First of all, thank you all for contributing of your time and energy to our Council.
Second, I am unable to attend tonight’s meeting. Note: I just got a letter mailed out Feb. 29. It arrived in the mail delivered as of 1:15 pm today indicating that if I wished to make a delegation presentation to Council tonight, the submission would have to in to City Hall by noon – today. There was no way I could have done that given the dealine time had passed.
Third, my wife Tina as well as our sons, Jordan and Justin, have discussed the growth plan for Guelph upon occassion.
With the information I gathered in attending the former Woods plant and the further development of downtown, specifically the cooperators building and
the future use of the high rise at the corner of Cork and the other at the intersection of Gordon and Stone, we would like to go on record as stating the following:We are opposed to any high rise that takes away from downtown. We are accepting of the present tall buildings but are strongly opposed to any such structures being built where they are proposed. As we shared the impact, we all are opposed to Guelph being changed into a concrete and asphalt “jungle” where the sky and the views may be obliterated.
I personally was on the round table discussions to provide the Province of Ontario input. I specifically remember at the summary meetings of those round table discussions that a main mandate of the city citizens was NOT to build such high rises close to the entry of the downtown core but to have them erected as the need arose within smaller, self-sufficient pockets where amenities would be provided. We also agreed to send a message concerning the amount of people the Province wanted to send Guelph. water from our wells was another issue vs future pipelines from Lake Erie or Ontario.
Please remember why Guelph is such an appealing place to live. We came here because it wasn’t a concrete jungle. We can stroll downtown and via view lanes, not have views blocked. We agreed with medium density growth with mild multiple level buildings – perhaps no more than 5 storeys. Creative use of a plan for Guelph must superceed the “plans by the Gov’t of Ontario for Guelph”. They don’t live here; we do.
We look forward to sensitivy and factual decision making and the incorporation of “no high rises” as part of the Core’s City Plan at tonight’s meeting.
Feel free to contact me to discuss the matter further as you see appropriate. Thanks again for the work that you all do.Note: I also look forward to the Rental Property decisions as well as amenities in the East end of Guelph. Well done on the Go Train and Museum moves as well as the new City Hall. I am VERY excited about Conestoga College’s potnetial move to the York Rd location. Now let’s ensure that Nestle’s does not exploit or Wellington Artesian Water. Keep up the fine work. WL