When purchased by our client, the property at 427 Geneva Street in St. Catharines featured an old single-family detached home, with a large and under-utilized backyard. BNI’s site plan includes enhancing the existing home, while also adding 2 new detached homes and a 4-unit townhouse in the rear of the lot. This plan has been praised as an excellent example of positive infill development, utilized by educators and planning officials across the Niagara Region.
The new home which is closest to Geneva Street features a unique pergola in replacement of a traditional garage. The townhomes utilize detached garages across the private laneway. Two additional visitor parking spaces are also available.
Provincial and local policies have been updated in recent years to encourage infill development. This is compiled with an increasing population across the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region, and expected increased population in the Niagara Region, planners are turning to infill development to meet the demands and desires of the future. Our project at 427 Geneva has been praised as an ideal example of positive infill development, and it is utilized by educators and planning officials across the Niagara Region.
Dan Romanko is a consulting Professional Planner practicing urban design, and neighbourhood development in Ontario with over 25 years’ experience.
Growing up in Mississauga in the ’80s, his childhood years were spent in a categorically suburban environment. This experience sparked an interest in land-use patterns and ultimately the Urban Planning profession. Dan began his academic career at Sheridan College, graduating as a Civil Engineering Technician in 1992; he then went on to complete the Honours Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1997. Years later, his interest in community scale sustainability found him continuing his education and he received a Master of Engineering Design in Sustainable Infrastructure from McMaster University in 2012.
Dan has worked as a planner in a consulting role since 1998. From 2000-2009, Dan worked with Barr Associates in St. Catharines as urban designer. After a five-year stint at another multi-disciplinary firm downtown St. Catharines, Dan returned to Barr Associates in 2015 as partner and the company changed its name to Better Neighbourhoods Inc.
In addition to his managing partner role, Dan is a full member in the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and been qualified as an expert witness at the Ontario Land Tribunal. He has been an accredited member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU-A) since 2009 and has attended annual Congresses since 2006. Dan lives downtown St. Catharines with his family and is fortunate to have a seven minute walk to work.
