City of Waterloo Council summary (15)
The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at the January 13, 2020 council meeting. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.
Integrated Planning and Public Works (IPPW) business plan presentation
The management team from the city’s IPPW department presented their business plan to council and fielded questions. IPPW includes Engineering Services, Building Standards, Planning, Transportation Services and City Utilities. The presentation will be posted on the city’s website soon and the business plan is available now.
City utilities - 2020 rates
Council has approved the 2020 City Utilities’ rates, which will see an overall increase of 3.9 per cent (or $41.87) for the average household of which the city’s share is 2.5 per cent (or $27) and the Region’s share is 1.4 per cent (or $14.87). City Utilities rates pay for the costs associated with providing drinking water, collecting and treating sanitary wastewater, and responsibly managing stormwater (including water quality control and flood control). Through these services, all residents and businesses within Waterloo can rely on receiving a reliable supply of drinking water, sanitary sewer collection, protection of our source water, and a reduced risk from weather-related incidents like flooding. An important addition starting in 2020 is the citywide implementation of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system. An AMI system provides access to real time water consumption data through real time water reads on an hourly basis. A complete AMI system includes radio transmitters that are attached to the customers’ home or building (wired to the remote reading device), the (radio) network platform, the database hosting (server) environment, and lastly the customer website portal/interface. The transmitters relay water consumption data (water reads) through a wireless communication platform and are ultimately received by the water utility’s database environment. AMI meter installations will begin in the spring of this year and are projected to be completed by the fall of 2023.
Beechwood West #1 - special service/area levy
Following a vote by residents in the Beechwood West #1 neighbourhood, Council has approved a special service/area levy. The vote of a potential special service/ area levy saw 87 per cent voter turnout with 89 per cent of ballots cast in support of the implementation of a special service/area levy. The new special service/area levy will enable the continued use and enjoyment of their recreation facilities and programs.
Informal public meeting
Zone change application Z-19-07 and Official Plan amendment No. 28, Masri O Architects
The applicant is proposing to construct a five storey apartment building containing 32 units (32 bedrooms) on the interior of the property. The existing 78 townhouses, amenity building, and children’s playground will remain. To facilitate the development, the applicant is proposing to amend the city’s Official Plan to permit an increase in building height from 12 metres to 16 metres. The applicant is also proposing to amend Zoning By-law No. 2018-050 by re-zoning the lands from Residential Eight (R8) to Residential Nine (R9) with site specific provisions relating to building height, visitor parking and loading space requirements, building entrance location, interior lot line requirements, and driveway width.
During an informal public hearing, Council is receiving information about the planning review and proposed amendments for information, and they ask questions for clarification. No decisions or opinions of Council are shared at this stage.
Media contact:
Tony Iavarone
Director, Corporate Communications 519-747-8513
tony.iavarone@waterloo.ca