Niagara-on-the-Lake Local received the following letter about development.
Land Developers buy properties for which they hope to be able to increase the intensity of use in order to increase the financial value and therefore be profitable for their companies. After the developments are built and sold, they take their profits and repeat the process. That’s their business plan. The lasting effects that their developments have on the community are never considered.
Town councillors are elected by the residents and other property owners to be their voice and to represent their best interests. Recent decisions made by the majority of our councillors to change residentially-zoned lands into tourist commercial zonings suggests that the developers’ best interests are more important to them than those of the community and its residents.
The latest approvals were given to two new hotels which simply left the developers with higher land values and less housing for our residents. I think that we deserve an explanation from councillors who voted in favour of the developers and obviously against the wishes of the community of the Old Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
R. Wayne Murray, B.ARCH, OAA, MRAIC
Niagara-on-the-Lake
