Amazon confirms it won’t be going to controversial Pickering wetlands development

Amazon confirms to Global News that it has pulled out of a proposed deal over a large swath of provincially significant wetlands in Pickering, Ont.

The news comes amid concerns over the proposed, controversial development of a warehouse project located on the west side of Squires Beach Road, between Highway 401 and Bayly Street, that many say would affect the Duffins Creek wetlands.

Advocates have said the lands are important for water filtration and support other parts of the ecosystem, including migrating birds.

However, in a statement to Global News, Amazon said it was always exploring multiple sites for expansion of its new fulfillment centre and a lease for the Pickering property was never signed, and a MZO (minister’s zoning order) was never requested.

“We were always considering multiple sites for our expansion and we take environmental issues very seriously,” Amazon spokesperson Dave Bauer said Friday.

“The environmental impacts were absolutely part of our decision not to select the site,” Bauer said.

Pickering city council voted to request a zoning order from Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark in 2020, a process that avoids appeals and public consultations, for the site.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) was in the process of reviewing a request to clear cut some of the lands for the development. It’s a process that normally takes three to six weeks, but a recent order from Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry John Yakabuski directing it be approved by March 12.

The TRCA convened an urgent meeting Friday morning to discuss the matter.

On March 5, a TRCA statement said the organization has been “forced” to “interfere with and develop within a Provincially Significant Wetland and place fill and site grade” at the project site.

“TRCA’s Board of Directors and staff, using a science-based approach to decision making and TRCA’s living city policies, would ordinarily decline permission of such a permit,” the statement said.

“TRCA’s Board of Directors must now, under duress, adhere to the Province’s legally mandated directive which conflicts with TRCA’s mandate to further the conservation, development, and management of natural resources in watersheds within our jurisdiction.”

— More to come.