Flato has frequently asked the provincial government to approve a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) rather than go through approved development processes. An MZO is granted by the Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark and allows a developer to fast-track the development process by acquiring zoning changes prior to consultation and environmental assessment. The Minister determines the zoning, not the local municipality. An MZO removes the chance of appeal by municipalities, citizens or environmental groups.

 

MZOs are often used to over-ride the wishes of a local community, such as an MZO granted in Caledon that is opposed by the Peel Regional Government. They are also being used as a mechanism to allow development on Provincially Significant Wetlands, which are off limits to development, as in the Duffins Creek Coastal Wetland and the East Humber Wetland Complex. (The Duffins Creek Wetland MZO was overturned by the courts). In short, MZOs allow a development to take place in spite of official city plans and with no community consultation.

 

Three MZOs granted to Flato on March 8, 2021 for developments elsewhere in Ontario were used to override environmental concerns about those properties.

 

Click here for more information on MZ0s and Flato’s use of them to impose their developments on unwilling communities. 

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Flato has asked council for support for an MZO in Lindsay! Find out more here.

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