I do not support the…

I do not support the proliferating use of Ministerial Zoning Orders, nor of this new variant Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator (CIHA) orders. It is hard for me to believe that government staff or politicians sitting in Toronto can, on short study, spot flaws in municipal official plans, secondary plans and zoning bylaws that took local citizens, staff and elected officials literally months to develop and quickly come up with replacement zoning and planning orders.

What worries me most about the CIHA is the notion that it will become commonplace, that it will be seen and used as a universal alternative to the planning processes described in the Planning Act and other legislation, on the false argument that this is the ONLY way to get affordable housing built in Ontario.

So I want strict guidelines that will limit the use of CIHA orders to situations where external factors like floods, fires, tornados have caused sudden destruction of existing buildings or infrastructure, and quick emergency remedies are needed.

They should not be a remedy for failure to do proper longterm planning, e.g. not providing enough funding for publicly owned social and affordable housing. Or a failure to correct the excessive profits of investors which are driving up housing costs.

So ways to limit the use of CIHA orders to true emergencies must be developed.
For example, the guideline should say that the municipality’s request for a CIHA must include a rationale for the request including why the zoning change sought cannot reasonably be achieved by the municipal council itself through the normal planning process.
This rationale must be included -- and be open to debate-- in the notice to the public and the consultation required to be undertaken by the municipality.