In early December of last year, the Ford Government introduced a proposed law titled the Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act. The bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation that alters several existing laws and introduces new ones – referred to as an omnibus bill.
Bill 66 is receiving increased attention lately given some of its controversial provisions.
Open For Business Zoning
The Bill introduces a new type of zoning, called OFB ZBL (Open for Business Zoning By-laws). This new zoning type is designed to not have to conform to legal standards set out in a number of major provincial environmental and planning laws, such as the Greenbelt Act, the Great Lakes Protection Act, and the Lake Simcoe Protection Act. The provincial government argues that this provision will provide municipalities with the capacity to quickly approve major industrial and commercial projects to create jobs and tax revenue.
Critics Fear Environmental Impact And Out Of Control Development If Bill 66 Is Passed
Critics, on the other hand, say that the proposed by-law provisions would create the potential for massive environmental degradation and the transformation of protected green spaces into industrial and commercial areas. Water, soil, and air contamination could increase, and municipalities could embark upon aggressively competitive squabbles with each other to attract revenue generating projects.
Some City bureaucrats around the province claim that Bill 66 will upend traditional provincial planning arrangements and lead to out of control development. Tembo is keeping a close eye on the provincial government’s stated move to spur development and construction. Bill 66 has the capacity to alter land values by introducing industrial projects to areas that are designation for safer development. This could have drastic consequences.