Planning and Building Services Open Houses

Online Open House Notice - 4 Welland Vale Road and 179 Ontario Street

An Open House for the proposed Zoning By-law and Official Plan Amendment applications at 4 Welland Vale Road and 179 Ontario Street will be held electronically on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 6 p.m.

The Applicant proposes to construct a three-storey apartment building containing twelve (12) residential units at 179 Ontario Street. The existing fourplex at 4 Welland Vale Road will remain. The Applicant is proposing to have the two buildings share one access off Welland Vale Road. The two buildings will also share a parking area, with four (4) spaces dedicated to the fourplex and eleven (11) spaces dedicated to the apartment building. Other site requirements such as waste collection, storage and bicycle parking will be shared between the two buildings. To facilitate this, the Applicant proposes to register a Common Element Condominium (CEC) for the portion of the lands containing the shared access, parking and other shared site functions. The CEC would be a newly created lot serving two parcels of tied land (POTL): the existing fourplex dwelling and proposed apartment building. The submitted site plan shows the conceptual site layout of the proposed development.

The City’s Official Plan currently designates 4 Welland Vale Road as Low Density Residential and 179 Ontario Street as Mixed Use. The Applicant has requested an Official Plan Amendment to redesignate 4 Welland Vale Road to Mixed Use to match 179 Ontario Street and facilitate the development with shared site functions. The Official Plan Amendment also requests to permit a standalone parking lot for the CEC lot, and to prohibit auto-related uses (e.g., car wash, motor vehicle repair garage, motor vehicle gas station).

The Zoning By-law currently zones 4 Welland Vale Road as Low Density Residential – Suburban Neighbourhood (R1) and 179 Ontario Street as Medium Density Mixed Use (M1). The Applicant has requested to rezone 4 Welland Vale Road and 179 Ontario Street to Medium Density Mixed Use (M1) with a Special Provision.

The Special Provision will address site-specific zoning matters as follows:

For the proposed apartment building (179 Ontario Street)

• Reduced parking from 1.25 spaces per unit to 0.75 spaces per unit
• Reduced lot area per dwelling unit
• Reduced lot frontage
• Encroachments for exterior staircases and landings
• Reduced setback for a balcony to the common element condominium lot
• Reduced rear yard setback and interior side yard setback to the common element condominium lot

For the existing fourplex dwelling (4 Welland Vale Road)

• Reduced rear yard setback and interior side yard setback to the common element condominium lot

For the proposed Common Element Condo lot

• Reduced landscape buffer along the western lot line
• To permit a standalone parking lot with a reduced lot frontage
• To permit vehicle and bicycle parking on a lot within 100 metres of the residential uses for the fourplex and apartment building

To prohibit the following auto-related uses: car wash, motor vehicle gas station, motor vehicle repair garage

Copies of all submitted plans and documents may be viewed by contacting the Planning and Building Services Department or by navigating to stcatharines.ca/development. Please note that the information submitted with these Applications are preliminary. Additional, revised, or further refined information will be uploaded to the City’s website via the link above as it becomes available. 

Materials

Site Plan and Rendering

Details of Online Open House

Date: April 24, 2024
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: To be held electronically via Zoom
Members of the public will be able to watch proceedings through the City’s YouTube Channel.

Residents can participate in the Open House in three different ways:

1.  By submitting questions via mail or by email to the Planner (nmacdonald@stcatharines.ca) no later than by Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
2. By registering to participate via Zoom no later than by Friday, April 19, 2024. See below for more information on electronic participation.
3. By registering to participate via telephone no later than Friday, April 19, 2024. Please call 905.688.5601 extension 1728 and leave a message with your name and phone number. Staff will respond to your voicemail prior to the open house to provide you with the call-in number and additional information.

Electronic Participation

Those wishing to participate electronically via Zoom video-conferencing technology must register by completing our online form before the date specified above. Only one individual will be permitted to speak at a time and group delegations are not permitted. 

Participants are not permitted to share visuals or materials during the open house. However, materials may be submitted in advance for the Planner to share during the open house and must be received no later than Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

Delegates may be required to participate in a test Zoom session with City staff. Testing will cover the audio and video quality of the participant's device; reviewing the process for the participant to join the meeting; and reviewing the participant process. The test session will be held Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at 10 a.m. The test session should take less than 15 minutes to complete. Note: other members of the public may be in the same test session. City staff will contact you via email with your test session information.

Register Now