Furious residents and councillors gathered at Mississauga City Hall on Monday night to lambast the Ford government’s decision to supercharge a development on the city’s waterfront.
The meeting took place after the province announced on Friday it had granted a request from a developer to bypass the local planning process and add thousands of new units to Lakeview Village in Mississauga.
The developer asked the Ford government for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to let it skip the local planning process.
The terms approved by Ontario for the project allow Lakeview Village to double its size to around 16,000 new units and plan for unlimited height through most of the development.
Trevor Baker, president of the Lakeview Ratepayers Association, said local residents were “p—ed off and scared” after seeing the municipal process thrown out and replaced with a decree from Queen’s Park.
“You’re darn right it’s scary,” local Coun. Stephen Dasko agreed later in the debate.
The planning decree was issued without telling local councillors, who repeatedly said during Monday night’s planning and development committee meeting that the announcement had stunned them.
Coun. John Kovac compared the twist to something from a movie, pointing out that every narrative needs a bad guy.
“Maybe somebody’s listening right now from the province, maybe they’re even cackling, who knows (if) they’re laughing, I hope not,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re the villain in this movie,” he also mused, suggesting “partner” may no longer be the correct description for Premier Doug Ford’s provincial government.
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Kovac was one of a number of council members who urged the city’s local residents to turn their wrath on the provincial officials, pointing out Ford can change his mind when he becomes “spooked” by backlash.
Local MPP Rudy Cuzzetto and housing minister Steve Clark were the targets councillors called out to receive emails, letters or phone calls from frustrated residents.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said she had invited both Clark and Cuzzetto to the planning committee but said they had not responded. She encouraged residents to demand the pair hold a consultation of their own to hear the concerns of local residents.
The province, however, showed no signs of backing down on Monday.
At an unrelated news conference in Mississauga, Ford said the province “has a housing crisis” before listing of a series of talking points about the benefits of Lakeview Village MZO.
“The government will continue to make use of the tools at its disposal in order to tackle the housing supply crisis by supporting the construction of the new homes Ontarians need and deserve,” a spokesperson for Clark told Global News.
Coun. Dasko lamented the sudden change to planning in his Mississauga ward.
“Right there, the strike of a pen detonated all these years of planning,” he said. “Infrastructure, visioning, aspirations, making sure that we have a waterfront that is the envy of the world (are gone with) one strike of a pen.”
He suggested the city send information about the MZO to local residents by mail and email. A spokesperson for the City of Mississauga told Global News staff would “work with the Councillor to determine how best to communicate with his residents on this matter.”
That move could mirror a controversial campaign rolled out by city hall the last time Mississauga clashed with the Ford government over planning.
After the province passed legislation at the end of 2022 dramatically reducing the funds homebuilders must pay to cities, Mississauga city council embarked on a campaign of opposition. Postcards were sent to every home in the city, blaming the Ford government for future property tax increases that local experts believe would stem from the new law.
During that episode, Ford accused Crombie of “whining” and told her to “get on board.”
The lack of consultation and decision to grant the developer’s wish for unlimited height also concerned Coun. Alvin Tedjo. On Monday night, he accused the Ford government of planning Mississauga “on the back of a napkin.”
One resident agreed, saying: “The wild west is here.”
Mississauga’s chief planner added that, as a result of the MZO, what the city was now faced with was “completely unplanned growth.”
Coun. Tedjo said staff who had worked on the project since its inception in 2010 were “devastated” that more than a decade of painstaking planning and incremental negotiations had been wiped out by the MZO.
The project was first conceived as Inspiration Lakeview, a master plan created by the city and local community advocates before the current development corporation bought the land. It has since gone through round after round of discussions at the city’s planning and development committee.
As waves of frustration and anger rained down upon city councillors, residents were urged again and again to take their concerns to Queen’s Park.
“I feel your rage,” Crombie said, saying residents were “talking to the converted.”
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