As an Adjunct Professor of…

As an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, I feel strongly that with the current and proposed zoning authority, the Minister has and will continue to make irreversible changes to our built environment that harm the character, livability, and resiliency of our neighborhoods. Consultation of community members and experts in ecology, planning, and preservation are key in making decisions that ensure cities are built for all Ontarians. Wetlands and heritage sites are under threat with the increase of MZOs, and these are resources that once lost, cannot be recovered. As an example, an MZO is being used in the Canary District to tear down a heritage designated building without the approval of the city or residents. The late Urbanist Jane Jacobs who called Toronto home stated in her work, that a mix of building age and type is key to a healthy and vibrant city. By tearing down this building using an MZO, the value of this heritage building in the urban fabric is erased, never to be recovered, all without consulting experts or residents to whom it is valuable. While consultations and approvals my slow the the process of development, we need to be careful about how we develop, as these changes are permanent and fast profit-oriented development already threatens the livability the health of the City of Toronto. We cannot afford to grant the authority to the Minister to bypass the processes that give citizens a voice and make decisions that harm our neighbourhoods.