Province makes zoning orders for the Millcroft golf course: about 138 homes permitted, about 30 hectares of open space protected on a condition

What the Province decided

On October 23, 2026, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing made three Minister's Zoning Orders (MZOs) on the Millcroft Golf Course lands in Ward 6, according to decisions posted that day on the Province's Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO). The City of Burlington said the same afternoon that it had been made aware of the decisions and that staff are reviewing them "to understand how they impact the development proposal refused by Council."

The housing orders

Order 009-2026 permits single detached dwellings, a range of townhouse styles, accessory uses and additional residential units, and sets lot area, coverage, setback, height and parking standards. Under the Planning Act, the notice says, it also exempts provincial policy statements, provincial plans and official plans from applying to later approvals on the lands, and removes site plan control. Order 010-2026 does the same for 4274 Dundas St., where it applies the existing apartment-building standards for that zone plus a minimum of 0.6 parking spaces per unit or bed.

The housing count matches the proposal Council refused on September 29, which the City's development page describes as 138 homes: 73 single detached homes and 65 townhouses. The Province's notice says only that Order 009-2026 "facilitates approximately 138" dwellings; it does not set out that split.

The open space order and its condition

Order 011-2026 answers the City's June request for an order to keep the remaining golf course lands in open space use. The Province says it covers about 30 hectares in five areas; its earlier proposal notice had described the subject lands as about 41 hectares. The decision notice states that the remainder of the lands in the City's request are subject to Order 009-2026.

The Minister attached a condition: Order 011-2026 takes effect only on confirmation that occupancy permits have been issued under the building code for all dwellings intended for the lands labelled Low-Rise Residential Neighbourhood 8-1 in Appendix A of Order 009-2026. Until the Minister is satisfied that condition has been or will be met, the notice says, the open space order is suspended. The City's release puts it the same way: the order "will not take effect" until occupancy permits are confirmed for the homes planned under Order 009-2026.

What the comments said

The Province reports 265 comments on the housing request (253 through the registry and 12 by email) and 158 on the City's open space request (151 and 7). Most public and community comments on the housing request opposed it, citing loss of green space and tree canopy, flooding, the location for growth and the use of a provincial order over the municipal process; supporters cited housing supply, the tax base and access to a proposed trail and open space. Most comments on the City's request were supportive.

• The City's planning staff told the Province that more technical information was needed for development near regulated hazard lands, and that the City's analysis shows enough housing capacity for forecast growth beyond 2050. Staff did not object in principle to care home uses at 4274 Dundas St. but said zoning changes there should go through the municipal process.
• Conservation Halton said parts of the lands overlap known flooding and erosion hazard limits and need further technical study.
• Halton Region raised sanitary servicing and the planned widening of Dundas Street.
• The landowner said that securing private land as public open space should be done by acquisition with compensation, not land use controls.

Update, October 30: The appeal period closed at 4:30 p.m. on October 28. The City's development page for Millcroft Greens Phase 2 now shows "Status - Appealed," and the page's entry in the City's development listing is dated October 29. The page does not say who appealed, whether the appeal concerns the Official Plan amendment, the subdivision or both, or whether a hearing has been scheduled. The Ontario Land Tribunal says a newly filed appeal appears on its online case status service once it has been received and processed, which may take a number of weeks.