New Municipal Class Environmental Assessments

The Works and Utilities Committee recommends the adoption of the following report (November 17, 1998) from the Executive Director, Technical Services, Works and Emergency Services:

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to obtain Council authority for the City of Toronto to act as a proponent for the new Municipal Class Environmental Assessments.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Not applicable.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1)Council adopt the Resolution, attached in Appendix "A", by which:

(a)Council agrees to be one of the proponents of the new "Municipal Class Environmental Assessments"; and

(b)Council authorizes the Municipal Engineers Association to act on behalf of the City of Toronto in the submission to the Minister of the Environment for approval of the new Municipal Class Environmental Assessment; and

(2)the City of Toronto Clerk be instructed to advise the Minister of the Environment and the Municipal Engineers Association.

Council Reference/Background/History:

What are Class E.A.'s?

In general terms, a Class Environmental Assessment (Class E.A.) is a planning process approved under the Environmental Assessment Act for specific groups of projects. A Class E.A. allows projects within the group to be implemented without further approval under the E.A. Act provided the planning process in the ClassE.A. is followed. The types of projects allowed to be covered by a Class E.A. are recurring, usually similar in nature, usually limited in scale, have a predictable range of environmental effects and are responsive to mitigating measures.

Municipalities have been subject to the Environmental Assessment Act for all their activities for well over ten years. To avoid completing individual environmental assessments for every road, water and wastewater project, municipalities have had a Class E.A. in place since 1987.

Status of Class E.A.'s:

The existing Municipal Class E.A.'s expired in May 1998, and on behalf of Ontario municipalities the Municipal Engineers Association (MEA) has undertaken to submit new ones to replace them. Since Class E.A.'s allow municipalities to proceed with providing services to the public without having to go through the lengthy individual environmental assessment process, it is of the utmost importance to continue to have Class E.A.'s in place for our use.

The creation of these new Class E.A.'s for municipalities must be done as an individual environmental assessment under the new E.A. Act, which requires at the outset, that Terms of Reference be prepared and submitted for ministerial approval. Terms of Reference for the new Municipal Class E.A.'s were approved earlier this year and the new Class E.A.'s have now been drafted for submission to the Minister.

Comments:

Process:

Revisions to the Municipal Class E.A.'s were guided by the MEA/MOE Class E.A. Monitoring Committee chaired by the MEA and consisting of a team of practitioners which included planners, developers and lawyers in addition to the MEA's traditional committee of engineers. The committee was formed this way in recognition of the multi-disciplinary nature of E.A. planning, and to ensure the development of new Class E.A.'s will have buy-in from all stakeholders. City of Toronto staff were involved in a number of different ways. First, the committee had two representatives from the Works and Emergency Services Department, one of whom chaired the committee. Second, staff from the Planning Department have been involved through the Regional Planning Commissioners, and last, interested City staff have been kept informed through newsletters, workshops, as well as through formal and informal contact.

The work program consisted of the following key elements:

(a)survey of stakeholders through distribution of questionnaire;

(b)preparation of Terms of Reference required under revised E.A. Act;

(c)ongoing consultation;

(d)preparation of a summary of issues;

(e)preparation of new draft Class E.A.;

(f)preparation of a new Class E.A.; and

(g)submission to Council.

The Minister of the Environment has granted an extension of the existing approval to cover any gaps in the time between expiry of the old approval and granting of the new one. This extension is contingent upon the MEA submitting new Class E.A.'s by December 31, 1998.

The Steering Committee has been issuing regular updates on this project to individuals who responded to the survey or who have expressed an interest in the project.

Scope of Changes:

The new Class E.A.'s have been written to address the following issues:

(i)coordination between E.A. Act and Planning Act approvals;

(ii)appropriateness of existing schedules for projects;

(iii)harmonization with federal E.A. requirements (CAA);

(iv)consolidation of roads and water and wastewater into one Class E.A.;

(v)extension of the application of the Class E.A.'s to other municipal projects (e.g. solid waste);

(vi)monitoring of projects and Class E.A. application over time; and

(vii)latest techniques in consultation and mediation.

Despite the apparently extensive scope of the renewal of the Class E.A.'s, the changes have been achieved with some re-organization of the documents and with clarification of certain terms and language. The result is that the substantive issues have been addressed but the new Class E.A.'s are similar enough to the existing ones to minimize the learning for municipal proponents using the new documents.

Why We Like Them:

The new Class E.A.'s provide a refined and improved document over the old ones. The basic principles and process remain unchanged: that is, clear definition of the problem, identification of all alternatives through public participation, the methodical development of a preferred solution, and identification of mitigating measures to satisfy negative impacts on the environment and stakeholders. The new Class E.A.'s are easier to read and interpret and the undertakings to which it applies are defined to our satisfaction.

The City has successfully applied the Class E.A. to large projects as well as to small projects. We support the process in the revised Class E.A. because, as with the original Class E.A., its basic philosophy is that municipalities and not the Ministry of the Environment make the critical decisions throughout the planning and design process. Under the Class E.A. process, municipalities need not seek the Ministry of the Environment's approval before proceeding with a project, provided they have followed the approved planning and design process. This is an approach that eliminates the lengthy review and approval which individual environmental assessments require.

Proponency:

The MEA is a volunteer organization and cannot itself be the proponent of the Class E.A.'s. In the past, the MEA has relied upon several municipalities to be the proponents. Once approved, it is expected that as in the past, the Province will write a regulation extending the Class E.A. approval to all Ontario municipalities. Being a proponent involves endorsing the Class E.A.'s and allowing the use of the City's name in the submission to the Minister of the Environment. The MEA has made this request to a number of municipalities to ensure representative proponents which are large and small, urban and rural and located geographically in the north, south, east and west regions of Ontario.

The following twelve municipalities are being requested to be proponents:

(1)City of Barrie²;

(2)City of Guelph¹ ²;

(3)City of London²;

(4)City of Sault St. Marie¹;

(5)City of Thunder Bay;

(6)City of Toronto¹ ² (former Metro was a proponent in 1987 and 1998);

(7)County of Lanark¹;

(8)Regional Municipality of Durham¹ ²;

(9)Regional Municipality of Niagara¹;

(10)Regional Municipality of Waterloo;

(11)Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carlton; and

(12)Town of Carlton Place.

Original Proponents for:¹ Municipal Road Projects

² Municipal Water and Wastewater Projects

Conclusions:

The City supports the Class E.A. planning process and agrees with the revisions which have been made to the original Class E.A.'s approved in 1987. Council is therefore asked to support this position and agree to be a proponent of the revised Class E.A.

Copies of the new Municipal Class E.A. document are available in the Works and Emergency Services Department, Metro Hall Office, 16th Floor, for examination by interested Members of Council.

Contact Name:

K.P. Llewellyn-Thomas

Director of Engineering Services (Districts 1 and 2)

392-8590

Appendix "A"

"WHEREAS the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Road and Water and Wastewater Projects was prepared by the Municipal Engineers Association, and approved by the Minister of the Environment on June 7, 1993, for use by all Ontario municipalities; and

WHEREAS the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Road and Water and Wastewater Projects expires on May 31, 1998, and, if not renewed by the Minister of the Environment, will result in all Ontario municipalities being required to carry out individual environmental assessments for all municipal projects; and

WHEREAS the fulfilment of a condition of approval of the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Projects the Municipal Engineers Association has undertaken a review of the said Class Environmental Assessment, and has prepared a revised Class Environmental Assessment dated November, 1998, for submission to the Minister of Environment to renew and extend approval of the said revised Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Projects for a further five (5) years; and

WHEREAS the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and City of Scarborough were one of eight (8) municipalities which acted as proponents for the Class Environmental Assessment in 1993 and authorized the Municipal Engineers Association to act on its behalf;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Toronto does hereby agree to continue to act as proponent for the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Projects and hereby authorizes the Municipal Engineers Association to continue to act on its behalf in securing the said extended approval and hereby supports the submission of the revised Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Projects dated November, 1998, to the Minister of the Environment for approval for a further minimum period of five (5) years from January 30, 1999."