Growth strategy sparks debate

Freezing urban boundaries raises concerns

St. Catharines Standard, January 30 2009
By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN, STANDARD STAFF


Niagara's proposed 25-year growth plan risks chasing away new residents and businesses by freezing urban boundaries, said several presenters at a public meeting Thursday.

Consultants recommend a long-term strategy for the Region that includes more growth in south Niagara, more intensification in urban centres, better transit for the whole peninsula and frozen urban boundaries.

The controversial boundary proposal spurred five hours of presentations from 25 delegations at a meeting attended by more than 80 people. Developers, church and community groups, municipal planners and ordinary residents stood up to speak for -- and in a few cases, against -- urban boundary expansions in Niagara Falls, Grimsby, West Lincoln and Welland.

Growing south is easier said than done, said Stephen Kaiser, a consultant for the Niagara Home Builders' Association.

"Growth directed to south Niagara is not likely to meet market expectations and location preferences," said Kaiser, who told regional councillors they need to recognize the attraction of west Niagara to new home buyers.

"If growth is not directed to areas that have market support, the Region's planning and fiscal objectives will be seriously jeopardized."

Planners and developers from Grimsby and West Lincoln made the same argument.

Keith Vogel, director of planning for Grimsby, said the west Niagara town could run out of room for townhouses and single-family homes in the next decade without urban boundary expansion.

The Region's projection of 95 per cent intensification for the town of 22,000 is overly ambitious, he said.

"And if growth can't be accommodated in Grimsby, it won't necessarily go to the rest of Niagara," he said, pointing to neighbouring building opportunities in places like Winona.

West Lincoln will also soon run out of urban building space without expansion, said Bernie Hermsen, a planning consultant for the municipality. Some developers have already planned new subdivisions straddling the existing urban boundary, he said.

A consortium of landowners urged council to allow an urban boundary expansion at the northwest corner of Niagara Falls for a variety of reasons.

Club Italia, for example, has long delayed plans for new seniors housing in the area.

The Redeemer Bible Church wants to build affordable housing. Mont Rose at Niagara, a local development group, wants to build 240 villas to complement a planned golf course and winery.

Ed Lustig, who spoke on behalf of that development for Hospitality Resorts, argued the Region needs to take the economic meltdown into account and encourage new development, not shut it down.

Other presenters, however, urged council to stick to its guns.

"This shouldn't be called Option D, it should be called the good planning option," said St. Catharines author and environmentalist John Bacher.

He praised council for its commitment to stop sprawl and argued the strategy is flexible enough to accommodate change.

"If land supply changes drastically in the next few years, the plan can be reviewed," he said.

Former regional councillor Don Alexander of St. Catharines said the Region should have ambitious intensification goals.

"Infilling, time and time again, has proven successful in building successful cities," he said. "I hope you will think of infilling and intensification as a solution to many of the problems outlined today."

Council's committee of the whole voted to receive the presentations but put off a debate and decision until a later date, to be set by Regional Chairman Peter Partington.