Good evening everyone and welcome to the council meeting on September 28th, 2026. Individuals interested in participating in today's meeting were eligible to register online using the delegation registration form at www.kitchener.ca/delegation or via email at delegation@kitcher.ca. Any written comments received prior to the commencement of today's meeting have been circulated to members of council and will form part of the public record. The meeting live stream and archive videos are available at www.kitchener.ca/watch.now. Before we begin this evening's meeting, I'd like to acknowledge, as we always do, that this evening we're gathering on the traditional territory of the neutral Anesnabi and Hodnosoni peoples. We recognize our responsibility to serve as stewards for the land and honor the original caretakers who came before us. Our community is enriched by the enduring knowledge and deeprooted traditions of the diverse First Nations Matei and Inuit in Kitchener today. And now if I can invite everyone to stand as they're able for the singing of our national anthem. Oh, our home and native land. True patri love in all of us command. With glowing hearts we see the true north strong and free from far and wide. Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free. Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Oh Canada, we stand on God for thee. Thank you everyone. And uh before we begin uh this evening's meeting, I'd like to uh reflect on some September and October days of uh significance. Uh before I do that, I do want to acknowledge two former colleagues who are in the council chamber this evening. Uh councelor John Gazola and councelor Ivon Fernandez. Uh welcome uh welcome into the council chamber this evening. Before we begin tonight's council meeting, I want to recognize several important days and events that are meaningful to people across our community. This Wednesday, September 30th, we will observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. On this day, we remember the children who were taken from their families and never returned home. And we honor the survivors, their families, and communities who continue to live with the impacts of the residential school system. The orange shirt that many of us will wear on that day comes from the story of Phyllis Webstead. She was 6 years old when the new orange shirt her grandmother brought her was taken away on her first day at residential school. Her story reminds us of the thousands of children who were taken from their families and of those who never came home. This is a day for remembrance, but it cannot end there. Reconciliation is slow work. It asks us to sit with truths about this country that many of us were never taught. to challenge what we thought we knew and to keep listening even when what we hear is difficult. The impacts of residential schools and colonialism are not confined to history. They continue to be felt by survivors, families, and indigenous communities today. That is why truth must remain at the heart of reconciliation and why our responsibility to listen and learn continues long after September 30th. Here in Kitchener, the city has a responsibility to keep learning, to build meaningful relationships with indigenous communities, and to make space for indigenous voices to help guide this work. That responsibility reaches into the decisions we make about our programs, services, and public spaces, and into how we build relationships with First Nations, at sorry, Inuit, and Matei peoples. Each of us has a role as well to take time to learn about the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools. Listen to the experiences and perspectives of indigenous peoples. Seek out indigenousled opportunities for learning and remembrance. And consider what reconciliation asks of you beyond today. Reconciliation requires more than a single day of rec of reflection. What matters is what we carry forward from it. in what we learn, in the relationships we build, and in the choices we make. And so, on behalf of Kitchener City Council, I encourage our community to remember the children who never came home, honor the survivors, their families, and communities, and reflect on the responsibility each of us carries on the path toward reconciliation. October 4th, we will also recognize the National Day of Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, girls, and two-spirited people. It's a day to honor those who have been lost, those who are still missing, and their families, survivors, and communities who continue to seek justice and safety. As we mark these important days uh over the next few days, I hope we take time to understand why they matter and the experiences behind them. There's always more we can learn from one another, and there's always more we can do to make sure people feel safe, respected, and at home. As mayor and as a council and as members of our community, I also am deeply troubled and condemn the threats directed at Muslim individuals and Islamic schools in Kitchener and across Canada late last week. Our thoughts are especially with the children who may be feeling frightened, with parents who are worried about their children's safety, and with the teachers and staff who care for them every day. No child should ever feel afraid to go to school and no family should be made to feel unsafe because of their faith. To our Muslim neighbors, you're an important and valued part of our Kitchener family. You are not alone and we stand with you. We care about you and your safety and your sense of belonging matter deeply to all of us. Sadly, this wasn't the only act of hate and violence last week. I also want to acknowledge a deeply disturbing act of violence in Belleville that occurred not that far from the city of Kiter. The shooting that took place outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue on September 20th as members of the Jewish community gathered for Yam Kapour. A police officer was seriously injured and Belleville police has since described the shooting as a hate motivated attack targeting the Jewish community. We must condemn this act of violence and anti-semitic hate in the strongest possible terms. People should never have to fear for their safety because of their faith or identity, especially while gathering in a place of worship. As a community, we stand with the Jewish community in Belleville and here at home and with everyone affected by this terrible act. Hate in all its forms, including anti-semitism and Islamophobia, have no place in our city, in our country, or quite frankly anywhere. In moments like this, it's incumbent on us to speak out, to look to look out for one another, to lead with compassion, and as a community reaffirm the kind of community we want Kitchener to be, one where everyone feels safe, respected, at home, and where they develop a deep sense of belonging. As September comes to a close, I also want to recognize a few important occasions in the days and weeks ahead. October is Islamic Heritage Month, a time to recognize and learn about the history, culture, and contributions of Muslim communities. Here in Kitchener and across Waterl region, the Muslim community is an important part of who we are. Throughout October, I encourage residents to learn more about Islamic heritage, connect with their neighbors, and appreciate the experiences and contributions of Muslim residents in our community and across the country. October is also Latin American Heritage Month, a time to recognize the culture, traditions, and contributions of Latin American communities across Canada. Kitchener is home to a growing Latin American community whose members contribute to our neighborhoods, businesses, arts, and community life. And so we encourage residents to take part in the local events that will be taking place this month. Learn more about the histories and cultures of Latin American countries and celebrate with their neighbors. And finally, October 1st is National Seniors Day, an opportunity across Canada to recognize older adults and the contributions they continue to make to our families and communities. Seniors have helped build the Kitchener we know today. They continue to contribute their experience, time, wisdom, and perspective to our neighborhoods and community life. To all of Kitchener's older adults, thank you for everything you have given and continue to give to make our community the great community that it is. Thank you. Okay, we'll now move to item two. on motion by councelor Johnson. The minutes of the regular meeting held August 24th and special meetings held August 24th and September 14th as mailed to the mayor and counselors be accepted. Those in favor? Any opposed? I'm thinking the overview camera isn't quite working. Um, sorry. We'll do that again. Those in favor? Any opposed? That is carried. any excuse me any disclosures of pecunary interest there being none um I'll note the communication to file the flag raising that occurred on September 25th for the association de Franophone to Kitchener waterlue and uh I have to say it was a great event with uh few hundred uh young people uh of uh French Canadian background and it was uh it was great to celebrate the day with We'll now move into our presentations for the 2026 volunteer long service awards. And I think I'm supposed to go up to the other podium. Correct? Yeah. Hey. Um, before we begin tonight's presentations, I want to welcome the volunteers and representatives who have joined us in council chambers for our annual long service awards. This year, we are recognizing four affiliated neighborhood associations and seven affiliated minor sports groups. Together, these organizations represent an extraordinary 435 years of service to our community. These numbers represent neighborhood programs that bring people together. They represent opportunities for residents to get active and participate in sport. And they represent volunteers who have continued to give their time and knowledge to their community year after year. These organizations help create connections and make a growing city feel like a community. And tonight, council has the privilege of recognizing that contribution and celebrating milestones ranging from 5 years to 65 years of service. So, on behalf of all of us on Kitchener City Council, thank you to everyone for uh everyone here for rec for the recognition that these groups are having. Your service has made a difference and we're very pleased to celebrate these milestones with you. And now we'll begin with our affiliated neighborhood associations. Neighborhood associations have a unique role in Kitchener because their work happens close to home. They're where neighbors meet one another, where residents help shape what's happening in their community, and where local ideas can become programs and opportunities that people enjoy together. The city works with 25 affiliated neighborhood associations, including three that became affiliated this year. And I know that all members of council actively engage with their neighborhood associations. Tonight, we're recognizing four associations with milestones re uh ranging from 5 to 45 years. And to the volunteers behind these associations, thank you for your dedication and for continuing to invest your time in your neighbors and in the places each of you call home. So, let's begin our presentations now. And I'd like to invite councelor stretch forward. And our first presentation is going to be to the Eastwood Neighborhood Association in Ward 10. And I'd like to invite Matt Crush, chair, and Lisa Ritel, co-chair forward to accept this certificate of appreciation for five years of community programming. >> Thank you very much. >> Years. >> Congrats. No. You want us here? >> We did photos. >> Oh, we're not doing anymore. Okay. Sorry. >> I thought we were doing some more. Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Uh Stephanie, if you can come back because also in uh Ward 10 tonight, we recognize the Auditorium Neighborhood Association represented by Christine Gunther who uh and this association is celebrating 35 years of neighborhood programming. Got to do it here. >> And >> and Warren Stout >> is the mayor mayor of the street. Thank you for all your work. >> Thank you Stephanie. >> Thank you. >> Next, I'd like to invite Councelor Chapman forward. And I'd like to invite Ron Williams and Jennifer Yurrosovich, co-chairs of the Mil Courtland Neighborhood Association, Ward 9, to accept a certificate of appreciation for 40 remarkable years of strong community building. And now I'd like to invite councelor Christine Misho forward. And in honor of the Dune Pioneer Park Community Association in Ward 4, celebrating a remarkable 45 years of service to their community, please welcome Ivon Fernandez, president, and Gio Guigga to accept the certificate of appreciation. >> Oh, okay. Okay, we'll now move into our minor sports presentations. Sport brings people together in different ways, but the volunteers behind it are just as important. Kitchener works with more than 35 affiliated minor sport groups, offering recreation and sport opportunities for people of different ages, interests, and skill levels. Those organizations depend on volunteers to keep those opportunities available in our community. Tonight, we're recognizing seven groups whose milestones range from 25 to an incredible 65 years of service. Think about how many seasons, practices, competitions, and opportunities are represented by that history and how many volunteers have helped make all of that possible. To everyone who gives their time so residents can participate, learn, and stay active, a sincere thank you. And so now, let's recognize this year's minor sports recipients. First, celebrating 30 years of service with the water region minor football association. Please welcome Timman Hardman, president and Ashley Andress to accept their certificate of appreciation. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Next, this is pretty remarkable. In honor of a milestone of 50 years of commitment to the Kitchener Waterloo Water Polo Club and to community sports, we welcome Kevin Mick, president, and Mariah Kovatch, uh, coaching coordinator and social media person to accept this certificate of appreciation. Congratulations And um our last group celebrating a remarkable 60 years of dedicated commitment to community sports. I'd like to welcome up Heidi Lion of the Kitchener Minor Girls Softball Association. There are also several groups celebrating milestone years of service who were not able to adjoin us to join us this evening. But we would also like to recognize them. First, the top spin table tennis club of Kitchener Waterlue for 25 years of service. The Turu the Turuoka Kai Karate Dough for 30 years of community sports. the region of waterlue swim club row for a milestone 50 years of programming and the konesoga sailing club who is celebrating 65 years of service. Please join me in giving the volunteers of all these community associations and community sport groups a big round of applause. Before I conclude, I want to come back to the number that I mentioned at the beginning of tonight's presentation, 435 years. It's a remarkable collective milestone. But those years aren't simply a measure of how long these organizations have existed. They represent people, hundreds of people, making a choice to contribute and give back to their community. They represent volunteers giving an evening, a weekend, a season, or for many of them, many years to something they believe makes our community better. That kind of commitment can't be created at city hall. It comes from the hearts and souls of the residents themselves. What the city can do is recognize it, support it, and clearly say how much it all matters. So to every volunteer represented here tonight and to the many volunteers who have contributed to these organizations over the years, on behalf of all of us council and staff at the city and on behalf of the residents of our community, a sincere thank you. Congratulations on your milestones and we hope you leave tonight proud of what you've helped build and knowing that your contributions will continue to be felt by the people and communities that come after you. And once again, on behalf of all of us, thank you for helping make Kiter a place where people can connect, participate, and belong. Thank you for joining us. And uh for those who don't want to spend the whole evening in the council chambers, we won't be offended if you decide to uh to leave now or at some point during the meeting. Thank you very much. We'll just pause for a moment now while uh those who aren't as excited about sitting through a council meeting uh decide to go out and celebrate their their years of experience. Okay, we have uh two more presentations this evening. The first one is from uh Tova Davidson, the executive director of sustainable waterlue region. Welcome uh welcome Tova as you share with us your annual report. on. Yeah. Good evening, council. So nice to be here. I love doing these presentations. I like talking to all of you and thank you for the time today. I'm going to give you our um report of what happened actually in 2025, but you know, we're far enough into 26. I'll give you a couple of highlights of what's happened and some of the ways that we work together. So in 2025, we realized that the work of SWR isn't just to keep going and do the things we've always done, but we actually have really been focusing on scaling, scaling up, scaling out, and scaling deep. So those are going to be the stories I share with you today, not sort of the standard numbers, but I have to give you the standard numbers. So here they are. They are at the beginning of the year report that I had distributed to you earlier today. If you listen to nothing else and tune me out from this point forward, these numbers are sort of the impact of the work that we did in that year. So, please reference those as you would like and they are always so near and dear to me, but I think there's some great stories I could share with you today. So, you'll see that we're calling ourselves officially SWR. Now, over the past six years or so, we've had all of the neighboring communities ask us if we could help because there isn't an organization like ours in G Wellington, Perth, Oxford, Gray, Duffren. And so, we're starting to help these other communities. The innovation that started here in Waterl region has been scaled nationally through the Green Economy Canada organization we created and then we launched them. But also, we are now striving to help other communities. We know that the work of climate and the benefit of climate doesn't stop at borders and so we're doing our best to help them as best we can. So some of the things that we have going on now SWR now offers an organics diversion program where we do food rescue and we support organizations to rescue food and feed people in need and then to serve those who are not served by regional waste management. So things like small businesses, multi-unit residential, schools, that sort of thing. And we have a program where they get a green bin just like people all now have at home. They get picked up. A clean bin is left every time. Everyone loves that part. Um and we actually take the organic waste to a digtor and create clean energy from it. This program was started through uh the circular innovation council and they came to us and asked if we could help them to keep it going and originally it was just in G and Wellington but we brought it here to Waterl region. So we're really happy about that. The impact network of course is the thing you all know us for and the city of Kitner is a really important member and partner in this program and the program is intended to give more supports and more resources to your staff so that they can do more to enable your staff in your own organizational corporate work. Um, the thing I wanted to talk about this time is we've launched a new platform that every single employee of the city of Kitner is able to log into if they would like where they can learn more about what does climate mean, engage in challenges both within your organization and with other organizations, come to events that are like ask an expert and they can learn more about all kinds of interesting things related to climate and the things that are sort of um co-related. So, it's not always just about climate, but it might be about all the ways that things intersect with each other. Um, we called it engage because I thought it was really clever. Impact Network in Engage. Um, and the carbon cleanse program runs through the engage platform. Now, Carbon Cleanse is our intermember challenge and it starts in October and you can do as much or as little as you like. So, if you got a competitive spirit, there's prizes you should join. We also have a partnership with Explore Waterlue Region that you may have heard of. And these photos actually are highlighting two events that happened here in Kiter last year. The CSAE, Canadian Society for Association Executives, held their conference here in Kitchener, both at the regional museum as well as the Double Tree. Um, and then the other is an event that was at the odd may look familiar to some of you. Call of Duty was hosted there. And through this partnership with explore waterlue region, we actually did the work to reduce and measure and then offset the entire carbon footprint of these events, an esport event and a conference. And as far as we are aware, it is some of the very first net zero conferences that have happened and they are innovating and happening right here in Kitner. And just as a side note for some of the new stuff that's happening, we did the same for the Ontario Summer Games. So members worked with many of the members of your team on your facilities and in one day alone through the organics program because everything's connected. We rescued more than 550 meals for this community. Of course you all know about the Evolve One building and I'm not going to stay on it for too long because what I want to talk about is the ways that the Evolve project helps us to scale even more. So the building continues to operate at a net positive energy standard, meaning that there is all more than the energy we need generated on site. And those numbers are right there on the right side of that table going anywhere from 106 to 123% of the energy that the building requires. And we've had thousands of people come through. But in the work of this project, the thing that we learned as SWR is that this development sector is under incredible pressure to innovate and to change. Uh national building code is projected to be net zero by 2030. That means changes to how they operate and they need help. And we learned that there are building innovation exchanges in Canada. There were three. There is now four. And we launched frameworks. We're the only building innovation exchange in Ontario and as I said one of three across Canada. So the original was in Vancouver. We have also got one in Alberta and one in Nova Scotia. And the frameworks program which has been operating for about a year now runs events, best practices, resources, training etc to help the development sector to adopt these new technologies to find ways to have more efficient buildings to support them. um and it is driving towards some of those housing goals that we need to do in a way that is actually um respectful of our energy constraints. So there's a really important multi-solving piece of this work. We are doing this project and this program in partnership with members of the sector. So it's not SWR saying this is what the building and development sector needs. It's the building and development sector saying here are where our challenges are and we find the speakers and the best practices to support them. This work is funded by the government of Canada. So, we're really proud um of that support and we deliver it in partnership with the Grand Valley Construction Association. However, we realize that training isn't enough that some practical tools are necessary and so we are now in the testing phase of a tool called Scout. Scout is a large language model and machine learning tool where developers and building owners can put in existing buildings, put in your information on the building, your data on energy, your building renewal, so when do you have to replace your furnace and all of those kinds of things and it will tell you what your next best project will be, what resources and funding opportunities are available, what the projected cost and payback and life cycle costing is. what are the technical pieces you need and gets you ready to talk to an engineer faster and the whole tool is designed to help us to mitigate some of the issues we have with existing building stock. So where evolve one is what do we need to do with a new building? This is how do we address what is needed in all of these buildings we already have. And actually, we are in the testing phase working with some of the people in your facilities management team to be able to test it on your buildings so that you can add some planning in your own facilities. And then even bigger, I dream that it could be something that we could use to suggest things for retrofit permits that come in so that we can encourage more and more high efficiency buildings in this community. Again, we are doing this work in partnership with lots and lots and lots of organizations as we do all of our work. And we are so happy that the government of Canada again has supported SWR in this work. And we all know well the microforest program. We launched this in 2021. We planted by the end of 2025 more than 55 forests, more than 5,000 trees. Uh we've had 13, I think, go in this spring, so we're well over 60. And this Saturday we are planting in partnership with your team at Sunnyside. Um a community planting and so we have trees going in there. I believe it's our third one that we're planting in partnership. And then I will talk about climate action. You all know about climate action but I don't know if you all got there. Many of you did to climate fest which we hosted at Gac Block on the 13th of September this year. It was our second annual climate fest. Um it expanded. We had a great big concert uh with Alicia Burillis singing. We had some local artists there, researchers, all kinds of activities and a way for people to understand what is available, what is happening in this community and how they can engage in ways that are meaningful to them. We know that the work of any civil society group, any social movement can be a long hard slog, but sometimes you get together with other people doing the work and you're uplifted and you're inspired. And so climate fest was one of the ways that we strive to do that. I just want to end on this message that um for many people they see the work as of climate as being separate from other parts of what we need to do as a community. But I want to encourage you to think about climate as the underpinning of almost everything that a municipality thinks about. It's how we get the people around. It's how we make sure we've got good recreation. how we encourage good economic development, businesses to come here, our energy systems being resilient, our roads and our infrastructure being strong and able to serve the community. And we're so thankful for the partnership with the city and for all the work that we've done together. Thanks. >> Thank you very much, Tova. And thank you uh for all of the the great work that sustainable water region uh has been doing. I I know you've been working uh incredibly hard over the past year and growing your uh your reach uh beyond the uh the boundaries of uh of the region and um sharing some of the great work that uh we've been able to do here over uh over a number of years with with other municipalities and I think in the in the long run it actually makes all of us stronger in terms of uh advancing uh advancing this body of work. We do have a number of questions for you. Uh and we'll start with councelor Singh. >> Yeah, thank you very much. Uh Mr. Mayor, not really questions, but it was more really complimenting the the utilization of AI in the sustainability field. I think that's the greatest uh immediate benefit that we can get from AI, AI for good. Uh again, there's a lot of data out there, but for a lot of property owners or even homeowners, uh realizing exactly the best way to retrofit their homes that may give them the best bang for the buck that can be a very costly endeavor. Uh and having a directed tool that gives them because they can enter in their data. I think this is the most exciting thing. I love the fact that the city of Kitchener is a partner with you guys. So the more data that you guys can utilize, the better it is. And I think it's incumbent on all of us to really spread the word out there and the private sector as well. Uh because again uh data is gold and this is the goal that can be of community asset and community benefit. So kudos to you. You specified that this is not a standalone but it will be in conjunction with a lot of partnerships. Um I was hoping a year is partnering up with uh uh REAp as well and again they're on the early onset of uh the the boots on the ground that do the assessments uh for energy retrofits. Are they a partner with this tool? >> Thank you for the question and through the mayor. Um we always are partnered with refund almost everything which is amazing including climate action. Um there is some work that they will be looking at the tool and partly the partnership is through the contractors that then reef would be sending people out to. So enabling the people they are working with to be able to do some of the work that needs to be done in those residents. I also get a lot of questions in the AI world about how can an environmental group be doing an AI tool. So we've done it in a very careful and thoughtful way. It uses a large language model but only using a tiny AI um scheme which means that it only goes to the websites we tell it to and so that means it does not do the giant search of the entirety of the internet which has two benefits. One is that it doesn't use as much energy and two it goes to credible sources so the results are better which is one of the things and then we've done machine learning as well. So for the data analysis and all of those pieces, it's actually doing machine learning which is not my strength to explain it to you but a different and not as energyintensive way of doing some of these kinds of tools. >> That's great and thank you for specifying the back end how how the function is going to be as well. So congratulations to you guys. >> Thank you. >> Thank you councelor Singh. Uh next up is councelor Deno. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor and thank you Tova for coming out. I really do look forward to these uh last four years. Um, so thank you for really in-depth information and it's, you know, we've seen what kind of a summer we had we've had and our winters and and I think we're at a critical juncture of what we need to do um to to you know take away some of that bad stuff that's happening. Um my question is does your organization go into schools and do um or classrooms and do pro um presentations uh such as this or or maybe a little modeled uh smaller model. >> Yeah. Through the mayor, we do work with schools in a number of ways. First off, both school boards are parts of the impact network. So we are helping them with their own carbon footprint work. We do go into both um public schools and post-secary to do presentations. The climate action program has also had school programs where kids are enabled to do some of their ideiation and some of that was funded by the city of Kitner. So we can get some school projects and get them to launch that. Um there was some jealousy in other communities that we didn't have it so we got funding from someplace else to go to other cities which is great. So yeah certainly we do work with schools. >> Awesome. Uh, and just a quick uh quick comment. Um, we had spoken late last year about coming and helping divert some of our waste. Um, so the the place I work at, a long-term care facility located in Kitchener, we just did a big fundraising for one of these organic food uh composts. So, taking all the leftover food from from the from our residents and and putting into uh compost that we can use in our community gardens. And so when that is up and running, I'll I'll reach out and have you come and take a look at it. >> Amazing. Sounds great. >> Thanks, councelor Deno. Next up is councelor Chapman. >> Yeah, thank you and thank you for this um report. Um so I have a couple questions. First of all, regarding data centers, I mean, we talk about AI, but how do you envision um SWR moving forward as you know, the threat of data centers, big I'm talking about big data centers increases. Great question. And through the mayor, um I don't have enough information. I haven't said a full vision of where we go with that. Um I think being mindful of energy use and water in a community like this is really important. Um, and I can see it being something that SWR probably would like to support in trying to find ways to do it better. I have heard about innovations in data centers where they have solar and they generate their own energy and there's water recycling and all of those things. I've not looked into any of the technologies. I wouldn't want to say anything saying, "Oh, I know that there's a good solution to this." But um I believe that Kitner is a innovative community and if anywhere is willing to think about ways we can do things well for the future um it would be here and I would love to engage in that conversation and do my research before I fully answer that question. >> That's fair. That's fair. Um I also wanted to ask a question about the the frameworks program. >> Um and I'm I'm thinking mostly about high performance standards. Have you um do you have a sense from the development comm community that there is an interest in in buying into this sort of thing? >> Um there certainly is interest from the sector in so much as we are there to support them. So it is not a program that has um any particular standard we're pushing towards. We are more saying oh you're seeing that there's demand or even helping to build demand towards higher efficiency buildings. So let us help you as a whole sector learn faster, be ready, even be able to sell it for this better buildings for the future. Um it so it's not dependent on any standard. We do see of course national code is coming um in 2030 and that it is intended to be much more energy uh ambitious and so we want to make sure that the sector here is well equipped and resilient in that. >> Great. Thank you and thanks for your thanks for the report. Thanks, Councelor Chapman. Councelor Misho. >> Thank you, Tova. I don't have any questions for you. I just want to say how remarkable the the amount of work that you and your team have done over the years. I remember when you came and just did did a might have been one of your first presentations here and to look at this this report and all the community engagement, the support you're getting from the community. And I love the fact that you're getting the development community involved in this too. This is you're really you're really on the right track and you're doing a remarkable job. So, congratulations. >> Thank you. Those are all the questions we have. Tova again, thank you so much for uh for all you Oh, hello. Oh, not for Tova. Okay. Thank you again so much for uh for all you do and uh please pass on our thanks to your uh to your team. It's uh it's been, you know, quite the shared journey for all of us and it's great to see the progress being made. Thanks, Councelor Anidis. >> Yeah, Mr. Mayor. uh you know being city of Kitchener is the biggest shareholder of Anova Power um and the talk with data centers I just want to make sure that's clarified out there that Anova Power doesn't have the capacity to to opt to to service a big data center. Is is that correct? Because that's what I recall. Yeah, I mean yes and no. I mean there's there's it's a part of a a broader conversation that obviously is going on and um I don't know if staff want to to comment at all. I'm say they're saying no. Um and uh but I I think it's it's fair to say that it's any any any work that ends up being done on that will be um aligned with both provincial and federal priorities going forward. Okay. Thank you. Um, I don't see I don't see our next presentation here. Um, which who was Sheriff uh Sarah Shafi, the director of the Center for Mutual Well-being. If she comes later, we'll add her into the agenda. And if not, we'll get that rescheduled. And I'll actually move item 6.1 up into presentations because it probably uh better belongs there than as a delegation uh since it's our internal Compass Kitchener committee. So with that uh I'll invite up Troy Glover, chair of Compass Kitchener to present the Compass Kitchener report card for the last time during this term of council. Welcome, sir. and thank you. Uh I I'll start off by saying thank you to you and the entire committee for uh for all the great work that you do. Over to you, Troy. >> Thank you very much. Uh good evening and um uh thank you for having me today to present our 2026 report card from Compass Kitchener. Um it's a great opportunity to do so. And today I'm just going to briefly summarize uh what we are what we assessed as a committee uh what we learned and what we believe council should carry forward into the city's next strategic plan. Before I begin, I would just like to acknowledge the members of Compass Kitchener uh who contributed their time, perspectives, and careful judgment to this year's evaluation. Our committee brings together Kitchener residents with different experiences, backgrounds, and relationships to the city. That diversity is important because Compass Kitchener's role is to offer council an independent resident informed assessment of how well the city is implementing its strategic plan. Our report is not intended to duplicate the city's internal performance reporting. Uh it it adds a community perspective. What do the results mean for residents? What can the city learn from uh our work and where should attention be directed next? For this year's report card, we evaluated 12 strategic actions completed in 2025 across all five goals of the city's strategic plan. Our purpose was three-fold. First, to assess how responsibly uh and effectively these projects were delivered. Second, to provide resident informed feedback to council and city staff. And third, to identify lessons that can inform the development and implementation of the next strategic plan. The report card therefore looks backward and forward. It recognizes what has been accomplished while also asking how the city can build on that work. We assessed each project using four criteria. We considered responsible project delivery. Was the work well-managed, evidence informed, and responsive to changing circumstances? We considered community engagement. Were residents and affected communities meaningfully involved? We considered impact and public value. Did the project produce or position the city to produce benefits that matter to residents? And we considered equity. Did the project recognize that different residents experience municipal uh decisions differently? Each project received an overall rating of exceeds expectations, meets expectations, or does not meet expectations. Importantly, equity was not treated as a separate isolated consideration. It underpinned our evaluation of every project. The central finding is very encouraging. All 12 projects met or exceeded expectations. Four projects exceeded expectations and eight projects met expectations. None was assessed as not meeting expectations. These results reflect strong project management, collaboration across departments and organizations, and a willingness to adapt when circumstances changed. At the same time, a positive rating does not mean there is nothing more to do. Several of the projects establish plans, frameworks, or foundations whose ultimate public value will depend on sustained implementation. The ratings therefore should be understood as both recognition of good work and encouragement to maintain momentum. Four projects illustrate some of the strongest features we observed. The housing for all initiative demonstrated how the city can use the tools within its control while working with community partners to address an urgent need. Among its accomplishments, the initiative helped facilitate 188 supportive housing units with another 84 underway. The localized transportation safety improvement project showed the value of combining technical evidence with residents knowledge of their streets and neighborhoods. It demonstrated that relatively focused interventions can make everyday environments feel safer and more responsive to local needs. The tree canopy target plan established an important evidence-based foundation for protecting and expanding Kitchener's urban forest. Its long-term value will depend on implementation, monitoring, and sustained attention, particularly in neighborhoods that experience greater heat and have less canopy coverage. The entertainment venue management project demonstrated effective planning and collaboration around an important civic asset and an increasingly competitive sector. Across all of these examples, the strongest results occurred when the city combined the tools within its control with evidence, partnerships, and community knowledge. That is an important lesson for the for future strategic initiatives. Another recurring strength was the city's willingness to adapt. Projects do not un unfold in perfectly predictable circumstances. Timelines change, new evidence emerges, partnerships evolve, and external conditions affect what is possible. Adaptability should therefore be understood as a strength, not as evidence that a project has failed to follow its original plan. However, when a project's timeline, scope, or direction changes, residents should be able to understand what changed, why it changed, and what outcome is now expected. Adaptability and transparency need to work together. Clear communication helps residents distinguish between a thoughtful response to changing conditions and a project that has simply drifted from its original purpose. It also strengthens confidence in the city's decision-making. Several projects also reminded us that municipalities operate within significant external constraints. Progress on housing, climate action, sustainable development, and active transportation often depend on provincial legislation, funding decisions, and partnerships with other governments and organizations. For example, provincial changes limited the city's ability to advance some of its intended high performance development standards. These constraints are real, but they do not eliminate the city's responsibility or capacity to act. Our message is that the city should act decisively where it has jurisdiction, collaborate where responsibility is shared, and advocate clearly where provincial policy limits municipal action. Residents should also be told uh what the city is doing, what lies outside its authority, and what it is asking other levels of government to do. That transparency helps council demonstrate leadership without creating unrealistic expectations about what a municipality can can accomplish alone. Looking ahead, Compass Kitchener encourages the city to carry three priorities into the next strategic plan. First, measure the outcomes residents experience, not only the activities the city completes. Uh, completing a plan, establishing a framework, or launching a program does matter, but residents ultimately want to know what changed. Is housing becoming more attainable? Are streets safer? Are neighborhoods more resilient? Do people feel included and connected? Second, sustain attention across planning cycles. Challenges such as housing affordability, climate resilience, accessibility, neighborhood vitality, and social connection cannot be resolved through a single project or within one term of council. They require continuity, long-term stewardship, and clear measures of progress. Third, connect public reporting more directly to residents lives. Residents should be able to understand not only what the city completed, but how that work contributes to affordability, safety, sustainability, and belonging. The results in this report card demonstrate that the city can deliver responsibly. The next strategic plan should make it equally clear how that work improves life in Kitchener. Overall, Compass Kitchener values the city's collaborative approach and its openness to community input. We're grateful to the staff members who supported this evaluation uh who provided information and responded thoughtfully to our questions and uh we look forward to continuing our role as an independent resident informed voice to working with council and staff toward a more connected, responsive and inclusive Kitchener. Thank you. I would be pleased to respond to any questions. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Uh thank you very much, Troy, for that uh thorough presentation and uh I guess a collective thank you on behalf of council and our and our staff team for the uh the assessment that you've uh shared this evening. I know a lot of uh work goes in um to doing that analysis by the committee and uh and being as objective as possible as uh as you can be. So it's uh it's always wonderful feedback. I I've always deemed feedback as a as a gift. Um and it's an opportunity uh for us to uh reflect on the things that are going well and also the ones that uh you know we we need to roll up our sleeves a little more on and and maybe approach a little differently in the future. Um there are some questions and we'll begin with councelor Chapman. >> Yeah, thank you Troy. Um I I'm just Is there a full report that has it been shared with us? >> I believe so. >> I mean all I got was this um slide deck. Have we actually received the full report? >> I believe so. Yes. >> Did we Oh, pardon me. No, it's not in the agenda. >> Maybe I missed it. Did I? >> Okay. Well, I'll look for it because Okay. So, I had my questions are because I didn't see the report. I I saw the the slide deck, >> but I I was just um wondering I mean I'm I'm really pleased to see that um things are being approached with that equity lens under with every evaluation that you you make that I assume that includes things like accessibility and um equity of all sorts. Um I just wondered if you had any details you could share. You you talk about the tree canopy target plan. Um did you look at green spaces or parkland at all >> uh through the mayor? Um well our responsibility through the report card is to uh evaluate completed projects by the city. So one of them as I recall was the uh parks plan and that um you know received a very positive response from our committee. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um but a lot of these aren't completed. Like I think of a strategic plan that just sort of goes on and on and on. So um my other question had to do with community community engagement because I know maybe not last year but the year before we scored quite low on that and I just wondered what your findings were this time around. >> Yeah. No, I think that again through the mayor um I think that um compass was very impressed with the work that the city staff are doing around community engagement. It does seem like um that uh more and more of the projects that the city is undertaking is taking that component seriously and engaging important stakeholder groups. So I I'd say that no project that we evaluated received uh an individual assessment of does not meet expectations. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um the one last question then and I'm sorry you this is probably in the report but um >> did you look at retention of affordable housing? So not just the building of new affordable housing because when we talk about affordability what's built now a lot of it's 80% of market value. it's not um as affordable as some of the houses we're we're losing um that people have lived in for many years. Right. So, do you did you look at retention of affordable housing at all? >> Well, through the mayor again, uh what our assessment is limited to is the project that this that the city completes and so we depend on the information that's shared with us from the city. We may have additional questions as a committee and the staff have been very generous in terms of responding to all of our questions. Um but ultimately we look at those you know different criteria that we set aside. So to answer it's difficult for me to answer your question specifically just because it has been a while since I've been involved in the finalization of this u report. But you know again um I would say that in terms of the housing for all project uh we felt very good about uh what the city staff has done what the city has achieved. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry for the >> having not read the report but thank you. >> Thank you very much councelor Chapman. Councelor Singh. >> Um not really a question but I'd love to be able to make a comment. uh Troy that the fact that you specified the report uh addressing that you know within the completed projects um that we fared well as to the city of Kitchener and staff as well as obviously it's incumbent on city council as a part a group of individuals that sets the priority for the community and the things that you know need that you to be addressed or which uh which investments go further. to improve the lives of our citizens. So I think it's a it's a good news story for this council as well as of course staff uh who diligently follow that direction that's set out by council and make actually things happen. So it's uh from an outside body that's unbiased and really looks at it and holds us accountable at the end of the day to have that assurance that we have been meeting that metrics that in this last term that this council and and our staff uh supporting us have done well. So that's a that's a good assurance. So thank you for stating that. >> Thank you. Thanks councelor Singh. Councelor Davey. >> Yes. I actually just want to echo that as well. I did really appreciate the slide detailing the constraints that council has and that's put upon us and a lot of residents don't understand those constraints even though we may want to see action in a lot of these areas where we just don't have the ability to do so. So having said that though, I do really appreciate uh the feedback and the the clear indication that this council is is going in the right direction. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Councelor Davey. And uh that looks like it's everyone. So, just once again, uh Troy, thank you to you and the the entire committee. Um I just uh had the opportunity again last week to talk about the existence of Compass Kitchener. It's uh something I like talking about uh when speaking with folks from other communities as I think you're you're aware. And and again, people are like, you've got what kind of committee and what do they do? and council's okay with this and it's like yes yes yes and uh it's been tremendous to see and I can honestly say in my my years on council I've uh and I think everybody around this horseshoe would say nobody's ever regretted having this committee and and the the uh the the open and and honest feedback and advice that uh that it gives council. So thank you. >> Yeah and thank you to this council. It's a credit to this city that it has a committee like this as as you mentioned uh very few if any other municipalities have a similar committee. So, we're very honored to be representing our fellow residents on it. Thank you. >> Thanks so much. Okay, we'll now um move on then to um our delegations. And before we begin with delegations, I'd just like to remind all delegations that the city values in and encourages participation in dialogue in a democratic process that occurs in council and committee meetings and through written submissions and correspondence. It is important that these interactions remain respectful towards other members of the public, staff, and council. In cases where dialogue is not respectful or a delegate interrupts the mayor, counselor, staff or other delegations, makes derogatory statements about the mayor, counselor, staff or others that is disrespectful, or uses language that is considered harmful or defamatory. The chair may interject and take necessary actions to maintain a respectful and inclusive environment for everyone, which could involve removal from a meeting. One last reminder, delegations are permitted to address council for a maximum of 5 minutes, which will be displayed on the screens in front of you. When there's 30 seconds remaining in your time, you'll hear a small audio tone that will signal 30 seconds remaining. Please take the time to conclude your presentation as there will be a second tone at the completion of your time and the microphones will turn off shortly after the exceeded 5-minute mark automatically. Lastly, please do not take offense if following your presentation, there's no questions from council. This is council's time to really listen and reflect upon the opinions and ideas shared with us from our community members. And so with that, I'd now like to move um on to item 6.2, which is consideration of uh the notice of intention to designate 265 Weber Street East. And we have uh a dual delegation Shell Secret uh who's here and um John Olinsky who is virtual representing Eastu Cooperative Inc. And I guess I'll let you figure out how the two of you are going to split it up. >> Excellent. Um I will actually be doing the speaking here and then I don't know if there's questions afterwards. If that happens, um John will be virtual to be able to handle any questions. Okay. >> Thank you. anything I can't handle. Let's go. Thank you. So, um, Mayor Verbanovic and members of council, uh, thank you for hearing us tonight. My name is Shell Secret and I am East View Cooperative uh, apartments volunteer uh, president and I'm speaking on behalf of the people who call 265 Weber Street East their home. Uh with me is Herb Lei behind me who has served as our volunteer uh president for more than a decade. And uh so we we really ask tonight that you vote against uh designating our building. We hope that all council members have had the opportunity to read our very full um objection letter that we passionately submitted back in July. Our building has a history worth telling. Built in 1948, it has been cared for by a cooperative community for nearly eight decades. We are really proud of that history. But the question before the council is more precise. Does the evidence support individual designation under section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act? Ontario regulation uh 9-06 sets out nine criteria for cultural heritage value or interest. At least two criteria must be met to designate this property. Staff say East View meets five, but when we examine the evidence for each claimed uh criterion, we question whether even two have actually been established. That is the decision we ask council to make tonight. The first claim is design value. We agree that East View reflects post-war apartment design. Its brick exterior, flat roof, H-shaped plan, and symmetrical facade are very plain to see. But the city's own account says several apartments were built around the same time by different owners using the same plan. There are other examples of this style within 500 meters of East View. So what establishes the design value of this specific example? It also needs to account for changes to the property over time. All the windows have been replaced at different times and with differing styles and materials. Awnings have been added at the rear. The garage doors no longer present a consistent appearance. When the region reconstructed Weber Street in 2019, the front railing was replaced without matching the building's existing railings. We are asking council to consider how much of the design being described remains intact and why the proposed attributes have been uh selected in light of those changes. in terms of historical value. Um, staff point to post-war demand, cooperative ownership, and Reverend Michael Krauss. East View helped house people during the post-war period, as many other buildings did. Our cooperative has brought people together uh to provide stable housing for decades. Yet, the evaluation does not show that this property became a center or model for a wider cooperative housing movement. And while Reverend Krauss Krauss's uh accomplishments deserve recognition, council should ask how those accomplishments relate directly to his involvement with this building given his limited role. East View is self-managed. Our members make the decisions, contribute their time and pay the bills. Many are retired or live with limited incomes. Every added cost ultimately comes back to the people who live in the building. We understand that affordability does not determine whether a property has heritage value. It does make it especially important that council be confident in the evidence before imposing those uh obligations. Please do not mistake our our objection for a lack of care for the building. Uh the building's condition today is the direct result of the member's care and we want to keep maintaining it and keep people housed in it. So please support us by upholding our objection, withdrawing the notice and voting against the designation bylaw. Thank you to all. >> Okay. Thank you uh thank you very much uh for that presentation. We do have some questions for you uh councelor Anitis. >> Yeah, thank you for for coming in today. I guess my question is since you are a co-op, how many of the members are in agreement with you? Is it like unanimous or >> um so this things came about pretty quickly? um we received the um sorry the document from the city and then needed to work through a very robust uh response in this objection letter. uh so the all the members are aware but we have not held a separate meeting to discuss it uh directly but just we're a very small building there's only um 15 members uh 15 units and um so just talking in the halls most are in agreement which is why um they've sent me here tonight >> okay that's great thank you thanks councelor Ius councelor Singh >> yeah shell thank you for presenting and there aren't many cooperatives that are small like this that are very close-knit community. Uh, as you said, there's only 15 members and, uh, just looking at even Google Street View, the the property is kept in a very very well state. It's it's a well-loved property by its residents and it's easily shown. Um, so I don't really have an objection necessarily to what you're outlining, your your request to not to designate. uh do you want to pinpoint where your concern would be that what impact to the cooperative would be uh if it were to be designated? >> Yeah, I think we are, you know, I'll I'll jump in and then see if John has something to add to it, but we are all volunteers on the board. Um you know, some of us, some of them retired, um me working full-time, um and we're just doing all this work on our own free time. or like I said, a volunteer board. And so we are concerned too, especially with a lot of retired folks. Um I know I'm on my own in that building paying all my bills. Uh we really don't want uh restrictions of of you know having additional costs involved with um uh what heritage designation would bring. So that is one of the main uh things. Um, we've been uh we do very well at keeping our costs low whenever something comes our way and we work as a membership to uh uh to handle things really well. John, do you have anything to add to that? >> Go ahead, John. >> Can Oh, thank you. Thank you for uh adding me. Uh I mean it's it's quite the operation that's been powered exclusively by essentially volunteers and in a pool of 15 uh that is a very limited pool. So even something like preparing for this delegation uh tonight took a very strong amount of time that takes away from other things like and I think this council can relate to taking out the garbage um keeping the hallways clean um making sure issues are dealt with daily. So while we certainly in in Shell's de deputation appreciate the recognition really we we really believe that what it's doing is is achieving that purpose and it would be an extraordinary burden on a very small group of people with very limited capacity from a very limited pool of people and sorry I was trying to raise my hand for the last one. Uh is it unanimous? uh we can't say that for sure but amongst our board which is approximately half of the group it was unanimous and strong and that's why we came so strongly with our position so thank you >> okay thank you to both of you um councelor stretch >> yes thank you shell um I just wanted to make sure that you're aware of any potential benefit that being designated heritage could bring um tax relief or granting opportunities and you've discussed that with your with your board and are aware and this is still your your position. >> Yes, we are aware. Um we have been um made aware of that but we really do believe that any benefit would um you know really just the work involved would actually um be too much to even think of that as a benefit and we have been thinking about that for sure. Thank you. J Linsky, you wanted to add something to that? >> Yeah, thank you. I think we've we've just we took a look at other examples and I think it was you, counselor, who referenced 38 shirt place and just going through the window evaluation. I I know that property. I grew up in Kitchener. I know the neighborhood well. and even that to look at the windows I know there's a modification but the time and the cost of getting it to the heritage level which frankly I I don't even know if we could um something that was mentioned in Shell's opening statement was they're all different right now so even getting to standardization from cost perspective but also from getting our members to agree uh is quite the challenge for a group of 15 units it's um I'll say democracy is alive and well and very robust uh I'm not sure the things that we're able to do through having our co-op structure, which is very strong for the group, would actually get done. I think it would cause a burden that goes well beyond any benefits. And we did take the time to evaluate those. So, thank you for the question. >> Thank you. Um, Councelor Schneider. >> Thank you, Mayor. And John, you kind of touched on where I I wanted to go about the cost of of replacing things uh to heritage standards. Um again, how many people are living? How many units members of >> 15 units? >> 15 units. Okay. So, when you have to do um maintenance to the building, is that split evenly um among the residents? Yes, we actually all pay condo fees and um monthly and so it comes out of um a reserve fund. >> Okay. But but something like uh if you had to replace all the windows uh to heritage standards, would that be covered by what's in your reserve fund right now? >> John, you want to speak to that one? >> Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, John. >> The short answer is no. be a cooperative versus a condo as we not held to the same standards on reserves. So, I personally believe there's enough to sustain our um level of living, but something extraordinary would probably wipe it out. It's under $100,000. I'll share that with you. And that's to pave the lot, to do the roof, and to just fix things that are broken. To answer your question, um it's not 15 units. There's a few people in the building who are say at the stage of life where we're we're thankful they've been long-term members but aren't able to contribute physically or in the same way as a smaller group. So, it's not even the whole group who's able to. And um I don't want to single out Herb, but Herb was our president for many years and uh basically said, "Can someone please take over? I'm ready to uh step away. I'm not and Herb's an amazing volunteer, but um and we're very thankful was able to do that. So, I think it's a good example of um and it's a great question because even a little thing like uh this can cause it. So, we're I think that's really what's driving this is we we we do value this and if you ask anybody, they're incredibly proud to live in this and incredibly proud that sustained itself as a co-op, but sustaining itself as a co-op isn't part of this. Um and we are deeply concerned with that. So, Dave, thank you for the question. Really appreciate it. >> Okay. And just it's probably an obvious answer to this, but having the co-op, does that keep living in this building affordable for the residents? >> 100%. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. It's why I've I was one of the newest um folks to u purchase there and it's one of the reasons why I did purchase at East View. Um I don't know what I would do if costs were a lot more. So, um, yeah, and and I think just for anyone who has purchased at East View, like we have to be thinking about the future and, um, you we've all come into this knowing what East View has stood for for almost 80 years. And we don't want that to change. And we have shown that um folks like Herb have shown for so long that we can maintain this building in a very respectful way. You know, we have done that. >> I agree. I'll have some comments later, but thank you for those answers. >> Thank you, Councelor Schneider. Uh councelor Oduni. >> Uh thank you, Chair. I was just wondering if there's a chance to ask uh staff questions. Uh >> we'll do that after the delegation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks. Um, okay. I don't see any other hands up. U so shall just uh and and and John um you know I I I look at other examples um quite frankly where the city hasn't designated and I'll use the glove box as an example and I recognize that that you know is a corporate entity that owns it and not a not not a co-op but um they didn't designate and and sorry council didn't designate and yet we've seen that the outcome has been very successful. I, you know, drive by your building twice every day on my way to and from, uh, work and, uh, so I've had lots of opportunities to to take a good look at it and it's clearly very well taken care of. Um and and so I I think one of the things that would be important to us is I mean is there an ongoing commitment from the uh the board to as as reasonably possible and keep while keeping affordability top of mind at a time when that's a big challenge to to continue to try to look after the the building and its and its historical uh representation as best as possible. >> Absolutely. And one thing that I can say uh I came uh was elected into the role of president uh just in April of uh this year. And one thing that I care deeply about is when we have turnover in um East View, I want to make sure that when we are all sitting around um having a meeting meeting somebody new that we ask them questions about what do you have to offer because we need people going forward who have things to offer whether it's their brains or their ablebodiedness because we do want to keep maintaining the physical um you know attributes outside and people like me who can manage to do something like this. Okay, if we didn't have those capabilities, I don't know what East View would turn into. So, we are very passionate, which is why we're here on a Monday night. you know why John was up very late last night. Why I've been working hard months ago in the middle of summer to make sure that we could um get this uh um very robust report into you folks um by the deadline. Okay, that's how we spent our July, John and I. So, we're here tonight. We've met with city staff. Okay. Um, that was uh a little while ago, a couple weeks ago, uh, we met with the heritage department. We care very much about our stance on this. >> Wonderful. >> Just to directly answer your question. Go >> ahead. I think >> you you know yourself, mayor. There's incredible pride of ownership from the outside, but on the inside there's an even harder focus on cost containment. And I will say that as someone who's has other um has lived in other places, no one works harder to save pennies on the dollar in trying to maintain that and it's an incredible thing and certainly can be sometimes timeconuming in our debates, but it's um it's a great thing and it'd be a shame to lose that because it's as Shell said, it's an important piece for this group. >> Wonderful. Thank you to uh to both of you for coming in and delegating and I'll now take questions of staff. Uh councelor Oduni, you indicated you had a question. >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you, chair. Uh, so I just wanted uh in terms I'm sorry if I missed this uh quantification um how to bring it up to heritage standard, what would that cost look like for the average um resident there? I think from my understanding it might be pulled from their condo reserve fund, but it would just be good to have an understanding of what that looks like. >> Mr. Stevenson. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um so in terms of uh the the heritage designation does not require any physical changes to the building. What it does is recognizes through a designating bylaw the unique features that uh are in staff's opinion are contextual heritage value. The example of the windows and I know that the uh we've had debates about windows before and replacements. the windows are are not original and they're not identified as a specific heritage element as part of this building in the designating bylaw. So, window replacements, we certainly uh would have a an opinion and some advice on what that style could be, but there would not be a material or a certain type of window uh that had to be replaced because they are not original to the to the building. So, uh it would be the the heritage designation has uh specific elements. So talking about uh the massing, the flat roof, the fact that it's an H plan, the red uh rub brick, brick banding, symmetrical facade, castston around the entry and the windows, uh as well as the concrete foundation. If there were changes to any of those parts of the building, uh if there was uh we would if it was designated, we would want to review that and those elements uh would be so substantial that uh an a heritage evaluation would be a very small part of any of those undertakings. So we did not it's not that a building has to be changed or that any physical changes would happen. As parts of the building go through natural life cycle, we would require a heritage permit to take an additional review. So, sorry. I'm just uh So, what I'm hearing is we're not asking to change, but don't drop below a certain standard. >> No. Still no. >> Through you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, so the heritage designation identifies the key features as part of the designating bylaw and if there were changes, the heritage designation is an additional lens or review. U we're not it would they would not be required to make any physical changes uh as a result of a designating bylaw. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Councelor Chapman. >> Yeah, thank you. Um so can you just speak a bit to if um so I I I understand the window part um but if they wanted to put a new roof on I mean they'd have to maintain the the flat roof but it's not like it's cedar shingles or or something special that would have to replace the current roof as need comes to be right >> through Mr. Mayor. So specifically the attribute that's identified is the fact that it is a flat roof. Um we have an example of a property in Kitner where the original roof is cedar. The cedar shingles are identified as a heritage resource and we are working with them to find an alternative material that would have a longer lifespan. in recognizing the cost. So even if a heritage attribute is identified, it doesn't necessarily mean like for-like replacement. I'd say that Kitster has evolved uh our heritage conservation practices to ensure that uh the overall character and intent is maintained, but we also recognize building code changes and requirements have also happened. Uh and we are flexible to alternative materials where it's either cost prohibited or would be more appropriate. >> Right. And do you have any concerns um with I mean we had what's the name of Bened and Roses we had um they came to us with some changes they wanted to make and I think staff work very well with them that's also a housing co-op right um do you have any concerns that if we do not accept um moving forward with the the designation process which we're at the very beginning stages of it I think are we not >> through Mr. Mr. Mayor, this would be the final step for this particular notice of intention to designate. >> Um, but it's intention to designate. It doesn't mean it would be designated as of tonight or would. >> Correct. It would be. Yes. >> Oh, it would be. >> This is the final step. >> Okay. Um, do you have any concerns that if we um don't proceed with the designation that this sets a precedent for other I'll say co-ops, not just houses in general, that um that we're willing to to wave designation simply because they're a co-op. >> You Mr. Mayor, I think council has uh various uh considerations to weigh in the decision of whether or not to designate this evening. And I think uh any designation is specific to a property and I would uh I know that that you would weigh all of the options for every single application as they move forward. Uh this is a this is a challenging one because I think and and I heard the discussion around the horseshoe. They have done an incredible job of maintaining their building. There are a lot of original elements that are worthy of designation in our opinion. uh and this property has been on our heritage inventory uh for quite some time. Due to some legislated changes, we have to make the decision this year if we proceed with designation of many of these properties or if they come off the heritage inventory. So, uh the reason this is before you tonight is part of that bill 23 work program. It's not in response to anything that uh East View uh co-op has done to their uh building or or anything like that. It's just that we are evaluating everything on a register by the end of this year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor Singh. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um >> Oh, yeah. Thank you. Uh council had asked clarificy questions about the overall impact of a heritage assessment. None of us here are heritage planners. So having that broad a a more detailed understanding helps us to understand the uh the general impact as the uh uh the delegation has specified their concern uh with the uh the staff recommendation and the recommendation from the heritage committee. So understandably nothing is going to be required of them just because they are designated but that does uh place additional parameters on any changes to the heritage uh specified attributes of the building. So you said that a heritage um application would have to be made if they want to make make any renovations and any building over time deteriorates and renovations are required. Nothing stands alone the way in the test of time. all all construction needs upgrades. Beyond the application itself, would a heritage impact assessment be required as well? >> You Mr. Mayor. So, uh, we would require heritage impact assessment based on the scale of what a proposal is. So, uh, if it was simply a window change, uh, we I don't know that we would require a full heritage impact assessment. And we've had uh some changes to the delegated bylaw for processing heritage permit applications with a uh routine matters are delegated to staff and there's no fee for heritage permit application. What is true is that there's an additional review uh and a heritage lens applied to changes to a building uh which is the point of the heritage permit application. So, uh there is an additional oversight uh for a designated heritage building, but uh any additional cost would vary based on the the scale and the magnitude of what's being proposed. >> And in fairness, uh the windows are already vinyl. So, I don't think that uh they themselves should or would be in the designation uh controlled. But beyond that, the building is brick. So if there's fractures, deterioration, or changes to the brick facade, would something like that require a heritage impact assessment as part of the application? >> Mr. Mayor, if it was a like forlike replacement, uh, unlikely. No, we would maybe provide some advice about a motor that would be appropriate uh, and maybe want to see a brick sample, but uh, we would scale our review to, uh, to the extent of of the change. So, if it's a leg for-like replacement, if the entire facade was being removed and they were proposing a totally different material uh and the brick and the uh limestone are are identified as as uh features, then yes, we would require an assessment of what that change would be. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. And painting they if they wanted to change any colors schemes that's exterior >> uh through you, Mr. Mayor. So paint is is largely considered an easily reversible uh change. So again, it would it would depend on uh what was being painted. There's not a lot of painted elements on this building. Uh the windows uh but if they're vinyl, they are they're white vinyl windows. There wouldn't be a lot of paint change. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, councelor Singh. Councelor Deno. >> Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Thanks, Garrett. Um can you I know uh councelor stretch referred to some benefits. Can you explain what are the benefits if this building does become uh designated as heritage? >> You Mr. Mayor. So uh the main reason that we do designate buildings is to preserve part of our cultural history and to ensure that elements that have a story to tell about the evolution of our community over time are preserved. uh there are um uh you know maintaining cultural heritage assets in a community is important for storytelling. Uh we have seen an increase in interest uh for heritage designation and and uh that's driving some tourism. U I wouldn't say it's not more than October fest but uh you know uh we are hosting the national heritage trust conference at the end of next month. Um so there's a renewed interest in in what's happening in terms of culture heritage in Waterl region. Uh but in a financial incentive program uh this council may recall that we revised that program to increase our grant program to uh $5,000 which is a matching grant. Uh so if there is uh contributions we would match that as part of that program. That program is only available uh and that financial assistance is only available to properties which have a heritage designation. So that's the only uh benefit that um the homeowners would would receive. It's just the matching grant. Is that the only benefit that they get by being uh designated? >> So that would be the financial benefit and then there would be a cultural heritage benefit overall of of preserving uh important parts of our of our history. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you councelor to know. Councelor Misho. >> Thank you. Um, in the heritage report, is it was it included that this was a co-op housing project uh building >> uh through you, Mr. Mayor? Yes, it was uh it was uh purpose-built and it was uh the the first cooperative housing in Kitchener, >> but it was currently a co Okay, so I I because I was I'm on the heritage committee and I did not get that it was currently co-op housing. I thought it was I thought it was part of the history of it, not that it was currently a co-op housing. So, I think that was a little not misleading on your part, just not clear enough to to to quite understand it. Um, have I've been on the heritage for eight heritage committee eight years, and I don't recall ever having a um a situation like this where we've got a co-op housing building where people are are, you know, living in in a good community, they're taking care of it, and we're uh in, you know, in instilling a a heritage designation on it. How many of these have we had or in your experience? I don't recall any. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, the the other example that we're aware of is the bread and roses cooperative housing uh in Kitchener as >> one other one. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh councelor Oh, councelor Anettis, you had a follow-up. >> Yes. Thank you. Um Garrett Mike, this design that I've se that we for this uh particular property I I've seen it probably throughout the city in several spots. Have we designated all those through Mr. Mayor? Uh no we have not. Uh so heritage uh designation uh this one meets in our opinion additional criteria of the nine. Um so uh this would be an opportunity to designate both by associative value and um and by design. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um so councelor Chapman. >> Yeah. Can I just ask one last question? >> Yes. Go ahead. >> Um yeah. So have you spoken to the residents of the co-op about their concerns and um is there any way to come to some agreement here? >> Mr. Stevenson. >> You Mr. Mayor. Um, I haven't spoken directly with with um with the residents, but uh our heritage planner has met with them. Um, I think that we're uh if you saw their submission, it's a respectful submission um based on their opinion on the contextual value. I think on those aspects, we just we just simply disagree. Um and so uh if if you were uh a decision would have to be made, council has two options, but it would a decision would have to be made prior to October 31st on this particular designation. Um or it would uh it would not be able to proceed. So we we could have a deferral and further negotiations could go on with or discussions I guess with staff and the the residents with that and that would give them the opportunity to speak with the all the residents in the building. Would that is that something you'd be willing to work with >> uh through the mayor? My we're in we're in council's hands. if a deferral would be would be helpful, then we could definitely uh arrange to uh find a way to bring it back before the next meeting. U I do think that staff's position is that six of the of the nine criteria are met. Uh and according to the Ontario Heritage Act, it would be worthy of designation. Uh they're of the opinion that uh two, but but maybe less. I heard in the delegation this evening. I don't know uh that we that a deferral would would result in a different outcome. I think we respectfully disagree on on how to move forward. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Councelor Stretch, you had a follow-up. >> Yes. Um I'm curious about um if no action is taken, so the 120day statutory period expires. Um and what what does that leave um 265 Weaver with? What is Mr. Stevenson. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, there's there's there's uh a couple of uh considerations options that council does have. So, um declining the objection um would mean um that we would that we would uh follow you would follow staff's recommendation and pass uh the designating bylaw. Um if you accept the objection and withdraw the notice of intention to designate, uh you you can do that. Um and if you don't proceed with designation um before October 31st then uh it would not proceed to designation and at the end of this year uh it would be removed from the heritage register uh in accordance with uh applicable legislation for 5 years. Okay. So um well we're I'm going to take a a motion first. Um, councelor stretch, are you moving one? >> Has a copy. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, the motion that's before us, I'll read it out, is that with respect to the notice of objection dated July 30th, 2026 concerning the notice of intention to designate that was approved at the June 29th, 2026 council meeting for the property municipally addressed at 265 Weber Street East. uh that staff be directed to take no further action on the proposed designation until allow the applicable 120day statutory period to expire. And further that pursuant to the act, the clerk be directed to publish a notice of withdrawal of intention to designate the property municipally addressed as 265 Weber Street East. I guess my only question on that and I will take that as your motion is perhaps ask I I don't think if we if we take no further action on the designation do we need to go through the expense of a notice of withdrawal Mr. Stevenson through Mr. Mayor, uh if if council wishes to not proceed with the designation, uh I would suggest uh following option two on page eight of the staff report, uh which is um uh that uh uh that we accept the notice and we withdraw the notice of intention to designate. So we simply staff would uh not proceed any further with with this designation. >> Okay. But we don't need to like put a new ad in the paper or anything like that. >> Uh through uh to you. Uh I don't believe so. Uh if if we did, it would be a cost uh to the city. That's part of the heritage uh budget that's already been determined for the bill 23 work. So it it wouldn't be a huge financial burden if we did. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh so council stretch, you moved it. Do we have a seconder for the motion? Moved by seconded by councelor Deno. Thank you. Um councelor stretch did you want to comment on it? Go ahead. >> Yes. Thank you. Um I'm just hearing and having conversation with the the co-op owners. They're they're very reluctant because of the cost involved and they they are um really great property owners and and seem to be working together and mobilizing. And I think, you know, in our past when we've um when we've heard from delegates about their their pause about becoming heritage and that being a much more cumbersome designation for them to be able to move forward is something that I'd be willing to support and uh support their cause and and hearing from them. I think it's a strong case. >> Thank you, Councelor Dano. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And uh the picture on Google Maps, that's beautiful grass you guys have. I wish mine looked as good as that. But the reality is we actually need more co-ops um in in the city. I can, you know, to um keep on to keep affordable rates or affordable uh rents um going forward. And and you know, and I've seen and heard firsthand what happens when a heritage designation is applied to a home. It really hamstrings the homeowners as to what they can do and what they can't do. And I'm not in the business of subjecting um a house or a building to a standard that really ties people's hands. And so I'm in favor of uh Councelor Stretch's motion. Um and uh keep up the good the good work on this on this department. >> Thank you, Councelor Misho. >> Thank you. Um as a heritage committee member, I find myself sitting, you know, in a little awkward uh situation here, but this is a heavy file. This is a file where we have people that are living in a home, a building, keeping it in excellent condition. Um, they clearly love where they live and I'm all for heritage designation. I think it's really important to, you know, to to uh secure as much uh history as we can in our community. Um, but I this is something that I would not support. I will support councelor um I'm sorry, stretch stretches. I'll support councelor stretch's motion. um uh to to remove the designation. Um so, thank you. >> So, just to be clear, we're not removing the designation because we haven't designated it yet. Um Councelor Chapman. >> Yeah. Can I just ask one more question? >> Uh sure. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Um I just wonder if um the building were to be sold at a later date, can we always come back to the question of designation? C. Um, I was almost going to call you, Councelor Stevenson. Mr. Stevenson. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, this property, uh, would be removed from our, uh, heritage register at the end of this year and could not be added, uh, again back on the register for 5 years after that. Um, in terms of, um, that that would be our first step. So, it would be not for five years. >> Okay. Um, I'll just say I'm also on the heritage committee and I I you know I understand the the difficulty with this one, but I I do appreciate the work that's being done and the you know the fact that it is a cooperative and I do get I feel I have a bit of um I I'm glad to hear that at some point it could come back. I I doubt anything's going to happen over the next 5 years at the co-op. I trust um so I'm willing to um not go ahead with the designation at this point. I also thanks >> thank you councelor uh Chapman councelor Schneider. Thank you mayor. Uh thank you Shell and and thank you John and and for coming in. Um this is a building I'm very familiar with. Uh, I I went to Shepherd School as a kid, so I saw this building every day after school, and like the mayor, I I drive by it almost every day. It is in pristine condition. It's It's gorgeous. It's one of those buildings like uh for open doors. I I I'd love to go through it. I I' I'd love to see what it looks like on the inside because it it takes you back to a very special time. and and and you have uh lovingly taken great care of this building and we are in a time where affordability is is a it's on people's minds. I'm hearing that at the door uh campaigning uh procarity we we people are are worried about what's going to happen. Can they stay where they are? Uh you have a building, a cooperative uh team of people that that together uh keep a a building looking good in great shape and and you live affordably and collectively and this is a beautiful thing and I I I just feel so strongly that uh this is not needed. Uh it's done out of love already. uh it's done out of pride as she said for 80 years it's it's gone this way and it'll continue to go this way because there will be this continuation as there has been uh for 80 years of lovingly taking care of this building and being proud of it and being a great place to live. So thank you councelor stretch for your good work on this council sing. Yeah, I share in agreement with what everything that councelor Schneider has said and it's difficult to add anything further because he's very eloquently outlined exactly u that we need to support cooperatives uh like this uh that are um you know well-intentioned positive um you know community members that are putting in tremendous care in in their housing uh not just how it looks on the inside but also on the outside and to preserve a building of the age of this to look immaculate and in its true original built form is why you got the interest of what perhaps where the heritage attributes are. So uh you should be applauded not uh not uh additional I think conditions opposed. Uh the other thing tonight I think which was said very succinctly and I appreciate councelor Chapman having said this and her viewpoint in recognizing again the affordability and and the comment she had made earlier was it's not necessarily about new affordable housing only but it's the preservation of existing affordable housing and you guys are already providing that uh uh affordable housing to to occupants and this is where I was going back and forth with Mr. Stevenson, I appreciate the prize he gave that it's hard for as a staff opinion to outline exactly when an impact assessment is required, but just doing a quick uh Google search, a cost of heritage impact assessment can cost anywhere between 6,000 and 30,000. And the fact is a designation could at some point require and necessitate that heritage impact assessment. and imagining a $30,000 cost to 15 occupants. Well, that that that could put you undo financial pressure. So, that's why we have to make these decisions very responsibly and I think uh you the building form and its heritage character is in good hands and respectful hands and have good confidence the building will continue and being looking the way it is. So, I'm supporting councelor uh stretch's um amendment. >> Thanks. Uh, thanks Councelor Singh. Um, and I'll speak to it in a moment. I will just note that u Mr. Stevenson has informed me that the legislation does uh require us to publish a a notice uh of withdrawal of designation. Sounds like a a good thing for us to suggest to the the province as as something for their red tape committee to to look at. Um I I get it. No, no, a need to to suggest uh you know to to require posting if you're going to designate. Removing the designation seems uh seems a little unnecessary. Um but anyway, that is a cost covered by the municipality uh as part of the process. Um I will support councelor stretch's motion. Um I am someone who um historically has uh believed and and supported um heritage. Um, but I also think it's it's different um when we're looking at a indiv like a personallyowned individual property or in this instance a not for-profit co-op uh which is very different than a um a for-profit business uh that that also has the ability to write expenses off and and so on. That is a different set of circumstances. And I will note that as as I did earlier on with the example of um the glove box um where we didn't go ahead with designation and I think we've all seen um the outcome of that and and in fact the the the investment by the property owner into that building um has attracted companies like Zurich Insurance to uh um which you know to to look at that space and and move part of their operation into um the city of Kitchener. Um and and so you know, as has been pointed out by several colleagues, um this is a property that really exhibits the the pride um and and the love that the the residents of the co-op put into the building and um I think as as has been noted as well from a affordability perspective, this would add an unnecessary stress and potentially financial burden on people at a time um when that's not necessary. And I'm I'm confident they will continue to care for it as they have for for many decades up until now. So, uh it has been moved and seconded. All those in recorded vote. Okay. >> Haven't done one of those in a while. >> Last up this turn. >> Well, maybe. >> Well, this turn. >> Oh, yeah. Maybe because there's more stuff. And that is carried unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Uh thank you very much uh to all the two of you here as well as uh to John who's joined virtually. Okay. Okay, we'll now move on to item um 6.3, which is the heritage permit application for 16-20 Street North, which is removal of a portion of the side return and altering existing window opening into a door on floor 2 of the front facade. Uh the clerk has advised me that uh at Heritage Kitchener um this matter was considered on September 1st, 2026 and the staff recommendation which was to approve the recommendation was voted on and was lost lost. The staff the staff recommendation is outlined in the addendum report has been included on the council agenda in the affirmative. And so if it is council's will to refuse the heritage permit application, members of council should vote in opposition of the recommendation. So, in other words, if if you want to uh vote in favor of allowing the renovations that have been requested by the applicant, you would vote in favor of the recommendation before us. And if you want to vote against the recommendation um of uh of of it, you would sorry, you would vote against the recommendation to deny it. I'm still confused by this. Um, I will also note that there have been three written submissions uh from MHBC planning uh Sue Cyber and Lesie Stalard. And we do have four delegations here this evening. And our first delegation is Mr. Dan Curry from MHBC Planning. Welcome. >> Thank you. Excuse me. The um purpose of my delegation on behalf of uh my client Momentum who are the owner and the developer is to request that council defer uh decision on the heritage permit tonight. And the reason for their request on the deferral is that uh my clients understand there's a number of questions and and possibly concerns around the use of the community benefit space which is part of the ground floor. It's not directly related to the heritage permit application, but given that this is one of the approvals that they have to go through. And just as background council, you will recall that when this was approved in originally approved in 2021, it's a mixeduse building, a tall residential tower, and among the uses on the ground floor, one of those is a community benefit space, which is what it's the name implies. And uh although there's revisions to the application and hence the need for a heritage permit because there are some um changes to the building that affect the heritage attributes um there's still a community benefit space but it will change. So they recognize there's some questions. They're in discussions with a number of groups and others around that space. They just haven't finalized it. So, what they would prefer is if council would agree to a deferral uh to sometime later this fall, they'd be able to finalize some of those discussions, have some answers to what some of the potential questions or concerns could be, and uh uh I would return and or they would return and request you approve the heritage permit at that time. But uh that concludes what is my intention with this delegation is to ask that you uh defer a decision tonight. Thank you. Okay, thank you for that. Questions of uh Mr. Curry, Councelor Chapman. >> Yes. Um thank you. I'd be happy to bring a deferral um motion forward. Um but one thing that I mean I know that community um develop what do you call it? The community space is really important. But the other thing that I think was um highlighted at the um heritage committee meeting was the engineers report that was missing in the um the report we received at heritage committee regarding the the sides of the the the facade. So is that something that you can have ready for us in the next well between now and the deferral date? Yes, we can prefer um the engineer reports and the process of the stabilization plan and those types of implementation measures, we can provide further information on that at that time. >> Okay. >> Um and it what I would add uh uh sorry through you may verbanic is um if there are specific questions that would be important for council to know if uh you pass those through to staff, we'd be happy to provide the information. Uh the developer has gone to a great deal of work in terms of some of that information. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, we have councelor stretch. >> Thank you. Happy to support a deferral to learn more about what's possible with community space um affordable housing. That's a big difference between the first um 2021 proposal and the one considered now. So happy to have some time to to gain more information. Thank you. >> Um councelor Singh. >> Yeah, I was going to speak to the same effect. Um glad that councelor stretch has uh touched on the affordable housing. Of course, the conversation about community space is important and thank you for uh councelor Chapman for u looking at the deferral so that we can have a more nuance conversation of how the overall benefit can be to the community in that. But also I think this is the that opportunity for specifying the overall community need for affordable housing as well. Um I think obviously you were in the the gallery having hearing uh the importance for as a critical importance of affordable housing that plays when we are balancing so those decisions along with as important things of heritage as well. Uh we we especially have to look at the more immediate also which is that affordable housing. So hopefully we can have some progress along that as well and I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys have to offer. Thank you, >> Councelor Singh. Councelor Schneider. >> Thank you, Mayor. And uh like my fellow counselors, I think I like the the offer of us getting our questions to staff so that they we can have a really wholesome conversation because the community uh the community space, the the loss of units, the loss of affordable units. Just want to get an understanding. I know it's been a crazy market out there lately, but uh to have the proper information so the council and the community can have all the transparent information we need is is uh necessary. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Schneider. And uh Mr. Curry, thank you for uh for making that offer. And uh we will um I I will give the other delegations um the opportunity to decide if they still want to speak tonight or if they want to uh to wait uh to see if this issue or when this issue comes back forward. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um Mr. Marin, did you still want to speak this evening or did you want to hold for next time? It's up to you. >> I can speak briefly. >> Yeah. up to you if you want to come down to the podium then and I'll ask the same in a moment of Mr. Joerger as well as Ivonip take your time. I threw my speech away, but I would have said that I was one of the people that came forward here in 2021 and spoke in favor of the whole designation of the building, but my purpose was really just to give the whole thing a little bit more time. The developers themselves had said they were interested in a civil conversation and I was all in favor of a civil eager for a civil conversation and then it was disappointing in the end the way things turned out but I really wasn't discouraged. I thought that that civil conversation could still happen but it didn't. Now it's five years later. I'm still up for that civil conversation. So, and I would have recommended that you defer the decision uh at least till after the election and give us a bit of time maybe spring, March, something like that so that we can actually look at the whole context in part in for the developers themselves because I think this scaled down version there were a lot of good things about the original was quite grand and it was bold and it had that uh the the the arts component and I think that's lost now and I think if we talk and everybody contributes we might be come up with something that's that's a lot better. So that's all I wanted to say. >> Wonderful. And and >> I know uh Mr. Degrroot you have a long passionate history about arts and culture in the community. So thank you for uh thank you for coming forward this evening. I was actually going to propose a friends of the Queen Street Conservatory thinking about our time of the >> Friends of St. Jerome's Theater. Yes. Many moons ago. >> And even though I mean we worked for 10 years it and it we failed utterly but there were still good results. We have the registry. We have the the Conrad center. So talking friends of of of the of the of the conservatory. You never know what the result is going to be and it might not be in that particular site but I think a good result can come. >> Let's just not see the same result that we saw at the old St. Jerome's building which unfortunately as you know got uh fell vict victim to a fire. So let's uh let's not see that happen. Um thank you for coming in. Uh Mr. Jagger, did you still want to speak this evening? >> I'll just say that on record already is asking for that and I support that and I think that I think a more uh offline conversation will be more productive. >> Okay, thank you for that and Ivon you. Thank you. You just saved me from having to read through my my two pages. Um what I want to say is um it is I I'm in favor of it being deferred as well and I think that's what one of my my hopes was. Um but at the same time deferred not so that it's um a decision in isolation as it has been brought forward today um as um you know a consideration of a heritage application. the project is to be seen globally in its historic the historic decisions that went into it. Um and so the the the items of um affordability, the cultural space, the heritage part of it was a piece of that wholesome uh decision. And now that there is a proposal for um a a materially changed project proposal, those decisions have to be revisited and reinccorporated into um your new thinking about it. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Um so there is a who's moving the deferral? Councelor Chapman. Thank you. Do I have a seconder? Councelor Stretch. Thank you. Sorry. Oh, we to Yes, we need a date. Um, Mr. Curry or Mr. Stevenson, do you want to help here? >> Mr. Curry? >> Yeah, just on behalf you Mr. Mayor, or to you, Mr. Mayor, I guess, is the question. Um, my client needs several weeks to continue on the discussion. and they're thinking at least later into this fall. Uh I defer to the clerk as to you know when the next council meetings would be, but uh they would uh like this to return at the earliest sometime later this fall. >> So realistically there will only be one other meeting and it will be of the new council in um like we have one meeting yet of this council, but it's really more just a it's not a a decision meeting. It's just kind of a wrapup of the the term of council meeting. Um and then we have the next council will have an inaugural and and and there'll be one round of meetings uh in December. Um if I can make a suggestion to you, you may want to leave it till the first round in in January. Okay. >> Just to give the new council uh an opportunity in case there will be at least one change. we know because councelor Ooneyi isn't working and we don't know what how the how elections will will play out. Um and uh and so you may want to give people an opportunity um to just get their feet wet before this comes back in >> I will communicate that to >> so January works. >> Okay. So is that your motion then? Thank you motion. You're okay with that councelor Chapman? Okay. No, just uh it'll come back to the January round of meetings. So, uh so that's been moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Thank you everyone for uh for coming in this evening for that item. We'll now move on to the reports of the committees. Councelor Misho, does that does leave some uh do you want to bring those forward, please? It has been moved uh by myself and seconded by councelor uh Deb Chapman that the balance of the heritage report dated September 1st, 2026 listed as item 71B to 71D on the agenda this dated be adopted. >> Thank you. Uh there been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? That is carried. Councelor Davyy the finance and corporate services committee please. >> Yes. has been moved by myself and seconded by councelor Villionitis that the three items coming from finance and corporate services committee be adopted. >> Okay. Thank you. Um any discussion? It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Any opposed? That too is carried. Uh there's no unfinished business. Any new business? Um under mayoral business and updates. Uh, I'd just like to provide a little bit of an update um on the uh media event that uh myself and council held earlier this afternoon when we shared with the public Kitchener's plan to support local and protect jobs, a coordinated response to the ongoing tariff and trade uncertainty affecting businesses, workers, and families across our community. I won't repeat the announcement that was made at the media event, but I do want to highlight what this work means for our city moving forward. This plan is focused on practical actions that are within the city's control. We will continue using our purchasing power to support Ontario and Canadian businesses, build stronger domestic supply chains, and create more opportunities for local firms to compete for city and other government contracts. Today, approximately 98% of the city's spending on goods, services, and construction already remains with Ontario-based businesses. We intend to build on that strong foundation. We will also work directly with businesses in sectors most exposed to trade disruption, helping connect them with funding opportunities, growth supports, export resources, and new supply chain options. At the same time, we will continue bringing Kitchener's voice to provincial and federal decision makers and advocating for solutions that reflect the realities facing local employers and workers. A second element of the plan is activating the community. And today we relaunched support local builder, a renewed citywide campaign that gives residents a practical way to be part of the solution. The campaign will encourage people to choose local businesses and Canadianmade products whenever possible while highlighting the entrepreneurs, employers, and innovators who help drive Kitchener's economy. It'll be supported through local business storytelling, partnerships, events, and year-round outreach across the community, and we'll also be planning to um reopen um our online store for some of the support local merchandise. Importantly, the campaign is not separate from the action plan. It's one part of a broader effort to strengthen economic resilience alongside procurement changes, business support, supply chain development, and advocacy. It all will help keep more spending circulating within our local economy and support the jobs that depend on it. Trade uncertainty may be beyond our control, but how we respond to it is not. And so Kitchener will continue using the tools available to us, working closely with businesses and community partners and taking practical steps to support local jobs, strengthen our economy, and build resilience for the future. Um, and there is one other thing that I just want to touch on in my report and uh acknowledge that somebody in uh on our staff team today is celebrating the start of their 40th year as an employee with the city of Kitchener. And so, uh, I I don't quite understand how the math works because I was told she's only 39. Um, and so, uh, I just want to, uh, acknowledge our city solicitor, uh, Leslie McDonald, for, uh, your dedication and public service to the city of Kitchener. Congratulations. So, we'll move on to item number 10. Any questions and answers? Okay, then we'll move on to staff reports. And there are um there's just one item and that is the 20 uh 27 calendar. Do I have a mover for that? Moved by councelor Singh, seconded by councelor stretch. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Uh there's three um information items there. Any discussion? Nope. Okay. Then we'll move on to uh the bylaws. Madame >> through the chair. There is one >> item from an item from in camera. Sorry. >> Thank you. There is an item arising from in camera. We will display it on the screen. >> Thank you. So there is an item noted on the screen. Do I have a mover for that? Councelor seconded by councelor Deno. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Thank you. And now madame clerk, are there any additional bylaws? uh through the chair. Given the discussion regarding 265 Weaper Street, we do need to strike item 121G from the list of bylaws. >> Okay. So, with that uh with that change, does somebody care to move the bylaws? Councelor Chapman, Councelor Oaduni, any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? That's carried. Um, and with that, uh, just want to, uh, remind everyone that October 26th, uh, is municipal election day. Uh, you can check out the city of Kitchener's website if, uh, you need to find out information about voting. And with that, I will now take a motion to adjourn. Moved by councelor Schneider, seconded by councelor Misho. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? that is carried. Thank you everyone.