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During the pandemic, the Ford govt has quietly issued several Minister’s Zoning Orders on behalf of well-connected developers & PC donors, paving over farmland & destroying wetlands without public notice or consultation. Scoop by @jeffreybgray https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-ontario-issues-special-orders-to-approve-developers-plans-and-quash/ #onpoli
A decade after the Site 41 controversy, Simcoe residents fear the Ford govt will once again use the previously-rare “bulldozer of planning” to bypass due process and approve a waste facility in a protected forest https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/06/07/theyve-fought-plans-for-a-waste-facility-in-a-simcoe-forest-for-years-the-government-is-now-using-a-bulldozer-of-planning-to-override-their-opposition.html #onpoli
Simcoe County council has rubber-stamped yet another landowner request for a Minister’s Zoning Order from the Ford government to pave over farmland. Barrie’s deputy mayor calls it a “shocking disregard of the planning process” https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/proposal-in-oro-medonte-a-shocking-disregard-of-planning-process-says-barries-deputy-mayor-2528928 #onpoli
The Ontario Municipal Board rejected this proposal in 2013, but now that the Ford government is casually issuing Minister's Zoning Orders to bypass planning processes and environmental regulations, the developer is trying again https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/webers-owner-seeks-to-fast-track-rest-stop-restaurants-in-moonstone-2569990 #onpoli
Ford government makes another Minister’s Zoning Order to approve a sprawling low-rise subdivision on farmland in Caledon, despite the opposition of Peel Region, whose taxpayers will pay the rising infrastructure & servicing costs https://thepointer.com/article/2020-07-22/province-overrides-peel-region-allowing-controversial-sprawling-caledon-development-to-move-ahead-as-battle-lines-are-being-drawn #onpoli
Pickering council endorsed a request by a developer (and major PC donor) for a Minister’s Zoning Order to pave over 4,000 acres of prime farmland & the headwaters of Carruthers Creek, threatening the Greenbelt. Durham & Ajax councils oppose the MZO https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/10129182-durham-council-opposes-hasty-development-on-carruthers-creek-headwaters-in-pickering/ #onpoli
Ex-Ajax mayor: “under the current ON govt, MZOs are being used on a routine & growing basis for any urban sprawl proposal that a developer with a friend in govt wants to fast track & avoid the inconvenience of a proper & rigorous public process” https://www.durhamregion.com/opinion-story/10127516-minister-s-zoning-orders-a-threat-to-good-planning-local-democracy/ #onpoli
The Ford government passed SEVEN more MZOs within the last three days. The once-rare “nuclear option” of provincial planning powers has now been used 18 times during the pandemic — more than twice the number passed during the previous government’s last decade in office #onpoli
“The MZOs issued by the Minister have all been supported by their local municipalities,” said the Ford govt last week. In fact, many MZOs were opposed by the regional municipality. And this one from last week blindsided the City of Hamilton https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/city-plans-at-odds-with-province-s-rezoning-of-former-hamilton-psychiatric-hospital-lands-1.5686311 #onpoli #hamont
Rural charity @ONFarmlandTrust asks the Ford government to halt its expanded use of Minister’s Zoning Orders: “These MZOs set a dangerous precedent that directly puts farmland at risk from development” https://ontariofarmlandtrust.ca/ministers-zoning-orders/ #onpoli
. @OntarioFarms has “deep-seated concerns” with the Ford government’s unprecedented routine use of Minister’s Zoning Orders to bypass planning processes: “This frequent use undermines Ontario’s long-established system of land use planning” https://ofa.on.ca/resources/ofa-letter-to-minister-clark-regarding-use-of-municipal-zoning-orders/ #onpoli
