- 1. Newmarket's zoning by-law not fit for purpos
- (Blog)
- A report from Newmarket's Planning Department which goes to councillors tomorrow (Monday, 28 August) candidly admits the Town's zoning by-laws are wanting. The report says there are technical errors, ...
- Created on 27 August 2017
- 2. Monster Homes and Zoning Standards
- (Blog)
- The Monster Home that is currently under construction at 1011 Elgin Street did not require any approvals or permissions from the Town because it, apparently, meets the zoning requirements. If this ...
- Created on 30 March 2017
- 3. Housing the homeless: the case against Tom "not in my patch" Mraka
- (Blog)
- ... in Aurora. Mrakas said it did not fit “seamlessly” into the Town’s Official Plan and Zoning regulations. But, by the same token, would putting homeless men in the Regional HQ – an office building – fit ...
- Created on 13 April 2024
- 4. Southlake struggling to find a new site for its acute hospital complex
- (Blog)
- ... hospital and: “requirements that may need to be built into an MZO (Minister’s Zoning Order)”. Where did that come from - the MZO? Who brought that forward and why? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Update ...
- Created on 27 March 2024
- 5. Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas wants to house homeless men in York Region’s underused HQ
- (Blog)
- ... and thus warrants the zoning amendments requested or to take the time to find a more appropriate site in Aurora, one that aligns with the intent of our OP. Unfortunately, that did not occur and we are ...
- Created on 05 March 2024
- 6. The Greenbelt Scandal and Southlake’s search for a new acute hospital site
- (Blog)
- ... by transit and regional corridors (4) zoning and (5) proximity to residential and incompatible uses. The heavily redacted report says: “the size and configuration of the site can have an impact on ...
- Created on 24 February 2024
- 7. Tom Mrakas and Emergency Housing
- (Blog)
- ... Take the time to provide facts to support the applicants stated belief this is the BEST location for the proposed development and thus warrants the zoning amendments requested or to take the time to find ...
- Created on 19 February 2024
- 8. Former Southlake Board Member and Land Agent, John Dunlap, offered Greenbelt land for new hospital
- (Blog)
- ... “long term care” and an MZO (Minister’s Zoning Order). These agenda items most likely came from the discussions on 1 November 2022. So, where does this leave us? We still don’t have a site plan or ...
- Created on 23 December 2023
- 9. A Second Southlake in King: the “Bathurst and Davis Drive Opportunity”
- (Blog)
- ... (The Auditor General is currently conducting an inquiry into the Government’s use of Minister’s Zoning Orders) "Just a conversation" Last month, in response to a Freedom of Information request, Southlake’s ...
- Created on 17 November 2023
- 10. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: Senior Officials in the dark about second Southlake in King
- (Blog)
- ... officials concerning the second Southlake in King, released yesterday by Environmental Defence and EcoJustice. Access the EcoJustice FoI material here. From TVO: Zoning Orders given to guests at Ford ...
- Created on 31 October 2023
- 11. From the Globe & Mail: Proposal to build hospital on protected Greenbelt land cancelled
- (Blog)
- ... land for a hospital. Mr. Pellegrini said he believed the government could have located a hospital in the Greenbelt through a legislative amendment or ministerial zoning order. Mr. Rice also told Mr. ...
- Created on 03 October 2023
- 12. The Greenbelt Scandal: The Case for a Public Inquiry
- (Blog)
- ... Mr X) “apparently trying to resell a property after getting special zoning to fast-track building”. The stench is suffocating. (Photo right: an earlier Ford apology) Atonement If Ford were serious ...
- Created on 24 September 2023
- 13. York Region has enough housing approved or in the pipeline to meet Ford's targets without building on the Greenbelt
- (Blog)
- ... 22 George/39 Davis Drive where zoning was approved years ago for a total of 395 apartments and the landowner sat on his hands. Freeman says municipalities will get the details of their capacity servicing ...
- Created on 02 September 2023
- 14. Selling the Greenbelt: Ryan Amato was the mastermind. Ford and Clark were kept in the dark
- (Blog)
- ... Given the increase in the use of MZOs (Minister’s Zoning Orders) which override the normal land use planning process, it is important to reflect on the use of MZOs in conjunction with today's report. Development ...
- Created on 09 August 2023
- 15. Former Steve Clark aide, Luca Bucci, boasts that Ford’s planning and housing policies are now written by home builders association
- (Blog)
- ... win for our small to medium sized members. We froze parkland rates on the date that zoning bylaw our site plan application is filed. We eliminated public meetings that were unnecessary on issues ...
- Created on 15 July 2023
- 16. Ford decrees Newmarket is to get 15,000 new neighbours - and a hospital on former Greenbelt land
- (Blog)
- ... out. We’ll know more, I think, as the summer approaches. The next step on those lands which we anticipate would be a MZO.” (Minister’s Zoning Order) It is an awkward statement from Macgregor who is ...
- Created on 17 June 2023
- 17. Timeline: Southlake and the sale of the Greenbelt lands in King
- (Blog)
- ... email to me on 6 February 2023: “The planning system in Ontario is based on a conformity hierarchy, meaning to be permitted in a zoning by-law a land use must conform to the local official plan, which ...
- Created on 09 June 2023
- 18. Selling the Greenbelt: Southlake and Transparency
- (Blog)
- ... told me on 7 February 2023: “Now that the (Rice) lands have been removed from the Greenbelt, presumably natural heritage features will still be protected and the official plan and zoning by-law will ...
- Created on 30 May 2023
- 19. Documents reveal hospital proposal on Greenbelt
- (Blog)
- ... a hospital in the Greenbelt through a legislative amendment or ministerial zoning order.) Southlake requires a second hospital on up to 40 hectares of land to relieve overcrowding at its current Newmarket ...
- Created on 29 April 2023
- 20. A second Southlake in King? We need to hear from Stephen Naylor
- (Blog)
- ... Official Plan and in the Town’s Zoning By-law for the Countryside which was approved only seven months ago - he should say so now and give his reasons. (photo right) He cannot shelter behind Pellegrini ...
- Created on 26 April 2023
- 21. Selling the Greenbelt: Can hospitals be built in the Greenbelt?
- (Blog)
- ... such land would be permitted and not require rezoning.” But is this correct? If so, a hospital could be built on prime agricultural land in, say, the Holland Marsh or on the Oak Ridges Moraine outside ...
- Created on 07 February 2023
- 22. Steve Pellegrini and the removal of land from the Greenbelt
- (Blog)
- ... Zoning Orders Even though the land was still Greenbelt, Pellegrini said the province would have the authority to put a hospital there and keep it Greenbelt. That’s just a statement of fact. Minister’s ...
- Created on 01 February 2023
- 23. Town will not object to new Homes that Tower over Bungalows next door
- (Blog)
- ... shadows over it. The Town’s Established Neighbourhoods Compatibility policy is not worth the paper it is written on. Nor the much trumpeted zoning by-laws spawned by it. The building under construction ...
- Created on 30 November 2022
- 24. Incompatible neighbours: Putting Right what the Town got Wrong
- (Blog)
- The house under construction at 116 Eden Court in Newmarket which looms over its neighbours does not comply with the Town’s own Zoning By-laws which are supposed to regulate matters such as height and ...
- Created on 26 November 2022
- 25. Eden Court's incompatible neighbour ...
- (Blog)
- ... 2017 the Town reviewed its policies and updated its Zoning By-Law. It went further by adopting “urban design guidelines” which stress: “(that) within Residential Areas, single- and semi- detached dwellings ...
- Created on 08 November 2022
- 26. Affordable Housing
- (Blog)
- ... including Adopting newly available Inclusionary Zoning legislation to ensure new housing developments include affordable homes, as Toronto and Mississauga have done (a backgrounder is here) Adopting ...
- Created on 02 October 2022
- 27. "Don't tell me they don't expect something in return": Why municipal election candidates in the 905 are refusing lucrative donations from develop
- (Blog)
- ... where land-use decisions are made. “A developer buys land cheaply on the edge of the city, and then they get the land rezoned. And who does the rezoning? Municipal councils,” he said. “They have every ...
- Created on 20 September 2022
- 28. Why should Conservatives vote for Dawn Gallagher Murphy as the next MPP for Newmarket-Aurora?
- (Blog)
- ... Will he let rip with Ministerial Zoning Orders, removing any voice for municipalities on what should happen in their own areas? And when things get tight financially for the Province who will be expected ...
- Created on 30 May 2022
- 29. How the Glenway Developer, Marianneville, got a Tax Receipt for $14,290,000 for land it didn’t want
- (Blog)
- ... to get the golf course zoning changed from private open space to allow residential development. They succeeded. The Mayor at the time, now Newmarket-Aurora’s Liberal MP, Tony Van Bynen, said the Town ...
- Created on 18 March 2022
- 30. Newmarket's iconic Clock Tower gets a new lease on lif
- (Blog)
- ... considers planned changes to a property which are “not in conformity with the zoning by-law, but follows its general intent” and can approve so-called minor variances. Support The plans have been ...
- Created on 22 January 2022
- 31. Marianneville: Making millions from redeveloping Glenway golf course and giving a little something back to the Town of Newmarket to say thank you
- (Blog)
- ... 140 acres of land (57 hectares), then designated as private open space, from the owners of the old Glenway Golf Course for $9,900,000. This works out at a very modest $70,287 per acre. Rezoning unlocks ...
- Created on 19 December 2021
- 32. Regional Councillor Tom Vegh gets the Developers' Money
- (Blog)
- ... machinery. Their website tells us that when they were engaged by the owners of 212 Davis Drive to “obtain and expediate a Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Approval they brought the client together ...
- Created on 26 October 2021
- 33. Protecting the Greenbelt: Taylor's Way or Vegh'
- (Blog)
- ... evaluated through the local decision-making process. So in Vaughan that's typically the block plan process and in Markham it's typically a consolidation of the zoning and subdivision process. TRC advises ...
- Created on 25 October 2021
- 34. Ford targets the environment (again)
- (Blog)
- ... Wayne Emmerson, echoed Ballard's concerns: "If the province proceeds with Schedule 6 in the omnibus budget bill, LSRCA will be forced to issue permits to allow for development, through minister's zoning ...
- Created on 07 December 2020
- 35. Use it or lose it. Planning approvals should be time-limited.
- (Blog)
- ... housing (through inclusionary zoning) are implemented. Greenbelt and Whitebelt The Greenbelt is off-limits to developers but with Doug Ford you never know. He told his friends he would open up big ...
- Created on 26 July 2020
- 36. Why is the Council ignoring its own by-law to fast-track 20 new Townhouses on Gorham?
- (Blog)
- ... photo right) The proposed zoning by-law amendment drives a coach and horses through the existing permitted uses. Many local people are hoping this part of Gorham will be designated as an Established ...
- Created on 08 July 2020
- 37. The case for prosecuting the developer Bob Forrest
- (Blog)
- ... design work until they get an assurance they have the zoning in place first. "... until we have the land exchange agreement passed by the Committee of the Whole we remain in a holding pattern..." 19 ...
- Created on 25 November 2019
- 38. Will Newmarket’s oldest tree fall victim to bureaucratic inaction?
- (Blog)
- ... and nutrients to permeate the soil while still allowing parking. The Town’s Zoning By-law 2010 stipulates there should be a 3 metre plant and vegetation buffer zone around the boundary of an apartment ...
- Created on 29 October 2019
- 39. Unlawful Demolition on Main Street: Why Bob Forrest should be Prosecuted
- (Blog)
- ... cost of preparing a complete application for zoning is too onerous for us to undertake without having (redacted). Given that we have spent over $100,000 on reports and design in the last 30 days if the ...
- Created on 28 October 2019
- 40. The Clock Tower: how did we get into this mess?
- (Blog)
- ... of doing detailed design work on the Clock Tower until they got the OK from the Town that they had the zoning agreed and in place. Forrest’s people were also sweet talking so-called “community leaders” ...
- Created on 28 April 2019
- 41. Clock Tower up for sale
- (Blog)
- ... says: … AND WHEREAS the Owner proposes to develop the Subject Lands (ie the lands that Forrest owns) within the existing Official Plan land use permissions and zoning by-law regulations, and the development ...
- Created on 16 April 2019
- 42. Steve Hinder’s Big Pay Day
- (Blog)
- ... lands. The zoning is shown here. The applicant for the Stronach South Development Lands is Aurora Bayview SouthEast Development Inc. (shown on the Planning Applications Status Map September 2018 as ...
- Created on 28 January 2019
- 43. Doug Ford, Christine Elliott and the Greenbelt.
- (Blog)
- ... Act to enable municipalities to pass “open-for-business” zoning by-laws that do not have to comply with prescribed provisions in the Clean Water Act, Greenbelt Act, 2005, Great Lakes Protection Act, Lake ...
- Created on 11 December 2018
- 44. Monster Homes in stable residential neighbourhoods
- (Blog)
- ... homes while still meeting the requirements of the zoning by-law. As a result, new development can occur in a form that is inconsistent with the height, building footprint, design and character of the existing ...
- Created on 19 November 2018
- 45. Councillor Tom Vegh’s property transaction with the Town of Newmarket
- (Blog)
- ... site: • The lot is only 40 feet wide and a little over 100 feet deep. There was never an application to turn it into a townhouse development. • The lot was listed with residential zoning in place. ...
- Created on 15 October 2018
- 46. Ford insists Toronto City Council will have 25 councillors and recalls legislature to pass Bill 5 again, invoking section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to overrule Court judgement
- (Blog)
- ... thousands of individual complaints on an annual basis across a wide range of topics - from public transit, high rise developments and policing to neighbourhood zoning issues, building permits and speed ...
- Created on 10 September 2018
- 47. Another century old tree felled in Beechwood Crescent as Town consults the public on how best to protect trees on private property
- (Blog)
- ... recreational vehicle parking zoning by-law amendment. In Q1 of 2019, staff will consolidate the feedback and report to Council providing options on how to protect trees on private property. Will participating ...
- Created on 06 September 2018
- 48. Newmarket’s Director of Planning, Rick Nethery, breaks silence on how he was "misled" by Clock Tower developer Bob Forres
- (Blog)
- ... of some kind of misunderstanding by Forrest’s planning consultants of what was required by the Town’s Zoning By-law and what was said about parking in the Town’s Secondary Plan. My appeal against Mr ...
- Created on 27 May 2018
- 49. Newmarket’s Growth held back "for the foreseeable future" by lack of sewage capacit
- (Blog)
- ... zoning”. “We’ve gotta be serious about it.” Now Taylor is talking about rentals – claiming they are “inherently more affordable” than buying. I find myself thinking about the definition of “affordable”. ...
- Created on 20 April 2018
- 50. Deerfield Road and affordable housing in Newmarket
- (Blog)
- ... more affordable housing by giving municipalities the ability to require that affordable units are created in new residential developments. “Inclusionary zoning is a planning tool that allows municipalities ...
- Created on 16 April 2018