After ignoring a stop-work order from the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake on Tuesday, developer Benny Marotta’s company has received a permit to continue its excavation work at the future Parliament Oak hotel site.
The town issued a site alteration permit to Two Sisters Resorts on Friday, three days after it hit the developer with a stop-work order to cease the construction and soil removal work taking place at 325 King St. without a permit.
This new permit, accompanied by a site alteration agreement, allows the developer to excavate a specific part of the site to work on what will be the hotel’s underground parking area, according to the town’s requirements.
The town did not provide copies of the site alteration permit and site alteration agreement, which would show what requirements the developer has to follow with this new permit.
The town says a site permit application was submitted on Sept. 12, which town staff reviewed.
For the past couple of weeks, however, there were concerns about activity starting at the site, but staff found no violations, chief administrator Nick Ruller told The Lake Report last week.
It wasn’t until the town saw construction work happening at the site early last week that it came in with a stop-work order and a $500-a-day fine for the developer.
Alongside a review of the permit application, the town’s peer reviewer Terra-Dynamics Ltd. took a look at the hydro-geological study for the site, an assessment of the area’s subsurface geology and groundwater conditions.
The town says the peer reviewer examined this study and confirmed the excavation area the developer proposed is “acceptable,” said Lauren Kruitbosch, associate director for the office of the CAO, in an email.
Kruitbosch said staff will be monitoring the site and will make sure development activities “proceed in a manner that respects the town’s regulations and the community’s concerns.”
Marah Minor, the town’s communications co-ordinator, said if further violations take place, the town can reissue another stop-work order and more fines.
Lyle Hall, who lives one block away from the King Street project, has some doubts about this.
He says he’s not sure why the town would want to make an agreement with someone who’s not following the municipality’s rules.
“How do you ‘work closely’ with a developer thumbing his nose at your bylaws?” he said in an email.
As to how the town handled this situation, Hall said that it appears the town is approving the developer’s actions after they have been taken.
“I can’t think of another project, of this magnitude and with this level of public scrutiny, where the developer has simply shown the middle finger to the town, without consequence.”
This stop-work order is the latest chapter in a saga of controversy surrounding the Parliament Oak hotel project.
Alongside anxieties about the influx of tourists and that the new hotel will drive down surrounding property values, individual NOTLers and resident groups are concerned about the impact on the town’s infrastructure.
Some say the project, which includes plans for a two-floor underground parking lot, could cause flooding of the nearby One Mile Creek.
They’ve criticized the reports prepared by the engineering firm R.V. Anderson, stating they contain errors and omissions as to the current state of local stormwater infrastructure and the demand the hotel will create on this system.
Richard Connelly, a retired civil engineer, is one of those vocal critics — he said he was “absolutely horrified” to hear that the town granted the developer a site alteration permit.
“If it was me, I wouldn’t have ever let them do anything at the site until the reports were satisfactorily completed,” he said.
A Sept. 22 letter sent to the town from attorney Bryce W. B. Murray, representing the Friends of One Mile Creek, the Niagara Foundation and the NOTL Residents Association, warns that the situation at the Parliament Oak site could be a liability for the town.
“The prospect of flooding on both a regular and catastrophic level is real,” the letter says.
“The costs involved to clean up and remediate such occurrences, should they occur, will be significant.”
So far, the project has no approved site plan or building permit.
At this juncture, Hall says the focus needs to be on making sure this project doesn’t put a heavy burden on the town’s utilities, One Mile Creek and neighbouring homes.
“We’ve already lost the argument on parking, traffic, scale, visual and noise impacts,” he said.
“Let’s be open and honest about what’s happening at Parliament Oak.”
