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The Council of the Corporation of the City of St. Catharines, at its meeting on March 17, 2025, refused a request for an application to amend Zoning By-law 2013-283 under Section 34 of the Planning Act for the lands described as Firstly: LT 1150-1152 CP PL 2 GRANTHAM; PT LT 1153 CP PL 2 GRANTHAM AS IN RO775724 THIRDLY DESCRIBED; ST. CATHARINES and Secondly: LT 1200 CP PL 2 GRANTHAM; ST. CATHARINES, municipally known as 37 Ontario St. and 3 Ontario Ln.
The applicant was seeking approval to amend the Zoning By-law to facilitate the construction of a thirty-three (33) storey, mixed-use building containing commercial space, office space and 308 residential units.
The City’s Official Plan designates the subject lands as Downtown on schedule D1 and further designates the lands as Commercial Core on Schedule E10.
The Zoning By-law designates 37 Ontario St. as Downtown Traditional Main Street with Special Provision 92 (C6-92) and 3 Ontario Lane is designated Local Convenience Commercial with Special Provision 93 (C1-93). The applicant proposed to rezone the entirety of the subject lands to Downtown Traditional Main Street with a new Special provision to establish a number of site-specific zoning provisions to facilitate the proposed building including carrying forward some existing exemptions from minimum parking requirements, establishing a site-specific maximum building height, reducing the minimum building façade width, and reducing the percentage of the ground floor façade dedicated to openings.
The Zoning By-law Amendment for 37 Ontario St. and 3 Ontario Ln. was denied for the reasons and explanations stated and expressed at the City’s Council meeting on Monday, March 17, 2025.
All written and oral submissions related to the application that were made at the public meeting have been taken into consideration by Council as part of its deliberation and final decision.
Legal Notice
The last day for filing a notice of appeal is April 15, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. 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-law(s) 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/
The decision of council is final if a notice of appeal is not received on or before the last day for filing a notice of appeal.
With Bill 185 receiving Royal Assent, 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.
For more information about this matter, including information about appeal rights, please contact Charlotte McEwan, Senior Planner, Planning and Building Services Department at 905.680.7175, via email at cmcewan@stcatharines.ca or the City’s TTY number (text telephone) at 711.
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