Okay. Uh, good afternoon everyone. Have you to take your seats? Uh, thank you for joining us for the 9th meeting of the infrastructure and corporate uh, services committee under these unusually bright lights today. Uh, please check the city of uh, website for additional meeting detail information. The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Anesabek, Hneson, Anowan, and the Adawandrin. We honor and respect the history, languages and culture that diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. City of London is currently home to many first nations, matey and inuit today as representatives of the people of city of London. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. Uh we have a number of visiting councilors with us. In terms of council uh committee members, we have myself uh councelor van merberen and councelor Ploa online. City of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication supports for meetings. Upon request to make a request specific to this meeting, please contact ICE atlondon.ca or 519-6612489 extension 2425. Uh, and I just also want to um say before we get this meeting started, uh, we do currently have quorum. We just have three members, but um, at 2:00 we will be losing councelor Poza, so we will lose quorum. So just as a reminder, please keep your comments as brief as possible uh just so we can maintain um quorum and get through this uh meeting agenda. And with that, I'll look for disclosures of your interest. Okay, not seeing any, we are on to consent items. Uh I have had not had any poll requests. So um unless there are any objections, we can do these together. I'm looking for a motion. Councelor Van Mirburgen, I will second that. So that would be Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Thank you, chair. No, I'd like to pull uh 2.6 on consent. >> Okay. So, 2.6 will be pulled. Uh we have 2.1 to 2.5 uh 2.7. Are there any objections to those being done as a block? Okay. I'm not seeing any, but did you want to move those others? Okay. Council Morgan and I will second those. So we are on 2.1 to 2.5 and 2.7. So those are on the floor looking for questions or comments. Okay. Uh councelor Fer, do you have your hand up or Okay. Okay. Councelor Hopkins, I think he was pointing to you, so you go first and then councelor. >> Thank you, Councelor Ferrer. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair, I do um have a a question on 2.2, which is the Dingman Creek subwater stage 2 lands. um EA and maybe through you to staff. Really appreciate the the update and the work that is going on uh with the Digman Creek stage 2 EA. I understand we uh have had a number of project delays. We are uh expanding the scope of work as well as the community engagement. Just wondering if uh staff can just share some more information about what that community engagement would look like as well as what is the projected timelines for completion. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead, Miss Romelo. >> Thank you through the chair. The additional uh consultation work is related to the council uh resolution to have us go back regarding the two zone policy versus the cut fill policy for the official plan amendment. So that's the additional consultation work that will be taking place. >> Followup counselor >> and just as a followup to that expectations on when this work will be completed. Is it do we have an idea or do we still have to go through the necessary community engagements etc. >> Go ahead staff. >> Thank you chair. is I would expect to complete that engagement this year and be prepared to bring back the official plan amendment uh to the new council as directed in in the new year. >> Followup councelor. >> Okay. Thank you uh councelor Ferah. Go ahead. >> Thank you chair. Thank you for recognizing me as a visiting member. I'm just here for the item uh with respect to Fchaw Colleg's um agreement extension. Uh I did speak with Patricia um yesterday on it. I appreciate uh the information that you gave me and I'm in full support of it. I just have one question. Um and I do see that the um the contract as it is written is supposed to be expiring on the 11th of May and I believe that council will hear this item on the 12th of May I think if if I remember the report correctly. I just wanted to know um um how if is there any concern there or with this uh I guess a committee recommendation here would that be able to just kind of hold that contract um into to continue until we resolve it at council. >> Okay. Uh to staff >> uh thank you Mr. Chair. Uh yeah so that is something that uh has certainly been identified and and discussed with our our legal team. Uh certainly uh approval here at uh committee pensing final council approval uh I think would be sufficient to give indication that this intention is to continue the uh the agreement and the relationship going forward. So uh from our perspective uh it's a slight timing difference not a concern >> followup councelor. >> Okay thank you for that. Other other than that full support of this fansaw has been a good partner with the city especially with respect to what they've done uh for downtown. I do see in the note uh on the addition here that um the campus continues to bring in a thousand students uh to the downtown daily which is great. Uh there's no financial impact here. So I'm in full support of this and uh thank you for the work that you do and um and yeah that's those are my comments. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. Looking for other comments, questions. Okay, not seeing any. So we will open the vote on that. councilor ploa votes yes just east crab online's a bit slow >> closing okay uh thank you um we have no scheduled items items for direction uh we do have uh 4.1 which is uh councelor Hopkins and for your AMO uh request. Um so I'll look to you for that one or I'll I'll put it on the floor. Council member, you willing to move it? >> Okay, I'll second. Okay, go ahead. Councelor Hopkins. >> Yeah, thank you um Mr. Chair for recognizing me. I'm again not a member of this committee. Um I am hoping uh the committee will support my um nomination to apply for the AMO board in August. We have elections at the AMO conference. I uh am hoping um that um um most well most members uh that are applying for elections in August and with a municipal election as well. If you are running, we usually try to keep members names on on the board. If um members are not reelected in the municipal election, then applications are sought to uh fill in the vacancies of uh the caucuses. So, I am hoping that you can support uh my my nomination. I do um have to run an election at the conference and looking for your support. >> Okay. Thank you. Looking for any comments, questions. Okay, not seeing any open that for voting. >> Sorry, Mr. Chair online. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> That's okay. Uh, just thank you for councelor Hopkins for her past service and willing to continue this service and advocacy on behalf of London across Ontario. So, just thank you for her. >> Okay, thank you for that. And uh, not seeing any others, we'll open the vote on that. Councelor PLA votes yes. >> Closing the vote. Motion carries three to zero. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh in terms of deferred matters, uh we have the item that was pulled which is uh 2.6. Um looking to put that on the floor. Looking for a motion to to move that. >> I'll move it, Mr. Chair. >> Okay. I will second it. So that that is now on the floor. Looking for comments or questions on this item. And this is just for everyone's reminder. 2.6 is the findings and next steps for the provincial uh escooter pilot. Okay. Go ahead, council van. >> Thank you, chair. Um perhaps I could start with staff. I I just want to confirm the electric kick scooter that's being referred to is a scooter that you stand on with two wheels. Like just a like like what we grew up with as kids except without a motor. Now it's got a motor. Is that basically encapsulating it? >> Go ahead, Miss Jamers. >> Uh thank you. And through the chair. Yes, that is it is a scooter that you stand up on. Uh there's figure one of the report basically shows you a typical example. Um and that's one where there's a deck where the rider stands on it. >> Followup cancer. >> Thank you. Um, what strikes me and it strikes a lot of Londoners because I've heard from a number of my constituents that these motorized vehicles such as they are are inherently unsafe. Uh, the number of different stories that I've been informed with, different situations and instances, uh, where people with near misses, they're very quiet. Um it's almost like a wild west out there in terms of people not knowing where they're supposed to be riding these things. Um sometimes you'll see them on the sidewalk, sometimes they'll just pop up on the road. Uh the other day I was driving along a busy street and one came flying out between a row of parked cars out of nowhere inches from being hit from uh my vehicle. Uh not to mention this other instances I've heard of from constituents where they're even putting their garbage out early in the morning uh only to have one of these fly by. One one uh lady told me um she was putting her blue box out and a mother came by with two kids on one of these escooters and almost collided with her just as she had her head down putting the garbage out, not expecting a motorized vehicle to blow by. uh at4 to 7 in the morning on a sidewalk. So, uh again, this so-called pilot, we're looking at going till the end of 2029. That's a long time um to do the province's bidding. I I will not support this. Again, it's inherently unsafe. I think it borders on the irresponsible to continue with this. Um, I think we're going to be seeing really serious accidents as uh this may maybe the uptick goes a little bit higher. Uh, so yeah, I will be voting this uh against this. Thank you, chair. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, I'm going to take the opportunity to speak now as chair and member of the committee. Um, first off, I want to thank staff for doing engagement at my town hall about this. Um, it was great opportunity to uh get feedback from residents. Um and I think you see that in the results in terms of um the mixed reaction I think but I will say from the conversations I've had I think there is more of a desire in terms of ensuring uh as you know council Morgan said um you know public safety um I think obviously um ensuring compliance uh which I know is called out in this report. I do have a question for that in a moment but I just kind of want to start with my my comments. Um, I think this is still a core form of mobility for folks. Um, you know, times change. You know, it's not a kick scooter anymore. It's electric. Um, but we also have to recognize that people use uh different forms of transit to get around the city. Uh, and this is definitely one. Um, a lot of cities uh have different pilots with this. Uh, I've witnessed it in a number of cities in terms of um the e scooters and what they're doing with them. Um I think for our own um benefit we do still have to uh keep this pilot going. Um see what the province ultimately wants to do with it. Uh I think this is important data though to collect to see what we want to do, how we want to regulate it. Uh and with that point on regulation, I do have a question for staff in terms of the recommendations. Uh I appreciate there's the two additional recommendations in there. Um but from bylaw's um perspective in terms of being able to follow up with parents, issue the amps and then also coordinating with LPS uh if you could just maybe comment a bit further in terms of how that will roll out. >> Thanks for the question, chair. And in terms of communicating with LPS, I can say that we have a very close working relationship with the road safety section of the London Police Service. They would be the officers who would be responsible for going out and enforcing the Highway Traffic Act provisions of um electric kick scooters. We have had several meetings in the past determining what the best path forward is in terms of education and joint enforcement. um our resources on both teams are are limited and and so we feel that we may have the best impact if we go out at separate times trying to conduct education within the spaces in which these e- scooters are most uh most readily used. The difficulty of course that we have with um compliance and m um municipal law enforcement officers conducting compliance related activities is that we don't have the authority to actually demand identification from individuals operating these vehicles. And so that's where we rely on the public to provide us with the information that we need to be able to investigate further because we can knock on doors, we can have conversations with folks and we can certainly conduct enforcement if we have that information available. >> Uh thank you and appreciate those answers. Uh and I recognize the struggles. Um I mean on my last town hall I was speaking with uh LPS in terms of we have other types of vehicles get modified whether that's cars uh dirt bikes uh it doesn't really matter what form uh people always find a way to to modify these things unfortunately. So uh appreciate the report. I think we have to be diligent in terms of uh you know clamping down on bad behavior uh ensuring that people are uh utilizing this in a safe way. There are always going to be bad actors unfortunately um with these sorts of things, but I don't want to strip away um a way for people to get around the city which I know especially in my ward um a lot of different people get around um don't necessarily have not everyone has access to a car so this is another way for people to get around the city and I I don't want to take that away from them at this time. Um recognizing there are still issues but we are trying to address them. So again, thank you for that and I will look to councelor Pelosa. You have your hand up. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to staff on this one. I know it's been a conversation at council for some time and within the community. Um I'm not surprised to see the counts for Jalina and Bradley area um between the population it being some younger families and a great trail network. Um I know those are there and hearing from community concerns interested in the the helmet piece and that people under 16 aren't supposed to be on them through you staff having looked at section 3.2 within staff's report. What kind of advocacy can we or have we done with the two different school boards realizing some of the parents get the the scooters um or kids friends get them and they don't know that they're actually unsafe. They need a helmet and they're actually too young to be operating them. So have we done any engagement with those school boards directly with those parents and the families? >> So staff would like to comment on that. Go ahead. >> Thank you. And through the chair. Uh yes, we have engaged with the four school boards about e- scooters and uh depending on the principal's uh notifications have been sent out to students. I know at my own children's school that we did receive frequent notifications that you know kids under 16 are not supposed to be riding them. They're not allowed on the school property. Um and uh we would hope that the other school principles are receiving and sending out similar messages as well. >> Followup councelor. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. as elected officials and we do our own engagement with different schools. I know sometimes you can have advocacy with them in partnerships and sometimes you're just kind of shut out. Um, also in addition to 3.2 to realizing how we also had the bylaw with graffiti. Looking for staff's comment on the opportunity to have things posted within the stores, the physical stores in London who are selling e- scooters um to post the bylaw and make people aware if we have capacity or we would need more capacity even if it's just once a year making sure that something's posted especially near the holidays or the springtime when they come back into an upswing of sales. >> Go ahead staff if you want to comment on that. Uh thank you and through the chair. Um we certainly considered this option um when we're looking at uh trying to educate and get out to the public. I think the biggest constraint we saw in trying to pursue that initiative was simply that there's so much availability online. And so the effort uh for staff resources to go and pursue the sale of Zcooters throughout the city, you know, the effectiveness is really questionable we feel when uh there's so many things going on. That being said, uh this past holiday season, we did launch a specific campaign um basically encouraging parents not to purchase e scooters as presents for their children during the holidays, and I think we can continue to do that each holiday. >> Okay. Uh go ahead, council followup. >> Thank you. No, I appreciate that. I know I've come into similar issues with the size of outdoor gazeos and the types of coverings they have on them, the bylaws and and snow loads and just sometimes people stuff is sold in our local stores and they are unaware of the bylaws and things that mandate them. Um I don't know. I think we still have a police to do for public advocacy and getting the word out um on our channels. Not saying we're not doing it, just uh it takes a while sometimes to get traction that conversation changed within the community. also realizing it's not just children who uses these e- scooters and with the rising price of gas, I'm sure more people will be turning them to a as a viable mode of transportation. So, thank you for that and I will be supporting the staff report today. >> Okay. Uh thank you. Looking for visiting counselors. Councelor Hopkins, go ahead. >> Yeah, thank you uh Mr. chair and um I want to just start off maybe um thanking staff for their engagement in the community. I attended one of the events and I know there was a lot of engagement throughout the city collecting this information and I think that's part of the advantage of having a pilot project is that we're able to um get the data that is needed. I hear loud and clear counselor um Van Mirburg and about the safety issues. I've seen them myself in in the ward that I represent and I've been um you know deeply deeply concerned. But I think the more we engage with one another, educate each other, uh understand what the rules are, I think, um many of us would be surprised that we would even need to wear helmets compared to the amount of um uh scooter use out there uh that uh people do do not wear a helmet. So, it it I think there's a big education piece there. I agree councelor uh Pelosa with with more work that needs to be done. I I I think this creates the conversation in our community by having this uh pilot project. I I I do think it's an equity thing uh equity situation as well, creating more opportunities for people to move around our city. Uh opening up the roads for for cars to use them and and then having the um opportunity for for bikes and scooters to be used by other people. So, uh I think there's the enforcement piece too that really helps support um this the project supports the enforcement piece where we can uh work uh collaboratively with the community and create more of a safety environment in the city. So, I would encourage the committee to support the recommendation. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh go ahead, Councelor Charles. >> Um thank you very much and to the chair. I'll keep this very brief. Um, I want to start by really thanking the transportation demand management staff. U, Miss Miller and Miss Mixup. I I watched them work. I went to some of these events and they they just were so professional the way they were able to deal with the um public and they were a real credit to to to this to the city. um they had some difficult questions um to answer and they did it in a very very um unbiased and and and and neutral and professional um way. So I have a lot of confidence in uh the statistics that we have in the staff report. Um, we we um I'm going to avoid talking about other um modes of transportation where people feel unsafe and they come up on the sidewalk or hit pedestrians or kill people or or do or do things like that. I'm just going to I'm just going to avoid that. Um, so what what I'm going to >> Oh, sorry. Councelor Van Morgan, if you could just keep it down. Thank you. >> Go ahead, Council Truss. So, I just I just want to say I I fully support the staff recommendation, but this is an equity question and this is also um a question um to to sort of recognize that different people have different transportation needs and different budgets and and and different ways of getting around. In in my word, uh I see a lot of people using these. I see them using them responsibly and legally. And I think that there are a lot of mobility problems that um people who like to use this mode of transportation are are facing. Um and you know, we're going to we're going we're trying to make we're trying to make the streets safer. We're trying to improve um transit. We're trying to expand our uh bicycle uh networking all all ages uh all levels of competency. But I think this is something that's very important particularly um to youth and uh that includes people over 16. Um and I think um we we're going to do a lot of work on education about why it's important to have the helmet. We need to be doing that with um with cycles. Uh we need to be doing that with um a variety of different things. So this is this is a very balanced and well thoughtout staff report and I'm very pleased to be supporting it. So thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you. Councelor looking for any other speakers. Okay. I'm not seeing any. We'll open the vote on this. Mr. >> Could you call a separately from the rest? >> Yes, we can do that. Okay, we're doing a right now. It'll open for voting. >> Closing the vote. Motion carries. Three to zero. Okay. And we'll do the rest of them together. Closing the vote. Motion carries two to one. >> Okay. Uh, thank you. We are now on to confidential. So, I'm looking for a motion to go in camera. >> Per move. >> Okay. I'll second that and we'll open that for voting. Closing the vote. Motion carries. Okay, thank you. Welcome back. And I will look to council van Mgan to report out from close session. >> Thank you, chair. Very happy to report that progress was made on items for which we went in camera. Thank you. >> Thank you. And with that, we have no other items. Looking for a motion to adjurnn. Okay. Councelor Van Merin. Councelor Bloza. Okay. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? I think we're all good. >> Motion carries. >> Thanks everyone. I'm going to have