Good morning, Councelor Fatini. Can we test your audio, please? >> Yes. Good morning. I'll be in late. I'm just leaving the hospital now. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Check one two. Testing audio. Check one two. Okay, seeing the time is 9:30, as we begin today's meeting, I'd like to acknowledge that we are gathering here today on the traditional territories of the Missagas of the Credit Hodnney and Wendat nations who have called this land um home since time memorial. Uh please all rise for the singing of our national anthem to be followed by a moment of personal reflection. Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patri love in all of us command with glowing hearts we see he rise the true north strong and free from far and wide. Oh Canada, we stand on God for thee. God keep our land. Glorious and free. Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee. Oh, we stand on God. Thank you. The clerk has a number of um updates that she'll share with council for the approval of the agenda. >> Thank you, Mayor Brown. The following items have been added to the agenda. 7.1 a delegation um regarding 14.2 DC charge reductions presentation and delegation added. 8.1 staff update for the government relations matters. The presentation has been published. 8.2 presentation regarding uh the Canada Ontario development charge reduction program. The presentation and a proposed motion has been published. 10.2.1 staff report administrative penalty system program has been published. 10.2.2 2 staff report regarding insurance and volunteer-led events has been published. 12.1 minutes of committee of council June 3rd have been published 10.6.1 staff report traffic congestion mitigation report published 12.2 minutes from the planning and development committee of June 8th minutes have been published uh 14.3 further correspondence regarding 14.2 DC reductions has been added and 18.6 6 bylaw 95-2026. The bylaw's been published. >> Okay. I see council Keenan on the board. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to add a discussion item regarding Peele Village Golf Course, specifically seniors rates. So, that will become the new item. >> 16.2. Okay. Councelor Vante. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to add a discussion item on the matter with regards to the summit on aging taking place this fall. Okay, that' be 16.3. Um, councelor Ber. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to add a delegation from Jigira San Biano um from the Association of Seniors Club for seniors month. >> What item will that be to the clerk? >> 7.2. 7.2. Okay. Um, councelor Plushy. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to vary the order of the agenda and I would like to see if we can get the delegations that are delegating on the uh development charge DC reduction uh correspondence item 14.2. Um, those two delegations moved ahead in the agenda uh before announcements. We do proclamations and then go into those delegations and then followed by the announcements. Thank you, Mr. Okay. So that would be um 7.1. >> Okay. So that's the new 7.1 is those delegations >> after 6.1 >> after 6.1. Okay. >> So essentially 6.1 and a half. >> Okay. Um okay. So we have um a motion moved by councelor Keenan, seconded by councelor Versante to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor? Motion carries. This takes us to declarations of of interest under the municipal conflict of interest act. Does any member have any declaration of pecunary interest under the municipal conflict of interest act for any matter to be considered on today's agenda? Seeing none, the clerk will so note we have the following council minutes before us today. Minute City Council May 27th, 2026. Do we have any questions? Seeing none, we have a motion. Moved by uh councelor Bra, second by councelor Santos to approve the minutes as published and circulated. All those in favor? Anyone opposed? Motion carries. This takes us to our consent motion. We have another number of items in consent um or it can be in consent. Um 8.1 government relations matters. Um 10.21 21 staff report administrative penalty system program 10.2 staff report insurance and volunteer-led events. I'm going to hold that one. 10.51 staff report Susan Fennel Sports dressing room funding update. 10.61 staff report traffic congestion mitigation strategies in construction zones. 12.1 minutes committee of council June 3rd. 12.2 minutes of planning development committee June 8th. 14.1 correspondence from the town of Calan staff report waste collection implementation plan >> 14.2 2 correspondence from regional council Michael Plesi um announcement of development charge DC reductions. >> Okay, so that's moved up 15.1 notice of motion Portugal way commemorative street naming moved by council maduros. >> Hold referred matters list 19.1 close minutes city council May 27th 19.2 to a note to file committee of councel and the 19.3 was uh withdrawn. Um so I have a motion actually councelor Vante you're on the board. >> Okay. Um I have a motion moved by councelor plushy seconded by deputy mayor Singh to approve the consent motion. All those in favor? Motion carries. >> Yeah. U now we're on to proclamations. We have a number of proclamations uh today. Um and I'm going to ask Councelor Santos appropriately to read out the first proclamation which is Filipino Heritage Month June 2026. And councelor Santos, I hear we're going to have a big celebration this weekend. >> We do on Sunday. Um okay. Filipino Heritage Month. Whereas Filipino culture is deeply rooted and reflected in communities across the city of Bmpton. Filipino Heritage Month acknowledges the rich history, heritage, traditions, and customs of Bmpton's Filipino community. During the month of June, we recognize Filipino residents for their continued contributions to the social, economic, and cultural, and political fabric of our city. Filipino Heritage Month coincides with Philippines Independence Day on June the 12th, which is widely celebrated by the Filipino community as a day of democracy, freedom, and culture. It is also an opportunity to reflect on and learn more about the many outstanding contributions Filipino Canadians have made to our city within our province and across the country. This year marks the 128th anniversary of Philippines Independence Day, also known as Aranang uh Kallayan or Day of Freedom. The city of Bmpton will commemorate Philip Pino Heritage Month with a flag raising on June 14th at 11:00 a.m. on Ken Willan Square followed by the mayor's holo hollow party here at city hall. Therefore, I, Mayor Patrick Brown, on behalf of Bmpton City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as Filipino Heritage Month in the city of Bmpton. Maboohai. >> And I believe we have a delegation here from the >> Yes. >> local. You want to come and respond to the proclamation? >> Yeah. Come up front. >> I love all the Bronx. The floor is yours. >> We'll get a group photo after for now. Just one person wants to speak to the We'll do a group photo after, but for for this one person can speak in response. >> All right. Shall I start? >> Yes. >> Oh. Um, good morning to everybody. Good morning. Good morning to all beautiful people. Uh, thank you, Mayor Brown and the member of council. Um, on behalf of the Filipino Seniors Club and the Federation of Philip of Filipino Canadians of Bmpton, we are deeply honored to accept the proclamation for the Filipino Heritage Month. The recognition celebrates the contribution, culture, and spirit of Filipinos in Bmpton. And we thanks the city for embracing our heritage and the making of the Filipino for all salai and hope to see you all on Sunday again. Thank you so much. >> Thank you Salomatango. >> Okay. Thank you. >> See you soon. And if if you could grab a seat and then we finish all the proclamations, we'll do a group photo with council. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This takes us to our next proclamation and this is with councelor Vante. Portuguese Heritage Month. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Celebrating Portuguese Heritage Month and today is the day of Portugal. Whereas raising the Portuguese flag is the perfect opportunity to showcase the dynamic and vibrant Portuguese community in Bmpton, the Portuguese community has made significant contributions to the growth of Bmpton in the areas of business, arts, and culture and will continue to do so. Portuguese Heritage Month recognizes the richness of Portuguese culture and the importance of educating and reflecting upon the heritage for future generations. Through Portuguese Heritage Month, the city of Bmpton aims to share Portuguese culture with all residents of Bmpton during the month of June while honoring those who have made significant contributions to the Portuguese community. By proclaiming the month of June as Portuguese Heritage Month, the city of Bmpton recognizes the contributions of the Portuguese community and what they have done to make Bmpton's economic, political, and cultural fabric. Therefore, I, Mayor Patrick Brown, on behalf of Bmpton City Council, do proclaim June 2026 as Portuguese Heritage Month in the city of Bmpton. Do we have a representative from the community here to respond? Okay. Um, sure. Yes, come. Yeah. Good morning. >> Good morning everybody. Uh it's a pleasure to be here uh and celebrate this special day for Portugal and all the Portuguese people living in Canada here in the city of Bmpton. I know that we have the recently the flag raising and the Luzophonia festival. Uh it was a pleasure since day one I covered that event. So it's a pleasure to be here to uh live in Bmpton to work in Bmpton especially in my case Manuel lives in Bmpton and uh it's a pleasure to uh be recognized and the importance of the Portuguese people here in Bmpton. Thank you very much. >> And if I may be allowed to say a couple words as well to everyone wishing a happy Portugal day. uh Portugal is uh recognizing the best poet of all the world and that's Luis Vas the camo he died on this day 500 years ago so we recognize his hard work is part of the history of Portugal on the way from Portugal to India he discovered the route uh a mill for 1,492 so he was one of the great navigators as well today we celebrating with vast cam that was navigating at the same in the same boat at the same time with uh vasama. Thank you very much and wish you one happy birthday, happy Portugal day. And if I could also say that the chosen to honor someone this year was the right one. George Nevs has been tremendously uh in favor of our community, united the Portuguese community and um is well done, welld deserved. Congratulations to all of you that honoring George Nef. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um June is recreation and parks month and our chair of community services councelor Santos has that proclamation. >> Thank you through you, Mr. Mayor. June is recreation and parks month. Whereas June is recreation and parks month which annually recognizes and celebrates the benefits of quality recreation and parks resources at the lo local, regional and provincial levels. The city of Bmpton is steadfast in its commitment to providing parks and recreation amenities that meet the evolving needs of the community both now and in the future. June is recreation and parks month creates an opportunity to shine a light on the network of parks, trails, and recreation amenities that make Bmpton an excellent place to live and play. In honor of June is recreation and parks month, the city of Bmpton is offering a variety of free drop-in programs and special events for residents of all ages to take part in. These activities allow for a healthier, more vibrant, and more connected community where individuals experience improved physical and mental health, stronger social ties, and a greater appreciation for the natural and cultural resources that enrich our city. Therefore, I, Mayor Patrick Brown, on behalf of Bmpton City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as June is recreation and parks month in the city of Bmpton. Yes, we have a representative here from our parks and recreation team. Talk about a city that has great parks and recreation. Bmpton is the gold standard. Good morning, Mayor Brown, members of council. Uh on behalf of both of our departments, we would just like to give a very big thank you for the recognition of June is Parks and Recreation Month. We are very fortunate to have a number of incredible parks, trails, and outdoor amenities that contribute to making Bmpton what it is. On behalf of all of our staff, volunteers, and residents, thank you very much for the recognition. >> Um, thank you. And, um, we're grateful for the incredible staff we have that work in this uh, in this department. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. and and councelor Plushie pointed out and we're grateful for developers who give development charges to pay for parks and recreation. Um so we have um the next one is seniors loneliness awareness week um and uh councelor power who's been working very closely with our seniors clubs asked for the honor of reading out this proclamation. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Seniors loneliness awareness week. Uh whereas senior lon loneliness awareness week is an initiative led by Genwell Canada's human connection movement to raise awareness of social isolation, disconnection and loneliness among seniors. Genuel is a Canadian charity that has been educating, empowering, and catalyzing Canadians about the importance of face-to-face social connection and the pro proactive step we can all take for our health, happiness, longevity, and the betterment of society since 2016. Seniors Loneliness Awareness Week, which takes place from June 15th to June 21st, 2026, encourages Canadians to be more mindful of seniors in their day daily lives and to take small intentional steps to foster connection. Small actions such as saying hello, sharing a coffee or a meal, going for a walk, or participating in a hobby can make a meaningful difference. Loneliness can have significant impact on health and well-being of seniors. M making meaningful social connections an important part of healthy community. Therefore, I, Mayor Patrick Brown, on behalf of Bmpton City Council, do hereby proclaim June 15th to the 21st as seniors loneliness awareness week in the city of Bmpton. >> Thank you, councelor Power. And I realize we have a delegation today on the agenda from Jim Bambi from the Association of Senior Clubs, but would you want the additional opportunity to respond to the proclamation as well? That's right. >> And this would be separate from the delegation. >> Or do you want to move the delegation up with council's consent? >> Okay. Moving the senior's delegation up. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Thank you. Good morning, mayor, member of council, city staff, and fellow residents. On behalf of Associate and Senior Club Bmpton, I am honored to extend our sincere thanks to the city of Bmpton for celebrating seniors month and its continued support for the seniors in our community. We greatly appreciate the city's commitment to improving the lives of seniors through free transit in Pmpton transit, free educational programs at community centers, and free access to meeting spaces for senior groups. These initiatives help seniors stay active, connected, and engaged in community life. Seniors have contributed throughout their lives as workers, parents, volunteers, and community builders. Today, many continue to give back through volunteer service, mentoring, cultural activities, and support for fellow residents. The Association of Senior Clubs, Bmpton, is proud to work with senior clubs across the city to promote healthy aging, social participation, multicultural understandings, and community involvement. On behalf of Bmpton seniors, I thank mayor and the council for recognizing the value and contributions of older adults and for making Bmpton a more agefriendly city. We wish everyone a happy successful seniors month. Before I conclude, I would like to respectfully bring forward one issue only one affecting many Bmpton families and seniors. In 2014, the sponsorship undertaking for parents and grandparents was increased from 10 years to 20 years. Many sponsored parents who came to Canada in their 60s and 70s are now in their late 70s and 80s. After living in Canada for more than 10 years, many qualify for only partial old age security. That's only $18580 only, only $185 per month and are not eligible for guaranteed income supplement, leaving some seniors facing financial hardships despite having made Canada their permanent home. These parents and grandparents have contributed greatly by helping raise grandchildren, supporting working families, strengthening our communities, investing their lifetime savings in Canada. The association of senior clubs Bmpton has advocating has been advocating with the members of parliament, minister's offices, the federal officials regarding impact of the 20ear sponsorship undertaking for parents and grandparents. We have met with MPs across party lines and presented the concerns of seniors who are facing financial hardships after many years of residents in Canada. Our seniors have made Canada their permanent home and have contributed significantly to families and community life. We respectfully request the Bmpton City Council consider passing a resolution and forwarding a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Immigration Sporting a compassionate review of the 20ear sponsorship undertaking and measures that would reduce hardship for sponsored seniors. As one of Canada's most diverse cities, Bramar has a strong interest in family reunification and well-being of senior citizens. A recommendation from the council would send a strong message that Bmpton supports policies that keep families together and treat seniors with dignity and compassion. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um so we can certainly receive the delegation and councelor Ber suggested we send a copy of the um delegation to our local MPs. Obviously this is a federal decision. Um there was a vote on this where it was defeated in the House of Commons but we can certainly share um your um your uh delegation um and thank you for raising it. Normally we can only speak to the topic at hand but we were showing discretion for a much broader view of this um understanding that your p your heart is in the right place and just trying to help seniors. >> I know of course if it can be if some resolution can be passed by the council that they definitely they should be supported the senior should be supported for >> yeah we can for a delegation we can refer the delegation. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you sir. All those in favor of referring the delegation to local peace. Motion passes unanimously. This takes us to our next item which is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. And I know this is a cause that councelor Plesi is eager to support. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. World Sickle Cell Awareness Day 2006. The United Nations in 2008 and the government of Ontario in 2021 have recognized cickle cell disease SCD as a global and local public health priority and raise awareness designated the 19th day of June every year as world cickle cell day. The cickle cell awareness group of Ontario recognizes SCD as an increasingly important medical issue in the province through education awareness and programs. SE AGO is doing its part to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by the families with children, youth, and adults living with cickle cell disease. May Bmpton City Council hereby proclaim June 19th, 2026 as World CL Awareness Day in the city of Bmpton. >> Do we have a representative from the Cickle Cell Association? >> I don't see one here today. We will make sure the proclamation is shared with them. This takes us to our next item and this is National Indigenous People's Day. Um, and Council Maduros will be reading out that proclamation. >> Thank you, Mayor Brown. Uh, we're asked since the official designation in 2009, June has been recognized as National Indigenous History Month. It's an opportunity for all Canadians and newcomers to learn about the unique history, traditions, contributions, and experiences of First Nations, Inuit, and Matei, peoples who have called Turtle Island home since uh time immemorial. The indigenous population is one of the fastest growing groups of Canada. According to the 2021 census, 1.8 million individuals or 5% of the population identify as indigenous. From coast to coast to coast, there are over 630 First Nations communities representing more than 50 distinct nations and 70 indigenous languages. Indigenous history month is also an invitation to reflect on the resilience of indigenous people and the ongoing impacts of colonization. This includes removing indigenous peoples from their lands um outlying cultural traditions and uh reinforcing as similitary practices legislated by the Indian Act. Uh this June we can deepen our understanding of indigenous people's experiences by attending indigenous led community celebrations or events uh reading indigenous authored books and listening to indigenous readers and educators. Canadians are encouraged to learn about their stories, perspectives and the diversity of indigenous peoples, their history and their contributions to the mosaic of Canada and the meaningful action in their communities to enhance truth, justice, and reconciliation. join in Bmpton's indigenous people celebration on June 20th from 9 to 1:00 p.m. and at Garden Square. Therefore, Mayor Patrick Brown on behalf of Bmpton City Council do hereby proclaim June 2026 as National Indigenous History Month in the city of Bmpton. Thank you, Councilman Duros. Do we have a representative here? I don't see one. We'll make sure that proclamation is shared. We have now um moved up the delegations for development charges. But before we get into those, we're going to do the f Oh, we have one more which we have an added one. >> Oh, of course. Yes. Um national philony technicians recognition week and we have councelor Bur who will be reading that proclamation. Uh and of course she worked in the health care system before she was um a counselor. >> Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. National phabbotomy technicians recognition week. Phabbotomy technicians play a vital role in the health care system by safely and skillfully collecting blood specimens essential for accurate diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. Phabbotomy technicians demonstrate professionalism, compassion, and dedication in their daily interactions with patients, often serving as a critical point of care and comfort during medical procedures. The work of phabbotomy technicians supports physicians, nurses and laboratory professionals contributing significantly to the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery across Canada. National phabbotomy technicians recogn recognition week provides an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the important contributions of phabbotomy technicians and to raise public awareness about their central role in patient care and public health. Therefore, I, Mayor Patrick Brown, on behalf of Bmpton City Council, do hereby proclaim June 2020 to 2020 uh June 2020 22 to 26 2026 as National Phabbotomy Technicians Recognition Week in the city of Bmpton. Thank you, Mayor Brown. >> Is there a representative here? Not seeing one. We'll make sure that proclamation is shared. I'm going to ask the groups to come forward for a photo. Um uh and then we'll move on to the delegations from development charges. Can we get everybody seated, please? >> Please. >> He's the huh? >> Yes. >> Yep. Development charges. Correct. call to order. Please >> if we could get everybody back. >> If you want to exit, you could exit as well. Uh please. Okay. Next up, uh we have 7.1 delegation regarding item 14.2 development charge uh reduction. Uh first we have Gourd Buck, founder principal, Argo Development. Gourd, please. I asked for needs a couple more extra minutes. I'll ask >> Okay, we have a move to for extra minutes. All in favor? >> Okay, Gordon, please uh carry on. Good morning, Mayor Brown, members of the council, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Gord Buck from Argo Developments. We are a local real estate developer and for the past 27 years been building communities in Bmpton and across the GTA. In fact, my first development in the GTA was right here in Bmpton. Mike's dad, Paul Plesi, approved the site, the development site in 1999. I'm here today to speak about the housing market and to and the opportunity to drive positive change by reducing the city development charges. New slide. This chart in front of you shows that for the past 25 years, the GTA has typically sold 40,000 homes. 25 years ago, it was 30,000 low-rise homes where families bought and 10,000 condos that were usually bought by investors that rented them out. In the past 10 years, those numbers flipped. As price of housing soared, condo sales grew to about 30,000 a year and lowrise family built or family bought homes fell to 10,000. Yet, despite this shift, total new home sales remained relatively stable, around 40,000 homes per year. Then things started to change. In 2023, new home sales dropped 18,500. That was the lowest sales record of new homes in the past 25 years. In 2024, sales dropped even further to 9,800 new homes. Going all the way back to 1980, new home sales were never this low until 2025 where the GTA recorded only 5,500 total new home sales. If this is not just this is not just a slowdown, this is a collapse. This matters because housing is not just about homes, it's also about jobs. New slide. Every home built is equivalent to four full-time jobs. When the GTA was building 40,000 homes a year, that represented 160,000 jobs. So when the housing mark housing sales collapse, jobs collapse with them. We've lost 120,000 good paying local jobs. And to add salt to the wound, 95% of the materials and components that go into building a house are manufactured here in Canada. It's a perfect storm. local good paying jobs using local materials that Donald Trump can't tariff and we're letting it collapse. This all has a massive impact on families. The average age of a firsttime home buyer today in Canada is 36 years of age, but in Ontario is over 40. That's criminal. We lost a generation of first-time home buyers. Mike, how old were you when you bought your first house? Okay. Exactly. Well, the average age today of a first the average age of a first-time home buyer in Ontario is over 40. People are not buying new homes not because they don't want one. They are not buying because they cannot afford one. New slide. Canada has always been a country built on immigration. Ontario received on average 40% of all new Canadians because this province is the manufacturing hub of Canada. People came here because they because we offered opportunity. They could find work in manufacturing, in construction, in sales or in business. But today, that confidence has been shaken. They can't find work in manufacturing because of Trump's tariffs. They can't find work in construction because of affordability. Good paying jobs are disappearing. People are leaving Ontario because they can't get a job and can't afford to buy a house. Many of these people are moving out to Alberta. I bet everyone in this room knows someone who has moved out west in the past couple years. Last year was the first time in over a hundred years that the population of Ontario decreased. If that doesn't scream we're in a crisis, I don't know what does. Just yesterday in the Globe and Mail published an article highlighting how detrimental it is for communities to lose families. They refer to it as the doom loop where where when families leave, schools and daycarees close, workers leaves, and it's hard to come back from this. We can't let that happen. So why is housing so unaffordable? New slide. Let's compare Bmpton to Edmonton, Alberta. Our construction trade prices today are competitive, if not cheaper, than Edmonton, Alberta. Our servicing costs are cheaper today than Edmonton, Alberta. The difference is not the physical house or the or the service lot. The difference is land supply, development charges, and HST. In Edmonton, they have an unlimited supply of land. In Ontario, we have the green belt which restricts supply. In Edmonton, development charges are effectively zero. In Bmpton, before the region's reduction, the development charge on a single family home is 154,000. Alberta also does not have provincial sales tax. In Ontario, on top of the cost of a house and the cost of the lot and the cost of development charge, we add HST. another 13%. So you take a $850,000 single family home, you add $150,000 in development charge, you're at a million bucks, you have 13% HST, that house is now $1.13 million. The impact is even greater on affordable housing. Let's take a stack townhouse as an example. The cost of a townhouse on the lot is 400 grand. Add $130,000 development charge to the price. Add $67,000 HST to the price. And instead of selling that town home for 400 grand, it's now over six. Combined DCS and HST can represent up to 35% of the new home price in Canada or in Ontario. That is why hardworking people can afford to buy a home. And that is why I'm here today. New slide, please. Recent announcements by the provincial and federal government to remove the HST on new homes is a gamecher. >> I think this is an important delegation. Um, can we have a motion to extend the time already done? Okay, good. >> Three, four minutes. Yeah. Thanks, Patrick. Recent announcements by the provincial and federal government to remove the HST on all new homes is a game changer. I've never seen it in my life. We've just taken 13% off of already depressed prices. Ontario is the only province that the federal government made this deal with. They didn't make this deal with any other province, only Ontario. is because how hard our economy has been hit. Today, trade pricing is historically low. HST is eliminated. Regional development charges are reduced by 50%. Thanks to Bmpton Council, the province and federal governments have created an $ 8.8 billion fund to help municipalities reduce their DCS. What we need now is for the city of Bmpton to continue moving forward in the same direction and reduce its own development charges by 50%. A 50% reduction is what is needed to match Missaga's DC rate. The cost of DC's affect affordable housing the most. So $30,000 reduction on a $400,000 townhouse is 8%. A $30,000 reduction on a million-doll home is only 3%. You want to build affordable housing, homes that people at stack town houses, you need to lower the development charges. This is how we restart the housing market. When a renter can look at the cost of renting a condo, then look at the cost of buying a town home and say, "I can own a home for close to what I'm paying in rent," they will buy. This is how we bring the firsttime buyers back to the market. This is how we create jobs. This is how we restore confidence. And this is how Bmpton can lead. We have a short window of opportunity. We have just over 9 months where the HST elimination is guaranteed. That's not a lot of time. Every day that we delay is a day that that potential home buyers sitting on the fence waiting to see if development charges get reduced before they can buy a house. That extra 30 grand may make the difference whether they qualify for a mortgage or not. There has never been a better time to buy a new home in Ontario than right now. Bmpton has always been the city of growth, a city of families, a place where new Canadians found opportunities to build a life. For that to to continue, people need to be able to afford to live here. I'm asking you, Council, to make the right decision and reduce the development charges, but either way, please make a decision. Thank you. >> Uh we have on the list, sorry, >> yeah, there'll be some questions. >> Uh first up, we have councelor Maduros, followed by councelor Plesi. >> Uh thank you three, Mr. Brown. Thank you for um your very thoughtful uh delegation and seeing some of your uh colleagues here uh really speaks to the importance and uh uh so I really appreciate that. I think a couple of things. So the the first thing is with the waiver DCs you know publicly can you give assurance and similar to a question I had at the region that this will be passed on to the home buyer. So this is not for example something that's going to uh be for profit or anything. This really will reduce the cost and that's the intention of this. It's really about reducing DCS and they'll be reflected in the price of the homes which will be at a lower rate for people to buy. So um and I hate using another municipality as an example but um in this case I will. Missaga we have a high-rise uh block. We dropped the zoning to town houses. Uh we bought um built uh we got approved stack town houses underground parking built selling 500 units on this block. That would not have happened if the city and regional development charges were not reduced and the HST and in the last two months we have sold 350 units. Like that's more homes than we sold. So, how do you how does Bmpton keep house pricing down and not make developers rich? More supply. Always have supply of land. We are a competitive we're friends, but we're a compet competitive bunch, right? We, you know, we have land that we paid two and a half million in Bmpton. It's worth a million two. Every home we're selling, we're losing money on. This isn't about us getting rich. We just want to sell homes. And the reduction is most important on the affordable product because you have more units per acre. So you have more units per acre, you have more development charges per acre, right? And it just drives up the the price of that house. So thank you for Mary. Thank you very much. And I I do know uh and I've had seen that and I know that uh every developer is looking to pass on those savings uh to the home buyer. So that's great to uh uh great to see. Uh my second question is when you talk about the HST, it looks great here that the province and the federal government did this announcement. I understand there's a lot of confusion still in the system. Uh hasn't been legislated yet. The province no one knows how to collect the GST people when they buy it. Some developers. So can you maybe sort of bring because one of the frustrations I always have um and I say this respectfully, you hear the provincial government say a lot of great things. I think they hit the target on things but you don't see it enacted and implemented. So, when we sit here around, you know, I was at a an event recently and and uh you know, I heard the premier talk about, you know, I'd like to see more mayors wave DC's. That's a great noble thing, but who the hell's going to pay for pipes in the ground? Who's going to be paying for all the things that we need as municipalities? And they haven't missed that mark. So, you know, part of me is maybe, you know, give me your sort of I know you talked about how great it is. I still understand from other developers and competitors that there's still confusion regarding this announcement. So maybe you can sort of enlighten me on how that's progressing and then after I guess the comment is you know the more you advocate to the province on our behalf because you know especially in Peele region we've been doing heavy lifting. Mayor Brown has been a leader on this uh I know Mayor Parish and Cal and also uh Mayor Groves and Calen we collectively have all been trying to be very aggressive. I think there's no other jurisdiction that's been more aggressive but we need provincial partners. You know enough of the lip service we need actual like implementation. We need actual, you know, dollars on the table to support us so we can support you. So maybe just some, you know, reflection from someone has experienced as yourself. Um, home buyers don't want to take risk to sell. I'm just going to use a single family home. To sell a single family home for a million bucks or a million130, the home buyer is going to say, "What's the price?" Um, some of our some developers and builders are passing that risk on to the homeowner because the legislation has not passed. What we're doing, uh, the builders were involved in, we're taking the risk. Carney said he was going to drop the HST. Doug Ford wrestled them to the ground. Like I said, no other province got that that deal where the HST, the GST portion is coming off the price of the house except Ontario. How Doug Ford did it, I don't know. He wrestled them to the ground. We They made an announcement that they're taking the HST off every home that we sell, that one I just mentioned in Missaga. If if the legislation doesn't get passed, we have to eat it. So, um I can't say all builders are wanting to take that same uh risk uh because it is a lot of money. Um but we're not going to get sales without, you know, somebody taking that risk. And so to answer your second question, um, Peele region, which, uh, Bmpton led, reduced its DCs and you did it with the, um, notion that the federal and provincial governments were going to backs stop you. You jump to the table and then you're hoping that they're going to throw you the line. And my understanding, they still haven't get totally thrown you the line. um they must like you know otherwise we're going to stop development you know there's we don't put pipes in the ground um I I shouldn't have given the speech so uh you made that you took that risk that risk that I'm taking that we're taking you've taken that risk as regional council and good on you and every time we talk to the province we say the sooner you write a check to the region to backs stop it the sooner you're going to see municipalities why I'm here today is We're running out of time. This HST window is only guaranteed to March 31st next year. This is a great opportunity for home buyers to buy a home. Like you we've we're taking 13% off a price already depressed price. Throw the and and the regional development charges are off 50%. Drop the city DC by 50%. We can build some homes here. The government all you then you can say we've done everything we can do. you, the industry, it's time for you to step up. Sell homes. Sell homes, build homes, create jobs, I think I answered a question. Yeah. >> Councelor Plushy. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks, Court, for your delegation. Um, and Council Maduros uh touched on it a little bit. Um but as a as a politician to be able to justify uh any decisions that we make we need we need a lot of information. Um and this one the stigma around you know the development industry is that you know it's for profit you're out there to make money and how do we then turn look to and you great you gave a great delegation and I I I am in agreement with a reduction and help because it's not helping you. It's not a reduction for you is the way I've been able to I've been working on this for a long time. It's a it's help for people to like you said afford a home that normally they couldn't afford. But councelor Maduro's touched on a little bit. How do I now go to my residents to say they're not putting anything in their pocket in terms of and what are you doing to make sure that they are like where were you back when before co when you know you're paying your trades and everything like that to build a home and you're paying the dollar amounts that you were paying at that time. What have you done for your trades and for your workers to ensure that you are bringing your side of the price down your your margins? >> Well, the free market uh does that. >> So, right now there is um you know, for the last 20 years, you know, how many uh farm that we've bought and the land owner says, "Oh, the price of real estate only goes up." Well, you know, I'm old. It doesn't always go up, but for 20 years, we've seen that. We seen a a correction like I just mentioned that we've never seen in 40 years. >> Um we're building homes today at a loss. I'm not and I'm I'm not here to whine. I'm not here to Right. Uh we'll start projects where we're hoping to make 4% 5% return. Those margins we would never even have looked at things 20 years ago. We're doing it today just to keep busy. trade pricing when it when I say it's at historically low, you know, ask Eddie, ask others in this room, like plumbers, everybody's desperate for work, right? If if you haven't hopped on a plane and gone to Alberta already, then you're desperate for work. So, um, what will stop us, the industry, from profiting on this? Bring on supply. >> And you're doing that constantly. your draft approving site. The more land that's out there that is approved, we're competitive bunch. We'll arm wrestle each other to the ground to get, you know, that home buyer sales. >> Mhm. >> 15 years ago, um, we started opening up sales centers and we're selling homes out of the back of a truck almost because there's people lining up overnight. That was day one of when there was a crisis in the market. There wasn't enough supply. Today we have homes everywhere you can buy and there are no buyers. Uh the market has turned April 1st with this HST announcement. We need to continue that momentum. I'm sorry. The market has turned April 1st with the HST announcement and the regional development charge reduction that you've already done. We need to continue that momentum here in Bmpton. I think I and I think I understand and I and to relate it to and and if you don't if you own a truck, if you've owned a truck for a long period of time, there was a time where that truck was more valuable in the States than it was here. And that's what I'm kind of relating it to is I could buy a brand new truck here in Canada and I could turn around and sell it south of the border for more than what I paid. And I kind of relate it to the two. It's that supply. the supply wasn't down south of the border and it was here in Canada. >> We're seeing home prices drop 50%. You know, you read the article, it's 20 from the peak of the market in 20, you know, February 2022, four years ago. Uh there are homes that we sold that are down less than half. And uh and we're competing, we're selling, we're selling, we're we have some sites that every time we close a home, uh we write a check. Thanks. I'm I'm not here to I'm not here whining. >> Thanks. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, councelor Plesie. And Gord, don't go anywhere. I got a few questions for you. Um, first of all, it's not lost on us that the great infrastructure we have in our city is because developers helped build that even beyond what you're required to when it comes to hospital building in this province. You're there with the big checks. I've seen you there. I've seen Argo there. I look in this room, I've seen the developers here step up. cities have to pay 10% of the cost. And again and again, you're there for city building. That's not lost on us. It's also not lost on us about the affordability crisis we're seeing. Those numbers are stark and I can't agree with you more that supply. I'm a big believer in in the marketplace. But we've got a I've got a bit of work for you. I know you put the challenge to us saying cut development charges. I think you look at this table, everyone wants to cut development charges and we're ready. You know, I was at a mayor's meeting in Edmonton with Gregor Robertson. I was on my OBCM call with Ontario mayors and as you know, there are cities declining this provincial program and federal program because it's not 100%. It's 9010. I can say confidently that I think we should have skin in the game that we should um you know be part of this and even if it's not 100% back I want to make sure that we meet the moment. Um but where I need your help and where this is is critical is in Peele region we jumped without a parachute. >> Yep. >> And now we're at a point where we have Missaga who already built all the pipes. It's easy for them on that condo not to worry about pipes and servicing because it's already built. And Bmpton and Kaledan, they now have a we're going to stop tendering. They have a motion that literally at our next regional council, we stop building new pipes. >> And what you've invested in Heritage Heights and elsewhere disappears. We can't surface that land. It would be a disaster. >> And it's and they've said it's contingent upon the backs stop coming through. I speak to Rob Flack, the Minister of Municipal Affairs almost every few days. He understands. I think he's a brilliant ministry understands and he was integral in building this program Ontario first. I think minister federally said Ontario and BC first and then we'll go to other provinces where it's a different system like the offset system in in in Alberta. And so where I need your help is if it's done on a per capita basis around Ontario, this $8.8 8 billion fund. Break it down per year. $880 million a year for the whole province is done on a per capita basis. They're going to backs stop us 90% of 30. We want to do more than 30. But you've got influence. We've got influence. I need you to push for us. There are some cities that are not growing. They're built out. We're not built out. We got land. You are ready to build yesterday. We have residents who want homes yesterday. I need your advocacy. We need every for all the developers here today. We need your advocacy. On a per capita basis, we'll get 100 million which is enough for 90% of a 30% cut. But the minister did say to me last night with other cities saying no, the cities that jump first without that parachute like Bmpton and Peele region will be the beneficiaries. Uh, and so I think today we're going to take a bold step and once again, um, jump without a parachute. Um, I'm told a deal back for you. >> Yeah. I'm still a deal a deal coming this summer. They're going to come and sign these agreements. Um, but it's in your self-interest. The motion, which hopefully you've seen a copy of, speaks to the fact the more you can help us lobby, the bigger the cut can be. Um, and the bigger we can really address affordability. And so my question to you is will you help me will you help us um lobby the minister of municipal affairs and the premier to make sure that we can go beyond 30%. So the answer is absolutely for sure. What I'd like is for council to make a decision to go 50 right and and the reason why that is so important. You take a medium density block. Uh we have one in your word. Mike, you know the one stack tunnel is you could build 60 units in the acre. 60 units times 60 grand DC is 3.6 million. At a 50% reduction is 1.8 million. >> You get to a point where if the land's free, it still doesn't make if the DC reduction isn't great enough. Affordable housing is affected most by the development charge cost. We want to build affordable housing. You want affordable housing built and sold in this uh city. A 50% reduction of is what is needed to be competitive. We're competitive. We're friends, but you know, we're competitive animals. You need to be competitive with Missaga. Let's not have all the buyers go to Missaga. I've been in Bmpton for 27 years. Y right. We want to we want to compete. We want to build. We want to build on those blocks. >> Yeah, Gord, >> but I but we will go to back for you. >> Good. I'll talk to Flack today. >> So, good. That that's what I'm asking. And I was on the phone with him last night, but Gordon, my my challenge to you, those rec centers and those pipes in Missaga are already built. There's not the rec centers in Heritage Heights. There's not the rec centers in East Bmpton and those empty fields. You can't sell homes if you tell the people there's no parks, there's no fire halls, there's no recreation centers. And so right now if it's a per capita basis they'll the province is saying they'll fund us up to 30%. What we're saying is we want to go beyond that. They'll announce in July what that number is. I can't say to our residents we're going to we're going to raise taxes to cover that 90 million difference. I can't tell them um that they're not going to get that park or rec center. I want to get to 50% or even higher. But what I'm saying is there needs to be united front amongst the development community to lobby with us. Not to say, you know, that this that residents have to back write half the cost. We want you to lobby with us enthusiastically and I'm convinced. I'm a good friend of Rob Flax. I think he's a great minister. I think if we're united and collaborative, we can get him there and I think he's almost there already. Do we have your commitment to help us with that? >> 100%. And I'll like our friends here will come with me. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Bante. Thank you very much, Mayor. and thank you for bringing this here today and great discussion and uh very clear on what is needed to be done. A little bit further to councelor Maderos's comments with regards to um the passing on of the savings. Uh would you and the industry be willing to in some way or fashion when you draft uh up a sales contract include an estimate or a number on that sales contract of the savings that are being passed on or that the savings that are being realized in that contract from whether it's from federal sources. You mentioned that the HST is a savings. Um the uh reduction in DC's from Peele region and now from the lower tier municipality here at city of Brand. Is that something that you could uh in some way or fashion highlights on your sales agreement? >> If council makes a decision today to drop their DCs by 50%, every single builder here is going to be changing their house price uh today. Right. We um this HST announcement was huge. People are sitting on the fence. The last thing I I'd sooner city of Bmpton Bmpton council make a decision. We're not doing anything ever. At least we get those so everybody knows. Okay. Well, that is the price. There is so much supply in the market. There's very few buyers. Uh we're all dropping our price today. If you make that announcement, you make that commitment, we're dropping it. And if I may through you, mayor, is there a way that you could um indicate that number, that specific savings to your buyers so that they are aware of where the lifting and where these reductions are coming from. >> Um I'm sure there is we're because what we're showing on price list right now, this was the price with the HSD and before the regional development charge. What we'd like to do is show this was the price uh the HST uh the house price today, the regional development charge, the house price today, the city development charge what it was, and the house price today. You make that uh you make that announce, you make that decision today, we'll be dropping our our prices today. >> And that would be wonderful if that could be telegraphed in in a fashion as you have indicated. Thank you. >> Okay. Um councelor Kenan. Thank you. Thank you and through you through you Mr. Mayor. Thank you Gord for coming in and delegating here today and giving us some insight from your perspective on where the market is. Um I just have a couple questions just basing basing on listening to the colleagues and some of the conversation. Um you know I I heard 30% 50% and I've heard about timing. So from what I'm hearing from the mayor and his conversations uh with the minister is obviously we're going to be committed to doing a minimum here today. the possibility of taking that to hope maybe even exceeding the 50%. But that would be based on the timing and correct me if I'm wrong Mr. Mayor of July. >> We'll know for sure in July on what that percentage is going to be. >> That's what the minister is saying he wants the announcements in the summer. >> When you when you base it on the time to act is now we need to hit this, you know, running today on what that's going to be. Is there a is is there is July too far out of that timeline to know to to wait to see that percentage would be my first question. My second question would be would you go to market on the 30% guarantee um and let your current buyers know that there is a possibility of another 20% coming from the municipality. Are those options that you have as a developer today to do or are you willing to do? So, when a homeowner buys a house, they put up a deposit and they sign a contract. And that contract has a price if um um what we'd like, you know, um what we'd like to do is change our price list today, right? Saying in July, then why don't we just tell all the home buyers, don't buy a home till July. That 9month window of HST, every every month it's getting smaller and smaller. We don't want to sell all the homes in January, February, March next year. We'd like to sell some for the balance of this year. Make the decision just and just say like we'd like and and I believe what happened in Ottawa, they dropped the DCs and is dated as of uh like backdated. You don't need to back date. Just as of today, the development charges uh dropped to 50%. We'll change our price list today. So would you change your price list again if today the >> but to go to 30% Dennis >> and um so a homeowner buys a house they sign a contract >> a month from now we go ahead and say hey we're going to re there some builders may not want to do that the right thing to do is you sign a contract that's that's the contract that's the price do the reduction so we can do the reduction >> yeah no and I agree and I I I agree And I know that there's a lot of people around the table, mayor included, were pushing for that 50% from from the onset. Um, it was really trying to understand what was coming from the province, which I I don't have those channels to go in and speak. So, I do mine through the mayor. Um, so I'm learning a little bit more about it today as we sit and speak about it. Um, so I look forward to see what's coming and and see how we can support the industry in what way. But I believe the timing is key. I don't know if the minister is going to step up and give us an announcement first before and do it in short order. So that's what I'd be waiting to see, but I really do appreciate coming in. Thanks. >> Yeah. The one commitment Patrick or Mayor Brown asked like we'll we'll stand with you. You have a meeting with Faulk. We'll go anywhere at any time, not just myself, a team of us will, and just say we need the infrastructure. The development chargers doesn't go to your coffers. We need the parks, the rec centers, you know, the the ambulance. We need that infrastructure. We need you. You're not getting rich on development charges. We need you to be backfilled, right? But what we do need is the cost to come down. We need to be more competitive with provinces like Alberta that don't have HST. They don't have development charges. You know, they're newer cities. They're not as old as the GTA. Um, councelor Plushy. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and you talked about competitiveness, uh, Gourd. So, um, I'll go out and and and ask you straight up. Missaga's got 50%, Von's up to 100. Other municipalities that are connected to our borders are looking at the potential of 50. Bmpton does 30. What do you do? >> You got, >> we drop the price 30%. So then you're not as competitive as Missaga. So where a homeowner is looking to buy similar product, Missaga has a added advantage because it's it's a competitive market today. >> Thanks. >> Okay. On on that note, um to our planning commissioner or to the CEO, when Brmpton decides we want to cut DCs and we're one of the cities um that enters this program, um how long does it take for that to um take effect? And so how long for us to to pass this new >> uh through through you, Mayor Brown, if there was a decision of council today or very soon, the bylaw could be u prepared and brought forward to the next available council meeting >> which is in two weeks. >> Yeah. I I'd even say as soon as we get the So whether it's two weeks or four weeks, we're talking about almost the same amount amount of time. Um and so if we have to call a special say the minister says this is your right July 3rd you've got council's commitment to call my commitment to call a special council meeting but I just wanted what you to to understand is that right now on a per capita basis we get funding for 100 million and minus our our 10% that's 90 million. Um and that that allows us to do a 30%. Um, what we're asking for, and by the way, the minister did tell me last night, "Shoot for the moon. You're going to get some stars." When I told him the number we wanted, I sent in the motion. If we get 190 million, we can do a 50% cut. But if someone came to you and they want to buy a house and they said they have financing for 500,000, will you trust them that they'll find a way to get the other 500,000? Um, but right now they're only finance. They can only give you 500,000. Would you sell them that house and take a paper note for the other 500,000 or would you tell them go to the bank and get the financing for the whole house? >> Not sure I understand the question. >> Thank you. But um my point is we can get here. We can get to 50%. Um the minister told me our motion is beautiful. Shoot for the moon. Um and and you're going to get some stars. Um but we need your help to get there and time is critical. Literally, these decisions are being made now. Other cities are opting out because it's not 100%. Um, we want to take that leap, but we don't want to take the leap at 30%. We want to take the leap at 50%. We need your help to do that. Um, we've got some other delegations. Thank you. And I apologize to Gourd. Gourd's a legend in the industry. He's the first one to delegate and so he has all the hard questions. Uh, but you answered them beautifully and you've been a great friend to the city. A tremendous friend to the city. >> Thank you. Um, our next delegation is from Darren Steedman, vice president of DG Group. You may remember him from his penalty shot at hockey night in Bmpton 2019 when he scored and DG was the lead sponsor of the hospital fundraising. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm glad you remember that because I do, too. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Um, my name is Darren Steedman and I am the hockey goal scorer of 2019 and vice president of DGroup. It's a pleasure being here today. Um, it's it's um I I had a ton of notes here and my colleague and uh and the legend Gourd Buck did a great job uh giving you the stats, giving you perspective, giving you I think everything you need to know. So, I'm not going to go down that path again. I'm going to talk a little bit about logistics of how this all comes together because we are in a unprecedented time. We have an engaged federal government uh in a program to reduce DC's and at least in my career that has never happened. They are in the city building housing affordability business and we need to latch on to their involvement and leverage that engagement and try to get the best deal for the city of Bmpton. So what does that mean? The province and the feds have teamed up and they have the development charge reduction program that is out there right now and uh applications the way I understand the criteria are due June 19th, 2026. So not too far off. So the discussion about getting council back would have to be very short and very kind of close because my understanding is is that the key criteria of getting into the application window is setting a reduction between 30 and 50%. So that's step one in my humble opinion that I think this council needs to um wrestle with and decide whether it's 30, 50, 60, 75 or 100 like some other municipalities are doing trying to stimulate affordability in their municipalities and they are all applying to this program as well because the province and the feds have teamed up $ 8.8 8 billion over 10 years that can always increase but this is the first step. So I think from our perspective we have heard great news about the HST and I won't get into the details associated with that. We have heard the great news in the city of Bmpton that the region appeal has dropped it and we're still worried about funding with respect to the region appeal and we need something from the city of Bmpton that clearly outlines what the application is going to say in our humble opinion. Is it 30? Is it 50? Is it something else? And I think what that does is gives a clear picture to um future BMPonians that are looking to buy a house that want to live in Bmpton that not only are the developers looking internally and trying to lower costs as as Gourd Buck has identified. We've done it too in our shop. We're looking internally. We are talking to the province and getting them to try to come to the table. HST reduction is a key component of that. We looked internally. Bmpton needs to look internally and try to figure out how we make housing more affordable in the city of Bmpton and the competitiveness as Gourd Buck described is prevalent in the region appeal. So that includes Kaledan and in Missaga and like I said at the outset every municipality that we do work in across southern Ontario is applying for this application. So I guess to wrap up my brief comments is is that I would stress for clarity here today on what that number is and I think that clarity will not only go to the industry. It would also go to those BMPonians that are either in a basement or an apartment or thinking or recent immigrants or somebody wants to upsize to say okay here is the number that it's going to be for the window between now and April 1st when the HST gets eliminated and like Gourd said 13% off a house is a huge benefit and we are suggesting that any efforts to lower affordability brings jobs back to the table brings people back to the market and hopefully BMPonians that enjoy this great city like we have over the last 40 years. So, those are my final comments and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have for me, but I'm glad that Gourd answered all your questions already. >> Okay, first >> first question is from councelor Plesie. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thanks Darren for your delegation. um kind of along the same lines as uh the questions uh that I asked Gourd. Um but I think that um um you you've been in Bmpton for uh a number of years. Um at the time uh many years ago uh housing was booming. Everybody was people could afford houses and and uh life was life was grand. Um there was the uh payment for um sorry the DC was payable at um occupancy and the industry um had recognized that municipalities like the city of Bmpton like other municipalities were struggling and because we know growth doesn't pay for growth as much as anybody wants to say it growth doesn't pay for growth but you recognize that the industry was paying and I believe it was you and your firm that led the charge in um and it was Bmpton was one of the first municipalities to change that uh payable at um at occupancy to payable at site plan, payable at draft plan, payable at something well before uh people are actually moving into the house well before you're actually their organizations are are are getting the funding from uh getting the money from the purchase uh paying the house. Can you talk about a little bit about that cuz you'll know certainly the knowledge you have the firsthand knowledge about that and then I'm going to also ask you about what you guys did in Springdale for the hospital. Uh but I'll come to that. >> Sure. Okay. First question first. Um in my career here in Bmpton and in the region appeal we've had um let's call them blips in the economy along the way. Uh the region appeal uh originally collected at building permits and the city of Bmpton collected at building permits and the region appeal was into some they're called development charge reserves and their development charge reserves were dwindling and they were looking for cash upfront. So sooner in the process versus building permits or occupancy it's actually something called registration of a planet subdivision. So um I was the chapter chair of build at the time which is the uh building industry land development association and we worked with the region to number one understand their constraint. We realized their constraint and we move DC payments from individual building permits to actually moving it up in time which helps from a cash flow perspective to a registration and a lump sum. So if you ex for example if you register 200 units you would pay your 200 DCs right at that particular time versus the the existing situation at the time was individual building permits. So obviously you wouldn't pull 200 building permits at once. You would actually um you know do it as the market dictates. So now the legislation is is that you pull it occupancy. So, it's been pushed back, which is another provincial initiative to try and ease the cash flow uh and increase the affordability of housing. >> Second question, >> not the second question yet. Let's uh stay on this one and and say like if there was a reduction, let's say there there could be more than a than a 30 and potentially could be a 50. Could we even though the region uh the province says that you can make those payments at uh occupancy which is certainly not the best for us uh here at the city uh would there be an opportunity maybe for the industry to look at potentially for the city of Bmpton if we were to say we go up to 50%. Potentially could we uh come to some sort of agreement that you would continue making those payments at registration as opposed to occupancy? Yeah, I think I think I don't really want to negotiate here on the council floor. >> Um, but those tools are in the toolbox, so to speak, to try and find out the overall goal for us is to make housing more affordable. Cash flow comes into play, labor comes into play, land costs, um, DC's taxes, etc. and we have been trying to get us into a position where we can sell more houses to people that want to buy houses. So, if there is um initiatives that go beyond what this federal and provincial uh development charge reduction program is, we're happy to have a conversation of it. Um my delegation here today is to try and encourage what we know today and what the program is out there on the street so to speak today and how Bmpton can get their best foot forward into that to I think what everybody's overall goal from what I've heard in the earlier discussion is to try and increase affordability in the city of Bmpton. >> We've dropped our prices. Everybody in the in the industry has dropped prices to get more competitive. Uh the HST is a huge benefit. DC reductions are a huge benefit. It's really overall trying to knock down the house prices and quite frankly council can get together six months from now and change their minds >> and undo what it is. But where we are here today with the deadlines that are put forth by the provincial and federal governments for that application, I'm suggesting that we need to put our best foot forward and I'd love to have 50% at this particular point. >> Appreciate that. And just on the continuing to to ensure people understand the industry um they don't get to hear a lot about um what you give back to the community um and in particular then Metress now DG um was a top sponsor of the William Wolster Health Systems for was it 10 years? >> Yeah. So, um, we don't want to toot our own horn and many people, a lot of people sitting behind us in the industry are doing the exact same that that we've done, but the industry believes that um, in order to build great communities, you have to have great health care. And I think no matter what, health care touches us all in the best of times and in the worst of times. and for us to be able to and we're humbled and proud to support that. But we were one of the early donators to the William Oller Healthcare Foundation and uh we gave a considerable amount of money to that program and we are more than happy with how that has turned out and uh we have and cheerlead all our colleagues in in not only in here in council chambers but elsewhere across southern Ontario as they are major supporters of healthcare in their communities that they develop. So, we're proud and happy to do that. And uh I think that's the legacy of of our company is that we're not just here and gone. We're here for a long time and we want to make sure that the community survives. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Councelor Plesie. And Darren, you mentioned a motion for the deadline. That motion is on the agenda today. Yes. And the minister has told me it is a beautiful motion. Um so, um we'll meet that. Um, and if there's any concern that Brmpton is not going to meet the moment like the other cities that are declining the program, that's not the case. Um, we understand it and I think, you know, I've worked on a motion with councelor Pleshi. I believe there's unanimous consent. I'm going to look to council. Do we want to bring the motion up so that the development industry who's here and you you need to go home and build houses um sell houses? Um, would there be consent to move the the motion up? >> It's appropriate. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay, see no opposition and I would love to get unanimous support um for this and I'd like to move it with councelor Plesi who's the chair of our of our planning committee and I just want to say councelor Plushie has put a ton of work into this over the last two years. Um, Deputy Mayor Harkur Singh, I know you've been working on this as well and just grateful that everyone recognizes this is a unique opportunity for our our our council and our city that we we can potentially um have, as they say, our cake can eat it too, build great recreation, have parks and subdivisions at the same time give this critical cut to the development industry. >> Councelor Plesi. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and uh, I know that there's a there was a staff report that was added uh, yesterday and and I think they wanted to they wanted to speak to this, but I think members of council certainly have um, have heard uh, all about this even prior to uh, even prior to Christmas as when uh, when I first brought something forward. Um, like uh, the mayor said at the region, we jumped without a parachute. Jump without a parachute. Fortunately, uh, governments have come into play and continue to promise. Every Tuesday, we get a promise from the province saying that we're going to get a check next Tuesday. And the next Tuesday comes along, we don't get that check. But they make another promise that we're going to get a check next Tuesday. And with all of these promises, you can't not suggest, you can't not think the check is coming. It's going to come. public. It's it's you know, we have great industry leaders, partners that uh that are are are knocking the door of the ministers and of the of the premier. Um but we also have uh politicians such like uh Mayor Brown that uh is doing some great work that uh his buddy Flack down at the province will be able to uh to come uh to come to Bmpton and deliver us a wonderful check. We have a ton of um of infrastructure projects uh that need to be they need to be paid for. They need to be uh put out uh to RFP. We have to get started on so many of them. And I'm I'm really happy and and supportive of a motion that um sets that sets that direction to and and get staff to start working on that and and put in those applications and throw everything at the wall as much as possible. Um I do want to ensure that um the environmental education center is on that docket. It's part of the application process. I know that it will be kind of maybe a little bit behind everything else and and that's understandable, but you know, we certainly work been working hard on uh on that environmental education center. That's a j game changer for children that currently go to school right now and don't learn anything about the environment or or anything about they don't even learn about the three Rs anymore, which is a an absolute sin as far as I'm concerned. But um I have been working on this a long time. Like uh like Mayor Brown said, I I believe that to be uh to be in this market today and with the growth that we have, 152,000 people coming to to Heritage Heights at buildout with a 47% activity rate, higher than any other activity rate in the city of Bmpton. The jobs to uh to population ratio. Um this is essential for for not only Heritage Heights but you have uh you have Bram East as well 47 you have uh so much other infill um opportunities right across the city. I think that um you know this is this is something that uh we definitely want to do right. We want to get it right. Um having that sliding scale from 30 to 50 I think is what this council is prepared to uh to support. Uh, do I want to be able to say 50%, 100? Absolutely I do. Uh, we have a billion dollars in backlog um that we have to pay for and now today we're going to say it's going to be 30%. I really wanted to say it was going to be 50%. But today we're going to say it's it's going to be 30% and then it's up to you. It's up to residents to call their MPPPs and it's up to Patrick and his relationship with Flack uh to to ensure that we can get uh more than that and be competitive in the market today uh with the other municipalities. So with that, I'm happy to uh to move this alongside with uh with Mayor Brown and uh look forward to hopefully every all the um other counselors supporting this. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Deputy Mercing. >> Thank you, Councelor Pleshi. I want to reiterate also your efforts. I have witnessed them as vice chair. So, thank you for everything. Thank you to the development community. I want to acknowledge uh particularly Mayor Brown. I know uh you've knocked the doors federally and proincially. Um you've been pursuing this for many many months aggressively. I think this is a measured approach and I think it's a mature approach to the issue. So, thank you to your advocacy. I also want to acknowledge staff. I want to acknowledge Steve and your department for making this happen. Chris, government relations. I know you've been working overtime and also the mayor's budget office for coming together for this overall strategy that I think helps address a key problem and hopefully gets the results we're all looking for. Thank you to all the staff. Thank you. >> Okay. And planning commissioner CO motion looks good. It delegates it to you if depending on the amount. So, um, you feel confident this is okay. Good. >> Okay. Um, can we have a recorded vote? >> Dear, Mayor Brown, regarding the motion on screen, I'll just note for members of the public, it is listed and printed in full on our agenda under item 8.2. Um, all those in favor, please rise. And I see councelor Maderos, councelor Power, Deputy Mayor Singh, Mayor Brown, Councelor Keenan, Councelor Plesi, Councelor Bar, Councelor Versante, and councelor Santos. And for those online, councelor Forini, how do you vote? >> I support it. >> And councelor Tour, how do you vote? >> How do you vote? >> In favor, >> that is unanimous. Mayor Brown, >> thank you to the clerk. and let's go build houses. Um, I do have a request from councelor Kenan um that if council could indulge, we have little little miss Galaxy here and she has to go to school and because we've been talking so much about development charges, she is late for school. We don't want her to be late for school. Do I have council's consent to move this item up? Thank you. Over to councelor Keenan to introduce the item. >> Thank you, Mayor Brown. I let it go a little bit because I know my kids wouldn't want to be in school, so Uh, >> yeah, that's fine. >> Yeah. >> So, thank you, Mayor Brown. I'll just give a second for the room to clear. Well, it is my pleasure and councelor Maduros's pleasure um to take a few moments today to congratulate Mika for her outstanding achievements and contributions. Mika is an 8-year-old resident of war three and four who has already accomplished remarkable things at her at her young age. She currently holds the title of Little Miss Galaxy Canada and has earned the incredible honor of representing Canada internationally at an upcoming PA pageant in the Bahamas. That's going to be nice. In addition to this achievement, Mika has proudly served as Little Miss Bmpton, representing our city with confidence, grace, and enthusiasm. Through her dedication, hard work, and positive spirit, she has become a wonderful youth ambassador for both Bmpton and Canada. So on behalf of Bmpton and the residents of W three and four, myself and councelor Maduros would like to extend our sincere congratulations and best wishes as she prepares to pres to to represent Canada on the international stage. We're incredibly proud of your achievements and we look forward to cheering you on in the Bahamas. Thank you. >> Would you like to come up and say and say a word? Okay. >> Can someone fix the mic? >> Lower the >> You can lower it, Steve. You can lower the whole podium. >> They do that for me, too. So, hello everyone. My name is Mahika Coacher. I'm your Little Miss Galaxy Canada 2026 and your reigning Little Miss Bmpton 2024 and 2025. I will be representing Canada at the Bahamas in August. I would just like to say thank you to Mayor Patrick Brown and all the counselors. For the past two, three years, I've been working hard helping community and charity and doing lots of volunteering. I'm a big fan of sports because I do sports. I'm six months away from black belt. I am in level seven in swimming, which is rookie patrol. And we just got the notice that I might be going for figure skating since I'm in level four, but you have to go to level seven and eight, but then they just skipped me. I don't know how. I'm in piano and guitar and I do this like tution called Kuman. Thank you. And once again, thank you so much for the opportunity. >> Well, thank you for that. I just I hope somebody recorded that so I can go home and show my kids. That's uh that's very impressive. Thank you so much and congratulations again. Motion have a motion moved by councelor Keenan, seconded by councelor Maduros to receive the presentation from little miss Brenton. All those in favor? Motion carries. Um this takes us to 6.2. Um councelor Santos. Uh this is for the 20th anniversary season of the Rose. Uh, good morning, mayors and members of council. It is my pleasure to officially kick off the Rose's 20th anniversary season, roots, blossom, bloom, celebrating where we have come from, who we are today, and where we are looking to go. The 2627 season marks a return to a full September to May season structure, features more than 60 performances, family experiences, community events, and artist development initiatives. It also marks a renewed focus on the Rose as Bmpton's premier venue for live performing arts, bringing programming together under a recognizable venue forward brand as we celebrate this important milestone. For two decades, the Rose has been an integral part of Bmpton's downtown. As the revitalization of our city's core continues, it will remain a defining cultural destination where community comes together and the arts and culture continues to flourish. As part of this anniversary season, the Rose will host 20 years in bloom on September 19th during Culture Days. This free community celebration will feature performances, backstage experiences, family activities, local artisans, and special guests while recognizing the artists, audiences, and community partners who have helped shape the roads over the past 20 years. I would also like to acknowledge our community partners and supporters as well as my fellow teammates from cultural services, performing arts, and also strategic communications, many of whom are here with us today for their contributions to the Ros's success. Before we premiere the trailer, I want to recognize the strategic communications team in particular for their outstanding work in helping to bring this milestone season to life through the 20th anniversary visual identity, campaign materials, and season trailer. Today's trailer premiere serves as the first step in the roll out of the Rose's 20th anniversary season. Staff willi return to council on June 24th with the full season launch including the season lineup and brochure. Thank you and please enjoy the trailer. As the world becomes more divided and artificial, we choose more together, more human. Music that makes your soul sing. Wonder that cannot be confined. Bodies pushed beyond what seems possible. Heartbeats that synchronize across the whole room. Immerse yourself in live experiences that make you feel alive. After 20 years, some things change and some things never do. The Rose presents our 20th anniversary season. Come together. Experience it live. exciting. Councelor Santos, >> thank you to you, Mr. Chair. Very excited about this announcement. The Rose Theater is 20 years old, two decades. I can't believe it. Um, and we've seen in in many years growth in the programming, exciting programming, and certainly when you come back, I think it's in July, you said, to announce with the June 24th, um, which is not far from now, excited to see what the program for the 20th anniversary is going to be. So, congratulations everyone. The Rose is a true gem. It has the best acoustics and the best place to do live shows. So, congrats. >> Wonderful. Thank you. The rose is certainly a jewel in our city. Um uh the clerk advised me we need a motion to receive the delegations on development charges in the presentation. So moved by councelor Vante, second by councelor Borer. All those in favor? Motion carries. This takes us to our next item, Jorge Nas Camo's day and this is the sponsored by councelor Maduros and councelor Vante. >> Uh thank you very much uh Mayor Brown. Um on behalf of uh councelor uh Vicente and myself in the spirit uh and also of council in the spirit of recognizing Portugal 8 today um we would like to recognize uh Mr. George Nev for his outstanding contributions to the Portuguese community and to multicultural media in our region for more than three decades. George has dedicated his career to journalism, broadcasting, community storytelling. He began his career in Portugal before continuing his work in Canada and has become a trusted and respected voice for Portuguese-speaking residents across the greater Toronto area. Through his work with CRV FM radio, which is part of the uh Red FM uh family and later as program manager CRVFM, George has informed, connected, and celebrated our community through news, culture, sport, and public affairs programming. His commitment to the community uh has helped ensure that Portuguese residents remain engaged and formed on issues that matter most. Beyond journalism, George has served as the ambassador for Portuguese culture and heritage, highlighting the achievements and traditions and contributions of Portuguese Canadians. His dedication uh and community connections has preserved and promoted Portuguese identity for future generations. On behalf of Bmpton City Council and the resident for our city, I would like to thank George Naz for his many years of service, his leadership and commitment to the Portuguese community. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success. Congratulations, George, and thank you for everything you've done for our uh Portuguese community right here in Bmpton. And if you'd like to say just a couple of words. Thank you. Good morning once again. Um I would like to thank councelorus and council visent for this opportunity. It it is an honor especially on this uh day Portugal day. Uh, I know Martin since he was still running for office for the first term and since day one we had a show like on a regular basis once a month talking about Bmpton and the Portuguese community in Bmpton. Uh, at that time our studios were located in um, Toronto. Right now we are located here in Bmpton. So I come from Toronto to Bmpton every single day. So right now this city is a part of me. It's a part of my history. It's a part of my job and uh it is with a great pleasure that I'm here receiving this recognition. And I thank you especially for the Portuguese community the way that they uh open the arms and received me when I came to Canada in 2005. Thank you very much. >> Thank you Mr. Nevs. And just I forgot to mention Mayor Brown. Just very quickly, notwithstanding being on the radio uh on a weekly basis, he's invited to speak on a major Portuguese uh uh station in Portugal. So, he has a direct feed and his direct feed is from his office right here in Bmpton. So, it's great to always see Bmpton being recognized. Thank you, Mr. Marvel. And council, who is he cheering for in the World Cup? Canada. Um our uh next announcement is from councelor Power. Um and this is a special announcement for seniors month. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um June is a is seniors month and um we wanted to recognize someone that's very special to all of us here on council and has been a a leader when it comes to community advocacy. um whether it be presenting to City of Bmpton, whether it be delegating, whether it be in the parks, in the community, um he's always just got one quick problem, but that's it. Um he is a recipient of the Kings Charles II coronation medal in 2025. He is also the president of the association for seniors clubs which under his umbrella has about over a dozen clubs that report to him. Um he's been recognized by the honorable Raymond Cho, the minister of seniors and accessibility as Ontario's through the city of Bmpton 2026 senior of the year award. So I'd like to present that to him with your help, Mr. Mayor. And so um we heard um uh from the Minister of Seniors about this very special recognition. The Minister Raymond Cho is a good friend of mine and he was elated to share the news that you've been selected um for this prestigious honor. And so if Council Power could join me and we could um anyone who wants to join um present this to um the great Jambarangi. Okay, this takes us to our next item over to the clerk. What is that item now? >> Yep, we'd received that and a report on the delegations. >> Thank you, Mayor Brown. Our next item is a staff report 10.2.2 was held >> regarding >> Oh, I held that. Um, so this is for insurance and volunteer-led events. Um, I just want to speak to maybe we don't have any event staff here. Um, but I have heard complaints. Oh, Megan. Yeah. And Megan's a superstar. Um, if you could come up here for a second. Um, I know we did some changes, but I've heard from vendors that it's making their events more difficult. Maybe that's a different change, but whether it was the um there's been a series of events where this part was raised. Um, and we have whether you have a tent or a truck at these events. Um, what what feedback are you getting? Is there anything we can make do to make it easier for these volunteer le events? Yeah, I think um so two two different things. Uh one is sort of in relation to this. I think the one you're >> excuse me more referring to is the um uh food vendors and the bylaw that was updated last year. Um so that requires a special event permit through enforcement for if you're operating uh it doesn't matter if it's a truck, a cart, a tent, any sort of food service now requires this um permit through enforcement. So, I think that's what you're referring to. Um, we've been working really closely with enforcement to try and cut out some kinks there because it has been a little more administratively heavy. Um, I think on both staff and the organizers. Um, so hoping to continue working with them on finding some solutions there. Um, this one specifically um isn't exactly a change uh of requirements. Um, but the city used to partner and maybe Barbara and I don't know if you want to speak to this more, but we used to have a a if you will in-house um system where insurance could be the city could take the fee for insurance and then pay the broker. Um, we're not obviously in the insurance business. So, we partnered with a new company. So, the requirements of insurance are still >> are not changing. Correct. It's the same. Okay. And just maybe just a different process. just maybe it's for a different day, a different opportunity, but you know, councelor Keenan raised to me at um at the ribbon roll um you know, we had bylaw there ticketing um food trucks and he says, "We got basement illegal basement apartments. Get busy doing that." Um at an event that was rained out. The last thing we wanted to do is be more ownorous. I know there's always more to the story, but I think what we're hearing is just want to make it easier for these volunteer-led events. And I'm glad this doesn't add any new burden. and Megan, thank you for what you do. I'm going we don't we don't say it publicly, but you are a lynch pin to the city's ability uh to put on so many great events. >> Thank you. >> Um appreciate it, >> Councelor Plushy. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um thank you very much. Um, I guess the reason why I had asked for this to to come initially was um, from what I'm hearing that there is the changing uh, uh, it doesn't it doesn't really change for us, but um, for the for residents that are putting together uh, these community events. Um, it's changing for them. something is changing and it's becoming more uh labor intensive for a volunteer organization just to obtain some sort of insurance where prior to that when they when we had when we were doing what we were doing it was it was just super easy and there wasn't an issue in in getting insurance for for anything. >> Yeah. Again, I'm not going to pretend to be an insurance expert. Um, but from my understanding, um, is we've actually >> we hadn't been doing it properly, uh, is the reality. Um, and we were leaving the city as well as the organizers more liable, um, because it wasn't being properly executed. Um, so this new system makes sure that everyone is covered. So yes, it is a little more ownorous, but it is ultimately to protect both the city, the residents, the attendees, and the organizers and >> and and that's fine and and I I certainly support that to make sure that everybody's protected. But there has to be some other way because what we're going to do with this um and you know the nurturing neighborhoods program uh the street parties um we're going to we're things are going to start to happen where you know the application process is just is not people aren't able to to to complete it. They're they're volunteers. They want to just have a barbecue on the street and they want the city's support and dealing with insurance companies, you know, isn't >> Yeah, definitely. I mean, my team's really the middleman to be honest. >> Yeah. And I know I know it's not true if you guys want, >> but and then even for the, you know, the nurturing neighborhoods program, the the applications, you know, we have to get back to something that's more simplistic for the residents. So, so because we don't want to lose this momentum, you know, there are so many, especially in WS two and six, just to highlight the two best words in Bmpton. Um the amount of you know people that are in the nurturing neighborhoods program, but the amount of barbecues that everybody has, street parties, it is it is going down a path that people are either going to just set up a street party by themsel, block off their their own road, um not get a fire truck, not get police to come, not get um you know our our support and just have a barbecue. And you know that's that's what we don't want. So, even though I don't know who said we were doing it wrong, but you know, from my point of view, if it's if it works, if it's not broken, don't fix it. >> Yeah. Council Flesh, I think you touched on something. Even that community event we were at on the weekend, we got inundated with complaints um from the Chev Crescent >> about how difficult it is to have a volunteer event in the city. >> Something's not working right now. residents are upset and that's whether it's right or wrong that's their impression right now that they're saying they don't want to do events in the city be it's too much red tape I'd almost say can we send this back and come back to us and how we can make it easier rather than approve this today um and maybe sit down um with the complaints that we've been getting to say how can we resolve this and counselors could share with Megan in the meantime the complaints we've been getting I know Belinda Tate is here. I know we've received a number of complaints to 311 about this this and Blinda, if you could download those complaints to Megan as well. Um, but whether smoke, there's fire, and the fact that we're getting complaints, um, something needs to be fixed. Um, and so I'm sure we can find a solution and maybe we refer this two weeks from now to come back. >> I would go to staff to see how how long do you need because what's been set in motion, Mr. for mayor if I can. Um all of the barbecues and stuff that are happening now are happening. Um we just want you know with the change they're they're just saying that and I've heard it this is our last time. We can't do it like this anymore because you know we don't have that much time to do this. So if you need more time, you tell us in terms of I think what you what you need and hopefully we'll be able to get to to something before the end of the summer would be great, but >> we also don't want to hurt events happening this summer, right? And right now they feel >> we don't want to. So I think anytime that there's anything that comes up, anybody that's flagged anything, then that needs to be looked at like maybe a combination of both. And you know, I guess an outcome that I potentially foresee is us kind of filling it out for them, doing the work, and then, you know, us being more supportive, which I don't want because that's just an added added cost to the taxpayers. So, I don't want that to happen, but in the meantime, we might need to go down that route. I I'm not sure, but something needs to happen. Jason, >> um through the chair, uh thanks counselor and and mayor. Um we can bring something back. I think we'll take a little bit of time to consult properly. I would note um I' I've heard of one issue um that that came up recently and that single issue was around a number of options both insurance and events team worked with the organizers of the cycling event. Um they worked with um some options around going through a city- held policy for the various participants. um we are going to run into some issues and I just want full awareness on a willingness to pay or not. And so sometimes it comes down to cost. It may not actually be the paperwork or that complex, but it's a um there was also some options presented in that scenario, the one I know about just around this issue, um where the city offered to pay. It was still declined by the organizers. And so there's we'll we'll meet with them and we can talk again. I know there's some questions that they submitted and we'll take those away and and meet with the group. But there's um >> it's not any specific event. It's it's the collection. When you have 50 organizations complaining about red tape, we have a problem. I think councelor Santos has some illustrations. I'm going to ask the deputy mayor um to step in for the next few minutes. Um I'm not sure if council members have heard about the tragedy, but we had a Bmpton resident who was a police officer with the OP and died in the line of duty yesterday. And so I have a statement um to make with um the media that um are interested. I just need five minutes. Um a tragedy um that one of our own young people 29 years old >> um >> you have a fiveminute recess. We can maybe you could connect with >> 10-minute recess and you can connect with staff if there's additional detail on this motion. Thank you. >> And on that mayor, we are lowering the flags for that today at city facilities. >> 11:40 We have quorum again and we realize this is more complicated. There's a series of items that we need to have addressed about events. Um and so we want to send this councelor Power mentioned the the the Trinidad Festival. Um councelor Santos had an example. Um, I know we could all probably every member of council could give an example of an event that's having difficulty right now. Um, I want to refer this back. Um, and do we need to mention the areas that we want to see included through the chair, I can uh I can take it with the events team uh mayor and work with uh insurance bylaw all the issues. I'll send an email today to gather the >> insurance bylaw and the farmers market complaints. And if you could include the 311 complaints as well. >> Yep, we'll include it all and reach out to your offices too to solicit the feedback and then we can uh bring a report back likely in the fall. In the meantime, we can uh work with each group on flexibility where possible so that things uh are not complicated over the summer months. >> Councilor Santos. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, um there are three different things here that's causing some um I guess the the issues being raised by organizations and residents. So the first one is related to bylaw with special permits particularly with the food vendors. So when this comes back, ideally it would be great to know what a better streamlined process would be so that the same food vendors wouldn't have to reapply every single time and every single event. For example, Jaime's cracked corn who was at the ribbon roll but then at the next event has to apply again for the same thing over and over again. The other piece of course is the seat program with respect to the broader events and the checklist and the insurance requirements for that. And then finally, a completely separate thing from what corporate services and legislative services do um are the complaints coming from residents who are setting up neighborhood associations. The complaints that I got and I know Ryzen's on maternity leave now. Uh, I know that we'll figure this out without without risen here because we've got a great team, but their their biggest stumbling block this year for the nurturing neighborhoods program is setting up a bank account for an amount of $1,500 to $2,000. So, that is some of the complaints coming to us. And I just wanted to clarify that they're coming from they they involve three different departments. So when when the report comes back of how we could make it easier front-facing to the residents and the organizations, it'd be great for the three departments to maybe all work together uh to make sure that it's not just coming from risk uh but the broader picture of the experience of volunteering uh and and creating these events. >> Okay. So I think we see this all those in favor motion carries. Okay, this takes us to our Oh, there was one council requested um consent to reopen um the agenda from the meeting minutes. Um and it was the Colombian Festival that delegated last week. Had hoped that with their delegation we would um cover the fee for the rental of the park. Um and they did a great job and I certainly I think that's a fair request. Do we have consent to reopen the agenda to achieve what they thought they had asked for? All those in favor? Councelor Madurus want to move that? >> Happy to move it, Mr. Mayor. >> Seconded by councelor Keenan. All those in favor. Motion carries to wave the cost of the park rental for that event. Okay, this takes us to our next item. >> 12.2. And councelor Vasante, I think, has a motion. >> Thank you very much, uh, mayor. And this is in regards to um the seniors council here in the city. They are planning to hold their senior summit later this year in the late fall and had a great conversation with them together with Mayor Brown with respect to their plans for this event. And uh their their ask is that the city help to sponsor their event and also to wave the fees for their use of the facility, the space at Flower City Campus. And so we have the motion on the floor. And yes, councelor Keane, it is in your ward. Yes. Thank you. >> So I believe they were asking for this. This is a senior's >> Oh, I'm sorry. Is this This is for the planning item. >> No. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> I'm I'm so sorry. >> Okay. So, let's deal with the planning item first and then >> Thank you, Mayor Mayor. >> Well, remember the preamble for when your senior's item comes up. >> Thank you so much. So, uh, both councelor Santos and I, uh, represent, of course, wards one and five, and we have an exciting project that has been in turnaround for a couple of years, but now under new ownership, we have a very exciting proposal that uh, we both believe would be uh, tremendously well accepted by the community and also an opportunity to build in very short order 104 new units um, with half of them afford affordably priced rental. And so, uh, we're very grateful to the applicants of this project for bringing this forward and for, uh, wanting to move very quickly on this and in meeting the moment and meeting the opportunity, much to, uh, add on to the discussion that we had earlier today. We have an opportunity here to move very quickly on some residential units and looking to use uh some of the HAF funding that we have available um and also um incentivizing the moving forward of this project. And so I have the motion here on the floor. Mr. Mayor, would you want me to read? >> I I think we have the motion on if everyone can read it. I know it's a lengthy motion. I would just add that um the budget office has been involved in this and of course we're involved in the um housing accelerator fund and I think this is um the work has gone into to have a balanced motion that achieves getting this housing online as fast as possible. >> Yes. And and I will uh ask councelor Santos to mention the two other very um wonderful and exciting pieces to this application. Councelor Santos. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. And indeed, it is a it's a great project. I know that there's uh work being done right next door on the neighboring site and residents, the good news is that many residents actually have received no complaints from residents regarding that construction site. Um, and I I am excited because in in working this through with staff and looking at some ideas, one of the things as councelor Bor and myself, all members of council are working on is finding um ways to support and address ending gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, a huge priority at the region as well at the city. and looking at the Armhouse model where they partnered with a developer to create more transitional housing units proposed the idea that perhaps this might be a good opportunity as well. Not just to expedite affordable housing, but also expedite affordable housing to help women transition out of violent situations for second phase, third phase housing. And I know you're participating as well in the break the cycle summit that's happening next Friday, June the 19th as a as a partner to create solutions and ideas to end intimate martyr violence in our region. So that's an exciting thing that we're going to be exploring on this particular uh development. And then the the other exciting piece is actually for arts and culture. So, they currently have a heritage home located on site and and they were planning to move it within the property. And I was so happy when they jumped on the my idea that perhaps we could just instead move that heritage house and donate it to Arts and Culture in Bmpton. Looking at Central Public School where there was a house for arts and culture until many, many years ago before our time, uh that house was demolished. Uh so it's a great opportunity in the way that we are rebuilding arts in the city of Bmpton and creating more space for artists in the city of Bmpton to partner with a developer uh and have a heritage home back onto Central Public School to support the arts. And so I'm excited and and hoping that uh folks support the motion and also thank you to Councelor Keenan for also working together with us to to bring this motion forward. Councelor Plushy. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thanks to the area counselors. Um, you know, this doesn't start without a willing applicant and, uh, big thank you to Sunfield for all of the work that you did and and what you bring to the community. Um, but I also want to recognize planning staff and everything, all the hard work that planning staff did in in trying to ensure that, you know, something uh fantastic comes comes out of uh out of the neighborhood. Um, and uh to councelor Keenan, the work that you've done, uh, Mr. Mayor. Uh, so kudos. This is a great, fantastic initiative. This is exactly what the accelerator funding is for. So, thank you very much for being here and doing this and and making the city better. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. >> Um I want to close with one comment. Um and I love the partnership with with Arma House here obviously. Um but for this housing accelerator fund um we sign agreements and the agreements have to be um honored. We're not building at the pace we need to. And so I just want to put it out there to all those who partner with the housing accelerator fund which is federal dollars. The minister has told me very clearly he wants to see shovels in the ground and there's concern these projects aren't happening as quickly. So the proponent of this one, we want shovels in the ground yesterday. And for everyone else that for those other not for profofits in the city that have um utilized housing accelerator fund dollars, use it or lose it because if you're not adhering to the dates in your agreement, you lose it. So just want that to be very public message. Use it or lose it. build now. Don't dither or delay. >> Don't dillydattle as councelor Pleshi said because the federal housing accelerator funds can only go so far and we want, you know, this this incentive to to have the greatest immediate effect. Um, and I'm concerned that there needs to be more urgency to construction. Um, all those in favor of this motion? Motion carries. This takes us to our next item. >> 15.1. Uh, this is the Portugal Way commemorative street naming. >> Councilos, I I'll take that hit. Uh, just wanted to say thank you to staff and thank you to all of council. And again, uh, I think today will be the last day. I think there's been a lot of Portuguese overload today. So, I just want to thank council and uh give any opportunity if council wants to join. Uh this is a commemorative uh signing and why it's commemorative, why it's important. Uh that's where the first Portuguese church was built. On the corner, right across the street is Azorus Park. Uh and we will be launching in September uh what's called the gates of uh of the city of Ponttoada. So that will be the most Portuguese corner probably in all of Ontario. So thank you to members of council. Thank you to councelor Keenan and councelor Vicente for their leadership and mayor Brown and uh and that's it. So I'm happy to move it and uh if anyone wants to join it uh feel free. Thank you. Okay. Um all those in favor motion carries. Thank you councelor Maduros and councelor Vante and Keenan for your work on that. Um this takes us to our next item which is the notice of motion and this is from >> 162 >> 16 this is >> councelor Keenan's >> Thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So this is just just quickly um council and myself we get a lot of complaints from seniors are using the um golf course at Peele Village for the increase in fees. Obviously, we've done so much to make sure that our seniors get to use recreation and for the most part free. I find it hard that we'd be increasing for them to golf here. So, um I'd like to move a motion to reduce the um fee back to the 2025. So, just for council's awareness, um for off-rime for prime time, we raise the senior's fee by $3.7 and non-prime prime time, we raised it by $2.35. Understandably, this this um this is budgeted out for for what we need for that. Um but I don't think it should be on the backs of our seniors. I think uh where we can place this amount that we're reduction is to the non-resident cost of um fees. If you're a non-resident in Bmpton and you're golfing, I would like to increase their cost by those same amounts that we're reducting reducing from our seniors here in Bmpton. So that is um that will be moved by myself and second by councelor Madios. And council is want to say something >> very appropriate during seniors month may I add council >> uh just very quickly thank you councelor Keenan for your leadership and in fact uh I play there every week and uh I won't amend it asking for a counselor uh discount but I pay full price and uh but I do think I've heard this issue by uh various seniors and one thing about Peel Village which makes it special a lot of the seniors who play there have been playing for 30 40 years they're all BMPonians live in the area So, thank you, Councelor Keenan. >> Yeah, thank you, Councelor Maduros and Kenan. And we just had a proclamation today on senior loneliness um uh awareness and of course to have social activity is completely consistent with trying to make sure that we've got great programming in our city. So, I'm not a golfer, but I think it's beautiful uh that seniors are out busy at this golf course um that is a public one. Um all those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. This takes us, I believe, to councelor Basante's motion. I don't think you need the preamble because we we we already got that. Um but uh thank you for bringing this forward, Council Versante, to support the senior's fair. My understanding is they are asking for a waiver of the Flower City Center where they which we have done before, but also the $2,500 sponsorship um which is what they were asking for. >> And thank you, Mr. Mayor. since we have dealt with the Sunfield item sunny ways now for seniors uh looking for support on the summit on aging. Thank you. We got that motion on the Okay. Moved by councelor Vante, seconded by councelor Keenan. Um all those in favor? Motion carries. Our next item, >> you mayor Brown. Uh, the next item is 17 public question period. >> So, are there any questions here in attendance? Okay, we have one. >> Uh, good morning. My name is Cindy Evans. um uh resident of Braley. Uh I'm going back to the insurance um piece from 10.2 2.2 uh because I'm unsure of how that relates to community rides. Um if we are not going to get information about insurance until fall, I don't see how the community rides can go forward. Um my only suggestion right now is is if the um if council could add people to our ATC e if not to the members to make a subcommittee membership and add the people that have been helping us with community rides be insured so we can actually run the rides this year. Uh otherwise I they're not going to go forward. The item that was emailed in as a question from David Lang on behalf of Bike Bmpton is the same as yours and um it's a little bit more in depth. Maybe we can put it on the screen, but I think your question and David Lang's question, we can refer to staff to make sure we don't lose these community rides this summer. Um and I think like the previous item, the direction of staff was don't jeopardize events happening this summer. I think we can I think it's safe to say we all want that to mean community rides as well. Do I see consensus on council? >> Okay. And >> um so um we'll direct this to staff to make sure that we don't lose just like the events, we don't lose these community rides because of this provision. >> Yeah. Is there a timeline or >> We'll work with you. When's your next ride? >> Oh, okay. Um, off the top of my head, it's well, of course, we got Bike the Creek and then it'll be probably the following Tuesday or Sunday. I'm sorry. >> Looking over to Megan and Jason. Can you work with them to find a solution before the next ride? >> Sorry, it's the Tuesday after the bike the creek on Saturday >> through the chair mayor. We'd be happy to. We've presented probably four to five various options including the city's covering all the costs. So, I'd like to ask that the stakeholder also come to the table in partnership and we'll we've got a lot of solutions for them. Um, it'd be great if they selected one of them and that the rides will move on. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Okay. All those in favor of a right to staff to Oh, councelor Plesi. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, it's my understanding that if the uh committee wants to create subcommittees, uh, that's up to the committee. That has nothing to do with council. We don't approve subcommittees because it doesn't work. >> I'm just looking. >> No, I know. I know. But I think if if you didn't know that, now you do. So, whoever uh can call a meeting, create a subcommittee, and if that's the easy uh answer, then and then get to the table with uh uh Mr. Tamming. Yeah. >> Well, with all due respect, I wonder if um the citizens appointment committee could just appoint the appropriate number of people to to their to our committee and then that >> covers all of the insurance and I know you can call >> speak to any decisions uh that were made, but I can speak to if that citizen appointment committee called a meeting today by the time we get applicants um and have another meeting >> have a list of It'll be it'll be the summer of 2027. >> We do we do have a list of people that have been working with us and know how to marshall >> and we can't if unless unless we have uh when we establish the committee we put people on that reserve list. If we have nobody then it's a whole new process. It's a whole new public public engagement. Wait for applications to come in then cycle through. Can correct? Yeah. Yes. >> So I think your subcommittee is probably your best answer. Well, >> my that's what I >> All right. >> Trying to help. No, >> I didn't want >> Trying to help. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. All those in favor? Motion carries. Um, our next item bylaws. Okay. I have a motion moved by councelor Ber, seconded by councelor Power to approve the bylaws. >> All those in favor? Motion carries. This takes us for confirming bylaw. I have a motion moved by councelor Maduro, seconded by councelor Keenan to approve the confirming bylaw and that is bylaw. The clerk will insert the number um 99 Gretky. All those in favor? Motion carries. Our next item of business adjournment. Our next meeting is June 24th, 9:30 a.m. Of course, we'll have a committee meeting before that. I have a motion moved by councelor Ber, second by councelor Santos to adjourn today's meeting. All those in favor? Motion carries.