St. Catharines church allowed to expand onto Greenbelt land

Protected property on First Street Louth hasn’t been farmed in more than a century

New Hope Church is now two for two in convincing municipal councillors to ignore staff advice and allow it to more than double of its capacity despite being in the Greenbelt.

Representatives of the church, located at Rykert Street and First Street Louth Street, received the green light for its project from St. Catharines city council against the recommendation of its staff in April.

Wednesday, it was the Region’s planning and economic development committee’s turn. There councillors voted to allow the expansion regardless of what the staff report says.

“Council has the ability to break policy,” Welland Mayor Frank Campion said. “So when I say one size doesn’t fit all, that’s why we’re here to make this decision.

“Sometimes the policy is impractical. Sometimes the policy is illogical. This is one of those situations where the policies don’t fit the actual circumstance on the ground.”

Regional council had to approve the expansion because the proposal didn’t conform with the Region’s Official Plan or the Greenbelt Plan.

St. Catharines Coun. Haley Bateman said it was a difficult decision because of her commitment to fighting climate change and the political risk of antagonizing a large group of people in her constituency.

“This is an area of land to be protected,” Bateman said. “City staff said it. Our regional staff said it, and now we will contravene that.

“With all that’s going on with poor air quality right now, we will take down some of the 50 trees on the property and put up a parking lot. That’s going to make things worse,” she said.

The expansion will add 600 more seats to the church and bring the capacity to 1,000. The church has to hold four Sunday services to accommodate the congregation.

“I don’t think this piece of property is ever going to be farmed again,” St. Catharines Coun. Sal Sorrento said. “It hasn’t been farmed or used for agriculture for at least 100 years. For me, this is a reasonable ask.”

Craig Rohe, a planner with Upper Canada Consultants, told the committee there is a difference of opinion on interpreting Greenbelt policies, the provincial policy statement and the Region’s official plan.

“My key point that I wanted to put forward today is that the recommendation that’s before you from staff is precedented on a policy interpretation that, in my professional opinion, needs to be corrected.”

Donald Campbell, speaking on behalf of Pelham Advocates for Trees and Habitat, is a retired land-use planner who spent much of his career at the Region. He asked councillors to turn down the expansion.

“Farmers operating near urban areas such as Niagara face challenges that are much more pronounced than those in more rural areas including price and availability of land, land use conflicts, noise, dust, odour, the use of chemicals and bird bangers, wind machines and traffic.

“How is all this relevant to the New Hope application? Current land-use policy respecting agriculture is directed at protecting agricultural land from development — and maintaining the conditions for farmers to continue viable operations and adapt to changing conditions.”