City of Waterloo council summary for Jan. 14, 2019
The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at this evening’s council meeting. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.
Cannabis retail
Council has approved an opt-in recommendation that will allow for the retail sales of cannabis in the city. Cannabis is now a legal substance, similar to alcohol and tobacco. Whether or not Council chooses to opt-in or opt-out, recreational cannabis is available online through the Ontario Cannabis Store and therefore consumption of cannabis will be occurring in the City of Waterloo.
Staff believes permitting privately-run, provincially-licensed retail stores would provide a safer alternative to the illegal cannabis market. Prohibiting retail cannabis stores would limit residents’ access to legal and federally-inspected cannabis. The only access would be through the online store (Ontario Cannabis Store) or by visiting another municipality that permits retail cannabis stores. Staff are of the opinion that the benefits of allowing cannabis retail stores would include:
• Product safety: federally controlled and inspected cannabis.
• Economic Development: consumer won’t have to travel outside of municipality to shop at a physical location.
• Provincial funding: while not materially significant, there is a larger financial support for host municipalities.
• Job creation: more jobs for building renovators, realtors, and retail workers.
• Harm reduction: Less opportunity for illegal market. Waterloo Regional Police Services have indicated that it is likely that cannabis-related profits and related crimes will be reduced by adopting a legal cannabis retail model
Bill 66 – “Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018”
Council approved recommendations in which staff provided comments and expressed concerns about the Province’s proposed Bill 66. The City of Waterloo does not support the proposed amendments to the Planning Act as set out in this bill as it does not adequately protect drinking water resources and it does not require the comprehensive planning review and analysis or the meaningful community consultation residents and businesses expect from their local government.
Council reaffirmed that it will continue to appropriately manage growth in a way that protects drinking water resources and sensitive natural areas, and that includes meaningful public consultation, consistent with the policies of the city’s official plan.
Among the recommendations approved by Council: encouraging the Province to extend municipal consultation and provide draft regulations that outline when the bylaw can be used; Council objects to parts of Bill 66 that would exempt planning decisions from the requirement to conform to the Clean Water Act; and Council is asking the Province to re-examine the need for Bill 66 and if it should decide to move forward with it, it do so with suggested modifications that can be found in staff report IPPW2019-010.
City of Waterloo staff have significant concerns with Schedule 10 of Bill 66 specifically with respect to open-for-business by-laws that would exempt certain developments from adhering to comprehensively prepared Provincial, regional and local plans, policies and legislation. While Bill 66 provides councils with the authority to streamline the development review process for desired major employment opportunities, it fails to adequately address planning, environmental and cross-border issues. Adoption of an open-for-business by-law could negatively impact other municipalities and circumvents planning legislation that is intended to ensure coordinated, efficient and sustainable land uses and development. This could result in poorly informed and uncoordinated planning decisions that could have negative public health and safety, environmental, infrastructure and growth management impacts for Waterloo.
Business Plans
The 2019 Business Plans were presented for the CAO’s Office, which includes Economic Development and Legal Services; and Integrated Planning & Public Works, which includes Transportation, Planning, Engineering Services, City Utilities and Building Standards. The presentations outlined the priorities for this year.
Informal public meetings
Official Plan Amendment No. 25 & Zoning By-law Amendment Application Z-18-18, 164 & 168 King Street South & 8 George Street, Your Neighbourhood Credit Union
The applicant is proposing to permit the redevelopment of 164 & 168 King Street and 8 George St. with a nine storey mixed-use building containing 810 square metres of commercial space and 36 residential units. The applicant is proposing to amend the City's Official Plan to re-designate 8 George Street from Low Density Residential and Low Density-10 Metres, to Commercial, Uptown Mixed Use, Primary Node, Medium High Density-40 Metres, and Uptown Complementary Transition Area, with the site specific provision that the maximum height at 8 George Street would be six storeys and 20 metres. The applicant is also proposing to rezone 8 George Street from ‘General Residence Two A’ to ‘Commercial Two-12’ with site specific provisions and 164 & 168 King Street from ‘Commercial Two-12’ to ‘Commercial Two-12’ with site specific provisions. 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.
Official Plan Amendment No. 24 & Zoning By-law amendment application Z-18-17, and Draft Plan of Subdivision 30T-18401, 928, 960, 980 Erb Street West and 100 The Wilmot Line, City of Waterloo
The applicant is proposing to re-designate a portion of the lands from Business Employment to Convenience Commercial, and to apply site-specific policies to the lands. The applicant is also proposing to rezone the lands from Agriculture (A) in By-law 1418 to Business Employment (E1-27), Convenience Commercial (C3-27), Parks and Recreation (OS1), with site specific provisions to permit additional commercial and employment uses. A Draft Plan of Subdivision has also been submitted.
The purpose of the requested applications is to permit the development of a subdivision for employment and commercial land uses, a park, and new streets including the extension of Platinum Drive. The Draft Plan of Subdivision application has been submitted to the Region of Waterloo. 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.
Zoning By-law Amendment application Z-18-19. 36, 42 Erb Street East and 39 Dupont Street, Paramount Development (The Planning Partnership – Bruce Hall)
The applicant is proposing to rezone the lands Commercial Six (C6-25), Commercial Seven (C7-4) and General Residence Four (GR4) in By-law 1108 to Commercial Six (C6-25) with site specific provisions to permit the construction of a 24 storey mixed-use building at 36 and 42 Erb Street East and retain the existing single detached dwelling at 39 Dupont Street East (which is a non-designated property of cultural heritage value or interest on the Municipal Heritage Register). The proposed building would contain 793 square metres of commercial space on the ground floor, 252 parking spaces and 231 residential dwellings units. 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.
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Media contact:
Janice Works
Manager, Corporate Communications
519-747-8731
janice.works@waterloo.ca