Please see our submissions…

Please see our submissions on OPA 80 in the attached correspondence, which is submitted on behalf of our clients Armtec Inc. and WGI Westman Group Inc. in connection with their brownfield site located at 41 and 44 George Street (the “Site”). Below is a short summary of the submissions, which are explained in more detail in the attached letter:

On July 11, 2022, just prior to the adoption of OPA 80, Guelph City Council passed a last-minute motion to down designate the Site from High Density Residential to Medium Density Residential, without notice to our client, against City Planning staff’s recommendation -- which recommended that the Site’s High Density Residential designation be maintained -- and without any planning justification.

We urge the Minister to exercise his authority to amend the Site’s Official Plan designation from Medium Density Residential to High Density Residential. Such re-designation would reinstate the Site’s original designation prior to the adoption of OPA 80 and be consistent with the recommendation of City of Guelph Planning staff to maintain the Site’s High Density Residential designation, identifying our client’s brownfield Site as a prime candidate for intensification. We note, significantly, City Council’s motion to down designate the Site is devoid of any planning rationale. A down designation would lower the permitted density on the Site from 100-150 units per hectare to 35-100 units per hectare and the permitted height from 3-10 storeys to 2-6 storeys.

Reinstatement of the Site’s original High Density Residential designation would also be consistent with the PPS, the Growth Plan, the directions of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force – in particular, the intensification and redevelopment of a brownfield site within a delineated built-up area. To the contrary, a down designation of the Site would work against this government’s recently announced goal of building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years to combat the housing supply crisis.