With no roundabout or multiple high-rise towers proposed for Virgil, there were still enough reasons for more than 30 residents to pack the Mary Snider Room at the Virgil Arenas for Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa’s third of five village visits Monday.
While Zalepa’s previous sessions in St. Davids and Glendale centred largely on the aforementioned contentious issues, attendees at the Virgil stop asked questions about increased traffic, climate action, senior housing, communication and planning rules variations.
The evening began with a 30-minute presentation that included a review of council’s accomplishments during the first half of its four-year term and the direction the town needs to take for its second half. The finalization of the town’s official plan raised some questions from Pleasant Manor t resident Ingrid Regier.
“Are you going to use the same staff you did originally,” Regier asked Zalepa, referring to staff who began the development of the plan during Betty Disero’s term as Lord Mayor. “Or are you going to use staff who live in Fonthill?”
Zalepa assured the crowd that the current council and town staff will be building upon the work that was begun by the previous iteration.
Regier also expressed concern for the increasing traffic flowing through the village.
“Virgil is being swamped with traffic,” she said. “You cannot cross the street from Pleasant Manor.”
“The transportation master plan is getting updated as well,” Zalepa answered. “Council approved an update to it because they weren’t happy with the document from 2022.”
Lidijah Biro made reference to the town’ “perfectly good climate action plan in draft” from that same year and wanted to know how the town was planning to implement some of those recommendations from the previous council.
“We just brought on the town’s first-ever climate change coordinator (Kassie Burns) who will help the council and the town better coordinate the strategies from that document that are in our strategic plan,” said Zalepa. “The focus of the coordinator is a coastal protection program, developing and invasive species plan and commencing research and engaging in communication for the waterfront plan.”
The Lord Mayor added that 27 items from that 2022 climate document have made their way into the town’s current strategic plan. That seemed to please Biro. who is involved with Amnesty International and a newer organization called Seniors for Climate.
“Tonight was our way of starting the discussion with them,” said Biro. “it is positive. We’d like to meet with the coordinator they have hired and see what these 27 item are, let them know that in the Niagara region there are about 50 environment groups who won’t vote for anyone who won’t make environmental promises.”
Biro also told The Local that her fledgling new group is planning an Earth Day event this spring at the NOTL Community Centre to raise awareness and help others learn what they can to toward the eventual elimination of fossil fuels. .
Several residents of the new Konik Estates subdivision attended the meeting to express concerns with an “uncharacteristic” home being approved for construction despite their opposition.
“Sometimes there can be exceptions made to the rules,” said a resident identified as Steve to Zalepa. “When this proposal went to a council sub-group is was rejected, but when it went to the whole council is was approved. I believe you made a comment that you can’t afford to let it to to the Ontario Land Tribunal. How do you decide which ones to challenge and which ones you don’t?”
Zalepa assured that each application was handled based on its own merits and not how much is left in the town’s legal budget to decide whether or not to go to the OLT.
“Personally, if I feel something is defendable, then I think I would decide to appeal,” Zalepa said. “I believe staff reviewed tha application and in their professional opinion they felt the changes requested were appropriate to the town’s planning documents.”
Another resident of Konik Estates whose home was affected by that application expressed concerns that the town did not communicate well enough about the request for an exemption by the builder. Zalepa acknowledged that effective communication with residents is always one of the challenges faced by the town.
The meeting was also attended by Couns. Tim Balasiuk, Garry Burroughs, Maria Mavridis, Andrew Niven, Adriana Vizzari and Erwin Wiens. Several town staff members were on hand to answer questions as well.
“Here, I think the residents are more concerned with the bigger picture and how they can engage in influencing the decision makers,” said Zalepa in a conversation with The Local after the 90-minute session. “I think that’s the key messaging that we’re trying to convey with these visits.”
There are two more village visits planned, one in the Old Town on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at the NOTL Community Centre’s Simpson Room, and the final one in Queenston on Thursday Feb. 20 at the Firehall. Zalepa also mentioned a possible town hall style meeting for NOTL’s agricultural community some time in the future.