Town council defers decision on new Virgil medical centre

An application for a proposed medical building at a busy intersection in Virgil that would house family doctors, a drug store and other medical services failed to win approval from Niagara-on-the-Lake council Monday.

Instead, town council deferred a decision until next month due to concerns about the potential impact of increased traffic at the busy intersection at Line 2 and Highway 55. In the meantime, the town wants to have discussions with Niagara Region officials and the developer to look at measures to improve safety such as traffic lights or a crosswalk.

Currently, the town’s 11 family doctors are practising out of two locations and want to relocate to a 2,700-square-metre facility beside Crossroads Elementary School. Last year, doctors sent their patients a letter informing them that if the new building did not proceed, they may be forced to look for space outside Niagaraon-the-Lake.

Two weeks ago at a committeeof-the-whole meeting, the application for zoning and official plan amendments to permit the residential property to become commercial was approved by a vote of 5-3. On Monday, the deferral motion narrowly passed 4-3.

“The Niagara-on-the-Lake family health team cannot leave Niagara-on-the-Lake,” said Coun. Martin Mazza, adding that there are other properties in the town that the doctors could have chosen as there is an oversupply of commercial space.

He refuted the results of an analysis of the intersection conducted by Paradigm Traffic for the developer last spring. It concluded no measures would be necessary to accommodate the projected traffic volume if the centre was built.

“It’s a traffic nightmare now,” said Coun. Paolo Miele.

He suggested that before the application is approved, the developer, the town and the Region agree to share the costs of traffic controls at the intersection with the developer paying the bulk of them.

Community and development services director Craig Larmour said the town does not have the authority to impose those types of conditions on zoning and official plan applications. He also noted that the site plan application will be coming to the next council meeting “and there’s no way to tie a future council.”

“I think we as a council have to take some of the blame for allowing all of this development,” said Coun. Terry Flynn, referring to the volume of traffic on Highway 55 and lack of sidewalks.

The application will be back before councillors in September.