New laws reduce risk of environmental liability: legislative changes expected to promote brownfield development along Parry Sound waterfront.

• Author: Wareing, Andrew
• Position: Construction: special report

Brownfield development along Parry Sound's waterfront has been made a lot easier after multiple legislative changes by the Ontario government.

The Ontario government has amended several acts, including the Environmental Protection Act, the Municipal Act, the Municipal Tax Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act to encourage the clean up and redevelopment of brownfields.

Thelma Gee, senior planner for the provincial planning and environmental services branch of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAH), says several of the changes have already been proclaimed except the first portion of the Environmental Protection Act and the Municipal Act as it relates to tax assistance.

"What we've done is look at these issues on three different fronts--the planning perspective, financing and environmental liability," Gee says. "By environmental liability, what we mean is the regulatory orders relating to administrative orders that can be issued by the Ministry of Environment. We have provided certainty that, if land has been cleaned to certain standards and if municipalities have secured creditors or taken certain actions, they will be protected. They will not have to worry that the Ministry of Environment is going to come in at some time in the future and slap an order on them."

Gee says people are still unaware of what the legislation is about and so are hesitant to proceed on development of brownfield property.

Parry Sound director of community development Iain Laing says two of three such properties on the town's Georgian Bay waterfront will benefit from these changes, provided their owners decide to go forward with development.

The site of the Charles W. Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Museum is a former bulk-off storage facility originally owned by Weaver Liquifuels and later by Ultramar, but is now owned by the town, says Laing.

The town purchased the eight-acre property in 1986. Its cleanup will cost approximately $300,000.

Laing says a numbered company owns one approximately seven- to 10-acre property and another 15-acre property is owned by Imperial Off.

"The old system is a guideline system," says Laing. "Before, you could simply go out and hire a consultant you were comfortable with to do a cleanup and give you a report saying everything's fine now. Under the new system, there will be specific qualifications that people will have to be certified under."

Laing adds there are several federal regulations that have also come into...