Photo by Lou Wise, 2004 Humber River State of the Watershed Report – Land and Resource Use 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • The population of the Humber watershed grew by 37% between 1995 and 2001 and municipal and provincial forecasts for watershed municipalities indicate that their populations will continue to grow in the next twenty years. • Approximately 40% of the watershed is in agricultural use, 27% is used for urban settlements, and natural cover makes up 32%, with the remaining 1% being watercourses and other water bodies. Significant areas of land are protected from urban growth under the Niagara Escarpment Plan, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Greenbelt Plan. • The majority of urban growth in the watershed over the next ten to twenty years will occur in the West Humber, East Humber and lower reaches of the Main Humber subwatershed. Valley slopes and watercourses that are not well defined are common in these areas which makes them less likely to be perceived as natural features warranting protection, despite being integral to the health of the watershed. • New municipal environmental policies are more progressive than those of the past with respect to requiring buffers and accommodating the natural form and function of watercourses, resulting in benefits to the natural areas abutting new and redeveloping sites. • Most urban growth is occurring on former agricultural lands, thereby diminishing the availability of large contiguous parcels for large scale crop production. • Public transit options are limited for the urbanizing area of the watershed, so that commuters rely heavily on private automobile usage. Expansion and increase in connections to the GO Transit, TTC and “905” community transit services are helpful, but this in combination with designing transit friendly urban development, would constitute a more comprehensive approach to diminishing reliance on automobiles and associated fossil fuel usage. • Municipalities are endeavouring to address unsustainable rates of water use as evidenced by their ongoing programs to increase efficiency. • In order to reduce the negative impacts of waste disposal in landfills, watershed municipalities are attempting to increase the amount of waste diverted from landfill sites through reuse, recycling, and composting of waste materials. • Due to a growing base of accepted scientific knowledge and updated, corresponding policies, new development and redevelopment is beginning to take place in a more sustainable way. • Examples of sustainable communities have been designed and implemented in jurisdictions around the world, and they are beginning to be employed locally, using new technologies for water and sewer infrastructure, stormwater management, and energy use that are all less resource consumptive. Humber River State of the Watershed Report – Land and Resource Use TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1 2.0 WATERSHED LOCATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS .........................................................2 3.0 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT .........................................................................................6 3.1 Flood Vulnerable and Special Policy Areas ................................................................... 9 4.0 CURRENT CONDITIONS, EMERGING TRENDS AND KEY ISSUES ...........................12 4.1 Land Use....................................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Transportation............................................................................................................... 23 4.3 Water............................................................................................................................. 28 4.4 Solid Waste................................................................................................................... 31 4.5 Energy........................................................................................................................... 33 5.0 MOVING TOWARD SUSTAINABLE LAND AND RESOURCE USE ..............................35 5.1 Development Limits ...................................................................................................... 36 5.2 Development Design .................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Green Building Design ................................................................................................. 37 5.4 Infrastructure................................................................................................................. 38 5.5 Stormwater Management ............................................................................................. 39 6.0 SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES AND MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS.....................46 7.0 OBJECTIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND AND RESOURCE USE AND REPORT CARD RATINGS ...........................................................................................................................51 8.0 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................57 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Municipalities in the Humber River Watershed ...........................................................2 Figure 2: General Land Use in the Humber River Watershed, 2002..........................................3 Figure 3: Special Land Use Policy Areas in the Humber River Watershed .............................11 Figure 4: Humber River Watershed General Land Use............................................................12 Figure 5: Approved Official Plan Land Use...............................................................................15 Figure 6: Existing and Proposed Rapid Transit Network .........................................................27 Figure 7: Stormwater Management Controlled Areas..............................................................44 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Distribution of Population and Employment for Humber Watershed Upper- and Single-tier Municipalities, 2001-2031…………………………………………………….8 Table 2: Policy Documents Affecting Land and Resource Use in the Humber Watershed.....9 Table 3: General Land Use/Cover in the Humber River Watershed, 2002.............................13 Table 4: Detailed Land Use/Cover in the Humber River Watershed, 2002 ............................13 Table 5: Number of Transit Passenger Trips per Person 2001-2006. ....................................53 Humber_Land_Resource_Use_FINAL_101007F.doc i Humber River State of the Watershed Report – Land and Resource Use Table 6: Mode of Transportation to Work Based on Statistics Canada 2001 Census of Population Data. ........................................................................................................53 Table 7: Residential Solid Waste Diversion Rates 2001-2006 in Humber Watershed ...........56 Humber_Land_Resource_Use_FINAL_101007F.doc ii Humber River State of the Watershed Report – Land and Resource Use 1.0 INTRODUCTION In 1997, the Humber Watershed Task Force released the Humber River Watershed Strategy, Legacy: A Strategy For A Healthy Humber (MTRCA, 1997), which provided thirty objectives for a healthy, sustainable watershed, and a set of actions necessary to achieve them. It also provided an overview of the state of the Humber River watershed at that time. Since the release of the watershed strategy, a significant amount of new information has become available through monitoring, special studies and the experiences of watershed partners. In 2004, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), in partnership with watershed municipalities and the Humber Watershed Alliance initiated a study to develop an integrated watershed management plan for the Humber River. This study was initiated to fulfill the watershed planning requirements of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan , 2002, and to update the strategies and recommendations of Legacy, in light of new information, a stronger scientific foundation and better understanding of the effects of human actions on natural ecosystems. The watershed plan is intended to inform and guide municipalities, provincial and federal governments, TRCA, non-governmental organizations and private landowners regarding management actions needed to maintain and improve watershed health. This State of the Watershed Report provides updated information on current conditions, emerging trends and identifies key watershed management issues and opportunities in the Humber pertaining to land and resource use. Indicators of watershed health and associated targets are used to rate current conditions. Ratings for a full suite of indicators of watershed health are summarized in, Listen to Your River: A Report Card on the Health of the Humber River Watershed (TRCA, 2007). This State of the Watershed report also provides an overview of current management strategies and introduces some innovative approaches to address key issues, which will be considered for inclusion in the Humber River Watershed Plan . It begins with an overview of factors that influence watershed conditions and the indicators being used to track current conditions and evaluate watershed health. Humber_Land_Resource_Use_FINAL_101007F.doc 1 Humber River State of the Watershed Report – Land and Resource Use 2.0 WATERSHED LOCATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS The Humber River watershed is the largest watershed in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)