And we are adjourned until August! Thanks for following along with me these past few months.

Now in any other business, councillors have voted unanimously to send a letter to the ISED and MP Harrison regarding the location of a cell tower.

Peterborough city council has voted against designating two heritage properties—one at 123 Simcoe St. and another at 164 Sherbrooke St.

Now we're on to the unaudited financial report from 2025. Coun. Bierk is asking about the $826,943 surplus for the police. Bierk is re-introducing a deferral on this part of the report so that council can get more information on what that money might be able to be used for.

Coun. Joy Lachica is now speaking to the CPPS and the additions passed by council last week regarding an additional document around voluntary green development guidelines. She says after meeting with staff on this to go over language. Lachica is bringing forward another amendment.

Now a delegation on Lucas Siwnyk and Cathy Zhang are addressing council regarding the notice of objection for 123 Simcoe St., which is the home of Brickhouse Craft Burger. Zhang says that she is here to show that her family is responsible and does not want to demolish the building.

Andrea Lac is not addressing council on the cell tower concurrence on Marina Blvd. saying that she feels her family is being used as an experiment and that council wouldn't want their families to be "microwaved." She says more research is needed prior to this being installed near residences.

Now we have Bob Parkin is addressing council on the budget information report. "Taxpayers need to stand up and voice their concerns as I am," he says, adding that if not, council has a green light to raise taxes.

The first delegate this evening is Murray Davenport from M.J. Davenport and Associates on the CPPS. He is expressing concerns about the zoning for an area south of Lansdowne St. E. as major mixed use, saying that this will prevent expansion for existing businesses based on an OLT ruling re: PATH.

Hello, I'm at Peterborough city hall for the final council meeting before the summer break. Here's the agenda for this evening:

After almost four hours, we are adjourned! Thanks for following along!

Now, in other business, Mayor Leal is speaking to an announcement from this morning from Minister Steve MacKinnon regarding Alto exploring options for a Kingston stop. He assures everyone that Peterborough is still "enshrined" as a stop on the route and hopes this "lowers the blood pressure."

At very long last, we are at Coun. Lachica's notice of motion on the implication of heritage designations on insurance rates for property owners. Again, here is @joellekovach.bsky.social on this matter:

We're now discussing the preliminary city budget for 2027, which includes a 6.62 per cent tax rate increase, which is effectively, at this very early stage, the cost to run the city at current service levels. The 2027 budget will be decided on by the incoming council in January-February, 2027.

Now we're on to the discussion of the 2025 unaudited financial report, which includes a $826,943 surplus from the Peterborough Police. Mayor Leal, a member of the police board, says he anticipated this coming forward.

Council has voted unanimously for $690,000 to be pre-committed for the purchase of one Articulating Aerial Fire Pumper Vehicle in 2027. Leal asked whether this would help in responding to tall buildings, such as a 17-storey building. It would seem it does. It passes unanimously.

Mayor Leal is providing a series of major points as to why he supports the new CPP bylaw, mostly around making it easier for developers and builders in the area. It's going to bolster the creation of more housing and also create revenue to provide funds for PHC and other affordable housing entities.

Now, a presentation from Caroline Kimble, manager of policy planning for the city, on the final community planning permit bylaw. This has been made possible through federal funding through the housing accelerator fund and took two years of work by staff and extensive community consultation.

Coun. Bierk says that he has noted that residents are concerned that renters in the city are being made to pay the stormwater surcharge, which had been meant to shift the tax burden from the tax rate to the stormwater charge. Commissioner Freymond says that this has now been remedied.

First up after consent items is a presentation by Ian Boland, the city's director of asset management, regarding the city's stormwater utility program development. The city has been collecting the fee based on the assessed value of homes.

Council's voting system is down tonight, so they're voting manually. Coun. Haacke is also absent while Coun. Parnell is joining virtually. Coun. Crowley arrived about 15 minutes late this evening, but they're up to 10 members of council this evening.

Always good to be joined by the radical student press!

Hello Bluesky, I'm here again at Peterborough city hall for general committee this evening. Follow along here for updates. Here is tonight's agenda:

We're now in recess for a closed general committee meeting. The open council meeting will resume following that. Not sure how long this will take, but hang in there!

We're now on to discussion on the main motion regarding mayor Leal's DCRP motion. Coun. Duguay begins by saying that he's aware that most municipalities are going after this funding and that the city won't be successful if they commit solely on the basis of getting funding.

On now to a motion to reduce development charges by 50 per cent in order to apply for provincial and federal infrastructure funding under the Development Charges Reduction program. The city has until June 19 to apply. Here's my story on that:

Coun. Baldwin is now clarifying that his motion regarding renaming the bowl in Knights of Columbus Park after Bobby Allan was not about renaming the park itself, but just the bowl. Apparently, some people weren't reading the whole motion so he wanted to make that clear. It passes 10-0 as well.

We're now on to the community safety and well-being plan. Coun. Lachica begins the discussion by saying that she questions why the active transportation bullet was dropped from the plan, noting its interconnected nature with other aspects of the plan around equity.

Moving right along, we're on to discussion of the city's new tourism strategy. Coun. Keith Riel is speaking to it, saying he has always been a proponent of economic development, but he has concerns about the lack of specificity in the plan, as well as timelines on implementation.

First up on tonight's agenda is a delegation by Bob Parkion on the proposed renaming of the Legacy Bowl at Knights of Columbus Hall after lacrosse player and coach Bobby Allan. Parkion says he is happy this is happening when Allan is still alive so he can enjoy the honour with his family.

I am back at Peterborough city hall for tonight's council meeting. Follow along here for updates if you wish! Here's the agenda for tonight:

And we are adjourned as of 9:02! Thanks for following along. I'll be back next week!

Mayor Jeff Leal is now introducing a notice of motion regarding reducing residential development charges by 50 per cent in the wake of the provincial announcement of $8.8 million in development charges reduction program. Leal says now is the time for bold and decisive action on this.

Now a notice of motion from Coun. Baldwin to rename the new bowl in Knights of Columbus Park as the Bobby Allan Bowl after noted local lacrosse player and coach and member of Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, Bobby Allan.

On now to the community safety and well-being plan. Coun. Riel moves the motion and asks staff about the budgetary implications. Staff say there are none, but that one of the main criticisms of the plan is that this requirement to have such a plan by the province did not come with any funding.

Coun. Lachica is not speaking on the new tourism strategy, questioning how it is being done in isolation from economic development. "Will our director of economic development have oversight over tourism?" she asks CAO Jasbir Raina. "Everything in this report speaks to economic development."

On to the discussion of the new tourism strategy. Coun. Riel starts off by asking the director of economic development, Darryl Julott, what the return on investment is on tourism. Julott responds that he does not have that number handy as it "changes fairly frequently."

Up next is a presentation on the city's new tourism strategy. Commissioner of community services, Sheldon Laidman, in introducing the strategy, calls it a future-oriented strategy, and introduces Trevor Benson of Bannikin, the consultant on this strategy.

First up tonight after some reports passing from closed session is a meeting under the planning act for a zoning bylaw amendment for a property at 835 Alexander Court, where a 16-unit four-storey mixed-use development is being proposed by D.M. Wills and Associates on behalf of the owner:

First, council will be meeting as a tribunal regarding a complaint about development charges for a property at 280 Jameson Dr. Council has unanimously voted to dismiss the complaint. Here's the background on that:

Good evening, I'm here at Peterborough city hall for tonight's general committee meeting. Here's my advancer on it from last week:

‘He yells’: Mark Carney’s focus has Liberal MPs bristling Opinion from the Star's @althiaraj.bsky.social

More photos inside Hamilton City Hall where hundreds of people are expressing their opposition to AI data centres as the Committee of Adjustment debates an administrative routine (from a legal/planning perspective) land severance for the former Stelco lands to facilitate data centres #hamont #yhmcc

And that's all for tonight! Council has adjourned at 9:05 p.m. Thanks for following along! Until next time, I am off to write!

Coun. Baldwin is introducing a motion to precommit the necessary funds to fund the winter strategy for 6 months, which in line with option b. in the report, but does not specify the Carnegie shelter. "We don't have another location," he says. The default in August will be Carnegie."

We're now onto the discussion on the winter shelter strategy. Coun. Haacke moves it, saying he will support this strategy but won't be able to support any further spending on homelessness. He says that the city has not addressed the "main cause" of homelessness.

Discussion has now turned to the clean streets initiative. Coun. Lachica adds an amendment which spells out more collaboration with CPKC. Bierk notes that he supports hitting people in the pocketbook on the illegal dumping issue. Duguay adds that restaurant owners might have a role to play too.

Coun. Bierk is now speaking to a report on the delegation of authority to the city's CAO during the "restricted period" after nomination day and the first meeting of a new council during an election year. Bierk says there should be restrictions and specific operational limitations during that time.

Now we have delegations on the city's winter shelter response plan. First up is Rodney Marois. Marois begins by saying his concern is about the cost of transporting people to and from the proposed Carnegie shelter site. He also has concerns about the accessibility of the site and the building.

Beginning delegations this evening is Heather Munro, speaking to the clean streets Peterborough initiative. Specifically, she is expressing concern over the private property surrounding CPKC-owned rail lines. She says that this is a "stewardship issue" and questions why no action is being taken.