In October 2011, I provided an intensive workshop for the OPPI in Ottawa. The workshop was entitled, "Towards Sustainability: Coordination of Planning and Class EA". The workshop challenged participants to coordinate Class EA studies with Planning Act applications to meet sustainability goals.
3. Our Conference…
Looking back and looking forward
• 2011 Conference is a chance to re-examine
assumptions, take stock and build awareness
about our profession and its relevance to the
world around us
• OPPI cannot rest on our past accomplishments
4. Looking back
• Until August 2011 the Municipal Class
EA offered opportunity to combine
and integrate land use planning and
Class EA approvals into one process
• Then, integrated approach in the
Class EA was re-written
5. Looking forward
Let’s focus on what we can do…
• We can influence the infrastructure constructed
as a result of the Class EA process
• We can contribute skillfully to the Class EA
process by using our knowledge of planning goals
and sustainability
• We can combine the land use planning and Class
EA requirements via increased coordination
6. Janet Amos, Amos Environment + Planning
amos@primus.ca
OPPI 2011
“Tackling the Biggest Challenges to Planning and the Profession”
October 12, 2011
7. Assumptions about sustainability assessment
Understanding EA in Ontario
Using EA Studies to inform sustainability
assessment
Coordinate planning with a Class EA Study
8. Understanding EA in Ontario
Using EA Studies to inform sustainability
assessment
Coordinate planning with a Class EA Study
9. Assumptions
• Greater emphasis on sustainability will lead to
better planning and more effective use of
resources – environmental and social
• Planning for sustainability is preferable to
ignoring it
• EA is planning process
• Therefore, more emphasis on sustainability in EA
will lead to better planning
10. What is sustainability assessment?
Sustainability Assessment
= a process that
directs
decision-making
towards sustainability
11. Two operational sustainability concepts
• They represent two sides of the sustainability coin—
the physical and the monetary one (Bartelmus 2004):
– Economic sustainability refers to the established
requisite for economic growth, capital
maintenance, and extends the (produced) capital
concept to include non-produced natural capital.
– Ecological sustainability considers material flows
from the environment, through the economy and
back to the environment (as waste) as pressures
on the carrying capacities of natural systems, and
aims to reduce this pressure to tolerable levels by
de-materializing the economy.
12. Two operational sustainability concepts
Source:
• Indicators of Sustainable Development: Proposals
for a Way Forward, Discussion Paper Prepared
under a Consulting Agreement on behalf of the UN
Division for Sustainable Development
By László Pintér, Peter Hardi and Peter Bartelmus
• United Nations Division for Sustainable
Development,Expert Group Meeting on Indicators
of Sustainable Development
New York, 13-15 December 2005
13.
14. How do we assess sustainability?
• Ask what decision would be most sustainable?
• Establish sustainability criteria or objectives
• Determine a range of sustainable options
• A sustainability assessment hierarchy?
• Are there measurable targets?
• Scrutinize alternatives for their ability to be
most sustainable
• Are some impacts more sustainable? Longer
lasting? Reversible?
• Identify the outcome or decision that would be
most sustainable
15. Sustainability Policies
• Direct the development of new housing towards
locations where appropriate levels of infrastructure
and public service facilities are or will be available
to support current and projected needs
• Promote the use of public transit and other
alternative transportation modes in and between
residential, employment (including commercial,
industrial and institutional uses) and other areas
where these exist or are to be developed
Provincial Policy Statement, 2005
16. Municipal Response
• Compare goals of proponent with Municipality’s
goals
– Are they aligned?
– Are they contradictory?
– Does this add complexity? Make it simpler?
– What is the context in our municipality for this
proponent?
– What is the context in our municipality for this
project?
• How might we conduct this comparison?
17. Ways to use EA to Assess Sustainability
• Scoping of alternatives
• Develop range of alternatives
• Develop evaluation criteria
• Transparent decision-making
• Public and agency consultation
• Develop mitigation measures early in study
• Use adaptive management techniques
• Coordinated approach with Planning Act
18. Assumptions about sustainability assessment
Using EA Studies to inform sustainability
assessment
Coordinate planning with a Class EA Study
19. What is Environmental Assessment?
Environmental assessment is a decision-making
process used to promote good environmental
planning by assessing the potential effects of certain
activities on the natural and human environment
Ministry of the Environment, 2011
20. EA Act Context
• Purpose of the EA Act
• What is an undertaking?
• Who is subject? Not subject?
• Who is the proponent?
• What is environment?
• Types of EA
21. Purpose of EA Act
“… the betterment of the people of the whole or
any part of Ontario by providing for the protection,
conservation and wise management in Ontario of
the environment.”
Part I, Section 2, EA Act
22. Undertakings are Subject
An undertaking is an enterprise or activity or a
proposal, plan or program in respect of an
enterprise or activity by the province, a public body
or a municipality.
Section 1(1), EA Act
23. Not Subject to the Act…
a major commercial or business enterprise or
activity or a proposal, plan or program or activity of
a person or persons other than the province, a
public body or a municipality
Section 1(1), EA Act
24. Who is the proponent?
Proponent is a person who carries out or proposes
to carry out an undertaking, or is the owner or
person having charge, management or control of an
undertaking.
Section 1(1), EA Act
25. Environment
‘Air, land or water
Plant and animal life, human life
Social, economic and cultural conditions
Any building, structure, machine or other device
Any solid, liquid, gas, odour, heat, sound, vibration
or radiation
Any part or combination and the interrelationship
between any two or more’
Section 1(1), EA Act
28. Addressing EA Act
Exemption •Public housing
from
the •Firehalls
EA Act
Individual •New Major Highways
Environmental
Assessment
Environmental •Hydroelectric lines
Screening
Regulations •Transit
29. Addressing EA Act
Exemption
from Class EA Study 1.
the
EA Act
Master Plan 2.
Individual 3.
Environmental Planning Act application
Assessment
Integrated 4.
Environmental Approach
Screening Section A.2.9.
Regulations
30. 5 EA Planning Principles
• Consultation with affected parties early in and throughout
the process
• Consideration of a reasonable range of alternatives, both
“alternatives to” and the “alternative methods” including
the “Do nothing” alternative
• Identification and consideration of the effects of each
alternative on natural, social cultural, technical and economic
• Systematic evaluation of alternatives’ advantages and
disadvantages, to determine their net environmental effects
• Provision of clear and complete documentation of the
planning process to allow “traceability” of decision-making
31. Class EA Planning Process
Identify
Notice of Problem
Commencement or opportunity
Review alternatives
Evaluation Criteria
Statutory
Public
Meeting Notices meeting
Detailed
Detailed Review alternatives
Statutory
Public
meeting
Draft & final
reports
Documentation & Implementation
Notice of Completion Monitoring
32. Municipal Class EA Schedules
Schedule A and A+ – Pre approved
- no Class EA studies
Schedule B – Project screening
- Must complete Phases 1 and 2
Schedule C – Full planning process
- Must complete phases 1 to 4
33. What you don’t want your EA
planning process to look like..
34. 1. Brainstorm a list of ways to influence the
EA study in order to promote your
sustainability goal
2. Develop a way to rank these ways to
promote your goal in this EA study. For
example some ranking criteria may
include: cost, time, value-added or
available knowledge.
3. Share with the workshop your top 2-3
ways to promote your goal
35. Review of Class EA Planning Process
Identify
Notice of Problem
Commencement or opportunity
Review alternatives
Evaluation Criteria
Statutory
Public
Meeting Notices meeting
Detailed
Detailed Review alternatives
Statutory
Public
meeting
Draft & final
reports
Documentation & Implementation
Notice of Completion Monitoring
38. Integrated Approach
• Approved process to meet all Class EA
requirements; introduced in the 2000 MEA Class
EA for Municipal Projects
• Substituted the Planning Act approval process for
the Class EA process where all conditions in
Section A.2.9. of Class EA were met
• Revised in 2011 amendment by Minister of the
Environment
39. Disintegrated Approach
Amendments to the Municipal Class EA:
• Removed status as pre-approved Schedule A
• Removed streamlining (e.g., OMB approval no
longer replaces Part II Order)
• Added Notice of Study Completion requirement
• Allowed projects off development site to use
• Projects subject to Planning Act review not 10
year Class EA lapsing
40. Class EA Activities Planning
Coordination
Activities
Infrastructure • Official plans Combine:
projects • Official plan • Activities
• stormwater amendments • Single Notices
management • Secondary plans • Meetings
• Roads • Community • Studies
• Water improvement
• Wastewater plans
• Subdivisions
• Condominiums
41. Class EA Activities Planning Activities Coordination
PHASE 1
Problem Statement
For infrastructure projects Planning Studies OPTIONAL
prepared Notice of Commencement
PHASE 2
Identify & evaluate alternative
infrastructure solutionsIdentify Planning Studies Public Meeting #1
preferred solutions refined on Planning & infrastructure
alternative solutions
PHASE 3
Identify & evaluate Alternative Public Meeting #2
Planning Studies
Design Concepts for Preferred on Planning &alternative
refined
Solutions design concepts
PHASE 4
Infrastructure
Projects Study Planning Document feedback from
Document solutions documents the public and agencies
recommended for prepared
public and agency
input
released to public
42. Class EA Activities Planning Activities Consultation
Notice of Public Meeting And
Review of Available Studies Notice of Study Completion
for 30 day period (Sample provided)
Objection, if any Statutory Public Meeting
To Minister of the (Planning Act)
Environment
Minister of the Environment
considers Part II Order Appeals to OMB, if any
Decision on Planning Proposal
Decision on Part II Order & Projects
By Minister of the Environment by Planning Authority or by
OMB
43. Revised Section A.2.9.
“Under the Planning Act, decision(s) may be
appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). ...If
a project has been appealed to the OMB, the
requirements of the integrated approach have not
been met until the OMB renders a decision allowing
the project to proceed. ... a Part II Order request
may also be made to the Minister of the environment
or delegate. However, the purpose of the
integration provisions is to coordinate requirements
... When reviewing a request, the Minister of the
Environment ... will consider the purpose and intent
of the integration provisions.”
44. Coordinate a Planning Act application with a Class EA
project
Two exercises – two scenarios each table
• examine advantages and disadvantages of a
coordinated approach
• What would you recommend?
45. Janet Amos, MCIP, RPP
Amos Environment + Planning
1236 Butter and Egg Road,
Bracebridge ON P1L 1X4
705-764-0580
amos@primus.ca
