Committee of the Whole Meeting - Wednesday, March 19, 2025 - 9:30 a.m. - City of Richmond Hill

Summary

The Committee of the Whole meeting on March 19, 2025, was chaired by Councillor Louu and included 19 agenda items with no public hearings. Key announcements were made about a measles outbreak, the celebration of spring festivals, and a significant presentation on the Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan. Multiple delegations addressed topics ranging from heritage home designations to the potential for a new memorial park. Discussions included the comprehensive zoning bylaw and a motion for shutting down Richmond Hill's communication on X (formerly Twitter). The meeting concluded with approvals of several zoning and policy items.

Highlights

• Councillor Louu called the meeting to order at 9:30 AM with no public hearings and 19 agenda items 📅.
• Councillor Syllab discussed a measles outbreak, advising older adults and parents on immunization 💉.
• Regional and Local Councillor Chan celebrated the Nowruz festival with the Persian community 🎉.
• The Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan presentation was a central topic, highlighting future community engagement 🏞️.
• Concerns were raised by delegations regarding heritage property designations and the future of certain local lands 🏡.
• Councillor Davidson proposed a report to review the city’s use of X amidst privacy concerns and value misalignments 🔍.
• A motion to study toll reductions on Highway 407 for trucks to reduce traffic on Highway 401 was presented 🚗.
• Animal licensing and regulations, including new policies for cat and dog oversight, were debated 🐾.

Key Takeaways

• The meeting featured significant discussions on public health and celebrations of cultural festivals 🌸.
• The Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan aims to offer a central gathering space for the Richmond Hill community 🌳.
• The decision to potentially disconnect Richmond Hill's communications from X (formerly Twitter) was debated with focus on alignment with city values 📱.
• Concerns over high tolls on Highway 407 and possible subsidies for trucks were discussed to alleviate traffic on parallel highways 🚛.
• Zoning and bylaw changes were a major focus, with discussions on how they would impact local developments and infrastructure 🌆.

Overview

The Committee of the Whole meeting was packed with discussions ranging from public health to city infrastructure development. Councillors brought forward issues of great importance to the Richmond Hill community, starting with a crucial alert about a measles outbreak by Councillor Syllab. The meeting also celebrated cultural diversity through festivals like Nowruz, marking a vibrant facet of the community.

A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the presentation and discussions about the proposed Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan. This plan envisions a communal hub in Richmond Hill, encouraging community activities and events while respecting historical and ecological elements. Delegations and councillors portrayed a shared vision for a cohesive community space.

The discussions extended into various policy and bylaw amendments, highlighting the challenges and solutions in the governance of Richmond Hill. Topics like the reduction of Highway 407 tolls aimed to ease traffic congestion, while debates around the use of X reflected the modern challenges of digital communication in governance. The meeting wrapped up with consensus on several critical decisions impacting Richmond Hill's development trajectory.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 04:30: Introduction and Announcements The chapter begins with the chair, Counselor Louu, calling the meeting to order at 9:30 AM. This is the March 19th committee of the whole meeting. The chair notes there are no regrets for today. The agenda consists of 19 items, without public participation.
• 04:31 - 09:00: Council Announcements The chapter "Council Announcements" begins with a procedural outline discussing the agenda for the meeting, including hearings, presentations, and motions. The main focus of the chapter is a public service announcement (PSA) delivered by a council member concerning measles. The announcement highlights the contagious nature of measles and serves as an important health advisory to the public. The session takes place in the council chambers and is also accessible to viewers online.
• 09:01 - 11:00: Meeting Agenda and Adoption The chapter 'Meeting Agenda and Adoption' discusses the issue of vaccine hesitancy and denial, highlighting its impact, including recent cases in Ontario, Canada, and the United States, where children have died due to outbreaks. It notes the historical context of vaccine rollout, specifically referring to measles immunization efforts post-1957.
• 11:01 - 18:30: Presentation on Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan The chapter covers a presentation on the Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan. During the discussion, someone shares a personal health story about getting a blood test for measles immunity after consulting with their general practitioner (GP). The test results reveal that they have no immunity to measles. The speaker recalls having mumps in the past.
• 18:31 - 33:00: Delegations The chapter discusses the importance of vaccination, with a personal anecdote from the speaker who had German measles at 18. They later discovered they had no immunity and plan to receive a measles vaccine. The speaker urges others to vaccinate their children and advises those born in 1957 or earlier to get tested for immunity.
• 33:01 - 37:00: Discussion on 297 Richmond Street Heritage Designation The chapter discusses the ongoing discussion regarding the heritage designation of 297 Richmond Street. Various councilors share their views, with a particular emphasis on public health as a metaphor, highlighted through the mention of measles vaccination. This underlines the seriousness and necessity of preserving cultural heritage as one might preserve public health. There is a light-hearted moment when Deputy Mayor Chan jokes about the length of his title, bringing a human touch to the formal proceedings. The chapter lightly touches on the season change to spring, perhaps metaphorically indicating hope or renewal.
• 37:01 - 46:00: Discussion on Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan The chapter discusses the participation of colleagues in celebrations of Larus, specifically with the Persian community during their New Year, which is noted to be the year 2584 according to their calendar. The speaker expresses admiration for those who have counted the years and wishes to acknowledge the widespread celebrations in Richmond Hill.
• 46:01 - 57:00: Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw Discussion The chapter titled 'Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw Discussion' begins with greetings for the spring season to the community. The speaker acknowledges that the new year is being celebrated by not just one, but several communities, mentioning celebrations like 'lurus lurus peruse'. The speaker thanks the community, and there's a brief interaction with someone addressed as 'counselor tree'. The chapter also notes that March is full of various celebrations, with a mention of the festival 'holly'.
• 57:01 - 71:00: Social Media Platform Discussion The chapter titled 'Social Media Platform Discussion' seems to capture a conversation or meeting where individuals exchange greetings for various cultural and religious festivals including Holi, Purim, Ramadan, and others, indicating a culturally diverse group. Following the greetings, there are no further announcements, and the group moves forward without introducing any urgent matters. The agenda was adopted without any noted issues.
• 71:01 - 89:00: Various Agenda Items The chapter discusses a meeting agenda consisting of 19 items. There are no public hearings, but there is one presentation, four delegations, and two members' motions. A call for a mover to adopt the agenda is made, with Mayor West responding. The agenda is carried unanimously. The chapter highlights that there were no disclosures of pecuniary interest or any items necessitating separate discussion, although Counselor Tree introduces something towards the end.
• 89:01 - 110:20: Discussion on Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw The chapter titled 'Discussion on Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw' begins with the facilitator organizing items on the agenda, specifically mentioning items 11.6 through 11.13. Some items are confirmed as already being addressed, showing an effort to manage the logistics efficiently and paving the way for a focused discussion on the responsible pet ownership bylaw.
• 110:21 - 122:40: Motion on Highway 407 Feasibility Study The chapter titled 'Motion on Highway 407 Feasibility Study' involves Counselor Thompson discussing item 11.7 on the agenda. The chapter indicates that several items (from 11.1 to 11.5) are being moved to the consent agenda, but item 11.4 has already been pulled for separate consideration. Mayor West is acknowledged during this process, showing some level of interaction or approval. The chapter appears to be part of a larger meeting, likely involving local government officials discussing various agenda items.

Committee of the Whole Meeting - Wednesday, March 19, 2025 - 9:30 a.m. - City of Richmond Hill Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 No, it's one location. Good morning. It's 9:30. I'm going to call the meeting to order. I'm your chair, Councelor Louu. Welcome to the March 19th committee of the whole meeting. So, we have no regrets today. Okay, we have 19 agenda items, no public
• 00:30 - 01:00 hearings, one presentation for delegations and two members motions. So to start the meeting, council announcement. Do you have any council announcement? Council syllab. Thank you Mr. Chair. Good morning everybody. Welcome to council chambers. And if you're watching us online, this is this is just a PSA announcement um uh for everybody about measles. So um measles is you know really catching on
• 01:00 - 01:30 like fire. Uh we can say because of um you know vaccine hesitancy or or vaccine denial. Um and there have been many cases now in Ontario and across Canada and two children have died. One in BC and one in um uh one in Texas. So um I'm born in 1957 and 1957 is a cutoff date where there was global after that there was global immunization for MMR measles
• 01:30 - 02:00 ms and reubella. So what I did was I went to my GP and I asked him to do a blood test for what's known as a measles titer tit. Um, in other words, your check and misel's antibbody check. Got the requisition and went to get my blood tested and last night we got the result and I have no immunity to measles. None. So, I got moms when I was about
• 02:00 - 02:30 eight and I got German measles when I was 18 and I was very ill with it. So, there was just something in my head that said check this. So, I did and I have no immunity. So tomorrow I'm going to get the first vaccine uh against measles. So um I just wanted to bring this to everybody's attention. Um if your children aren't vaccinated, please get them vaccinated. Um if if you are born 1957 or before that, get yourself tested. And if you have not if you have
• 02:30 - 03:00 no antibodies to measles, you should be vaccinated. It's a very very dangerous disease. Thank you. Thank you counselor. Next we have councelor sorry regional and local counselor deputy mayor chan. Thank you. It's a long title. Thank good morning everyone. Um I just want to um share I I don't think that uh this is not a known fact. Um spring is coming. I
• 03:00 - 03:30 was told it's 5 a.m. uh next uh next day. uh but uh during the past week or so uh I'm sure some of my colleagues also have participated in a numerous celebration of Larus uh with the Persian community uh with the new year uh I understand is 2584 to be honest I give compliments to people who have been counting that but it was lots of celebration all over Richmond Hill um so I just want to wish
• 03:30 - 04:00 everybody happy spring uh to the community. I understand it's not uh only uh one specific community but quite a number of communities uh are celebrating the new year lurus lurus peruse. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else councelor tree? Okay. I think March is really a lot of celebrations here as well. The last bike we have the holly.
• 04:00 - 04:30 Happy hol also happy narus also the Ramadan's here as well also the uh purim is that purim pure yeah pure so there are a lot of festivals in happening in also the satric day as well so happy holidays for everybody the all the community who celebrate that your own culture thank you thank you any more council announcement seeing none introduction of emergency times sensitive matters seeing none Adoption of agenda.
• 04:30 - 05:00 Once again, we have 19 agenda items. No public hearings, one presentation, four delegations, and two members motions. I need a mover to adopt the agenda. Mayor West. All those in favor carry unanimously. Thank you. Disclosures of pecuniary interest and general nature thereof. Seeing none, identification of item requiring separate discussion. Anyone want to pull anything? Councelor tree. Uh, I have a
• 05:00 - 05:30 long list here. So, give me a second. 11.6 11.8 is already pulled. Perfect. 11.9 Okay. 11.10. I think it's 10 is already there, right? 10 already pulled. Yeah. 11.11. Okay. 11.13. Okay. Yeah, that's from me. Thank you.
• 05:30 - 06:00 Thank you. U councelor Thompson. Uh yes. Uh 11.7 please. Okay. 11.7. Any more? Okay. So going to the consent agenda is uh 11.1 11.2 11.3.4.5. Oh sorry. Yes, thank you. Mayor West. Okay. 4 is already pulled.
• 06:00 - 06:30 Okay. So, going to consent 11.1 2 3 5 12 14 15 16 17. All right. Do we need to vote on that? Okay. Can I have a vote? Can I have a mover? Councilor tree. All those in favor unanimously. Thank you. Okay. All right. No public hearings and then we go straight to presentation. We
• 06:30 - 07:00 have director policy planning uh Maria Flores and also Michelle Dobby manager park and natural heritage planning regarding item 11.8 Eight. Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan. Take your time.
• 07:00 - 07:30 Welcome both. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, the chair, and members of council. We're pleased today to bring you the proposed Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan. For those of you who are familiar with this site, you know that this has been a long time coming. There have been many discussions over the years on what should become of
• 07:30 - 08:00 this space and in the future will continue to evolve. But the one constant has always been the community's desire to see this site become a central gathering place and to reflect a sense of place. That third place outside of the home or work where people can come together to visit the site and feel a part of Richmond Hill's ident excuse me identity but also um to but also to know that this is a
• 08:00 - 08:30 place where they are welcome. This is a place that represents where people can come together to celebrate, to learn or simply to come to find a place of moment and a moment of soloulless and respit. To do this, we began with the basics. The project was about how we can animate the space and provide a place for people to come together but within budget. Dave Barrow Civic Square is our gathering place on the hill. Situated within the proximity of the
• 08:30 - 09:00 First Nations Caring Place Trails and located on our modern and historical route that we know as Young Street, this hill symbolizes where Richmond Hill began and will continue to be a central gathering place for the community that we will evolve as our community grows. Manager Dobby will now walk you through the process and the elements as one encounters the various features as you travel through this new destination park. Enjoy.
• 09:00 - 09:30 Uh thank you, Chair Leu, Mayor, and members of council. Uh so as uh director Flores said, I'll be presenting today on what I think, and I hope you'll agree with me is a very exciting summary of Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan, uh which we've developed with the expertise of our consulting team, Janet Rosenberg, and Studio. Next slide. Uh just to remind everyone of the location of this new destination park.
• 09:30 - 10:00 It is located in the southwest corner of Young Street and Major McKenzie Drive West in the area shown with the orange line on the map on this slide. The area shown with a red line around it on this slide may become the future evolution of this park in time as budget permits. Next slide. In terms of our project timeline, we began this project in the summer of last year with background research and the preparation of options. We consulted on those options in October of last year uh
• 10:00 - 10:30 in an in-person openhouse through a virtual survey and three focus group meetings. Since that time, we've been working on drafting the park plan in consultation with our technical advisory team. And we're here before you today seeking approval of the final park plan so that detailed design can commence. And just a reminder that council did approve the budget funding for this project as part of last year's capital budget process. Next slide. The vision for this park is to
• 10:30 - 11:00 create that central gathering place on the hill. A place with creative popups, temporary uses, and community events that will seasonally change over the course of the year. and that hopefully will revitalize the village and spur economic development. Next slide. Uh we did consult on two options for this park, asking participants to help us to understand their favorite elements from each option at both the in-person openhouse and through the virtual survey. On the next few slides,
• 11:00 - 11:30 I'll highlight the top three elements from each option. Next slide. We had approximately 70 people attend the openhouse and over 400 responses to the survey. So, a lot of engagement as part of this park plan, which was great. For option A, Richmond Hill views, the top three elements were the amphitheater, the pavilion, and the eco patches. Next slide. For option B, the strip, the top three elements were the eco patches, the
• 11:30 - 12:00 preserve slope, and the lawn. Next slide. Uh we also asked the public to help us to understand what elements they'd like to see in a future plaza in front of the central library from a list of five elements. These five elements received a similar level of support with slight variations as shown on this slide. So the most important were tables and a seating area, shade structure and planting uh with lesser importance on the water element and skating. Next
• 12:00 - 12:30 slide. Following the public consultation process, the emerging preferred option for this park needed to blend elements that were largely in the northern portion of option A uh which is shown in the upper leftand corner of the slide along with those in the southern portion of option B which is shown just below it on the left hand slide into a new destination park plan with a range of programming opportunities. Next
• 12:30 - 13:00 slide. And without further ado, this is how we created the final Dave Barrow Civic Square Park Plan that's before you here today. Uh over the next few slides, I'm going to take you on a visual virtual walking tour uh through the 13 spaces that you see on the plan here. And we're going to start in the upper area of the park at element number nine on this map, the teaching garden. Next slide. Uh just to orient everyone before we
• 13:00 - 13:30 start, the location of the element that we're viewing will always be shown in the upper leftand corner of the slide on the grayscale plan with a red dot. So here we are starting our journey at the teaching garden uh where programs from the library might move outside where programs uh might be provided by schools or community groups or where people might just stop for a break or to read a book. Next slide. To the east of the teaching garden, the
• 13:30 - 14:00 existing tree eco patch will remain and be enhanced with a native pollinator meadow, providing new habitat, especially for the bird fauna in the area. This is an important element to the Missosagas of the Credit First Nation and aligns with the city's bird friendly designation. Next slide. Moving south, we find ourselves in the Richmond Hill Bowl, an amphitheater area that includes a permanent stage to host events like concerts in the park or programs like movies in the park. Next
• 14:00 - 14:30 slide. On the upper portion of this amphitheater, we see a new upper plaza cited to capitalize on the views of the surrounding cityscape and expand the area where people can sit comfortably outdoors. Next slide. We continue to walk slow south along the spine trail, a 3 m wide pathway designed to AODDA standard connecting the upper area of the park to the lower area of the park. Next
• 14:30 - 15:00 slide. As we approach the intersection of Young Street and Hopkins Street, we see the Richmond Hill signs, a new gateway element to the park and the village local center beyond. We make a note to come back at night as we heard it changes colors in the evening. Next slide. And here's a peak of what we saw when we returned later that night. Next slide. As we move west in the lower area of the park, we see the slope, the
• 15:00 - 15:30 access path, which would lead us back up the slope and continue along our way frame by the fescue meadow. Pending funding, cultural elements in the form of marker trees or other design elements could be included in this area to pay homage to the way First Nations people traveled and to celebrate the proximity of this site to the important historical carrying place trail. Next slide. Still walking west, we see a lot of people enjoying themselves in the
• 15:30 - 16:00 events lawn. and make a note to return later for the artist market we heard is coming and to try out the seasonal artificially cooled rollout skating rink in the winter. Next slide. And here's a glimpse of us later that year skating on the rollout rink. Uh, next slide. Lastly, we're ending our walk at the events plaza as we heard there's a food truck festival here today and all this walking deserves a treat. We'll also check out the new murals and
• 16:00 - 16:30 stop for a bathroom break in the retrofitted shipping containers before heading home. Next slide. And how do we get to the park today? We do have a variety of alternative options close by, including the Viva Blue Line along Young Street, various wiret lines along Major McKenzie Drive, and a number of bike parking spots. Next slide. But if we felt like driving, the parking analysis prepared for the park plan identified a number of options. On site,
• 16:30 - 17:00 over 280 spots in nearby lots within a walking distance, 575 spots, along with new on street parking permissions that create around 260 new spots. Next slide. The park plan also provides recommendations on potential future park elements as funding, partnerships, or sponsorship opportunities arise. And I'll just highlight two of those elements. Now, element D, which is
• 17:00 - 17:30 located to the south of the central library, represents a permanent skating rink. If the rollout skating rink proves to be quite successful in this area, uh this is something that council could consider as it is likely more cost effective to run a permanent rink in the long term. I'll also highlight element G, uh which is just to the west of the amphitheater. Uh this element represents upgrades to the amphitheater seating uh which is something that the city could consider if the uh amphitheater
• 17:30 - 18:00 programming and events become quite successful. Next slide. Our recommendations to cow today are noted on this slide. I won't go through them in detail but just summarize that we are seeking approval of the final Dave Barrow civic square park plan so that detailed design of this new destination park or gathering place on the hill can commence. Thank you again. Thank you very much. I'm going to allow some questions
• 18:00 - 18:30 if uh my council colleagues have at this time. Um I would like to remind that just question about the presentation and reserve your comments during the discussions. Any question? Councelor Shu. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you so much for the presentation and all the effort your team uh put into this plan, and I'm so excited to see it come to life at this location. Just two minor question through the chair. On slide number three, we can see the timeline.
• 18:30 - 19:00 Uh the work will be start in 2026. So, is there any timeline for the completion of the part? Um, I will hand that question over to Commissioner Miserero. Commissioner, sorry, can you please repeat the question? Oh, uh, is there any timeline for the completion of the park? As stated in the report, uh,
• 19:00 - 19:30 construction is intended to commence in 2026. So, uh, pending the, uh, completion of this discussion here, we'll have a sense of, uh, initiating design based on council's preferred options and moving forward. Um, yeah, and the report also states that there is approved budget that was approved as part of the 2025 budget uh, as a multi-year project for design and construction. Okay. So, is there any rough idea how many years we built
• 19:30 - 20:00 within five years, within three years or four years? Once the through the chair to council issue once the scope is uh fully defined then we'll be able to have a sense of what construction it's it's likely that the construction would take more than a year based on what we've seen here today. Okay. Clear. Uh one more question. Uh on slide number nine we can see there are a lot of suggest events like um special event monthly or weekly events. Uh since the land is right next to the library. So, I'm just wondering if daytime events like farmer
• 20:00 - 20:30 markets uh might cause any noise concerns even on weekends when the libraries is is is still open. So, I'm just want to check on that. Is any daytime events might cause noise concerns to the library. Um, so the exact events that will be held in this park haven't been determined yet. Um I would imagine I don't know if if Tracy you want to answer this question but I would um city
• 20:30 - 21:00 manager oh city manager city manager uh thank you through you Mr. Chair. Uh I would note uh to council that the library is sitting at the table uh on the design of this uh David Barrow uh civic square and uh they're certainly uh partnering with us in terms of what the future programming will be at this site. They're also looking to use it as outdoor library space. So, uh they're
• 21:00 - 21:30 actually excited about the potential of the programming that will occur here outside year round. Thank you so much. That's all that's all my comments and I would like to move forward. Thank you. Thank you. So, next we have councelor tree. Okay. Thank you so much. On on slide 16, I just have a minor um uh recommendations. Slide 16 regarding to the sign of the Richmond Hill. So I'm assuming this site will be allowed to uh photographer to take picture from there. So in case uh of the distance if you
• 21:30 - 22:00 sitting on the trail is not possible to take the whole picture of the Richmond Hill lights. So is there any specific trails or some sites we can design so the people can take pictures from a little bit far like a 10 meters away from the picture here and when you see the grass here is very challenge. Inventor is someone walking there take picture at night time specifically they start inside of snow. So consider in the future if you have any uh spot or trails
• 22:00 - 22:30 small one just maybe just for photographers take picture from a little bit far from that site that's one my first suggestion here the second one I still uh I did not see the change room maybe last week or last time we discuss change room because in the future we're going to have more performers here whether is on the stage or not so changing room or changing stage I'm not sure going to underground or behind that um that platform if they walk from
• 22:30 - 23:00 another location to here it might take five minutes I want to say it's big challenge but and let's consider if in the future we have more budget and we can build up some either underground change room or nearby change room etc so that's my suggestion thank you so much thank you any more question seeing so I need a mover to receive the presentation with thanks oh city manager. Sorry. I know you got to look left. Um uh
• 23:00 - 23:30 through you, Mr. Chair. Uh just before council takes a vote, I think it's an appropriate time for me to let you know that I did share uh this presentation and staff report with Dave Barrow's wife, Tommy Nan, and she was very overwhelmed and uh absolutely loves uh the design and the work that has been done here. It was my intention to have Tommy Anne here today uh but she is traveling at this point in time but I
• 23:30 - 24:00 have made her a promise that we will keep her uh informed throughout the process. So I thought it was important that council knows that we have connected with the family. So wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. That's important. Okay. So we have councelor Sylvvis moving a motion to receive the presentation with thanks. All those in favor carry unanimously. Thank you. All right. So now we go to uh our delegations. So our first delegates is
• 24:00 - 24:30 U. Maria Denko regarding item for 11.4.1. Welcome Miss Dano. Thank you. Good morning Mr. Mayor, Mr. Chair and member of councils. Thank you for the opportunity that I I can speak in front of you this morning. I'm the owner of 297 Richmond Street. Um, we bought the home um about 10 15 years ago and it is um I handed out a letter to you. I'm not
• 24:30 - 25:00 sure if I had enough copies about 12 copies and um so the condition of the home is the exteriors is still still the same. Uh the only thing we did replace the roof because was the roof was leaking. But um uh when we I remember when we bought the home, you know, people on the street stopped us, you know, what made you buy this home? It was on the market for back and forth about, you know, two years, but a lot of buyers walked away because of the
• 25:00 - 25:30 condition of the home. So um our plan was um you know we said our answer was we like old homes and u so my husband was a general contractor at the time and um he had a bad um back injury. So you know we he actually couldn't do physical couldn't couldn't do physical work anymore. So that meant is the our plan was you know obviously we couldn't uh
• 25:30 - 26:00 renovate the home anymore and also because of financial reasons. So I came actually I came I believe it was in December the end of December thinking what our options are with this home. I came to see Miss Pamela Vega at the um urban heritage planner at the building department. uh thinking that um you know I have a fairly wide um yard about 90 ft. So I I was thinking you know what if I can severance the lot and I can you know we
• 26:00 - 26:30 can maybe uh finance the you know do the renovation. So, um, she was telling me that actually it is on the list of the, uh, uh, that the city would would would like to and favoring our home as a heritage home and would would like I think they she thinks it's going to be designated as a heritage home. So, that was kind of a surprise to me. I thought, you know, why not before like why why now it's it's been there so long the home. So but anyhow and then when she
• 26:30 - 27:00 hand um you know we we were exchanging couple of emails and then she sent me a one of the pamphlet that it said uh uh that you know the heritage designation doesn't really restrict the sale of the property but um u I don't quite agree with that because I'm a real estate agent and I'm seeing you know homes with a little bit of a with a different eye. So I attached couple of homes which is uh actually on the on the on the market recently was sold one of these heritage
• 27:00 - 27:30 home uh was listed for 1.2 million and sold for 600,000 with a huge loss and and the thing is you know you you would think and another one 103 Richmond Street designated as as heritage was on the market for $1.2 million and now after eight months is down to 1.4 four and and it has a huge lot 260 ft and you think you know maybe a developer buyer developer renovator would buy it but because this the lot doesn't have the
• 27:30 - 28:00 same value to to a developer than any other homes because it cannot be demolished. So uh I attached the pictures to to my letter. So, so basically these randown not renovated home. Yes. If if if the designated homes, yeah, they can be sellable and and but the the randown and not renovated actually people are scared. Me me being an agent when I'm working working with buyers first question 100% first question of the buyer how old is the home? So they
• 28:00 - 28:30 people scared of old homes and because of you know our unforeseen uh uh problems latent defects and you know a lot of money to to renovate them. So, but basically my uh um what I want to make a point is u and and she was my I have one sent one more sentence to say that um you know the city favors heritage homes gives grants which I said that's this is great incentive by all
• 28:30 - 29:00 means but you know my my the renovation would cost about roughly about 400 uh to to $450,000. I'm I'm also on the construction company, managed all the quotes, so I know what it cost to to renovate this home. So what I would like to ask you please consider that u to delay this heritage uh designation until I I can and I hoping you favoring and and helping me and and supporting me to get the severance until I understand
• 29:00 - 29:30 it's a it's a big process big fee involved and and if until you know I can get an answer if if I can get a severance I would you know love to do that and and and that's basically my my request today to delay the everything. Thank you very much. I appreciate you, Mr. Thank you very much, Mr. Thank you. Okay. So, we have three more delegates and then we'll come back and talk about your property, Mr. Denko. So, please have a
• 29:30 - 30:00 seat. All right. Okay. Next, um we have u Mr. Hamemed Kashani um HK Architects regarding Dave Barrow Civic Square item 11.8. And I think uh Mr. Kashani is online sir. Uh good morning everyone. Um I'm the principal of HK Architects in Richmond Hill and we had a proposal for memorial place for Masagina in Richmond Hill on
• 30:00 - 30:30 public grounds. I'll briefly go through the history of our proposal uh in 2 three minutes. On September 16th of 22, um, a 22-year-old woman, Masinamini, was tragically killed in Tehran, Iran, and this event sparked the women life freedom movement in Iran and among Iranian communities worldwide. Um the um in response on November 19th of 2022,
• 30:30 - 31:00 over 50,000 people gathered at the library grounds in Richmond Hill, marking it the largest rally in uh the city's history. We are grateful to Deputy Mayor Chan for his support in passing a motion on September 6th on 2023 declaring September 16th as Masajina's memorial day. And this motion also requested uh the identification of a location for a tree planting and an installation of a bench and a memorial plaque. As Masa Amini united the Iranian
• 31:00 - 31:30 diaspora in their request for in their quest for justice and liberty, the Iranian community in Canada is eager to establish a memorial worthy of her legacy and to commemorate victims of of violence. This memorial through a worldwide design competition will reflect the ideals of women life freedom movement that she inspired. To achieve this goal, we've been working closely
• 31:30 - 32:00 with Deputy Mayor Chan and city staff since. We have presented our proposal for a memorial at the library grounds on October 6th and then again on on 13th of 2023. Um uh our proposed uh memorial requires approximately 30 by 30 ft only and it will be situated in a permanent location with access to a large uh open space for annual for annual gatherings.
• 32:00 - 32:30 Such structure will be fully funded by the uranian Canadian community. Furthermore, we have attended and provided our feedback on uh the staff design proposal for the park on October 2024 and presented again our competition proposal for Massa Amini's memorial to Deputy Chan and Mrs. Dobis and Mr. Anand Patal online on 22nd of October 2024. I personally followed up with Deputy Chan since then, but the recent email
• 32:30 - 33:00 from planning uh for the current uh council hearing on Dave Barrows Civic Park is not reflective of any of our previous attempts, presentations, proposals, and talks to city staff. We urge the council to grant us this opportunity to establish this this memorial on library grounds. uh and the um and I'm I personally thank you for granting this hearing um to me today. Happy Norus to everyone.
• 33:00 - 33:30 Thank you very much. Happy Norus to you too. Okay. So, next um on our delegation list is uh Ian Andre's regarding proposed comprehensive zoning bylaw and accessible parking bylaw item 11.10. Welcome is on Mr. Andre. Y. Thank you, Chair Lou. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Mayor West, members of council. My name is Ian Andre. I'm a lawyer with Goodman's. I'm here today on behalf of BA Developments
• 33:30 - 34:00 Limited, and I submitted a letter on Monday, March 17th, which I hope you've had the chance to review. Uh, so I just want to speak about the comprehensive zoning bylaw that's on the agenda today, item 11.10. Um, just a couple comments at the outset about timing and sequencing of this bylaw. Uh, as you probably know, the Planning Act calls for periodic reviews of the city's official plan to ensure it's in conformity with provincial policy and regional policy. Although I appreciate that the region's official plan has now been collapsed into the cities, Richmond Hill chose to do its official plan review peace meal. And as a result of
• 34:00 - 34:30 that, there's certain parts of the centers and corridors, including BAS lands, that have not yet went through an official plan review process. So it's our submission with respect that going through a comprehensive zoning process before the comprehensive policy process has been completed is putting the cart before the horse and it's premature. It flips the top down policydriven uh hierarchy on its head and I think that's part of the source of of the concerns I'm going to raise today. So the most significant concern relates to BA's Dawnhead parcels which are two large vacant parcels. One on Major McKenzie
• 34:30 - 35:00 just west of Young Street, one on Young Street just south of Major McKenzie. and they happen to be adjacent to the Dave Barrow Civic Square Park we've been talking about this morning already. Uh, as you probably know, there was official plan and zoning bylaw applications and appeals that were the subject of a lengthy OM hearing uh, back in 2014. And through that process, BAFE reached a partial settlement with the town at the time. um for which resolved most of the issues in dispute including the densities for both of those sites and also resolved the site configuration to
• 35:00 - 35:30 allow for publicly accessible walkways leading up to and framing the the city-owned land at the corner. The primary issue in dispute at those hearings was the tower heights and the board ultimately decided that heights of 20 stories uh was appropriate and directed the parties to enter into section 37 negotiations under the regime that existed in the planning act at that time. This culminated in a section 37 agreement which BA signed with the then town and that's registered on title and the sight specific zoning was ordered into effect in 2016. So in the latest
• 35:30 - 36:00 version of the comprehensive bylaw that's on the agenda, it appears that staff are attempting to carry forward that prior approval and that intention is is acknowledged and appreciated. But the problem with that is twofold. One, the bay plans are treated differently in the bylaw than other similar approvals, prior approvals. um how they're reflected on the schedules. But even more importantly, by the new bylaw proposing to repeal the old bylaw 181-81 as it was amended for the bay lands,
• 36:00 - 36:30 this would have the effect of extinguishing the prior section 37 agreement and prior approval by the way the planning act deals with transition of old section 37 matters. The only way the old uh the only way the existing section 37 and zoning can remain in force in effect is if the old bylaw remains in force in effect as amended. So our request today is that the bay plans be carved out of the comprehensive zoning bylaw to ensure that that prior approval remains in force including the section 37 agreement that was reached with the city. The second point relates
• 36:30 - 37:00 to a different site uh up near Bloomington. BA owns a large uh piece of land in the southeast quadrant of Young and Bloomington or just south of there and it was the subject of a recent draft plan of subdivision approval and zoning bylaw approval in principle by council last October. Uh the notice of draft plan approval went out about a month ago and I understand that the zoning bylaw amendment for the medium density subdivision is coming to council next week for final enactment. That zoning bylaw amendment only applies to the medium density lands along with the
• 37:00 - 37:30 parks and the storm ponds and uh the other components of that subdivision, but it car it does not apply to the strip along Young Street, the frontage that was intended to be left for a future application when the reszoning would be reconsidered. This new comprehensive zoning bylaw does purport to apply to the Young Street frontage and BAFA is fine with that, but we noticed last night in reviewing the boundaries of the comprehensive zoning bylaw schedules that it actually does not properly capture the portion that's excluded from the new bylaw coming
• 37:30 - 38:00 forward next week. It looks to be based on the old 1997 subdivision in zoning. And so the delineation is problematic because it would have the outcome next week of having two bylaws enacted by the city on the same day that have overlapping and inconsistent uh provisions and it would also leave a portion of the Young Street frontage unzoned or not unzoneed but with the historic zoning from 1997 still in place. So we'd like to work with staff to fix these issues over the next week. And we would ask for uh the committee, I
• 38:00 - 38:30 guess, to provide staff with direction to work with BAFE. And we're happy to do this quickly to modify the comprehensive zoning bylaw before it comes forward for enactment next week to address these concerns. There's a couple other things in my letter I'll just say quickly, including concerns with uh EV parking requirements, which we say are overreaching and how they've been applied. So, we'd like to discuss those as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Next on our delegation list
• 38:30 - 39:00 is uh Robin Mintosh and is a good morning. Good morning. Hello. Can you hear me? Um thank you for having me. Um thank you to councelor Davidson for seeing the dangers of staying on X and acting on this. I myself had concerns my privacy which led me to leaving X. Um, I joined Twitter in 2009 and left over 12,000 followers
• 39:00 - 39:30 behind, but in three months I now have over 6,000 followers at Blue Sky. I'm here to recommend this the social media platform. Richmond Hill Library is already on there, as are some other Canadian entities, including political figures from Ontario and other provinces. Prime Minister Carney joined Blue Star January 21st of this year and currently has over 7,000 followers. Blue Sky Blue Sky came out as
• 39:30 - 40:00 imitation only in 2021 and until February of last year, it was it it was open to the public. It currently has over 33.1 million users. Canada is in the top three countries for using this platform. Canadians began leaving X to join Blue Sky after the Guardian newspaper called X and I quote a toxic media platform. They came looking for another platform that has a different algo function and that lets them connect with
• 40:00 - 40:30 people instead of being bombarded by sandbox and other problems like NX with the current threats of Canada being annexed. More Canadians are joining Blue Sky every day. Blue Sky doesn't harvest user data to train AI models like X. It's decentralized and a privacy-minded network. Users data is not stored in one central location. Instead, it's distributed across multiple servers, giving users more
• 40:30 - 41:00 control over their information. In contrast, X centralizes data processing and content moderation, taking it out of the hand of users. Now, I know firsthand that private messages aren't private on apps. After speaking in a private direct message with a friend about having to renew my auto insurance, I immediately started seeing insurance ads on my timeline and insurance companies following me. When this kept happening, I stopped using private messages on apps. Blue Sky
• 41:00 - 41:30 doesn't run ads, nor do they plan to. I've had many conversations in what they call private chat and I've never had any bots approach me afterwards. Now, Blue Sky is very similar to X. It has a vertical feed that shows post that you can reply to, like, repost, or quote post. Um, you're allowed 256 characters in a post. You can post pictures and videos up to three minutes long. Blue Sky also offers users a free option to use their websites as
• 41:30 - 42:00 their Blue Sky handle. This verifies the user and stops impersonation account. And you don't have to pay for blue check marks or wait for a company to deem you popular enough to be verified. There's also a mutant block features. If you use the block feature, it will keep the boss person from seeing anything you say once blocked. There is moderation on the blue sky to protect people from threats of violence, harassment, hate speech, and racism.
• 42:00 - 42:30 These protections don't exist on X since Elon Musk took over Twitter. At X, the black button was revised where the person blocked can still see your post but can't engage. Well, not until they make another account to harass you. Reports usually aren't acted on unless you're a public figure that Elon Musk chooses to protect. I feel much safer on Blue Sky. If you're interested in joining Blue Sky, all you need is an email address. No, no personal information is
• 42:30 - 43:00 is exchanged. You can link accounts or keep them separate. New accounts and login are processed on their website which is bsky.app. And if you choose the lanex wherever you go to, make sure you let your followers know where you're going because they'll most likely follow you to the other platform. Great. Thank you so much for your time and this opportunity to speak to you.
• 43:00 - 43:30 Thank you very much, Miss Macintosh. All right, that's exhausted our delegation list. And then uh okay, let's get into business. First, we have um item 11.4.1 is in W 4, Council Tree, 297 Richmond Street. Oh,
• 43:30 - 44:00 you can take it. Okay. Councelor Sitz, you want to take it? Okay. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Councelor Tree and and, uh, Chelio. Um, as the chair of the Heritage Richmond Hill Committee, um, I want to thank you for stepping forward to speak to us. Um however I what I wish to say with regards to your discussion with us this morning it is the o the only mandate of
• 44:00 - 44:30 the committee and the count and this council is for heritage protection. We do not take into account anything to do with real estate. I understand your concerns but it is beyond the purview of this this of this council. You have other options opened to you um should this pass uh should the designation pass on council. Um, I fully support uh the unanimous decision taken
• 44:30 - 45:00 by Heritage Richmond Hill and um I I find no reason to um amend it in any way. If I may through you, Mr. Chair, if I could call on Mr. Chry, our um heritage planner, if you could publicly speak to the options that um that our homeowner has in this
• 45:00 - 45:30 regard. So, thank you uh through the chair. So, today if council passes intention to designate the property, uh the property owner at that point will have the ability to object to that notice of intention. Um if at that point council reaffirms their decision to designate the property they then have the ability to appeal the decision as well. Thank you very much Mr. Chry. So um you do have other avenues and um they
• 45:30 - 46:00 are open to you through legislation. Um however um I I will move this I will move the recommendations forward. I see no reason uh for uh for us for this council and I hope my council colleagues agree with me. I see no reason for um for council to uh go against the wishes of the heritage Richmond Hill committee. Uh thank you. That's all. Thank you councelor Silvitz and u you move the staff recommendation. Okay. Thank you um
• 46:00 - 46:30 councelor Davidson. Thank you and uh thank you to the resident for coming. Um I do have a question through you Mr. chair for staff. Is there anything that prevents the severance of a large piece of property that has a heritage building on it? Isn't our purview strictly with the actual structure, not the property? Okay. So, through the chair, thank you for the question. So, as far as severances go, from a heritage planning perspective strictly, there's no reason we wouldn't support a severance. It is a
• 46:30 - 47:00 case-byase basis. There may be situations where severance wouldn't be supported but from a heritage planning perspective and for this particular property we could potentially support it depending on the impact it would have to the existing home but again there are other planning matters to take into account for any severances. Thank you three Mr. Chair. So you can still sever your property even if it's designated. So um thank you. I'm on the heritage committee too so I I will support this motion. Thank you. Thank you councelor
• 47:00 - 47:30 Thompson. Um, thank you. I'm I'm not on the heritage committee, but I do try to attend uh most uh heritage uh meetings, mainly because I am also a uh owner of a heritage listed property. Uh as a matter of fact, since I came to Richmond Hill, that's all I've ever owned is heritage listed properties. Although the last property I owned on Mil Street actually got removed from the designation, it no
• 47:30 - 48:00 longer met the criteria and I shed a tear on that one. Um, but I I would have to say and I I just want to echo with the councelor Silivitz, this is not um anybody that owns a heritage property. I mean, you should be owning it for the reasons of wanting to preserve the heritage that we have here. If you're looking at it solely from financial purposes, whether you can make x amount of money off of it
• 48:00 - 48:30 compared to other properties, then you're in it for the wrong reasons. So, those are my comments. I fully support that we're trying to preserve heritage here in Richmond Hill, and uh I I support this motion. Thank you. Thank you. Any more comments? Seeing none, we have a motion which is a staff recommendation on 11.4.1. All those in favor? Carry unanimously. Thank you. Next on the agenda item is 11.8 Dave
• 48:30 - 49:00 Barl Civic Square Park Plan. Councelor Silvitz. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll gladly uh move the staff recommendations and um I I want to thank our staff for their incredible work um on this particular project. Um it's taken us a very very long time to get to this point and um I
• 49:00 - 49:30 know that I I have certainly been uh involved in in working on um issues with uh what we should do with the land at the central public library as the w 5 counselor since 2014. So um I I am thrilled absolutely thrilled to see what is before us and um uh it warms my heart to hear that Tommy Anne Barrow feels the same way. I think that's very very
• 49:30 - 50:00 important because this entire park bears um our late mayor's name. So um I acknowledge I would like to acknowledge Mr. Mr. Kashani's um delegation um and through you Mr. uh chair and I know that councelor Chan has discussion points on this as well but if I may just ask at this point in time um through you to um Miss Darby if
• 50:00 - 50:30 that is the correct person um has there been any uh further discussion as to where or how we can um acknowledge um um masa harmony and not not only that but the fact that we had the first um the first demonstration there which had over 60,000 people. It was quite remarkable. I was there and all the others that have come uh to to follow as well. Um, I I do agree that we
• 50:30 - 51:00 should have something in place to specify a uh memorial to her and to the fact that um we had this remarkable event take place on this property in Richmond Hill. So through you, Mr. Chair, um forgive my my length. Um is do we have any further comment on this? Um or are we um or um who am I talking to or are okay thank you commissioner still
• 51:00 - 51:30 or or or is this is this something that still is going to be discussed? Commissioner uh through you Mr. Chair. So, we had uh deferred a bit of a reaction to councelor Chan's motion pending the outcome of the civic precinct uh project, but we are right now uh working on a report to come forward to council further to that direction with the proposed site for the memorial. Oh, okay. Thank you. That's
• 51:30 - 52:00 all I needed to know. So, um uh um Mr. Kashani, that's to me I'm satisfied with that then. I think that um uh ultimately I believe that uh we will see a memorial uh there and um I want to thank staff for their attention to that. Very very pleased and um I'll gladly move these recommendations and um again with with thanks to staff for us to finally finally turn this um turn this notable
• 52:00 - 52:30 space into something quite remarkable for the people of Richmond Hill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. We have this uh the staff recommendation on the floor. Next on the speaker's list is Mayor West. Uh thank you. Uh so I I'll just start off by saying that uh when I moved this motion to take a look at at getting this park created, um I had an idea in my mind. This uh what was before us today is a lot better than what I had envisioned. So I want to thank staff for the work that they've done and the
• 52:30 - 53:00 substantial amount of consultation that they've done with the community. Uh I it's very exciting. I I uh I I'm chomping at the bit to see this uh finally created in a in a place where the city can really use a gathering place. Uh and and Dayber Square is is going to be a really uh a jewel I think in Richmond Hill and and in many ways I think it's going to be the real gateway of of our community even though it's geographically within a little bit past our borders. But um I I think the thing
• 53:00 - 53:30 that I love about this is that this park is a real canvas for us to fill in every single day for the community on how we use it. It's the park is the park. I mean, there's some great amenities. It's a real great place, but it's really the stage that that we're setting for the community to come together to celebrate to uh to do all the things that we want to do to have, you know, farmers markets to come on a casual basis to come on a more uh formal group basis. Uh and I
• 53:30 - 54:00 think that that's really fantastic. I I do think about some of the great things that we celebrate in the community and and I mean if the possibility exists someday potentially maybe if the Maple Leafs ever win the Stanley Cup. I I I think that's a bit of a long shot but if it happens maybe we could all gather there. Sorry. Sorry Councelor Thompson. I know you're a fan. Um but I also think that it's a place that we can revitalize uh help to revitalize the village core and it'll be one more step that we've taken as a city to make that area uh
• 54:00 - 54:30 more vital place. Um and I also think the so having said that I think that the stage that we've got there is great and it's going to be a really great location for us to do the things we need to do. But I also think that it the potential is there for this area to evolve and there was talk of that and I know that I've worked uh closely with staff to make sure that you know we do what we can do uh uh right away and and and in a way that is meaningful but there is
• 54:30 - 55:00 potential for us to do things beyond this. And I I for one really would like to see a water feature there and a uh and a uh a permanent skating rink. But I I appreciate the the approach. we get it done and then that's maybe some future thing that we can do uh shortly after that. Um so the I I what I love about this too in in a lot of ways is that you know this is Melasman Squareish type of place where you know we can gather but
• 55:00 - 55:30 it's also more than that. This is a real mix between uh like I I'm trying to find a a a comparator like Christy Pitts where you know I've been there a number of times. It it's very, you know, other than the sports fields, there's some minor amenities there, but just a place for people to gather, right? But this is very Richmond Hill, right? Like we've got the urban paved areas, pathways, lawns, that kind of thing, but we also have these eco patches and places for pollinators. And I really think that
• 55:30 - 56:00 this uh area really reflects a lot of what we know Richmond Hill values. Um, and I so I'm really really excited about that and I think we've we've done a great job in the detailed design. You know, some of the little um tweaks and things that need to be smoothed out will get done. I I agree with counselor uh Tree with the sign is really important. I mean, it really needs to be prominent. It needs to be a place where people can, you know, put it on social media, take pictures and selfies and all that other
• 56:00 - 56:30 stuff. So, we need to look at that and and make sure that we get all the details right. and that'll happen in the next little while. Um, but I I'm also just I in the the time that I have left, I also am really excited to know that, you know, we are very serious about getting done and getting it done soon. Um, you know, the construction we're scheduled to have that start in 2026. You know, I mean, it may take a little bit longer, a little shorter, whatever, but it'll be in the very near future that this park will become a reality.
• 56:30 - 57:00 And as councelor Silibitz uh rightly said, I mean this is taking has taken a very very very long time. And I think uh this plan and the and this motion that is before us right now um really is is a definitive step in actually seeing something at at Major McKenzie and Young Street take place for the benefit of the community and provide probably one of the best and most premier uh gathering places that we really do need in
• 57:00 - 57:30 Richmond Hill um now but also as our community grows. And I I'm really really proud uh to see the day where we can get this uh you know the ribbon cut on this and and start to see people really enjoy that. Aside from the amenities in this park, it really is about what our community does with that park to uh enrich their lives and that's really what this is all about. So I I really thank staff for the work that they've uh done on this. Thank you, Mayor. Next we
• 57:30 - 58:00 have Deputy Mayor Chen. Uh thank you Mr. Chair and uh first of all I'd like to express my uh sincere gratitude to staff uh as uh the mover of the motion set this is a long time coming. Um Dave Barrow civic uh area is that park is um hold a special u um particular uh significance in my heart and because I was there when then uh late um Mayor
• 58:00 - 58:30 Barl actually was present uh when that was designated as day bell place and um the moto he had always guide me is for community. So I think it is a very special meaning and also a special gathering place as many of the speakers who said before me truly this is what Richmond needed. Um and I'm particularly impressed with the Richmond Hill sign.
• 58:30 - 59:00 So forget about going to York Queen Street uh in Toronto is always crowded whereas in here as suggested in the staff report almost,00 parking space would be somewhat available. Uh I would be interested to know where but it's stated on page eight of the staff report. Um so um so hopefully parking is not issue but also encourage people to take uh bicycle as well as uh the uh public transit um in particular uh that
• 59:00 - 59:30 I I'm also um really impressed with the opportunity for future evolution. In fact um Mr. Kasani and uh have came to me after the motion uh that was referred by mover that um that I appreciate my colleague that was adopted um unanimously back in September 2023 and not only give um the memorial to uh
• 59:30 - 60:00 the courageous young lady uh Marsha Gina Mini but also to have some form of um memorial at the time the motion was for uh for a bench and a tree and I understand as the commissioner still was saying we refer to staff and looking for this opportunity as the appropriate place. So I know it's not in the recommendation I think that's what Mr. Kasani was hoping for but I'm very hopeful um that is the opportunity is
• 60:00 - 60:30 both on slide number uh 24 as well as star report on page eight park evolution and actually if I could u empi emphasize the last sentence of that paragraph recommendation I presume we come back from staff on potential future part elements that the city can consider the evolve A barrel civic square as funding partnership partnership sponsorship investment opportunity arise. So see of
• 60:30 - 61:00 the recommendation also including profounding comments to staff for down the road in terms of further design and I hope that staff would we take into consideration. Uh Mr. Kasani did approach me and I facilitate him at a meeting with uh manager um Michelle Dobby here and uh so there was um exchanges of the ex of the interest of the uh of the community that he
• 61:00 - 61:30 represent and I hope that we would take advantage of the evolution and perhaps I can even see uh not uh predetermine the uh um I can see the Hopkins Street intersection perhaps uh that is a a location but is uh something I want to add my comment under um clause C. So I am in support of this motion and I hope that one of these states that's truly this particular area and the park um day
• 61:30 - 62:00 barrel civic uh park all the day and light because I I I I think one of the slide did say slide 17 at night time which we sign will be visible right so um so that would be something truly is a civic pride long I'm coming. Well done. Thank you. I support the motion. Thank you very much. Any more comments regarding 11.8? Seeing none, so
• 62:00 - 62:30 we have uh councelor Sllivis moving the staff recommendation on 11.8. All those in favor oppose. Carry unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Moving forward. Next we have uh 11.10 10 comprehensive zoning bylaw and accessible parking bylaw. Would like to talk about this, Councelor Davidson?
• 62:30 - 63:00 Thank you. Do I move it? Yeah. Okay, I'll move that. Um I just have a couple of questions through you, Mr. Chair, um to staff. The delegate from BAE that came and was talking about the lands at Young and Bloomington. I my understanding is that that's not part of Oakidge's local center. So my question is what does that area have to do with these specific areas that are mentioned in this mo in this report?
• 63:00 - 63:30 Through you, Mr. Chairman. I'll I'll refer the question to manager Ielo. Through you, Mr. Chair. Uh OPA 18.8 8 does include the uh Oakidge's local center up to Bloomington Road on the east side of Young Street. And with respect to baselines, it's specifically along the Young Street corridor, a slim strip of land. And to the east of that is where the block town houses are. So
• 63:30 - 64:00 it is designated and currently in effect for the bay lands. Um, and it extends a little further to right up to the corner of Young and Bloomington, but it is within the designated area and encapsulated by the bylaw. Three, Mr. Chair, I I have to say I am always confused about this because the map I'm looking at right now has it stopping at Warthingington, the red, and then there's another map in black and white that shows thin strips on both sides up
• 64:00 - 64:30 to Bloomington. So, the local center goes, in which case, why is there different zoning north of Worthington? There's up to eight stories, I believe, between King and Worthington, and then we're back to four at the moment up to Bloomington. And I believe you want to change that to six. I could be wrong. I'd like some clarification, please. Again, the the language schedule that you're most likely looking at is the one from 2010 official plan. the recent uh uh OPA that was approved by the region
• 64:30 - 65:00 and by council previously and is in effect extended the local center up to Young and Bloomington. So why is there different zoning north of Warthingington through you Mr. Chair? The What's the zoning from King to Young in the new plan on Young up to Bloomington? Sorry. From King to Bloomington on Young. What is the zoning?
• 65:00 - 65:30 Please schedule A6 to the proposed bylaw for King road is down down at this location and Young Street is in in the center. We're going northwards. The
• 65:30 - 66:00 general local center south of Warington is the local center bridges. Uh same thing north of U there's a break in the OP designation and uh from generally where uh I think that's C plus the bottom end to Bloomington that's being redesated to being ported into the local center and that's in in effect and the proposed zoning in that area is similar
• 66:00 - 66:30 to the balance of the local center as you see along Young Street and along King Mr. Chair. Thank you. Okay. But the zoning is not the same for all the LC-R areas. They're not. It's not the same. It's more from King up than it is King South. So, I'll take this offline, but I continue to be confused about what we're trying to change this very environmentally sensitive area to. I'm confused about what the local center is supposed to accomplish because that is no man's land. There's no stores.
• 66:30 - 67:00 There's nothing there. So, we're going to put high density higher densities there. The other thing is uh I'll talk to you throughout the week before the council meeting, but why is there confusion with uh Bay or any other developer as to what we're doing with multiple zoning? I'm totally bamboozled by what the delegate said. So, I feel like we need a lot more clarification before we certainly before I'm willing to prove this. Well, with respect to the this uh baselines on in this location, uh we'll have to get clarity as to what
• 67:00 - 67:30 portion of the lands they're thinking this is not capturing because it was definitely our intent to capture the bay lands as shown under drop planet subdivision in concert with uh the designation as approved by council and in in effect today. So this would be a minor correction on this on this property. With respect to the lands at the southwest quadrant of Young and Major McKenzie Drive East, sorry, west, the the intent of staff was to allow for
• 67:30 - 68:00 the official plan designation uh policy sight specific uh that were approved a number of years ago and that's reflected in detail in the uh in the text of the bylaw and shown in the uh schedules. um the applicant is uh bringing to our attention an issue with the section 37 that we understood was registered on title and would be moving forward. So we certainly will endeavor to deal with the applicant between now
• 68:00 - 68:30 and uh and council to deal with that issue specifically if depending on the nature of that uh those issues. I may suggest that the that property may be excluded from the bylaw at this point in time. As council is aware, the comprehensive zoning bylaw will be done in two phases. Uh this being the first phase and the subsequent one dealing with the balance of the city will occur at uh towards the end of this year. Uh
• 68:30 - 69:00 between now and that point in time, we can certainly address any of the issues and incorporate the u that property at that point in time. if we cannot achieve it between now and the council meeting. Three, Mr. Chair, thank you. I can't tell you how confusing what you just said is to the average view to the average resident. Oakidge's residents are extremely concerned about densities. I didn't even understand what you just said about two levels of We'll talk this week, but my
• 69:00 - 69:30 understanding is zoning on Young Street, even in the local center, is six stories from Old Colony to King. King going west to Parker, six stories. King North to Worthington, eight stories. I have no idea what Worthington to Bloomington is. So, the messaging has to get more simple. I I know I appear frustrated. It's because I've been sitting here for a few years. I still don't understand the zoning issues. So, we have to simplify it. If we expect the city to
• 69:30 - 70:00 rep to change and have residents come along for the ride, I don't even understand what you're talking about and we've been talking about it. So, anyway, I'll leave it there. Um, thank you and I look forward to discussing it with you this week. Thank you. So, I wonder uh if you would like to move to stock recommendation or not. No. Okay. So, I'll take to the next person, councelor Civitz, and then Mayor West. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, yes, I'll move the recommendations um as as they stand
• 70:00 - 70:30 because they still have to come back to council next week for a final uh decision. Um, I do want to acknowledge what Mr. Andre said in his delegation and um uh I we don't have to repeat the whole thing because through councelor Davidson's discussion uh Mr. Yellow, you answered a lot of my questions. So, um just to be clear through you um Mr. Chair, there will be discussions between this point and next week with uh with Goodmans, with Mr. Andre with regards to
• 70:30 - 71:00 the bay lands which are in Ward 5 and um and and then a f any decision we can make will then come forward to next council meeting or or will it come forward as we move the comprehensive zoning bylaw forward? Thank you. Uh to you, Mr. Chair again if we can resolve the matter between today and next uh next council meeting then we will certainly incorporate the resolutions within this form of the
• 71:00 - 71:30 bylaw. If we cannot I would suggest that the lands be excluded at this point in time and that we will deal with them uh subsequently as we bring forward the balance of the comprehensive zoning bylaw. That's some for you. Thank you and thank you very much. And just one more question through you m Mr. chair at if it's through manager or not. Um because we are referring here to an OM settlement from many years ago which is in place and section 37
• 71:30 - 72:00 benefits which according to that agreement is in place but we don't deal with section 37s anymore. Uh we we deal with we deal with something else. So, so it's how if it's possible to have that this a minor discussion here uh also for for the good of the public. How do we how do we balance that that there's a section 37 discussion there and decision
• 72:00 - 72:30 but at the moment we no longer deal with section 37s we go another route for community benefits. Um can you respond to that at all? I don't want to put you in on on the spot, but well through you, Mr. Chair, the um the issue is to make sure that the section 37 in fact is maintained because it did go through a process. Yes, it was our understanding that was registered on title and would continue, but to to the gentleman's point, it there might be a legal issue
• 72:30 - 73:00 with that. So as part of our discussion, we will resolve to make sure that the previous section 37 is in place so that they don't have to go through a different process in the future. Okay. Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. So um thank you very much, Mr. Yellow. And um Mr. Andre, if if if you if you wish to discuss anything with me on this, please don't hesitate to contact my office. Um I'll gladly move these recommendations forward to council next week. Thank you, Councelor Lou.
• 73:00 - 73:30 Thank you, Mayor West. Uh, thank you. Uh, Commissioner, what uh year did, uh, BAFE get the OM approval on the lands on Major McKenzie and Young? Yeah. Uh, through you, uh, Mr. Chair. I believe that was in 2014. Okay. Okay. Uh, so, you know, I got to be honest. I I'm I find it a little rich that you'd be you coming to us, you know, in a in a last minute hurry when
• 73:30 - 74:00 all of that would have been resolved if if between 2014 and now the what you went to the OM for got approved at the OM and it still hasn't been built. So I I am having a bit of a hard time with that. I'm just being honest. I do appreciate the fact that we're looking at uh you know resolving this because obviously we you know we want to make this the best that it can be but um you know I really hope we can resolve this between now and then because I think
• 74:00 - 74:30 removing a specific landowner's piece of land when we're you know this encompasses many many many many pieces of land I think is actually very unfair. Um, so can you explain to me, Commissioner, what is it exactly on the on the lands at Major McKenzie and Young that c like can you explain what it is that that the delegate was concerned about? I I'm not entirely sure I
• 74:30 - 75:00 understand that. I mean, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that this has taken a very very very very long time for anything to happen on that land and that there still nothing has happened on that land. Uh, through you, Mr. chair and I don't want to speak for Mr. Honors, but from what I understand with his submission and what he said today basically is they have a series of approvals related to those various parcels. Uh they want to make sure those are carried forward and they're just concerned that there may be some technicalities uh with the way the bylaw is structured now that would negate some of those things that they have. Uh
• 75:00 - 75:30 certainly we will uh have dialogue with with him and his client uh to determine what those issues are and we can address those hopefully in the bylaw next week to tweak the bylaw to address that and if not as Mr. as manager Elo said uh it'll be something that we can uh resolve later but it is something I think they just want they're concerned that they may there may be certain things that they've received approval for that will go away if the bylaw will change things for them and that's what we need to clarify in our discussions with them. All right. Thank you. Thank
• 75:30 - 76:00 you, councelor tree. Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one question very simple regarding to the magic uh east side. Instead of the village core OPA, there's another piece of land on the I believe it's Arnold Street or the McKenzie uh hospital area. There is a big block. I never see that one in any map before until this OPA or this report comes. Do you have any more details regarding to the Magic West? Not
• 76:00 - 76:30 along Young Street. Okay. Magic West. There a big chunk of the blocks there. I don't know exactly what I want. Is that Arnold Street? Magic West close to the hospital. Yeah, between the hospital and young. I don't know what exact that one is. It never show up before now.
• 76:30 - 77:00 Just this is um what I mention north side just west of Young Street. Yeah, I think this is Arnold Street. This is Trunk Street. Yeah, Trench Street, but that's the hospital. Why this one in here? So, I'm just wondering because it's far away from Young Street. The It's currently designated as a local center under the official plan. That's why it's been incorporated uh into into the B.
• 77:00 - 77:30 It's a local center is magic also is hospital. We do have a lot of hospital high buildings there. Is that case? Well, this is this is directly on either side of trend street and the piece to the south that captures the one point of property. So this is specifically designated as a local center within the OP and we incorporated apologize this is the height. This one's dealing with the heights but uh it is uh currently designated and we're implementing the
• 77:30 - 78:00 policies of the official plan with respect to that site. Okay. I'm just wondering because on left side is hospital. Yeah, I know they might have a new project coming on the west side. On east side that's the Alexandra Mack hospital uh Alexander M high school. So that piece is a big one is the parking lot. I'm just wondering why we include where where are DSP properties in this design as well. Again, the these are encapsulating all
• 78:00 - 78:30 of the lands designated by the official plan with respect to the lands that you see on either side of TR street and also the one parcel on the south side of me. I think S side makes makes sense because that lot of habians there but north side the big one here one side is hospital another one is a school I don't know how many chances we're going to have more project there so yeah through you Mr. Just to just to clarify a little bit, um there there's past history to this. Uh
• 78:30 - 79:00 even when we were doing the 2010 official plan, the hospital did approach us to see about different opportunities of of uh what they could do on their site. Uh most of them would have been institutionally related, but it would have required additional density. So that's why they were included in the local center and same thing with the school site as well. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I believe me that makes sense. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um regional and local counselor depala. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I I think it's I think it's absolutely critical uh
• 79:00 - 79:30 that we ensure as requested by the delegate with regards to the bay lands that that uh they're they're not losing any any designations that they have today. Um I think that's that seems to be the request and you know it may be um it may be a broader request than that but where it pertains to um protecting current um designations that have been uh one at the OM or or decisions that
• 79:30 - 80:00 have been made by this council. Um, I I think that's that's important that they um they they uh still have the status quo on their lands when when uh that's not the intention of the the comprehensive bylaw changes to have um to to change any any current uh designation. So, um I'm going to probably need help from the clerk because uh I don't think the
• 80:00 - 80:30 committee of the whole can can uh can can direct staff. I think we're just going to have to um uh put it out there and and just just rely on those discussions being made from from now until then. Um, my preference would be to amend the motion to to um to also include discussions uh take place between our staff and BA so that uh they
• 80:30 - 81:00 um without precluding what those discussions would ultimately arrive at, but that um that the the motion be accepted as it is. But it also include a direction uh to to have negotiations between BA and our staff. Now I don't think committee the whole can make that part of the motion because it's a recommendation to council. That's all we're doing is making recommendations here uh for next week.
• 81:00 - 81:30 But I'm just hopeful that th those discussions will take place and um you know I hope between now and then that we can get some more concrete um information as to what in fact this new comprehensive zoning change is going to uh what what impact there is going to be on those those lands as was mentioned by the delegate. Now, aside from that, I'm
• 81:30 - 82:00 happy to uh support moving this forward to council, supporting the recommendation on the floor and uh we're really looking forward to this this long exercise uh coming to a conclusion. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone would like to comment on the first round? Councelor Thompson. Yes, thank you. uh through the chair. Um over the past week, I guess we received a number of similar requests, not only from Goodman's, but also Goldberg, Malone, Given Parsons, and
• 82:00 - 82:30 also build and I was uh trying to fully understand this. I I did reach out to staff and for the most part, if I understood correctly, uh there are provisions uh as part of the transition to try and accommodate uh the bulk of these, but not necessarily uh all of them if I understood correctly and correct me if I'm wrong that um there could be certain uh exceptions
• 82:30 - 83:00 uh talking about setbacks or things like that where the current what we're looking at now those setbacks could be actually less stringent than what they had themselves currently. Is that correct? Uh through you Mr. Chair. The intent of the comprehensive zoning bylaw is to be more permissive as far as land uses and
• 83:00 - 83:30 less restrictive as far as development standards. Most of the development standards that you see in the uh contained in this bylaw are less restrictive than even for example the BA bylaw is uh shrink wrapped to the decimal point if you will. That's not the intent of this document is to try and free up as much uh uh development opportunity to the applicants as possible. With respect to the uh first point that you made, the comp the bylaw
• 83:30 - 84:00 does contain transitional policies that would allow any application applicant that has a site plan, a subdivision, drop plan of subdivision or drop plan of condominium or even a minor variance approval to uh proceed to a building permit based on the current zoning today and not under this document. and their transition the transition starts uh in April 5th of 2012 when the official plan was approved up to uh three years hence
• 84:00 - 84:30 the approval of this document by council. So they'll have an additional three years provided that they have an active site plan draft plan of subdivision uh draft plan a condominium uh or minor variance to proceed. Okay. Thank you. And through the chair. And I I I like that we're hearing that there is uh an end date, which we don't seem to have on a lot of other applications throughout here. So, um you
• 84:30 - 85:00 know, and I think that's why we're quite often the situation that we're in here. Um those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you. Now, going to the second round. Councelor Davidson, don't be afraid. Uh through you, Mr. here. This is a quick one. Uh to staff, there was a suggestion that I was looking at an old map. I draw your attention to attachment number nine. I don't know if you can see it, but it shows the local zone ending at
• 85:00 - 85:30 Worthington. I see nothing up to Bloomington. So, my continued confusion with the Oakidge's local center is the maps I see that show it ending here. This is the map attached to this motion today. If that's an old map, I got it from this attachment. So that that uh that is the current 2010 uh language schedule to the official plan, right? So I don't see that labeled here, right? It's not consolidated uh with the uh
• 85:30 - 86:00 current approvals that go from Warthingington up to Bloomington. Um the the 18.8 would have added to that land. So why isn't that map on here? Why isn't that map an attachment through you, Mr. share like this is the confusion. I see an old map. I don't see the new map on your attachments because there is no new map yet. It's not been consolidated has not been consolidated. The official plan has not been consolidated to include um
• 86:00 - 86:30 not only those lands but even other um secondary plans like North Leslie or Westwley, they're also not consolidated into the one land use. There are separate documents uh at the moment. Mr. Chair, you just showed us a black and white map that showed Baylands and one at Coons and Young as part of local center. If we're talking about approving local center, where are those maps? Those this on this item, this those were
• 86:30 - 87:00 incorporated as part of the uh previous staff report at the uh when we did the presentation to uh committee uh council public hearing. It would have been attached to that. This is strictly a recommendation. Um, so yes, I can provide the secondary plans. Uh, and there's four of them specifically that amended the the uh 2010 official plan to add and also delete lands from other areas of the corridor. So it but we do
• 87:00 - 87:30 not have a consolidated uh land use schedule at this point in time. Three, Mr. Chair, I'm so confused. So my suggestion moving forward is of course we'll talk but please don't bring meetings to this meeting. Don't please don't bring maps to this meeting that show BAE and this other land as part of local center and then have attached for the public a map that doesn't show that I'm these two different things and what we did at a public meeting or whatever. We're talking about the local center
• 87:30 - 88:00 brokerages today. I would like to see every relevant map that helps me and all the residents understand what that is. So, we'll take this offline, but my my murkiness continues. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Cipetsz on second round. Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I I just have one follow-up question um also in followup to what regional counselor um Depalo was saying uh through you to our clerk. Um do we need to direct staff in
• 88:00 - 88:30 any further way um with regards to this discussion now that's going to take place between now and next council meeting as as to the bay plans I just don't want us to miss anything here because it ultimately is a legal question thank you to the chair uh committee hall cannot direct staff to do anything that would have to go next to council. Um I
• 88:30 - 89:00 would suggest that um if more discussions need to happen uh this would probably be a referral back to staff for them to do something whether it's negotiations or whatever those discussions happen to be but uh I think the commissioner planning building service would be able to talk about timelines. I don't know if there's anything regarding that in here, but as it is stands today, um the committee hall cannot direct staff to do anything.
• 89:00 - 89:30 Okay. Thank you. Um thank you. Uh to you, uh Mr. Chair, to um our commissioner, Commissioner Galanis, are you satisfied with what's coming forward here um with further discussions between now and council through you, Mr. Chair? Uh yes, I am. I mean, the issue has been raised. uh we're here to to get the comments of committee the whole we've received those comments and I can give you personal assurances that we will indeed be having those discussions with BAE and we'll uh if need be we'll report
• 89:30 - 90:00 back accordingly uh either that or there will be a change in the bylaw and we can advise council either through a memo or whatever it can be early next week to let you know what changes uh were made. Okay. Thank you. That's greatly appreciated. that makes it uh much much clearer for me and um and to place the city in the best possible position. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Anyone would like to speak on the second round? Seeing none, we have a motion moved by councelz on 11.10. All those in favor
• 90:00 - 90:30 opposed carry unanimously. Thank you. Moving ahead, next is uh 12.1 uh councelor Davidson. Um members motion just to uh make sure everybody is clear we got to deal with all those agenda items with delegations first and then we'll go to the separate discussion by council members. So so next is 12.1 councelor Davidson. Thank you um
• 90:30 - 91:00 through Mr. Chair. Um I'll just read a bit of my motion. Um whereas the city of Richmond Hill is committed to ensuring its communications are conducted on platforms that uphold the city's core values of respect, inclusivity, integrity, and responsible communication. And uh whereas uh X under the ownership of Elon Musk has demonstrated actions and policies that no longer align with these values. Uh
• 91:00 - 91:30 I'm asking for a report from staff to come back and consider having the city not communicate on X. Um that includes emergency services. Um to review alternative platforms that prioritize accountability, accessibility, public engagement. Um provide a t a timeline to transition if we do decide to leave X and uh formulate a public engagement strategy. Uh also we need to look at data on current use. Is uh is this a
• 91:30 - 92:00 massive loss in terms of communication to residents? I am cognizant that we want residents to uh hear what the city has to say uh and that uh staff present a report with their own recommendations by April 16th. Um, I wanted to also mention a story in Reuters on February 27th, 2025 that the uh, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is investigating
• 92:00 - 92:30 uh, X and will focus on the platform's compliance with federal privacy laws with respect to the collection and use and disclosure of Canadian personal information to train AI models. This city is extremely um dedicated to protecting privacy and making sure that we're not open to any kind of hacks and I think we need to take pause and ask ourselves if X is going to provide us with the kind of security um that the city extols. So that's my motion. I
• 92:30 - 93:00 don't think X aligns with the city's core values including DEI diversity, equity, and inclusion. and I hope my fellow counselors will support this report. We're not making a decision today. We're asking for staff to report back. Thank you. Thank you, councelor Tree. Well, thank you so uh so much, Mr. Chair. So um I just want ask confirm with our clerk or our uh uh chief security
• 93:00 - 93:30 officers what type of information we are sharing through uh Twitter X are they confidential public internal etc what type of information we're sharing now I'm not sure anyone can share that maybe question Adams uh through the chair to councelor tree. Uh for right now, we're sharing information on weather events, any emergency, um any events that are going
• 93:30 - 94:00 on in the city. So everything that's public uh that I'm aware of is what we're sharing currently. Okay. So there's no difference whenever Twitter or X or Instagram or Facebook, they are all public accessible, right? Through through the chair to council tree. I don't believe X is part of U meta. No. Okay. Okay. Sure. So, um I I believe uh because for our residents, so they do have their own uh
• 94:00 - 94:30 favor tools to uh get information channels. Uh we are public services. Uh we cannot determine or make a judge what type of communication channels our residents will prefer. Whenever you choose uh X or uh Twitter or Facebook, this is really depends on the resident's favor and as a public services we providing the public information to all the residents. The purpose of our
• 94:30 - 95:00 connection is trying to get engage get notified majority of the residents as as much as possible. Uh in this case uh platform is only a medium. So uh it really depends on the residence instead of city because if they want using Twitter they can log their shared information to uh Twitter or X also for Facebook or Instagrams they also collect
• 95:00 - 95:30 the customers email address and others for example data birth and not only Twitter or X using AI or other data analysis Facebook, Instagram all they are using the same thing as well. So from uh client perspective I I believe uh this is their choices but from a city's perspective we should not be for any uh this platform is good or that platform is good. Our purpose is trying
• 95:30 - 96:00 to outreach as much as the license uh and we send out notice to them. So for this motion in front of them, I don't care is alam mask or whatever but their platform is accessible. That's the purpose uh our uh public service should do. That's my opinion. Thank you. Thank you. So before I go to the next speaker um just to uh make everybody aware that the director of communication, Miss Candace uh Dappy is online. If you have
• 96:00 - 96:30 any question you can uh ask her. Next on next is councelor Slivitz. Thank you Mr. chair. Um I I'm going to support um this uh member motion from uh Council Davidson. I think she brings up some very good points and again this is just for us to receive a report that's not not to make any decisions here uh here today. So I look forward to that to that report. um uh council Davidson's first two whereases whereas the city of
• 96:30 - 97:00 Richmondial is committed to ensuring his communications are conducted on platforms that uphold its core values of respect inclusivity integrity and responsible communication and whereas XCorporation under the ownership of Elon Musk has demonstrated actions and policies that no longer in line with these values. Um I I fully support that. I have not used on a personal note, I have not used my Twitter account since Elon Musk uh purchased it and turned it into into X. Um I do I completely
• 97:00 - 97:30 support what has been said here in the whereases and I think it's demonstrated day after day after day and uh we do need to make sure that we are aligned um with a um with with a social media um outlet such as uh Twitter X um that is aligned with with um our um our beliefs and opinions as well. So um I look forward to getting this report. Thank you councelor Davidson. Thank you, Mr.
• 97:30 - 98:00 Chair. Thank you. Region and Local Counselor Depala. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I I have a question of I guess of Miss Debbie uh regarding the city's use of acts. Uh I I I know as an individual you're required to give some information to these uh platforms to set up an account but when the when a corporation or when the city sets up an account what uh what information are are we required to give to to this platform what what
• 98:00 - 98:30 what do they want of us to set up an account from from you Mr. speaker. There is no specific uh you know confidential information when you're setting up an account. It's just the organization's uh information. Um there's no sort of data or security breach of information. It is uh a type of platform that does not require login. Um so the advantage um that over other
• 98:30 - 99:00 social media accounts is that you don't actually need a Twitter account to read any of the X uh communications. you can simply just look it up and read it and you don't actually have to have a X account uh to read any of the communications but there are no specific uh data or information that's required to set up an X account. Anybody can set one up uh quite easily. Okay, that that that's what I thought. So, you know, if that's that's the case, I I I don't understand how the use of X
• 99:00 - 99:30 by the city of Richmond Hill would compromise any of our citizens confidential information. I I don't I don't understand how using this platform will in any way uh cause cause there to be any problems with with uh confidentiality. So, I I look forward to this report coming forward. I I I hope I hope there's a lot more detail about what
• 99:30 - 100:00 uh what what the owner of this platform has actually done that we disagree with. The bar would have to be pretty high for us to start excluding um media sources based on their ownership. I don't think it's, you know, something we we've done in the past. Um you know, if we're going to discriminate against a platform because uh we don't like I don't know if it's the views of the owner. I I'm not sure. I just It's pretty vague in the whereas what what uh what the owner of
• 100:00 - 100:30 this platform has has done that that uh causes any problems with with any of the policies that we have here in Richmond Hill. um you know, if it's clearly spelt out and and um you know, if it if it truly passes a a reasonable bar, um that that we can apply to to all other platforms. Uh you know, we're I
• 100:30 - 101:00 don't know if we're investigating Mr. Zuckerberg or owners of other platforms and uh it it just seems like a a a dangerous path to to go down. Uh I I think as uh Council Tree said, what we want to do is put information out there on as many varied platforms as possible and allow our residents to choose which uh which platforms they're comfortable using to get their information. and that um as a
• 101:00 - 101:30 local government, we just want to spread information far and wide and um I I'll tell you I'm I'm really at a loss to understand what uh what what's the problem with this platform and um I I don't think it's I don't think it's up to this council to to uh I don't know I don't will punish
• 101:30 - 102:00 certain owners of of media sources be because we disagree with them because that disagreement would have to you would have to go would you know almost unanimous. uh there's there's two sides of every story and there's you know two two two ways of approaching every uh every political issue and there's opinions on both sides and I I I don't know if we've got unanimity on in this case on on um
• 102:00 - 102:30 on the one side or against the individual actor I'll have to see the report and and understand much more clearly what what what the accusation s are um but you we've got a you know a foreign individual who's who's um acting according to how the the the population of that foreign country has directed him to to do so. So uh that's
• 102:30 - 103:00 all I have to say on this and I look forward to the report. Thank you. Thank you Deputy Mayor Chan. Thank you very much. Um Mr. chair. Um given the um I guess the tension um between um Canada and United States and given the the um current uh situation. I think I appreciate that um where the move is coming from and uh I'm not opposed to
• 103:00 - 103:30 having a report because as uh council mentioned we're not going to stop using it today but provide uh the facts and so on and um I do have some resuation about some of the wear statement um but nonetheless I I would say at this point in time conceptually um that I'd like to see a report come back as Well perhaps you Mr. chair. Um perhaps it may be uh
• 103:30 - 104:00 the director can every may help. Um just off my head it was at least about four to five different ax account or trader account the city has been using and including economic development small business enterprise center uh as also mentioned fire emergency services um and but the main one I believe is my Richmond Hill is it not through Mr. chair through that's correct through
• 104:00 - 104:30 through the chair that that's correct. There are five active X accounts. Um the corporate account um which is through the city um has about 13,500 followers. Um our fire department is our second largest X account with 5,000 uh followers. Um and then we have economic development uh Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Center and the Richmond Hill Center for the Performing Arts, all which have smaller X accounts as well. Great. Thank you. Um, now I noted that
• 104:30 - 105:00 maybe I missed something. I believe our among the uh accounts you just mentioned, director, I believe is only my Richmond Hill is verified. Um so from my end I would like to know through the chair to your director when we signed up for the well we meaning the corporation signed up for verify account is there any particular rights and obligations and terms and conditions uh to the um in my in your mind that we
• 105:00 - 105:30 might uh or council next week make the decision then um or today making recommendation council should consider to you, Mr. Chair. Um, just to clarify, are you asking if there's a risk of us losing a verified account if we would be able to get it back again? Uh, well, this is something I have in mind as well. But I'm saying that because right now my Richmond is a verified account, which meaning we have
• 105:30 - 106:00 signed up for quote and unquote premium status. So in signing it up, I say any particular terms on conditions that uh committee and council members should be aware of through you, Mr. Chair. So maybe there is maybe I'd like to have an answer. Uh if not today, but at least next week. Sure. Through the chair, we can include that in the report, but the short answer is no. There there wouldn't be um that as an issue. um there's no obligation or um or anything like that
• 106:00 - 106:30 that would be at risk um if a decision was made to suspend or to close the account. Um but we can certainly include that in the report as well. Thank you. Um and um I I would support the motion to get a report back. Uh I'm wondering uh not making an amendment or anything would that not be also um sometime to think about in the report might touch on if or maybe you need a
• 106:30 - 107:00 different motion is to include other form of social media which is also US space such as matter um which usually meaning that Facebook Instagram so I'm just leave it as that but uh in the meantime I don't want to complicate a discussion Um so thank you Mr. Chair for me verify because I'm just mindful by subscribing to the premium um have we signed up for something we should be aware of. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone on the first
• 107:00 - 107:30 round seeing none second round councelor Davidson thank you um through Mr. Chair, I completely appreciate the discussion with my colleagues and I'm I'm cognizant of free speech, but this doesn't say that nobody can use X in Richmond Hill. This doesn't say that counselors can't use X. This says that the city needs to evaluate what tools we're using and if the tools we're using and the services we're using, do they align with what the city holds dear, including diversity, equity, and inclusion. And the bars
• 107:30 - 108:00 higher for the city. We have to take the high road. we have to do the things that are right in terms of proving we mean what we say about DEI and everything else. So, uh I'm not going to repeat some of the I know there was a question what what has been said about it that we would object to. I encourage my colleagues before the report comes back if we agree to have a report to Google DEI and the owner of X and find out what has been said. But, um it's just a
• 108:00 - 108:30 report and I appreciate the discussion. I'm sure it will continue even when we get the report back. So, thank you. Thank you. All right, we have a motion um by Councelor Davidson on 12.1. Um all those in favor oppose. Carry unanimously. Thank you. Moving forward, it's uh item 11.6 pulled by councel tree. Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Uh regarding to the 12.6, six I know there
• 108:30 - 109:00 is going to be a new street actually my residents in war two of war four realize their shortcut so when they traveling to Costco or can nearby so they using that one as shortcut my question is not for that specific street but uh because the north side going to connect with 19th street so so far 19th street is only one single lane uh but on the lly side there are already been two lanes so my question here There is a uh any pl from
• 109:00 - 109:30 region going to uh widen the 19th street. So this street neo street I think is a mccury uh also 19th street lastly can be a two length. So we have any timelines for that. Thank you. Who would like to take that through the chair to counselor tree? Thank you for the question. The York region uh it's part of their capital works program. They're planning on commencing construction this spring with anticipated completion of 2027. The
• 109:30 - 110:00 limits are from Bay View to Leslie. Thank you so much. Would you like to move the staff recommendation on 11.6? Yes, I would do. All right. So, any comments? Seeing none, all those in favor? Oppose carry unanimously. Next is 11.7. Um, pulled by councelor Thompson. Uh thank you uh through the chair. I I will be uh moving th this motion and uh but I did want to just make a few
• 110:00 - 110:30 comments and I definitely want to thank staff and the applicant for all their work to address the various design and technical matters uh over the past seven years. I mean the council public meeting for this particular application was actually held in January of 2018. Uh there's been five subsequent revised submissions since the original application, but the property is is unique in that the lands are designated
• 110:30 - 111:00 both regional mixed use on the westerly portion at Young Street and natural core on the easterly portion and consequently that easterly portion contains a uh proincially significant wetland and a woodland. Additionally, the lands are located within an area of high aquifer vulnerability whereas the westerly portion is located within uh PMTSA the protected major transit system area
• 111:00 - 111:30 which is intended to accommodate additional density along transit corridors. So you can see the difficulty of trying to uh navigate the you know this particular land when you're trying to uh develop. So on the one hand the applicant has tried to maintain improve and restore the ecological integrity of the natural features while on the other hand they're supposed to propose a development with densities that support uh the higher order transit
• 111:30 - 112:00 services. It's also worth noting that to protect these environmental features the applicant is providing a 30 meter buffer to the uh provinially significant wetlands and a 20 meter buffer to the woodland. while somehow at the same time managing to propose densities appropriate for the PMTSA and at the same time meet the affordable housing requirements. So further the applicant plans to convey the environmental features and associated buffers to the
• 112:00 - 112:30 city as part of the site plan process to ensure uh their long-term protection. So I'm really in favor of what we're seeing here today. Um, if there was anything I wasn't a big fan of, that's the uh the parking. It's slightly less than one uh spot per uh unit. However, as as we all know in a PMTSA, uh you know, there are no minimum parking requirements. So, but bottom
• 112:30 - 113:00 line, uh I don't think we could possibly get a better outcome of these lands and I applaud the work of the staff and the applicant for pulling this all together. I will certainly be in full support of this application. Those are my comments. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone has any comments on 11.7? Seeing none, moved by councelor Thompson. All those in favor opposed carry unanimously. Next we have 11.9 pulled by councelor tree. Okay.
• 113:00 - 113:30 Thank you Mr. Chair. So my question regarding to this 11.9 is is this the regional policy just for affordable rental buildings is policy for cross entire region through you Mr. Chairman. Yes that's my understanding that it is applicable regionwide. So if I read this one clearly is 11.9 specifically for one of the deferring I forgot the name of that
• 113:30 - 114:00 builder. So can I say all the future rental buildings they do qualified for uh DC uh deferral any all of them or as long you want apply for deferral you can do it through you Mr. chairman there's specific criteria to be met for the deferral. So as long as they meet those criteria with respect uh to getting the actual deferral then they would be eligible. Okay. U good. So next question
• 114:00 - 114:30 is this only for the rental um proposals or is going to be another type because I do receive one of the applicants from my word looking for a deferral as well. So uh what type of conditions they are qualified deferring just for rental through you Mr. Chair I I want uh to refer that question to staff uh just to give a specific answer to the counselor if I could
• 114:30 - 115:00 this through the chair uh the York Region policy is just for affordable rental. Thank you so much. Thank you. Are you moving the recommendation? Okay, we have a mover and then next speaker is councelor Shu. Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh I have only one minor questions uh through the chair. Uh the report shows that the deferral of the DC payment for eligible applicants will be included in the financial forecast documents. So does it mean that the funds will be drawn from the DC reserve fund or capital budget or
• 115:00 - 115:30 elsewhere through the chair? through the car uh chair to councelor Shu. Um not certain at this time. We can get back to you refer back to staff take it offline unless counselor or sorry unless uh yeah so our treasurer um miss Lee. Thank you through the charity councelor Shu. So these funds will not be funded from the reserve fund. All we're saying is
• 115:30 - 116:00 because the collection of DCs will be deferred, we'll have to factor that into our forecast so that we can expect these funds to be coming in 20 years from now. Thank you. Any more comments on 11.9? Seeing none, moved by councelor tree. All those in favor opposed carry unanimously. And next we are 11.11 also pulled by council tree
• 116:00 - 116:30 development agreement shorty spawn uh bonds policy. Go ahead. Hey thank you so much Mr. Mr. Chair. I had question regarding to what's the purpose of this agreement shorty bonds policy. I know it's coming from Ontario government. So just wondering what's the functionality or purpose this policy. Thank you.
• 116:30 - 117:00 treasurer. Sorry, it's through the charity counselor tree. So, this is essentially another financial security uh aside from letters of credit that is already an existing form of security and cash. Um so, essentially shy bonds can act as another form of financial security. So which means if the applicants has no they must confirm they
• 117:00 - 117:30 do have the finance or budgetings to pay whenever DC or other building uh costs is that right or just insurance the city won't lose in some cases there might be bankruptcy in the middle of the construction through the charity counselor tree so we do not um use financial securities for DCs. So DCS are are expected to be paid when they're due. So these types of securities are typically for let's say a
• 117:30 - 118:00 servicing agreement. So if the developer is to do either external and internal work that's related to uh municipal infrastructure, we would require that they post a security. So in the event that you know they default then we would draw from the security which is uh has historically been a letter of credit that we would then draw from the LC so that we have the funds that are needed to complete the project. In most cases we don't draw once the project is
• 118:00 - 118:30 complete we do the inspection and we return the funds back um in the form of the LC. So the the shy bond is no different. It's another mechanism that is um that is required now through provincial legislation and regulation that municipalities have to accept and this works the same way like an LC in which when the municipality calls on them as in on demand um the funds have to come to us. Got it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other comments on
• 118:30 - 119:00 11.11? Seeing none, all those in favor moved by councelor tree. Oppose carry unanimously. Next is uh item 11.13 responsible pet ownership and animal regulation bylaw enactment also pulled by council tree. Okay, let me start. I believe there are a lot of counselor has questions. Okay, great. So my first question, how much money for the license of cat?
• 119:00 - 119:30 Commissioner, Mr. Chair, I believe we did put an estimate in the uh financial section of the staff report. Yes, $10,000 we estimated. That is a really kind of ballpark estimate though. We don't really uh have too much to go on. Yeah, I look at the appendix five uh attachment four uh from there. Look, oh
• 119:30 - 120:00 no, sorry, the attachment five. Uh it looks like we're a cat licensing around $45 sum as everything together, right? So if you have a cat for licensing for $45, that's only on the city's part, right? Do they need any for example vaccines? What's this certificate or CAD
• 120:00 - 120:30 license will require? Because it's $45 as I understand is from city perspective but you have to qualify vaccine will be available whatever available how much money going to be that somehat for one of the owner $1,000 $500 for a total uh through you Mr. Chair. So yeah um one of the requirements of our licensing is is usually you have to confirm that you have a rabies shot for your dog. Um, we
• 120:30 - 121:00 we would have similar requirements for cats when they apply. I'm not sure uh if we have the specific list of requirements. Is that what you're looking for? Like what what's required to get a license? Yeah. And also the money. I will defer Melinda. Do you have that? Defer that to Melinda, the manager of uh bylaw policy.
• 121:00 - 121:30 through the chair. Um, in regards to requirements for cat tag licensing, um, there is pricing depending on whether or not the cat is neutered or spayed, we would need proof of vaccination, um, proof of spay or neuter. Uh, if there is a microchip information regarding that as well, that does not have to be shared though. And then of course owner updating that information would require change of owner information or
• 121:30 - 122:00 address and then of course the end of life of the animal. Okay. Uh my next question regarding to the the the the penalties I look at the penalties. So each of those missings around $200 to $300 whenever you have the uh offendings. If you have seven animals, you sum up that seven animals at home as maximum for a lot of the owners if they
• 122:00 - 122:30 adopted certain animals losing or lose control going to be a very very uh financial impact just in case whenever cat or dog lost right as another part mentioned. So the dogs 60% maybe return back home but for cats very low numbers in this case it going to be a lot of penalties. So I'm just concern too much for the people who
• 122:30 - 123:00 resolve cats or dogs and then uh in case of loss or any others that this is my uh question normal questions concern. Thank you. I don't have I don't need answer. Thank you. Are you moving the staff recommendation on 11.13? You have three more seconds. I'm I move for discussion. Okay. So, you're not moving. Okay,
• 123:00 - 123:30 that's fine. Okay. Um, next we have Councelor Civitz. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll move the recommendations. Thank you. Um I just wanted to thank staff um for bringing this forward and um we've been working on this for quite some time and um I also want to thank staff for uh spending time to have discussions with me uh to make sure that I I'm fully aware and understand all the circumstances here. I want to thank Mr. Stewart for his letter and Mr. Tagot. I just want to refer to
• 123:30 - 124:00 um to his letter also. Thank you for sending this communication into us. Um while I I understand um what is being said in his letter, I believe that what is very necessary to understand here and as it has been explained to me is that this this is really about outdoor cats. This is not about indoor cats. So it's about those cats that roam. Uh should
• 124:00 - 124:30 you choose to let your cat roam, and quite frankly you shouldn't. Um you should keep them indoors. But if you do let them outside, this particular license will be very very helpful to this city um should they uh should they dis should they be found uh in any condition. So um through you, Mr. Chair, I'd like to go to our commissioner. Um, am I correct in stating that, uh,
• 124:30 - 125:00 Commissioner Steel? Is there anything further you want to add? Uh, through you, Mr. Chair, I I think you're correct. There are additional benefits of cat licensing specifically for dogs, sorry, cats that are outdoors. And that would be one of our our main reasons for recommending licensing. There's there's also uh several other reasons. It um it helps to support it's it's kind of like a user fee for people who have pets to contribute to our our
• 125:00 - 125:30 animal services. Uh and and additional reasons as well that uh many uh animal welfare groups support such as it reduces the number of cats in our shelters, they get returned quicker, that sort of thing. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, so yeah, I mean I'll support this and I'll move the recommendations and um, uh, just as a, you know, little personal PSA, your cat should not be roaming outdoors. Your cat should be indoors. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Councelor Davidson.
• 125:30 - 126:00 Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I I do think responsible pet ownership affects the entire community. I fully support this uh these changes. I do want to ask what I I have a couple questions that can be answered at the same time. Why are we why are we focusing on cats now? And can you explain what happens if a cat gets picked up by animal services and the sort of the humane part of this this
• 126:00 - 126:30 licensing idea that it's it's not necessarily a money grab. It's more about the humane treatment of of animals and figuring out whose cat it is. U three you Mr. Chair so I'll start and uh to answer the question why are we focusing on cats now I I don't think that we're our intention at all was to focus on cats actually um these bylaws uh haven't been reviewed collectively or comprehensively for over 20 years. So,
• 126:30 - 127:00 our intention was to review the the collection of animal services bylaws as a whole and to bring them up with uh to uh contemporary or modern standards with our other uh municipalities. Uh and now I've forgotten your next part of your question uh to explain how this actually helps the animals that animals that are picked up are hard to track I assume or right three years to chair. So, if the animal is wearing a license, they become part of what's called our free ride home
• 127:00 - 127:30 program, which means that instead of the animal services officer taking them to the kennel and putting them in the kennel, where someone has to actually find the right kennel and and and pay for being taken there, uh, a cat with a license is picked up and automatically taken back to uh, its home. Uh, so that would be the main benefit for someone who is a pet owner to want to get a license. Thank you, Sue, Mr. Chair. And where will the money go for this licensing? Uh through you, Mr. Chair. So, uh the
• 127:30 - 128:00 money uh is basically meant to offset our uh pay our expenses for animal services overall. So, the money goes back into animal services. Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. And um there's no proactive there's no plan for proactive knocking on doors and saying how many cats have you got right if you have an indoor cat the cat you know we're not going to we're not proactively
• 128:00 - 128:30 trying to chase down cats this is as my colleague counselor Silva said it's mostly for outdoor cats. Is that right through you Mr. Chair? That's correct. Um, similar to uh most of our other bylaw offenses, our our intention would only be to enforce on an issues or complaint basis. And if your cat is indoors, it's very unlikely that it would ever generate a complaint. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Councelor Thompson.
• 128:30 - 129:00 Thank you very much. and through the chair. Um, just want to follow up a little bit on something that councelor Davidson had said about, and believe me, I understand the key messages that are uh, coming with this, but there will be people that will look at this as a cash grab. And I think what we need to be able to say is what what is the value ad that's going to happen here? And you said uh something about the the funds
• 129:00 - 129:30 going to uh animal services, whereas I'm kind of hoping that the funds would be going into education and outreach. Um am I misunderstanding something here? Through you, Mr. Chair. So, uh part of our animal service program is education and outreach. So, I think it would be fair to say if it's contributing to that. We there are expenses associated with animal services and then there's
• 129:30 - 130:00 revenue. The revenue is very limited to licenses essentially um and offsets a small portion of the animal services expenses as collectively as a whole. Okay. And and thank you uh through through the chair. Um just wondering if there will be certain types of breaks given to you know say rescue organizations things like that like perhaps uh you know a no fee temporary permit or
• 130:00 - 130:30 something while you know cats are in rescue or something like that. Uh or and also I'd be thinking about seniors as an example because quite often a cat is everything. That's their their whole world. So um and a lot of them are on fixed incomes and things like that. So would we be perhaps providing some sort of discount for uh seniors in something like this or maybe even just take this
• 130:30 - 131:00 as a comment as a takeaway? I don't know. I'll leave that with you to comment through you Mr. Chair. There is a 50% discount for seniors. Um, additionally, the cat rescues, um, they are treated under our kennel licensing by law if they're holding more than the three pets. So, they would be treated a little bit differently, and I think that would cover your concerns. Okay. Um, thank you.
• 131:00 - 131:30 Uh, I guess my only other question now comes about compliance and and enforcement. What are we really looking at? Is this going to be something we're going to be aggressively knocking on doors and saying, "Is your cat licensed?" You know, um I I personally can't see that happening, but what would happen if somebody's cat got out and we actually did find the owner of this unlicensed cat?
• 131:30 - 132:00 Uh three, Mr. chair, the animal services officer would tell them they need to get a license to get their cat back and then they would have to pay the license fee and they would get their cat back. I see. So, it's we're I guess we're talking sort of first time offense type thing. Uh well, I guess at that point they would have to get the license to get the cap back. So, if it was a second offense, it's uh only because it got out and that now it's
• 132:00 - 132:30 licensed. Okay. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone would like to comment on the first round? If not, I have a few questions regarding this. Um, thank you for the report and I'm in support of the staff recommendations. Um, I know it's more about cats than dogs, but uh I'm more interested in in dogs, especially when I um read u Mr. Stewart uh correspondence. I think he made a few good points and um and through myself to
• 132:30 - 133:00 staff. Um what's the process if council were to decide to increase the the fines of a violation three Mr. chair. So, I I assume you're talking about uh the AMPs fee schedule. You'd like to raise some of the uh fees um the process. So, certainly you could direct us to do that. You would have to refer the report back to staff or refer
• 133:00 - 133:30 it to a future council meeting and and direct us to change it. Okay. As the chair, I cannot do that, but uh we we'll wait till next week then. Um and um the other question I have is do we have the authority to enter uh people's house to inspect. So what if I know it's all complaint basis. So if we receive a complaint I mean dogs not necessarily cats. Um how do we
• 133:30 - 134:00 verify that owner has a violation of our bylaw? Uh through Mr. Chair if I understand the first part of your question. So, do we have the authority to go into someone's house? Uh, no. Not without their permission. I would say that and there's a second part of that. I forgot. Anyways, that's that that's fine. That's
• 134:00 - 134:30 fine. It's it's all good. It's all good. I'll wait till next week. Um, no more comments. Okay, we have May West. So just on the note of uh fines, um it's my understanding that you know fines are set in a way that you know acts as a deterrent but also has to be within the realm of reason because if they're not within the realm of reason then they're they could be overturned on a on a challenge. So just maybe to be
• 134:30 - 135:00 helpful uh counselor, what what is the what is the rationale on how we we come up with specific you know fines for different things within this bylaw? I suppose within others too but within this bylaw through you Mr. Chair. So AMP's fines are like the mayor indicated they're intended to be deterrent fines. Um, and we do try to, um, create some consistency across all of our bylaws in
• 135:00 - 135:30 terms of the level of fines. Uh, and we do actually have a great, uh, deal of debate internally about what what would be the appropriate levels for those fines. But the part of the key is they need to be deterrent only, not punitive, because that's the nature of an amps fine. uh and they they they need to co we we we try to consider our costs for enforcement in terms of setting them and make sure that they cover that as
• 135:30 - 136:00 well. And I have to assume that we're in line with in for the most part uh with other municipalities too, which I I assume would be a comparator when we're setting fines, right? Correct. Okay. Um Okay. I I I actually uh No, I think that'll be fine for now. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I wasn't thinking of um raising question because um the tension
• 136:00 - 136:30 seem to do dogs and cats, cats in particular and thank you for person who wrote in. Um but now as discussion go on, I turn my mind is also some other things. Uh because talking about enforcement question had been raised. Um the to be enacted assuming passage next council meeting is that there will be certain pet no longer on the list as
• 136:30 - 137:00 uh uh interesting the term is positive. Um I just want to make sure through you Mr. Chair from staff is not meaning prohibited. through you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner, through you, Mr. Chair, if I understand the correct uh the question correctly, our our old bylaw actually had a prohibited pet list and it attempted to uh distinguish between what was an
• 137:00 - 137:30 allowable pet and what was not by listing what was prohibited. That is kind of the old way of doing things. This new B by law provides a what we call a positive list. So these are the pets that are the animals species that you're allowed to have as pets in Richmond Hill. Does that clarify? Okay. So thank you. So if I understand uh Commissioner saying there's no longer outright explicit prohibition
• 137:30 - 138:00 uh of certain types of pets. They just are not on a positive list. I just that's why I'm trying to draw a distinction. Do you Mr. chair. I'm still not clear. Okay. Through you, Mr. Chair. No, actually, if if you if an animal is not on that list, you are not allowed to have it as a pet. That would be interesting because it it other issues such as enforcement, things of that nature. Um because for example,
• 138:00 - 138:30 no longer like turtle uh would be uh on the positive list. Um yeah that's interesting because I I am aware there's some household and not necessarily just children but uh have a a turtle um but again because it's complaint driven it the family members will probably won't be the one complaining but um anyway I'm just
• 138:30 - 139:00 raising that because um that might be u hopefully that's not issue in terms of in swalls enforcement later on. Um, but I understand the direction is modernized. So, I got it. I I get that one. Um, but help. Well, hopefully we don't have those complaints, but let's see. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the clarification. Any more comments? Seeing none, we have
• 139:00 - 139:30 11.13 moved by councelor Silivid. Staff recommendations. All those in favor? Oppose? Carry unanimously. All right. Last but not least, member motion by councelor Thompson, item 12.2. Go ahead, councelor Thompson. Uh, thank you very much uh through the chair. I do believe that uh my motion is fairly self-explanatory. There's a lot of information already on there as
• 139:30 - 140:00 you've discovered with the wherehouses, but I've done a lot of research on this and there is more information that I at at the very least would like to share with this group right here. So um and and that is that you know when you're looking at a highway that was built you know over a quarter century ago and it's seriously underutilized while we're suffering gridlock on a parallel highway that runs like you know along just well
• 140:00 - 140:30 within a couple of uh um uh kilometers of each other. Uh that that's a that's a problem. Um, so in doing the research, I've determined that a heavy truck, uh, a heavy duty truck using the 407 ETR during peak times to avoid the city of Toronto costs on average approximately a 142 per kilometer. Now, these are this is data from May 2023.
• 140:30 - 141:00 And to travel the full length of the 407 from 401 at Milton all the way out to the west in Ashawa that's a total of 97 kilometers uh of which 88 uh is told. So when you look at that that total journey would be $125 just to go across there. Whereas in comparison you know if you took the 401 it's uh only 87 kilometers. It's not
• 141:00 - 141:30 told, but it'll take you 130 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes basically to go that distance. So, the question then becomes whether or not that extra 80 minutes is worth the $125 charge. Well, when you consider that the average hourly wage for a trucker in Canada is $24 an hour, an additional 80 minutes of drive time only costs
• 141:30 - 142:00 $32. So, you can see why they're avoiding it. Um, if we compare to uh other highways in North America, such as the New York uh throughway, they're only charging 20 cents per kilometer. you know, for the for the truckers to to go along there. Um, if we applied that same fee to the journey described above, then the total fee would be
• 142:00 - 142:30 $17.60. So, you can see how we could get those trucks off of Highway 7 onto the 407 fairly easily if we had a subsidized uh system at the very least. And this isn't uh this is without taking into consideration the additional benefits associated with making deliveries quicker and therefore drivers being available to complete more deliveries within a shift. This is also without taking into consideration the
• 142:30 - 143:00 benefits of better fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, reduced pollutants, and improved health conditions. And I think it's worth noting that an idling diesel vehicle emits higher concentrations of soot and fine particulate matter than when moving, which can be particularly harmful to health. With all that is going on right now regarding tariffs on Canadian goods, we need to help our businesses in every possible way that we can right now. The
• 143:00 - 143:30 talk of building a tunnel under the 401 is not going to address the immediate concerns of this underutilized highway. Nor will the talk of building another bypass highway through the green belt and or our farmlands. In fact, all that adding new highways will do is make driving more attractive to those who previously chose alternative transportation options. can rest assured that another bypass highway will lead to urban sprawl which
• 143:30 - 144:00 will only increase the number of vehicles on the roads and add to the overall traffic volumes. What we should really be talking about is improvements to public transportation to get people out of their private vehicles. Those are my comments. I hope you'll support my motion. Thank you, Mayor West. Well, thank you very much and thank you councelor for bringing this forward. Uh the uh I know that this a similar motion was uh passed at in Bon as well. So, you
• 144:00 - 144:30 know, given that we're neighbors with Vaughn, I think it makes sense for us to consider this. Um I I would I I agree with what you've said. The only thing I would add is from uh or add and stress because you did kind of touch on it as well. the the uh one of the economic advantages of doing business in Richmond Hill or or being in business in Richmond Hill is that we have a really great transportation network uh like all around our our city and community. Uh and I I think the thing is with the 407
• 144:30 - 145:00 is uh if we could allow uh trucks to more realistically and economically use the 407, we would find that that advantage would be heightened. So, I I really think that this is something that we uh we should be uh getting on board with. Um I I mean I I honestly think that that selling the 407 in the first place was probably a you know in the top 10 monumentally bad deals that we've uh seen in in uh Canada in recent memory.
• 145:00 - 145:30 But I I think that there's an opportunity here for us to uh you know be able to find a way to allow uh that that highway to be used to its greater um utilization but also at the same time benefiting us here in Richmond Hill. So thanks very much. I'm more than happy to support this. Thank you, Councelor Davidson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I I appreciate councelor Thompson's attempt to help fix some of the gridlock and I completely agree. I I joke that 407 is literally
• 145:30 - 146:00 highway robbery. The cost of riding that thing is ridiculous. But what doesn't sit right with me is why should the Ontario taxpayers subsidize truck companies? Why aren't we looking at giving breaks to residents who have to take it to work? Maybe graduated payment or a flat rate. I I agree we need to get more traffic on there, but taxpayers subsidizing private businesses so that their trucks can move faster, it just
• 146:00 - 146:30 doesn't seem like the way to go. I feel like the break should be given to the residents who paid for the thing in the first place. So, I'm so torn about supporting this. I support investigating ways to use the 407 better, but I I just can't support subsidizing private businesses while residents will continue to sit in gridlock on 407 and if they want to go pick somebody up from Richmond Hill over at the airport, they'll still have to pay 20 bucks to go there and back. It doesn't seem like the right way to go with me. Thank you.
• 146:30 - 147:00 Thank you. Regional and local council at the Paula. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um what with with regards to this I mean I support the this motion um but what what's a real shame with regards to the 407 and what has to be accelerated is the public transit uh express routes that are going to be a part of the of the 407. Uh I I only found this out recently and one of the great things about the 407 right ofway
• 147:00 - 147:30 is the the provincial government only leased the constructed highway itself but the right of way is is almost double the the width of of the highway and the provincial government retains the opportunity to have express route public transportation uh buses bus only lanes um on on either side of the of the 407 and That's what's been talked about. That's what That's
• 147:30 - 148:00 what Metro Links has to um get on to. It's It's not as expensive as subways. It's It's so needed for proper east west public transit movement and so critical for our Richmond Hill Center. So, um it's the 407 ex express public transit way that that um really needs to be promoted. I'd rather have dollars going to that than subsidizing private businesses. Thanks. Thank you. Any more
• 148:00 - 148:30 comments? Seeing none, so we have a motion by councelor Thompson on the physibility study for Highway 407. All those in favor? Opposed? Carry unanimously. Oh. Oh, sorry. One oppose. Carries only. Okay. Okay. So we have one last matter to take care of which is a motion to adjourn. Deputy Mayor Chen. All those in favor oppose. Carry unanimously.