Ford Gov Issues 'Enhanced' MZO For Ontario Place Redevelopment

On Friday afternoon – conveniently, right before the first long weekend of the Ontario cottage season – the Ford government announced that they had issued an enhanced MZO to ramp up their Ontario Place development plans.for Minister’s Zoning Orders and they’re determined to watch their highly controversial vision for Ontario Place materialize. Now, it appears they’ve combined these two passions in a bold, but unsurprising, move.

While countless Toronto residents likely remained blissfully unaware of the move all weekend long – too busy enjoying the summer-like weather – it’s safe to say that it’ll hit like a punch to the gut for many. The iconic waterfront entertainment venue and park, which was decommissioned in 2012, is in need of a major facelift. That, everyone can agree on. But the fate of the once fun-filled, now crumbling, spot is the subject of an ongoing controversy.

As part of its 95-year land lease agreement with Therme, the Province is contractually obligated to provide dedicated parking for the spa -- something that was revealed in a report late last year from the auditor general. That’s not to say the move came as a surprise. “We knew the province intended to MZO the city-owned land on West Island and hand the land over to the mega spa for 95 years,” Di Pasquale tells STOREYS. “The city refused to surrender or swap the land, opening up this terrible precedent of the Ministry of Infrastructure using an MZO. We are very worried about the precedent this MZO sets for our other public institutions.

But, when a huge chunk of the real estate will be pay-to-play, perhaps the real question is, how is accessibility even defined in this city, anyway? Furthermore,the future Ontario Place will be, technically, "more accessible," as Ford claims... what was once the former Ontario Place remains closed-off to the public.​The company that owns 55 Dundas, 11603531 Canada Inc., was placed under receivership in November at the request of BMO.

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