The City of Guelph wants to hear from residents as part of its ward boundary review that is looking at how many wards there should be and where they should start and stop.
The city’s conversation with residents will be done in three separate parts with Part 1 underway until Jan. 22.
Residents are being asked to prioritize criteria that go into making up each ward, such as population, projected growth and communities of interest, along with natural boundaries and geographic features such as rivers, railroads and forests.
“This phase is really about establishing what’s most important to the community,” the city’s manager of legislative services Dylan McMahon said.
“Whether that’s keeping certain neighbourhoods intact, having as close to equal populations as we can in each ward, or considering natural or physical barriers that are important to Guelph.”
Part 2 will get underway in March when the city presents several ward boundary options. Residents will be able to share their preferences and identify strengths and weaknesses of each.
Each option will also include the recommended number of councillors per ward.
Originally, staff had recommended eight full-time councillors instead of the current 12 part-time representatives.
But city council directed staff to get more feedback from residents on scenarios that include eight, 10 and 12 councillors, different numbers of councillors elected per ward and whether councillors should be full-time or part-time.
“Council’s composition is significantly impacted by how many wards Guelph has,” McMahon said.
“Residents will be engaged on several ward boundary options where they can provide feedback on the total number of councillors and the number of councillors elected per ward in addition to different ward boundary scenarios.”
In Part 3, residents will be asked to pick their ward boundary and council makeup in April with staff reporting back to council in June.
The entire process is taking place online during the pandemic.
More information about the review along with details on the online survey and a virtual town hall can be found on the city’s website.
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