Online Town Hall » Economic Development

Salamander Monitoring Results

Mike Salisbury — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:34:03 +0000

Results of the recently completed salamander monitoring program indicate no Jefferson Salamander presence within the Hanlon Creek Business Park (HCBP) lands. Natural Resource Solutions Inc. completed a comprehensive salamander monitoring program at the site between March 11 and April 30, on behalf of the City of Guelph, Belmont Equity (HCBP) Holdings Ltd. and Guelph Land Holdings Ltd. The monitoring program was developed in consultation with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Guelph District Office, City staff and Dr. Jim Bogart, Chair of the Jefferson Salamander Recovery Team.

The monitoring program included 5.5 kilometres of drift fencing, 122 minnow traps and 611 pitfall traps to monitor location and direction of salamander movement to and from potential breeding grounds. The monitoring program was undertaken during peak salamander breeding season when salamanders begin emerging from their overwintering sites and migrating to breeding ponds.

Thirteen salamanders were captured and sampled during the monitoring program. DNA extraction and analysis was then performed at the University of Guelph by Dr. Bogart. In all cases, the DNA analysis found no presence of pure Jefferson salamanders or Jefferson-dominated polyploids (Jefferson-dominated unisexuals).
“In consultation with Dr. Jim Bogart and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, we have concluded that there is no Jefferson Salamander presence on the Hanlon Creek Business Park lands,” stated Mayor Karen Farbridge. “We will move forward with our plans to service and develop these important employment lands and grow jobs in our community while ensuring excellence in environmental protection and restoration. In Guelph, sustainability and prosperity go hand in hand.”

On May 7, 2010 the City received confirmation from the MNR, Guelph District that the 2010 salamander monitoring program was rigorous enough to ascertain the presence of Jefferson Salamanders on the site. Based on the results of the program, the MNR, Guelph District also stated that there are no requirements for authorizations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the HCBP and that no agreement or permit under the ESA is required to proceed with development of the business park.

The City will be moving forward with the development of the HCBP subdivision as approved by the Ontario Municipal Board in November 2006. The 2010 salamander monitoring program has provided additional information on the location and movement of other amphibians within the HCBP subdivision. This additional information will be used to consider design refinements and to undertake measures for wildlife protection during construction activities.

We should keep our options open on the new library

Mike Salisbury — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:20:34 +0000

(Originally Printed in the Guelph Mercury, “Sightlines” – by Unto Kihlanki )

This past Monday, largely due to the efforts of Coun. Mike Salisbury, Guelph city council decided not to turn the city’s recently acquired building at 152-158 Wyndham St. into a parking lot, at least not yet. They voted to investigate the option of renovating it for other possible interim uses while we wait for the day, perhaps quite distant, when it is slated to become part of the proposed new central library.

Good for our council. The merchants currently located along Wyndham must be breathing a long collective sigh of relief. A gaping hole in the fabric of the existing frontage is the last thing they need now, as they struggle to maintain a semblance of commercial vitality on their street.

Finding an active use for the building has to be preferable to demolition; returning it to a retail use would be best because it would support the retail nature of the street, which, I’m assuming, is still an important objective.

But why the rush to demolish in the first place? Apparently, city staff had not even considered other options. They wanted to spend $400,000 now, rather than a few thousand on renovations to try to find new tenants. That could only make financial sense if the need to clear the site were a short-term certainty. It isn’t; the start of actual construction of the library is likely to take years before it happens, if it ever happens.

Furthermore, demolition would make it more difficult for our next council to modify the Baker Street redevelopment design concept, should it choose to do so. Our future councils need maximum freedom to respond to contemporary circumstances as they unfold, not to be impeded, unnecessarily, by the unfulfilled ambitions of previous councils.

Many people feel it is unfortunate that the library project has been postponed. I don’t know; maybe they are right. After all, design projects are never perfect, and at some point we need to just get on with the work of building. And I do agree that a new library is a worthwhile project for the city to undertake.

But, I also think that the current design scheme for the Baker Street redevelopment project is seriously flawed. Readers of this column may remember that when the various design options were under evaluation I weighed in against the present proposal, preferring the ones that would place the library on Baker Street instead, while keeping the tradition of commercial frontage along Wyndham intact.

I have never been convinced by the urban design rationale put forward by the city’s consultants to justify the extreme measure of expropriation. The idea that the new library will serve as a “second anchor” for the Wyndham Street retail corridor, along with the new city hall on the south, is seductive but fanciful.

The concept of reinforcing a retail corridor by placing anchor tenants at the ends is born of shopping mall design. It works because the major retailers that are typically used as “anchors” draw more shoppers to the smaller shops that lie between them than they could draw on their own.

But, imagining that you can simply substitute a library for a major national retailer to serve as a retail anchor is to misunderstand the concept completely. Perhaps we should test the idea by outbidding Sears for their spot at the Stone Road Mall, and offering to put the new library there; but I doubt that the mall would go for it, even if we offered twice what Sears is willing to pay. The owners are not that naive.

While it is true that the library would draw new traffic to the street and that many of the people would be the ones that the store owners are trying to attract, they are not likely to be in the same shopping mood as they are when they decide to pay a visit to a major retailer. And that is the critical difference.

To our city staff and politicians, it may seem like a daunting task to try to find a major national retailer to locate on Wyndham Street; it may be politically unappealing to many of them compared to the easy sell of a new library. But if we are serious about maintaining the commercial vitality of our main downtown shopping street, it deserves consideration.

Like it or not, since we now have additional time, and some additional property to work with, we might as well take full advantage to make sure we undertake the best possible project, when we eventually can build it. Getting this right is the key to the successful revitalization of the downtown commercial core, it is extremely important.

Guelph Mercury Editorial

Mike Salisbury — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:51:56 +0000

Bravo for creating arts, culture post

By Renann Isaacs, curator, Alma Gallery, Guelph

Dear Editor – Re: “Need for cultural post debated” (Guelph Mercury, Dec. 19).

Hooray for Mike Salisbury and the six other councillors who voted in support of creating a much needed position for an arts and culture supervisor. I can’t believe Guelph has been without one.

I recently moved from Montreal to be closer to my parents. I chose Guelph because of its potential and because I wasn’t prepared to move back to the architecturally and culturally demolished city of Toronto, where my parents live.

Downtown Guelph is a gem waiting to be discovered.

Despite the poor placement of buses, the abundance of pubs, and the chaotic signage, the core of the city consists of stunning neighbourhoods and heritage buildings that are ideal for accommodating a beautiful community of bed and breakfasts, cafés, fine dining restaurants, boutique shopping, galleries, and anything to do with the arts in general.

Visitors from all over have admired the area and some have even contemplated moving here.

Imagine then my shock when I heard that there were still folks around like Councillors Gloria Kovach, Christine Billings and Kathleen Farrelly who referred to a proposal supporting arts and culture as “nebulous.”

Wow! How terribly Sarah Palinesque!

If a city wants to position itself for a changing world it has to attract and excite people, not make their lives dull.

Sprawling suburbs and strip malls with redundant conformity do not stimulate economies. Culture does.

Bravo to those Guelphites who have the courage to look to the future. By providing the city with an arts and culture supervisor we can facilitate the change needed to make this city an even greater going concern. Yes we can!

Two cents on $400 million

Mike Salisbury — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:22:29 +0000

I recently attended the Making Cities Liveable conference in Portland. When I arrived at the airport I had a choice between a $40 + cab fare to my downtown hotel or taking the light rail rapid transit which conveniently stopped right in the airport terminal. My direct commute to downtown Portland took only minutes, brought me to within one block of my hotel and cost me less than five bucks. For the rest of my stay I took transit anywhere I wanted to go in the downtown absolutely FREE, no charge, zero dollars…nothing.

City of Portland is one of the most progressive urban environments in North America. The entire city is serviced by a system of light rail and transit so effectively that there is a noticeable absence of cars in the downtown core. With a population of just over 500 thousand people in the City of Portland the question on everyone’s mind was, “How can they afford this”

As it turns out, the City received money that was originally allocated for major freeway development from the state of Oregon to be used for the development of a comprehensive urban and regional transit system following a public outcry over the wisdom of spending millions of dollars on newly proposed highways.

Which brings me back to the $400 million question facing the good people of Kitchener and Guelph.

As it turned out, Jane Mitchell a councillor with the Region of Waterloo, attended the same conference and we spent a good deal of time talking about some of the common issues facing our cities. We talked at great length about Waterloo’s rapid transit initiative.

According to the region’s website:

Building a better community requires a more balanced and integrated transportation system that will help us accommodate future growth and development in urban areas while protecting our rural areas. The Region of Waterloo’s proposed Rapid Transit Initiative will link the employment, residential and commercial areas of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, provide enhanced transit throughout the Region, and help us boost our Region’s economy, competitiveness and prosperity over the next 30 years.

Do you notice something missing? How does Guelph fit into this vision,…? Well currently it doesn’t ;we are building a new road instead.

The price of gas is skyrocketing, Al Gore tells us we are approaching a tipping point with our environment, population growth in our area is predicted to skyrocket, communities such as Portland are proving the business case for rapid transit while our neighbours are actively planning the infrastructure. Oh yeah, and the price tag for a shiny new freeway between Guelph and Kitchener has doubled in the last few years.

I’m not suggesting we don’t address the need for improved highway infrastructure between our cities, but do we really need to spend hundred of millions of dollars on a new freeway that in a few years will be just as congested as highway 7 is today?

Remember the 407 when it was first built, or the 401 when it was expanded to 4 lanes all the way to Milton? They are both parking lots during rush hour these days. Ask anyone from Los Angeles or Toronto and they will tell you bigger freeways are only a temporary solution to congestion.

Both Jane and myself are working with our peers in an effort to begin a dialogue on these issues. We simply CAN’T afford to let this opportunity slip away on us, $400 million could go a very long way towards “boosting our economy, competitiveness and prosperity over the next 30 years” to paraphrase the region.

We can learn from the mistakes and examples of other cities, or we can simply roll up the windows and wait for the car in front of us to creep ahead a few more inches.

The Power of One

Mike Salisbury — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:13:33 +0000

As many of you are aware, City Council, senior city staff and the community at large have been involved in refining our community strategic plan. Given the number of business ventures I have been involved in, I am a big fan of strategic planning. As far as I am concerned it is the equivalent of pulling out a road map at the beginning of a journey. (Whether the trip is long or short we really need to know where we are going)

Our previous strategic plan and vision statement were pretty straightforward, ”A Great Place to Call Home” Secure jobs, safe communities, good transportation and available housing… all reasonable goals for sure.

However as far as a vision for what Guelph could be, I felt that it was sorely lacking. As far as I am concerned, these are the kinds of things that we as a community should expect as a foregone conclusion. Guelph already IS a great place to call home…it’s not a vision; it is a statement of fact!

Guelph has a long history of innovation and leadership, our vision statement and resulting strategic plan needs to capture this quality and leverage it; not just state the obvious.

During the first strategic planning meeting, the issue of Canada’s failure to meet the Kyoto protocol came up, and then it occurred to me… perhaps the solution starts with one. As a community we are small enough to make significant changes in how we operate and yet large enough that these changes could have far reaching impacts. Why couldn’t Guelph honour the Kyoto protocol and set the stage for other communities to follow?

And so began an entirely different discussion about our strategic direction.

Perhaps we can solve our own problems and issues in a manner that sets an example that other communities can learn from and aspire to. Perhaps Guelph can become, “The City That Makes a Difference”

Lofty aspirations? …you bet, but it sure sounds like the Guelph I know.

Fostering Economic Development in Guelph

Mike Salisbury — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:30:36 +0000

The Mayor and a number of Councillors together with the Director of Economic Development met with senior staff at Cargill Meat Solutions (formerly Better Beef) to explore opportunities to further stimulate employment and business development in Guelph.

This meeting comes on the heels of a similar initiative earlier this month where City Councillors met with Guelph’s largest employer, the auto parts manufacturer Linamar, to discuss affordable housing, traffic congestion, improving transit service, support for community training initiatives and other issues facing the manufacturing sector in Guelph.