Local politicians and longtime critics of minister’s zoning orders say they are cautiously optimistic the auditor general鈥檚 scathing report, which found the orders were often approved without clear rationale and showed 鈥渢he appearance of preferential treatment鈥 for some developers, will make the process more transparent and collaborative.
But with more than a dozen orders issued by the government this year, some fear the recommendations in the 120-page report published Tuesday don鈥檛 go far enough toward changing the way the orders are being used to expedite certain developments.
鈥淚t legitimizes all the concerns that I have had, so now it鈥檚 all in writing,鈥 said Vaughan听Coun. Marilyn Iafrate. 鈥淲e had such a flawed process.
“I think, if the government institutes the latest recommendations, it might help.鈥
In her report issued Tuesday, auditor general Shelley Spence said the province used the tool 114 times from 2019 to 2023 under Premier Doug Ford鈥檚 government, marking a 17-fold increase from the previous 20 years.
Additionally, Ford’s decision to close supervised drug consumption sites near schools and daycares was made “without proper planning,” the AG said.
Additionally, Ford’s decision to close supervised drug consumption sites near schools and daycares was made “without proper planning,” the AG said.
The report found, among other things, that there was no clear rationale for why the government issued zoning orders for developments that could have just proceeded through the regular planning process. The report also questioned why some developments were prioritized by senior ministry officials, while other requests were left unanswered for years. The audit also found that the orders were issued without taking into consideration the conditions that had been requested by local councils 鈥 particularly around environmental studies and affordable housing.
鈥淢y biggest beef has always been that cities put in conditions (with their MZO requests), but they were ignored when the order was issued by the province,鈥 said Iafrate. 鈥淲e have lost hundreds of affordable housing units because the ministry took it out.鈥
The auditor general put forward 19 recommendations听鈥 all accepted by the province听鈥 to overhaul the use of zoning orders, including: a thorough assessment of each zoning order for rationale and feasibility, clear timelines to respond to requests, and clear rules for why certain ones are prioritized, better collaboration with cities, and the public monitoring and reporting of the status of zoning orders.
The auditor general found that as a result of having an MZO, the rezoned agricultural land rose in value by 46 per cent on average.听
The Doug Ford government’s willingness to admit a mistake has never caused them to pause and think before steamrolling forward into the next big
The Doug Ford government’s willingness to admit a mistake has never caused them to pause and think before steamrolling forward into the next big
Since the Greenbelt scandal erupted, the government has tried to rein in problematic MZOs that have seen little development progress.听Last December, the housing ministry announced that 22 MZOs that hadn’t shown 鈥渟ubstantial progress鈥 would be either revoked or modified. In April,听Housing Minister Paul Calandra听revoked six MZOs and said a dozen others were under 鈥渆nhanced monitoring.鈥
Calandra鈥檚 ministry鈥檚 review also informed a new MZO-granting process from the government, which it announced in April.
Calandra told journalists Tuesday that he has revoked three MZOs since introducing the new framework and has placed a number of others on a 鈥渨atch list.鈥听
Vaughan resident Irene Ford, who has closely followed the use of MZOs in the city, called them “financially irresponsible and environmentally unsustainable.鈥
鈥淭he report demonstrates elected politicians and their staff wilfully ignored warnings and staff recommendations and did not conduct a bare minimum of due diligence.”
She said she will be closely watching two MZOs recently approved in Vaughan. One sits on a floodplain,听and another is for a听high density project听protested by local residents and provincial politicians, to see if the province institutes the auditor general鈥檚 recommendations of collaborating with local councils.
Rob Horne, former chief planner and retired CAO at Region of Waterloo, said his primary concern 鈥 confirmed in the report 鈥 is that the risks of zoning orders were not being fully evaluated.
Horne said he鈥檚 also been concerned by the lack of transparency in the approval process. 鈥淲e could all benefit from understanding what the urgent provincial priority is that is driving the use of MZO, because if it’s urgent to the province, it should be urgent to the communities. Which makes you wonder why the province hasn鈥檛 collaborated more with the cities.鈥
Brampton regional Coun. Gurpartap Toor Singh said the real question is who 鈥渋s really benefiting from the MZOs.鈥澨
He said the recommendations add red tape, and some better process and better bookkeeping but 鈥渨on鈥檛 change the outcome.鈥
鈥淣one of that changes the fact that when it lands on the minister鈥檚 desk, he ultimately has the last word. He still gets to decide which applicant gets the MZO and which one doesn’t.鈥
with files from The Canadian Press
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