Ontario government 'exploring' putting protections back on 2 Greenbelt properties

The Ontario government is "exploring" reinstating environmental protections on two properties in Ajax, Ont., removed from the Greenbelt last year and slated for development, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday.

In a statement, Ford said the properties — located at 765 and 775 Kingston Road East — had been listed for sale by the the land's owner.

"At no point was the intention to sell disclosed to the government's facilitator during active and ongoing discussions," Ford said in his statement.

"This behaviour goes against everything that our government is doing to bring home ownership into reach for more people."

However, a representative for the landowner suggested there had been a misunderstanding, saying the international owner was seeking a development partner and "at no time was the property going to be sold outright."

Ontario created the Greenbelt in 2005 to protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area from development. Last year, the province took 2,995 hectares of land out of the Greenbelt to build 50,000 homes and replaced it with about 3,804 hectares elsewhere.

Earlier this month, the province's auditor general released a scathing report that showed property developers with close ties to the government influenced the decision to open up the Greenbelt to their benefit. The fallout has triggered the resignation of the housing minister's chief of staff and the RCMP is considering launching an investigation into the matter.

Opposition to swap

The two Ajax properties together formed one of the 15 sites for which environmental protections were removed.

Ford's statement did not name the company nor did it outright say the land would be returned to the Greenbelt.

The auditor general's report lists Buena Vista Development Corp. as the primary developer and/or the landowner for the land recently listed for sale. It also lists a numbered company as the owner of those sites.

As first reported by CBC Toronto in November 2022,  property records show the numbered company, based in Richmond Hill, Ont., bought the land — a 42-hectare farm designated as having cultural heritage value — in June 2018 for $15.8 million. The records show two directors, one based in Richmond Hill and another in China.

An aerial view of protected farmland in the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve in Pickering, Ont., that the provincial government has removed from the Greenbelt to allow housing development. Ford announced Tuesday the government is 'exploring' putting environmental protections back on two parts of the Greenbelt in Ajax, Ont., which had been slated for development. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)

The property includes a three-bedroom home built in 1880.

A family owned the land for more than a century before putting it up for sale, a listing at the time shows.

The family said in that listing that it was 104 acres in the Greenbelt and a "high profile location." The family wrote that they initiated the process of exempting the lands from the Greenbelt designation with the province back in 2013.

"Supports a mix use development. Potential of huge financial reward!" the listing reads.

The property was then put up for sale again in February 2022 for $1 but wasn't sold.

Representative for landowner says situation 'misunderstood'

Armand Reale, listed in corporate records as the director of Buena Vista, said he is not the owner or developer of the land.

"I was part of a group of consultants assembled by the owner including planner and lawyers to help them respond to the government process," he wrote in an email, referring inquiries to the landowner's representative, John Dong.

Dong, who is listed as the real estate agent on the 2018 purchase and 2022 sale listing, said the situation was "all misunderstood."

Dong said his client, Yuchen Lu, is not a developer and bought the land in 2018 "to hold as an investment."

"My clients have no development experience and required a partner with the requisite experience to meet the government's policy objective to have shovels in the ground in 2025," Dong, a real estate agent with Homelife New World Realty, said in an email.

"To accomplish this, we engaged in a process to a find joint venture partner with the experience necessary to help us develop the property."

The auditor general found that 98 per cent of that land is classified as the highest quality soil that produces cash crop production. It is also a priority area that maintains Greenbelt connectivity in the Ajax and Whitby, Ont., corridor.

Opposition parties slam government

Ford did say his government is "exploring every option including immediately starting the process to put these sites back into the Greenbelt."

He also added a warning to other property owners.

"To the other property owners, you're on notice: if you don't meet our government's conditions, including showing real progress by year end with a plan to get shovels in the ground by 2025, your land will go back into the Greenbelt," Ford said.

Patricia Spindel, founder of environmental advocacy group Citizen Action Ajax-Pickering-Whitby, said she would be glad if the land was returned to the Greenbelt.

"Right now, it's being farmed and it should continue to be farmed, she said. "We've had way too much development and the development has all been big, huge houses that are unaffordable."

Patricia Spindel, founder of Citizen Action Ajax Pickering Whitby, says she would like to see the land returned to the Greenbelt so it can remain as farmland. (David Hill/CBC )

In a statement, Opposition NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Conservatives are "changing their tune simply because they got caught.

"Clearly, this is a government that has one set of rules for those with close connections to their party and a different set for everyone else. None of this is about housing," she said. "This government needs to recall the Legislature so we can restore all of these lands to Greenbelt protection now, and Ford needs to fire Minister Clark from Cabinet."

In his own statement, interim Liberal Leader and MPP John Fraser similarly called for Clark's resignation, and called Ford's announcement a "desperate attempt to distract the people of Ontario by trying to hide the tip of the iceberg.

"If the Premier were serious, he would accept the Auditor General's recommendation to return all lands back to the Greenbelt," he said.

Green Party Leader and MPP Mike Schreiner called for the same.

"The Premier should absolutely do right by Ontarians and return these and all other lands to the Greenbelt immediately," Schreiner said in a statement.

Ajax property has heritage status

There is another issue that will have to be considered should developers want to move ahead with housing in that area.

The Town of Ajax designated heritage status on a collection of buildings on the site in 2021. No one objected to the status, the town's documents note.

The land is known as the Nicholas Austin Property, the town's heritage bylaw on the property says. The heritage designation is primarily on the property's old buildings.

"The property contains one of the oldest remaining dwellings in the town, a collection of interesting agricultural buildings and a rare example of an early airplane hangar," the bylaw reads.

Many of the buildings are "architecturally significant" and built in the mid-1800s.

"This collection of agricultural outbuildings is surely amongst the most interesting and eclectic in the town," the bylaw reads.

The town controls the fate of the heritage buildings, a spokesperson said.

"The heritage designation means that anyone that wants to alter any of the heritage attributes of the property must first get approval from the town," Devon Jarvis said in an email.