Ontario escalates use of special zoning laws
Critics argue increased usage of MZOs reduces government transparency
The Ontario government has significantly ramped up its use of special orders that eliminate the requirement to give public notice before changing the way land can be developed.
Minister’s zoning orders, or MZOs, were once considered a tool only for extraordinary cases. They allow the minister of municipal affairs — currently Steve Clark — to set aside local planning processes and public consultations, and designate land use without the possibility of appeals.
The Star reported in June that Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government had used the tool eight times since taking office in 2018; the previous government had filed just two MZOs throughout 2016 and 2017. The Ford government’s count has more than tripled since, hitting 26 MZOs by early October.
The tally includes a flurry of orders related to long-termcare developments this summer — two in Toronto, and many others across the GTA. Several of the orders were connected to pandemic-era efforts to speed up development of nursing homes that meet modern standards.
Not all the MZOs are solely for nursing home beds: some permit uses from food and retail to offices and retirement homes. A piece of provincially owned land in Toronto’s Thistletown will also permit a wide range of residential development. The province declined to detail its plans for that site, saying no final decisions have been made since it scrapped a plan developed by the former Liberal government.
Other MZOs issued in Toronto this summer expedited construction on a pair of modular housing projects for the homeless.
Although critics acknowledge that MZOs, in some cases, can be appropriate and serve the public interest, several argue that the Ford government’s escalated use since taking office in 2018 is unprecedented, reduces government transparency and undermines local planning processes.
“What it does is send a signal to the development world that, ‘hey, this is possible. We can just sidestep the development process and go straight to the Minister,’” said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture wrote to Clark in August and expressed concern with the uptick of MZOs in municipalities with “robust planning systems,” arguing that doing so short-circuited planning principles and policies, while depriving affected people of consultations.
The Greenbelt Council, in a report sent to Clark in July, recommended MZOs be used sparingly. Where they were deemed necessary, it urged greater transparency through a “detailed and specific” explanation of the proposal’s urgency, size and nature.
But the province said its orders this summer kick-started “critical” projects, and that any MZOs filed for non-provincially owned land were requested by municipalities.
Toronto’s chief planner, Gregg Lintern, said the city still held consultations for the modular sites granted MZOs, although he acknowledged that not everyone may be satisfied by its efforts.
For the modular sites, MZOs meant not having to turn to Toronto’s committee of adjustment, which has been in a backlog, he said.
COVID-19 demanded an “accelerated response” to issues like homelessness, which the new supportive housing units could address, said Lintern.
Victor Doyle, a retired bureaucrat who spent decades in Ontario’s housing ministry, acknowledged that efforts to increase long-term-care beds or supportive housing were “hard to take issue with.”
“If (the pandemic) is the rationale for expediting them, then that’s all that should be allowed,” Doyle said.
He was skeptical of zoning orders allowing for other uses as well.
“My biggest concern is these things are promoted as cutting red tape,” he added. “But the red tape they’re cutting is basically the cutting out of any citizen participation.”