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The town of Niagara-On-The-Lake consistently receives a lot of compliments from media across Canada for the peaceful beauty the municipality enjoys, especially in the heritage districts. Talking to visitors from the GTA, I hear the same repeated comment that coming to NOTL is an escape, even for a day, from the unbearable grind of traffic, noise, congestion and urban sprawl.
However, on Tuesday June 11, our town council voted to drive a stake into the heart of our community, attacking the very essence of our town that visitors envy and praise us for. Why? For this sweet little piece of work, a 129 room, 19 meter (5-storey) high hotel right in the midst of a peaceful low-rise residential neighbourhood.
Town staff issued report No. CDS-23-192, recommending a radical change in site zoning, not for 'just cause' but 'just cuz'! Like so many other residents I was stunned.
1. STAFF REPORT CDS-23-192 REPRESENTS THE DEVELOPER'S VIEW TO THE TOWN INSTEAD OF THE TOWN'S VIEW TO THE DEVELOPER
Staff's report CDS-23-192 recommends the rezoning of the Parliament Oaks site to general commercial but the report doesn't stand up to my scrutiny of the details, and the whole public consultation process in 2023 was nothing more than a 'checkbox'. A total of 34 resident submissions of concern appended on the back end and generally ignored. Understandably, the developer and his legal counsel wholeheartedly embraced the document and took notes of the narrow margin vote, 5 to 4 to approve the rezoning. Formal ratification by council is scheduled for June 25.
2. COUNCILLORS' JUSTIFICATION FOR THE HOTEL IS PURELY SUBJECTIVE
Those councillors who supported the rezoning cited a Tourism Master Plan that allegedly recommends the town build more hotel rooms. Really? Proposed by who and in what context? Has anybody seen this draft Master Plan? Not me! There is also an absurd fixation that the hotel would be 'FIVE STAR' and thereby add significant value to our tourism strategy. Value for who, at what cost to the community?
3. PARKING AND TRAFFIC ARE WOEFULLY UNDERSTATED
The developer's lawyer stated in the meeting that 'parking' took up an enormous amount of discussion with Town staff and clearly from reading the documentation, the developer's counsel proved their negotiating skills were far superior to the Town's staff. The rationale for staff to accept a bare bones commitment of 248 parking stalls was frustratingly thin, but the actual stalls visible on the site drawings is even less at 171 stalls. What is seemingly a contradiction to all the discussion about parking is the complete absence of parking for the 100 employees shown on the plan. Even more contradictory is the lack of recognition that an accredited 5-Star Hotel must employ a minimum of 2.5 employees per room which equates to 322 bodies.
4. HYDROLOGY OF THE SITE WILL FORCE THE UNDERGROUND PARKING DESIGN ON TO THE SURFACE AND ERASE MOST OF THE PROPOSED LANDSCAPE
The Old Town district has been quoted by local experts to have a water table only 3 meters below surface elevation. Even for a single elevation parking garage, excavation will dive below the water table and spread across an enormous square footage, equivalent to half the entire site. When the cost benefit analysis is completed, all parking will have to revert to surface and an allowance for 248 parking stalls will expand lot coverage tremendously and erase a majority of the proposed landscaping.
Details:
1. Report CDS-23-192: Section 5.3 of the report acknowledges that substantial feedback was received during the consultation period April-May 2023 and 34 items of correspondence were received (32 in opposition and 2 in support).
I respect the hard work of the manager of planning but after reading, line by line, there is a flavour in the document of 'editing' throughout, particularly with regard to staff's response to residents' concerns.
2. A 5-Star Hotel
What is a 5-Star Hotel? A quick reference to the website of the Five Star Alliance sets the bar very high and spells out what is required. Everything from doormen, chauffeurs and 24 hour doctors on-call. But the most provocative is the employee to room ratio which the alliance claims must be greater than 2.5 employees per room. The developer says, with efficiency, they'll keep their numbers below 100 employees or a ratio of 0.77 employees per room. This doesn't add up.
For readers who do not receive the e-blast sent to more than 100 recipients by local retired mining engineer Ron Simkus, this was included in this week’s email.
