Chautauqua residents want secondary plan for neighbourhood

Chautauqua residents see their neighbourhood already changing, and are hoping the town will take some measures to do a better job of controlling inevitable development in the area.

At the annual general meeting of the Chautauqua Residents Association recently, members discussed the importance of having their community recognized by the town as a distinct neighbourhood with the need for a secondary plan incorporated in the Official Plan, says CRA president Brian Crow.

Accordingly, the association has set up a planning guidelines committee to investigate the possibilities, headed by architect and CRA member Victor Tarnoy.

Looking at how to stop new houses like one recent build “which seems to reach to the clouds,” says Crow, is just one of their concerns of the neighbourhood, that has also been dealing with parking, traffic and short-term rental issues, although working with the town has made a significant improvements in parking and traffic.

Preserving the tree canopy is of utmost importance, he says, and is tied to the issue of building larger, taller houses, with foundations that could end up damaging roots and destroying trees. The tree bylaw intended to protect them doesn’t always seem able to do that.

“Without question,” he says, “the association is concerned about the changes happening in Chautauqua. It’s one of the reasons we have a CRA.”

Three years ago, when public open houses and in-person deputations at council discussed planning issues in Chautauqua, a single lot on Circle Street in the neighbourhood garnered a lot of attention. The planning issue was two-fold — neighbours were concerned a request for a lot severance at 6 Circle Street and a proposed house on the new lot would endanger two huge silver maple trees more than 100 years old. There was also opposition to the height of the two-storey house, and a fear that would become the new norm for an area where houses are only a storey and a half or  single storey bungalows.

Much has happened since then. The lot was severed and is listed for sale, a two-storey house is still proposed to be built, as permitted under current zoning bylaws, and although there are restrictions in place intended to save the mature trees, residents are concerned the construction of the house might make that impossible.

Crow says the CRA doesn’t weigh in on specific new builds, but is concerned that what is proposed for 6A Circle Street is already occurring on other streets in the neighbourhood, with larger homes being built on small lots, and fears for the destruction of the neighbourhood if there is nothing in place to prevent more of the same. 

Chris Byart, the owner of the home at 6 Circle St., has an immediate concern and personal interest not only for the empty severed lot beside him, as does his neighbour on the other side of the lot, but also in the future of the historic neighbourhood.

When Byart bought his small house, one of the older, single-storey cottages, he heard from some of his new neighbours that they assumed he would be tearing it down and building a larger, million dollar house, similar to what is proposed beside him. That was not his plan. He is gradually updating and renovating the house, and has no interest in tearing it down — he says he’s not going anywhere, and neither is his house.

“But the bylaws are so weak, there is nothing to be done to protect this from happening,” he says. “You can fill up a lot with the whole house.”

Chautauqua is a neighbourhood full of charm where many of the homes were originally cottages, some dating back to the 1800s. The streets were laid out like spokes in a wheel,  an amphitheatre in the centre, designed to resemble Chautauqua in New York.

It’s a pocket of Niagara-
on-the-Lake that has remained relatively untouched by tourists or progress, and residents want to keep it that way.

One neighbour on the other side of Circle Street came to council in 2019, saying then a plan was needed for Chautauqua to prevent inappropriate new builds, and although some changes were made to the first proposal for 6A Circle St., he feared it would have a negative impact on the streetscape, setting a precedent for what will occur going forward.

That is also Byart’s concern. The retired high school principal and history teacher believes the historic nature of Chautauqua, as a site of War of 1812 battles, should be preserved, and buildings limited to smaller homes such as exist in the neighbourhood today.

He emphasizes the pie-shaped nature of the lot makes it look considerably larger from the front, but once the setbacks from the property line are calculated, there isn’t much room for the home, which will be less than 10 feet from his kitchen window, and that of his neighbour’s on the other side.

The current bylaw states that the foundation of the new house must be a minimum of 4 feet  from the property line of each of the houses. On his neighbour’s side, it will entirely block the view from her kitchen window — she will see nothing but a wall — and it will block 90 per cent of the view from his brand-new window of his renovated kitchen.

Byart has created an oasis in the small space behind his house. The 28-foot house proposed for the severed lot will block out his sunlight, and instead of a quiet, private paradise in his backyard, he will lose all his privacy.

He has been assured by the town planning director that the two trees on the front of the lot will be protected, and anyone who harms or removes a tree without a permit would be fined by the town. The arborist who has looked at the trees has called for a fence around them during construction, and is part of the future building permit.

The two mature trees straddle the line between town and private property, and the setback of the house, according to site-specific zoning, is 22 feet from the property line, the planning director said in an email to Byart. 

He was hoping the size of the tree canopy would be taken into consideration when considering the setback of the house foundation, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. He fears the large roots of the one tree in particular will be damaged, and spell the end of the tree.

As for height, width and setback requirements, the only way to change them for Chautauqua would be to change the zoning, at the request of council, and going through the public process as set out under the planning act, he was told by town staff.

He says he would like to see Chautauqua residents take up the need for special zoning in some form, such as a secondary plan, as an election issue. He hopes for some restrictions in place before it’s too late to preserve the streetscape on Circle Street, and to save the charming, unique historic neighbourhood, the only one like it in all of Canada.

Lord Mayor Betty Disero has visited 6A Circle St., and agrees the photo of the proposed house looks large for the lot. She says the town is planning to look at zoning for all neighbourhoods throughout NOTL for zoning amendments if necessary, and could include a secondary plan for Chautauqua.

An email from the acting region’s commissioner of planning to Disero says the town’s Official Plan will not be approved after the regional OP is approved, and that all municipal OPs are expected to be approved during next term of municipal councils — NOTL is the only one of 12 municipal councils that has sent their OP to the region. The region has also given the town approval to look at different densities for different areas, that could benefit some NOTL neighbourhoods, including Chautauqua.

This will allow time for local consultation and a revised OP that can incorporate appropriate changes for specific areas of NOTL, Disero said.