🗳️ Voting opens Monday. Here's where they actually disagree

~ NOTL News Crew

This is the last issue before anyone in NOTL can cast a ballot. Online voting opens Monday morning, and the final council candidates forum is tonight, so if you've been waiting to tune in, the window is closing. Council already held its last meeting of the term, and there are no meetings at all in October while the town decides who sits around the table next. Meanwhile it's a full fall weekend: free admission at the Museum for Culture Days, three pottery studios opening their doors, and a fire hall full of trucks for the kids to climb on. One new thing this week: NOTL News now has a Real Estate Corner. You'll find it right after the Briefing.

Starting Monday at 10am, you can vote in NOTL's municipal election from your couch. Online voting runs until 8pm on Sunday, Oct. 25. You'll need the Voter Information Card that's been landing in mailboxes. If you'd rather vote in person, there are two advance polls: Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Town Hall in Virgil (10am to 8pm) and Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Community Centre on Anderson Lane (10am to 6pm). Election Day is Monday, Oct. 26, 10am to 8pm, and you can vote at any of the five polling stations: the Community Centre, Crossroads Public School, St. Davids Public School, the Holiday Inn Express in Glendale, or the Laura Secord Homestead in Queenston. No card in your mailbox yet? Call the Town at 905-468-3266 or email [email protected].

That's the how. The harder part is the who.

Eleven people are running for six council seats. Forums tend to blur together, but at last Friday's NOTL Residents Association forum, in front of more than 200 people at Crossroads, six of them (Tim Balasiuk, Sandra O'Connor, Karen Jones-Taylor, Maria Mavridis, Andrew Niven and Rick Mills) got pushed on questions where their answers actually differed. Jones-Taylor called it "the most horrifying night" of her life, then said it was worth it.

Changing the Official Plan. This is the big one, because amendments are how development that doesn't fit the rules gets approved anyway. Niven took the hardest line: "One amendment is too many for me." Jones-Taylor also opposes them, Mills said exceptions should be minimal and reserved for serious circumstances, and O'Connor said they should be extraordinary, not the norm. Balasiuk and Mavridis said applications still have to be judged one at a time on their merits. "Every application is different," said Mavridis, who noted she's opposed some of the multi-amendment proposals that came to council.

Strong mayor powers. The province has handed NOTL's head of council powers to override council on certain decisions. Niven, O'Connor and Mavridis oppose them. Mills doesn't support them but wouldn't promise never to use them. Jones-Taylor said it depends partly on who's in the Lord Mayor's chair. Balasiuk gave the strongest defence, saying they helped streamline this year's budget and saved taxpayers money. O'Connor and Mavridis credited the new CAO for that instead.

Flooding. Balasiuk, who lost his basement to four feet of water twice in five days, pointed to $433,000 just set aside to map and assess storm sewers. Niven wants the town to stop reacting and start planning long-term, starting with drainage and sewage in St. Davids. O'Connor said the one-in-100-year storm standard needs rethinking and flagged how much of a lot can now be paved over. Mills and Jones-Taylor want more ditch maintenance before problems hit.

Tourism. Everyone agreed it matters; they split on short-term rentals. Niven and Balasiuk both floated caps on unhosted rentals, Balasiuk suggesting a one-in, one-out approach. O'Connor wants residents first and the Town's short-term rental recommendations revisited. Mills, who grew up in Old Town, had the line of the night: NOTL "used to go to sleep for the winter. Now it doesn't even nap."

The one thing all six agreed on: council votes should be recorded, so residents can see who voted how.

The other five council candidates (Weston Miller, Steve McGuinness, Nicholas Colaneri, Gary Burroughs and Adriana Cater-Vizzari) get their turn tonight at Crossroads Public School, 1350 Niagara Stone Rd. Doors open at 5:30, the forum runs 6:30 to 9pm. If you can't make it, the NOTLRA has posted full recordings of the earlier forums, including the Lord Mayor debate, on its YouTube channel (@NOTL_RA), plus a printable candidate scorecard if you want to take notes.

Results come Oct. 27. The new council is sworn in Nov. 24. Between now and then, you've got three weeks and a lot of ways to vote. Use one.

The Ford government plans to cut Niagara's regional council from 32 members to 13: the region's 12 mayors plus a chair appointed by the premier. That would eliminate 19 elected regional seats. The chair would get "strong chair" powers to propose budgets, veto bylaws, direct staff and hire and fire, and votes would be weighted by population, which isn't great news for a town NOTL's size. It's set to take effect in November, right after the election, which is why there's no regional councillor race on your ballot this time. (NOTL's current regional councillor, Andrea Kaiser, is running for Lord Mayor.) Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and seven other mayors have signed a letter pushing back, asking that the chair's powers be limited and that weighted voting be replaced by a "double majority" (support from at least half the municipalities, representing at least half the population). "I just don't see how efficiency can trump democracy by an appointed chair," said Coun. Sandra O'Connor. Coun. Erwin Wiens warned the whole debate becomes moot if NOTL ends up amalgamated.

The David Secord House at 46 Paxton Lane in St. Davids was built in 1799 and survived fires set during the War of 1812. Its owner, Hummel Properties, is restoring the stone house and adding three wings connected by glass: a bedroom wing, a sunroom facing Four Mile Creek and a garage with living space. Town staff said the north addition was too big and would hide the historic house from the street. The Municipal Heritage Committee backed all three, and council sided with the committee after Coun. O'Connor's motion to follow staff failed. Council candidate Nicholas Colaneri argued against any additions: "For an artifact, Indiana Jones would be telling us it belongs in a museum, but because it's a house, it's hard to do." Coun. Wiens called the outcome "a significant achievement" for getting the home usable again.

The Town has launched the Queen Street Secondary Plan, a long-term blueprint for the heart of Old Town covering heritage, growth, parking, pedestrian safety, patios and street vendors, infrastructure and the edges where downtown meets the residential streets around it. Consultants The Biglieri Group are leading it in four phases, with three possible concepts for the street and two in-person open houses before a draft goes to council. "Queen Street is the heart of our Heritage District," said Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa. Engagement dates aren't posted yet; watch the Town's Join the Conversation page. Fresh off last week's parking debate, this is where those opinions should go.

CAO Nick Ruller's end-of-term report says 80.3% of the 127 measures in council's strategic plan are complete or on target, 73.2% fully complete. Highlights include the new Official Plan, the Glendale secondary plan and the expanded Old Town heritage district, which more than triples the town's designated heritage properties, from 249 to 782. The number to remember is less flattering: the Town's infrastructure is worth $1.07 billion, and it's short $13.08 million a year on what it needs to maintain it. Coun. O'Connor questioned some of the "complete" labels, especially on climate: "For me, I haven't seen these completed." Public Works director Jordan Frost said an item counts as complete once the process is in place, even if the work continues.

Council unanimously approved a five-year accessibility plan running to 2031, covering sidewalk surveys, accessible washrooms, website improvements and a fenced park for children with disabilities. Coun. O'Connor noted it doesn't include accessible trails for people using walkers and wheelchairs, which a resident had asked for; staff will take that to the accessibility advisory committee. On the ground, the Virgil Sports Park playground has reopened with three belt swings, a tot swing, an accessible swing and a new rubberized surface.

NOTL marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a flag raising and reflective walk at Town Hall, school visits to the Landscape of Nations monument at Queenston Heights, and programming at the Museum. "Teaching about Indigenous perspectives, culture, ways of knowing and history is not the work of one day," said Julia Murray, head of Royal Oak Community School. The Museum's Amy Klassen put it simply: "People don't know, really, how deep those stories are here in our community."

St. Vincent de Paul parish on Picton Street celebrated its bicentennial on Sunday. Founded in 1826, its church was built between 1832 and 1834, and it's the oldest Catholic church in continuous use for worship in Ontario. "We're not just a vacation land here," said Rev. Peter Rowe. "It's got its uniqueness about it."

In partnership with Evan McCaughey

Evan McCaughey works NOTL and the rest of Niagara with The Sykes Real Estate Team at RE/MAX Niagara. His motto is "Local expert. Proven results." If you've got a real estate question, he's an easy call.

130 John Street. An end-unit freehold townhome with 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, an attached garage and a private fenced yard, a short walk from the lake, the shops, dinner and a tasting room.

Buying or selling in NOTL? Call or text Evan at 289-968-8128.

Three studios, one weekend, and a reason to see parts of town you usually drive past. The third annual NOTL Pottery Trail runs Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm, at Queenston Pottery (1648 York Rd.), Lakeside Pottery (755 Lakeshore Rd.) and Flax & Fire (853 Lakeshore Rd.). "We are a community, not competitors," says Queenston Pottery's Lisa Dahl, and the three styles are different enough that you'll want all three stops. Hit all three and you're entered for a door prize: a piece from each studio plus a bottle of Château des Charmes Brut. Kilns are being unloaded right before the weekend, so the shelves will be full. Saturday 1 to 4pm brings live painting and sculpture demos at Queenston; go Sunday afternoon instead and they'll put you on the wheel yourself.

NOTL Fire & Emergency Services is kicking off Fire Prevention Week with an open house Saturday, 10am to 2pm, at Station 2, 745 Warner Road in St. Davids. Free community BBQ, a bouncy castle, touch-a-truck and fire safety activities. If you've got kids who point at every fire truck that passes, this is the easiest yes of the weekend. Get there before noon, before the burger line builds.

For more than three decades, Rick Meloen was a supervisor in the Town's roads department. He grew up in Chautauqua and retired in 2009. Then he found a second career that has nothing to do with potholes, or maybe everything to do with them: figuring out where those roads came from.

This week the Niagara Foundation named him its 2026 Living Landmark, an award for people and institutions who've made an exceptional contribution to the town's culture and heritage. Recent recipients include the NOTL Museum last year, Tony Chisholm in 2024 and Ward Simpson in 2023.

Meloen is a director of the Friends of Fort George and leads historical walking tours for the NOTL Museum. His biggest project is the Upper Canada Heritage Trail, which he helped start in 2018: a plan to restore 10 kilometres of recreational path along an old railway line that ran from 1854 into the 1950s. Four kilometres are done so far, despite pandemic delays and the archaeological work that comes with digging in a town this old.

What's charming is that he'll tell you he's still learning. "I have lived here all my life and I didn't know this stuff," he said, "or I didn't realize the significance of it."

Want a taste of what he does? The Museum's historical walking tours, the kind Meloen leads, are free this weekend for Culture Days, Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 3pm. Register here.

The Town just opened the conversation on Queen Street's future. So, if you could change one thing about Queen Street, what would it be? More parking, fewer cars, different shops, something else entirely? Best answers run next week.

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