Ninth Line Lands Agricultural Impact Assessment Final Report Prepared for: Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd. 600 Annette Street Toronto, ON M6S 2C4 Prepared by: Amec Foster Wheeler 3215 North Service Road Burlington, ON L7N 3G2 (905) 335-2353 August 2016 Project No. TP114008 Ninth Line Lands Agricultural Impact Assessment Final Report Submitted to: Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd. 600 Annette Street Toronto, ON M6S 2C4 Submitted by: Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure 3215 North Service Road Burlington, ON L7N 3G2 June 2014 Revised: August 2016 Project: TP114008 August 10, 2016 Our File: TP114008-10 Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd. 600 Annette Street Toronto, ON M6S 2C4 Attention: Elizabeth Howson, BES, MCIP Dear Madam: Re: Ninth Line Lands Agricultural Impact Assessment (AIA), City of Mississauga Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure, a division of Amec Foster Wheeler Americas Limited is pleased to submit this report for the Agricultural Impact Assessment (AIA) of the Ninth Line Lands which includes an assessment of soils in the subject lands for Agricultural Capability Classification according to Canada Land Inventory (CLI) and the assessment of livestock facilities located on adjacent agricultural properties with calculated minimum separation distances. We trust this report is suitable to your purposes. Should you have any questions or comments on the content of the report, please contact the undersigned. Yours truly, Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure a division of Amec Foster Wheeler Americas Limited Per: C. James Warren, Ph.D., P.Ag., P.Geo. Per: Richard St. Jean, P.Eng., P.Ag. Tel: (519) 823-6599 Tel: (519) 650-7127 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 3215 North Service Road Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure Burlington, ON L7N 3G2 Registered office: 2020 Winston Park Drive, Suite 700, Oakville, Ontario L6H 6X7 Tel +1 905 335 2353 Registered in Canada No. 773289-9; GST: 899879050 RT0008; DUNS: 25-362-6642 Fax +1 905 335 1414 amecfw.com Ninth Line Lands Amec Foster Wheeler Agricultural Impact Assessment Environment & Infrastructure City of Mississauga Revised: August 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 2.0 SUBJECT AND ADJACENT LANDS ............................................................................... 1 3.0 APPROACH AND ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................. 2 3.1 Agricultural Capability Classification...................................................................... 2 3.2 Minimum Distance Separation .............................................................................. 2 4.0 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 4 4.1 Agricultural Capability Classification...................................................................... 4 4.2 Minimum Distance Separation Calculations .......................................................... 4 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 5 6.0 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 6 7.0 CLOSURE ......................................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Soil Series and Agricultural Capability Classification 7 Table 2: Summary of MDS I Calculated Setback Distances 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Soil Classification Figure 2: Setback Areas LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A: Data for MDS I Calculations Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure is committed to achieving sustainability through balancing economic growth, social responsibility and environmental protection. Learn more at: http://amecfw.com/aboutus/sustainability.htm. TP114008 Table of Contents Ninth Line Lands Amec Foster Wheeler Agricultural Impact Assessment Environment & Infrastructure City of Mississauga Revised: August 2016 1.0 INTRODUCTION Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure, a division of Amec Foster Wheeler Americas Limited, under subcontract to Macaulay Shiomi Howson (MSH), has been retained by the City of Mississauga and the Region of Peel (Peel) to provide professional and technical services for the Ninth Line Lands Secondary Plan Study to establish a Regional and Municipal planning framework for the Ninth Line Lands for future growth and development. As part of the overall study, and in response to a request for further information from Peel (dated March 16, 2016), the objective of this report is to provide a summary of findings specific to the Agricultural Impact Assessment (AIA) for the Ninth Line Lands. Findings summarized herein include an assessment of soils in the subject lands for Agricultural Capability Classification according to Canada Land Inventory (CLI) and the assessment of livestock facilities located on adjacent agricultural properties to determine minimum separation distances. 2.0 SUBJECT AND ADJACENT LANDS The subject lands border the northwest corner of the City of Mississauga, Region of Peel, in a strip of land approximately 9 km long by about 0.35 km wide with an area of 307 ha (+/-) between Highway 407 and the Ninth Line running roughly northwest to southeast from Highway 401 to Highway 403 (ref. Figure 1). Based on visual observations the subject lands were used for agricultural crop production (possibly including pasture and forage production) in recent years but all agricultural activities appear to have been discontinued and the land is not currently used for any obvious purpose. Based on the Peel Region Official Plan (Region of Peel, 2014): “On January 1, 2010 the lands between Ninth Line and Highway 407 (the Ninth Line Lands) became part of the City of Mississauga and the Region of Peel. These lands are identified in the Region of Halton Official Plan as the Ninth Line Corridor Policy Area. Currently, the policies of the Region of Halton and the Town of Milton Official Plans apply to these lands. The policies of the Region of Peel Official Plan do not apply to these lands and a future amendment will bring these lands into conformity with the Region of Peel Official Plan.” Based on the Mississauga Official Plan (City of Mississauga, 2016) and the Planning Act (Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 1990) the Ninth Line Lands are designated a Special Study Area: “Lands west of Ninth Line will be subject to the Town of Milton and Region of Halton Official Plans in effect as of January 1, 2010, until such time as they are incorporated into this [Mississauga Official] Plan”. Lands adjacent to the subject lands northeast of the Ninth Line within the City of Mississauga are primarily residential made up of a mixture of various housing densities (Figure 1). Exceptions are the lands northwest of the St. Lawrence & Hudson rail tracks and lands southeast of Eglington Ave. West which are designated “Business Employment”, as defined in the Mississauga Official Plan (2016). Lands adjacent to the subject lands on the southwest side of the Highway 407 corridor are part of the Town of Milton. These lands are primarily mixed use including rural residential, agricultural crop land, and some small scale and hobby livestock facilities. Recently some tracts have been developed for industrial use. TP114008 Page 1 Ninth Line Lands Amec Foster Wheeler Agricultural Impact Assessment Environment & Infrastructure City of Mississauga Revised: August 2016 3.0 APPROACH AND ASSUMPTIONS Under the Planning Act (2014), prime agricultural areas are protected for long-term agricultural use. Prime agricultural areas used in the production of specialty crops shall be given the highest priority for protection, followed by Class 1, 2 and 3 soils, in order of priority. In Ontario, specialty crops include (but are not limited to) ethnic vegetables, hops, sweet potatoes, specialty fruits (e.g., edible blue honeysuckle, goji berry, sea buckthorn), culinary and medicinal herbs and plants for industrial uses (e.g. biomass crops, fibre hemp). Prime agricultural soils (Class 1, 2 and 3 soils) are identified as described in the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) documentation (Environment Canada, 1972; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2009). Planning authorities shall designate prime agricultural areas and specialty crop areas in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Province. A planning authority may identify a settlement area or allow the expansion of a settlement area boundary only at the time of a comprehensive review and only where it has been demonstrated that in prime agricultural areas: Ź The lands do not comprise specialty crop areas; Ź There are no reasonable alternatives which avoid prime agricultural areas; and, Ź There are no reasonable alternatives on lower priority agricultural lands in prime agricultural areas; and impacts from new or expanding settlement areas on agricultural operations located adjacent or close to the settlement area are mitigated to the extent feasible. 3.1 Agricultural Capability Classification For the purposes of the this study, the subject lands were assessed for their Agricultural Capability Classification (Environment Canada, 1972; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2009) according to the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) using available soil survey information from Agriculture and Agri-Food