Ed Smith, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

A new $40 million grant request from the City of Welland is putting Niagara Region’s taxpayer-funded incentive programs back in the spotlight, and under renewed scrutiny.

Welland Mayor Frank Campion is championing a controversial proposal that would see the Region contribute $40 million for a 52-hectare residential development along the banks of the Welland Recreational Canal. The project, known as Lock & Quay at 1 Quaker Road, is being planned by L!V Developments to deliver 4,500 housing units over 18 phases, the largest development plan in the city’s history. 

“Lock & Quay in Welland: Welland’s Largest Ever Master-Planned Community” is the way the project is being described by the developer.

“Lock & Quay is a visionary new development set against the picturesque backdrop of Welland’s gorgeous waterways. Featuring urban townhomes in a vibrant, amenity-rich community, Lock & Quay offers residents a unique lifestyle on the water…For more than 45 years, L!V has developed a reputation for designing and building exclusive, high-quality homes in desirable locations.”

The sheer size of the request has triggered special considerations at the regional level and reignited debate over whether these incentive programs represent a responsible use of taxpayer money.

Welland has already committed $40,235,000 of its own funding and is asking the Region to match it—doubling the public subsidy available to developers and investors on this project, for a total of more than $80 million in costs that would be borne by taxpayers instead of the builder seeking to maximize its profit margin through a public handout.

The application falls under the Brownfield Tax Incentive Grant (BTIG) program, intended to help offset the costs of cleaning up contaminated properties so they can be returned to productive use. In this case, the site does not meet the traditional definition of a brownfield. 

The developer, backed by the City of Welland, argues it qualifies because of a large quantity of clean-fill placed on the property. A Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment determined the actual remediation costs to be just $181,062, a fraction of what might reasonably justify a grant of this size under the Region’s original intent for the BTIG. Effectively, to offset less than $200,000 of clean-up costs to the developer, taxpayers across Welland and the rest of Niagara would be on the hook for $80 million to cover a range of construction costs not related to the actual remediation, which will involve very minor work. 

The development includes no affordable or attainable housing component, and L!V Developments made this clear to council. At the July 3 regional council meeting, L!V representatives said, “we do not have a specific guarantee on the affordability of the homes right now.” While the project will offer various housing types, they confirmed “there is no specific affordable housing component.”

This latest controversy looms as the shadow of a $50 million legacy still hangs over the region.

Late last summer The Pointer reported that Niagara Region had already committed more than $50 million in developer grants through its Smart Growth and Smarter Niagara Incentive Programs (SNIP) over the past decade. The article revealed how a 2019 audit by consulting firm KPMG found no statistical correlation between those financial incentives and growth in the tax base. The consultant concluded that taxpayers received little to no benefit from the tens of millions handed over to developers so they could enjoy increased profits:

“We do not see the value of using incentives to try to increase assessment,” KPMG consultant Oscar Poloni told councillors in 2019. “Statistically, it simply does not exist.”

KPMG was stating that there is no correlation between these grants to private developers and long term benefits for the community. Taxpayers were paying out of their own pocket to increase the profits of private builders who enjoyed tens of millions in public subsidies. Despite this, Niagara Regional Council voted at that meeting in September 2024 to extend key incentive programs for an additional 18 months, largely due to the efforts of one of the program’s most vocal defenders: St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe.

Mayor Siscoe has emerged as one of the most vocal political advocates for Niagara Region’s controversial incentive programs to benefit developers. At council meetings, he has repeatedly argued that such incentives are essential to attract development and revitalize urban areas—yet he has offered little more than anecdotal evidence to support those claims. 

Siscoe has repeatedly said publicly that every tax dollar from residential units built after an incentive was granted to a developer is proof of how valuable these taxpayer handouts are. He has failed to explain why the incentives were needed in the first place, when the City gets to establish the number of residential units it wishes to bring on-line, then issues building approvals and permits to those private investors who make profits from the growth St. Catharines supports through its planning process.

Urban planning experts have shown that incentives are not needed to get housing built, they are often just handouts to increase private-sector profits.

Siscoe has not provided proof that any project was built because of the public funding, while the developers extracted as much money from taxpayers as council members such as Siscoe allowed. 

A Freedom of Information request to the City of St. Catharines revealed that many of the projects Siscoe has highlighted as successes—used to justify tens of millions in public handouts—have either declared bankruptcy or remain unbuilt years after receiving approval.

Siscoe has also continued to push for increased flexibility in how and where funds can be distributed, including allowing projects to access grants retroactively. His influence was instrumental in ensuring that the developer incentives didn’t expire in 2024 and now that decision is shaping the Region’s ability to respond to Welland’s request.

Critics of the matching $40 million grant request from Welland now before Regional Council see it as a calculated stretching of the brownfield definition to unlock millions in public funds for a development that offers no tangible social benefit.

St. Catharines Regional Councillor Brian Heit didn’t hide his concern when talking to The Pointer: “No responsible level of government should offer automatic matching grants based solely on the spending decisions of lower-tier municipalities. Fiscal responsibility demands that any request for taxpayer dollars undergo independent review, rigorous scrutiny, and approval at the regional level.”

Heit added, “Our own staff informs us that this application does not address our funding priorities. That should be enough for us to turn it down.”

A long-time advocate for accountability in public spending, Heit has consistently argued that if taxpayer dollars are to be used to support private development, there must be a strong social component. “If there is no affordable housing, no brownfield cleanup, no real social value to the development, then we should not be granting taxpayer money to it.” 

Heit’s sentiments are amplified by others on regional council who decry the use of taxpayer funds to build expensive residential developments that many taxpayers can’t even afford in a time of growing fiscal restraint and exploding demands on the regional budget.

Speaking in opposition to the grant, Niagara-on-the-Lake Mayor Gary Zalepa said the four-hour meeting had laid bare what he described as the “fundamental flaw” in the Region’s grant programs: local municipalities set their own rules for awarding incentives, while the Region has no ability to control or override those decisions. “As a regional policy maker, I do not accept that,” he stated.

Zalepa stressed that he could not support “a motion that opens up a $40 million grant to a private developer to build residential homes that I am not sure should even qualify for this type of grant.” He also challenged the oft-repeated claim from proponents—such as Campion, Siscoe, St. Catharines City Hall staff, and the developers themselves—that such grants carry “no impact” on future tax resources. In reality, he argued, the Region would be on the hook for substantial ongoing costs while forfeiting new tax revenue from the development for decades if the grant is approved.

He dismissed this reasoning as a logical fallacy, used to justify handing public money to private developers under the pretense that the homes will generate taxes that otherwise wouldn’t exist. For critics like Zalepa, it’s more accurately described as corporate welfare, where the public assumes the risk and cost while developers reap the rewards.

Mayor Campion is now pushing for one of the largest single developer incentive contributions ever requested in Niagara Region’s history: The city has committed its own $40 million and is seeking regional participation to double that amount of public funding available to developers and investors. The request has raised significant controversy on two fronts:

• The grant is being proposed as a brownfield redevelopment grant, yet the site does not meet traditional brownfield criteria. The developer argues the site qualifies as a brownfield due to a large quantity of clean-fill placed there, but remediation costs have been identified as only approximately $181,000, just a tiny fraction of what might justify a grant of this magnitude.
• The proposal contains no affordable or attainable housing component, despite the Region’s stated priorities around housing needs and inclusivity.
  

Critics argue this approach is a strategic stretching of the brownfield definition to unlock public funds for a project that would otherwise not qualify—and that it undermines the stated social goals of Niagara’s development incentives.

If approved, the first repayment on the Region’s $40 million grant would begin in 2030, with the final installment not due until 2056. This creates a financial liability for more than 25 years, effectively binding future ratepayers to a long-term debt obligation for a project that may deliver little public benefit. As staff pointed out, this is not only the largest financial request ever submitted under the Region’s incentive programs, but also the longest-lasting, a commitment that would financially constrain at least seven future regional councils.

The timing of this request is especially contentious given the financial realities facing Niagara residents. Municipalities across the region are grappling with record tax increases, driven by rising costs and strained budgets.

At the same time, as reported by the Pointer, there is a surge in the number of homeowners falling into tax arrears, with many local families struggling to keep up. Housing affordability, already a critical issue in Niagara, is being crushed under this pressure.

In this context, critics say pouring tens of millions into a grant program that excludes affordable housing and funds developers using questionable brownfield claims, is tone-deaf at best.

Niagara Region staff are opposing the full $40 million request. At the July 3 meeting, staff warned council that while supporting brownfield remediation is important, it must be financially sustainable. The unprecedented scope of the request would bind the Region to debt obligations for decades, potentially compromising other infrastructure and housing priorities. Staff repeatedly highlighted that approving Welland’s application would restrict funds well into the future.

They also noted that Welland’s incentive program allows developers to include construction activities—such as removing 230,000 truckloads of clean-fill soil—as reimbursable costs, despite no environmental remediation being needed.

Though the request falls under the BTIG program, regional staff stressed that actual remediation costs total just $181,062, stating that they “took a step back” on learning this, prompting a reassessment of the grant’s size relative to real costs.

Ultimately, staff recommended capping the grant at $5 million to align with BTIG’s original purpose of supporting genuine remediation, making all payouts contingent on actual remediation costs, and requiring that disbursements be completed by 2040 to limit the impact on future councils.

Staff have made it clear they do not support the request. In fact, the BTIG program itself was flagged in the Region’s 2021 incentive program review as “not aligned with Council priorities” and was recommended for termination. While the program was temporarily extended in late 2024—largely due to political pressure—the BTIG is now set to expire on April 1, 2026, raising more questions about the appropriateness of entertaining a historic subsidy under a program already slated for sunset.

The debate over a $40 million grant to a private development has sharply divided regional council. On one side are the mayors of larger cities—St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls—along with many of their staff and several councillors, all firmly supporting seemingly unlimited grants to private developers. On the other side stand other mayors and councillors from smaller towns, questioning when the spending to create even more profits for developers will stop.

Somewhere in between is the already heavily burdened taxpayer. 

The final vote is scheduled for the regional council meeting on August 28th.

Email: ed.smith@thepointer.com

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