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New
Provincial Web Site for
Smart Growth |
After several months of statements
from the Premier and government ministers about "smart growth",
the Ministry of Municipal Affairs
has finally initiated a consultation process to help define what
smart growth will mean for Ontario.
The ministry has set up a web site for the consultation
process: www.smartgrowth.gov.on.ca
Smart growth is based on three
principles:
- a strong economy
- strong communities, and
- a clean, healthy environment
The page outlining the environmental
commitments demonstrates the weaknesses of the
environmental component of Ontario's approach to smart growth
currently. It highlights four areas of government support:
- The Brownfields Showcase
- Transit-Supportive Land Use
Planning Guidelines (produced in 1992)
- Drive Clean
- the Air Quality monitoring
website
"These are Smart Growth resources currently available from the Ontario
government", the web site says. "More will be added as
they become available."
These are slender resources indeed,
especially given the magnitude of the problem. Fortunately, the government is
introducing legislation on brownfield redevelopment, and is moving
to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine. These two initiatives
will be a major addition to the Smart Growth environmental
package.
There are other areas that will
need prompt attention as well -- public transit is one
example. It is indicative of how little
support the government gives to public transit when it has to
point to the 1992 planning guidelines as its contribution to
transit.
Similarly Drive Clean and the airqualityontario.com
website are only a small step of the requirements for improving
air quality. They will soon be outstripped by the negative
impact of more highway construction and increased reliance on the
automobile.
Missing from the list of
environmental actions are foodland and natural areas protection,
energy and resource efficiency in urban design, groundwater and
stormwater management, urban reforestation, and pollution
prevention.
You can submit comments up to
Monday June 18, 5:00 p.m. Details are in the section called What
Do You Think?
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Premier
Harris on Smart Growth |
Here's how Premier Mike Harris defined
"Smart Growth" in his January
31 speech to the Toronto Real Estate Board:
Our made-in-Ontario vision of Smart Growth will foster growth ... not stop it. Our plan is based on three main principles. A strong economy. Strong communities. And a healthy environment.
In Ontario, visionary growth means focusing on development that will improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy. We’re not interested in simply preserving the economic gains the people of Ontario have enjoyed over
the last five and a half years. We want to create the conditions for continued growth, competitiveness and job creation -- for people all across our province.
The second part of our made-in-Ontario plan involves building strong communities. I believe we need to think about this in a brand new way. A way that lets us move forward. From where we are today ... to where we want to be tomorrow.
That means building neighbourhoods and communities -- instead of just subdivisions.
Our plan will encourage growth that offers people choices about how and where they want to live. That offers transportation choices. That builds vibrant communities where families can lay down roots. Where children can grow, play and go to school. And where parents might even be able to walk to work.
The third part of our made-in-Ontario plan involves a healthy environment. It
means cleaner air and water. Conserving the open, green spaces we have. Revitalizing and cleaning up land that has been contaminated or abandoned or
brownfield rehabilitation as it is being more commonly referred to. And it means programs like Ontario’s Living Legacy -- the biggest expansion of parks and
protected areas in our province’s history.
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New
Highways:
Poor
environmental planning
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The Provincial government has
announced two new highways and three new extensions for southern
Ontario.
Billed as a solution to gridlock,
the new highways will invariably lead to increased urban sprawl
and the further loss of Ontario's prime farmland and natural
areas.
The environment is being considered
in the proposals, but only through environmental assessments
designed to limit local impacts. No serious consideration is
given to the contribution of the highways to urban sprawl and air
quality.
Without a provincial land use plan
and clear implementation mechanisms to control sprawl, promote
transit and rail, and protect significant lands, Ontario's
highways will invariably lead to the opposite of smart
growth.
You can read more about the
highways in our new Emerging
Issues factsheet, "They
Paved Paradise", and in the Ministry
of Transportation media release.
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Oak
Ridges Moraine
Development Freeze |
The Oak Ridges Moraine wasn't
anywhere in the government's previous announcements on Smart
Growth, but out of the blue has come an announcement of a six
month development freeze on the moraine, coupled with the
development of a long-term action plan within six months.
As part of the province’s Smart Growth strategy, the
Oak Ridges Moraine Protection Act,
2001, will:
- Stop municipalities
from adopting or approving official plans, official plan
amendments, zoning bylaws or plans of subdivision involving land on the Oak Ridges Moraine;
- Stop anyone from applying for an official plan or zoning bylaw amendment or plan of subdivision approval involving land on the Oak Ridges Moraine;
- Stay development applications before the Ontario Municipal Board involving lands on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and prevent the OMB from issuing orders with respect to such applications.
The Province plans to consult with stakeholders, including environmental groups, developers,
municipalities, resource interests and members of the public.
It will be a tough challenge to develop a long-term action plan
within six months, but the development freeze is a welcome first
step.
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Brownfield
Development:
New
proposals to limit liability
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Ontario has announced its intention
to introduce legislation affecting the redevelopment of
contaminated lands -- "brownfields".
According
to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Chris Hodgson, the
legislation will remove the key obstacles to cleaning up and
recycling brownfields. In so doing, the government will help
free up downtown land for development and help reduce urban
sprawl.
Key elements of the proposed changes to
environmental legislation include:
| Clear rules for cleanup |
- mandatory environmental site assessment and cleanup, if required, to prescribed standards where there is a land use change from
industrial / commercial to
residential / parkland, or other land use changes prescribed by regulations;
- clear rules for site
assessment, cleanup and standards for contaminants based on proposed land use (e.g. current cleanup criteria would become regulated standards); and
- site specific risk assessment by the Ministry of the Environment
with conditions to be placed on the use of a
property.
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| Clear rules for environmental liability |
- Provide liability protection from future environmental orders for municipalities if taking actions for the purpose of a tax sale or actions related to other municipal responsibilities;
- Provide liability
protection from future environmental orders for secured creditors while protecting interest in a property;
- Provide liability protection for a fiduciary in their personal capacity;
- Provide protection from environmental orders for any person conducting an environmental investigation while acquiring interest in a property;
- Provide liability protection from future environmental orders for owners who follow the prescribed site assessment and cleanup process which includes filing a record of site condition to the site registry and using a certified site cleanup
professional; and
- Maintain the Ministry’s power to issue an environmental order in response to an environmental emergency.
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| Ensuring quality cleanup and accountability |
- sign-off by certified professionals, mandatory reporting to a site registry and an auditing process to ensure compliance with the legislation and regulations; and
- standards for certification of site cleanup
professionals and support the site registry.
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The ministry has set up a Brownfield
Showcase website to provide municipalities with advice on
brownfield redevelopment.
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The
21 Step Action Plan:
Key Commitments |
Smart growth is Step Nine of the
province's new 21 step Action Plan, announced in the Throne
Speech.
Included in the province's
commitments are:
- focusing $500 million of the SuperBuild
Millennium Partnerships fund on transportation and environmental initiatives,
- reviewing the Planning Act and the Provincial Policy Statement
- introducing brownfields legislation
supporting redevelopment on Toronto’s waterfront
- creating a task force to review the expansion of Ontario’s 400-series highways, and
- considering new lanes on provincial highways for car pools and commuter buses.
For details, see the government's April
25 press release.
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