STAFF REPORT

November 18, 1999

To: Works Committee

From: Barry H. Gutteridge, Commissioner, Works and Emergency Services

Subject: Windmills: Scoping and Siting

Lakeshore-Queensway and East Toronto

(Wards 2 and 26)

Purpose:

To place before the Committee, documents as prepared by the proponents and as requested by Committee and Council members, that describe the environmental assessment process including the public consultation process, and the siting process including recognition of preferred sites.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

There are no financial implications to the City of Toronto resulting from this report.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that this report be received for information.

Background:

City Council at its meeting of October 26 and 27, 1999, in addressing Clause 1 embodied in Report No. 4 of the Works Committee, entitled "Approval Process for the Siting of Waterfront Windmills", approved the Clause with further amendments.

This report addresses the following recommendations as amended and approved by Council.

Specifically Council amended the Clause by:

(1) amending Recommendation No. B(4) of the Works Committee to read as follows:

"(4) Toronto Hydro and TREC, in consultation with the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services, be requested to report back to the Works Committee for its meeting of December 1, 1999, if possible, on at least one preferred site in the City of Toronto where windmills could be located, and report back within three months, on other potential sites throughout the City of Toronto where windmills can be located, with specific attention to the former stockyards and rail corridors, brown field sites, Hydro corridors and other potentially suitable sites.":

(2) adding to Recommendation No. B(6) of the Works Committee the words "such report to include parkland/open space" so that such recommendation shall now read as follows:

"(6) the question of not siting on lands zoned G, GR or GM, be referred to the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services for a report back to the Committee when dealing with the specific siting, such report to include parkland/open space;":

(3) deleting from Recommendation No B(7) of the Works Committee the words "Wychwood yards on Christie Street", so that such recommendation shall now read as follows:

"(7) notwithstanding Recommendation No.(6), TREC, in consultation with Works and Emergency Services Department staff, be requested to examine the following locations and report back to the Committee on these sites as part of the site selection process:

- 43 Junction Road;

- south embankment of Earlscourt Park;

- 115 Wiltshire Boulevard and northern property;

- 640 Lansdowne Avenue;

- Union Street north of Turnberry;"; and

Council further amended the Works Committee recommendation No.(3) to read as follows:

"(3) that City staff be requested to report further in the event that City owned or leased lands are identified as preferred site locations through the environmental assessment process, and to clarify what, if any, additional approvals, leasing agreements, or zoning amendments would be required, and how best obtained, at that time".

The Works Committee had also added the following recommendation No.B(5) which reads as follows:

"(5) the Commissioner of Public Works and Emergency Services be requested to report to the Works Committee on a public consultation process that could be undertaken in the evaluation of such potential sites".

This report addresses most but not all components of the above recommendations.

Comments:

In essence, the request to report back to the Works Committee for its meeting of December 1, 1999, on at least one preferred site, triggers the need to also address several other report requests at the same time. However, not all aspects of all the requests can be fully addressed at this time and further reports will be required and will be provided in the New Year.

Specifically, the request "to identify at least one preferred site" makes it is necessary to report on "not siting windmills on lands zoned G, Gr or Gm, when dealing with the specific siting", and "to report further in the event that City owned or leased lands are identified as preferred site locations through the environmental assessment process, and to clarify what, if any, additional approvals, leasing agreements, or zoning amendments would be required, and how best obtained, at that time".

In order to avoid the potential of invalidating the spirit, if not the specific wording, of the environmental assessment process, (which might thereby put the windmill project at risk) by identifying preferred sites prior to completing the environmental assessment process, it is imperative that the identification of preferred sites be clearly identified and accepted as part of the environmental assessment process. That process must also include a clear and accepted public consultation component.

To that end TREC and Toronto Hydro have engaged Dillon Consulting and prepared the report "Wind Turbine Environmental Assessment: Scoping/Terms of Reference, November 1999". This document outlines the assessment process that TREC and Toronto Hydro are undertaking and includes an outline of the public and public agency consultation process that the proponents have undertaken to date, that is ongoing, and that is proposed for the future.

The recommendations to address zoning matters as included as part of Recommendation No. B(6) and required zoning amendments as part of Recommendation No. A(3) are not addressed here, but will be addressed in a subsequent report when specific siting locations are identified. At this point, TREC and Toronto Hydro have prepared the report "Siting Windmills in Toronto" which does not identify preferred sites on G or similarly zoned lands. The associated staff report regarding "Windmills and Noise Issues in Urban Areas" (November 18, 1999) recommends a separation of 50 metres distance between a windmill and a sensitive natural park use or a sensitive human activity function in a park; thus the potential conflict of permitted uses within or near to public parks is avoided.

Questions surrounding the possibility of Official Plan, and/or Zoning By Law amendments, and/or the tests of the use being a minor variance are still being examined and will be reported on subsequently, as will other legal aspects relating to leasing arrangements, following the identification of a specific location within the larger more encompassing areas of the preferred sites. At the present stage of investigation, the questions do not appear to lend themselves to one consistent answer for all of the preferred sites identified below, nor indeed, in two cases, to one consistent answer across all of the same sites.

In the report: "Siting Windmills in Toronto", the proponents have identified potential sites across Toronto and the essential and comparative criteria by which they have identified preferred sites. The most significant and limiting criteria relate to wind power and the degree of wind disturbance, rather than wind speed, and to separation from residential dwellings. For example, a 20 % change in the mean wind speed from 5 m/s to 6 m/s equates to an 80 % difference in anticipated wind power. Available wind power is the significant factor in determining economic viability. The proponents have concluded that the wind power requirements heavily encourage a waterfront location for such windmills. The need to maintain an appropriate distance from residential dwelling areas also effectively negates the potential to make use of small open lots or spaces as can be found across the City. Their use of a 200 metres separation between windmills and residential dwellings is in keeping with the associated staff report: "Windmills and Noise Issues in Urban Areas" (November 18, 1999).

The proponents have also completed a report entitled "Wind Resource Assessment for Toronto: Preliminary Assessment of Six Urban Sites" which addresses the specific locations identified for consideration by TREC and Toronto Hydro in Recommendation No.B(7). All of the sites addressed in this report are located on industrial or park land with residential dwellings in closer proximity than is recommended in the associated staff report dealing with noise or are deemed inappropriate because of proximity to transmission lines.

The proponents have identified the following as being their "preferred sites" at this time:

Ashbridges Bay Sewage Treatment Plant (formerly the Main Treatment Plant);

TEDCO lands at Leslie and Unwin; and

R. L. Clark Filtration Plant.

Further work as to the specific location to be selected and recommended within the preferred sites is being undertaken by the proponents.

Conclusions:

The proponents have provided reports that identify the environmental assessment process to be followed, identify sites examined across Toronto and the criteria used as part of the environmental assessment process to identify preferred sites. Other sites from across Toronto are still to be examined and judged against the same criteria and will be addressed in subsequent reports in keeping with Recommendation No. B(4).

The preferred sites as identified by the proponents, given appropriate specific siting, as will be reported on in detail in a subsequent report, are in keeping with the separation distances recommended in the associated staff report "Windmills and Noise Issues in Urban Areas" (November 18, 1999).

Staff representing the Commissioner of the Urban Planning and Development Services Department were consulted in preparing this report.

Contact:

Christopher Morgan

Senior Specialist - Air Quality Improvement Branch

Technical Services

Tel. 392-6903

Fax. 392-0816

E-mail address: cmorgan1@toronto.ca

Tom G. Denes, P.Eng.

Executive Director, Technical Services

Barry H. Gutteridge

Commissioner, Works and Emergency Services

List of Available Reports:

1. "Wind Turbine Environmental Assessment: Scoping/Terms of Reference, November 1999". Prepared for TREC and Toronto Hydro by Dillon Consulting.

2. "Siting Windmills in Toronto" prepared by TREC for TREC Windpower Co-operative and Toronto Hydro, (1999).

3. "Wind Resource Assessment for Toronto: Preliminary Assessment of Six Urban Sites", prepared for TREC and Toronto Hydro by Zephyr North.

Councillors and other interested parties may obtain these reports on request from the office of the City Clerk.

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