Burlington Said No to 138 Homes at Millcroft. The Minister Decides, and the City Has Lost Twice.
Council’s unanimous rejection lands on top of two competing zoning order requests — one to build, one to freeze — on the same 100 acres. Meanwhile the owner has already refused $15 million from the City for land it bought for about a third of that.
Urban Land Group · September 21, 2026
Burlington councillors have unanimously rejected Millcroft Greens Corporation’s proposal for 138 more homes on the Millcroft Golf Club at 2155 Country Club Drive, according to the Hamilton Spectator on September 18. The Phase 2 plan is 73 single-detached homes and 65 townhouses on private condominium roads, filed with the City as an Official Plan amendment, rezoning and plan of subdivision on June 5, 2026.
The vote matters less than it looks. On the same day it filed with the City, the owner also asked the province for a Minister’s Zoning Order to permit the same homes. Seventeen days later the City asked the same minister for an order doing the opposite. Both requests are posted on the Environmental Registry, both comment periods have closed, and the Ministry has not posted a decision on either.
How a golf course became 220 approved units
This is the second round. Phase 1 — 90 single-detached lots and a six-storey, 130-unit apartment building on Dundas Street, 220 units in all — was refused support by the City and approved by the Ontario Land Tribunal on June 12, 2024, with a final order in February 2025. The City asked the province for an MZO to protect the rest of the course in 2024 and again in 2025; both were declined. A provincially facilitated mediation followed in July 2025. It did not produce a deal.
Figure 1 — Millcroft from purchase to the September 2026 vote.
Phase 1 has since lost roughly 400 trees to clearing, but per the City’s September 2 update construction still has no confirmed start date, pending a pre-servicing agreement.
Two orders, one piece of land
The developer’s request (ERO 026-0551) covers 11.6 hectares at Country Club Drive for about 138 units, plus 0.66 hectares at 4274 Dundas Street — now a maintenance shed — for long-term care and retirement uses. It carries written support from the Minister of Seniors and Accessibility and the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. The owner says it would convey about 75 acres of open space to the City at no cost.
The City’s request (ERO 026-0550) would hold roughly 41 hectares — everything outside the Tribunal-approved areas — to its existing O1 Open Space uses: golf, parks and recreation. The lands include woodlands, wetlands, wildlife habitat and flood plain.
Figure 2 — The competing MZO requests, in acres.
The number that was disclosed by accident
In March, the mayor and ward councillor posted details of a confidential negotiation; council then formally waived privilege over exactly what had been disclosed. The City had offered $15 million for the remaining lands — “approximately three times the amount the golf course was purchased for in 2020.” The owner declined.
Figure 3 — What the declined offer implies.
That refusal is a price signal. An owner prepared to give away about 73 acres and still reject $15 million believes the 138 lots are worth more than about $109,000 each in land value, net of servicing, carry, and years of process. At about 4.8 units per gross acre, that is an estate-lot residual: it only clears if the finished detached product sells near the top of the Burlington market.
| WHAT IS VERIFIED, AND WHAT IS NOT The vote is as reported by the Hamilton Spectator; we have not seen the minutes. The City’s page lists a September 15 statutory meeting with Phase 2 still under completeness review, and a statutory meeting does not ordinarily produce a final refusal. Treat “reject” as council’s stated position until the motion is posted. The ~$5M 2020 price is implied from the City’s “three times” statement; acreages are ULG conversions of the ERO hectares; per-unit and per-acre figures are ULG arithmetic, not an Opinion of Value. |
| THE ULG VIEW The council vote is not the decision. The minister is. Two MZO requests on the same 100 acres are sitting at Municipal Affairs and Housing, and an MZO is not appealable to the Tribunal. Whichever order is granted, if either is, overrides everything council did last week. A unanimous vote five weeks before the October 26 municipal election costs councillors nothing and tells you very little about how this ends. The track record points the other way from the vote. The owner has already won 220 units at the Tribunal over the City’s opposition. The province has twice declined the City’s request to freeze the land. The developer’s request arrives with letters of support from two cabinet ministers. None of that makes approval certain, but anyone pricing this as “dead because council said no” is reading the wrong room. The refused $15 million is the most useful number in the file. It sets a floor on the owner’s expectations: roughly $109,000 of land value per proposed unit, after conveying about 73 acres for nothing. At about 4.8 units per gross acre, that is a low-density estate-lot play whose residual only works on detached prices at the top of the Burlington market. Test that, not the headline. The lesson for land buyers is about the path, not the site. Open Space zoning on a private golf course has proven not to be a ceiling in Halton: the 2020 buyer paid around a third of what the City later offered, and the uplift came through the Tribunal and Queen’s Park, not council. For any club, institutional or open-space holding you are looking at, map the provincial route before you price the local politics. And budget for time: six years in, Phase 1 still has no confirmed construction start. |
Sources
· Environmental Registry of Ontario 026-0551 — MZO request by Millcroft Greens Corporation, posted June 5, 2026. https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/026-0551
· Environmental Registry of Ontario 026-0550 — MZO request by the City of Burlington, posted June 22, 2026. https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/026-0550
· City of Burlington — Millcroft Greens development and construction updates (Phase 2 applications, MZO status), updated September 2, 2026. https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/council-news-and-events/millcroft-greens-construction-updates.aspx
· City of Burlington — Council waives privilege on limited information related to Millcroft lands ($15M offer), March 10, 2026. https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/council-waives-privilege-on-limited-information-related-to-millcroft-lands.aspx
· City of Burlington — Statement on the OLT decision (90 singles, 130 apartments), June 13, 2024. https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/city-of-burlington-disappointed-with-ontario-land-tribunal-s-decision-on-millcroft-greens-appeal.aspx
· City of Burlington — Provincial facilitation with Millcroft Greens, July 15, 2025. https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/city-of-burlington-to-engage-in-provincial-facilitation-with-millcroft-greens.aspx
· CHCH — Ontario denies Burlington’s request to intervene, June 20, 2025 (news). https://www.chch.com/chch-news/ontario-denies-burlingtons-request-to-intervene-on-millcroft-golf-club-development/
· Millcroft Greens — developer website (75-acre conveyance, 9-hole 2026 season). https://www.millcroftgreens.com/
· Hamilton Spectator — “Burlington councillors unanimously reject 138 more homes at Millcroft Golf Club,” September 18, 2026 (headline and summary only; article not accessed). https://www.thespec.com/
Charts by Urban Land Group. Per-unit, per-acre and density figures are Urban Land Group arithmetic on published numbers and are not an appraisal, an Opinion of Value or a planning opinion. Urban Land Group has no involvement in this property. General market commentary; not investment, financial, legal or planning advice.