Steve Hardaker

Community Correspondent

A small but very inquisitive group of residents met with Lord Mayor Betty Disero at the Holiday Inn Express in Glendale for her monthly coffee chat on Feb. 11.

Residents from communities across NOTL attended, so the variety of questions and discussions covered many town-wide issues.

Topics discussed ranged from hopes to start a long-term visioning for the town to progress on rehabilitating the Heritage Trail; from the Glendale Niagara District Plan to establishing new bylaws and reviewing existing bylaws; and, from the potential amalgamating of the St. Davids and Queenston firehalls to how tourism enhancement will be funded now that council has deferred the idea of a Municipal Accommodation Tax.

One highlight the lord mayor talked about was how the town and the Region of Niagara are collaborating on potential enhancements around the approved new interchange on Glendale Avenue over the QEW.

Possibilities include a traffic circle at the York Road/Glendale Avenue intersection and amenities like lighting, garbage containers and flower boxes on the separated pedestrian/cycling component of the overpass.

Included in the town-region collaboration are enhancements and beautification on Niagara Stone Road through Virgil, with a goal to give the area a more village type of feel. Plans are expected to be revealed in March.

The Lord Mayor’s Coffee Chats are held monthly in one of the five Niagara-on-the-Lake communities. The one-hour sessions give residents an opportunity to talk with Disero in a relaxed and casual setting.

The next coffee chat will be on March 10 from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Queenston Library.

Steve Hardaker has lived in Glendale for nine years and is active in many community organizations.