CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the name of the sender of the application letter from NPG Planning Solutions, the signatories being Robert Fiedler and Aaron Butler and to clarify the status of a heritage permit.
Prominent local developer Benny Marotta is looking to merge part of Glencairn Hall’s land with property that he owns right next door to the burned-down home on the Niagara River Parkway.
According to a notice posted on the town’s site, Marotta wants to combine a 2,247-square-metre section of the Glencairn Hall property with a 9,876-square-metre lot of land just south of Glencairn.
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s committee of adjustment is going to consider this proposal at its upcoming meeting on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Robert Fiedler, an intermediate planner with NPG Planning Solutions Inc. and the company’s president Aaron Butler, representing Marotta, signed a letter to the town that says the lot addition wouldn’t be on land that the former Glencairn Hall building occupied.
It would start 12 metres from the building’s location.
They also said their firm held a pre-consultation meeting with the town on this proposal in February.
“We also understand that a fire recently damaged the main building at 14795 Niagara River Pkwy., the Glencairn Hall, in April,” they said.
“The location of the Glencairn Hall … is setback over 12 metres from the proposed lot line created by the boundary adjustment.”
“The retained lands … will comply with zoning requirements,” they added.
Glencairn Hall, a 213-year-old historic home, was destroyed in an early-morning fire on April 16. Council voted in July to demolish the remains.
Police are investigating the fire as an act of criminal arson and haven’t publicly released any new information in the investigation since June.
Both 14795 Niagara River Pwky., Glencairn Hall’s land, and 14785 Niagara River Pkwy., Marotta’s land, are designated heritage properties under the Ontario Heritage Act.
According to the town’s heritage register, the land at #14785 is home to the Larkin-Dimitrieff property.
Fiedler and Butler acknowledged that a heritage permit would be required for the lot at #14785.
“We are aware that the legal description of the properties in their respective designation bylaws will need to be corrected to reflect the boundary adjustment,” they said.
“Town planning staff have indicated this can be addressed as part of an active heritage permit for 14785 Niagara River Parkway, which includes the condition that the designation bylaw be updated.”
Property records indicate the Glencairn Hall land at 14795 Niagara River Pkwy. is owned by Scott Corbett, whose registered address is in Etobicoke.
