Public Meeting Notice - 2360 First Street

The Planning and Building Services Department has received an application for a Zoning By- law Amendment and Official Plan Amendment for lands located at 2360 First Street Louth. The application was declared complete on Jan. 13, 2023, in accordance with the Planning Act, based on the information submitted with the application and a preliminary review by staff.

The application proposes an additional 2,402 m2 of building coverage for an existing place of worship on the subject lands. The proposal includes an expansion to the parking area and a new driveway access from Rykert Street. The enclosed plan provides a conceptual site layout of the proposed development.

The City’s Official Plan currently designates the majority of the land Agriculture, and a portion of the land as Natural Area to protect a watercourse that crosses the property. Section 15.7 of the Official Plan permits a place of worship serviced by private water and sanitary sewers on the subject lands. However, the church is a non-agricultural use, and the Official Plan does not permit the expansion of non-agriculture uses where they such an expansion is not already permitted by the Zoning by-law. Therefore, to facilitate the proposed expansion, the applicant has requested an amendment to the official plan to permit the expansion of the existing non-agriculture use.

The City’s Zoning By-law currently zones the majority of the land Agriculture (A1-85). A section of the land is zoned Natural/Conservation Area (G1) to protect a watercourse that crosses the site. Special provision 85 permits a place of worship serviced by private servicing systems on the property, subject to site-specific maximum lot coverage and building height, and minimum yards, parking requirements, landscape buffers.

The applicant has requested an amendment to Special Provision 85 of the Zoning By-law as follows:

• Increased of the maximum lot coverage from 5 per cent to 9.1 per cent.
• Reduction of the front yard setback from 50 metres from the Rykert Street property line to 42 meters from the Rykert Street property line.
• Reduction of the exterior side yard setback from 34 metres to 21.76 metres.

The application materials are available for review and comment and may be found at www.stcatharines.ca/development as well as at the Planning and Building Services Department, City Hall.

Legislated Public Meeting

City Council is hosting a Legislated Public Meeting on April 3, 2023 to receive input and comment on the proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments, after which Council will consider staff’s recommendation on the amendments.

Details of the Legislated Public Meeting are as follows:

Date: Monday, April 3, 2023
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Meeting will be held 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, L2R 7C2

Emailed submissions may also be made by noon the day of the public meeting and directed to clerks@stcatharines.ca. Both oral and written comments 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 an 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 Council of 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, L2R 7C2
Refer to File No: 22 115658 ZA

Contact

For more information about this matter, including information about appeal rights, please contact Charlotte McEwan, Planner I, Planning and Building Services Department at 905.688.5601, ext. 1716 or via email at cmcewan@stcatharines.ca or the City’s TTY number (text telephone) at 905.688.4889.