Here is Staff report on an application from Magna to amend the zoning by-law for their property at south west corner of Jane and King Road.  The requested amendment is to allow warehousing at their site which is zoned prestige employment.  On April 9th at Council there is the statutory public meeting which is the opportunity for citizens to voice concerns, ask questions, indicate support.  To my mind this is truly a case where there is inadequate information to make an assessment.  Two top questions are: how much and for what purpose.  As this property is of particular importance to King’s economic development I encourage you to attend this public meeting.

The history of this 42 hectare (104 acre) lot has some complexity.  In the King City Community Plan (2000) the parcel was designated as being prestige employment; permissions and prohibitions were identified for it.   Under previous ownership (before Magna) development plans ended up at the OMB where amendments to Official Plan were ordered.  Then in 2017 new zoning by-law for King City included new permissions for all zones.  Per Staff report, the inclusion of “light industrial use” in the zone for the Magna property implied inclusion of warehousing; but the actual zoning by-law was not written to allow warehousing.  Consequently there is now this zoning amendment application.

Note:  in the Staff report it is indicated that there are 4 different zones within this property and that the amendment application is for only the E1-9 zone. If you are curious here is a map showing the different zones.

As I have said already I have many questions for the public meeting.  Without question the concept of warehousing is a big red flag for me.  i)  Warehousing with its truck traffic is not compatible with the prestigious residential development across from Magna. ii)  To a municipality warehouses were once an opportunity for employment; given robotics that is no longer the case.  So I am concerned about this land’s zoning being modified to allow for warehouses as we still do not have Magna on site.

Learning what has triggered Magna to request the amendment and learning the footprint of the warehousing is important information.