Municipal Class Environmental Assessment

D.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

D.1 - INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Transit is a key component of municipal transportation networks.  As municipalities continue to grow, there is an increasing emphasis being placed on transit due to its overall societal benefits on a broad scale.  This is clearly evident in the identification of significant increases in transit as an integral part of many of the municipal Transportation Master Plans that have been or are being completed.

Prior to adding Part D (Municipal Transit Projects) to the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment parent document in 2007, municipalities did not have a pre-approved planning process under the Ontario Environmental Assessment (EA) Act to plan and implement transit projects.  As a result, municipalities used a variety of different mechanisms under the Ontario EA Act, including the following:

With the growing emphasis on transit at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, municipal proposals for a wide range of transit initiatives are escalating.  It is recognized that public transit offers many benefits as compared to the private automobile including:

• It is a more effective and efficient way of moving people;
• It is more energy-efficient per person;
• It requires less energy and produces less emissions per person;
• It provides mobility to all persons in society; and
• As a result, it will help achieve sustainable development and an improved urban environment.

The ability to carry out municipal transit projects under the Municipal Class EA parent document provides proponents with an opportunity to expedite the planning of municipal transit projects since they are EA-approved under the Ontario EA Act.  GO Transit and the Ministry of Transportation currently have pre-approved planning processes that allow them to plan and implement inter-regional and provincial transit projects.

Municipalities have identified the need to develop an approach that would allow them to plan and design transit projects in a streamlined pre-approved process that provides for public consultation and assessment of environmental effects.  The ability to carry out municipal transit projects under the Municipal Class EA was therefore identified in the Municipal Class EA (2000) 5-year review.

Therefore, in 2006/7, a study was undertaken to add municipal transit projects/activities to the Municipal Class EA parent document.  The study itself was undertaken as a Schedule C and an Environmental Study Report was filed on June 27, 2007 for public review.  There were no Part II Order requests.  Thereafter, MEA submitted a Major Amendment to the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for approval to add municipal transit projects to the Municipal Class EA document.  The amendment includes:

• Adding a new Part D to the parent document which addresses Municipal Transit Projects
• Adding a section to Appendix 1 of the parent document outlining municipal transit projects and their associated project schedule under the Municipal Class EA.
• Editing the remainder of the Municipal Class EA document where applicable, to include references to transit.