Toronto Star on MZO request for waste facility in Simcoe County forest
AWARE News Network
The Toronto Star takes a look at Simcoe County’s plan to locate a waste-processing facility in the heart of a pristine 200-acre woodland, the county’s request to the Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark for a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) to fast-track approval and over-ride citizen opposition just as a Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) hearing into the matter is set to be heard later this year.
The article quotes Ramani Nadarajah, a lawyer with Canadian Environmental Law Association, who says filing an MZO request while the planning appeal tribunal is in process is unprecedented.
“If an MZO is issued in this case it would mark a very severe blow to citizen participation in the planning process. And it would fundamentally undermine public confidence in Ontario’s planning regime,” says Nadarajah, who is acting for Friends of the Simcoe Forest, one of the parties appealing the choice of a forest as a location for a facility that should be located on industrial land.
There has been a recent flurry of MZOs. The province’s seemingly generous approach to MZOs has caught the attain of developers, who see an order as quick and easy way to get their projects approved without the lengthy hassle of the planning process, the article points out.
The Star quotes Victor Doyle, a former senior Ontario planner. “The problem is there is no local process. There is no public meeting, public notice, nowhere where the council asks citizens what they should do. And in every single case – no surprise – council is in support of the request.”
Link to Toronto Star article
See also:
Issues with county position on Freele Tract waste facility
Ontario issues special orders to approve developers’ plans and quash opposition
“Council is in support of the request.”??
It confuses me how council would be in favour of requests like this without insight from citizens. Very disappointing and a clear example of what is broken in our society for some to think that this is acceptable!!!
Bonnie, there was lots of insight and feedback from many residents, but County Council prefers to ignore us and just barge ahead!
June 7 nth. 2020
Due process has developed to represent the rights of all citizens.
It seems land use is by City By-laws.
City Councils represent all the voters in their area.
It is in the best interest of any developers to determine the feasibility of any site.
The fact an industry requires an industrial location indicates health and safety perameters.
In most cases 90% of all recent development projects are approved, because nearly everyone involved (developers, support businesses, politicians, budget personnel, city officials, consultants, lawyers) are focused on money. That is, they use Cost/Benefit analyses which are solely focused on money issues. It is almost impossible to get government agencies to consider anything that doesn’t have a financial pay-off. That is why environmental agencies and public in-put is so necessary. The problem now is that big business and big government wants 100% of developments to be approved, preferably without any environmental or public in-put. I doubt very much whether the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has in-depth awareness of every proposed development in Ontario, or the pertinent issues relating to every one.
I agree with you Kevin, it’s all about the money!
It shouldn’t be down to one person (MMAH) to make those kind of major decisions without public input. The MZO was not intended to be used like this and is now being abused by the Doug Ford government using Covid-19 as an excuse.
When everyone was attempting to eliminate the OMB because of inconsistent rulings, I cautioned that it would be better to revise the OMB rather than creating a no teeth LPAT regime. Few agreed with me at the time. I also suggested that once the LPAT was created that you should expect many MZO’s as that bypasses the pesky process, as developers and most politicians see the LPAT as a barrier to progress. Guess what? MZO’s are being passed out like candy to anyone that wants to develop.
Springwater in 2018 elected pro development heads of Council, so why is anyone surprised at what is happening. Remember both heads of Council want the MSP and ERRC to be distant in the rearview mirror when it comes to the 2022 municipal election.