Codes and regulation ·
Ontario issues Millcroft zoning orders for homes and care facility
By Workvado / Litequo LLC · Published · Updated
Orders made Oct. 23 permit about 138 homes on part of the Burlington golf-course lands and add care uses on a separate parcel.
Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing made Zoning Orders 009-2026 and 010-2026 for lands known as Millcroft Golf Course in Burlington on Oct. 23. The province’s Environmental Registry decision notice says Order 009 applies to six areas totalling about 11.6 hectares and facilitates approximately 138 detached and townhouse units. Order 010 applies to a separate 0.66-hectare parcel at 4274 Dundas Street, adding long-term care and retirement home uses alongside existing permissions.
The orders do more than identify permitted building types. Order 009 establishes zoning requirements including lot area and coverage, setbacks, building heights, yard encroachments and off-street parking. It also removes site plan control for the affected lands and exempts specified provincial and municipal planning policies from applying to downstream approvals. Order 010 applies current apartment building zoning rules to the added care uses and sets a minimum of 0.6 parking spaces per unit or bed. The legal text and map should be consulted for exact parcel boundaries and provisions.
These decisions followed consultation periods earlier in 2026, and the Registry records 253 submissions through its portal and 12 by email on the combined notice. The decision page says comments were considered. Objections raised concerns about open space, tree canopy, stormwater, natural hazards, servicing and transportation, among other issues. Conservation Halton identified lands within regulated areas and said more technical work would be required to address flooding, erosion and environmental constraints. Those concerns are part of the public record; the decision does not mean every technical approval or permit has been granted.
For contractors and developers, a zoning order changes the land-use framework but does not itself deliver a building permit, confirm servicing capacity or complete detailed design. The province states that the orders took effect when signed. Project teams still need to verify subsequent requirements, including applicable environmental approvals, servicing, access, utility coordination and any site-specific obligations that remain in force. Since the orders alter which planning instruments apply downstream, the approved order and accompanying map should be reviewed by the planning and legal team before relying on earlier zoning assumptions.
The Registry notice highlights that zoning order 011-2026 covers additional golf-course land and is intended to retain recreational and open-space uses there. That separate decision is part of the same broader land-use dispute but should not be confused with Orders 009 and 010. The Oct. 23 decisions affect particular parcels and uses; they do not approve development across the entire golf course.
From a construction scheduling perspective, the order may remove some planning steps while leaving engineering, environmental and building-control work to be completed. Owners should sequence those remaining submissions before tendering site works. Contractors can ask for the applicable zoning order, parcel plan, servicing studies, geotechnical and environmental constraints, and current approval matrix during preconstruction. Doing so helps distinguish the land-use permission secured by the minister from the permits and technical clearances required to mobilize safely.
The verified milestone is a ministerial zoning decision dated Oct. 23, not a completed housing project. The orders set permissions for two defined parcels and specify some development standards. The number of homes is approximate and enabled by the order; construction start, phasing, sale, infrastructure capacity and completion timing are not established in the decision notice.
- Decision date
- October 23, 2026
- Residential parcel area
- About 11.6 ha
- Homes facilitated
- Approximately 138
- Care-use parcel
- About 0.66 ha at 4274 Dundas Street
Sources
- Zoning Orders 009-2026 and 010-2026 – City of Burlington, Environmental Registry of Ontario, read October 27, 2026
- Zoning Order 011-2026 – City of Burlington, Environmental Registry of Ontario, read October 27, 2026
- Planning Act, section 47, Government of Ontario, read October 27, 2026