PCs' MZOs use sparked 'appearance of preferential treatment': auditor

While unleashing an unprecedented number of municipality-overriding zoning orders, Premier Doug Ford’s government tended to ignore vital information and prioritize requests “with no protocol and no apparent rationale,” the province’s auditor general found.

In a damning report, Auditor General Shelley Spence validated criticisms the government’s opponents have levied against Ford’s Progressive Conservatives for their use of minister’s zoning orders (MZOs). Her office found the housing minister’s office under former minister Steve Clark often leveraged the development-permitting trump card without considering local and environmental contexts, in some cases spiking properties’ values before projects were even possible, along with suggesting “the appearance of preferential treatment” for some developers. 

MZOs are a powerful provincial land-use planning tool most commonly issued by Ontario’s housing minister. An MZO overrides requirements for development set by municipal bylaws and doesn’t have to conform to other provincial planning frameworks. They can allow construction on previously undevelopable lands and significantly simplify a property’s building approvals process.

“With their increased use, the public wants to know how and why MZOS are being made, and how this way of zoning land is likely to impact their communities and agricultural and natural spaces,” said Spence’s office’s report of why it conducted its audit.

The Ford government issued 114 MZOs from 2019 to 2023, representing a 17-fold increase compared to previous governments’ use of the tool over the past two decades.

“While MZOs can help address urgent planning matters and contribute to public benefits, making them without performing due diligence can also result in challenges and negative consequences, as we outline,” the report added.

Spence’s office conducted an “in-depth review of 25” of the MZOs issued over the past five years.

MZOs are typically requested by municipalities’ councils, developers, or both.

Although the housing minister is required by Ontario law to “have regard for matters of provincial interest” when making planning decisions, the auditor’s office found “neither the need for MZOs, nor how they advance provincial interests, were consistently assessed.”

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing also “did not accommodate conditions asked for by municipalities,” in most cases did not assess “whether the sites for re-zoning had access to servicing,” and “did not consistently engage” with environmental experts, the report said.

A property's infrastructure servicing accessing water and wastewater systems is considered a basic need for building and a "key consideration for any development" going through the municipal approvals process, Spence's report explained. 

"As of April 2024, 18 per cent of projects relating to MZOs were still facing significant delays related to servicing," said the auditor general's report.

It added, "These delays beg the question why an MZO was used instead of the municipal planning process."

The auditor’s office also found within its MZOs sample that the housing minister’s office had insisted on prioritizing certain requests over others, issuing some orders in as little as a few weeks after receiving a request.

Spence’s office also found that of four of the 25 MZOs it sampled, a former senior political staffer in the housing minister’s office told public servants “that the minister and premier were asking for that MZO, specifically, to be finalized.”

“Actions such as this give the appearance of preferential treatment for some proponents of MZOs over others,” the report said.

Clark resigned as housing minister in early September 2023 over the Greenbelt scandal, leading Ford to appoint Minister Paul Calandra to the portfolio. One of Calandra's first acts was to review previously issued MZOs, finding 22 of 61 that were closely scrutinized “did not demonstrate reasonable or sufficient progress on the project.”

The report Spence’s office released Tuesday noted that the province’s zoning changes to the properties were enough to increase their values.

“According to (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) estimates, that re-zoning increased its value by 46 per cent,” the report said. “Land already zoned for non-agricultural uses increased in value by 18 per cent.”

More to come.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.