COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION
AGENDA

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Council Chambers, Brantford City Hall
58 Dalhousie Street, Brantford

This meeting will be held in a hybrid meeting format (virtual and in-person). To view the livestream of the meeting, visit: http://brantford.ca/VirtualCouncil. Register to attend in-person as a delegate by visiting: https://form.brantford.ca/Your-Government/Delegation-Request-Form. Register to appear virtually as a delegation by visiting: https://calendar.brantford.ca/meetings. Members of the public seeking to attend in person without participating are not required to register. 

If technical difficulties arise out of the livestream and the livestream becomes unavailable; members of the public can observe the meeting by calling 1-855-703-8985 or 1-647-374-4685 and entering the Meeting ID: 966 1393 5882.

Alternative formats and communication supports available upon request.  For more information, please contact the City of Brantford Municipal Accessibility Coordinator at (519) 759-4150 or by e-mail at accessibility@brantford.ca.​


    1. THAT Report 2022-706, titled “Notice of Intention to Demolish a Non-designated, Listed Property on the City’s Heritage Register and Concurrent Demolition Control Application for 93 West Street” BE RECEIVED; and
    2. THAT 93 West Street BE REMOVED from the City of Brantford’s Heritage Register; and
    3. THAT the Demolition Control Application for 93 West Street BE APPROVED.
    1. THAT the application by West Street Apartments Inc. for financial assistance under the Brantford Brownfield Financial Tax Incentive Program (BFTIP) for the environmental remediation of 352-356 West Street BE APPROVED subject to the following conditions:
      1. THAT the maximum financial assistance shall not exceed the estimated cost of $7,422,703; and
      2. THAT the maximum financial assistance will be reduced by any other amount that may be awarded to this project for environmental remediation work and will be based on proof of payment;
    2. THAT the By-law authorizing the maximum financial assistance of estimated eligible costs of $7,422,703 for 352-356 West Street BE PRESENTED to Council for approval;
    3. THAT the General Manager of People, Legislated Services and Planning BE AUTHORIZED, in accordance with Corporate-010 Delegation of Authority Policy, to sign the required Agreement with the Applicant; and

    4. THAT the net financial assistance, not exceeding the estimated eligible cost of $7,422,703, BE FUNDED from a reduction in development charges and through the annual incremental increase in property taxes resulting from the redevelopment of the property, from the time of approval until all eligible remediation costs are reimbursed.
    1. THAT Report 2022-700, entitled “Greyfields Community Improvement Plan – Budget for the Administration of Capital-Funded Grant Programs”, BE RECEIVED; and
    2. THAT Staff BE DIRECTED to submit an unmet need for the administration of the Commercial Façade, Landscaping and Connectivity Improvement Grant and the Mixed Use Building Improvement Grant programs in the Greyfields Community Improvement Plan for consideration in the 2023 Operating Budget.
    1. THAT Report 2022-672 titled “Downtown Community Improvement Plan – Tax Increment-Based Grant Application for 32 Bridge Street”, BE RECEIVED; and
    2. THAT the Property Tax Increment-Based Grant Application for 32 Bridge Street based upon the incremental tax increase resulting from the redevelopment of the property, estimated at $363,560 over a maximum of ten (10) years, BE APPROVED in accordance with the terms of the Downtown Community Improvement Plan.
  • WHEREAS sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Municipal Act, 2001 authorize the Corporation of the City of Brantford to pass by-laws necessary or desirable for municipal purposes, and in particular paragraphs 5, 6, 8 authorize by-laws respecting the economic, social and environmental well-being of the municipality; the health, safety and well-being of persons, and the protection of persons and property; and

    WHEREAS Section 129 of the Municipal Act, 2001 provides municipalities with the authority to regulate outdoor illumination; and

    WHEREAS Section 6.13 of the City of Brantford Zoning By-Law regulates Flood Lighting; and

    WHEREAS lighting technology has advanced in recent years to provide consumers with more options for brightness, energy efficiency, and price; and

    WHEREAS in the opinion of the Council of the City of Brantford certain kinds of lights or residual lighting that are or could become a nuisance;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

    1. THAT staff BE DIRECTED to review comparator municipal lighting regulations and best practices and invite comments from residents and businesses; and
    2. THAT staff REPORT BACK to City Council with potential by-law amendments to update regulations to outdoor illumination in February, 2023.
  • WHEREAS the Council of the Corporation approved the creation of a Planning Committee pilot project to expedite the number of planning related applications heard in a meeting cycle; and

    WHEREAS the number of applications is expected to increase; and

    WHEREAS the Planning Committee meetings are held during regular business hours, commencing at 9:00 am and continuing until 4:00pm, once a month on Thursdays; and

    WHEREAS many members of the Planning Committee must take time off from their day jobs in order to attend these meetings; and

    WHEREAS by-law 81-2014, being a By-law to establish Honoraria to be paid to the Mayor and Members of Council does not permit additional stipends to be paid to members of Council sitting on an advisory committee or Board;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

    1. THAT a stipend paid directly to the members of the Planning Committee, excluding the Mayor, in the amount of $250.00 per meeting attended BE APPROVED as an unavoidable increase in the City’s 2023 Operating Budget; and
    2. THAT the necessary by-law to amend the Honoraria By-law BE PRESENTED to City Council for adoption.
  • WHEREAS Section 11 (1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 S.O. provides the duties of the clerk of a local municipality is responsible for conducting elections within that municipality; and

    WHEREAS the City Clerk’s Department in consultation with the Communication Department designed and implemented a comprehensive Election Media Plan for the 2022 Municipal Election featuring newspaper ads, radio ads, social media ads, digital community screens, digital billboards, social media posts, Google ads, flyers, digital posters and bus shelter posters; and

    WHEREAS the City of Brantford partnered with Wilfred Laurier and Conestoga College student unions in developing a communications plan aimed to promote awareness among the student body regarding the 2022 Municipal Elections; and

    WHEREAS the voter’s list is compiled and maintained by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC); and

    WHEREAS electors were able to submit changes to MPAC regarding information on the voter’s list through VoterLookup.ca year round; and

    WHEREAS staff executed a two month communications campaign utilizing social media, the City’s website, election staff email signatures, etc., to promote VoterLookup.ca to allow City of Brantford Electors to update their elector information manually to the Preliminary List of Electors without having to complete an in person application; and

    WHEREAS for the first time ever, the City of Brantford collaborated with the Brantford Public Library to educate and train 40+ library staff on how to assist members of the public who attended the library to update their elector information on VoterLookup.ca as well as educate members of the public re: voting dates and times including online voting; and

    WHEREAS Election staff completed data management of over 1200 electors through Voterview (Voter’s list software) to remove duplicate electors and invalid mailing addresses; and

    WHEREAS Elections staff worked with the City’s long-term care homes and retirement homes in aiding their residents to get added to the voter’s list; and

    WHEREAS in 2019 City Council supported resolutions of the Town of Kearney, Municipality of Northern Bruce Penninsula and the City of Hamilton to re-establish the multi-stakeholder working group to explore and identify ways to create and maintain the Voters’ List for Municipal Elections; and

    WHEREAS on September 17, 2020, the Provincial Government introduced a Bill which proposes to create a single register of voters for municipal and provincial elections which would take place in 2024, ahead of the 2026 municipal election; and  

    WHEREAS the City mailed out via Canada Post, over 74,000 Voter Information Letters to City Residents; and

    WHEREAS Voter Information Letters contained elector ID and elector pin information for online voting; and

    WHEREAS in order to vote online electors had to enter their date of birth as added verification; and

    WHEREAS logic and accuracy testing was done in accordance with the City’s procedures on all vote tabulating machines, memory cards, ballots and online voting system software; and

    WHEREAS reports containing multiple voters voting at the same IP address were captured three times a day to monitor online voting security;

    WHEREAS online voting ran from October 3 at 10:00 a.m. – October 24th at 8:00 p.m. making this the longest online voting period the City has ran to date, to allow sufficient time and enhance accessibility for Brantford electors;

    WHEREAS advance polls were open from Wednesday, October 12th to Saturday October 15th at two locations within the City (Brantford Civic Centre and the Wayne Gretzky Sport Centre) from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to offer electors the option of voting in person prior to Election Day; and

    WHEREAS the City operated 25 Polling Locations throughout the City of Brantford on Election Day, October 24, 2022 allowing residents the option to “vote anywhere in your ward” with an Accessible Super Poll at City Hall; and

    WHEREAS municipal election staff attended 11 Roaming Locations throughout the City of Brantford on Election Day to ensure residents of Long-Term Care Homes, Institutions and Retirement homes that met the legislative requirement of s.45 (7) of the Municipal Elections Act had the opportunity to vote; and 

    WHEREAS a large amount of municipalities in southern Ontario experienced a decrease in voter turnout for the 2022 Municipal Elections;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City Clerk and Communications and Community Engagement staff BE DIRECTED:

    1. To conduct a public consultation meeting to hear from members of the public on how to improve election processes and increase voter turnout;  and
    2. That all 2022 Candidate for the 2022 Municipal Election BE INVITED to attend the public consultation meeting.
  • The City of the Brantford is currently seeking volunteers to serve on the following Committees, Task Forces and Boards:

    •    Brantford Accessibility Advisory Committee
    •    Brantford Airport Board
    •    Brantford Heritage Committee
    •    Brownfields Community Advisory Committee
    •    Committee of Adjustment
    •    Control of Vicious Dogs Committee
    •    Economic Development, Tourism & Cultural Initiatives Advisory Committee
    •    Environmental and Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee
    •    Planning Advisory Committee
    •    Property Standards Committee
    •    Police Services Board
    •    Southwest Task Force

    Interested citizens can find further information on these appointments, including recommended skill sets, mandates and application forms on the City’s website www.brantford.ca, at Brantford City Hall during regular business hours, or by calling (519) 759-4150.  

    The deadline for submitting completed application forms to the City Clerk’s Department is 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 5, 2023 for the Police Services Board and the Committee of Adjustment and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 for all other listed boards and advisory committees. 

    City Council wishes to ensure membership on all City advisory bodies reflects the diverse nature of Brantford’s population and invites all residents to consider these opportunities.

  • WHEREAS the Corporation of the City of Brantford requires an owner or applicant to submit an application for a Holding Removal, when a Holding Zone applies to a parcel of land; and

    WHEREAS the applicant has already made an application for a minor rezoning (Holding Removal) fee, and has paid such fees under protest; and

    WHEREAS the a Holding Zone is generally a requirement of implementing Zoning By-law applications that have a subsequent Site Plan Control application and agreement associated with them to facilitate future development;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that City Council REFUND a total $2,637.50, which represents 50% of the Holding Removal application fee.

  • WHEREAS Section 5.(0.1) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 provides the City of Brantford the authority to establish a Fire Department; and

    WHEREAS City of Brantford By-law 221-2021 “By-law to govern and regulate the Fire Department of the City of Brantford” establishes the level of service to be provided by the Brantford Fire Department; and

    WHEREAS Section 9.(2)(a)  of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 provides the Ontario Fire Marshal the authority to investigate fires, and Section 10.(1) provides the Ontario Fire Marshal the ability to delegate that authority to the Fire Chief or other Assistant to the Fire Marshal; and

    WHEREAS a large scale fire incident involving rubber material occurred in the outdoor storage area of North West Rubber at 321 Henry Street, Brantford on October 18, 2022 requiring the dedication of a significant amount of Brantford Fire Department resources, and the activation of the Brant County Mutual Aid Plan for an extended period of time; and

    WHEREAS this was the second large scale fire incident at this location since June 10, 2019; and

    WHEREAS large scale fires involving rubber material may pose a hazard to the public, the environment and emergency responders;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

    1. THAT Staff BE DIRECTED to conduct a review of the large scale fire incident that occurred at 321 Henry Street on October 18, 2022; and
    2. THAT Staff provide a REPORT on the fire incident that includes but is not limited to the fire response, investigation, and recommendations for fire prevention and risk mitigation.
  • WHEREAS residents in the City of Brantford may choose to live in Brantford because of its convenient location in Southwestern Ontario; and

    WHEREAS many residents commute to their places of employment outside of The City of Brantford, many of them relying on rail transit; and

    WHEREAS in August 2021 the federal Minister of Transportation visited Brantford Via station and announced that the federal government would be pursuing opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in southwestern Ontario; and

    WHEREAS in August 2022 the federal government announced they would be exploring options to improve passenger rail frequencies, on-time performance, and shorten travel times in Southwestern Ontario; and

    WHEREAS since 2020 a number of passenger rail lines have been suspended or cancelled leaving residents of Brantford with fewer commuting options; and

    WHEREAS there is a need for commuter rail travel options for City residents that depart from the downtown Brantford rail station; and

    WHEREAS pre-pandemic line 72 served residents in Southwestern Ontario commuting to employment in downtown Toronto.  Line 72 began in London at 6:30 am, stopped in Brantford at 7:30 and arrived at Toronto’s union station at 8:30 making it very popular with commuters residing in London, Woodstock and Brantford; and

    WHEREAS Via Rail has announced that it will not be reinstating line 72 after it  was suspended during the pandemic; and

    WHEREAS line 72 is an important transportation link for many residents in Southwestern Ontario and also for builders considering residential developments in the northern section of Brantford’s downtown area, which developments are an important component of the downtown renewal action plan;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

    1. THAT the Council of The Corporation of The City of Brantford respectfully CALLS UPON the Government of Canada to resume, in good faith, investigations into opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in southwestern Ontario; and
    2. THAT the Council of The Corporation of The City of Brantford respectfully CALLS UPON Via Rail to reinstate line number 72 immediately; and
    3. THAT the Clerk BE DIRECTED to forward a copy of this resolution to The Federal Minister of Transportation, The Honourable Omar Alghabra, The City of Brantford Member of Parliament, The Honourable Larry Brock, Via Rail Canada and to each municipality impacted by the route cancellations, namely The City of London and The City of Woodstock.
  • WHEREAS residents of Oakhill Drive are reporting on-going speeding concerns; and

    WHEREAS residents have raised concerns about the  safety of pedestrians and the children in the area; and

    WHEREAS consultation has taken place with the residents at a neighbourhood meeting, on social media, and through collaboration with the Neighbourhood Association; and

    WHEREAS numerous requests have been received by Ward Councillors to implement traffic calming measures on Oakhill Drive; and

    WHEREAS Ward Councillors have worked with Traffic Services to develop a Neighbourhood Traffic Management plan that included public engagement; and

    WHEREAS Traffic Services has conducted traffic studies and identified that vehicle speeds exceed the posted speed limit on Oakhill Drive to justify the installation of traffic calming measures;

    NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

    1. THAT staff BE DIRECTED to construct raised crosswalks and Pedestrian Crossovers on Oakhill Drive at Wildewood Avenue, Elderwood Avenue and Madison Avenue, to provide a designated safe crossing point for vulnerable road users and to slow down motorists; and
    2. THAT staff BE DIRECTED to install an All-way stop at the intersection of Oakhill Drive & Oakhill Drive, to provide traffic control; and
    3. THAT staff BE DIRECTED to install a protected bi-directional bike lane on the north side of Oakhill Drive to provide connectivity for trail users between the D’Aubigny Trail and Oak Hill Trail; and
    4. THAT funding not to exceed $40,000 BE PROVIDED from the Council Priorities Reserve (RF0558) fund to be completed in 2023; and
    5. THAT the necessary by-law BE PRESENTED to City Council for adoption.
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