EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Planning Act. New section 47.1 of the Planning Act designates the lands on which the Ontario Food Terminal is situated and the prescribed surrounding lands as a provincially significant employment zone. The Bill provides protections for these lands to prevent development or conflicting uses on the lands in the future.

Bill 127 2019

An Act to amend the Planning Act to protect lands in relation to the Ontario Food Terminal

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1 The Planning Act is amended by adding the following section:

Ontario Food Terminal lands

47.1  (1)  The lands upon which the Ontario Food Terminal is situated and the prescribed surrounding lands are hereby designated as a provincially significant employment zone, in recognition of the pivotal role the Ontario Food Terminal plays in the Province’s agricultural and food network.

Protection

(2)  A municipality shall not, by by-law, resolution or otherwise, permit any rezoning, development or use of the lands designated under subsection (1) that would conflict with their use as an employment zone.

Regulations

(3)  The Minister may make regulations,

  (a)  identifying the lands on which the Ontario Food Terminal is situated more specifically and prescribing surrounding lands for the purposes of subsection (1);

  (b)  governing the protections that apply to lands designated as a provincially significant employment zone under subsection (1), including prescribing protections that apply in addition to those identified in subsection (2).

Conflict

(4)  This section applies despite anything to the contrary in a municipality’s official plan, in a growth plan made under the Places to Grow Act, 2005 or in any other provincial plan.

Commencement

2 This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

3 The short title of this Act is the Ontario Food Terminal Protection Act, 2019.