Teeing off on land use-Burlington To Enter Provincially Led Mediation With Developer":

Lana Hall

"Posted with permission of the publisher of NRU Publishing Inc. Original article first appeared in Novae Res Urbis GTHA, Vol. 28, No. 34, Wednesday, August 27, 2025."

The City of Burlington is scheduled to participate in a provincially- facilitated mediation with the owners of the Millcroft Golf Course regarding zoning of the privately-owned golf course lands, parts of which are undergoing housing development. The conflict between the City and the property owners around the former golf course has reignited discussions around how to maintain the delicate balance between building much-needed housing and preserving greenspace, both for recreation and flood mitigation. 

The mediation follows Burlington city council's request for a minister's zoning order (MZO) to "solidify" the Parks and Open Space designation for a portion of the golf course lands, which would prevent them from being rezoned for other purposes in the future. Burlington city council voted to make the request of the province at its meeting on June 17. But in response to council's request, Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Robert Flack told the City issuing an MZO would be premature, and instead encouraged the City to participate in provincially­ led mediation with Argo Development Corporation, which partially owns the golf course and has proposed residential development on some of the course's parcels. 

The Millcroft Golf Course, which weaves throughout Burlington's Millcroft neighbourhood in a unique figure-eight-shaped pattern, has been a site of contention between local residents, the City of Burlington, and Argo Development Corporation for some time. 

In June 2024, the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) approved a proposal permitting the development of 90 new single-detached homes spread throughout several parcels of the golf course lands, which meant overturning the City's pre-existing Parks and Open Space zoning. 

A few months later, the City of Burlington requested an MZO to preserve the Parks and Open Space zoning designation on the portion of golf course lands slated for development, which was refused by the province, citing a conflict with provincial housing priorities. Council's most recent MZO request is its second, one that would see the remainder of the undeveloped golf course lands zoned as Parks and Open Space "in perpetuity;' preventing any further development on them, according to City of Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward. 

The Millcroft neighbourhood dates back to the 1990s, when it was originally developed as a master-planned community. But according to the City, the golf course serves as more than just a recreational facility. It's also an important part of the community's stormwater management and flood mitigation approach. Council and local residents worry that future development on the golf course, including Argo's proposal for 90 new single­ detached homes on a portion of it, will encroach on the local ponds, leaving the community vulnerable to flooding.

Millcroft Against Bad Development member Cynthia Shanahan says many residents of Millcroft already struggle to obtain flood insurance due to the community's high-risk location on the stormwater route that guides water from the Niagara Escarpment to Lake Ontario. 

Shanahan, whose property backs onto the golf course, says the neighbourhood has already suffered flash flooding, including in 2014 when an August storm saw more than 200 millimetres of rainfall within a few hours, flooding most of the homes and streets around the Millcroft Golf Course, and a large portion of south Burlington. 

"The stormwater control that this course was designed to do, it couldn't even hold that water;' she says, adding that with further development on the greenspace, "South Burlington will be flooded for sure".

Though Minister Flack has already refused the City's request for an MZO pertaining to the parcels of land that will see the 90 homes developed, Shanahan is hopeful the mediation process will address that development at the same time as it considers the City's current concerns about the remaining golf course lands. 

"It's not just about our backyards, it's about risk;' she says. 

A spokesperson from Argo says that in response to the City's previous MZO, the development company offered to negotiate conveyance of a portion of the golf course to the City for public use. 

They also say the approved development will incorporate a number of facilities to control stormwater flow, including reconfiguration of the existing pond and reinstatement of a naturalized channel and functional floodplain, which will result in "significant improvements to the fluvial processes" through nearby Appleby Creek. 

But City of Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward isn't sold on that trade­ off, saying Burlington has a deficit of greenspace and can't afford to lose any more to development. 

'Tm not on for that;' says Meed Ward. "Council's been clear that they think there are better places for development, and we have a plan to direct development where it should go:' 

In the absence of additional municipal tools to maintain the golf course's Parks and Open Space zoning, Meed Ward tells NRU she thinks the City's best chance to preserve the remaining golf course lands is provincial intervention. 

"We know that having it in our official plan isn't sufficient;' she says. "People can apply to change it. They can take us to the Tribunal and overrule us. That's exactly what happened with a portion of the golf course, and now the remaining portion is also at risk:' 

For its part, Argo says the Millcroft Golf Course, as privately-owned land, cannot be forcibly converted into publicly-accessible amenities, though Argo's spokesperson says they are hopeful about reaching an agreement with the City that serves both the broader community's need for public space, while facilitating expansion of the existing residential community. 

Meed Ward is careful to state that the City's concerns don't stem from an anti­ development position, noting that in recent years, it has approved permissions to develop fourplexes as of right across the city, launched an incentive program for development of accessory dwelling units, and issued building permits for 7,000 new dwelling units. 

"We've hit a ten-year record high in the last two to three years in Burlington for housing foundations built;' she says. 

"We welcome housing in the right place, at the right scale, in the right location. [The Millcroft Golf Course] just isn't right place for it”.