Take the Initiative in the Fight Against Sprawl MZOs with our Template Resolutions

From Ramara to Stratford and King Township, ordinary Ontarians and a growing number of municipal leaders are pushing back against the abuse of MZOs.

A previously obscure tool meant for emergency circumstances, Minister’s Zoning Orders (MZOs) are now being misused – at a terrifying rate. While they have valid purposes, such as fast-tracking COVID-safe outdoor dining and emergency public housing for people in homeless shelters, they are more often being abused to enrich select developers by permitting car-dependent residential, commercial, and even institutional sprawl in wetlands and other protected lands.

While opposition to individual Minister’s Zoning Orders is beginning to bear fruit, the secretive and arbitrary MZO “process” means that battles against specific MZOs are always frantic and uphill. It’s now clear that the government’s approach to MZOs is wrong in principle. The time has come for Ontarians and their municipal representatives to take the initiative, and to declare in advance that the use of Minister’s Zoning Orders to authorize residential, commercial, and institutional sprawl will not be tolerated.

To that end, Environmental Defence has devised a draft resolution that mayors and municipal councillors can pass into law (text included below) to defend farmland and natural heritage against MZOs, and signal that they are committed to local democracy.

We need your help to make this happen. Contact your Town, City, Village or Regional Councillor, and the Mayor or Chair of your municipality and ask them to introduce and vote for a version of our template resolution to stop the inappropriate use of MZOs.

Stopping the Inappropriate Use of Minister’s Zoning Orders

How to use the three template resolutions below: Copy and paste them into an email and replace the text in the square brackets with the name of your City/Town/Region. The sent it by email to your local Councillor, or your Mayor or Region Chair asking them to put it on your City/Town/Region agenda and vote to pass it.

What’s the difference between the three template resolutions?

Resolution A: the City/Town/Region will not request or approve any MZO unless it is for an extraordinary reason.

Resolution B: the City/Town/Region asks the Ontario government not to issue any MZO in the City/Town/Region unless it is for an extraordinary reason – this includes MZOs on provincially owned land.

Resolution C: the City/Town/Region asks the Ontario government to change the Planning Act so that no MZO can be issued in any municipality unless it is for an extraordinary reason.

MZO RESOLUTION A

That [City/Town/Region] will not make a request for or indicate its approval of any Minister’s Zoning Order applicable to land within the [City/Town/Region], excepting Orders:

a. which are limited to addressing an extraordinary and emergent circumstance that is a matter of provincial interest,
b. which are limited to measures which the [City/Town/Region] could not otherwise bring into force in time to adequately address the relevant extraordinary and emergent circumstance,
c. which are consistent with the Official Plan, Provincial Policy Statement, 2020, and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and s. s. 24, s. 2, s. 3 of the Planning Act,
d. which do not authorize urbanization outside of settlement area boundaries,
e. which do not authorize development that would destroy or displace a Provincially Significant Wetland, Provincially Significant Woodland, Provincially Significant Valley Lands, Provincially Significant Wildlife Habitat, Coastal Wetlands, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest or farmland,
f. which are framed geographically or in their wording so as to not to limit any power that a Conservation Authority would otherwise have, and
g. which are supported by the Minister’s comprehensive, written, and publicly-disclosed reasons for determining that the above criteria have been met.

MZO RESOLUTION B

That [City/Town/Region] request the Government of Ontario, including the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing place an immediate and permanent moratorium on the issuance of Minister’s Zoning Orders applicable to land within the [City/Town/Region], excepting Orders:

a. which are limited to addressing an extraordinary and emergent circumstance that is a matter of provincial interest,
b. which are limited to measures which [City/Town/Region] could not otherwise bring into force in time to adequately address the relevant extraordinary and emergent circumstance,
c. which are consistent with the Official Plan, Provincial Policy Statement, 2020, and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and s. s. 24, s. 2, s. 3 of the Planning Act,
d. which do not authorize urbanization outside of settlement area boundaries,
e. which do not authorize development that would destroy or displace a Provincially Significant Wetland, Provincially Significant Woodland, Provincially Significant Valley Lands, Provincially Significant Wildlife Habitat, Coastal Wetlands, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest or farmland,
f. which are supported by the Minister’s comprehensive, written, and publicly-disclosed reasons for determining that the above criteria have been met, and
g. whose issuance is expressly requested through a lawfully adopted motion of [City/Town/Region].

MZO RESOLUTION C

That [City/Town/Region] request the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Legislative Assembly amend the Planning Act to prohibit the issuance of Minister’s Zoning Orders applicable to land within the boundaries of any municipality, excepting Orders:

a. which are limited to addressing an extraordinary and emergent circumstance that is a matter of provincial interest,
b. which are limited to measures which the muncipality could not otherwise bring into force in time to adequately address the relevant extraordinary and emergent circumstance,
c. which are consistent with the Official Plan, Provincial Policy Statement, 2020, and Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe and s. s. 24, s. 2, s. 3 of the Planning Act,
d. which do not authorize urbanization outside of settlement area boundaries,
e. which do not authorize development that would destroy or displace a Provincially Significant Wetland, Provincially Significant Woodland, Provincially Significant Valley Lands, Provincially Significant Wildlife Habitat, Coastal Wetlands, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest or farmland,
f. which are framed geographically or in their wording so as to not to limit any power that a Conservation Authority would otherwise have
g. which are supported by the Minister’s comprehensive, written, and publicly-disclosed reasons for determining that the above criteria have been met, and
h. whose issuance is expressly requested through a lawfully adopted motion of the municipal government(s) to whose territory the Order pertains.

If you have any questions or want more information email us at info@yourstoprotect.ca

Stay up-to-date on environmental issues.  Join our email community

The post Take the Initiative in the Fight Against Sprawl MZOs with our Template Resolutions appeared first on Environmental Defence.

This post was originally published on Environmental Defence.