May 16, 2023

Firefighter Memorial Gardens

The move to the new Headquarters building at 400 East Main St. provides a beautiful setting for a nicely designed memorial, and that is precisely what's coming after Council approved entering into an agreement with the Welland Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local #481 and the United Steelworkers Local #1-1000 to locate a Monument, Memorial Stones, and similar benches in the South East Corner of the property at 400 East Main St.to honour past members.

Approximately 10 years ago, the Welland Professional Firefighters purchased and installed a stone monument at the former headquarters building. With the support of Council and Staff, it proudly remained there until the ultimate construction began. The monument has since been moved to temporary and safe storage.

The Parks Division has provided landscape design and can help install vegetation and provide ongoing maintenance to the property.

The location allows members and citizens to enjoy the beauty of the features while reflecting on the sacrifices of Welland Firefighters over the years. The Memorial Gardens' design, construction, and maintenance fall within budget and maintenance allocations, and the firefighter unions will contribute to the construction and ongoing maintenance requirements. The Memorial Gardens will be a beautiful venue to host the department's memorial services. They will be an attractive landscape feature rightly positioned at the front of our main facility.

Love My Park

If you love your park, now's the time to speak up. Starting with park selections, Staff are asking each pair of ward councillors to choose one park in their ward for the 2023 Love My Park – Neighbourhood Improvement Campaign. The chosen park should be one Councillors hear most from their constituents on that needs some care or improved amenities (e.g., more benches, better lighting etc.). Once the parks are chosen, public engagement activations will occur, from onsite activities in the park facilitated and animated by city staff to online voting and idea sharing.

This engagement will give each neighbourhood resident input on improving their park. It will also encourage families, children, adults, and seniors to share their experiences and ideas. By engaging the community, the City gets an actual perspective on how the park is currently used and how residents envision the park to be. Love My Park is intended to be a high-profile campaign developed in partnership with councillors, residents, and staff within the City of Welland. It aspires to enhance the City's current park and open spaces by improving accessibility, usability, quality, and appearance of our vast parkland for use by residents and visitors of the City of Welland.

*Tentative schedule.

Engagement sessions will be hosted in the park chosen by each of the ward councillors. Details and dates would then be published through the City's website and Engage Welland.

The main objective of the Love My Park program is to ensure parks provide quality places for people to play of all ages through meaningful engagement opportunities. Social cohesion is central to a safe, strong community and encourages quality, inclusion, and diversity. Furthermore, opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together around a common interest are highly rewarding, creating lasting bonds, mutual understanding, community pride, and ownership. Should this program be successful in 2023, Staff may continue with this work in future years.

Council Supports Bill 5

Welland City Council supports Ontario's Bill 5, Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act. The Bill amends the Municipal Act, 2001 and the City of Toronto Act, 2006. The amendments require the code of conduct for municipal councillors and members of local boards to include a requirement for those councillors and members to comply with workplace violence and harassment policies. The amendments also permit municipalities and local boards to direct the Integrity Commissioner to apply to the court to vacate a member's seat if the Commissioner's inquiry determines that the member has contravened the code of conduct by failing to comply with the workplace violence or harassment policies. These applications may not be made during regular elections. Where a member's seat on the Council of a municipality or a local board is vacated, the amendments contemplate restrictions on the member's ability to subsequently stand for election and be reappointed to the Council of the municipality or the local board.

Cash in Lieu of Parking Referred back to Staff

An information report which would have directed Staff to consult with the development community and public regarding the proposed Cash-in-Lieu of Parking by-law has been referred back to Staff.

The initial report outlines unique physical limitations regarding development and redevelopment, specifically the lack of adequate land to provide parking on existing sites. The City's current zoning provisions require a specific parking rate based on the type of use. The effect is that certain properties are limited in the range of commercial and residential uses that can locate on an existing property, notwithstanding that the property is permitted to have a wide range of uses.

City staff were recommending that the initial fee structure be a set value of $15,000 per deficient parking space. This covers the cost of constructing a surface parking space and purchasing land for the space.