Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL) - Approval of an amendment to the Niagara Escarpment Plan

Updates

The notice was updated on January 21, 2016 to advise the public that there has been no change to the status of this proposal and it is still being considered. No additional opportunity for comment is being provided for at this time.

Description of instrument

Proposed Niagara Escarpment Plan Amendment PH 185 10 (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land)

Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL) has submitted an application to amend the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP) to re-designate approximately 82.3 ha (203 ac.) from Escarpment Rural Area to Escarpment Natural Area and Escarpment Protection Area on Part Lots 17 and 18, Concession 2 N.D.S, City of Burlington, Regional Municipality of Halton.

The entire subject property is owned by Nelson Aggregates Co. (Nelson) and is included in Nelson’s proposed licensed area boundary with just over half of the property (42.3 ha) within the proposed extraction area. Nelson’s quarry expansion application, which was filed in 2004, is currently subject to a Joint Board Hearing that commenced on November 17, 2010.

Map 3 of the NEP is affected by the proposed re-designation of the subject property. This amendment proposes no changes to the text of the Niagara Escarpment Plan.

Other information

The subject property is located on the Mount Nemo Plateau; a unique, ecologically sensitive and prominent geological feature with an associated attractive rural landscape. Notable features on the subject property include the Grindstone Creek Headwaters Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW) Complex, species at risk habitat, Regionally Significant Woodland, headwater tributaries and agricultural fields.

PERL, a citizens’ group with a mandate to protect and enhance the Niagara Escarpment and rural land in Halton Region, is actively involved in their opposition to Nelson’s proposed quarry expansion which affects the subject property and the existing quarry to the north.

In their amendment application, PERL proposes re-designation of lands within the Escarpment Rural Area designation on the subject property to the following NEP designations:

1. re-designation of the Grindstone Creek Headwaters PSW Complex to Escarpment Natural Area
2. re-designation of species at risk habitat (for Butternut and Jefferson Salamander) to Escarpment Natural Area
3. re-designation of the area identified through Halton Regional Official Plan Amendment 38 (ROPA 38) as the Regional Natural Heritage System (which includes Regionally Significant Woodland) to Escarpment Protection Area
4. re-designation of the balance of the lands to Escarpment Protection Area

Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) staff has conducted a preliminary review of PERL’s application which is documented in an initial staff report. Matters raised in the report are noted in order to provide reviewers with an initial evaluation of the application; it is not a final review of the merits of the application in terms of the NEP or any other relevant legislation or regulation.

Supporting information (including the initial staff report) can be found by following the web-links provided on the right side of this notice.

Other public consultation opportunities

An initial staff report presented by NEC staff to the Commission on November 18, 2010 is posted on the NEC website. Agencies and individuals that have shown an interest in the proposed amendment were invited to attend the meeting, which was also open to the public.

NEC has circulated the proposed amendment and supporting materials to affected ministries, municipalities and interested agencies/individuals. Property owners who are within 120 metres (400 ft) of the subject property have also been notified. Notice of this amendment application has been advertised in the local newspaper (Burlington Post) and on the NEC website.