7.8 C
Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
NOTL council to hear proposal for Vintage Hotels expansion and subdivision

Vintage Hotels was given the green light to proceed with the development of a nearly a city block of land across from the Pillar & Post Monday night.

The company, owned by Lais Hotels Properties Limited, plans to build a one-and-a-half-storey, 9,350-square-foot conference centre and “gardens project” on the former C&C Yachts property between Anne and John streets.

Town council removed a holding agreement for the property, located at 524 Regent St.

The holding agreement was put in place in 2016, and protected the lot from development of the original plan, which was much larger.

Referred to in one of the designs as The Gardens at Pillar & Post, the project also includes a hospitality tent, an event terrace, fountains, a reflecting pool, a new administrative building, and moving and expanding the current parking lot that exists on the lot.

The proposal will be heard by council Monday night, and town staff has put forward a notice of intention to pass the changes.

According to an information package sent to councillors, LHPL still needs to wait for the new wastewater treatment plant to be up-and running. Meanwhile, the company also plans to build a number of single-family homes on an adjacent property.

The project, to called the Boatworks Subdivision, is also held up by the opening of the treatment plant.

According to the information package, the plant is now supposed to be open by spring of 2019 — though no report confirming the same could be found on the Region’s website.

Completion of the wastewater treatment plant has seen significant delays, with the date of opening being continually pushed back in 2018.

In a letter to council, Vintage Hotels said it doesn’t intend to move forward with the project this year, but is requesting council approve the hospitality tent and an “event barn,” which would use same the sewage capacity as the future conference centre in the meantime.

The company said this would “ensure there is capacity to go forward.”

Bob Jackson, chief executive office of Lais Hotel Properties Limited, sent a letter to council confirming the company doesn’t intend to develop the conference or administration centre until 2019, and as such the sewage capacity could be “available to other endeavours.”

In another letter to council, Jackson confirmed the company doesn’t intend to develop the Boatworks Subdivision until after 2019, but requested council consider allowing the sewage capacity for the subdivision to be applied for the garden project proposal.

According to the sanitary sewage assessment, the Gardens project will put out around 45,600 litres daily once the conference and administration centre is built, however even with just event tents, the flow is expected to be 28,000 litres per day.

“The Gardens will be serviced to the Anne Street and King Street sanitary sewers, and the downstream sanitary sewers to the William Street Pumping Station have adequate capacity to convey the increased sanitary flows from the proposed development site,” said the assessment report, done by Upper Canada Planning & Engineering Ltd.

The property, 524 Regent St., is the adjacent to a parking lot for the Pillar & Post.

The parking lot, which is currently not part of the lands subject to the Holding Agreement, is intended to be relocated beside a future office building facing Regent Street.

The total asphalt coverage of the entire project would be about 986 square-metres, according to the site layout by ACK Architects.

An Environmental Site Assessment was done by David Mignone and Francesco Gagliardi of Pinchin Ltd.

The soil was also examined by Maxxam Analytics.

NOTL’s operations department will hold a public open house on Feb. 11, 2019 to receive comments or concerns about the proposal.

Normally, staff would prepare a brief recommendation report to the Committee of the Whole to accompany requests for removal of a holding symbol, said the town’s planning department in the information package summary.

“However due to the receipt of the initial request in early December and the shorter report cycle in December, staff have instead prepared an information report and are forwarding the by-law directly to Council for consideration at the Jan. 14 regular Council meeting,” the report said.

Subscribe to our mailing list