TOWARDS A MULTI-PARTY POLICY MONITORING FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING INFRASTRUCTURE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS ON THE OAK RIDGES MORAINE by Katrina Broughton A thesis submitted to the School of Urban and Regional Planning In conformity with the requirements for a degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (September, 2008) Copyright © Katrina Broughton, 2008 Abstract The Oak Ridges Moraine, located in south-central Ontario, is recognized for its ecological importance in providing “clean and abundant water resources, healthy and diverse plant and animal habitat, an attractive and distinct landscape, prime agricultural land, and sand and gravel resources” (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2002). It is protected by the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (2002). A number of initiatives are ongoing to develop monitoring capabilities across the Oak Ridges Moraine (Monitoring the Moraine Project, 2008; Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, 2008). The purpose of this thesis is to develop and test a multi-party policy monitoring framework to determine if infrastructure environmental assessments on the Oak Ridges Moraine comply with the policies of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) and meet best practices of environmental assessment identified in the literature. The multi-party policy monitoring framework developed for this research has two dimensions: 1. A moraine-wide survey and map of infrastructure environmental assessments contributing to a “governance watch” (Francis, 2006a; Francis, 2006b) perspective of infrastructure; and 2. An evaluation of an infrastructure environmental assessment case study (York Region’s Lower Leslie Street Trunk Sewer and 19th Avenue Interceptor Sewer) against a set of criteria to determine if it complies with the ORMCP and environmental assessment best practices. The results of the environmental assessment map show a distinctive pattern of infrastructure development, concentrated in the eastern half of the moraine, and within designated settlement areas. That being said, infrastructure networks are expanding to i connect settlement areas outside the Greater Toronto Area. The environmental assessment map shows the importance of thinking of infrastructure as a networked system, rather than as discrete projects. The results of the case study evaluation showed that the Lower Leslie Street Trunk Sewer and 19th Avenue Interceptor Sewer Environmental Assessment complied with the minimal requirements of Section 41 of the ORMCP, and in some cases went above and beyond the requirements of the ORMCP. The results suggest, however, that some criteria drawn from the literature, would be better addressed by strategic environmental assessment of infrastructure master plans. ii Executive Summary The Oak Ridges Moraine, located in south-central Ontario, is recognized for its ecological importance in providing “clean and abundant water resources, healthy and diverse plant and animal habitat, an attractive and distinct landscape, prime agricultural land, and sand and gravel resources” (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2002). It is protected by the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (2002). A number of initiatives are ongoing to develop monitoring capabilities across the Oak Ridges Moraine (Monitoring the Moraine Project, 2008; Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, 2008). The purpose of this thesis is to develop and test a multi-party policy monitoring framework to determine if infrastructure project environmental assessments on the Oak Ridges Moraine comply with the policies of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) and meet best practices of environmental assessment identified in the literature. The multi- party policy monitoring framework developed for this research has two dimensions: an environmental assessment survey and map, and an evaluation of an infrastructure case study. The environmental assessment survey maps all infrastructure environmental assessments undertaken on the moraine since the introduction of the ORMCP and contributes to an emerging “governance watch” capacity (Francis, 2006) for the Oak Ridges Moraine. The results of the environmental assessment map shows a distinctive pattern of infrastructure development, concentrated in the eastern half of the moraine, and within designated settlement areas. That being said, infrastructure networks are expanding to connect settlement areas outside the Greater Toronto Area. The environmental assessment map shows the importance of thinking of infrastructure as a networked system, rather than as discrete projects. iii As a case study, York Region’s Lower Leslie Street Trunk Sewer and 19th Avenue Interceptor Sewer Environmental Assessment was evaluated against a set of criteria to determine if it complies with the ORMCP and environmental assessment best practices. The evaluation of the case study environmental assessment showed that it complied with the minimal requirements of Section 41 of the ORMCP, and in some cases went above and beyond the requirements of the ORMCP. The results suggest, however, that some criteria drawn from the literature, would be better addressed by strategic environmental assessment of infrastructure master plans. I developed several recommendations based on the research results for policy makers, environmental assessment proponents and MTM partners including: 1. Proponents of infrastructure environmental assessments should adopt a tiered decision making approach by applying strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to infrastructure master plans. SEA should assess network-wide impacts, while project level environmental assessments should continue to assess project level impacts. 2. Proponents of infrastructure projects should consider infrastructure supply and demand in relation to the environmental capacity of the Oak Ridges Moraine and its natural resources; and the impact of infrastructure on regional urban growth. 3. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of the Environment should develop a formal and coordinated process to track and evaluate infrastructure environmental assessments subject to the ORMCP. 4. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing should more clearly define conformity with ORMCP regarding infrastructure development. They should also coordinate with the Ministry of the Environment to provide guidance on how environmental assessment proponents should achieve this conformity within the existing EA legislation. iv Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Graham Whitelaw for your continuing support and encouragement. When I began I could not have imagined that my humble research could turn into an important project. That it happened is a credit to your vision and willingness to think outside the box. Above all, thank you for treating me like a colleague. This project would not have been possible without the support of the Monitoring the Moraine project partners. First and foremost, I am indebted to Debbe Crandall for your feedback and support, both academically and practically. Your enthusiasm and commitment to the moraine and to this research project is an inspiration. I also received a great amount of assistance from STORM Coalition staff Jen Bedford, Nathan Fahey, Tahira Qamar, and Kate Turner. Thank you to all of the municipal and conservation authority staff I have had the pleasure of working with, and the staff at York Region in particular. Thank you as well to the anonymous participants of the Case Study Workshop for providing such valuable feedback. Finally, thank you to Citizen’s Environment Watch for providing funding to extend my research beyond this thesis. I truly feel as though this research was a joint effort and would not have been possible without partnering with all the people mentioned above. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for whom I would never have been able to finish this journey without. Thank you to all my friends from Queen’s, SURP, Almonte and beyond for keeping me sane and listening to me complain. Thank you to Mom and Dad for believing in me when I needed you to and being there when I needed you. I know you would have done anything in the world to help me succeed. Thank you to Christopher and Matthew for reminding me there were more important things in life than school, even though I did not always believe you. Thank you to Dave for being my editor, friend and love. v Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... i Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Context ...............................................................................................................................