Bill seeks to end escarpment act - Municipal Governance Favoured

NRU
Nov. 5, 2014
By Edward LaRusic

Municipalities rather than a provincial agency should regulate land use in the Niagara Escarpment according to a Progressive Conservative MPP, who has put forward a private members bill to repeal the legislation that protects the Niagara Escarpment.

Saying the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act has outlived its usefulness, Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Jack MacLaren introduced Bill 32, The Bob Mackie Act, 2014, to repeal the escarpment act.

“The point originally of the [Niagara Escarpment] legislation when it was created 40 years ago was that [the provincial government] wanted to have planning authority over the complete length of the Niagara Escarpment,” said MacLaren. “In some of the rural communities at that point in time, there were no official plans or planners on staff. In the legislation it says at some point in the future when this legislation is no longer required, it could be repealed. Now, all municipalities have official plans, now they all have planners on contract or on staff. The province does a five-year review of all of these official plans, so all plans must meet provincial standards, requirements and guidelines through provincial policy statements, etc. So [the legislation] is just not necessary.”

MacLaren adds that he believes the Niagara Escarpment Commission-a provincial agency that reports through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry-has no oversight or accountability. He would prefer authority over the escarpment be given to local municipalities whose politicians are elected and therefore accountable to the electorate.

The bill takes its name from the late Bob Mackie, who for some time operated an archery range within the escarpment in the Beamsville area of the Town of Lincoln. When a neighbor complained about the use, Mackie sought a permit from the Niagara Escarpment Commission in 2005 to allow the archery range on his lands at 3922 Zimmerman Road. His request was denied, leading to a seven-year court battle Mackie ultimately lost.

MacLaren said that his office gets quite a few calls from landowners complaining about the effect the escarpment legislation has on their properties and businesses, with Bob Mackie being a prime example.

Canadian Environmental Law Association solicitor Richard Lindgren said MacLaren’s bill is ill conceived. “[The Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act is] legislation aimed at protecting the international significant biosphere reserve that we find on the Niagara Escarpment. I think it strikes a reasonable balance between environmental protection, resource development and land use activity that’scompatible with protecting the escarpment.”

Lindgren said that planning in the Niagara Escarpment should not be given over to the “discretion, whims or vagaries of the municipal land use planning process.”

“There are a number of municipalities that exist up and down the length of the 725-kilometre escarpment that include a number of upper and lower tier municipalities. You want to make sure everyone is taking a consistent, uniform approach. You don’t want one municipality doing its own thing and allowing rampant development to occur while the next door neighbour may be taking a much more protective view.”

Lindgren said it’s better to have a central authority for the escarpment lands and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Niagara Escarpment Commission are “best placed to do that.”

Lindgren added that removing the Niagara Escarpment

Planning and Development Act would leave a policy void.

“Municipalities do have land use planning jurisdiction under the Planning Act, but that’s a one-size fi ts all kind of statute, as is the Provincial Policy Statement. It’s not appropriate for the special area we know as the Niagara Escarpment.”

MacLaren said he doesn’t believe repealing the act would leave a policy void. He said there are “all kinds” of environmental legislations that protect the environment that municipal official plans need to address.

“All official plans in Ontario, by provincial law, are required to have an official plan review every five years. Their draft review of the official plans has to be submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for their approval. A municipality’s official plan would have to be made consistent with the provincial requirements. There is oversight and accountability... We’re just simplifying the process and making it more efficient.”

MacLaren’s private member’s bill is up for second reading November 6. He thinks all parties will be supportive. However, Lindgren believes it will be a tough sell, as all three major parties supported the creation of the Niagara Escarpment legislation.

Meanwhile, Niagara Escarpment Commission marketing and communications specialist Danielle D’Silva said the commission is preparing discussion papers and background research to assess existing plan policies, in anticipation of the upcoming review of the plan in 2015.

“Public and stakeholder consultation on proposed changes to the NEP will be undertaken as part of the Greenbelt Plan’s coordinated plan review process, which has not formally commenced nor has the scope of the review been determined.”