🅿️ $75,716 for one parking space

~ NOTL News Crew

Your final property tax installment is due today, so if that's still sitting on the counter, consider this your nudge. It's been a very NOTL week otherwise. A second-generation grower from our own backyard was crowned Ontario's Grape King just as the harvest hits full swing, and a restaurant tucked into a Mary Street strip mall landed in the Michelin Guide. Voter Information Letters are starting to land in mailboxes, one month out from election day. Over at the Legion, members said goodbye to their old bar this week, torn out as part of flood repairs, a reminder that this summer's water is still costing people. And council spent a surprising amount of its Tuesday night on the question every resident and visitor has asked at some point on Queen Street: where exactly is everyone supposed to park?

Here's a number worth knowing: $75,716. That's what the Town charges, in 2026, for every parking space a business in Old Town is supposed to provide but can't. It's called cash-in-lieu, and on paper it's how NOTL makes development pay its share when there's no room to pave.

On Tuesday, council got two chances to apply it. It took neither.

First up was the Scotsman Hotel at 95 Johnson Street. Owners Blair and Brenda McArthur wanted to reclassify the property from a country inn to a hotel so they could serve food and drinks in the lounge and courtyard. Under the rules, a six-suite hotel needs 12 parking spaces. The Scotsman has eight. Four missing spaces at $75,716 each comes to $302,864, a bill McArthur called "a significant hurdle for the Scotsman to overcome."

So council approved a valet plan instead. Guests park in stacked spaces, and staff shuffle cars when someone needs out. Planning director Aimee Alderman framed it as "an enhancement of guest services." Coun. Wendy Cheropita, who moved the valet option, called it "a very good solution." The math on paper works: eight real spaces become 12 functional ones, as long as someone is there to move the cars.

Then came the Olde Angel Inn. Its patio at 226 Regent Street opened in 2020 under the Town's temporary pandemic program, grew into a 210-square-metre space licensed for 137 people, and was forced to close last December when that program ended. The patio would normally need seven parking spaces. It has zero. Council approved a temporary two-year bylaw letting it reopen (along with two cottage rentals on the property), on the condition that the restaurant and patio lots get merged into one legal property. Only councillors Andrew Niven and Tim Balasiuk voted against. "If after two years the owner determines that they are not looking to or can't merge the properties, the patio will need to cease," Alderman said.

Neither decision is outrageous on its own. The Scotsman and the Olde Angel are exactly the kind of businesses that make Old Town worth visiting, and a $300,000 bill for a six-room hotel is the kind of number that ends conversations. A patio full of people on Regent Street is better for the street than an empty lot.

But put them side by side and a pattern shows up. The official rules say parking in Old Town is scarce and expensive. The actual decisions say the rules bend when the business is well liked and the alternative is losing it. That's a reasonable instinct. It's also how you end up with a downtown where the parking problem everyone complains about never gets any smaller, because nobody ever pays into fixing it.

That's why the timing matters. The Town's Comprehensive Parking Study is looking at parking availability, accessibility, operations and long-term fixes across all five urban areas, and the public surveys close Wednesday, September 30. There's one for residents and visitors and a separate one for business owners and employees, both on the Town's Join the Conversation site.

If you've got an opinion about parking in Old Town, and everyone in NOTL has an opinion about parking in Old Town, this is the week to actually put it somewhere that counts.

The NOTL Residents Association's second forum runs tonight at Crossroads Elementary (1350 Niagara Stone Rd.), with Tim Balasiuk, Sandra O'Connor, Karen Taylor-Jones, Maria Mavridis, Andrew Niven and Rick Mills on stage. Doors 5:30, forum 6:30 to 9pm, no registration needed. The remaining five council candidates get their turn Friday, Oct. 2. Then the calendar: online voting opens Oct. 5 at 10am and runs to 8pm Oct. 25; advance in-person voting is Oct. 7 at Town Hall and Oct. 17 at the Community Centre; election day is Oct. 26. No Voter Information Letter by early October? Call 905-468-3266 or email [email protected].

The Lake Report asked every NOTL candidate about tariffs, the "51st state" talk and the idea of renaming Lake Ontario. Thirteen of fourteen came out firmly against. "We are not the 51st state, nor will we ever be," said Lord Mayor candidate Andrea Kaiser. The lone holdout, Karen Taylor-Jones, declined to share a personal view, arguing municipal candidates should stick to local issues. For a town that lives on cross-border tourism and agriculture, it's not a purely abstract question.

The St. Davids all-candidates night at the Lions Club was going the way these things go until Millpond Road resident Reginald Huggins stood up during closing remarks. His home has had sewage back up three times in two years, forcing him to tear out his basement and spend a month in hotels. Candidates pointed to the Region's pumping stations and the province. Huggins left before it wrapped: "To be honest with you, there is nobody up there that would get my vote." One thing residents can actually do right now: if your home, business or farm flooded this summer, fill out the Town's new Flood Recovery Data Collection Form, even if you already reported it through My.NOTL. It asks about damage, cleanup costs and insurance, and the Town will use it to make the case for provincial Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO) funding. It's online, and staff at Town Hall will help you fill it out during business hours. There's no deadline, but the Town is asking for it as soon as possible. Filling it out doesn't guarantee any money, but it's the evidence the Town needs to ask for it.

A proposal at 189 William Street would demolish the existing home, split the lot in two, and allow up to 45 per cent lot coverage on each, well above the usual 33. Neighbours told council Tuesday the block already struggles with drainage and more hard surface will make it worse. "When you make an increase from 33 to 45 there should be a good rationale for it," said Michael Fox. No decision yet; staff will come back with a recommendation.

If you drive Line 3 between Concession 3 and Concession 4, plan around it: reconstruction starts in October and runs roughly 14 weeks, weather permitting, with lane reductions and closures as needed and detour signs posted. The work covers the road itself plus drainage and safety improvements. Questions go to Robert Alguire at the Town, 905-468-3266 ext. 283.

Council unanimously agreed Sept. 17 to let Marz Homes design and build the public park at its Modero Estates development, west of Concession 7 between York and Queenston roads, in exchange for a development charge credit. Construction could start next spring, meaning the park may open in 2027 instead of years after the homes fill up. The developer pegs the cost at $1.27 million; Town staff expect roughly $850,000 in eligible credits.

Steve Pohorly of Riverbend Farms was officially installed as Ontario's Grape King on Sept. 16, a 70-year-old title the Grape Growers of Ontario give to a grower who stands out for vineyard management, industry knowledge and community work. His parents Frank and Susan started the 50-acre family farm in 1971; Steve now runs its 30 acres of wine grapes and has been a director with the growers' association for nearly 20 years. "Our homegrown VQA wines can stand shoulder to shoulder with any wine region in the world," he said. He spends the next year as the face of the industry, right as this year's harvest comes in.

Last week's Feature has an ending: the supercar weekend raised a record $62,500 for MacKids at McMaster Children's Hospital, more than double its $30,000 target and five times last year's $12,500. Organizers say more than 30,000 people turned out for the parade and car festival, with about 1,000 ticketed guests and 140+ sponsors, most of whom plan to return in 2027. Whatever you made of the yachts and the influencers, that's a real number for MacKids.

Sunday's run through Simcoe Park came in at $77,106 against a $140,300 goal, and NOTL has now raised more than $2 million for cancer research since the first local run in 1991. Organizer Joan King has run it for nearly 20 years. "[Terry] ran out of time, but we have the time to make a difference," she said. Donations to the local campaign are still open at terryfox.org if you want to help close the gap.

The School of Restoration Arts at Willowbank marked its 20th anniversary last Saturday with an open house and $163,000 in donations, which the federal government will match up to $193,000. The money goes toward stabilizing the mansion's northwest wall and adding an internal fire staircase, which opens up the third floor for more classes and community programs.

That tall, feathery reed crowding out ditches and shorelines across Niagara is phragmites, and it's an invasive species that chokes out native plants and wildlife habitat. Ontario announced $83,000 for Niagara partners this week at Niagara College's NOTL campus, part of a $5-million provincial program. The local collaborative includes the Town, the college, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and the Region, and about 48.5 hectares of phragmites have been mapped across the watershed. Treatment at Woodend Conservation Area starts this fall. If you've got it on your property, now you know what it is.

When Michelin's inspectors wrote up Revé, they led with the location: "hidden away in an unremarkable strip mall in Niagara-on-the-Lake." Then they got to the food. Revé, at 242 Mary Street, was named to the 2026 Michelin Guide Toronto & Region when the selection came out Sept. 22, one of only two NOTL restaurants in the guide alongside Trius.

It's been a big month for them. Revé was also named one of 30 finalists for Air Canada's Best New Restaurants 2026, with the Top 10 announced Nov. 16.

What earned the attention: a tasting menu built around hyper-local ingredients cooked over open flame. The inspectors describe a warm, elegant room with spacious tables facing a chef's counter and a roaring grill, an "ambitious" menu where the chef tells personal stories through the plating, and service that's "sleek and professional." The restaurant was started by a group of four partners.

Why it matters for NOTL: Michelin recognition puts a restaurant on the map for a whole different kind of visitor, and Revé wasn't the only Niagara name on the list: St. Catharines' Les Incompetents got a Bib Gourmand and oddBird was recognized too. The fact that one of ours is sitting in a strip mall, not a heritage building on Queen Street, is the best part of the story.

The dining room is open Thursday to Sunday, 5 to 9pm. October and November reservations are open and, fair warning, filling fast.

Parking is having a moment this week. So tell us: when you head into Old Town, where do you actually park, and what would make it easier? Best answers run next week. And if you want your answer to count officially, the Town's parking survey is open until Sept 30.

Just hit reply to this email.