06/18/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 06/18/2021 14:13
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) is consulting on four new initiatives, including new guidelines and measures aimed at ensuring compliance with key environmental laws relevant to the development industry. These laws and initiatives are applicable to the land use planning process, affecting municipal decision-making, development guidelines and penalties for non-compliance. The four initiatives, in brief include:
The complete bulletin can be found here: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-3268
Below is a brief summary of each initiative and its impact on land use planning. Consultation on the initiatives is underway and continues until July 3, 2021. Links to individual bulletins and comment mailboxes are provided in each summary.
ERO No. 019-2785: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-2785
The Province is proposing a new land use compatibility guideline as an update to several of the existing D-Series Guidelines. The proposed update is intended to inform and clarify for municipalities and other planning authorities when compatibility studies and mitigation measures are required, as part of land use planning decisions under the Planning Act. The new guideline would be applied when a Planning Act approval is needed, and either 1) a new or expanding sensitive land use is proposed near an existing or planned major facility; or 2) a new or expanding major facility is proposed near an existing or planned sensitive land use. The draft guideline is available at the link above.
The stated objectives of this guideline, in the context of land use compatibility planning, are to 1) protect employment areas (including industrial employment areas) designated for future major facilities from incompatible uses and encroachment by sensitive land uses; 2) protect existing or planned major facilities from potential impacts from new sensitive land uses; 3) prevent adverse effects to existing or planned sensitive land uses from new and/or expanding major facilities.
The new guideline proposes:
As a result of modified AOI distances, the proposed guideline would require compatibility studies for some land use proposals for which a study is not currently required by existing guidelines.
The proposed guideline replaces the following guidelines:
D-1 Land Use and Compatibility
D-1-1 Land Use Compatibility: Procedure for Implementation
D-1-2 Land Use Compatibility: Specific Applications
D-1-3 Land Use Compatibility: Definitions
D-2 Compatibility Between Sewage Treatment and Sensitive Land Use
D-4 Land Use on or Near Landfills and Dumps
D-4-1 Assessing Methane Hazards from Landfill Sites
D-4-3 Registration or Certificates and Provisional Certificates iii
D-6 Compatibility Between Industrial Facilities
D-6-1 Industrial Categorization Criteria
D-6-3 Separation Distances
The D-Series documents not replaced by the guideline are:
D-3 Environmental Considerations for Gas or Oil Pipelines and Facilities
D-5 Planning for Sewage and Water Services and its subsections
Note that the D-4-2 Environmental Warnings/Restrictions and D-6-4 MCCR Bulletin No. 91003 (Environmental Warnings/Restrictions on Property) were previously replaced by the 2009-04 Environmental Warnings and Restrictions.
ERO No. 019-2768: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-2768
The Province is proposing a new guideline for odour emissions that provides members of the regulated community, including development proponents and industrial facilities, with methods for anticipating and identifying potential sources of odour, best practices for odour mitigation, and clarity regarding their responsibilities under the law. This includes more effective remediation methods for odour mixtures not addressed by the Local Air Quality Regulation. In general, the stated objective of the guideline is to take a proactive and preventative approach to managing odour emissions and allow for more coordinated and confident long-term land-use planning.
The guideline proposes:
The new guideline, if approved, would be supplemented by technical resources, including a technical bulletin on odour assessments, a screening form to determine the information required for a complete Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) application, a sample odour technology benchmarking report (demonstrating how to complete one), and a technical bulletin establishing minimum standards for odour-related practices. In addition, the guideline would initiate a corresponding update to the application guide for an ECA, the checklist of technical requirements for a complete ECA submission, and the Technical Guide to Renewable Energy Approvals.
ERO No. 019-2972: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-2972
The Province is proposing an update to the MECP compliance policy, focused on assigning resources to high-risk incidents and holding polluters more accountable. The proposed policy aims to modernize the judgement matrix that Ministry officers use to prioritize and resolve cases, applying more stringent measures to repeat offenders. In total, the update alters three regimes: the MECP's compliance policy, referral tool, and service standards. Updates to the referral tool and service standards are aimed at efficiently referring low-risk incidents, and incidents not regulated by the MECP, to more appropriate agencies and levels of government. The MECP will focus on high-risk incidents and facilities that have Ministry-legislated duties (eg. landfills and organic waste facilities). The proposed update comes with a name change to the compliance policy, from the Compliance Policy Applying Abatement and Enforcement Tools to Ontario's Environmental Compliance Policy.
ERO No. 019-3268: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-3268
This initiative is posted in the general ERO bulletin and is not assigned its own number. MECP is expanding its ability to issue administrative monetary penalties for environmental violations in response to more violations and more entities (including individuals, small businesses and large corporations, as well as public entities). The MECP is holding engagement sessions to present the proposed approaches and details of the new administrative monetary penalty framework for environmental violations. For further information on these engagement sessions, interested parties are directed to contact [email protected].
Dentons will continue to monitor these initiatives, and the revisions that result from ongoing consultation. If you have any questions about how this relates to you or your business, please contact Katarzyna Sliwa or any member of our Municipal Planning, Land Use and Development Law group.
Dentons gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Leighton Zink to this article.