Staff at the City of Vaughan…

Staff at the City of Vaughan have reviewed the Proposed Land Use Compatibility Guideline. In general, we are supportive of the timing for the review and update as it was long overdue given the changing development patterns that have occurred in particular in the GTA in the past decade. We provide the following comments for MECP consideration:

General Comments:
1. Municipalities would appreciate any mapping available from the Province to screen for land use compatibility such as major facilities.
2. Provincial training for municipal staff is needed, as we do not have the in house expertise to review and approve technical reports.
3. For applications that require a land use compatibility study, can the Province be circulated on these files?
4. Suggestions on policies to include in Official Plan updates is appreciated.
5. Please confirm that the Guidelines do not apply to building permits. What is a community planning permit system?

Specific comments to guideline sections:

S1.3 includes statement that "If minimization and mitigation of impacts is not viable..." - It's subjective as to what can be considered "minimization" and could be argued that minimization is always viable/achievable. Suggest providing reference to a certain standard of minimization if you can.

Figure 1 states that if within an AOI, compatible studies are required. This will add another report to municipalities development application review process and likely the volume of reports will also increase since AOIs are expanded. We just note this a likely impact to municipal staff resources.

Is it recommended that municipalities have AOI and MSD mapping to know when compatibility studies and demonstration of need are required? Given a lot of the industry are tied to the ECA process, it is recommend MECP assist with this type of mapping.

Now that compatibility studies and demonstration of need studies are required, municipalities may have to update their Official Plan to provide reference to these studies and may have to prepare appropriate policy or procedures governing when these reports are required and the level of detail in the assessment that should be expected. It would benefit municipalities if MECP prepared Terms of Reference sheet for these studies that consultants and staff could reference.

S 1.5.2 "With respect to federally regulated facilities such as airports, rail facilities, marine facilities, and oil and gas pipelines, the Guideline does not apply to locating these major facilities. Similarly, this Guideline does not apply to development on federal crown lands that are not subject to the Planning Act. However, planning authorities are required to apply this Guideline in relation to sensitive land uses proposed near these facilities that are subject to the Planning Act."

- Encouraged to see this topic is addressed as it occurs quite often in Vaughan (e.g., CN/CP Rail yards, oil/gas facilities, etc.). The Guideline however should include specific AOIs and MSDs for these federally regulated facilities (e.g., rail, compressor stations, etc.) since its recommended that this guide be used for sensitive land uses in proximity to federal facilities.

S 1.5.3 May want to consider including Blocks Plans as a type of planning act approval where this guideline would apply

Table 1 should be sorted to provide some organization (e.g., alphabetical)

S 2.3.2 When considering traffic related to an industry's operation, should it include both on-site traffic and offsite traffic related to the operation?

For Table 3, is it assumed that you take the highest classification rating out of all of the different types of characteristics?

S 2.4 For measurements of separation distances, it should be clarified that the measurement should be from the closest point of property line to property line

S 4.3.3 This section indicates that municipalities should maintain inventories of major facilities within their respective jurisdictions on a scaled map (e.g., OP Schedules). We acknowledged the need but staff resources at municipalities may make it difficult for these schedules to be maintained and up to date.

Should you require any further clarification or additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Andy Lee
Environmental Engineer
Development Engineering Department
City of Vaughan
andy.lee@vaughan.ca
905-832-8585 x8711