Dear editor:

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa says he’s concerned about housing for seniors.

Not enough, apparently, to vote against bylaw and official plan amendments that saw the zoning on a large Old Town land parcel change from institutional to commercial to allow a hotel project to proceed, nor, as town’s representative on regional council, to speak against the closure of a local not-for-profit long-term-care facility in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The mayor has yet to fully explain his rationale for voting in favour of the bylaw and official plan amendments. He should do so. Such dramatic changes to NOTL’s official plan are unjustifiable unless they result in clear and lasting benefits to residents.

Relying almost exclusively on staff recommendations and reports in his decision-making, as the mayor says he does, isn’t good enough — especially when it seems clear that staff have not given due consideration to the town’s official plan, nor to what residents are saying.

The mayor was elected to lead. To me that means ensuring that town plans and bylaws are respected, while building support for future growth and development that have the potential to enhance the town and benefit its residents.

Information published by the Ontario government states that a municipal official plan’s purpose is “to ensure that future planning and development will meet the specific needs of your community” and that it should address issues such as: “where new housing, industry, offices and shops will be located …(as well as) when, and in what order, parts of your community will grow.”

The document also states an official plan “makes sure that growth is co-ordinated and meets your community’s needs; helps all members of your community understand how their land may be used now and in the future … and provides a framework for establishing municipal zoning bylaws to set local regulations and standards, like the size of lots and height of buildings …”

And it addresses the need for municipalities to update their official plans, as NOTL did recently (this also ensured that our official plan is in sync with the region’s and the province’s official plans, regulations, policies and legislation, as it must be under provincial law).

Clearly, an official plan is not something that is meant to be modified, willy-nilly.

All the more reason why the apparent rejection of NOTL’s official plan by the mayor and several councillors is so concerning, and has angered so many residents.

It’s hard to imagine that the mayor has turned a new leaf. Not when he’s suggested that it may be possible to remove land from the Greenbelt in a couple of years to build seniors housing in NOTL, nor when he still sees the old hospital site as a potential location for a parking lot.

The mayor’s recent comments on the closure of Upper Canada Lodge in favour of much larger facilities in St. Catharines and Fort Erie may be a more accurate indicator of what we can expect from him in the future.

“They had to consolidate,” he told The Lake Report. “They couldn’t have smaller units all over the place because the model for long-term care, and I’m not an expert in this, but this is the way they showed us, that they can’t make those work.”

Let’s hope that the mayor and council at least reconsider their recent planning decisions, and that when the time comes to decide on the future of the former hospital site, they don’t opt to — as the Joni Mitchell song goes — pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

Terry Davis
NOTL