News from Niagara on the Lake – Ontario Land Tribunal rejects appeal on Rand Estate decision: Jan. 30, 2025 The Lake Report

I subscribe to an email version of The Lake Report, a newspaper based in Niagara on the Lake. This is a first-rate newspaper; I follow its articles with much interest.

Rear of the Rand Estate at 588 Charlotte, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Nov. 1, 2018. Source: Nov. 12, 2018 SORE article.

I’ve written in the past about the Rand Estate; you can use the search engine at this site to find previous posts about this topic.

I owe thanks to Mike James, who lives in Niagara on the Lake (NOTL), for keeping me informed about the Rand Estate. Again, you can do a search for “Mike James” at this website to find out more about Mike’s involvement with land use planning issues in NOTL and elsewhere.

The article in The Lake Report, the topic of the current post, is by Zahraa Hmood, who notes that “Developer Solmar’s appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal to reconsider its decision last October on the proposed Rand Estate subdivision has been denied.”

As well:

During a lengthy trial, the developer went up against the Town of Niagara-on-the- Lake, resident group Save Our Rand Estate and neighbours to the development, Blair and Brenda McArthur, looking for the tribunal to approve alteration and demolition permits allowing the company to build its subdivision on the estate’s two properties, 200 John St. E. and 588 Charlotte St.

The tribunal ruled that the site could be developed to add housing to NOTL, but highlighted issues with the state of Solmar’s subdivision plan, advising the developer to revisit the draft and make changes so the plan could be approved.

Solmar filed a request for the tribunal to review four points where the company argues the tribunal made key errors — however, in his Jan. 28 decision on the appeal, Michael Kraljevic, chair of the Ontario Land Tribunal, explained how he disagrees with each point, ultimately dismissing all of the appeal’s core arguments.