Mr. Abbs
October 02, 2020

Assessment (EIA), in accordance with the EIA Guidelines published by ERCA or, should the City not adopt or adhere to the EIA Guidelines published by ERCA by the respective Official Plan policies guiding the development of Environmental Evaluation Reports.

ERCA did provide the City with a recommended EIA Terms of Reference (dated April 5, 2017). In addition, ERCA provided a response to the request from the City to review the submitted EIA produced by Dillon, dated 2017. The Planning Justification Report accompanying this application for rezoning references that an Environmental Impact Assessment has been completed (page 11). ERCA has not circulated the Scoped Environmental Impact Assessment as a component of the review of this application. ERCA identified significant concerns with the 2017 EIA and recommended that these issues be addressed in a resubmission. It may be that the 2018 Scoped Environmental Impact Assessment addressed these concerns but at this time ERCA is not able to confirm this on behalf of the City of Windsor. However, there does not seem to be any mitigation measures implemented through the Planning Justification Report or identified on the site plan (dated 03/12/2019). The identification of all of the lands that were previously supporting natural heritage features are identified as ‘proposed Landscaping‘ seems to suggest that the protection or enhancement of the riparian corridor of the Little River is not proposed or reflected in the site plan or zoning amendment.

It is therefore recommended that the Application be deferred until such time as an EIA has been completed and has been reviewed by appropriate biological experts to inform the planning process. Should the City wish for ERCA to provide this service to them on an advisory basis please feel free to contact Dan Lebeydk directly.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION 

ERCA has no concerns with the proposed rezoning application as it relates the site-specific amendment for a modification to the maximum height of dwellings in this zone. ERCA is supportive of the approach to recognize the ongoing nature of the study to assess the extent of the floodplain and associated floodway setback at this location and proceed with the rezoning but wait for the results of the Little River Floodplain Study (to be completed by Dillon) prior to proceeding with detailed site plan control. ERCA expresses caution and recommends that additional confirmation about whether natural heritage policies of the PPS 2020 have been met by the 2018 Scoped Environmental Impact Assessment which ERCA has not had a chance to review. 

If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact the undersigned.

Our office requests to be copied at planning@erca.org on the Notice of Decision on this application.

Sincerely,