Last week, members of the Welland City Council heard from representatives of concerned residents and the developer of the Hunter’s Pointe Development project. Stakeholders were given the opportunity to have their views shared with the Council during a public meeting which took place on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
New controversy with respect to the Hunter’s Pointe Development has manifested as the developer, the ZSM Development Group, requests that Condition 92 be removed as a requirement of the Hunter’s Pointe Redevelopment project.
Condition 92 dictates that an overpass must be built across Highway 406, no later than the time at which 600 (approximately half) of the project’s homes have been constructed, in preparation for an expected traffic increase.
“There are two primary reasons why Council should delete Condition number 92,” said Mark Flowers of Davies Howe LLP, the law firm representing the developer. “First, Condition 92 is contrary to section 59 of the Development Charges Act, which prohibits a municipality from imposing, by way of a condition of approval, a charge related to a development or a requirement to construct a service related to a development except for local services.”
“And in this case, it is evident that neither an overpass over Highway 406, from the subject lands to Oxford Road, nor road upgrades on Oxford Road to Atlas Avenue would constitute local services for the purposes of that section of the Development Charges Act,” he continued.
The Development Charges Act first came into effect in 1997. It has since been amended on numerous occasions, including most recently on Jan. 6, 2025.
“Secondly, Condition 92 is not a reasonable condition as there is no need for an overpass or improvement on Oxford Road to accommodate the development on the subject lands,” Flowers argued. “And, as a reminder, when this matter came before Council in 2020, approval of the application was fully supported by a staff report dated May 26th, 2020, without any overpass or Oxford Road improvements as a condition.”
The Council also heard from Ken Beard of the Highland Residents Association.
“You know, in fairness, we have been here before… and we have dialogued about this before, and in your great wisdom, after hearing all of the arguments, you absolutely made this (Condition 92) a condition for this property,” Beard shared as he began his remarks.
“And we stand before you tonight, or sit before you tonight, absolutely opposed, in every respect possible, that this second access point would not be a condition of this property,” he said with great emphasis.
“First of all, I want to say, we did not receive any sort of rationale from Mr. Flowers, prior to this evening, and I’ll just state that I find his generalizations and assumptions about this annoying, because there’s no factual data being presented here… he talks about the local traffic, local service… that’s exactly what this overpass is intended for.”
Council was provided with the opportunity to ask questions regarding the developer’s request that Condition 92 be removed, prior to debating next steps following the meeting. It was ultimately determined that an information report be prepared by staff and then provided to the Council.
“We are now in the process where this is in the hands of staff to come back with a report… (on) whether to approve or not,” said Vice Mayor and Ward 2 Councillor David McLeod.
Nick Redekop completed his Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Labour Studies at Brock University. He has previously served in municipal and federal politics. In his free time, Nick enjoys following sports, taking part in outdoor activities, and reading biographies. Nick resides in Niagara Falls
