City of Niagara Falls receives an appeal of non-decision for Upper's Quarry

NIAGARA FALLS, ON— In December of 2021, the City received an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application from Walker Aggregates Inc. to permit a Quarry on the lands between Thorold Townline Road and Beechwood Road on either side of Uppers Lane. This application was in process and scheduled to be considered later this fall. On August 14, 2024 the City of Niagara Falls received an appeal of non-decision on the Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendment application from Walker Aggregates Inc. This appeal also included the appeal on the Region’s Official Plan amendment application.
 
Under the Planning Act, the applicant can appeal an application where no decision has been made by Council within 120 days of submission of a complete application, to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) for a hearing.  

This appeal means that the City will not be bringing forward a recommendation report on the subject applications and there will be no decision of Council on this matter.  The decision will be made by the OLT.  
 
The City is now processing the appeal and preparing the appeal package in accordance with Section 34(23) and 22 (9) of the Planning Act which includes all relevant material received to be sent to the Ontario Land Tribunal by August 29th, 2024. As part of the appeal process, the City will be forwarding all public comments to the OLT as well as the contact information of all participants to date to assist the OLT in contacting interested persons who may want to participate in the Hearing.
 
For further information on the OLT and the process of participation, including becoming a participant or a party to such proceedings, please visit this link:  https://olt.gov.on.ca/

Background:

• The Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendment application proposed to develop a quarry with associated processing and recycling of aggregate material, including asphalt and concrete, and a concrete or asphalt mixing plant on the lands.
• The applicant (Walker Aggregates Inc.) has also submitted applications to the Region of Niagara to amend the Regional Policy Plan, as well as to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) for a Category 2 (Below Water Quarry) – Class A License under the Aggregate Resources Act.
• The City had been working on the review of the applications, which included the formation of a Joint Agency Review Team (JART), a peer review of studies submitted to support the application by third party experts, feedback and comments from the public as well as comments from the Community Focus Group sessions. The City released the JART report to the applicant late on August 12th, 2024 and has since placed the JART report on the City’s Let’s Talk page.
• The City has been maintaining public information on the application and its proceedings, including background expert studies, peer reviews, and the JART report. This information can be found on the following page: https://letstalk.niagarafalls.ca/uppers-quarry
• More information can also be found at Home of the Proposed Upper's Quarry | Walker Aggregates (uppersquarry.ca) and Regional Official Plan Amendments - Niagara Region, Ontario

For more information, contact:
Kira Dolch
General Manager Planning, Building and Development
City of Niagara Falls 
[email protected]