[All] FW: Strengthen key planning policy to better protect nature

Thu Oct 28 17:39:06 EDT 2010

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:08:03 -0400
To: gordanddaph at sympatico.ca
From: info at ontarionature.org
Subject: Strengthen key planning policy to better protect nature

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Strengthen key planning policy to better protect nature

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Related Information

Ontario's Endangered Species Act

The government is reviewing the Provincial Policy Statement, 2005 (PPS), a key provincial policy that sets the direction for land use planning and development across Ontario. This review provides a golden opportunity to urge the government to strengthen the rules protecting natural heritage. Clear policy direction is needed to ensure that development proceeds sustainably and that natural systems are maintained and restored.  Please register your concerns and recommendations about the PPS by October 29, 2010. 
The PPS plays a central role in Ontario’s land use planning system, outlining how provincial interests should be incorporated into municipal planning and development decisions. Reviewed every five years, the PPS sets the standards for appropriate development while aiming to protect resources (e.g., water, agricultural, mineral, aggregate, petroleum, cultural, archeological) and the natural environment.
In Ontario Nature’s recent publication, The Green Way Forward we identified a number of weaknesses in the PPS that need to be addressed in the current review. These include:
- Lack of a clear requirement to protect natural heritage systems
- Failure to protect rare and vulnerable habitats (alvars, grasslands, savannahs), the habitat of special concern species, and regionally or locally significant natural heritage features
- Failure to adequately address infrastructure (e.g. roads, transmission lines, sewage systems)
- Lack of requirements for comprehensive, long-term assessments of the impacts of development on natural heritage systems
- Priority given to aggregates extraction over all other provincial interests, including natural heritage protection
Outlined below is a list of Ontario Nature’s key recommendations for PPS amendments.
1. Require municipalities to protect natural heritage systems. The current PPS recommends, but does not require that municipalities identify and protect natural heritage systems. As a result, the PPS is inconsistently applied across the province, and few municipalities have adopted the recommended systems-based approach to natural heritage planning and protection. In the face of climate change, protecting natural heritage systems (as opposed to isolated features only) is critical to maintaining the diversity of plant and animal life in Ontario. Interconnected systems of natural areas are needed to allow species to move and adapt to changes and to ensure that the landscape remains resilient, allowing us to adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change (drought, flooding, insect outbreaks, etc.). Two key sections of the PPS should be revised to read as follows:
Section 2.1.1 Natural features, areas and systems shall be protected for the long term.
Section 2.1.2 The diversity and connectivity of natural features in an area, and the long-term ecological function and biodiversity of natural heritage systems, shall be maintained, restored or, where possible, improved, recognizing linkages between and among natural heritage features and areas, surface water features and ground water features.
2. Protect regionally and locally significant natural heritage features and rare and imperiled habitats such as alvars, tallgrass prairies and savannahs. The PPS fails to specifically protect regionally and locally significant natural heritage features, weakening the ability of municipalities to restrict development that may negatively impact these features. Further, development is permitted in rare and imperiled habitats such as alvars and grasslands. According to the government’s State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2010 report, only 21 percent of Ontario’s alvars and 54 percent of our prairies and savannahs are currently protected. Given the importance of these habitats for rare and endangered species, they should be included in section 2.1.4 of the PPS which identifies sites where development and site alteration shall not be permitted. 
3. Protect all remaining wetlands south and east of the Canadian Shield. Since the time of European settlement in Ontario, an average of 72 percent of wetlands south of the Canadian Shield have been lost. In some areas of southwestern Ontario, the figure exceeds 90 percent. Though wetlands play a critical role in water storage and filtration, carbon sequestration and habitat provision, they continue to be lost to development. Currently, the PPS protects only provincially significant wetlands. Section 2.1.3 of the PPS should be amended to include all wetlands south and east of the Canadian Shield. 
4. Address the current imbalance between aggregate extraction and natural heritage protection.  Economically valuable aggregate deposits often occur in areas of rich natural heritage, such as the Niagara Escarpment, the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Carden Plain. Aggregate extraction creates significant long-term environmental and ecological disturbance, including destruction of habitat through removal of vegetation and soil, alteration of hydrological regimes and drainage patterns and changes to the slope of the land. Yet there is no requirement to prevent, minimize or mitigate environmental impacts to protect natural heritage and other provincial interests when siting pits and quarries. Nor is there any requirement to demonstrate need when considering pit and quarry applications or to recover and recycle aggregate resources to promote conservation. Aggregate extraction receives extraordinary priority over natural heritage protection in the PPS. With no clear emphasis on end use and rehabilitation, pits and quarries are often left open for years on end, disrupting the ecological functions of natural heritage features and systems. Section 2.5 of the PPS must be amended to ensure that need is demonstrated prior to the approval of new pits and quarries; that the recovery and recycling of aggregate resources are required; and that final site rehabilitation takes place within a reasonable period of time determined in consultation with the host municipality.
You can use the points above to draft a letter and either email it to PPSreview at ontario.ca
or send a hard copy to the address below by October 15, 2010. 
Provincial Policy Statement Review 
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Provincial Planning Policy Branch
777 Bay St., 14th Floor
Toronto, ON M5G 2E5
Fax: (416) 585-6870
Please send a copy of your letter to Ontario Nature at 366 Adelaide St., W., Suite 201, Toronto, ON M5V 1R9 or email to amberc at ontarionature.org.
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