Plans to buy Strewn Winery and build a 58-room hotel on the site are being met with skepticism from some in Niagara-on-the-Lake who argue the project could open the floodgates to a hotel being built on every winery in town.
The owners of the winery, which has been in business for almost 30 years, are looking to sell the property to developers interested in redeveloping part of the land to build a hotel and conference centre.
The winery would stay open and the hotel and conference centre would be approved as “secondary” parts of the property and business.
The hotel’s proponents shared details of the project with the public at a virtual open house on Monday, with one planner calling it an “exciting opportunity” for a project that hasn’t been done before in town.
They were met with questions from residents about how appropriate a 58-room hotel is for an agricultural site and concerns that the exceptions they’re seeking to allow the project would clear the way for more development on farmland in NOTL.
The developers behind this proposal are MPI Group and 11999911 Ontario Inc. Russell Jacobson and Adam Jacobson from MPI Group were at the open house, along with representatives from SGL Planning & Design.
“It is a very unique site, both in its character and history,” said Mary Feehely, senior planner with SGL Planning & Design, “that has contributed to the proposal that you’re hearing about this evening.”
The winery, located at 1339 Lakeshore Rd., sits on the former site of the Niagara Canning Company, established in 1940 by Peter Wall. The fruit cannery operated for several years before closing in the 1960s.
According to SGL Planning & Design’s planning justification report, the developers want to close Strewn Winery’s cooking school and convert the space to accommodate 16 of the 58 hotel rooms.
The other 42 rooms would be housed in a new, three-storey building, to be constructed where the cannery used to sit. The new building would be 565 square metres at ground level and almost 11 metres tall.
There would be no changes to the wine production space or vineyards on the land. All the new development would happen in the existing building’s footprint.
Alongside accommodating overnight stays, the hotel would have spa amenities for guests only. The application also includes plans for a conference centre within Strewn’s wine production building and 178 parking spots. The winery currently has a restaurant and store — those would remain.
The developers’ goal is to turn Strewn into a spot for “agritourism,” where visitors would learn first-hand how wine is made while enjoying an overnight stay.
“We are not trying to create a hotel that is anything but a unique experience,” said Russell Jacobson. “These hotels that exist in Niagara-on-the-Lake are beautiful hotels. But they are not aimed at promoting the agricultural aspects of wine country. And that’s what we want to create.”
The application asks the town to add a site-specific exception to the land’s “agricultural” designation to allow the hotel and conference centre as “on-farm diversified uses.”
It proposes an amendment to section 7.5 of the town’s 2017 official plan that would permit “on-farm diversified uses” for existing estate wineries, including stores, restaurants, conference centres and overnight accommodations with no more than 58 rooms.
“This is a new, on-farm diversified use being proposed here,” Feehely said. “This combination of uses doesn’t exist elsewhere.”
Some who attended the open house raised alarm bells over the novel nature of this proposal and what it could lead to for NOTL.
“This is a precedent-setting case,” said Rich Andres. “You’re going to open the door to every winery putting up a hotel. That’s a slippery slope if approved.”
John Hawley, developer of the Village subdivision in NOTL, had strong words for the developers and planners, calling the project “inappropriate.”
“Why do you think every other winery site won’t line up and ask for the same thing once this is approved?” he asked.
Feehely rebutted his statement about the project’s suitability for Strewn Winery.
“We’ve looked at everything and it is appropriate and it’s a really exciting opportunity,” she said.
Hawley also asked what kind of taxes the owners would pay if and when the hotel is up and running. The application is requesting a zoning bylaw amendment to permit the development with the land rezoned to “Rural (A) — site specific zone.”
This would make the land’s zoning different from how land is zoned for the majority of hotels in town, affecting what taxes the owners would pay.
“What you’re saying is it’ll be a 58-room hotel … not paying taxes the way other hotels in town do,” he said.
John Federici, senior planner for the Town of NOTL, said this point was “outside the scope” of the open house meeting.
A public meeting on this proposal will take place Tuesday, July 7 and will start after 6 p.m.
