1. I agree that this should…

1. I agree that this should not apply to lands inside the Greenbelt/Niagara Escarpment/Oak Ridges Moraine etc, but those lands should also be subject to stronger protection in general, including to what extent and what kinds of development the Minister can issue zoning orders for within them. Zoning orders should be avoided within these areas in general.

2. I the don't think that site plan control should be fully in the hands of the minister in this case. While there may be opportunity for the Minister to issue zoning orders for beneficial features, the authority to supersede the whole site plan control is excessive, and would likely have negative impacts on planning, and a community's ability to ensure a development is consistent with its planning vision. Perhaps giving the Minister the authority to request certain beneficial features, like the affordable housing or transit infrastructure suggested in the posting would be beneficial.

3. Continuing on the second point, the posting suggests that these powers might be used to build affordable housing or other projects on surplus land. This is an important goal, and it would be welcome to see surplus land in urban areas used to provide alternative housing. In terms of long terms trends in affordable house, however, this might be an area where there needs to be more general legislation for municipalities to have requirements for zoning/building affordable housing. The demand is so high that this issue needs to be taken beyond Minister's zoning orders and focus on the broader context. Same thing goes for transit projects. It is useful for the Minister's zoning orders to make developments more transit friendly, but this is also an issue that goes beyond Minister's zoning orders for new development.

4. Generally speaking, I believe that the use of Minister's zoning orders should be limited, and municipalities, who know their area and have expertise should have most of the say. Some of the issues used as examples here would better be tackled by more wide ranging legislation from the province that sets targets for municipalities.