rent a one-bedroom apartment. And the staff report identified 169 unique short-term rental accommodation listings in Guelph on various online platforms.

Given this information, I was aghast when I heard Councillor Gibson seem to state that people who have commodified housing as their retirement planning tool would potentially suffer monetary loss if they couldn't have three or four or even five short-term rental properties in the city. I find it incomprehensible that any elected official would seemingly ignore the major housing crisis where people are living in tents, in the bush, in sub-zero temperatures, to advocate for retirement plans. Especially since there is no restriction on how many long-term rental properties any one individual can have. After hearing that Councillor Gibson might entertain putting forward an amendment to increase the number of dedicated short-term rentals permitted under each license, I did some research on similar licensing bylaws in Ontario. A quick Google search afforded me multiple municipalities of which I reviewed 14. I chose some that I know are comparators for Guelph as well as some of my favourite cottage country areas. every municipality I reviewed had a restriction on the number of short-term

rentals permitted per license every municipality had the requirement that the licensee must have their primary residence as the licensed property many municipalities are limited to primary residence only some allow a second property some require the online platform to be licensed some have a demerit system. A few have a limited number of days per year and a couple have a $5 million insurance requirement. Attachment 5 in the report lists the comparator municipalities and was available to councillors as well as the public in advance of committee of the whole, which leaves me unsure why any councillor would postulate more than one additional property per licensee. While I was confused by the somewhat different answers provided to Councillor Gawler and Mayor Guthrie when they each asked essentially the same question, I believe I have it correct that in the proposed schedule to be added to the City's business licensing bylaw, an individual licensee must have their primary residence as the location for a short-term rental, be it a room in their home, a basement unit, or an accessory dwelling. and there's an opportunity for a second property that is a dedicated short-term rental accommodation.

As a few councillors have stated, I believe the proposed schedule strikes an appropriate balance for our residents seeking long-term homes and for visitors wanting to stay in our beautiful city. Today, I look forward to a unanimous vote of council on this Made in Guelph bylaw to bring us in line with other municipalities regarding short-term rental accommodation. Thank you. Great, thanks for your time. Councillor Ault, please. Thank you, Mayor Guthrie. It's more of a point of privilege, I suppose. I believe that Councillor Gibson is not here today, and Ms. Sandy, I apologize for that, too. I'm just a question for you, you're not implying that Councillor Gibson could not have an alternative point of view although I would not support an amendment of the type that you suggested he would propose because he's not here I think it is incumbent that we recognize that all points of view are important at Council and that they're important for democracy and especially municipal democracy to thrive and if you want to comment on that I'm fine but I think because

he's not here we do need to provide some some balance to the comments and well you're to Councillor Alt sorry no no that's okay it's okay um just because you mentioned like a point of privilege uh I I have to respond as the chair to that form so I'm going to say that um there's no need to respond uh it's okay there I don't find it a point of personal privilege at all um just as Councillor Gibson has the right to say something or as any of us do so does our delegate as well and in a counterpoint to any of our opinions at all. I did not find it disrespectful in any way that the delegate came forward. It was just a different viewpoint. Just as you pointed out, they're all welcome here. So is there any questions at all, though, for the delegate? Okay, I don't hear or see any. So thank you very much for coming. Councillor Downer, please. So first, Mr. Mayor, I'd be happy to move this. And then I just have two questions that have come up in the last month since we did this.

So one was around enforcement. How are we going to, I mean, particularly since the fire in Montreal which was previously mentioned, how are we going to enforce this and ensure that the ones that are in Guelph are licensed? through you mary guthrie to councillor downer uh enforcement would be both uh complaint based or reactive and proactive uh we um the company that we utilize to originally determine the number of listings within guelph would be called upon to provide that information on a routine basis and then staff would compare that list to ensure those that are licensed and if not follow up through education and enforcement. That's great. Thank you. So the second question is, so I've heard a rumor that some landlords, like one of the reasons we're doing this is to also the restrictions and regulations within it are to protect our long-term rental stock. But I've heard a rumor, and I'm hearing that some landlords use the short-term rental

to get around the landlord-tenant board. So they rent by month, 30 days, and therefore it's under short-term rental, and therefore they don't need to ever, they can evict as they will, as they wish, right? So have you heard of that happening in Guelph or are you familiar with that? to mayor guthrie to counselor downer yes we've heard uh that uh utilizing a short-term rental for a long-term rental property as a means to uh circumvent some of the requirements in the landlord and tenant uh specifically uh notice um and that information uh that that discussion was brought up during our engagement process and and will do we have in our regulations will this be able to deter that activity through this to you mayor Guthrie to Councillor Downer there's always possibility for abuse but the intents of the the regulations is to limit or deter it yes okay that's great

Okay, thank you. So I'm finished with the question. Thank you. All right, is there anything further before I call the vote? All right, I'll call the vote then. Anyone against? All right, that's unanimous. Thank you so much. Moving right along, we have the bylaws, I believe. Yes. who is the lucky person who wants to move the bylaws from a counselor or work would be willing to do that thank you mayor guthrie through you i move that bylaws number 2023 20782 2023-20785 through 2023-20789 are hereby passed thank you and a secondaire for that is counselor billings Thank you. Anything on the bylaws? I don't hear anything, so I'll call the vote. Is anyone against the bylaws in front of us? I don't hear or see anything, so I consider the matter closed and unanimous. You're at your favourite part of every agenda, the Mayor's announcements, where I don't have one, but Councillor Downer has one. It's even more exciting today.

Go ahead. Great. Thank you. true to what we, this term, Leanne and I, Councilor Koran and I will still be doing town halls a couple of times a year. And we have coming one coming up on April the 5th. It is our first hybrid actually town hall. So it'll be located at Courtright Pedestratorian Church on Wednesday, April the 5th at 7 PM. That's at 55 Devere, Devere drive or I'm not sure. Devere anyway, 55 Devere. and yeah so and also it'll be zoomed as well so our guest speaker will be Tamia Feiler who is our in with our urban forest department and she'll be talking about the tree protection bylaw that we're hoping to engage the public on so please come out or join and the information about that will be up on www.ward5.ca hopefully today or tomorrow thank you Great. Thank you. And that's the number five, everybody. So Ward number five dossier. Sorry, Councillor Guller, did you say that you had something as well? I just wanted to ask how we can get that link, but the Councillor Guller. There you go. Thank you.

That's right. No other announcements have been brought to my attention. So thank you. I hope everyone can go to the town hall. And I am now looking for adjournment. Who would be willing to do that? Let's go Councillor Cate. kate as moving adjournment who wants to second beautiful councilor busentil please is is doing the second anyone against uh adjournment seeing and hearing none we're done have a great rest of the day everyone thank you so much bye-bye Thank you.