Funding Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Grant
Comparative international research on brownfields policy has found that while policies and programs have started to converge in this domain since the mid-1990s, particularly in terms of cleanup techniques and the application of a voluntary/development-driven approach, Canada is still behind in many areas of policy, funding, and technical assistance. Despite this, brownfields redevelopment activity in Canadian cities seems to be very robust. Indeed, a study I carried out over a decade and a half ago revealed an extensive amount of brownfield redevelopment activity taking place in the city of Toronto during the 1990s, with 610,863 m2 (6,575,274 ft2) of floor area completed and/or approved for all land uses, most of it (59%) being residential (De Sousa, 2002a). More interesting is the fact that this level of activity preceded the introduction of various progressive government policies and programs in Ontario aimed at both facilitating brownfield cleanup and redevelopment, and curtailing the costs and negative environmental consequences of urban sprawl, including:
- The Ontario Environmental Protection Act (2004 amendments) established a regime for site assessment and cleanup and set out the “record of site condition” (RSC) process for recording the environmental condition of property.
- The Brownfields Statute Law Amendment Act, 2001 (came into full effect as of October 1, 2004) to remove barriers relating to regulatory liability, financing, and planning.
- The Brownfields Financial Tax Incentive Program (2008) allows municipalities to provide property tax assistance to property owners in connection with environmental rehabilitation of brownfield properties within an approved Community Improvement Project (CIP) area.
- The Planning and Conservation Land Statute Law Amendment Act (2006) gives municipalities additional tools to encourage brownfield redevelopment through Community Improvement Plans (e.g., municipalities now have increased flexibility to approve financial assistance to the private sector for costs associated with new building construction).
- The Places to Grow Act (2005) enables the Ontario government to plan for population growth and economic expansion, along with the protection of the environment, agricultural lands, and other valuable resources, in a coordinated and strategic way by allowing for growth plans in any part of Ontario.
- The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2006) sets out clear standards for growth and development.
- The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Green Municipal Fund (established in 2000) provides grants and loans for municipalities to plan, access, remediate, and redevelop brownfields.
While many of Ontario’s cleanup and redevelopment support policies are now similar to those in the US and other jurisdictions, federal, provincial, and municipal governments in Canada still intervene less in brownfield remediation and redevelopment, but more in planning (e.g., CIPs) and growth management more broadly.
The present research project is straightforward. For three municipalities in Ontario (namely, Toronto, Brantford, and Sudbury) the research seeks to:
(1) Use Record of Site Conditions to examine the scale and character of cleanup activity (land area remediated, cleanup techniques applied, prior land use, etc.).
(2) Collect property assessment information for each RSC site to assess the scale and character of redevelopment activity on them (i.e., new land use, size, value, quantity of redevelopment, etc.).
(3) Examine government intervention, if any (i.e., policies, programs, and funding tools employed), in those projects.
A later phase will involve collecting information via interviews from public, private, and non-profit stakeholders regarding the factors contributing to the redevelopment of brownfields in those cities, the barriers and benefits associated with such redevelopment, and the role of government in managing and facilitating redevelopment activity.