PROVINCIAL,
CITY AND NATIONAL POLICY CONTEXT DOCUMENT 5
Provincial Policy Statement (PPS)
The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS)
is issued under Section 3 of the Planning Act and is intended to guide
municipalities as they make planning decisions. The Planning Act
requires that municipal decisions in respect of the exercise of any authority
that affects a planning matter “shall be consistent with” the PPS.
The PPS supports the remediation and
redevelopment of brownfield sites. For example, section 1.7.1 c)
of the PPS states that “long-term economic prosperity should be supported by
promoting the redevelopment of brownfield sites”. Brownfields are defined in the PPS as “undeveloped or previously
developed properties that may be contaminated. They are usually, but not
exclusively, former industrial or commercial properties that may be
underutilized, derelict or vacant”.
The PPS also supports Smart Growth through urban
growth management. For example, section 1.1.3.3 of the PPS states “planning
authorities shall identify and promote opportunities for intensification and
redevelopment where this can be accommodated taking into account existing
building stock or areas, including brownfield sites, and the availability of
suitable existing or planned infrastructure and public service facilities
required to accommodate projected needs”. Therefore, the PPS supports
brownfield redevelopment as a way to achieve the goal of promoting
intensification and redevelopment. Other policies in the PPS (sections 1.1.1
a), 1.1.1 g) and 1.6.2) support the management of growth to achieve efficient
development and land use patterns which sustain the financial well-being of the
Province and municipalities over the long term. The redevelopment of
brownfields has a role to play in this regard.
Finally, section 3.2.2 of the PPS states that “Contaminated
sites shall be remediated as necessary prior to any activity on the site
associated with the proposed use such that there will be no adverse effects
(as defined in the EPA).” Therefore, there is
support in provincial policy for municipal planning policies that ensures
contaminated sites are properly remediated prior to being developed This
policy directs municipalities to make planning decisions that ensure identified
contaminated sites are assessed and remediated to an appropriate level prior to
use or reuse.
Ottawa 20/20 is the City’s Growth Management Strategy.
Adopted in 2003, Ottawa 20/20 was developed based on a dynamic process of
citizen involvement and resulted in a vision and set of principles to guide the
planning activities of the municipality. These principles are:
i) A
Caring and Inclusive City;
ii) A
Creative City Rich in Heritage, Unique in Identity;
iii)
A Green and Environmentally Sensitive City;
iv)
A City of Distinct, Liveable Communities;
v)An
Innovative City Where Prosperity is Shared Among All;
vi)
A Responsible and Responsive City;
vii) A
Healthy and Active City.
These principles and
the vision were used to guide preparation of a set of five growth management
plans, including the:
·
Official Plan;
·
Economic Strategy;
·
Environmental Strategy;
·
Human Services Plan;
·
Arts and Heritage Plan.
Taken together, these
five growth management plans provide a comprehensive framework for managing
growth in the City of Ottawa.
Ottawa 20/20 cites brownfield
redevelopment as a “priority project” that supports several of the Ottawa 20/20
principles. As an example, the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield
sites will help to promote an environment that is cleaner and a city that is
more environmentally sensitive. Cleanup of brownfield sites in and near
heritage districts will contribute to creating a city that is even richer in
heritage and more unique in identity. The remediation, reuse and redevelopment
of vacant, derelict and underutilized properties in residential neighbourhoods,
commercial areas and employment areas will make these areas more liveable for
the people who reside and work there. It will also reduce urban sprawl and its
associated costs. Brownfield redevelopment can result in opportunities for job
retention and creation. This in turn can result in increases in corporate and
personal income. Brownfield redevelopment can also result in long-term
increases in property assessment values and this can contribute to a reduction
in the property tax rate. Finally, by
developing and implementing a brownfields redevelopment strategy, the City of
Ottawa can demonstrate that it is an innovative, responsible and responsive
city.
The urban boundary in Section 2.2.1 of the Ottawa Official
Plan (2003, as amended) defines the area that is already serviced or may be
serviced with major roads, transit and piped sewer and water services. The
Official Plan seeks to manage growth by directing it to the urban area through
activities such as intensification and infill development. For example, Policy
3 of Managing Growth Within the Urban Area (Section 2.2.3) promotes
intensification and infill on lands that are no longer viable for the purpose
for which they were intended, such as older industrial areas, and on lands
where records indicate existing contamination due to previous commercial or
industrial use, but which can be made suitable for development if cleaned up.
This policy supports the remediation and redevelopment of brownfields.
The Official Plan seeks to direct growth to areas that
include locations that are centered on the rapid-transit network, major roads,
busy commercial streets, and large tracts of vacant land. Policies for the
areas designated as Mixed-Use Centres, Main Streets, and the Central Area
designate these areas as priority locations for “the application of financial
and regulatory incentives, when available.” Furthermore, the Mixed-Use Centres
and the Main Streets are designated as priority locations for “the creation of
brownfield redevelopment strategies”.
The Official Plan also contains a policy on Community Design
Plans (Section 2.5.7). This policy notes that Community Design Plans are
desirable in areas where change is occurring. Community Design Plans will
contain a plan for the built environment and guidelines for evaluating
development applications. Therefore, the Community Design Plans will complement
Community Improvement Plans and any development that takes place as the result
of implementation of programs contained in a Community Improvement Plan should
be in conformity with the applicable Community Design Plan.
The Official Plan contains a Community Improvement policy
(Section 5.2.5) that allows the City to designate lands within a part or all of
the urban area, and/or part or all of one or more villages as defined in the
Plan as a community improvement project area. This policy also allows the City
to adopt community improvement plans. These policies specifically reference
environmental contamination as being a condition that if present would allow
for a CIP to deal with Brownfields issues through the preparation and approval
of Official Plan Amendment 40 in 2006. This amendment was prepared to
accommodate the Brownfields Redevelopment Strategy and ensure that a
comprehensive set of official plan policies are in place to ensure that
contaminated and potentially contaminated sites are properly assessed,
remediated and/or risk managed prior to development.
The Economic Strategy stresses a city that can retain and
capture employment opportunities while reducing its ecological footprint for
land and energy use and improving the quality of life through development. The
reuse and redevelopment of vacant and underutilized former industrial and commercial
buildings for new employment and residential uses will help to achieve this
goal.
The Economic Strategy is based on strengthening industry
clusters and entrepreneurship. One of the ways the Strategy recommends this be
done is to develop a program that will strengthen and support the economic
vitality of Ottawa's main streets through promotion and business retention
initiatives. The rehabilitation of infill sites on Ottawa’s main streets will
provide opportunities and locations to help retain and attract business.
The Economic Strategy
acknowledges that the City’s future ability to attract both people and
investment depend on maintaining both quality of life and quality of place. The
quality of place is enhanced when the environment is improved through
remediation and the aesthetic and social quality of neighbourhoods, commercial
and employment areas is improved through brownfields rehabilitation and
redevelopment.
The Economic Strategy notes that economic success requires a
cost-competitive and supportive environment in which businesses thrive and are
appreciated as the creators of employment and prosperity. This must include providing a timely,
predictable and consistent decision-making process at City Hall so that
entrepreneurs can capitalize on opportunities when market conditions are right.
Interviews with the development community conducted for a 2002 City study
entitled “Accommodating Growth Through Intensification, Mixed Use and Design”
reached the same conclusion.
The Brownfields Redevelopment Strategy includes
recommendations on the current planning approvals process as it relates to
contaminated sites and seeks to streamline this process while providing
incentives to promote brownfield redevelopment.
The
Economic Strategy noted that one of the six industries coming up quickly to
create the next wave of the new economy in Ottawa is environmental
technologies. But, the Strategy also notes that continuous linkage from
innovators to the marketplace is missing. A Strategy that promotes brownfield
redevelopment will have a positive impact on the demand for environmental
remediation technologies from the marketplace. This will help to strengthen the
linkage between the innovators of environmental remediation technologies and
the marketplace and could lead to the enhancement and development of new
environmental remediation technologies which can then be sold to the local and
global communities.
Ottawa's Environmental
Strategy was prepared in 2003 and focuses on the responsible management of all
aspects of the City's environment. It sets the direction and establishes a
comprehensive approach to create sound environmental management in City
practices and policies. The Environmental Strategy includes as one of its goals
“clean air, water and earth”.
Integrated
Environmental Review is utilized by the City on all subdivisions, major site
plans and major rezoning applications to ensure that the interconnections
between findings of supporting studies to development are identified and any
inconsistencies addressed through revision of the supporting studies and/or the
development design. As part of this Review, the applicant must address
management of water and material resources in such areas as site contamination,
waste management and energy use.
As part of its
corporate environmental action planning, the Environmental Strategy
specifically recommends that the City of Ottawa develop a program to encourage
the development of brownfields in the short term, i.e., within two years. The Environmental Strategy identifies the development
of a program to promote urban intensification and reduce urban sprawl by
providing municipal loans, grants, tax increment equivalent financing, and
waiving development fees for brownfield redevelopment projects. The
City has also completed a Historical Land Use Inventory (HLUI) documenting over
6000 activities that pose a risk to causing contamination on a property and
identifying more than 5000 sites where activities could have the potential
to cause contamination in soil, groundwater or surface water.
The Environmental Strategy includes a Summary of
Environmental Management Best Practices. The section on brownfields notes that
the objective of brownfield redevelopment is to recapture the social and economic
value from contaminated property. It has long been difficult for communities to
bring brownfield sites back into productive use because of the high costs of
remediation, uncertainty about the level of contamination at many sites, and
environmental liability issues. The benefits of brownfield redevelopment
include:
·
the renewal of downtown cores with concomitant
increases to property assessment values and reduction in the property tax
burden; and,
·
the ability to reduce urban sprawl, and
subsequently reduce the impact on human health and the environment.
Brownfield
redevelopment is identified as a key strategy for promoting reinvestment in
existing urban areas and for reducing the need to expand into greenfield sites.
Key to the success of managing brownfields is an ability to limit risk and
liability and facilitate re-use of these sites.
The Environmental
Strategy identifies the National Brownfield Redevelopment Strategy (national)
and the BFSLAA (provincial) as federal and provincial measures that will
facilitate the redevelopment of brownfields. Best management practices
identified in the Strategy also include:
·
municipal loans and grants;
·
tax-increment equivalent financing;
·
waiver of municipal fees and development
charges;
·
use of environmental liability insurance;
·
programs for public education and community
participation.
The City’s Environmental Strategy is very supportive of
brownfields redevelopment and includes a commitment to develop a program
to encourage the redevelopment of brownfields within two years. The City of
Ottawa has reinforced this commitment with the use of an Integrated
Environmental Review Process and development of a HLUI to help ensure the
integrity of its planning review process.
National Roundtable on the
Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) National Brownfield Redevelopment Strategy
In 2003, the National Round Table on the Environment and the
Economy (NRTEE) released a report entitled “Cleaning Up the Past, Building for
the Future, A National Brownfield Redevelopment Strategy for Canada”. This
report was based on significant research into the impediments to and benefits
of brownfield redevelopment, as well as input from a wide range of key
stakeholders from all three levels of government, the development community,
financial institutions, legal, real estate and environmental industry
professionals. This Strategy identified the following “market failures” as the
most significant impediments to brownfield redevelopment:
·
lack of access to capital
·
regulatory liability risk
·
civil liability risk
·
limited access to insurance protection
·
regulatory delays
·
stigma and risk perception
·
lack of awareness among key public and private
sector groups.
To address these impediments, the National Brownfield
Redevelopment Strategy proposes actions under three strategic directions for
transforming brownfields into vibrant centres of community life. These are:
i)
Applying Strategic Public Investments to Address
Upfront Costs. This includes all three levels of government providing financial
incentives in the form of grants and loans to promote brownfield redevelopment
and removing liens and tax arrears on qualifying brownfield sites.
ii)
Establishing an Effective Public Policy Regime
for Environmental Liability and Risk Management. This includes all three levels
of government providing streamlined approval process for brownfields
redevelopment, including termination of liability and effective site-specific
assessment and approvals regimes.
iii)
Building Capacity for and Community Awareness of
Brownfield Redevelopment. This includes improving the capacity at all levels of
government to undertake brownfield redevelopment projects, promoting the use of
innovative environmental remediation technologies and processes, and raising
awareness of the benefits of brownfield redevelopment.
The NRTEE Strategy provides strong support for the
preparation and implementation of a Brownfields Redevelopment Strategy in
Ottawa. The impediments to brownfield redevelopment and the strategic
directions and recommended actions identified in the NRTEE Strategy were used (where applicable) along with best
practices in other municipalities and input from key stakeholders in the City
of Ottawa to help guide preparation of the City’s Brownfields Redevelopment
Strategy.
Federation of Canadian
Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Funds
Funding for brownfield feasibility studies and remediation
projects is available from the federal government through the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Municipal Funds. The Green Municipal Enabling Fund (GMEF) is a seven-year, $50
million fund that provides grants to support feasibility studies, i.e., studies
that assess the technical, environmental and/or economic feasibility of
innovative municipal or municipally sponsored projects. The City of Ottawa was
successful in obtaining a GMEF grant from FCM for the preparation of its
Brownfields Redevelopment Strategy and CIP.
The Green Municipal Investment Fund (GMIF) is a $200 million
permanent revolving fund that supports the implementation of innovative
environmental infrastructure projects by way of low interest loans and grants.
The Green Municipal Funds were recently augmented with $300 million through the
Federal budget, with $150 million earmarked to provide loans to assist communities
with the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields. The preparation and
implementation of a Brownfields Redevelopment Strategy and CIP will help the
City of Ottawa to put in place the policy, financial and administrative
framework to leverage FCM funding to help the City achieve its brownfield
redevelopment and growth management goals.