Dear Mr.
Cooper,
This is in
response to your email of July 3, 2007 regarding the Dampsy site plan
application for property located on Lake Clear.
The Ministry
of the Environment (MOE) Kingston Regional Office routinely receives
numerous lake development applications, many of which are on
at-capacity or Policy 2 lakes. Our approach for managing
development applications on at-capacity lake trout lakes is to prohibit
new development that would further degrade the water quality of the
lake.
MOE ensures
that at-capacity lake trout lakes are protected and that development
doesn’t occur by including policies in Official Plans that are
circulated by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing through the
“one-window†planning process. Although
development is generally prohibited, there are situations where the MOE
would not oppose new development on at-capacity lakes provided that
development would not result in an adverse impact to the lake water
quality. Examples of these types of situations include: i)
where several cottages already exist on one parcel of land and the
severance is an administrative division of property; ii) lot additions;
iii) small building additions; iv) additions to decks; vi) new lots
where the sewage system can be located at least 300 metres from the
highwater mark of the lake; and vi) scenarios such as the Dampsy
proposal where the severance does not involve the construction of a
seasonal or permanent dwelling and a septic disposal system.
The planning
authority is responsible for ensuring compliance with its Official
Plan, Comprehensive Zoning By-law and the Provincial Policy
Statement. However in this case, the Ontario Municipal Board
(OMB) requested that when the real site plan and accompanying
documentation and analysis required to complete outstanding matters is
received, that the Appellants, MOE and MNR be notified and given an
opportunity to review the information. As such, MOE staff
reviewed the information package, including a revised site plan, and
provided a clearance letter to the Township of Bonnechere Valley dated
May 11, 2007.
Our support
of this proposal was based on a number of factors. Rezoning of
the property is required by the Township to limit the uses to access
purposes and to permit structures on the lot including a garage/boat
storage, a privy, a dock and boat access. The rezoning would also
prohibit residential dwellings, wells and septic systems which
significantly alleviated our concerns with respect to the impact on the
lake. As well, the proposal involved a garage to be located
beyond the 30 metre buffer area for the seasonal storage of a boat, an
unpaved driveway leading up to the lake, a soft boat ramp and a
floating dock.
Also taken
into consideration by MOE staff is a recent paper entitled
“Review of the Components, Coefficients and Technical
Assumptions of Ontario’s Lakeshore Capacity Model†by Paterson, dated
2006. The review noted that the total phosphorus contribution
associated with the clearing of a typical cottage lot was estimated at
0.04 kg/TP per lot per year. Our Surface Water Specialist, Victor
Castro, is of the opinion that the total phosphorus contribution from
the proposed water access lot will be considerably less than a typical
cottage lot. This load would be very small in comparison to the
total phosphorus load from a septic system which is estimated at 1.65
kg/TP per lot per year.
Further, it
is noted that stormwater concerns were raised by Charles Goulet of the
Ottawa District Office at the OMB hearing, and that the applicant
provided information in this regard. Soak-away pits have been
proposed by the applicant to manage stormwater from the proposed water
access lot. These types of pits are considered by MOE to be a
best management practice and do not require approval under the Ontario Water Resources Act and
therefore do not require an engineering review by MOE. Our Surface Water
Specialist is of the opinion that the impacts from stormwater runoff
associated with this proposal are small and will not result in any
measurable degradation of water quality to Lake Clear,
even without the soak-away pits. MOE supports stormwater
management via best management practices as an enhancement to water
quality protection.
You have
asked for clarification on how the MOE interprets and implements Policy
2 of the Provincial Water Quality Objectives. Our Surface
Water Specialist offers the following information. Policy 2
states that: “Water quality which presently does not meet
the Provincial Water Quality Objectives shall not be degraded further
and all practical measures shall be taken to upgrade the water quality
to the Objectives.†In practice, this means that the
ministry will, in its review and approval role, comment negatively on
applications that result in new loadings that will further degrade the
existing water quality conditions of an at-capacity lake.
Normally, this equates to new lot severances involving the construction
of cottages or permanent homes and septic systems, as the most
significant nutrient load from shoreline lots originates from the
septic systems. MOE does not take an absolute approach
(loading=0) to dealing with development on at-capacity lake systems or
on any surface water feature as this would be impractical and
extreme. Rather, the MOE looks at development proposals on
at-capacity lakes on a case-by-case basis and evaluates their potential
to further degrade water quality.
I trust this
provides you with the basis for which the Kingston Regional Office
provided a clearance letter on the site plan for the proposed Dampsy
water access lot. If you have any questions concerning these
comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at 613-540-6861 or by
email at alida.mitton@ontario.ca.
Alida Mitton
Environmental Planner
Ministry of the Environment
Eastern Region
1-800-267-0974 ext. 2638
(613) 540-6861
alida.mitton@ontario.ca