After uncertainty stalled the project, the Royal George rebuild is officially moving forward.
Niagara-on-the-Lake councillors approved a bylaw Tuesday night to pave the way for the Royal George Theatre’s multi-million-dollar redevelopment, without the need for on-site parking — aside from one cash-in-lieu payment to the town.
The vote finalizes last week’s reversal, when council backed away from delaying the Shaw Festival’s project over concerns about size, height, parking and accessibility and directed town staff to return with the paperwork needed to move it forward at the soonest possible meeting.
A special council meeting was held where staff brought that bylaw forward. It was approved after a procedural challenge, parking-related questions and clarification on how long council may review the site plan, which remains under review.
Staff earlier calculated that the four parcels that form the Royal George site would require 104 parking spaces for the existing buildings — a requirement previously waived. The new theatre increases that total to 105.
Tuesday’s decision waived that last required space, leaving Shaw to pay cash in lieu for one, with 104 still not collected at this stage. The town’s 2025 cash-in-lieu of parking indexing report values a parking space at $72,664.
Coun. Andrew Niven asked why the bylaw shows the parking requirement reduced to zero.
“I didn’t think that that was the case. Could I have clarification on that?” he said.
Kirsten McCauley, the town’s director of community and development services, said the requirement appears as zero because council directed staff to accept cash in lieu for the one remaining parking space.
“That would be identified through the agreement,” she said.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor requested to amend the agenda and asked council “to allow me to put on the floor a motion about the site plan for the Royal George, so that councillors can be given an opportunity for input to staff before staff approves the site plan.”
McCauley said the site plan is already posted online and on Friday, councillors were emailed links to site plan information, landscape drawings, elevations and supporting studies: “I had suggested that any council members could reach out and view any of (those) materials or meet with staff to discuss it further.”
“That is available to the public too, if anybody wanted to come out to town hall to view those documents,” she added.
“We do have the site plan application and agreement webpage active now on the site plan webpage,” McCauley said, adding that councillors can contact staff at any time for help reviewing or navigating the material online.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa ruled O’Connor’s motion out of order, a view the town clerk agreed with and meeting chair Coun. Erwin Wiens ultimately upheld.
By press time, the town had not responded to questions seeking to confirm when the final site plan agreement is expected. The town’s website states it’s “under review.”
O’Connor asked, “How long do we have, as councillors, to provide the feedback to the director before (the site plan) goes forward?”
Wiens deemed the question out of order, but McCauley said staff would “be happy to arrange a meeting to review the information with her as soon as possible.”
O’Connor also flagged a discrepancy between staff numbers in two reports — one listing 88 people, another 200 — but McCauley said the 88 figure came from the applicant’s presentation, while “the 200 includes performers as well as staff of the theatre.”
“However, staff can follow up,” McCauley added.
The bylaw passed, with only O’Connor, Niven and Coun. Maria Mavridis voting against it.
