An aerial photo shows a housing development across the road from vacant land, one of twelve pieces of land across the community slated for development, at the northeast corner of Mt Hope Road and Columbia Way, on May 30.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
A town northwest of Toronto has passed rezoning changes to more than double its housing stock over the next two decades, despite concerns from residents about the rapid pace of development.
Caledon Mayor Annette Groves’s controversial proposal to allow 35,000 new homes on large tracts of mostly farmland received support from a majority of councillors during a meeting that lasted until 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Ms. Groves argued that the changes allow the town to take charge of its growth while meeting future housing demand.
“I see this as an opportunity to do some good planning to look at how and what we want our communities to look like,” she said.
But Debbe Crandall, a local resident and spokesperson for Democracy Caledon, a citizen’s group that spearheaded opposition to the plan, said the rezoning is not in the public interest and that activists are exploring other options to fight the changes.
“A vote does not signal the end of this,” she said. “We’re not giving up at all. There’s too much at stake here.”
Ms. Groves had initially vowed to use her strong mayor powers to push the plans through council. In the end, however, most of the zoning bylaw amendments passed by a 5-3 vote.
The changes allow a range of future uses – including homes, shopping malls and hotels – for 11 out of 12 pieces of land amounting to about 2,000 hectares. Proposed amendments for one property were sent back to staff for further study.
Plans to double housing in Caledon, Ont., fuel concerns over pace of development
The council meeting took place on the same day that the Ontario government expressed renewed concerns about the rezoning changes.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra said in an April letter to Ms. Groves that allowing development in six of the 12 areas “would be inconsistent and not conform with provincial and regional policy directions” because they are within the protected future route of Highway 413. Mr. Calandra asked the mayor to modify the plans.
A letter sent Tuesday to Eric Lucic, Caledon’s commissioner of planning and development, says the ministry “is unable to support” the town’s plan to apply blanket holding provisions that would be lifted once it gets provincial clearances. Instead, Laurie Miller, regional director of planning for the ministry, asked the town to examine each rezoning amendment on a case-by-case basis.
In addition, Ms. Miller noted that development applications for one of the areas are involved in appeals at the Ontario Land Tribunal, saying “it would be prudent” to avoid rezoning the land until a decision is made.
Ms. Groves’s rezoning of land for roughly 35,000 homes is almost triple Caledon’s provincial housing pledge of 13,000 new units by 2031. However, she says growth forecasts indicate Caledon needs 67,000 new homes for 220,000 additional people by 2051. (The town had a population of about 76,000 and just fewer than 25,000 private dwellings in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.)
For its part, the Region of Peel said the proposals were “premature” and not supported by comprehensive planning, including a secondary plan, technical studies and infrastructure capacity, according to a series of letters from chief planner Tara Buonpensiero in April. She also raised concerns about high infrastructure costs, saying more work was needed to “ensure fiscal responsibility” for the town and region.
In a statement on Wednesday, the region said more work remains to be done.
“Peel Region and the Town will need to continue working together on the developments in Caledon to ensure water and wastewater infrastructure is planned and constructed in accordance with the phasing of development,” Ms. Buonpensiero said in the statement.
Caledon planning staff will continue to work with provincial and regional officials to address their feedback, Mr. Lucic said during the council meeting.
The Ontario government is stripping planning authority from several upper-tier municipalities, including Peel Region, meaning Caledon will assume primary responsibility for planning when the changes take effect July 1.