Blueprint Guelph v2.0

A Blueprint, Not a Platform

Guelph does not suffer from a shortage of plans. We have an Official Plan, master plans, strategies, studies and reports covering almost every aspect of the city.

The bigger challenge is turning good plans into results.

Over the past 25 years, my career has been about solving complex problems, building partnerships, securing funding, working with municipalities and large organizational budgets, and helping organizations turn ideas into action. I want to bring that same approach to City Council.

This isn't a list of promises. One councillor cannot deliver these things alone. It is a blueprint for the priorities I believe Council should pursue and the approach I would bring to the job.

It will also continue to evolve as I listen to residents, community organizations, City staff and other members of Council.

The goal is simple: plan carefully, set clear priorities, and get things done.

Like my campaign tagline says: Listen, Lead, Deliver.

Since releasing Blueprint Guelph 1.0, I’ve listened to Guelphites, heard what matters to you, and incorporated many of your ideas into the latest version: Blueprint Guelph 3.1. [Download a Copy]

These are practical ideas for making Guelph more affordable, more resilient, and better prepared for the future. This isn't a list of promises. It's a blueprint that we can revise together to get it right. 

Think Citywide. Deliver Locally.

 Neighbourhoods & Quality of Life

Councillors represent wards, but the decisions we make affect the whole city. Good city planning must ultimately translate into better neighbourhoods and better everyday experiences for residents.

• Make it easier for residents to bring forward practical neighbourhood improvements, from crosswalks and traffic concerns to parks and public spaces.
• Ensure infill adds needed housing while respecting neighbourhood character, heritage, trees and infrastructure capacity.
• Design neighbourhoods so people can safely walk, cycle and access everyday services.
• Protect and improve neighbourhood parks and gathering spaces to serve Guelph’ diverse and growing resident population.
• Include accessibility as a fundamental design requirement and engage people with lived experience when making decisions that affect accessibility.

Let's look at major City decisions through a simple lens: How will this improve people's day-to-day lives?

Make the Numbers Work

Financial Stewardship

Every good idea eventually meets a budget.

Municipal finances are increasingly complicated. Growth requires infrastructure. Development charges are constrained by provincial rules. Existing assets require repair. Residents are struggling with affordability.

Council needs to make choices.

• Review City spending regularly and identify and sunset programs or costs that are no longer delivering sufficient public value.
• Protect essential infrastructure and core municipal services when setting priorities.
• Evaluate the full lifecycle cost of major capital projects before approving them.
• Ensure new development contributes fairly toward the infrastructure required to support growth within the tools available to municipalities.
• Pursue provincial and federal infrastructure funding aggressively.
• Look for partnerships and grants that allow outside funding to leverage municipal investment.
• Explore new municipal revenue opportunities before relying on property tax increases.
• Better leverage the Guelph Holding Company, Guelph Junction Railway and other City assets.
• Make long-term financial sustainability part of every major decision.

The question should simply be "Can we affor to build it?"

It should also be "Can we afford to operate, maintain, and eventually replace it?"

Make Every Project Do Double Duty

Climate & Sustainability

The best public investments solve more than one problem.

A road project can improve stormwater management. A building retrofit can preserve heritage while reducing energy costs. Renewable energy can reduce emissions while lowering operating expenses.

• Build on Guelph's existing work protecting groundwater and managing stormwater.
• Look for opportunities to incorporate sustainability into projects already being built.
• Expand and manage the urban tree canopy where it provides meaningful environmental and neighbourhood benefits.
• Encourage adaptive reuse and energy retrofits of existing buildings.
• Explore incentives for developments that deliver measurable environmental benefits beyond minimum requirements.
• Expand proven renewable energy technologies where they can reduce costs, improve resilience or generate revenue.
• Evaluate major projects based on their lifetime environmental and financial impact.

Climate action works best when environmental responsibility and financial responsibility reinforce each other. 

Fix the Roof.

Infrastructure Renewal

Cities are like houses. Ignore maintenance long enough and everything becomes more expensive.

Guelph is now dealing with aging infrastructure at the same time as the city continues to grow. We need to catch up without creating an even larger bill for future taxpayers.

• Publish an annual Infrastructure Report Card so residents can clearly see the condition of major City assets and where the biggest risks are.
• Continue to prioritize critical water, sewer, road and other infrastructure before failures make repairs more expensive.
• Improve coordination between City projects, utilities and other service providers to reduce repeated construction wherever practical.
• Consider lifecycle cost, not simply initial cost, when choosing materials and infrastructure.
• Build climate resilience and accessibility into major infrastructure projects.
• Use sustainable design where it makes practical and financial sense, including rainwater capture, permeable surfaces, tree canopy infrastructure, recycled materials and renewable power.
• Set clear capital priorities so essential infrastructure is protected when budgets become tight.

Maintain what we have before today's repair becomes tomorrow's emergency. 

Build Homes. End Encampments

Housing & Homelessness

Guelph needs more housing, but not every project delivers the same community benefit.

Instead of treating every development application the same, we should identify and accelerate projects that address our most urgent needs.

• Create a transparent development triage system that prioritizes projects delivering urgently needed housing, affordability, sustainability, infrastructure efficiency or other significant community benefits.
• Reduce unnecessary permitting delays and address the backlog of development applications.
• Work with Wellington County, other levels of government, non-profits and private partners to expand affordable and supportive housing.
• Make sure Guelph has the internal capacity to actively coordinate major housing initiatives rather than simply waiting for other organizations to act.
• Use City land, approvals, partnerships and other municipal tools strategically to help good projects move forward.
• Recognize that housing, homelessness, mental health and addictions are connected problems requiring coordinated solutions.

Community-Built Transitional Villages

People living in encampments need somewhere safer to go.

Explore a Community-Built Transitional Village model where the City, Wellington County, community organizations, businesses, tradespeople and volunteers work together to create safe temporary communities for people transitioning out of homelessness.

These could include:

• Simple individual cabins or shelter units.
• Washrooms, showers and laundry facilities.
• Lighting, security and renewable power.
• Space for outreach workers, health services and community organizations.
• Food, supplies and other basic supports.
• Clear expectations for safety and behaviour.
• Carefully selected temporary locations that consider both residents of the village and surrounding communities.

The goal isn't to create permanent camps. It is to create safe places for provision, support, community and transition while permanent housing solutions are developed. 

Build Up. Build Smart.

Growth & Intensification

Thoughtful intensification can help solve several problems at once.

Building more homes within the existing city can reduce infrastructure costs, protect farmland and natural areas, support transit, strengthen neighbourhood businesses and create more walkable communities.

But density alone isn't the goal.

Good growth is the goal.

• Focus new housing and higher-density development where existing infrastructure can support it.
• Encourage thoughtful infill and multi-unit housing in existing neighbourhoods.
• Ensure infill respects neighbourhood character, heritage, trees, public spaces and infrastructure capacity.
• Concentrate density around major transit routes, commercial areas and community amenities where appropriate.
• Build complete neighbourhoods where people can walk or cycle to everyday services.
• Protect Guelph's long-term water supply and aquifer as the city grows.
• Evaluate growth based on its long-term financial impact, not simply the number of units created.

Smart growth should make existing neighbourhoods stronger, no simply bigger.

Grow the Pie

Economic Development - Business For Positive Change

We cannot solve every affordability problem by raising taxes or cutting services.

We also need to grow our economy in ways that deliver economic, social and environmental benefits.

Guelph has outstanding businesses, researchers, entrepreneurs, institutions and community organizations. City Hall should be helping connect them.

• Rebuild a strong and visible economic development function at City Hall.
• Get Guelph back in the business of economic development.
• Re-establish the Guelph Innovation Network, bringing together City Hall, businesses, entrepreneurs, economic development organizations, researchers and community partners.
• Strengthen coordination with organizations already supporting entrepreneurs and businesses.
• Make it easy to start and grow a business in Guelph.
• Strengthen partnerships with the University of Guelph and Conestoga College to create jobs, conduct research and innovation projects, and launch more homegrown companies.
• Expand opportunities in film production, tourism, conferences, arts and culture.
• Attract innovative industries that create high-quality jobs while contributing to Guelph's social and environmental goals.
• Better leverage City-owned assets and organizations, including the Guelph Junction Railway and Guelph Holding Company, to support economic activity and explore new revenue opportunities.

Before asking taxpayers for more, let's look for ways to grow the pie.

Bring People Back Downtown

Downtown Revitalization

A healthy downtown is where business, culture, housing and community come together.

Guelph has invested heavily in its downtown. Now we need to make those investments work.

• Complete the Downtown Revitalization Project responsibly and keep major projects on schedule.
• Commission the new library on time and immediately activate it with programming for families, community organizations, businesses and residents.
• Improve downtown safety through coordinated police, outreach, health and community services.
• Set and enforce clear expectations around public safety, open drug use, disturbances and behaviours that discourage residents from using downtown spaces.
• Make it easier for downtown businesses to access permitting for patios, events, and sidewalk use.
• Support more downtown housing and residents.
• Make downtown welcoming and accessible to people from across Guelph.

Turn City Hall from Gatekeeper to Facilitator

Businesses create jobs, investment and economic activity. City Hall's job should be to create the conditions for them to succeed, not put unnecessary barriers in their way.

• Simplify business permitting and licensing, including reducing red tape for building permits and establishing clearer approval processes.
• Review City rules, fees and processes that unnecessarily delay or discourage business activity.
• Make City Hall easier to navigate, with clear points of contact and greater accountability for getting approvals completed.
• Make it easier to organize festivals, markets, music, arts and community events that bring people into Guelph and support local businesses.
• Reduce unnecessary municipal costs and regulatory barriers for events.
• Attract more film and television production to Guelph.
• Use public spaces more creatively to generate activity and bring people into commercial areas.

City Hall shouldn’t get in the way of positive business activity that brings people to Guelph and makes our city a better place to live.

Protect What Makes Guelph, Guelph

Parks, Heritage & Community

Growth and modernization should not erase the places that give Guelph its identity.

Preservation does not mean freezing the city in time. It means finding ways to give important places new life.

Preserve. Restore. Reuse.

• Protect parks, natural areas and important public spaces.
• Preserve heritage buildings and structures whenever practical.
• Prioritize adaptive reuse that gives older buildings new purposes.
• Help community organizations and developers pursue provincial, federal, philanthropic and private funding for heritage restoration.
• Allow the City to act as a partner through approvals, expertise, land, in-kind support or funding where appropriate.
• Explore community fundraising and partnerships for important heritage projects.
• Expand trails and community gathering spaces.
• Protect and expand Guelph's tree canopy.
• Ensure development strengthens the identity and character of established neighbourhoods.

We inherited an extrordinary city. Our job is to improve it without losing what made it special. 

Turn Guelph Into Canada's Living Laboratory

Innovation & Partnerships

Guelph has an unusual concentration of researchers, businesses, entrepreneurs, community organizations and talented residents.

We should put that capacity to work solving our own problems.

Guelph has done this before. We can do it again.

• Build stronger partnerships between City Hall, businesses, University of Guelph, researchers, other educational institutions and community organizations.
• Identify municipal challenges that could benefit from research, experimentation or new technology.
• Invite local partners to propose solutions.
• Pilot promising ideas before making expensive citywide investments.
• Measure results openly.
• Scale successful pilots and stop those that don't work.
• Use proven AI and other technologies where they can improve municipal planning, service delivery and operations.
• Share successful innovations with other municipalities.
• Tell Guelph's innovation stories.

The goal isn't innovation for its own sake. 

It is to make Guelph a city where community-sized problems are met with community-sized solutions. 

Keep Guelph Moving

Transit & Mobility

Reliable transit is more important than simply having more transit.

Roadways, bus routes & schedules, and vehicles should reflect how people actually move around Guelph.

• Measure transit success using reliability, ridership and rider satisfaction.
• Regularly ask riders what is working and what isn't.
• Increase service where and when demand is highest.
• Improve transfers and schedule coordination to reduce total travel time.
• Adjust routes as travel patterns and neighbourhood needs change.
• Explore different vehicle sizes for different levels of demand rather than assuming every route requires the same type of bus.
• Explore flexible and demand-responsive service where conventional routes are inefficient.
• Use technology and data to support better decisions, not replace input from riders.
• Improve connections between transit, walking, cycling and other forms of mobility.
• Support safe active transportation, but revisit bike-lane designs that create safety, snow-clearing or maintenance problems.
• Replace or remove costly or overbuilt traffic control measures with simpler options where possible, including road markings and solar-powered speed signs.

Build around how people move. Put common sense, safety and affordability first.

A City That Knows Where It's Going

Underlying all of these ideas is a larger question:

What does Guelph want to be?

That question should guide our budgets, infrastructure investments, housing decisions, economic development strategy and neighbourhood planning.

I believe Guelph can be a city that grows without losing its character. A city that protects what it has while embracing new ideas. A city where government works with residents instead of around them. A city that attracts businesses and investment while remaining affordable and livable. A city that tackles difficult problems by bringing people together.

City Hall cannot build that city alone.

Its job is to set priorities, make responsible decisions, remove unnecessary barriers, build partnerships and help the community get things done.

That's what Blueprint for Guelph is about.

Listen. Lead. Deliver.