“If the plan is followed and enforced, there should be no fear of having an inappropriately designed monster McMansion squeezed into the lot next door,” writes Brian Marshall.
“The regional government seems to be a bottomless hole into which taxpayers continually pour money and receive few practical benefits from having done so,” writes Brian Marshall.
“The published findings of this report resulted in the conclusion that while amalgamation was supposed to bring cost savings, smaller government and lower taxes, it didn’t,” writes Brian Marshall.
“It is fundamental to the job that the interests of the public are paramount and should be continually demonstrable in day-to-day performance,” writes Brian Marshall.
“The old hospital could become an adaptive reuse example to the world — provided the political will is brave enough to move forward,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Senior town staff and certain downline staff members were fully cognizant of the actual ‘state of affairs.’ However … it seems that they failed to communicate these requirements to their heritage planners,” writes Brian Marshall.
“I opine that the several municipal processes related to proposed and undertaken alterations of this important heritage property have been fundamentally flawed,” writes Brian Marshall.
“This simplistic design approach to apartment buildings has dominated the sector for decades and has resulted in a quasi-institutionalized environment within the resultant neighbourhoods,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Food sovereignty and security must be considered paramount in all government policy. Otherwise, we may find ourselves as a banana republic — the beggars at the table,” writes Brian Marshall.
“In 2025, we have borne witness to a series of assaults on the tapestry of Niagara-on-the-Lake,” writes Brian Marshall, writing about the Crysler-Burroughs property, Glencairn Hall, the Royal George Theatre and more.
“The basic precepts of good urban development planning place the onus on the local government to proactively identify low, medium and high-density locations,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Here in Niagara-on-the-Lake, apparently aided and abetted by several of our elected ‘representatives,’ this narrative has been successfully played out again and again over the term of the current council,” writes Brian Marshall.
“If one gives away a million dollars here and there … where does the money come from to make up those losses in order to fulfil the region’s legislated responsibilities?” writes Brian Marshall.
“The proposed size, massing and form of the building, considered within the context of the surrounding buildings, completely dwarfs everything else in the heritage district,” writes Brian Marshall.
“On every Nov. 11 since that day, I have shared the evening with a bottle of whisky, those memories and the words that were written down that evening,” writes Brian Marshall.
“It is extraordinarily disingenuous for an individual or corporation to suggest that the ‘progress’ they seek — or achieve — automatically confers benefits upon the society or community they operate within,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Growth and change in any town may be inevitable. However, those forces must be thoughtfully and consistently managed in order to preserve its unique character and cultural landscapes while evolving into a greater version of itself,” writes Brian Marshall.
“It’s telling that MacKay-Lyons, whose main body of work is unabashedly contemporary, adheres strictly to this sense of place as derived from understanding its existing (or historic) vernacular materials, building culture and forms,” writes Brian Marshall.
“These core principles are neglected, ignored or improperly applied by far too many practicing architects and results in poor designs which, if constructed, assault the public’s senses with inferior built architecture,” writes Brian Marshall.
“We are being asked to accept the partial destruction of the Queen-Picton heritage district’s place identity on the very questionable altar of a cultural institution’s ask,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Properly executed, the restoration of this vital and unique piece of heritage will stand as a lasting legacy bequeathed to all Canadians,” writes Brian Marshall of the restoration of the David Secord House.
“As citizens, we have only two formal venues through which we can express our opinion. The first is our vote, once every four years. The second is through our voice,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Bluntly, the solutions here are many and varied — all a matter of sympathetic architectural design with delicate treatment of form, massing, scale and materiality, focused on blending in versus standing out,” writes Brian Marshall.
“Far too often a ghost facade prioritizes a superficial appearance over functional reality,” writes Brian Marshall of the new proposal for the Royal George Theatre.
“Sometimes the negative ‘press of events’ can lead us to believe that there are no ‘wins’ to celebrate. But, au contraire, there are,” writes Brian Marshall.
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