Niagara Falls council turns thumbs-down on 5-storey apartment proposal

It’s yet another swing and a miss for a developer looking to build a five-storey apartment on Dorchester Rd. in Niagara Falls as city council gave it a unanimous “no” at Tuesday’s (July 11) meeting.

Before the meeting even began, close to 15 Dorchester-area residents were lined up to speak against the proposal, which would have housed 74 new units, so it was a fairly contentious issue in the neighbourhood.

In fact, the parcel of land at 6259-6293 Dorchester Road has been the subject of a handful of development proposals over the past 20 years and has been shot down every time, in large part due to neighbourhood complaints.

However, this time, city staff has given the development proposal its approval, saying it met with the City’s Official Plan, along with Provincial and Regional policies, and will diversify the City’s housing supply.

That said, staff had also received 228 letters of disapproval from area residents – an extraordinary amount considering most public meetings on new developments draw less than 10 people.

The applicant, Angelo Butera, from Dorchester Property Holdings Inc., had previously developed the four and five storey, 154 unit apartment complex on the former Diamond Jubilee school property, situated adjacent to the two-lane Dorchester Road.

The citizens’ complaints centre around the fact that the existing neighbourhood is comprised of well-established single family homes and that a five-storey building would be incompatible with the surrounding area.