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Mapping the Municipal Planning Process in Ontario

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Mapping the Municipal Planning Process in Ontario MAPPING THE MUNICIPAL PLANNING PROCESS IN ONTARIO Opportunities for Public Health Input About This report is the result of the Locally Driven Collaborative Project (LDCP) program, which brings Ontario Public Health Units together to conduct research on issues of shared interest related to the Ontario Public Health Standards. Study Team This LDCP project was led by Dr. Charles Gardner, Medical Officer of Health for the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. Core team members: • Brenda Armstrong, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit • Steven Rebellato, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit • Brent Moloughney, Public Health Ontario • Ghazal Fazli, Public Health Ontario • Rachel Harris, Public Health Ontario • Charoula Tsamis, Public Health Ontario • Tiffany Lee, Public Health Ontario Co-applicant members: • Sue Shikaze, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit • Karen Loney, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit • Birgit Isernhagen, Ottawa Public Health • Donald Cole, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto • Helen Doyle, Ontario Public Health Association • Ahalya Mahendra, Public Health Agency of Canada Clean Air Partnership consultant team was led by Nancy Smith Lea, Director, The Centre for Active Transportation. Consultant team members: • Jiya Benni, Researcher, The Centre for Active Transportation • Windemere Jarvis, Public Health Specialist • Francis Nasca, Project Manager, The Centre for Active Transportation • Thrmiga Sathiyamoorthy, Public Health Specialist • Yvonne Verlinden, Project Manager, The Centre for Active Transportation Cover Page photos: CLOCKWISE (from top): Francis Nasca; Copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario, photo source: Ontario Growth Secretariat, Ministry of Municipal Affairs; Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Thunder Bay, ON; City of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON 2 Mapping the Municipal Planning Process in Ontario CONTENTS Introduction 4 Neighbourhood Design & Food System 6 PROVINCIAL PLANS & POLICIES 7 MUNICIPAL PLANS & GUIDELINES 7 Official Plan Elective Plans & Guidelines PROJECT-SPECIFIC 8 Natural Environment 10 PROVINCIAL PLANS & POLICIES 11 MUNICIPAL PLANS & GUIDELINES 11 Source Water Protection Plans Elective Plans & Guidelines PROJECT-SPECIFIC 11 Environmental Assessments Green Development Standards Conservation Authority Review Transportation 13 PROVINCIAL PLANS & POLICIES 14 MUNICIPAL PLANS & GUIDELINES 14 PROJECT-SPECIFIC 14 Conclusion 15 Opportunities for Public Health Input 3 Cobourg Waterfront, Cobourg, ON; Copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario, photo source: Ontario Growth Secretariat, Ministry of Municipal Affairs INTRODUCTION Where we live affects how healthy we are. With evidence of the built and natural environment’s impacts on health well-established, public health professionals are increasingly looking for ways to engage with the planning process to improve community design for health. This report maps out the planning process in Ontario and identifies opportunities for public health input. It is intended as a tool to guide public health units and help them achieve community design that protects and promotes health. This work is part of a larger Locally Driven Collaborative Project on healthy built and natural environments that collected promising practices from across Ontario. More findings can be found at PlanningForHealth.ca Methodology A literature review identified four spheres where the built environment impacts health: Neighbourhood Design, Food System, Natural Environment and Transportation. The types of impacts and interventions described within each sphere were reviewed and corresponding planning tools which would influence positive or negative outcomes were identified. At this stage, significant overlap was found between planning tools to address Neighbourhood Design and those related to the Food System, and a decision was made to combine these two for the purposes of mapping the municipal planning process. Three scales of land use planning were identified: Provincial Plans & Policies, Municipal Plans & Guidelines, and Project-Specific. A map was created, showing the applicable planning tools across these three scales and the four spheres drawn from the literature review. Opportunities for public health input were identified on this map. This document was then developed to review the applicable planning tools in more detail. The map can be found in Figure 1. 4 Mapping the Municipal Planning Process in Ontario Ontario’s Municipal Planning Process Provincial Plans & Municipal Plans & Project - Specific Policies Guidelines Provincial Policy Statement Required: • Plan of Subdivision Growth Plans • Official Plan • Site Plan • Growth Plan for Elective: • Official Plan or Zoning By-law the Greater Golden Amendment Horseshoe • Secondary Plans • Review of Urban Design • Growth Plan for • Community Improvement Guidelines Northern Ontario Plans • Noise Impact Study • Urban Design Guidelines • Sun/shade Study System • Tall Building Guidelines • Community Services and Facilities • Town-house and Low-Rise Study Apartment Guidelines • and more • Priority Neighbourhood Plans Neighbourhood Design and Food Neighbourhood Design and Food • and more Greenbelt Required: • Environmental Assessments (Individual, Streamlined and • Greenbelt Plan • Source Water Protection Class) Plans • Niagara Escarpment Plan Elective: • Green Development Standards (GDS) • Oak Ridges Moraine • Park and Greenspace Conservation Plan Strategy • Review of development applications by Conservation • Climate Change Action Authorities (if applicable) Plan • Urban Forest Management Natural Environment Natural Plan • and more • Regional Transportation Elective: • Environmental Assessments Plan (Metrolinx, covers (Individual, Streamlined and the Greater Toronto and • Transportation Master Plan Class) Hamilton Area) • Active Transportation/Cycling • Plan of Subdivision Plan • Greater Golden • Site Plan Horseshoe (GGH) • Complete Streets Guidelines Transportation Plan • Transportation Impact Study (provincial government) • Road Safety Plan • Multimodal level of service • and more analysis • Northern Ontario Transportation Multimodal • Air Quality Study Transportation Strategy (provincial government) • Review development applications • Provincial review of municipal and environmental assessments. official plans and amendments • Creation and updates (opportunity for Ministry of • Review the requirements for of provincial plans and Health and Long-Term Care). development applications and policies. environmental assessments, and • Creation and updates of recommend additional, health- Health Input Health municipal plans & guidelines. Opportunity for focussed evaluations. Figure 1: Opportunities for Public Health Input in Ontario’s Municipal Planning Process Opportunities for Public Health Input 5 Talwood Community Garden, Peterborough, ON, photo source: Francis Nasca NEIGHBOURHOOD DESIGN & FOOD SYSTEM The way we design our neighbourhoods can impact physical activity levels by either supporting or reducing the viability of healthy transportation options. In a compact, mixed use neighbourhood, destinations for work, school, shopping, services and entertainment are walkable or bikeable, and people can easily incorporate physical activity into their daily lives. Low density neighbourhoods where residential uses have been separated from other land uses encourage car dependence and add sedentary time to people’s lives. Less obvious but equally important is the impact the built environment has on the food system, and people’s access to healthy food options. Separating residential areas from commercial land uses can create ‘food deserts,’ residential neighbourhoods that lack local grocery stores and food markets. If affordable and convenient transportation options are also lacking, low income residents can end up relying on convenience stores and fast food restaurants to meet daily food needs. Strategies such as changing zoning regulations, allowing pop-up food markets, and encouraging urban agriculture can all help improve access to healthy food. From a planning perspective, these two issues of neighbourhood design and food system can be addressed using similar mechanisms, and so we discuss them together in this section. 6 Mapping the Municipal Planning Process in Ontario Provincial Plans & Policies In Canada’s constitution, municipalities are centres, setting urban growth boundaries, described as “creatures of the province,” and encouraging complete communities. meaning that the provincial government has They address many characteristics of healthy the power to create or dissolve municipalities communities identified through the literature and assign powers to them through legislation. review, such as access to transit, mixed land One of the powers that Ontario has granted its use, compact neighbourhoods, density, and municipalities is local land use planning, as set urban sprawl. out in the Planning Act. Although locally-based, this process is guided by a series of provincial Revisions and updates to these documents policies, with which municipal planning decisions offer a powerful opportunity to influence land must be consistent or conform. As illustrated in use planning across the province. Because Figure 1, these provincial policies make up the municipal planning decisions must be consistent first stage of the municipal planning process. with the provincial policy and conform to Six key documents currently guide local land provincial plans, any healthy community use planning; the Provincial Policy Statement design
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