Conservation Authorities Band Together To Oppose Ontario Bill 23

Jeff Green | Nov 16, 2022

The sweeping Bill 23, the “More Homes Built Faster Act” is on a fast track through the Ontario legislature.

The legislation will have implications for municipal building and planning processes, and could have major implications in rural municipalities where water supply and drainage issues are different than in urban municipalities served by municipal water and sewer systems,.

Nonetheless, the public comment period for the legislation coincides with the 'lame duck' month between the recent municipal election and the inaugural meetings of new councils. 

In response, the ten Conservation Authorities in Eastern Ontario have banded together to present a common position paper to the provincial government, and they are seeking support from municipal politicians who have been re-elected.

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA), one of four with jurisdiction in Frontenac County, said in a release this week, that “RVCA strongly supports [government] efforts to address the ongoing housing crisis”, but warns that “many of the proposed changes related to conservation authorities (CAs) will have significant impacts and costs while doing little to increase housing supply.”

Sommer Casgrain-Robertson, the General Manager at RVCA said that “Improvements to the system must never be at the expense of protecting people and their properties from flooding, erosion and slope failures, or protecting the very features that reduce these risks such as wetlands,” in the release.

In a subsequent interview with the Frontenac News, Casgrain-Roberston said that the new legislation will limit the scope of consultations that Conservation Authorities (CA's) will be able to provide for municipalities that are conducting reviews of planning and building applications.

“There are three categories of issues that municipalities regularly circulate to CA's when considering development applications; Natural Hazards, Natural Heritage and Water, and the new legislation limits us to commenting only on Natural Hazards,” she said.

CA’s will still be consulted by municipalities to provide expert opinions when development applications have direct implications for flooding and erosion. But other development matters that CA's are routinely consulted about currently, including the implications of development on water quality, and on the ecological function of wetlands, expert opinions from CA’s will no longer be allowed.

“RVCA reviewed 1100 applications last year,” said Casgrain, “providing advice aimed at ensuring that development can proceed without leading to adverse outcomes for the entire watershed. We have been working to ensure that our response to these applications has been timely, that we have worked collaboratively with municipalities, and developers. We have not been averse to  making changes and to providing efficient service.”

She said that the model that is in place is cost effective for the developers who end up paying for the services, and for the municipalities. Without access to the biologists and technicians that work for CA's, municipalities will end up with that responsibility on their own shoulders.

“This will be particularly difficult for smaller municipalities, which have less resources,” she said.

The environmental implications of eliminating the consultations with CA's regarding the impact development on water quality, could, according to the RVCA release, “lead to increased nutrients and sediment in lakes and rivers. We know from the 1990s this causes excessive weed growth and algae blooms that have economic impacts on property values, agriculture, tourism, recreation, fisheries and sources of drinking water for many residents.”

Eliminating CA's ability to comment on the ramifications of development on wetlands and wetland habitat will “lead to increased flooding, erosion and drought, as well as diminished groundwater, which is the source of drinking water in much of rural Ontario. Studies have shown the loss of wetlands in the Rideau watershed would increase flood levels by 10%” said the RVCA release.

Another aspect of Bill 23 that  is of interest to municipalities is that it will freeze development fees that municipalities charge to developers, to cover the cost of new municipal infrastructure that will result from development.

“This will pass development costs on to taxpayers instead of growth paying for growth” said the RVCA release.

“CAs have proven they are not a barrier to development, but rather facilitate sound and reasonable growth,” said Pieter Leenhouts, Chair of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. “They have been modernising policies and procedures, streamlining approvals, reducing timelines, meeting and reporting on service standards and promoting pre-consultation with applicants to provide the best service possible to municipalities, communities, residents and developers.”

The changes that Bill 23 is bringing will have implications for the lakes and watersheds in Eastern Ontario according to Sommer-Casgrain, which will not make it easier or more efficient to build new homes, for people in Ontario who are seeking affordable housing, which is the stated intention of the bill.

The CA position regarding the Bill is being supported by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

In their comments about the Bill, AMO looks at a broad range of cost implications for Ontario municipalities.

 In  terms of the impact of the Bill 23 on local waterheds, AMO  said “At first glance, they seem to result in negative consequences (i.e., increased flooding, liability), at a time when the impacts of climate change are increasingly prevalent.”

AMO added that the changes could undermine recent changes to the way CA's and municipalities work together on development issues that have been beneficial in their view.

“Bill 23 proposes sweeping changes to the regulatory responsibilities of Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities that, if passed, will undermine the collaborative and productive changes put forward by the Ministry-led Conservation Authority Working Group over the past two years,”said an AMO release.

The ten CA's in Eastern Ontario are seeking support from local mayors, for their submission to the Government of Ontario regarding Bill 23.

The time frame for this is very tight. They wrote to the mayors (or reeves) of all Eastern Ontario municipalities, on Friday afternoon (November 12), seeking a letter of support by midweek, in order to include the letters with their submissions that are due by November 17.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith said on Monday that she is prepared to send a letter of support.

“This is another case where the government is bringing in legislation aimed at the needs of urban areas, in and around Toronto, that will have implications in rural Ontario that they did not consider,” she said.

In North Frontenac, the timing of the comment period during the 'lame duck' period, as well as hunting seasons, means that incoming Mayor Gerry Lichty is not yet in a position to send a letter, and outgoing Mayor Ron Higgins will no longer be in office by next week.

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal said he has consulted with the  township's Senior Planner, Christine Woods and based on her advice, has signed a submitted the letter of support for the Conservation Authority submission regarding the bill.