Battle heats up between Aurora and Ontario municipal affairs minister over MZO development plans

Clark argues lands needed for long-term-care centre, mayor says MZO opens door to 800% increase in housing

Yorkregion.com
March 24, 2021

The battle between Aurora and the provincial government over development plans for the south end of town is flaring up again.

Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark has sent a letter to Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas saying the provincial government will press forward with plans for a 128-bed long-term-care home at 100 Bloomington Rd.

But Mrakas said the letter is part of a political ploy from Queen’s Park.

The province is trumpeting the long-term-care home, which the town would welcome, Mrakas said.

But the facility is wrapped up in a provincially-issued ministerial zoning order (MZO) that would also allow densely packed housing development on the site, he said.

MZOs give Clark far-reaching powers to override local planning processes, eliminate public consultation and environmental assessments in order to fast-track development.

Clark’s letter to Mrakas was sparked by an item on the agenda of a committee meeting to be held the night of March 23.

The notice of motion indicates the mayor wants council to continue to fight the MZO.

Mrakas argues an MZO is not needed to permit a long-term-care home.

Instead, it is being used to allow a developer to build 18 homes per acre on the property, an 800-per-cent increase in density over the two homes per acre now permitted on the site.

He is asking Clark to repeal the MZO.

But Clark isn’t backing down.

While his government has said it won’t issue MZOs on lands not provincially owned, Clark said he will proceed with the Aurora MZO because the property is owned by the provincial government.

He argued the site is needed for much-needed long-term-care beds, pointing out only 611 such beds were built by the previous Liberal government between 2011 and 2018.

Calling that record “completely unacceptable,” Clark said the Conservatives have committed to added 30,000 beds in the next 10 years.

The MZO covers only the western portion of the site at the end of Academy Drive, “where development was already permitted, to allow Ontario to leverage the site for the development of much-needed housing and facilitate the construction of much needed long-term-care beds. This zoning change will ensure that Ontario taxpayers receive a fair financial and social return on this surplus property,” Clark’s letter said.

“At this time, the lands are still out for bid by Infrastructure Ontario, and no final decisions have been made as to the future of the property -- with the exception of the long-term-care bed requirement.”

Mrakas said the provincial government claims the new homes will fulfil a need for affordable housing but said that’s disingenuous because the homes would likely sell in the $1-million range.

Clark argues the province’s plans for the land outweigh the town’s hopes of building sports fields or a sports complex on the property.

“While I appreciate the importance of good recreation facilities in Ontario’s municipalities, it is our commitment to leverage surplus provincial properties to accelerate provincial priorities -- in this case the construction of long-term-care beds,” he said.