Niagara-on-the-Lake’s committee of adjustment has given its thumbs up to plans to bring together a portion of the Glencairn Hall property with a plot of land next door, owned by prominent developer Benny Marotta.
During its latest meeting, the committee approved a boundary change merging a portion of Glencairn Hall’s lands at 14795 Niagara River Pwky. with its southern neighbour at 14785 Niagara River Pwky., two pieces of land that once had a shared history.
The half-acre, pie-shaped section will bring Marotta’s property within 12 metres of the former Glencairn Hall building. The northern property at 14795 is owned by Scott Corbett, who lists an Etobicoke address.
In the meeting on Thursday, town planner Connor MacIsaac, who said staff supports the boundary adjustment, told the committee there are no development plans for the site.
Neither Corbett nor Marotta attended the meeting — representatives appeared on their behalf.
MacIsaac said the town received only one objection to the merge, from a local resident concerned about potential impacts on heritage features and trees in the area.
All members of the committee voted in favour of bringing the two plots of land together, except Paul Johnston, who raised repeated concerns during the meeting, which he attended remotely.
Johnston questioned the rationale behind the deal, particularly why Corbett, the owner giving up land, applied for the adjustment.
“The applicant is the lot owner giving up property with no indication of why,” Johnston said.
He added: “I don’t understand why, as an owner, I would give up that much property when I have an adequate sized lot to do what I need to do.”
Overall, he said he remained confused.
“That’s my feeling right now,” he said. “I just don’t understand it.”
Corbett was represented by two staff members from NPG Planning Solutions, including planner Rob Fiedler.
“I’m not privy to the private arrangements between the property owner and the owner to the south as to why one would sell to the other,” Fiedler said.
Other committee members did not comment on the proposal.
The southern property, also known in town records as the Larkin-Dimitrieff property, is vacant except for a chimney and a small stone schoolhouse at the rear.
The schoolhouse dates to the mid-19th century, when entrepreneur John Hamilton owned Glencairn Hall.
Historically, the two addresses were part of one property, but plot #14785 was severed from #14795 in 2009, MacIsaac said.
According to a 2011 document from the Town of NOTL sent to the Ontario Heritage Trust, from 1808 until 1888, the original Glencairn lot was eight acres.
The town’s document said the schoolhouse was “probably” built in the 1830s as a school for Hamilton’s estate workers.
The adjustment follows a fire in April that destroyed Glencairn Hall, a cherished historic structure in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Police are investigating the fire as an act of arson.
In 2022, the municipal heritage committee proposed relocating the schoolhouse closer to the road to allow for residential development.
