I am a municipal and…

I am a municipal and planning lawyer and partner with the firm of Aird & Berlis LLP in Toronto. I write on behalf of my client, who is a landowner and developer in Eastern Ontario.

My client has reviewed and generally supports the submissions made to the Ministry on behalf of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association. In particular, my client supports:

o Re-focusing of the Conservation Authorities’ mandates to their core purpose, being the protection of persons and property from flooding and other watershed-related hazards.

o Requiring formalization (through Memoranda of Understanding) and public disclosure of non-core roles and responsibilities assumed by Conservation Authorities under agreements with local municipalities.

o Clarifying that Conservation Authority comments and input on Planning Act applications are limited to advisory comments only where the lands at issue are not within the Conservation Authority’s regulated area.

o Streamlining of Conservation Authority review with local municipality review through shared pre-consultation processes and similar requirements for (a) complete applications, (b) decision timelines and (c) appeal rights arising from non-decisions.

o Consolidating appeal routes by allowing applicants for permits under the Conservation Authorities Act to pursue their appeals before the LPAT where the applicant has a related appeal under the Planning Act.

In addition, my client would ask the Minister to consider the following:

o Conservation Authority permit issuing jurisdiction is often tied to flood plain mapping and/or historical descriptions of a Conservation Authority’s regulated area.

o These maps & descriptions are often out-of-date and/or are based on desktop exercises or old modelling. The result is developable urban land burdened with unnecessary regulation.

o The best evidence of the limits of a particular flood plain is often made available through private applications where a landowner/applicant has engaged a professional engineer to model and project the appropriate delineation of the flood plain limits.

o Similar to municipal mapping of regional and local natural heritage features, Conservation Authority flood plain mapping should be capable of site-specific revision where an applicant can demonstrate (through site-specific technical analysis) that the existing flood plain map is in need of revision. Such site-specific updates should facilitate development permit application approvals without first needing to formally amend the out-of-date Conservation Authority mapping.

o Similar to development permit applications, requests for site-specific flood plain mapping revision should be capable of being appealed to the LPAT where such requests are refused or ignored by the relevant Conservation Authority.