Big projects continue to come through the pipeline for Niagara-on-the-Lake’s council.
NOTL’s elected officials heard a pitch for a new subdivision with 383 units to be built in Glendale, on Concession 7 between Queenston and York roads at a meeting Dec. 5.
A few residents who live near the proposed development received the news tepidly.
“We’re used to having very few neighbours,” resident Eric Galloway said.
And his neighbour Ben Bartel said he didn’t “really want to be intruded on” by the future neighbours.
The joint proposal from Hummel Properties and Marz Homes provides a range of housing types in the form of 55 single-family dwellings, 121 townhouses, 183 condominiums and 24 units in a mixed-use building.
“There’s an opportunity here to meet the entire demographic of people who are in need of a house,” said Danny Gabriele, president of Marz Homes.
There would also be a 7.5 acre public park on site, and some local amenities for residents in the mixed-use building, he said.
Gabriele said the businesses in the mixed-use buildings might struggle to stay afloat in the future given the remoteness of the development.
He planned to build the denser lots closest to the commercial lots to help make them more viable.
The project has been on the books since April 2022, but Jennifer Vida, a planner representing Hummel properties, said the applicants have been waiting for the Glendale secondary plan to move forward before commencing with their plans.
Vida said the plan had now progressed enough for the developers to continue.
Galloway suggested that the proposed building with the greater denser be situated further away from the existing single-family homes in the area, to reduce negative impacts on privacy and property values.
Vida said there would be anywhere between 100 and 150 feet between the rear lot lines of the houses on Queenston Road and the new ones.
Bartel also expressed concern about the subdivision’s impacts on traffic.
He said there were already speeding problems on Concession 7.
“The existing transportation infrastructure in the area can adequately accommodate the traffic volumes projected to be generated by the proposed development,” stated a traffic report from Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited, which was submitted with the application.
The report estimated the subdivision would generate 195 new car trips in the morning and 248 trips in the afternoon, but only on weekdays.
The subdivision will be accessible through two intersections.
