161 Church Street and 60-87 Geneva Street - Notice of Decision

Purpose and Effect

The purpose of the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments is to facilitate the development of a 19-storey building stepping down to a 4-storey building which includes 197 residential units, 1,858 square meters of non-residential space, and 221 parking spaces (180 underground and 41 surface).

The effect of Official Plan Amendment is to change the lands from Mixed Medium High Density Residential/Commercial to Mixed High Density Residential/Commercial to increase the permitted height and density and add a site-specific policy to permit commercial uses on the upper floors.

The purpose of By-law 2025-140 is to rezone the lands from Medium Density Mixed Use (M1) with Special Provisions 92, 93, and 107 to High Density Mixed Use (M3) with Special Provisions 92 and 189 (M3-92-189) to facilitate the proposed development. The effect of the Zoning By-law amendment is to apply Special Provision 92 (M3-92) across the entire site to exempt parking requirements and add new Special Provision 189 (M3-189) to permit increased lot area, frontage and non-residential gross leasable floor area, reduced setbacks and establish maximum building heights and minimum amenity space requirements.

Community input has been received, considered and has informed the decision of Council.

Legal Notice 

The last day for filing a notice of appeal is December 8, 2025 at 4:30pm. The notice of appeal must be filed with the Clerk or submitted through the Ontario Land Tribunal’s (OLT) e-file portal. It must set out the specific objection to the by-laws and the reasons in support of the objection and be accompanied by the fee required by the OLT. More information on fees can be found on the OLT’s website: https://olt.gov.on.ca/fee-chart/

Only the registered owner of the land to which the by-law would apply, specified persons and public bodies as defined in the Planning Act may appeal a decision of the municipality or by-law to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

No person or public body shall be added as a party to the hearing of the appeal unless, before the by-law was passed, the person or public body made oral submissions at a public meeting or written submissions to the council or, in the opinion of the Tribunal, there are reasonable grounds to add the person or public body as a party.

If you require further information regarding the official plan and/or zoning by-law amendment, please contact Planning and Building Services at City Hall, 50 Church Street, (905-688-5601, extension 1660), the City's TTY number (text telephone) 1-800-855-0511, or email pbs@stcatharines.ca during regular business hours.