| Over the years, a number of minor and major amendments to the Class EA have been proposed and approved and the Class EA document updated accordingly. A comprehensive list of the amendments made to the Class EA process is available on the MEA's website (http://www.municipalclassea.ca/) and proponents are encouraged to review this information to ensure that they have the most current information. The MEA will continue in its efforts to notify its stakeholders of any future changes to the Class EA. As part of its 5-year review of the Class EA, MEA proposed a number of amendments which were posted on MEA’s website under “Municipal Class EA – Change Management”. The proposed amendments were identified as follows: Minor Amendment: - minor modifications to the document Major Amendment – Part 1: - addition of a new project Schedule A+, defined as, “preapproved, however, the public is to be advised prior to implementation. The manner in which the public is to be advised is to be determined by the proponent.” - increase cost thresholds for road projects - other changes as identified during review Major Amendment – Part 2: - addition of Municipal Transit Projects The preparation of these amendments was done in parallel. The amendments were approved by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) on September 6, 2007. Thereafter, MEA incorporated the amendments into the Municipal Class EA and re-issued the document. A.1.6.1 Minor Amendment and Major Amendment – Part 1 The proposed Minor Amendment and Major Amendment – Part 1 were undertaken by the MEA Monitoring Committee in consultation with MOE. The proposed changes were posted on MEA’s website and a public notice dated April 13, 2007 was published and circulated to key stakeholders. A.1.6.2 Major Amendment – Part 2 For the most part, municipal transit projects were not addressed in the Municipal Class EA (2000) document. As such, municipalities had to undertake transit projects as Individual EAs. Therefore, the need to better facilitate municipal transit projects under the Ontario EA Act was identified. To address this, the preferred alternative was to amend the Municipal Class EA document to include Municipal Transit Projects (including all transit technologies other than heavy rail). In the Municipal Part A – Class EA Planning Process Municipal Class EA Page A-20 October 2000, as amended 2007, 2011 & 2015 Class EA parent document, the incorporation of a new group of projects or activities is considered to be a major amendment and requires that the study be carried out following the Schedule C process. Accordingly, the Major Amendment – Part 2 involved carrying out a study following Phases 1 through 4 of the Municipal Class EA process. This included the filing of an Environmental Study Report documenting the study process and findings. The study commenced in late 2005. Based on the study findings and consultation with municipalities, transit providers, government review agencies and the public, the recommended alternative was to add municipal transit projects/activities to the Municipal Class EA parent document. The recommended approach included: • 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 municipal transit. The study findings and recommendations were documented in an Environmental Study Report which was filed on June 27, 2007 for a 30 day public review period. No Part II Order requests were received. Thereafter, MEA submitted the amendment to the Ministry of the Environment for approval. |