Large Pelham home could become tourist attraction, neighbours fear
Neighbours of a massive home set to be built in Pelham are worried it will become a major tourist attraction that will draw unwanted traffic to the area.
Approved through the Niagara Escarpment Commission last month, the mansion, the largest in the region, is set to be erected on 24 hectares of land at Effingham Street and Sixteen Road.
Concerned neighbours in the area have publicly criticized the development, saying its plans indicate a 1,980-square metre (22,000-square-foot) home on the property, much of it agricultural land.
Paula Chung, a spokesperson for the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, said the largest home in Niagara is currently 14,884 square feet.
The median home in Niagara is 1,277 square feet.
Its proponent, Niagara-based businessman Matthew Schrompf, said the home’s footprint shouldn’t be so much of a concern.
In an interview, he said the scope of the build, which he estimates will start in about a year, has been blown “out of proportion” by a small group of nearby residents, but welcomed by others in neighbourhood as well and that it will be “less than half” of the size its critics are describing.
“It’s frustrating. It’s been a tough go,” said Schrompf, adding the process of getting recent approval has taken close to two years.
Danielle D’Silva, senior adviser of marketing and communications for the escarpment commission, said the mansion’s footprint will be 1,575 square metres (17,500 square feet) and the total of two associated garages are 495 square metres (5,500 square feet).
Schrompf said eight hectares of the property will be designated for the home and its surrounding yard, while 16 hectares of concord grapes will be maintained and not lost.
Critics are taking the position it will be a colossal abode too grand for the area, with concerns that it will become a tourist attraction that will draw unwanted traffic to the area during construction.
A 14-day appeal period for residents who live near the proposed site to take their opposition one step further has expired, but there is still an expectation the escarpment commission should have more oversight into the size and scope of residences that may be erected in the area.
The home was given the green light last month through a 10-3 vote from the commission, the governing body that controls development within the escarpment area.
Not wanting to be overwhelmed in legal fees, coupled with a lack of confidence that the decision would be overturned after a large majority of the board voting in favour of the project — Craig Smallman, one of the concerned neighbours, said opponents are throwing in the towel.
“We couldn’t really appeal. There was no technical error made,” he said.
“It’s much more than meeting with the commission and pleading your case,” he added.
Critics who voiced their concerns hope this doesn’t set a precedent for future development, claiming there is nothing in place that imposes limits on developments in the protected area.
The latest concern is the home being touted as “the largest in the region,” a reason for people to say “let’s go down to Pelham and take a look at that monster home being built,” and take a road trip to catch a glimpse, he said.
Pelham Coun. Brian Baty, the regional government’s representative on the escarpment commission, was one of its three members to vote in opposition to the project. He is also troubled that the residential development has been endorsed at the site.
“You’re taking 20 acres of prime agricultural land totally out of farming,” said Baty. “It’s a finite resource in terms of what we should be preserving.”
Baty hopes the project will be used as an example of work that needs to be done at the escarpment commission.
“I still think there is and should be future opportunities to discuss it further in terms of what the ramifications are, and what limits and controls ought to be in place,” he said.
The project does not need to be approved by the Town of Pelham, as only comments for the commission’s permit application were required.
Shannon Larocque, the town’s senior planner, said the build is allowed because it equates to only one per cent lot coverage and is set to be constructed on land that is not actively farmed.