Don River Watershed Plan Land and Resource Use – Report on Current Conditions 2009 Prepared by: Toronto and Region Conservation Don River Watershed Plan: Land and Resource Use – Report on Current Conditions Table of Contents Table of Contents............................................................................................................................ 2 List of Tables................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures.................................................................................................................................. 3 2.0 Watershed Location and Demographics ................................................................................. 4 3.0 Planning Policy Context............................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Flood Vulnerable Areas and Special Policy Areas............................................................. 12 3.2 Environmental Assessments in the Lower Don Special Policy Area ................................. 13 4.0 Current Conditions in the Don River Watershed.................................................................... 13 4.1 Land Use ............................................................................................................................. 13 4.1.1 Trends in the Urban Area ............................................................................................. 16 4.1.2 Trends in the Urbanizing Area ..................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Trends in the Rural Area............................................................................................... 24 4.2 Servicing and Resource Use .............................................................................................. 25 4.2.1 Transportation .............................................................................................................. 26 4.2.2 Water and Wastewater ................................................................................................. 30 4.2.3 Stormwater Management............................................................................................. 33 4.2.4 Solid Waste................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.5 Energy .......................................................................................................................... 37 4.3 Ratings for the Sustainable Land and Resource Use Indicators ....................................... 39 Community design ................................................................................................................40 Green buildings ..................................................................................................................... 40 Transportation ....................................................................................................................... 41 Water demand ....................................................................................................................... 41 Solid waste diversion............................................................................................................. 41 Energy sources and demand................................................................................................ 42 5.0 Moving toward Sustainable Land and Resource Use ........................................................... 43 5.1 Development Limits ............................................................................................................ 44 5.2 Development Design........................................................................................................... 45 5.3 Infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 47 5.4 Stormwater Management ................................................................................................... 48 6.0 Summary of Key Issues and Management Considerations .................................................. 50 7.0 References .............................................................................................................................. 56 Toronto and Region Conservation CFN: 37590 2 2009 Don River Watershed Plan: Land and Resource Use – Report on Current Conditions List of Tables Table 1: Population growth rates in Don River watershed municipalities (1996-2006). ............... 5 Table 2: Distribution of population and employment for Don River watershed municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2001-2031 (figures in 000s). ............................................... 7 Table 3: Legislation, regulations, policies, plans and programs affecting land and resource use in the Don River watershed. .................................................................................................... 8 Table 4: Land Use in the Don River watershed (based on interpretation of 2002 aerial photos). ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Table 5: Mode of transportation to work based on Statistics Canada 2001 Census of Population data. ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Table 6: Number of transit passenger trips per person 2001-2006. ........................................... 26 Table 7: Residential solid waste diversion rates 2001-2006 in Don watershed municipalities... 36 List of Figures Figure 1: 2002 land use in the Don River watershed..................................................................... 6 Figure 2: Special land use policy areas in the Don River watershed. ....................................... 11 Figure 3: Distribution of land use in the Don River watershed (2002)......................................... 16 Figure 4: Urban, urbanizing and rural areas in the upper Don River watershed. ....................... 17 Figure 5: Stormwater management in the Don River watershed. ............................................... 34 Toronto and Region Conservation CFN: 37590 3 2009 Don River Watershed Plan: Land and Resource Use – Report on Current Conditions 1.0 Introduction The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), in consultation with the multi- stakeholder Don Watershed Regeneration Council and watershed municipalities, is developing a watershed plan for the Don River. This watershed planning process has been initiated in response to a number of recent policy and planning developments, including the need to fulfill York Region’s watershed planning requirements under the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) (Ontario Regulation 140/02) and to update the original management strategy outlined in Forty Steps to a New Don (Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (MTRCA), 1994). Building on the Forty Steps’ approach, the goal of this watershed plan is to produce updated management strategies that will protect what is healthy, regenerate what is degraded, and take responsibility for the Don. The strategies will help guide decisions affecting the watershed in order to protect and improve its ecological health. Recognizing the significant watershed planning work that has already been completed, and given that there is a limited amount of undeveloped land remaining within the Don River watershed boundaries, this study will focus mainly on filling information gaps, examining ways of achieving sustainable land and resource use, and providing direction to implement regeneration priorities. This watershed plan’s technical background reports on current conditions will serve to scope and characterize the watershed planning process and cover a range of subject areas, including groundwater quality and quantity, surface water quantity, low flows and water use, surface water quality, fluvial geomorphology, aquatic systems, terrestrial systems, nature-based recreation, cultural heritage, and land and resource use. Forty Steps contained a detailed description of land use in the Don River watershed as of 1994. This report on land and resource use begins with an updated summary of population and demographics, current land use patterns, opportunities for greenfield development and redevelopment and infilling, an overview of servicing and resource use, and concludes with key issues and management considerations for the watershed plan. Given that the Don Watershed is 80%1 urbanized (2002 aerial photos), the report focuses on the form and function of urban land uses and the remaining open space and natural heritage system, and discusses opportunities for protecting and enhancing what is healthy and securing and regenerating what is degraded. TRCA’s Living City vision sets out five attributes of sustainable communities: healthy environment (air, water, land, waste); green planning and building; economic vitality; education, public awareness and leadership; and social or community well being. These attributes form the backdrop of the following discussion of current land and resource use in the Don River watershed. 2.0 Watershed Location and Demographics The Don River watershed is the most highly populated watershed in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and in TRCA’s jurisdiction. It includes major portions of the City of Toronto