Open Council

13th Meeting of the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee

Open Council

13th Meeting of the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee

August 13, 2025, at 1:00 PM

Original link

The meeting is called to order at 1:00 PM; it being noted that Councillor S. Franke was in in remote attendance

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That Consent Items 2.1 to 2.6 BE APPROVED, with the exception of item 2.4.

Motion Passed (5 to 0)

2.1   Delegation of Authority By-law: Municipal Elections Approvals and Agreements

2025-08-13 Staff Report - Delegation of Authority By-law - Municipal Elections

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That on the recommendation of the City Clerk, the following actions be taken with respect to Municipal Elections Approvals and Agreements:

a)    the proposed by-law, as appended to the staff report dated August 13, 2025 as Appendix ‘A’ BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held August 26, 2025, to:

i) DELEGATE authority to the City Clerk, or their written designate, to approve and execute agreements described in Schedule “A” to the by-law, in accordance with the limits and conditions identified therein;

ii) REQUIRE the delegated authority to be exercised in accordance with Municipal Council and corporate policies in effect at the time of the action taken;

iii) REQUIRE that executed agreements be funded from Council-approved budgets, or where additional budget is required, the City Clerk shall have authority in accordance with subsection 7(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, to authorize the costs and the City Clerk shall sign a certificate verifying the amount of any costs exceeding Council-approved budgets in a report to Municipal Council;

b)    the City Clerk BE DIRECTED to prepare a report following an election providing the number of instances that the Civic Administration exercised the delegated authority to bind under this by-law; and

c)    the staff report dated August 13, 2025 from the City Clerk BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.2   Covent Garden Market Kitchen Project

2025-08-13 Staff Report - Covent Garden Market Kitchen Project

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the following actions be taken with respect to the Covent Garden Market Kitchen Project:

a)    the communication from Covent Garden Market Corporation, as appended to the staff report as Appendix “A”, BE RECEIVED for information;

b)    the Covent Garden Market Corporation’s capital expenditure of $555,000 plus applicable interest for the Market Kitchen Project BE APPROVED, noting this project will be fully financed by Covent Garden Market Corporation through a 10-year bank loan; and

c)    the Covent Garden Market Corporation BE APPROVED to enter into a loan agreement with an external lender for a loan principal amount up to $555,000 plus applicable interest for the Market Kitchen Project, it being noted that the City Treasurer has calculated an updated limit for The Corporation of the City of London using the debt and financial obligation limit determined by the Ministry in accordance with O.Reg 403/02, has calculated the estimated annual amount payable in respect of this project and has determined that such estimated annual amount payable does not exceed the debt and financial obligation limit.

Motion Passed

2.3   Winter Maintenance Review

2025-08-13 Staff Report - Winter Maintenance Review

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the Winter Maintenance Review report BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.5   2026 Stormwater Management Facility Remediation Program Consultant Award

2025-08-13 Staff Report - 2026 Stormwater Management Remediation Project

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the consultant award for the 2026 Stormwater Management Facility Remediation Program:

a)    Delta Science and Engineering Inc. BE ACCEPTED to carry out consulting services for the 2026 Stormwater Management Facility Remediation Program, in accordance with their proposal submission, on file, at an upset amount of $109,973.00, including 10% contingency, excluding HST, and in accordance with Section 12 of the City of London’s Procurement of Goods and Services Policy;

b)    the financing for this project BE APPROVED as set out in the Sources of Financing Report, as appended to the staff report dated August 13, 2025, as Appendix ‘A’;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project;

d)    the approval given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract; and

e)     the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations.

Motion Passed

2.6   Single Source Repair of Caterpillar Grader SS-2025-192

2025-08-13 Staff Report - Single Source Repair of Caterpillar Grader

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the following actions be taken with respect to the single source repair of the City’s Grader:

a)    approval BE GIVEN to exercise the single source provisions of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy under sections 14.4 (d) and (e) for the repair of one Caterpillar Grader;

b)    the single source estimated repair price of $75,762.93 (excluding HST) submitted by Toromont Cat BE ACCEPTED to repair one Caterpillar Grader;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project; and

d)    approval hereby given BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract or having a purchase order, or contract record relating to the subject matter of this approval.

Motion Passed

2.4   Consultant Contract Price Increase: Rapid Transit Implementation - Wellington Street from Queens Avenue to the Thames River (South Branch)

2025-08-13 Staff Report - Consultant Contract Price Increase-Rapid Transit

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment & Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the Rapid Transit Implementation – Wellington Street from Queens Avenue to the Thames River (South Branch) project:

a)   the contract with AECOM Canada ULC for construction inspection and contract administration services for the Rapid Transit Implementation – Wellington Street from Queens Avenue to the Thames River (South Branch) project BE INCREASED by $120,000 to $1,924,701.00 (excluding HST), in accordance with Section 20.3(e) for the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy;

b)    the financing for this project BE APPROVED as set out in the Sources of Financing Report, as appended to the staff report dated August 13, 2025, as Appendix ‘A’;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project; and

d)    the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations.

Motion Passed (4 to 1)

3.   Scheduled Items

None.

4.   Items for Direction

None.

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by A. Hopkins

The Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to advance the timing of pedestrian crossover improvements planned for implementation in 2026 at Viscount Rd and Steeplechase Dr to 2025 and the value of the 2025 pedestrian crossover contract BE INCREASED to accommodate this additional work.

Motion Passed (5 to 0)

6.   Confidential (Provided to Members only.)

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by J. Pribil

That the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee convenes In Closed session to consider the following:

6.1    Solicitor-Client Privileged Advice / Litigation/Potential Litigation

A matter pertaining to advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege including communications necessary for that purpose from the solicitor and officers or employees of the Corporation; the subject matter pertains to litigation or potential litigation with respect to a claim for compensation following the expropriation of property located at 1690 Richmond Street North at the Ontario Land Tribunal (“OLT”); and for the purpose of providing instruction and directions to officers and employees of the Corporation.

Motion Passed (5 to 0)

The Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee convenes In Closed session from 1:33 PM to 1:46 PM.

7.   Adjournment

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by J. Pribil

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 1:48 PM.

Full Transcript

Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.

View full transcript (56 minutes)

[1:25] Just good afternoon, everyone. I will call the 13th meeting of the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee to order, it is 1 p.m.

[21:24] I’ll start with the land acknowledgement. The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lenapawik, and Adawandran. We honor and respect the history, languages, and culture of the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. The city of London is currently home to many First Nation, Métis, and Inuit today. As representatives of the people of the city of London, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. I’m joined today by all members of the committee, including Councillor Frank, who is virtual for this meeting.

[21:59] And I’m also pleased to welcome Councillor Troso, who is here with us. We will start with item one, disclosures of pecuniary interest. Anyone have anything to disclose? Hey, seeing none, we’ll move on to item two, which is the consent agenda. I’m looking to members of committee to see if there’s anything you’d like, pulled and dealt with separately. Councillor Van Meerbergen. Thank you, Chair. If you could pull 2.4. Thank you, so noted.

[22:32] Anything else? Okay, seeing no others, I will look to committee to craft a motion for all items with the exclusion of 2.4 for consent. Councillor Hopkins, and we will be taking questions. I’m just putting the motion on the floor for consent, and then we will take questions. Do I have a seconder? Councillor Preble, thank you. And I’ll look to committee first for questions. Okay, seeing none, Councillor Trassa, I’m aware you have some questions.

[23:05] Thank you very much. I’m going to limit the, I’m not gonna go through the whole report and ask all of the questions I have in the report. I’m going to focus on the one section of the report, which I found to be the most deficient, and which is going to lead me at council, perhaps to pull this with the suggestion that more information be received. What I’m referring to is 2.3.3.5 laneways. Now, I know that laneways are a very sensitive topic, and I know that the city has some very good reasons for not wanting to undertake too much by way of improvement and maintenance on the laneways, because the status, the legal status of the laneways seems to be in some type of walks.

[24:01] I don’t know what the answer is, I won’t try saying what it is, but my feeling is as follows. The maintenance that is being done on the laneways, even if we’re using the standard of, we’re only going to minimally deal with the laneways, I don’t think is being adequately undertaken. And what it results in is a lot of complaints from people that are using the laneways. The thing that we have to remember about laneways is, first of all, it’s not a city-wide phenomenon.

[24:35] You don’t have laneways throughout the entire city. So some of you may be saying, what’s he talking about, what’s the laneway? In some sections of the city, and well, in Old North, for example, we have a lot of laneways, due to the fact that it’s an older section of the city, and there’s a grid. The laneways in Old North, and I want to point out that I’ve gone through, I mean, there are a lot of them, but there aren’t that many. I did get a map of the laneways in Old North, and I did undertake, as the word counselor, to walk through them.

[25:14] And they’re in terrible shape. They’re not safe, and they’re not even kept to a minimal level of maintenance, and I would like to have a discussion about it. Maybe it’s not in conjunction with this report. Maybe it’s an item that would be brought up separately. But I want the thing, in closing, closing, I want to say that people use laneways in different ways. For some residents, the laneway is something that’s just there that they might not even think about.

[25:49] For other residents, it is very important, because they don’t have street parking. So there are streets, for example. I’ll just use an example of Helmuth, which doesn’t have driveways on every property. It’s the laneway. It’s the laneway, or park on the street. Also on some streets, the residents no longer have the opportunity, for good reasons, I think, to not be able to park on the streets.

[26:25] So the laneways in back of streets like, for example, Coborne would be of a more urgent matter than others. Finally, I think I’m allowed to say finally, after I say in closing, if we want to promote additional rental units, laneways are very important than you for looking at additional rental units. And I think we should be thinking more about what we can be doing in the sections of our cities that have laneways to make them more conducive to owners putting in applications for accessory units.

[27:01] And thank you very much. And I’ll, if I can get some more information before the council meeting, I’d be real happy or you can talk to me about this offline, but I would like to have further discussion on this. And thank you very much. Thank you. And I appreciate that you tied that back into the report. I’ll go to city staff, just to see if you want to comment on if you feel like this needs to come forward as an additional item, maybe just an offline conversation with the councilor as to how to direct him going forward. Ms. Chair.

[27:36] I can start, Madam Chair, and Mr. Gillard, or Mr. McCrame, I wish to add something to that. Laneways are extremely challenging for the community to maintain the vast majority of which are unassumed. So they were transferred to the city by provincial order and very significantly in terms of their geometry, what’s been used by adjacent properties and their current use or future use. So most of our equipment cannot maintain them well. And each one becomes almost a bit of a bespoke situation depending on what sort of encroachments have occurred over the years, something we don’t generally actively pursue unless there are concerns from other residents. That said, if the nature of use of the laneway changes through development, then there’s an opportunity for us to look at its public function.

[28:16] And we’re happy to provide additional information offline. We actually have a number of reports in the past related to laneways, not just on winter maintenance, but on other maintenance as well. Councilor? Thank you, that’s fine. I’m not going to hold this up, I’d really appreciate the report, maybe a scan of service London in terms of the types of laneways complaints that we get might be useful. But again, we can discuss that offline. Thank you very much. Thank you, I’ll go to Councillor Hopkins.

[28:48] Next, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to thank staff for the report. I have a quick comment on 2.3, which is the maintenance review. And as Councillors, we all do get a number of emails about winter maintenance. And I do appreciate the work that staff did with the Master of Mobility Plan, the public engagement, that extensive conversation that we had with the community. And it speaks to it in the report, the challenges of how we walk and cycle around, is really important to the safety of the streets.

[29:29] I know we are on top of things as much as possible. And every season seems to be a different challenge as well. I do want to, through you, Madam Chair, maybe ask a question through you two staff on the icing. That has become a conversation more and more throughout the years that I’ve been on council that we are challenged with the icing conditions on how we get around. And in particular, in the ward that I represent, we start up with the Thames Valley Parkway system and how that is maintained too.

[30:08] As people use the TVP to ride their bikes to work, downtown, for instance. And I’m just wondering if there is a bit of an update that staff can provide on the TVP and how it is maintained. It is a pathway as well. It’s not a road, but I do hear from residents, they use it like a road. And I would like to just have that out, that information out for the public on how we maintain the TVP.

[30:45] Mr. McCray. Thank you through the chair. Yes, a representative from Parks is not here today, but fairly confident and conveying that the major pathways, I, the Thames Valley Parkway, are maintained to a sidewalk standard. And currently across the city that generally does not include salt, with respect to icing, salt is necessary to melt. But sand is typically applied in order to provide a grit and traction surface.

[31:19] This is in accordance with our salt management plan and the federal requirement on us to be very prudent with that. And that is particularly relevant along the pathway system, which traverses many natural environment areas. Councillor? Yeah, thank you for that information, just as a follow up. So when we see sand on the pathway systems and on our sidewalks, we are maintaining it just because it’s not salted doesn’t mean that it’s not maintained. I just really appreciate that information and being able to share that with the community as well.

[31:56] So thanks very much. Thank you. Any other questions from Councillors? Councillor Purple, go ahead. Thank you, answer the chair. Question to the staff. Have you made any progress? I know we talked about the sidewalks and clearing of the sidewalks and the dimensions of the plow of the blade. And we talked about looking to the opportunities of making them more narrower. So there is less damage done of the grass and to the left to the right of the sidewalks. Is there any update on this initiative? Thank you.

[32:30] Mr. McRae? Yeah, through the chair. The sidewalk blade widths is balanced between minimizing saw damage, but also meeting the provincial minimum maintenance standards and that they do specify a minimum width that needs to be cleared. And it also needs to account as snow depths increase, the sluffing that occurs. So we have in response to concerns from your award and from the Councillor scrutinized those widths and main and ensured contractor compliance with them, which is required in the contract.

[33:11] And we’ve also placed more emphasis on pre-winter planning and familiarizing operators with the routes. Because that is a challenge that once the sidewalks are covered with snow, it can be challenging for an operator to know exactly where that sidewalk is and maintain the blade in the middle of the hard surface. So that’s another area in which we’ve placed more emphasis on in order to try to minimize saw damage as much as possible.

[33:45] Councillor Perbeau? I totally agree with you. I think actually it’s not just challenging. I think it’s a virtually impossible previous winter. I went, I met them during the night when they were clearing it and it’s really impossible to really see it. And it’s very challenging. I just thought that again, when I look at the blade, it’s almost identical width as the sidewalk. So I thought, I didn’t know there was a, in terms of the provincial regulation, but I thought it would be as wide enough for the wheelchair. I thought it would be sufficient. And again, the more narrower the blade, I believe that the more easier for them to be controlled and not to go off the sidewalk.

[34:24] And I know we talked about it potentially, I believe that I received a feedback that it would be potentially cutting the blade and making it more narrower. And if this is still in plan, I’m appreciating the answer in terms of the initiatives, but this one, are we gonna be directly addressing it? Thank you. So I will caution, we’re getting highly operational right now in this conversation. So perhaps Mr. McCrae, if you don’t mind, steering back into a direction of where your team might be able to go with this conversation.

[35:00] Thank you. Through the chair, we will be diligent in both contracted sidewalk plows and city sidewalk plows ensuring that they are the proper width and within inconformance with the specifications. Councillor. Thank you for the answer. Okay, looking to other members of committee or visiting Councillors with any questions on these items that are in front of us for consent. Councillor Frank, just so you know, I’m having a little bit of trouble with my screen.

[35:37] So I can’t see you. So if you need to, if you wanna be on the speakers list, just if you can, yeah, come on screen. Thank you. Okay. Councillor van Mirbergen, go ahead. Thank you, chair. My question, it regards the salt management plan. What is the basis of that plan? Obviously, it’s to try and minimize the use of salt, but are we looking towards guidelines that are based on gross tonnages of salt use or how does that plan break down?

[36:20] Mr. McCrayan, I’m sure no pun was intended with breakdown. Go ahead. The salt, it’s a requirement from federal legislation that municipalities have a salt management plan in place. And it relates to being prudent with salt application and also with respect to storage and making sure storage is done properly, just to get the salt where it’s needed and minimize any extraneous runoff and use that’s intended to be minimized by the federal legislation.

[36:59] Councillor. Okay, thank you. Thank you, okay, looking around, seeing no other hands. If it’s okay and you’ll permit me to speak from the chair, I just wanted to share some feedback just on the items that were in front of us. Specifically on 2.3, I wanna thank staff for the report that’s in front of us. It is really great information to be able to give back to residents on one, the extraordinary winter that we had. And again, kudos to staff, because when you start to look through and read a report like that and see the statistics embedded in there of just how much work they had to undertake this past winter, second highest snowfall accumulation in the last 30 years.

[37:43] It’s commendable, so thank you again for that. And I like that in the report, it highlights continuous best practice improvements that we can utilize and things that we can do differently that are contained within the budget. So thank you for identifying those items. With that, I will look to open the vote on the items for consent without item 2.4. Councilor Vameerbergen?

[38:32] No vote, yes. Bozing the vote, motion carries five to zero. Okay, thank you. With that, we’ll move on to item 2.4, which is now under items for direction. I’ll look for a mover, Councillor Hopkins. I’ll look for a seconder on that motion. Councillor Per beble and any discussion. Okay, seeing none, I will open that for a vote.

[39:20] Bozing the vote, motion carries four to one. Thank you. With that, we’ll move on to item five, which is Deferred Matters and Additional Business. I’ve been made aware of one, and I’ll go to Councillor Vameerberg and go ahead. Thank you, Chair. I’m looking forward to motion today that has to deal with pedestrian boss walk. It’s located on Viscount Road and essentially, it’s bringing it forward.

[39:55] It’s already, that has the backing of staff, the engineering department for 2026, but I think it’s imperative that it be moved up sooner, and that’s what this motion basically is doing, is to bring this forward into the 2025 year, earlier in the school year, because at Viscount and Steeplechase, this crosswalk is a main fear, directly into Sherwood Fox Elementary School. And these little kids are walking, going across this crosswalk, it’s extraordinarily dangerous.

[40:38] Motorists are not slowing down. Some of them even drive through with a crossing guard present with the stop sign out. So enhancements have to be made, and the sooner, the better. Just a few weeks ago, a young person was actually hit. - You just put it toward the motion, that way we can get a seconder and then get on the floor, and then you could— Sure, sure, but if I’ll just finish that thought, that was just a few weeks ago, a young person was hit crossing this crosswalk. So the motion is this.

[41:15] The Civic Administration be directed to advance the timing of pedestrian crossover improvements, planned for implementation in 2026 at Viscount Road and Steeplechase Drive to 2025, and the value of the 2025 pedestrian crossover contract be increased to accommodate this additional work. That’s the motion. Thank you, and I believe you have a seconder and Councillor Hopkins. Yes, I’ll second.

[41:51] Yes, I’ll second for the debate here at committee. Thank you. And with that, Councillor Vameer, we’re gonna go back to you for any additional comments. Well, again, given that this is in all effect, the school crossing, now Sherwood Fox is actually just around the corner on Steeplechase, but it’s right next to Viscount. So all these young people, children are crossing a very wide, very busy road, and they need more protection, and the sooner the better, thanks.

[42:33] Thank you. Looking to committee for any further comment question on this item, I’ll go to visiting Councillors, go ahead, Councillor Trossa. Thank you, I’ll keep this very brief through the chair. I really appreciate you bringing this forward because we’re hearing similar instances all over the city, and I’m very sympathetic to what you’re doing, and I’ll be supporting your efforts. My worry, though, and I have to put this out there, is cut stuff I wanna advance to. And how do we, and I think I could make the compelling arguments for many of them, how do we accommodate your very reasonable and necessary request without getting into a, let’s take this from 2026 and put it in 2025.

[43:27] Presumably that means something from 2025, needs to be pushed back to 2026, although maybe it’s possible that staff can accommodate both of them. So I’m not opposed to what you’re saying, I’m supporting what you’re trying to do here, but I need to understand what it means for individual Councillors to come forward with specific requests because I’ve been holding back on this myself, and I think it’s a legitimate question. Thank you, definitely a legitimate question, I’ll go to Ms. Chair, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Chair, this is a bit of an unusual circumstance in that this has been studied, the upgrades to the crossing are warranted, and we do have the funding and capacity in our staff capacity to advance it.

[44:10] However, we are at the upset limit with the contract. So we’re unable to schedule the work without Council approval to extend the contract as per the motion. With that extension, it will be added this year instead of being done first thing next year, and that was simply a matter of compliance with the purchasing by-laws. So there will be no impact on this year’s program. It really is just a matter of ensuring that we’re in compliance with the Council approved purchasing by-law in this case. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, I’ll go to Councillor Purple, next, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair, to the staff, I’m just familiar with this exact location, but I’m on Google Earth right now, and there is a crosswalk there currently.

[44:47] I can see, I don’t think there are any lights or any signs, but crosswalk is there. So can you please let me know what this motion will be adding to the current crosswalk at steeplechase and by-count? Mr. McRae. A detailed review will be conducted to scope it out entirely, but at first glance, the main improvement will be the implementation of flashing beacons, and it also appears to require tactile plates, so that’s the minimum and detailed review could identify more upgrades.

[45:25] Councillor Purple. Thank you, and just to follow up, and this would be right now where the crosswalk is, it would be at the same location. I see a nod, thank you very much, no more questions. Thank you, I’ve got Councillor Frank, and Councillor Hopkins, go ahead, Councillor Frank. Thank you, yes, I’m very supportive of this as well, because I love enhancing pedestrian access to the community. I am wondering, are there other crosswalks throughout the city that could benefit from a similar motion to staff’s knowledge? Mr. McRae, any other enhancements that need to be added to this contract?

[46:08] We are, as we receive feedback from the public, review in our pedestrian crossovers across the city, and have planned flashing beacon upgrades, as some of these have already been implemented. So we don’t need a direction similar to this for others, but suffice to say that there are other upgrades. Plans, both previous year, this year, and also future years. Councillor Frank. Thank you, yes, I am curious, and perhaps it doesn’t fall under this crosswalk initiative, but I have had requests to get warm cliff and Byron into AODA compliance, and it was supposed to be done last year, and it’s pushed off to next year.

[46:48] And so I’m wondering if that’s something that could be considered, or is it, since that’s more of a signalized intersection, is that a different contract? Mr. McCray. Through the chair, that is a large scope of work that would require its own individual tender. It’s a complete traffic signal rebuild, and so that it wouldn’t be possible to squeeze that scope of work into the current year, but suffice to say that it is on our plans, it’s being designed, and will be constructed next year.

[47:25] That was impressive recall, just to know exactly what to do with that exact intersection, amazing. Okay, Councillor Frank, go ahead. Thank you, I appreciate that. And again, I share similar sentiments to Councillor Trossow, but at the same time, I think more pedestrian safety everywhere is better, so I’ll be supporting this motion here. Thank you, I will go to Councillor Hopkins. Yes, thank you, and I think we can all empathize with Councillor Van Mirberg and challenges, and trying to make the neighbourhood safe.

[47:57] I think we all have the same challenges in our wards, and I too try not to skip the queue. I think that is one of my main concerns here, so maybe through you, Madam Chair, just making sure that if we bring forward this project to 2025, that we are not delaying other projects in the queue for them to go forward in 2025. That’s my first question.

[48:33] Ms. Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair, that is correct. This is something staff would have recommended proceeding had we been able to manage it contractually. Councillor Hopkins. Good to know that since we’re having this conversation around improving safety in our neighbourhoods, and it’s such a tough one because we all want these crosswalks, especially around school areas to be as safe as possible. So it’s very difficult not to support it, but on the other hand, the challenge is we have so many other projects that need to be done as well.

[49:12] So if you do find any projects that can be done in 2025, would you have to come forward, or would we have to do this, or would you not be able to put in advanced signaling or flashing lights? Is it a council directive, is the question, and maybe it’s a follow up to Councillor Frank’s question. Ms. Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think it would depend on location and the funding program and contracts under which it’s covered.

[49:45] It would be hard to speculate universally, depending on the nature of that upgrade. What I will say is one of the first actions coming out of the Mobility Master Plan recently approved by Council is starting to work on the safety, safe mobility action plan. I got that was correct, or SMAP, which is not my favorite acronym of the day, and that is really reviewing our Vision Zero work to date, our road safety and transportation plans, and that will be an extensive process. I will look at these budgets, these programs, various warrants, and our partnerships for education and enforcement as well.

[50:22] Councillor Hocken. I like it, can’t wait to learn more about SMAP. Okay, good to know that’s coming forward, and I will be supporting the motion. Okay, thank you. I will be brainstorming a new name for that one. If you’ll permit me a comment from the chair on this item, so I just wanted to say thank you again to Councillor van Mirberg and for bringing this forward. I hear you I too have a number of concerns in my ward that I also would love to advance this year, and some I know that are currently being planned, and people would love to see happen sooner, so I hear you completely.

[51:08] The one question I did have for staff kind of related to this is I’ve had requests, and I just want to confirm for new school builds that this infrastructure we’ve mapped out and we look at before the school opens. So if there’s a need for a pedestrian crossover, this is something that we already would do with a new school opening. Through the chair, yeah, we’ll work with the school board, set site plan, application stage and map out routes, and certainly try to get what infrastructure makes sense ahead of time that we can predict, but then also the reviews later also working with the school groups to identify infrastructure after the fact is also part of the plan.

[52:02] Thank you, and my understanding is that our Safe Routes to Schools group within the community has had been on a bit of a hiatus and is now regrouping and starting to get a lot of requests from the community around enhancing our mobility. So whatever that acronym ends up being is going to work with that group to help to facilitate those conversations, I take it? Yes, the Active and Safe Routes to School partners, including the Health Unit, the STS, the Student Transportation Service, and others are all on our London Middlesex Road Safety Committee, and that is the committee that will really provide the push behind the creation of the Smart Mobility Action Plan.

[52:53] So yeah, it’s the same people, and we all have the same goals, and we’ve really invigorated that committee recently, and so it perhaps will spill over into reinvigorating the Active and Safe Routes to School program as well. Wonderful, thank you so much, and thanks to the committee for permitting me a question. With that, we’ll open this items for voting. Closing the vote, motion carries, five to zero.

[53:29] Thank you, and with that, we move on to item 6.1, which is our confidential items, list or client privilege advice. As you’ll see in your agenda, it’s a matter pertaining to advice that is subject to list or client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose from this list or in officers or employees of the corporation, pertaining to 1690 Richmond Street. And with that, I’ll look for a motion from committee to go in camera, Councillor Hopkins, Councillor Pribble, and we’ll open that for a vote. Closing the vote, motion carries.

[54:25] Recording it. Okay, thanks everyone, we are back, and I will go to Councillor Pribble to report it from in camera.

[56:16] Thank you, and I would like to report it. We went into a camera to deal with confidential items, 6.1, so list or client privilege advice, which was received and the progress was made, thank you. Thank you, and with that, that takes us to our final item adjournment. I’ll look for Amur, Councillor Van Mirbergen, seconded by Councillor Pribble, and all those in favor by hand. Motion carries. Great day.