The following letter was sent to members of NOTL council. A copy was submitted to The Lake Report for publication.

Although councillors didn’t think they had a chance of convincing the Ontario Land Tribunal to halt the Parliament Oak five-star hotel development, at the very least, they should have challenged the planning decision on behalf of the residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake and objected to the approval for the change of use, which flies in the face of the official plan.

Who in their right mind builds a hotel in the middle of residential housing?

The town does not need another hotel, we don’t need more tourists, as NOTL is overflowing already.

Most of our councillors failed in their total lack of effort and concern for the residents and official plan.

The next big concern is traffic routing for the project.

Are we to have thundering trucks down King Street through a quiet residential area or should there be restrictions? These should not be made in favour of developers and contractors for their convenience.

NOTL already has swaths of land, bought by developers, that are sitting idle, creating unsightly areas near the entrance of NOTL.

The old Mori Gardens property has looked liked a bomb site for the last two years. Does the town not impose a time limit for areas to remain fallow?

The Marotta lands could no have 200 or more homes, instead of the original 169. What happened?

Councillors and the planning department have failed in their task of maintaining any support from residents.

The submissions from developers may have met planning department requisites but have ignored the residents’ concerns and the very reason NOTL is a preferred area to live, not just visit and buy an ice cream and leave the garbage for taxpayers to clean up.

Jean O’Malley
NOTL