Guelph City Council is taking another look at a public space bylaw, one that put encampments under the microscope and generated plenty of discussion and protests earlier this year.
A special meeting will be held Aug. 28 on the matter.
A report will be made available on Aug. 15 ahead of the meeting.
“I believe that the issue is now upon us, and council should reconsider actually making a decision on trying to implement a public space bylaw,” Guthrie said in a three-minute video posted to X Wednesday afternoon.
Guthrie said “creating safe and welcoming public spaces should be a top priority.”
The bylaw included regulating where encampments could be set up in the city.
In February, Guelph council heard from delegates during a lengthy meeting and the bylaw decision was deferred until an appeals court ruling was made on a similar bylaw being contested in Kingston.
The Superior Court of Justice ruled it was unconstitutional, and an appeal was withdrawn.
As a result, the city stated in April it no longer had plans to pursue the bylaw at that time.
“It’s a very permissive bylaw,” Guthrie said of the Guelph bylaw.
“There was only a few areas, and under a few circumstances where the encampments would not be allowed. Most of them actually would be allowed in many places.”
Guthrie said he welcomes feedback ahead of the meeting.
“I know from my position, I believe that we do need this bylaw,” he concluded. “Especially where there is a lot of conflicts with encampments in certain areas of public spaces within our city, that really do deserve to have some regulations around that, for the safety of everyone and for the use of those spaces for everyone, as they should be.”
A Public Spaces Bylaw will return to City Council on August 28th for a decision. Creating safe and welcoming public spaces should be a top priority, and so I’m hopeful a majority of Council will agree too. Report will become available on Aug 15th. pic.twitter.com/w62tUAfDfd
— Mayor Cam Guthrie (@CamGuthrie) July 31, 2024
