Developers, council face strong new challenger in residents association

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and most of his current council, developers Rainer Hummel, Benny Marotta, David Jones and John Hawley, Stuart McCormack and the men and women behind the newly formed NOTL Residents Association — together they are among The Lake Report’s “Newsmakers of the Year” in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

NOTL remains a town in transition and all of the aforementioned folks will have a say in how the next chapter in this historic town’s story is written.

The sleepy rural village of 40-plus years ago morphed into the wine and tourist mecca that we all know and (mostly) love.

NOTL grew up, attracting thousands of new residents as a result but many of those denizens have strong feelings about what should happen next.

With dozens of new subdivision and commercial projects approved or in the pipeline, NOTL is on the cusp of big things.

To many residents, old and new, that future will make the town unrecognizable. For them, that is unacceptable.

But as town council decisions over the past three years show, it really might not matter what ordinary folks want.

Because change and growth are inevitable. And in Doug Ford’s Ontario, the grand plans of developers seem to be all that matters.

For those reasons and more, NOTL’s Newsmakers of the Year are focused on people from the political and development realms.

The decisions and actions of these individuals and companies have long-lasting and far-reaching effects on NOTL.

During his first term as mayor, Zalepa, to his credit, has been consistent in how he has directed the municipality. And taken a lot of heat for it.

Editorially, this newspaper disagrees with a great many of the Zalepa council’s decisions.

Council’s insistence on a laissez-faire approach when people or businesses violate the rules (“negotiate, don’t litigate”), can work in some instances, but in many others the town is simply being walked all over.

Wineries ignoring bylaws without penalty or builders carrying on without required permits are two of the more egregious cases in which the tail has wagged the dog.

In contrast, it seems council probably did the right thing in settling with developer Rainer Hummel’s company.

Hummel Properties Inc. scored a generous $1-million payday with its suit sparked by the questionable actions of then-mayor Betty Disero and her council back in 2018.

That wasn’t the only out-of-court settlement the town made, but it was the biggest by far.

In addition, Hummel made the news via his severance of a historic property on Queen Street and his ongoing plans for his estate at the corner of Mississagua and Queen.

Marotta, a man loathed by many in NOTL who only know him by reputation, builds first-class wineries, but seems unconcerned with appeasing opponents of his Rand Estate or Parliament Oak projects.

We can’t wait to see how folks will view whatever Marotta envisions for the former Mori Gardens property in Virgil.

Good, bad or anywhere in between, no matter what the man does, he makes headlines.

David Jones of 124 on Queen Hotel and John Hawley, the man who brought the Village to life, move more quietly than some industry titans but both have made big statements with the projects they built.

We expect to see more from Jones downtown, while Hawley’s company is nearing completion of the Village, some two decades after the project began.

Together with Marotta’s nearby Stone Eagle winery, Jackson-Triggs and Stratus, the Village has redefined the entrance to Old Town.

Another life-changing gateway development on the horizon remains White Oaks’ plan for multiple towers along the QEW in Glendale.

That project seems stalled, at least for now, maybe forever. It’s awaiting permission from Transport Canada because the towers could interfere with flight paths to Niagara District Airport. That’s even before Ford’s grand scheme to boost airport traffic. Stay tuned.

A year ago at this time, while there had been a loud public outcry about some council decisions, there was no well-organized, cross-town group prepared to stand up “for the people,” to quote Premier Doug Ford’s tired old slogan.

Enter the NOTL Residents Association, with the focus on “Our town, our future.”

Led by an all-star cast, including former councillors Stuart McCormack and Norm Arsenault, Glendale’s Steve Hardaker, engineer Ron Simkus, Andrea Leja, Betty Ann James and Peter Neame, the association is building support and momentum heading into a municipal election year.

Uber-organized, professional in its approach and thorough in its research, this group aims to push back on issues and hold town powerbrokers, including developers, to account.

It’s admirable what its members are doing — and much-needed.

The big unanswerable question, however, is, with Ford already loosening the rules around development and pushing a pro-build agenda, will what “the people” have to say matter one iota?

Or, will builders and developers have free rein to “build, baby, build” here in NOTL and everywhere else in the province?

The future of places like Niagara-on-the-Lake hang in the balance.

Next Week: Community Builders and Sporting Heroes.