Owen Sound's Community Planner, Amy Cann, has prepared a review of the Provincial Policy Statement – the government's policies on land use – to be presented to Council this evening.

The review is part of the government's 'More Homes, More Choice’ Action Plan (including Bill 108). These excerpts are Ms. Cann's responses to the new draft policies concerning climate change, energy and transit. Her full report is available here.

 Preparing for the impacts of climate change

In a number of instances, the draft policy mentions ‘preparing for the impacts of climate change’.It is positive that the climate change matter is present in the PPS; however, use of the word ‘preparing’ indicates that the impacts of climate change are a forgone conclusion.The current PPS requires ‘consideration’ of the impacts of climate change. Staff opine that the new climate change policies should be strengthened to assess, mitigate and prevent further impairment to our changing climate. At a minimum, the province should provide further direction and clarity on the intent of this phrasing to aid Planning authorities in implementing the policy consistently and practically. The draft policies should consider that climate change is a broad topic with wide ranging opinions and theories.

‘Impacts of a changing climate’ as a new defined term

According to the new draft policies, ‘impacts of a changing climate’ means the potential for present and future consequences and opportunities from changes in weather patterns at local and regional levels including extreme weather events and increased climate variability.Overall this definition is benign and generally accurate. Staff are concerned with reference to the ‘opportunities’ presented by a changing climate. There certainly will be opportunities to recreation, commerce, and housing options coming out of climate change; however, mention of opportunities is a red herring, and detracts from our obligation to plan for the negative outcomes of a changing climate. Clarification on the intent of this phrasing would be helpful.

Near complete removal of all mentions of renewable and alternative energy system

With reference to promoting energy conservation and providing opportunities for increased energy supply, it merits note that the renewable and alternative energy sector has almost entirely been omitted from the draft policies.This seems somewhat counter to the policies regarding preparing for the impacts of climate change.

Increased mention of transit-supportive developmentewable

The current PPS policies only mention transit-supportive development once. The draft policies work to promote transit-supportive development across a number of sections of the proposed policies. This is positive and represents good planning.