We are back, everybody, and here’s your catchup on municipal matters. You’ve had the incredible cavalcade of concepts we call CAPS, and now we’re picking up the rest: Planning and more. As always, this is your briefing as community leaders, and I’m your corporate comms guy here to set you up for success. It’s public interest journalism that’s tailored to help us improve our lives and community. Lofty, eh? Thanks for joining in.
Let’s crack on. I’m going to start with some news nobody else is reporting.
EXCLUSIVE - Councillor Jerry Pribil reveals he won’t run
We’ve been wondering, and now we know: Ward 5 councillor and local businessman Jerry Pribil has confirmed he won’t run for council this fall.
Pribil, who owns the Marienbad restaurant and Chaucers pub downtown, has had a long and varied career as an entrepreneur, hotel manager and professional soccer player (well, Celtic’s 2nd XI but it still counts). Back in 2021, he gave an interview to Fanshawe’s student radio station that touches on his interesting life - it’s here. And, it’s clear he’s been in two minds about his future: we might note this recent London Free Press story about seeking to sell his business and focus on being a councillor, and that he’s now doing the opposite. Pribil has been open that it hasn’t been working for him and he needed to focus on one role or the other.
Further, boundary changes increased the risk he’d be in conflict with another incumbent or he might need another berth. There’s also been a sense that running provincially for the PCs didn’t go well; Pribil attracted sharp criticism for joining a party ticket with some challenging social values1, and anyway he didn’t win.
Here’s what he told me by email this week: “Still in this position for another eight months, no plans yet for after my term is over. I will need to focus on operating or selling my business which I have neglected.”
By my count, that’s two councillors not running again: Pribil, and Steve Hillier in Ward 14. Otherwise, everybody is showing clear intentions to run, though I believe we’re awaiting formal word from Anna Hopkins over by Springbank Park in Ward 9 and Sam Trosow in Ward 6. I’d be happy to hear from them or anyone else, anytime. And, with boundary changes, people could switch wards or perhaps even run for mayor.
Here are some (slightly old) resources on this: London Free Press and The X (Fanshawe radio), both last October, a year out from the election.
We’ll come back to this soon. I want to write something about Lame Duck councils, too. Watch this space, ken? And best wishes to Councillor Pribil, who can tell me drinks are on the house anytime he likes2.
What happened at Planning
Back to the briefing: here’s the outcome of the Planning and Environment Committee Meeting, which took place on Tuesday. The agenda is here (don’t do it3) and the two stories reported so far are:
New approach to floodplain zoning - maybe
The reporting on this comes from London Free Press and CTV London.
And the basic idea is developers want a selective approach to ‘floodplain’ areas. Here’s a quote from the story, with my own emphasis in bold:
The staff report reads, “The purpose and effect of the amendments is to introduce criteria‑based, balanced cut‑and‑fill policies to allow for floodplain modification and development, and to update the existing two‑zone flood plain management framework.”
I heard some common-sense questions from Councillor Skylar Franke during committee and I have a few of my own. I’m unsure how water can be contained to one part of a floodplain, and I spent many years reporting from this damp place. The outcome was unanimous agreement to let this float downriver to the next council, which makes sense: this one will bear debating4.
Cheapside development gets a ‘no’
This is the most important item to me, mostly due to its location just over 1km from my house but also because it has something important to say about the conflicts between communities and the need to build more houses. This will be another exercise in objectivity.
The London Free Press covered this: there were lots of speakers with clear views, and councillors took the point, as they should. I was proud of my neighbours here in Carling, the best neighbourhood in the city. A total of 19 people stood up to speak, including a woman who spoke in French before being told there was no translator, so she switched to English and accused the entire room of corruption. I liked the guy who, during his own remarks on mic, started firing questions at the planning consultant behind him and had to be told to stop it. Feelings have been running high, our local Facebook group shows, and, yet again, people showed up. People are doing that these days. Think on5.
Of course, this could still be reversed at Full Council on March 31, but that’s unlikely. And it’s been an interesting exercise in infill, and left me doing some soul-searching. This development was within the allowed scale, etc., in the London Plan, and of course London needs infill development so we have enough homes for everyone. However, as residents said, this six-storey building would have changed nearby streets forever. Crucially, it didn’t meet the parking minimums that council has just agreed.
I hung around there for a think today, and did a wee video of the spot. I think it shows why people were worried, already living in a difficult mix of single family homes and busy traffic. I agree that infill of this scale would have caused damage to the community and the development should be smaller.
And I have to admit that every neighbourhood is saying the same thing. I’m far from a NIMBY and I fear what happens when everybody fights like this. The solution would be for London to have clear policies and strong communication, but we know this council has a tendency to vacillate - ah, that’s a good way to say it.
So, soul-searching. We should be able to do this better, I feel.
Anything else?
As my subscribers, and my leadership team, you can guide me if you have your own knowledge of anything happening in the municipal sphere. Drop me a note here or in any way you like, and tell me if there is an issue I should highlight. There’s only so much time and space, and a lot of items pop up. I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks!
Chatting about short-term rentals
And, while I’m here, that CAPS item about Airbnbs has been nicely updated with this CBC piece, for which Andrew Lupton caught up with the Old South Airbnb owner who spoke to the committee. The reporting is strong, with lots of background, if you’re interested in this issue. It’s an intriguing conflict between local small business owners and the anti-social outcomes caused by less-scrupulous people. Remember this absolute nonsense with a line of sorority hopefuls down the street6?
Snowdrops on my mind
That’s plenty for now. Thanks for reading and sharing. Expect a ROUNDUP tomorrow, and I’m working on more tales for when council is in hiatus next week, when I will be painting my kitchen.
This Friday is the 30th anniversary of the Dunblane tragedy, so I may finally write about that. Maybe not. I might be hard to find, either way, as I tend to be on this day.
TW: school shooting. Link.
Sorry to end on a sad note. Back with further silliness soon.
Thank you!
- Mike
If you have to ask, you’re probably following the wrong blog.
Nobody ever said I couldn’t be bought.
This platform shows me that you click links, and that’s valuable. Just don’t click that one unless you have profound levels of inner strength.
I’ll give 3/1 odds on this being another backyard chicken. Except I won’t because that would be illegal, even for someone who used to advise William Hill Bookmakers on local election prospects. It’s the New World, children, and there are no bookies’ runners here.
I hope nobody’s missing this point because I’m making it three times a week now.
U of T banned Greek letter orgs, you know.
I read this today while I was in sunny Dundee. We're all surprised it's not raining and reminding ourselves it's glorious in the sunshine. Spring is here.