TRCA fighting Ford’s push to level Pickering wetlands
Conservation authority seeking public’s help on latest attack on control
Toronto’s conservation authority is pushing back against the Doug Ford government, urging the public to get involved after the province ordered it to issue a permit allowing a developer to level and fill with soil a provincially significant wetland in Pickering.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority said it was being forced to issue the permit “under duress” and “would ordinarily decline permission of such a permit.” It added that its only option was to add conditions to the permit to “lessen negative impacts” —conditions the developer is now challenging.
Friday’s move is the latest in the province’s attacks on the authority of conservation authorities, which included a rewrite of legislation last fall intended to rein them in.
The development of the Duffins Creek Wetland — approved through a ministerial zoning order (MZO) — has become the first test of the new conservation authority regulations.
An MZO is a tool that allows Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark to fast-track developments by overriding local zoning rules.
So far this year, the province has approved 33 MZOs. A handful of them are on land that is deemed environmentally sensitive, and according to the current provincial legislation would normally be untouchable.
“TRCA’s Board of Directors must now, under duress, adhere to the Province’s legally mandated directive, which conflicts with TRCA’s mandate to further the conservation, development, and management of natural resources in watersheds within our jurisdiction,” the TRCA said, adding that the developer has requested a hearing in front of the board on March 12, which will be live streamed on the authority’s website.
On Thursday, the province passed a regulation ordering the TRCA to issue a permit to developer by March 12 to allow them to “to carry out part of a development project” on the 22-hectare Duffins Creek wetland at Squires Beach Road and Bayly Street just south of Highway 401.
The same day, the Ford government introduced changes to the Planning Act that would allow developments approved through an MZO to retroactively be exempt from provincial policy, particularly around the protection of environmentally sensitive land.
According to critics, the latest moves by the Ford government over the Pickering site show how far the province is willing to go to fast-track controversial developments — even on protected land that would normally be off-limits.
“If this law passes, the minster can just waltz in with one of his developer friends and wipe away all restrictions on developments,” said Tim Gray, executive director with Environmental Defense, about the proposed changes to the Planning Act.
Gray’s organization is one of three environmental groups that has filed a lawsuit against the province, contending the Pickering MZO was a breach of provincial policy.
Last year, the province approved the Pickering MZO, which will allow the Durham Live project, run by developer Steve Apostolopoulos, managing partner for Triple Group of Companies, to build a mixeduse entertainment destination and a warehouse.
The MZO was being contested by environmental groups Environmental Defense, Ontario Nature and Ecojustice, who filed a judicial review application claiming the MZO breached provincial planning policy.
In confidential documents leaked to the media this week, the government expressed concern that the groups’ lawsuit had grounds and there was a risk the MZO could be found to be illegal.
Gray said the courts will hear a motion for a stay on the permit on March 15.
A government spokesperson said the amendment is a way to ensure there are no roadblocks to development.
“Our proposed change will ensure that priority projects that play a key role in our province’s economic recovery, located outside of the Greenbelt, do not face unnecessary barriers and delays after an MZO has been made,” said Conrad Spezowka.
The TRCA said the public hearing will be on March 12, at 10 a.m., and they are urging written submissions by March 10 so “that public input be included in the hearing record.”
Toronto Coun. Kristyn WongTam, who is leading the fight to stop the Ford government from using an MZO to demolish the historic Foundry buildings in her ward, called the province’s latest move “overreach and an abuse of power.”
“Premier Ford and Minister Clark are not listening to local planners, mayors, councillors or communities,” she said.
“Somebody else has their ear and it seems to be developers and land speculators. Changing permitted uses for land can instantly pour millions or tens of millions into somebody’s bank accounts and it’s the local communities who lose.”
Local Pickering residents, who have been protesting the MZO through blockades, have a protest scheduled for Saturday and say they are not deterred by the government’s actions.
“I think they are just scared … they are seeing that the resistance to this permit is much larger than they anticipated,” said Emma Cunningham, with the group Environmental Action Now Ajax-Pickering. “They have lost other MZOs (in Stratford), and they don’t want to lose another one.”