Hotel expansion gets by-law amendment

By Mark Ribble

Leamington Council approved a zoning by-law amendment at 279 Erie Street South as part of a public meeting held on June 28.

The meeting was presided over by Deputy Mayor Larry Verbeke in the absence of Mayor Hilda MacDonald.

The by-law amendment received a report to council from administration on the amendment, which asked council to consider approval before proceeding any further with an expansion project at the Quality Inn property.

A previous amendment request by the applicant had been deferred from a meeting earlier this spring, with time to make some changes and submit a planning justification report. The property is currently zoned Commercial Highway Zone (C2-9).

The plan proposes a demolition of 16 existing rooms and construction of a five-storey addition of 29 rooms, a new 460 sq. metre banquet facility and on-site parking. There will be a total of 72 rooms, the meeting/banquet hall and 116 parking spaces, plus four barrier-free parking spaces.

Applicants asked for the amendment to decrease landscaped open spaces, property setbacks and parking requirements. The current by-law would require 127 parking spaces.

The applicants were present at the meeting to answer questions and assure council that parking was adequate for the facility.

The design was circulated among the public early in June with no written or oral comments coming forward.

Councillor John Hammond was concerned about the residences to the immediate south of the hotel property and how they would be impacted, while Councillor Paul Tiessen was concerned about the parking requirements.

Applicant Dharmesh Patel stated that feedback from the neighbours has been very positive.

“We have a real issue with parking already,” said Councillor Tiessen. “What happens when the parking lot is full? We already know that the Shoppers plaza can get full already.”

Tiessen added that reducing the number of rooms to add parking spaces would not be his preference.

“This is a great addition to Leamington and is much needed,” he said. “Is it possible to reduce the size of the banquet area?”

David Barnard, representing applicants Dharmesh and Ravi Patel, spoke on the parking issue and what the parking study done by the applicants represented.

“I’m sure your by-law was written back in the ’90s, but times have changed,” he said. “The study is more informed, more up to today’s trends on what the parking should be. We’ve gone over and above in this application to actually look at and analyze the parking.”

“For the last three years, I’ve been tracking the parking every night and we still continue to do so,” added Dharmesh Patel. “Even when we’re sold out, we’ve never used up the whole parking lot.”

“Our hotel is more of a corporate hotel in those events, most of the companies that send people, they all carpool,” he added. “I can understand if every person had a car, but we’ve never experienced that.”

Council was then put to a vote, and they passed the by-law amendment unanimously.

Under the provisions of the Planning Act, the by-law amendment will now be circulated and a 20-day period will commence where objections can be made to the Ontario Land Tribunal.