Re: Changes to the…

Re: Changes to the Conservation Boundaries

In the statement……"The current system of 36 separate conservation authorities is fragmented, with each conservation authority following different policies, standards, fees and levels of staffing and technical capabilities. This has led to unpredictable and inconsistent turnaround times for approvals across all conservation authorities, creating uncertainty and delays for builders, landowners and farmers seeking permits, and undermining conservation authorities’ ability to protect communities from floods and natural hazards”. I believe summarizes the Provincial concerns.

Watershed health and the work CAs carry out is about the science and protection for the people and property of Ontarians; policy should support this work. In my opinion, in ground programs, local knowledge, expertise, and models are vital to protect communities from flooding. For example, development in Urban area requires different modelling applications in comparison to rural areas. Urban water features can behave differently where they are influenced by stormwater runoff, storage ponds, and higher percentage of imperious land.

Watersheds are unique by physical terrain, land uses, and vegetation cover. Local expertise understands the local physical make up of the watershed. Local knowledge and years of understanding the behavior to the landscape will be lost due to amalgamation. For example, the proposed Huron-Superior Regional Conservation Authority includes Thunder Bay, geographically now where close to the Huron Lake Conservation Authorities. Having these two distant regions under the same governing entity, the expertise may be lost due to decision made by those who are not familiar with the science of the local watershed.

Circulating back to the original statement, IMO why doesn’t the province introduce standard processes/policies for Conservation to abide to, such are permitting. Provincial sponsored applications/software could address the “inconsistencies”. From my understanding there are Provincial Policies already in place for various planning and development processes. My reading also states Conservation Authorities get most of their funding from the Municipalities, and a fraction from the province (for Flood protection). A local CA may find themselves looking for resources to purchase applications/software to carry out their responsibilities. Therefore, inconsistencies may arise.

There may be select CAs that can benefit from amalgamation, where shared resources, budgets, and expertise will find the efficiencies. However further metrics and studies should be shared to allow for an informative decision/conclusion.

Regarding fees, I’m sure most are aware to cost of development in different parts of the province will vary. As are staffing cost to process the applications. I will assume development in the GTHA will be different than North Bay. A formula that reflects regional development costs could be introduced.

In conclusion, I believe the province can achieve their goal by introducing a standardized permitting process for the CAs (therefore meet turnaround times and efficiencies) without dismantling the local knowledge, and local modelling expertise that protect the life, property of Ontario people.