Toronto Oak House at Canary Landing | 162.61m | 46s | Dream | Henning Larsen

A provincial zoning order sounds rather like a zoning approval (subject to some changes) to my ears. If true, it's odd that a community "consultation" is scheduled for November 2nd: "It's approved. Have a nice day." ?

If I read the order correctly, it sounds like height max would be just shy of 156 metres (incl. roof arch/mechanical/parapets etc.).
 
It looks to me like it's zoning approval for a few of the various blocks. Block 3, Block 4, and Block 7 (O.Reg. 596/20) appears, on a cursory glance, to be approval for the proposal as we see it currently. Block 20 (O.Reg. 594/20) also appears to be approval for the proposal as we see it. It looks to me like the height discrepancy is explained because the mechanical penthouse can rise an additional 12 metres above the maximum height.

Block 17 and Block 26 (O.Reg. 595/20) is the most interesting to me, as I don't think we've seen any plans for it - at least I couldn't find any. However they now have approval for a 141 metre tower, so it will be something tall. :)

Big YIMBY energy with these MZOs and I must admit I am a fan.

begonenimbys.png
 
Maybe the office space has a tenant the province cares about? It's only 250,000ish square feet, but it could be a tech tenant the province wooed or something similar.
 
This is really concerning, and I'm afraid the province will issue zoning orders for all big or politically-connected projects! This is really bad, as the minister is not accountable to the communities and doesn't consult with them. This could lead to lots of corruption and the eventual dismantling of planning!

I'm also concerned that Steve Clark can just issue any decision without conforming to official or even provincial plans. Does anyone know anything about this?
 
This is really concerning, and I'm afraid the province will issue zoning orders for all big or politically-connected projects! This is really bad, as the minister is not accountable to the communities and doesn't consult with them. This could lead to lots of corruption and the eventual dismantling of planning!

I'm also concerned that Steve Clark can just issue any decision without conforming to official or even provincial plans. Does anyone know anything about this?

Agreed. These sorts of powers should be used as sparingly as possible, and only with watertight rationale as to why it should be used as a matter of provincial interest - just because I think personally two of the three projects (we have no idea what's been planned for Block 17/26) should be approved doesn't mean this should be the way to do it (except as a last resort). We have local planning and LPAT for a reason.

AoD
 
This is really concerning, and I'm afraid the province will issue zoning orders for all big or politically-connected projects! This is really bad, as the minister is not accountable to the communities and doesn't consult with them. This could lead to lots of corruption and the eventual dismantling of planning!

I'm also concerned that Steve Clark can just issue any decision without conforming to official or even provincial plans. Does anyone know anything about this?
If you look at the use of Minister Zoning Orders ( MZOs) over the last several years , you will see that they have been used very sparingly - one or two a year, or none at all, and then a real spike in their use in 2019 and 2020. This should be quite alarming in that local zoning can be bypassed, often in the interest of development. I imagine the Government is cutting red tape and showing Ontario is open for business using this tool.
 
If you look at the use of Minister Zoning Orders ( MZOs) over the last several years , you will see that they have been used very sparingly - one or two a year, or none at all, and then a real spike in their use in 2019 and 2020. This should be quite alarming in that local zoning can be bypassed, often in the interest of development. I imagine the Government is cutting red tape and showing Ontario is open for business using this tool.

The real question is why in the interest of these developments - and not other developments.

AoD
 
Didn’t the province own a good proportion of land within the West Don Lands? Perhaps they still have an interest in the blocks subject to the MZOs.
 

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