• Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt has endorsed a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) request from the Mon Sheong Foundation to upzone and intensify their Sandiford Drive site.
  • The MZO would allow for building heights of 70 metres, up from a maximum of 41 metres, and permit up to 900 residential apartment units.
  • Mon Sheong President Tim Kwan spoke with Bullet Point News about their plans to build affordable seniors housing in the form of rental and life-lease units.
  • Local Councillor Rick Upton expressed concerns and unhappiness about both the MZO and the potential built forms it could produce.
  • Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and local MPP Paul Calandra has indicated his intention to approve the MZO.

 

Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt has personally endorsed a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) request from the Mon Sheong Foundation for their lands on Sandiford Drive. An MZO is a controversial tool that authorizes Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, currently local MPP Paul Calandra, to permit zoning changes in support of development proposals without municipal council approval.

Located at 162 and 176 Sandiford Drive, the Mon Sheong site is currently zoned as Business Park Area. This designation allows for institutional residential uses such as senior citizens’ living and long-term care facilities, and a site-specific special provision in place for the two properties permits buildings up to 41 metres in height.

With one long-term care (LTC) center already completed and operational, Mon Sheong’s second LTC facility is ahead of schedule and nearing completion. Already approved plans for the next two phases of their development include two seniors care buildings: one 11-storey structure with a height of 41 metres and another six-storey building at 24 metres.

Seniors care facilities typically offer a range of special care services through internal staff or external providers and include at least one common kitchen and dining room. To remain within Business Park zoning permissions, en-suite laundry equipment and full kitchens were not permitted in individual units, ensuring they were not formally considered residential dwellings.

According to the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO), the MZO would increase maximum building heights to 70 metres and permit up to 900 new residential dwellings. The MZO would also facilitate apartment uses, further upzoning the employment lands by incorporating full kitchens and en-suite laundry facilities in each unit.

The ERO description does not indicate restrictions on who could occupy the apartment dwellings, though additional occupancy conditions could be included in the final zoning order.

In an interview with Bullet Point News, Mon Sheong President Tim Kwan detailed the MZO request and its implications for future uses and built forms on the site.

“Our goal is to build affordable seniors housing,” Kwan told us. “As a charity, we can not build for-profit housing. Through life leases, we have brought over 1,200 affordable seniors housing units to market throughout our developments.”

Life lease housing allows occupants to purchase an interest in the property, enabling them to reside in their homes for long periods at prices below market rates. Residents typically pay property taxes and maintenance fees, similar to condominium ownership.

Mon Sheong operates housing and provides a range of services through properties in Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham, and Stouffville. Kwan noted that about 20% of Sandiford residents are from the Stouffville community and highlighted the campus’s waiting list of nearly 3,000 individuals.

With the MZO, Kwan and his team plan for one of the two future buildings to consist of life lease units. Should they secure supportive construction loans from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the other building would offer affordable rentals. Without that financing, market-rate rentals are expected.

Mon Sheong is also exploring the feasibility of a third, smaller long-term care facility on the site, which could include about 190 additional units across eight stories.

“These facilities allow our seniors to age in place with convenient access to nursing and healthcare services,” Kwan said. This, he emphasized, is increasingly vital as the seniors population grows and their healthcare needs expand.

In granting Mon Sheong their original development approvals, Stouffville’s Council sacrificed the Town’s ability to secure employment land taxes from the existing long-term care facilities. Property assessments will determine taxation rates for the new buildings, which will partially depend on the resulting housing types offered.

Tax revenue aside, economic activity on the lands is not insignificant. Kwan explained that their surface parking is regularly full of vehicles owned by healthcare workers and Mon Sheong employees. The new buildings are expected to include three-story parking garages above the ground floor to accommodate increased demand stemming from intensification of the project.

“Seniors’ healthcare and dietary needs are getting greater and greater, and it is our intention to increase service levels in all of our new projects,” Kwan said. “With this MZO approved, we anticipate the site accommodating as much as three times the number of jobs compared to typical light industrial uses.”

Local Councillor Rick Upton expressed concerns and unhappiness about both the MZO and the potential built forms it could produce.

“A residential apartment building with 900 units would be three times larger than any other single-structure development to date,” Upton said. “And with height permissions for 23 stories, it will loom over the surrounding low-density homes and their residents. It’s just not compatible with the neighborhood.”

Upton also raised concerns about parking. “The MZO’s proposed parking minimum would result in just .375 residential spaces per unit. Based on my calculations, a project of that size will be roughly 1,000 spots below our Parking By-Law requirements. It’s going to be disastrous.”

He also criticized the process, expressing frustration that the project is advancing through an MZO. In his view, Stouffville’s planning staff should have fully assessed the proposals and brought recommendations to Council, allowing for public consultation.

“It’s vitally important that Stouffville residents are informed of the facts of this project and given a chance to have their voices heard at the local level,” Upton said in a final statement. “I don’t want anyone coming back and saying, ‘Well, the Province asked for their input.’ That engagement should happen through the municipality.”

While acknowledging concerns, Lovatt stood firmly behind his endorsement of the MZO.

“We’re in a global housing crisis, and our seniors population is going to double in the next 10 years,” he said in comments to Bullet Point News. “In terms of delivering affordable units for them, I don’t think there’s anybody I trust more than Mon Sheong to do that.”

“Council already upzoned these lands in 2018 and 2019, and the need for housing is far greater now than it was then,” Lovatt added. “I’m going to do everything that I absolutely can to support housing for our community.”

During the Mayor and Council’s New Year’s Levee and Skate event on Jan. 10, Minister Calandra indicated his intention to approve the MZO request.

“This MZO will allow us to deliver new housing and employment opportunities much faster,” Kwan said. “This is about efficiency, and we have support from the Mayor and the Minister. Instead of waiting another five years or more, we could see this happen within the next three.”