Public Meeting Notice: City Initiated Zoning By-Law Housingkeeping Amendment

City Initiated Zoning By-law Housekeeping Amendment

City File No. 23 114781 ZA

The City of St. Catharines continues to review its Zoning By-law and is conducting a Housekeeping Amendment. The purpose is to address recent changes to the Planning Act by the Government of Ontario, amend policies to improve interpretation and application, and to correct grammar, punctuation and formatting.

The key elements of the Amendment include:

• Permissions for two additional residential units (accessory dwelling units) with detached, semi-detached, or townhouse dwellings, including size, height, setbacks, and parking. This includes updated standards for detached accessory dwelling units.
• Permissions for duplex, triplex and fourplex dwellings within the Low Density – Suburban Neighbourhood (R1) Zone and elimination of quadruplex dwellings from all zones, as the term is redundant and synonymous with the existing definition of townhouse dwelling.
• Updating definitions for lot lines, yards, and encroachments, such as decks, patios, and porches (platform structures).
• Revising parking space dimensions, bicycle and accessible parking requirements and introducing parking area requirements, such as minimum drive aisle widths.
• Definitions relating to landscaped open space and landscape buffers and inclusion of maximum hard landscaping coverage.
• Inclusion of a transition clause, updated page numbers, revised section numbers, and other various formatting elements.

Updated amendment materials are available for review and comment online at EngageSTC.ca/Zoning or in person at the Planning and Building Services Department at City Hall at 50 Church Street in St. Catharines.

Given that the subject amendment regulates the use of lands throughout the geographic boundaries of the City of St. Catharines, a key map has not been provided with this notice.

Public Meeting

City Council is hosting a Legislated Public Meeting on March 18, 2024, to receive input and comment on the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment, after which Council will consider staff's recommendation on the amendment and make a decision on the matter. 

Date: Monday, March 18, 2024
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: This meeting will be held at Council Chambers, City Hall, 50 Church Street, St. Catharines. You can also participate electronically. 

visit stcatharines.ca/Council for information on how to access and participate in the meeting, and how to request and make a delegation before Council.

Written submissions must be received by noon the Thursday before the public meeting by mailing or delivering them to:

City of St. Catharines Legal and Clerk Services /City's Clerks Division, City Hall
50 Church Street, P.O. Box 3012
St. Catharines, ON L7R 7C2
Refer to file No: 23 114781 ZA

Email submissions may also be made by noon the day of the public meeting and directed to clerks@stcatharines.ca. Both oral and written comments and recommendations received will be taken into account by City Council in making a decision on the subject matter. 

Important Public Meeting Information

1. If a person or public body would otherwise have the ability to appeal the decision of Council of the City of St. Catharines to the Ontario Land Tribunal but the person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or make written submissions to the City of St. Catharines before the by-law is passed, the person or public body is not entitled to appeal the decision.
2. If a person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or make written submissions to Council of the City of St. Catharines before the by-law is passed, the person or public body may not be added as a party to the hearing of an appeal before the Ontario Land Tribunal unless, in the opinion of the Tribunal, there are reasonable grounds to do so.

If you wish to be notified of the decision of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines on the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment, you must make a written request to:

City of St. Catharines Legal and Clerk Services /City's Clerks Division, City Hall
50 Church Street, P.O. Box 3012
St. Catharines, ON L7R 7C2
Refer to file No: 23 114781 ZA

For more information about this matter, including information about appeal rights, contact:

Taya Devlin, Senior Planner
Planning and Building Services Department
tdevlin@stcatharines.ca 
905.688.5601, ext. 1709 or TTY: 905.688.4889

For more information visit EngageSTC.ca/Zoning.