City of Waterloo council summary June 8, 2026
** The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at Monday’s council meeting. The council meeting webcast is available on the City of Waterloo YouTube page. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.
Waterloo adopts framework for responsible use of AI in City operations
As AI tools and AI-enabled features become more common in software and service delivery, the City of Waterloo has an opportunity to consider how these technologies may support service improvement, internal capacity and innovation. To ensure a cautious and thoughtful approach to exploring AI’s potential for City operations, Council approved the City’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Framework Policy. The framework policy is not an AI strategy or implementation plan. It establishes high-level principles, oversight and accountability for AI use, and creates the governance structures needed to support compliance with both current and emerging legal and regulatory requirements.
In presenting the new policy, staff acknowledged the sustainability concerns surrounding the use of AI technologies. Staff will monitor emerging best practices, and include sustainability principles in the framework as part of a future review informed by sustainability assessment methods and a better understanding of AI's environmental impacts and benefits.
The policy reflects a cautious and thoughtful approach that enables the City to explore AI’s potential while ensuring its use is responsible, transparent, secure, fair, and subject to appropriate governance.
Staff provides update on unprecedented 2025/2026 winter maintenance season
City of Waterloo staff provided a recap of the City’s snow clearing and winter maintenance operations from the 2025/2026 winter season. The city received approximately 210 cm of snow over the most recent winter, an unprecedented amount compared to statistics from the past 50 years.
Through the challenging 2025/2026 winter season, the City successfully maintained passable roadways and sidewalks and met provincial minimum maintenance service standards, declaring eight Snow Events and three Significant Weather Events. Additional contractors and trucking companies were used in to assist in clearing intersections and with loading and hauling snow. The province-wide salt shortage created additional challenges, with City of Waterloo staff collaborating with other local municipalities to develop contingency plans to share salt and preservation strategies using pickled sand applications.
Between October 2025 and April 2026, city bylaw staff responded to over 2122 sidewalk snow clearing complaints. This complaint level was similar to the 2024/2025 season, but a 240 per cent increase in complaints over the same period in 2023/2024. As a result of these investigations, officers issued 799 orders, conducted 209 clean-ups, and issued 353 fines.
In 2025/2026, the City’s Assisted Snow Clearing Program supported 100+ eligible residents, including seniors and people with disabilities, by removing snow from sidewalks and driveway windrows.
Strategies under consideration for the 2026-2027 winter maintenance season include:
· -Equipping new snow plows with belly-blades, to help remove packed snow more effectively and expose cleaner pavement before salt is applied.
· -Considerations for additional snow storage capacity.
· -Equipping vehicles with cameras for staff safety and road condition monitoring.
Waterloo continues to support complete communities and approve housing
City of Waterloo Council approved planning amendments that will permit an expansion to the child care centre at 2415 University Avenue East (at Northfield Drive). This expansion will allow an additional 88 childcare spaces to be added to the existing child care centre.
Council also approved amendments and the draft plan of subdivision to support 10 mixed-use towers and two residential towers with 2,823 dwelling units at 446 Albert Street. Proceeding in five stages, the complete development will include:
-10 mixed-use towers, ranging in height from 17 to 26 storeys (inclusive of podium);
-Two residential towers of 11 and 14 storeys in height (inclusive of podium);
-2,823 units in a mix of one- (2,185), two- (590) and three-bedrooms (48), including 106 affordable bedrooms;
-6,692 square metres of non-residential floor area;
-1,171 vehicle parking spaces and 1,739 bike parking spaces; and
-a new public park.
These approvals align with the City’s Complete Community strategic priority: to advance community vibrancy through strategic density and support the provincial Housing Pledge commitment to plan for 16,000 new residential units by 2031.
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