59 Carden St.

Two years of background

Posted by Magda
On new year's eve-day, finding anyone from the province or the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to comment on the city-county tiff over the provincial funding is surprisingly difficult. So far the only person I've gotten on the phone is the media liaison at AMO, who picked up even though he's not officially working today.

He's directed me to a mountain of information regarding the provincial social service upload, available here -- background on the two-year's worth of negotiations. What I'm trying to find out is what was said in the negotiations about a specific provision that would have ensured money went to municipalities it was destined for -- which might have prevented the Guelph-Wellington disagreement. MPP Liz Sandals said the province wanted such a provision, but AMO wouldn't agree to it, and I'm trying to figure out why. I'm not sure I'll find that out today, but hopefully we'll get answers eventually.

Mid-November

Posted by Magda
I finally got through to MPP Liz Sandals, who's been stranded without power at her cottage for some time. She says the city knew it wouldn't get the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund cash in mid-November, when the province released preliminary calculations. At the time, it seemed the cutting of the fund and the uploading of the Ontario Drug Benefit and Ontario Disability Support Program would shake out to leave the city $350,000 on top. When final numbers were released on city budget day, Dec. 15, they put the city on top by $550,000.

She says the province isn't likely to budge on that money, but hopes the city's concerns will be addressed by sitting down with the county and talking things over. The issue, she says, is that the county isn't showing its social services books to the city, so the city can't be confident the benefit of the provincial upload is flowing through to them.

Interestingly, she added that the province wanted the upload agreement to contain specific provisions to make sure money got flowed properly between municipalities, but the Association of Municipalities of Ontario was opposed to that.

I'm working on a story about this for tomorrow. Read all about it.

Taxpayers could face $40 hike, Guelph Mercury, Dec. 27
Strained relations continue, Guelph Mercury, Dec. 17

Legion update

Posted by Magda
The update is... that there's no update. The folks at the legion are still waiting to see whether the conditions on the sale of part of their property to Otis Elevator Company for $2.9 million goes through. The legion has been trying to downsize for years -- so long, in fact, that one of my coworkers asked today whether we'd be writing this story for the rest of all time. The answer is, if the conditions are satisfied we won't. It'll likely be mid-February before the legion knows what's up, though. Stay tuned.

• Legion to sell part of property, Guelph Mercury, Oct. 6
  

(Photo courtesy of Steve Russell, Toronto Star)

Where to curl

Posted by Magda
The curling club is still considering options for its property, once on the edge of town and now near a bustling commercial area. Here's the update from the curling club newsletter: 

"The Building Committee has also been active through the fall continuing discussions with various developers, other clubs and the City of Guelph. The committee continues to gather information on the potential cost of building a new facility and the possible revenue that could be obtained from the sale of our current property. The objective remains developing and implementing a plan that will secure the future of curling in Guelph for many years to come."

The club opposed, and then finally settled with, 6&7 Developments over its expansion on the WalMart site. The club wanted to make sure 6&7 doesn't use up the entire allotment for commercial space in the north end, leaving the door open for shopping on the curling club property.

Curling club property inefficient, Sept. 15
Curling out their differences, Sept. 12
Curling club closing?, July 8

Making the news

Posted by Magda
As reporters, we generally try to stay away from making the news. But yesterday, Councillor Bob Bell put me in the middle of it.

We were talking about what might happen with the city's tax rate in light of the cut in provincial funding and an increased ask for social services funding.

If no more money resurfaces, Bell would like to reopen the budget and remove some of the new services to keep the tax rate low. But what actually happens depends on the newspapers, he said.

Huh?

"If people understood the budget discussions were using funny numbers and at the last minute they're slipped an extra 1.5% (tax increase), I think people would be pretty annoyed," he said, adding that people's knowledge of the issue depends on how much coverage it gets in the papers. (When he refers to "funny numbers," by the way, he is talking about the fact council passed the budget without including the provincial funding cut and request for extra cash from social services.)

Tentative Lafarge deal reached

Posted by Magda
A tentative agreement has been reached between the Howitt Park Neighbourhood Group and the developer of the former Lafarge property near the Hanlon and Paisley. The details of the agreement are under wraps. The neighbourhood group will take it to their membership roughly two weeks from now. If it's approved, that would remove one voice of opposition to the large commercial development planned for those lands. The city and Armel Corp. have also registered their opposition, so the whole thing could still go to the Ontario Municipal Board even if the neighbourhood group approves the deal.

The OMB hearing, scheduled to start Jan. 12, has been pushed back to allow Howitt Park to reach a verdict on the deal.

Watch this space, and the paper, in coming days for updates.

Update, Dec. 30: I just spoke with Ron Foley, president of the neighbourhood group. He stressed that the settlement is a tentative one, the details of which are still being worked on by the group's executive. They're taking it to a membership vote Jan. 11.

Looking into it

Posted by Magda
On budget night, we heard that the province had given the city notice that day that they were cutting $1.45 million in funding the city had grown accustomed to. The Tribune, though, has reported that the city knew in November that the funding would be cut.

Heftier tax hike in offing, Dec. 19, Guelph Tribune

In November, Sandals said, Guelph was notified that it would not be getting OMPF funding, because the benefit it would get from uploading in 2009 would exceed $1.45 million. On Monday, the province again contacted city hall to update the data, she said. The new data showed Guelph- Wellington benefitting to the tune of $2.69 million in 2009 from uploading of the Ontario Disability Support Payments program and the Ontario Drug Benefits program. The province attributed $2 million of this benefit to Guelph, which pays most of the costs of Guelph-Wellington social services.

I'm looking today into who knew what and when. Stay tuned.

Heritage recommendation

posted by Nicole

Ward 5 blog is reporting that the Conservation Review Board is recommending heritage designation go forward on the 47-49 Alice Street property.

The CRB conclusion is:

“Based on the evidence heard, it is the recommendation of the Conservation Review Board that the property know municipally as 47 Alice Street and described at Lot 40 and Part Lot 39, Plan 244 in the City of Guelph be protected under s.29 of the Ontario Heritage Act R.S.O., Chapter 018 as amended 2006.”

The property owner has opposed the designation, because he was not made aware when he bought the property in 2004.

Final decision rests with city council, and will come forward in the new year.

Read the full decision here

Lowes, Rona, Home Depot?

posted by Nicole

It seems the large industrial warehouse in the city's south end is most likely for a home improvement company.

At council last night, representatives for Industrial Equities Guelph Corp. answered questions about the planned Southgate Industrial Business Park — council eventually approved its official plan amendment, zoning and draft plan.

The warehouse, whose owner has been kept under wraps, has the same developer and sits right next to the business park lands off of Crawley Road.

During the conversation with council a company representative, Leslie Marlowe, spoke about its successful track record in bringing business to Guelph.

And if all goes to plan "a large Canadian home improvement warehouse in Jan. 2009," he said.

When contacted for clarity, company president Mark Cowie said he could not comment because of a confidentiality agreement until early in the new year.

Mayor declares potential conflict of interest

posted by Nicole

Mayor Karen Farbridge started council tonight declaring a possible perceived pecuniary interest, after learning recently that her brother's consulting firm, Smith and Andersen, was retained by Urbacon on Nov. 6 to review the mechanical and electrical installations on the new city hall building.

Though siblings are not technically listed as a conflict in the municipal act, Farbridge said she will declare conflict on any future discussions about ongoing Urbacon-city litigation.