Provincial Zoning Orders

[goodcitywhenfinished]

I recently saw this article on Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO’s) in Ontario https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ment-1.5942671

Is there a similar system at the provincial level in BC?

Would be really useful for pushing through projects in Kitsilano et al.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by goodcitywhenfinished

I recently saw this article on Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO’s) in Ontario https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ment-1.5942671

Is there a similar system at the provincial level in BC?

Would be really useful for pushing through projects in Kitsilano et al.

John Horgan has already issued a warning in a way back in 2019:

A tough-talking Premier John Horgan warned B.C. civic politicians Thursday that if they want expensive transit lines in their cities, they need to be ready to zone for significant amounts of housing along those lines.

Globe & Mail

Personally, I would be alright with MZO's from Horgan so long as they made sense and ultimately benefitted the working people. Right now the municipal government is way too slow and they're not making any progress on this city-wide plan that was a key promise by Stewart (we're on year 3 of his 4 year term).

The Broadway plan will be a calling beacon for Horgan's intervention if it's undersupplying the people with adequate future employment and housing opportunities. My prediction is that when the Broadway plan is finalized, that taller towers will be "allowed" west of Broadway - City Hall station as a way to pander to Horgan while also pandering the rest of the corridor to the NIMBYs. I hope I'm wrong though.

[invisibleairwaves]

I'm not necessarily opposed to the province stepping in to make broad changes to land use policy when cities are unwilling to allow enough housing. That's not really what's happening in Ontario though- using MZOs to do spot rezonings for specific projects creates a pretty blatant opportunity for corruption and the Ford government seems to be taking full advantage.

There's a really fine line between "bypassing the myopia and NIMBYism of municipal politics", and "bypassing the transparency and accountability of municipal politics". Not all red tape is created equal and some of it is there for a pretty good reason.

[chowhou]

Looks like the BC Gov is beginning to test its mettle against municipal governments with Penticton this week. Council is refusing to re-permit the BC housing shelter in Penticton, but the Province has overridden that.

Penticton shelter will remain open despite city's objection, says B.C. Housing Minister David Eby

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by invisibleairwaves

I'm not necessarily opposed to the province stepping in to make broad changes to land use policy when cities are unwilling to allow enough housing. That's not really what's happening in Ontario though- using MZOs to do spot rezonings for specific projects creates a pretty blatant opportunity for corruption and the Ford government seems to be taking full advantage.

There's a really fine line between "bypassing the myopia and NIMBYism of municipal politics", and "bypassing the transparency and accountability of municipal politics". Not all red tape is created equal and some of it is there for a pretty good reason.

Municipal politics features the least scrutiny, media coverage, voter turnout, awareness etc. of any level of government.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

Municipal politics features the least scrutiny, media coverage, voter turnout, awareness etc. of any level of government.

That's debatable.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

Municipal politics features the least scrutiny, media coverage, voter turnout, awareness etc. of any level of government.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

That's debatable.

It really isn't.

Vancouver municipal election turnout last session was about 40%, Coquitlam and Langley City were all the way down at 25%.

Meanwhile, in recent years we've averaged 60-70% for federal elections

Municipal politics are by-and-large controlled by the special few that care enough to actually vote. Guess what, fear and anger get people voting more than contentment and happiness, so NIMBYs are gonna have a bigger say than those okay with the status quo.

[invisibleairwaves]

I'm not talking about media coverage or voter turnout. I'm talking about the difference between zoning decisions being made at an open council session with publicly available minutes, and zoning decisions being made in a backroom in Victoria. Does the municipal process make it easier for NIMBY activists to shut down development? Sure. Does it also make it harder for developers to trade personal or partisan favours for preferential zoning treatment? Yep.

These aren't abstract, hypothetical concerns either. The Ford PCs are providing a pretty concrete example of why the MZO process isn't something we should try to emulate here. They aren't using it to upzone Toronto's vast stretches of SFHs or build affordable housing over the objections of entitled NIMBYs. They're using it to ram through projects on wetlands and historical sites, which cities generally try to protect for reasons beyond "old millionaires who hate renters and change". And they're using it primarily to help big PC donors.

Again, I think there's ways the province could step in and force cities to permit density without the opaque and corruptible process Ontario is using. Allowing multifamily projects by-right in a given neighbourhood instead of spot rezonings would avoid a lot of these problems. No idea if that's even possible within the current legal framework, but I'd definitely love to see the province push something like that in connection with transit funding.

[Migrant_Coconut]

That falls under public awareness and participation. Airwaves was talking about transparency.*

*At least City Hall lets you know what's going on most of the time; provincial politics usually involves a lot more closed-door negotiation, so if the NDP or Libs were put directly in charge of zoning, the situation could get even worse (to say nothing of how this ducks up the whole "checks and balances" thing).

EDIT: Ninja'd. Goddammit.

[invisibleairwaves]

Haha, yours was way more concise though.

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by invisibleairwaves

I'm not talking about media coverage or voter turnout. I'm talking about the difference between zoning decisions being made at an open council session with publicly available minutes, and zoning decisions being made in a backroom in Victoria. Does the municipal process make it easier for NIMBY activists to shut down development? Sure. Does it also make it harder for developers to trade personal or partisan favours for preferential zoning treatment? Yep.

These aren't abstract, hypothetical concerns either. The Ford PCs are providing a pretty concrete example of why the MZO process isn't something we should try to emulate here. They aren't using it to upzone Toronto's vast stretches of SFHs or build affordable housing over the objections of entitled NIMBYs. They're using it to ram through projects on wetlands and historical sites, which cities generally try to protect for reasons beyond "old millionaires who hate renters and change". And they're using it primarily to help big PC donors.

Again, I think there's ways the province could step in and force cities to permit density without the opaque and corruptible process Ontario is using. Allowing multifamily projects by-right in a given neighbourhood instead of spot rezonings would avoid a lot of these problems. No idea if that's even possible within the current legal framework, but I'd definitely love to see the province push something like that in connection with transit funding.

Agreed on your ideal solution of the province setting minimum zoning in broad swathes of land as opposed to ad-hoc decisions (which are still better than nothing imo). Good news: it's completely doable. Municipalities are creatures of the provincial government, with their responsibilities and bounds set by simple Acts of the provincial legislature rather than the constitution. The province could amend the Vancouver Charter and Local Government Act, setting zoning however it wants, wherever it wants, and introduce an enforcement mechanism to ensure implementation doesn't get stymied by uncooperative cities.