Bill 106, Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2006

Versions

Bill 106 2006

An Act to establish
a natural heritage system
and watershed protection area
for Lake Simcoe and
the Nottawasaga River

Preamble

The quality of the drinking water supplied to the residents of the County of Simcoe depends primarily on the quality of the source waters that feed Lake Simcoe. Those source waters and Lake Simcoe are vulnerable to degradation and contamination from various sources and activities, including, but not limited to, wastewater discharges to surface water and groundwater and land uses for urban, suburban, rural, mining, silvicultural, agricultural or recreational purposes that result in non-point source runoff of pollution or in adverse changes in the natural rate at which water flows into and through a delineated drainage basin.

Ontario is a leader in natural heritage conservation and source water protection, as shown by the success of the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2001 and the Greenbelt Act, 2005.

In order to protect Lake Simcoe, it is important to establish a comprehensive protection program for the natural heritage system and watershed for Lake Simcoe and the Nottawasaga River.

Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Interpretation

Definitions and interpretation

1. (1) In this Act,

"local board" has the same meaning as in the Municipal Affairs Act, but does not include a board as defined in subsection 1 (1) of the Education Act; ("conseil local")

"Minister" means the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing; ("ministre")

"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; ("prescrit")

"Protection Area" means the area of land designated under subsection 2 (1) as the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga River Natural Heritage System and Watershed Protection Area; ("zone de protection")

"Protection Plan" means the plan established under subsection 3 (1). ("Plan de protection")

References

(2) A reference in this Act to a provision of the Planning Act or the Condominium Act, 1998 includes a reference to any predecessor of that provision.

Protection Area and Protection Plan

Designation of Area

2. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may by regulation,

(a) designate an area of land as the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga River Natural Heritage System and Watershed Protection Area;

(b) amend a designation made under clause (a).

Area

(2) The Protection Area shall include,

(a) the land covered by Lake Simcoe;

(b) the County of Simcoe; and

Retroactive regulation

(3) A regulation made under clause (1) (b) may be retroactive to a date no earlier than April 25, 2006.

Restriction

(4) A regulation made under clause (1) (b) shall not amend the designation if the amendment has the effect of reducing the total land area within the Protection Area.

Establishment of Plan

3. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may establish the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga River Natural Heritage System and Watershed Protection Plan for all or part of the Protection Area.

Copies

(2) The Minister shall ensure that a copy of the Protection Plan and of every amendment to it is filed,

(a) in the offices of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing; and

(b) with the clerk of each municipality that has jurisdiction in the Protection Area.

Not an undertaking

(3) The Protection Plan is not an undertaking as defined in subsection 1 (1) of the Environmental Assessment Act, but that Act continues to apply within the area to which the Plan applies.

Not a regulation

(4) The Protection Plan is not a regulation within the meaning of the Regulations Act.

Effective date

(5) The Protection Plan takes effect on the date specified in it which may be retroactive to a date no earlier than April 25, 2006.

Objectives

4. The objectives of the Protection Plan are,

(a) to protect the ecological and hydrological integrity of the Protection Area;

(b) to ensure that only land and resource uses that maintain, improve or restore the ecological and hydrological functions of the Protection Area are permitted;

(c) to maintain, improve or restore all the elements that contribute to the ecological and hydrological functions of the Protection Area, including the quality and quantity of its water and its other resources;

(d) to ensure that the Protection Area is maintained as a comprehensive natural land form and environment for the benefit of present and future generations;

(e) to provide for land, agricultural, resource and recreational uses and development that are compatible with the other objectives of the Plan;

(f) to provide for continued development within existing urban settlement areas if it is consistent with the Plan and to recognize existing rural settlements in the Protection Area;

(g) to provide for renaturalization and regeneration of shoreline and trails through the Protection Area that are accessible to all, including persons with disabilities;

(h) to protect cultural heritage resources and to plan toward maintaining, developing and using the resources in a manner that will benefit the local community;

(i) to regulate land management to include recreational activities;

(j) to achieve any other prescribed objectives.

Contents of Plan

5. The Protection Plan may, with respect to the areas to which the Plan applies,

(a) set out land use designations;

(b) prohibit any use of land or the erection, location and use of buildings or structures for, or except for, the purposes that are set out in the Plan;

(d) set out policies relating to land, water and resource protection and land development.

Conformity with Plan

6. (1) A decision that is made under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994, the Planning Act or the Condominium Act, 1998 or in relation to a prescribed matter by a municipal council, local board, municipal planning authority, minister of the Crown or ministry, board, commission or agency of the Government of Ontario, including the Ontario Municipal Board, shall conform with the Protection Plan.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a policy statement issued under section 3 of the Planning Act.

Municipal actions

(3) Despite any other Act, no municipality or municipal planning authority shall, within the areas to which the Protection Plan applies,

(a) undertake any public work, improvement of a structural nature or other undertaking that conflicts with the Plan; or

(b) pass a by-law for any purpose that conflicts with the Plan.

Comments, advice

(4) Comments, submissions or advice provided by a minister of the Crown, a ministry, board, commission or agency of the Government of Ontario or a conservation authority established under section 3 of the Conservation Authorities Act that affect a planning matter relating to lands to which the Protection Plan applies shall conform with the Plan.

Official plans

7. The council of a municipality or a municipal planning authority located within any of the areas to which the Protection Plan applies shall amend every official plan to conform with the Plan,

(a) no later than the date the council is required to make a determination under subsection 26 (1) of the Planning Act, if the Minister does not direct the council to make the amendments on or before a specified date; or

(b) no later than the day that the Minister specifies, if the Minister directs the council to make the amendments on or before a specified date.

Review of Plan

8. (1) The Minister shall ensure that a review of the Protection Plan is carried out at the same time that a review of the Greenbelt Plan is carried out under section 10 of the Greenbelt Act, 2005.

Purpose of review

(2) The purpose of a review under subsection (1) is to determine whether the Protection Plan should be revised, but a review shall not consider reducing the total land area within the Protection Area.

Consultation and public participation

(3) During a review under subsection (1), the Minister shall,

(a) consult with any affected public bodies, including the Ministry of Natural Resources;

(b) consult with the council of each municipality or with each municipal planning authority that has jurisdiction in the Protection Area; and

Minister's Powers

Zoning orders

9. (1) The Minister may make orders exercising any of the powers conferred upon the Minister under section 47 of the Planning Act in respect of the areas to which the Protection Plan applies.

Same

(2) Nothing in this Act derogates from the power of the Minister to make an order described in subsection (1).

Extent of power

(3) Section 3 of the Planning Act and section 6 of this Act do not apply to an order under subsection (1) and that order need not conform to an official plan in effect in the area covered by the order.

Plans under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994

10. (1) Nothing in this Act derogates from the power of the Minister to make a plan or an amendment to a plan under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994 even if the Protection Plan is in effect in the area to be covered by the plan.

Extent of power

(2) Section 3 of the Planning Act and section 7 of this Act do not apply to a plan under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994 made or amended by the Minister under subsection (1) and that plan need not conform to an official plan in effect in the area in which the plan applies.

Regulations

11. The Minister may, by regulation,

(a) require municipalities within the areas to which the Protection Plan applies to pass by-laws under section 135 or 142, or both, of the Municipal Act, 2001 and specify the municipalities and the by-law provisions;

(b) prescribe powers that must be exercised by municipalities in making a by-law mentioned in clause (a) that are additional to those powers set out in section 135 or 142 of the Municipal Act, 2001.

General

Limitations on remedies

12. (1) No cause of action arises as a direct or indirect result of,

(a) the enactment or repeal of any provision of this Act;

(b) the making or revocation of any provision of the regulations made under this Act;

(c) the making of a plan or an amendment to a plan under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994 in relation to lands to which the Protection Plan applies; or

(d) anything done or not done in accordance with this Act or the regulations made under it.

No remedy

(2) No costs, compensation or damages are owing or payable to any person and no remedy, including but not limited to a remedy in contract, restitution, tort or trust, is available to any person in connection with anything mentioned in subsection (1).

Proceedings barred

(3) No proceeding, including but not limited to any proceeding in contract, restitution, tort or trust, that is directly or indirectly based on or related to anything mentioned in subsection (1) may be brought or maintained against any person.

Same

(4) Subsection (3) applies regardless of whether the cause of action on which the proceeding is purportedly based arose before or after the coming into force of this Act.

Proceedings set aside

(5) Any proceeding mentioned in subsection (3) commenced before the day this Act comes into force is deemed to have been dismissed, without costs, on the day this Act comes into force.

No expropriation or injurious affection

(6) Nothing done or not done in accordance with this Act or the regulations made under it constitutes an expropriation or injurious affection for the purposes of the Expropriations Act or otherwise at law.

Definition

(7) In this section,

"person" includes the Crown and its employees and agents, members of the Executive Council and municipalities and their employees and agents.

Conflicts

13. If there is a conflict between a provision of this Act and a provision of another Act, a regulation made under another Act, an official plan, a zoning by-law or a policy statement issued under section 3 of the Planning Act with respect to a matter that affects or has the potential to affect any matter dealt with in this Act, the provision that provides the greater protection to the ecological and hydrological integrity of the Protection Area prevails.

Regulations by cabinet

14. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,

(a) prescribing anything described in this Act as being prescribed;

(b) governing the procedure that must be followed for amending the Protection Plan, including requiring a hearing, and governing any matter related to that procedure, including whether the Statutory Powers Procedure Act applies to any hearing;

(c) governing the appeal or reference to the Ontario Municipal Board or the reference to a joint board under the Consolidated Hearings Act of any matter relating to land within the areas to which the Protection Plan applies;

(d) respecting transitional matters for applications, matters or proceedings that are commenced before the date on which the Protection Plan takes effect and that relate to land within the areas to which the Plan applies.

Transition

15. (1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply only if Bill 14 ( An Act to promote access to justice by amending or repealing various Acts and by enacting the Legislation Act, 2006 ), introduced on October 27, 2005, receives Royal Assent.

Same

(2) References in subsection (3) to provisions of Bill 14 are references to those provisions as they were numbered in the first reading version of the Bill.

Same, reference to regulations

(3) On the later of the day section 3 and the day Part III of Schedule F to Bill 14 come into force, subsection 3 (4) is amended by striking out "the Regulations Act" and substituting "Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006".

Commencement

16. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

17. The short title of this Act is the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2006.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council by regulation to designate the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga River Natural Heritage System and Watershed Protection Area that includes Lake Simcoe, the County of Simcoe and the other areas of land that are prescribed by regulation. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may also establish the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga River Natural Heritage System and Watershed Protection Plan for all or part of the Area.

Decisions made under the Ontario Planning and Development Act, 1994, the Planning Act or the Condominium Act, 1998 or in relation to a matter prescribed by regulations must conform with the Plan. In addition, no municipality or other body may undertake any public works, improvements of a structural nature or other undertakings or pass a by-law that conflicts with the Plan.

Regulations can set out the procedure for amending the Plan.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing must ensure that a review of the Plan is carried out at the same time as a review is done of the Greenbelt Plan under the Greenbelt Act, 2005.