BROCKTON – The Municipality of Brockton is requesting a special Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to help facilitate the development of over 500 housing units, including senior’s housing and apartments, and additional employment lands in the East Ridge business park.
Council approved seeking an MZO to rezone the lands following extensive consultation with the community and support from local employers, developers, and agencies. Traditionally, MZOs have been used to support proposals for affordable housing, long-term care homes, and similar developments.
“As the municipality considered ways to support and create much needed affordable housing for our seniors and our service and manufacturing industry employees, the MZO became an obvious choice to advance multiple residential development projects in a timely manner,” said Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody. “We applaud the efforts of the provincial government and specifically Minister Steve Clark for considering land-use planning tools such as the Minister’s Zoning Order to tackle the housing crisis.”
The lands subject to the requested MZO – approximately 24 hectares – are zoned as employment, industrial and agricultural lands in Walkerton. The MZO would convert five vacant parcels of employment lands within the East Ridge Business Park to accommodate more appropriate residential development there, including townhouses, apartments, a residential care facility and a proposed hospice. The land is adjacent to residential areas and a municipal soccer complex. The MZO would help expedite the approval process for the municipality and three developers involved.
The MZO request also seeks to rezone a parcel of land recently acquired by the municipality from the Kleist family along the north edge of the business park, converting it from farmland to employment land to provide opportunities for future growth, while replacing the land being rezoned to residential.
“We are very grateful to the Kleist family, who worked with the municipality on supporting the future economic development of the community through enabling us to expand the business park,” said Brockton chief administrative officer Sonya Watson. A portion of the 62 acres purchased in the Kleist transaction is environmentally sensitive, and not part of the MZO. “The municipality will preserve all environmentally sensitive areas for consideration of future parkland,” she added.
The land purchase and MZO request are both designed to help position the municipality to meet the needs of a growing community. More information, including a map of the site, is available at https://www.brockton.ca/en/do-business/ministerial-zoning-order-application.aspx.
