Niagara-on-the-Lake’s mayor says the conflict of interest that once kept him out of parts of the Rand Estate debate is no longer relevant to the latest development proposal before council.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa previously declared a non-pecuniary conflict on matters related to access from the Rand Estate onto Charlotte Street, nearby where he lives.
But after sitting through last week’s public meeting on the latest application, he says the circumstances are different.
“That was for a decision around access from a property onto Charlotte Street,” Zalepa said of his previous conflict declaration. “I’m like three doors down.”
He said legal advice, backed by the integrity commissioner, led him to declare the conflict at the time.
“The proximity of my house to that access point is quite significant,” Zalepa said. “That was potentially and probably a non-pecuniary conflict.”
“I went and got my own advice and I’m very comfortable with that.”
Zalepa declined to provide documentation of the legal advice he received. But he remains confident in his decision not to declare a conflict on the current application.
“At this point, (the Charlotte Street access) is not relevant,” he said. “If there were a decision point or access again on Charlotte, I would be consistent and declare that non-pecuniary conflict.”
He said conflict declarations must be assessed on a case-by-case basis and noted that even after declaring the original conflict, he continued participating in Rand Estate discussions involving matters he viewed as affecting the broader community.
“During the discussion around the heritage attributes of the general property, I participated,” Zalepa said.
“Those heritage attributes and those properties affect just as many residents as they do me.”
“So, it’s a different matter,” he added.
Asked what he would tell people who might see his decision to participate now as inconsistent, Zalepa said “each decision to declare a conflict has to be weighed on and evaluated with the set of situations around the particular application and the circumstances.”
“In this case, they’re all different,” he said.
