[AlbertC]

Mentioned in this article by the Toronto Star today:

Province uses MZOs to fast-track four more developments, including movie studios in Mississauga and Markham

But Minister’s Zoning Orders undermine the public’s right to have a say in what gets built, say some residents and politicians.

www.thestar.com

In Markham, the MZO clears the way for a film production studio, hotel and mixed “employment blocks” for “entertainment, hospital and innovation,” by SOW Capital Limited.

Councillor Karen Rea said Markham wants the jobs that development will bring but she doesn’t like the MZO process.

“It’s a way to fast-track development without public input,” she said. “I can see MZO for long-term care facilities but not for a movie studio.”

More info in this online presentation posted on July 8th, 2021:

https://pub-markham.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=41616

 

[Northern Light]

Seems unfortunately situated at the edge of urbanity.

I get that this requires a large lot, but there is an awful lot of Markham that's underbuilt, it would have been nice to see this close to established public transit rather than furthering sprawl, albeit it an atypical, denser, form.

 

[StealthyArrow]

Seems unfortunately situated at the edge of urbanity.

I get that this requires a large lot, but there is an awful lot of Markham that's underbuilt, it would have been nice to see this close to established public transit rather than furthering sprawl, albeit it an atypical, denser, form.

To be fair, Markham's master plan for this area was for business employment, and was designated for a new future urban area along with future neighbourhood areas that are already in the zoning and planning process. This MZO just seems to accelerate the use of this land, and the development around it, which was going to eventually be developed anyways. There is definitely other areas that can be ripe for this development, but as Northern Light said, this is a clean slate of land and is easier to develop then say in one of Markham's already established business parks or somewhere like Downtown Markham or near that other movie studio that was proposed a year or two back, which was much smaller in scale.