Residents frustrated with lack of notice for industrial park development

By Zachary Roman

Caledon residents living near an industrial development site raised concerns at a recent meeting of Caledon Council. 

In the urgent business section of Council's April 25 meeting, Ward 3 Councillor Doug Maskell brought forward a motion.

He asked that residents be able to delegate about the “Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) issued by the Province to the Rice Group for the property municipally known as 12245 Torbram Road, Ward 3.”

The motion passed unanimously and residents were permitted to delegate on the Rice Group development.

The Rice Group is ready to build a 502-acre industrial park between Torbram and Airport roads, north of Mayfield Road.

In January 2022, the Rice Group requested that the Town of Caledon apply for a MZO — which fast-tracks development and bypasses consultation — from Ontario Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Steve Clark. 

This request was referred to Town staff, so they could bring additional information back to Council at a future meeting. However, before the request was brought back to Council, the MZO for the development was granted by Clark on September 9, 2022.

At an April 11, 2023 planning and development meeting, Caledon's Chief Planner Antonietta Minichillo explained a member of Caledon's previous term of Council acted alone in seeking the MZO.

“An individual member of Council, not through Council direction… was working with someone at the Ministry to bring forward this MZO,” said Minichillo.

There is no formal process for applying for an MZO in Ontario.

A July 22, 2022 letter to Clark obtained by The Citizen shows that the individual member of Council in question was former Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson.

“I am writing this letter to articulate the benefits of the advancement of a commercial development of the land known as 12245 Torbram Road…” wrote Thompson in the letter.  “As you know, the Town of Caledon is in the final stages of completing our Official Plan (OP). Foundational to our OP is ensuring we have an adequate supply of industrial, commercial and institutional lands that will allow for opportunities for economic development and future economic sustainability. A proposed development application for the lands noted above would see 5 million square feet of space dedicated to advanced logistics, product distribution, and industrial uses.”

In his letter, Thompson said other significant benefits from the development include development charges in excess of $110 million; development application fees and building permit fees estimated at $5 million; $795 million in GDP value added to the Canadian economy; 5,900 full-time equivalent jobs, 5,000 of which would be in Peel; and $306 million in government revenues. 

Thompson noted that the Rice Group's development application was deemed complete by Town staff on September 15, 2021 and that a public meeting was held about the development on January 17, 2022. Further, he wrote that the lands in question would be urban and for employment purposes in the Region of Peel's settlement area boundary expansion.

“While Town Council has paused on advancing applications until the official plan is complete, I feel that having this application wait for that work to be completed may deter the applicant to move this significant opportunity for economic and job growth to another community,” wrote Thompson. “I am personally asking that you consider, as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, using your legislative authority to advance this project by issuing a Minister's Zoning Order. By doing so, I believe the Town, Region, and Province will realize the significant benefits outlined in this letter.”

When Rice Group first submitted applications for their industrial park development at 12245 Torbram Road, they requested to develop 370 acres. After the MZO was issued on September 9, 2022, they were permitted to develop 502 acres. 

The southwest corner of Rice Group's lands is located in Ontario's Greenbelt Plan and is designated as protected. Rice Group originally wanted to develop this land, but it was not included in the MZO, which excluded it and added more development land in the north end of Rice Group's holdings. 

According to Town staff, since the approval of the MZO, Rice Group has been working with the Town to address the additional lands. As of April 25, the Rice Group's revised application addressing the new lands was not yet complete.

An April 11 update from Town staff noted “The revised development applications will facilitate the development of an industrial park consisting of warehousing, distribution centres and industrial uses in eight industrial buildings totaling approximately 550,912 square metres (5,929,967 square feet).” 

The Town expects the Rice Group to begin site grading this spring or summer.

Surat Atwal lives on Torbram Road near the Rice Group development and delegated to Council on April 25. He said he's lived in the area for over 15 years and while he's seen a lot of change, he's always known it's coming. However, that was not the case for the Rice Group development.

“How did this get this far without the residents knowing what was happening?” asked Atwal.

Minichillo said when the original application for the development came in 2021, a notice was given to everyone within 120 metres of it. She said Atwal's address is outside the 120-metre notice requirement in Ontario's planning act.

Continuing, Minichillo said when an MZO is used, there are fewer processes and notification requirements.

“The ordinary process for circulating applications to public bodies does not apply to the Minister, and no notice or hearing is required prior to the making of a zoning order,” said Minichillo. “...MZOs are undertaken for this purpose, they circumvent public consultation. They're designed to cut that piece out of the process.”

She said Town staff are currently preparing an MZO policy, and said in situations where an MZO is used and the province does not have to provide notice, the Town wants to provide notice to residents.

Minichillo said while the MZO grants the Rice Group zoning approval, it does not grant them site plan approval and that they will have to work with the Town to address resident concerns.

Minichillo said when the Rice Group's revised application comes in, residents within 1,000 metres of the development will be notified.

Bipanpreet Kandola delegated at the meeting on behalf of her family, who live on Torbram Road right next to the Rice Group development. She shared Atwal's concerns about lack of notice about the development.

“Stating that notices will be provided in the future does not help current residents with this issue,” said Kandola. “The development is not a minor one where we will have little inconvenience… this development will reduce the value of our land and our enjoyment of it as well.”

Nadia Capuano also lives on Torbram Road adjacent to the development and said it was concerning something so massive would be built next to her and her neighbour's homes. She asked what the next stage in the process is with the Rice Group development.

Minichillo said the Rice Group will have to come to Town staff with a revised official plan amendment and plan of subdivision, at which point the community will be given notice and the Town will hold a public meeting. She said the meeting will be the best way for residents to provide their comments on the Rice Group development.

Councillor Nick deBoer said it will be important to engage residents near the Rice Group development in conversations with the developer itself. He said he's facilitated meetings like that in the past and they have been successful for residents getting their concerns addressed. He also said the Town needs to begin the process of informing all Caledon residents who live in the Region of Peel's expanded urban boundaries of the changes that are coming. The Region of Peel's settlement area boundary expansion map can be found on peelregion.ca.

Councillor Maskell thanked Council for allowing residents to speak on the Rice Group development by supporting his motion in urgent business. He said as a new councillor, he never wants to see a situation like the one the homeowners near the Rice Group development are facing happen again.

“I think what happened here is not right in many ways,” said Maskell.

Those interested in being notified about the Rice Group development as it moves forward can send an email to planning@caledon.ca.