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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSD-034-03 ~?- ....",.'~_ J ~ . "-'!' ~ Cl~-!llgton REPORT PLANNING SERVICES Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE Date: Monday, March 24, 2003 /6;( 0PI9- 131)-03 By-law #: Report #: PSD-034-03 File #: PLN 23.5.12 Subject: RETENTION OF CONSULTANT TO PEER REVIEW THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE HIGHWAY 407 EAST COMPLETION ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: 1. THAT Report PD-034-03 be received for information; 2. THAT all interested parties listed in this report and any delegation be advised of Council's decision. Submitted by: Reviewed bP~-~ . Creme, M.C.I.P.,R.P.P. Franklin Wu or, Planning Services Chief Administrative Officer JAS*Dc*df 14 March 2003 CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON 40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO L1C 3A6 T (905)623-3379 F (905)623-0830 678 ~ REPORT NO.: PSD-034-03 PAGE 2 1.0 BACKGROUND 1.1 The extension of Highway 407 from its current terminus at Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115, the associated transit way and the two proposed freeway links requires the preparation and approval of an Environmental Assessment (EA). The Ministry of Transportation initiated the EA Study in 2002. The Terms of Reference for the EA must be approved by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) prior to the commencement of the Route Location/Concept Design EA. The Terms of Reference for the EA Study will consist of the following: . EA Terms of Reference . Appendix A - Transportation Planning/Need Report . Appendix B - Environmental Work Plans (cultural herit!!ge, cumulative effects, socio-economic, natural environment, archaeological, property contamination, technical, noise, air quality) . Report on External Consultation. 1.2 A number of residents requested that the Municipality retain an independent transportation planning consultant to assist staff in the review of the Draft EA Terms of Reference. 1.3 On January 13, 2003, Council authorized the Director of Planning Services to hire appropriate consultants to review the Need and Justification Study and the Terms of Reference for the Highway 407 East Completion to an upset limit of $20,000.00.. The terms of reference for the consultant are also to include a presentation to Council and the Clarington Highway 407 Community Advisory Committee. 2.0 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS 2.1 A Request for Proposals for the peer review assignment was forwarded to seven consulting firms. The RFP indicated that expertise and/or experience was required in the following areas: · Transportation studies 679 .~ - REPORT NO.: PSD-034-03 PAGE 3 · Transportation demand forecasting . Environmental Assessments for provincial highways . Transportation economics . Experience in Durham Region. 2.2 Proposals were received from two firms - Ainley Graham and Associates from Belleville, and the IBI Group from Toronto. Both consultants would undertake the assignment for the upset budget limit of $20,000. The proposals were reviewed by staff from both the Planning Services and Engineering Services Departments. On the basis of this review, staff is recommending that the IBI Group be retained in accordance with Council's resolution of January 13, 2003 to undertake the peer review of the Highway 407 East Completion EA Terms of Reference. Attachment No. 1 to this report is an extract from IBl's proposal outlining their proposed approach to the peer review assignment. Attachment 1 - IBl's Proposed Approach to the Assignment Interested parties to be notified of Council and Committee's decision: Mr. Doug Allingham, P. Eng. Totten Sims Hubicki Associates 300 Water Street Whitby, ON l1N 9J2 The Clarington Highway 407 Advisory committee c/o Planning Services Department Mr. W.G. Paterson 1909 Bloor Street East Bowmanville, ON L 1 C 3K3 Linda Gasser 7421 Best Road P.O. Box 399 Orono, On LOB 1 MO Mr. John E. Waters 1882 Bloor Street East Bowmanville, ON L 1C 3K3 John Slobodzian Ontario Ministry of Transportation 301 SI. Paul Street SI. Catherines. ON L2R 7R4 Mr. Bradford Soles 1750 Pebblestone Road Courtice, ON L 1 E 2L5 680 ., . ATTACHMENT 1 PROPOSAL - Highway 407 East Completion Peer Review PROPOSED APPROACH TO THE ASSIGNMENT As described in the Request for Proposals dated February 21 ", the Municipality of Clarington requires professional assistance to conduct a peer review of the Environmental Assessment Terms of Reference (EA TR) and supporting documentation being released by MTO for the Highway 407 East Completion from Brock Road to Highway 351115. This proposed transportation corridor will have a major impact on the Clarington from both a positive and negative perspective, and so the Municipality must participate in the project as a major stakeholder. This includes presenting a comprehensive review of the EATR to the Ministry in response to Municipal goals, policies and needs. As per the Request for Proposals, there are four main requirements in preparing this Peer Review: I. Provide the Municipality with strategic advise on all aspects ofMTO's Class EA For Provincial Transportation Facilities and how they have been applied to date in the preparation of the Highway 407 East Completion EA Terms of Reference. This includes a review of all Appendix B Environmental Workplans that describe further works to be undertaken in the EA process; 2. Conduct an independent analysis of the Appendix A Transportation PlanninglNeed Report for the EA, since this represents the basis of any plans for the Highway 407 East Completion; 3. Assist the Municipality in preparing a formal response to MTO on the contents, methodology and conclusions of the EA Tenns of Reference, and; 4. Present these Peer Review findings and conclusions to Municipal Council and the Clarington Highway 407 Community Advisory Committee. In response to these requirements, IBI Group experience with the EA process and transportation planning concludes that there are five elements of a successful peer review, which we will follow in the Clarington assignment: Professional - A proper peer review should be a positive exercise to identifY the strengths and weaknesses of a completed assignment and how it was prepared, and to ensure conformity to all required policies and procedures (i.e. Ontario EA Act, CEAA, MTO Class EA for Provincial Transportation Facilities), It should also seek to identify areas of potential improvement in the assignment. Being a professional process, the purpose of a peer review is not to find fault with the assignment, proponent, methodology or authors. Objective - While it is important to understand and consider the needs of the client for whom a peer review is conducted, the review process must still be conducted in an objective manner with no preconceived agendas or expectations. This also requires that all individuals and firms involved in preparing a peer review must no have real or perceived connections with the review subject. Credible - It is imperative that a peer review be conducted by individuals who are recognized experts in the relevant fields associated with the review subject. This is especially important in any review of an MTO assignment in order to ensure the Ministry recognizes the review has been conducted by a credible team with a strong working knowledge ofMTO's policies and procedures, as well as the subject being reviewed, namely preparing Provincial Highway Terms of Reference. This means the reviewers must have proven experience working on MTO assignments. March 4,2003 lEI GKOUP 2. 681 'J ~ t... PROPOSAL HiRhway 407 East Comptetion Peer Review Balanced - Major transportation facilities create both positive and negative impacts on the communities that they serve, For example, the public has become extremely sensitive about the socio-environmental affects of new or expanded transportation infrastructure, as shown by public and stakeholder response to many highway and roadway expansion projects. Some stakeholders are also lobbying for less highway and automobile dependence in favour of alternative modes and enhanced quality oflife. Conversely, other stakeholders promote the positive aspects of a strong transportation system. A successful peer review must understand and respond to these multiple and sometimes competing interests with a balanced approach that favours no particular position. Focused Value - The environmental assessment process is extremely complex, with a large number of issues and subjects that need to be assessed. In response, we provide the best value for the budget by focusing our team expertise on all aspects of the Highway 407 East Completion EA TR, with emphasis on the six most important elements, namely: I. Transportation PlanninglNeed 2. Technical Alternatives 3. Natural Environment 4. Socio-Economics, 5, Cumulative Effects 6. External Consultation In the case of the other Environmental Workplans, since they deal primarily with EA objectives and directions for further study in the actual EA preparation, we have not included specific expertise for example in Air Quality or Noise. Our peer review team has dealt with these and other specialities in other EAs, and know the minimum requirements for such input into an EA Terms of Reference, Ifwe feel that any objective or recommended direction for one of these speciality Workplans should be reviewed by an expert in the field, (i.e. heritage planning, archaeology, noise impacts or air quality impacts), arrangements will be made for such a review within the scope ofthis assignment. PEER REVIEW TASKS Once the EA Terms of Reference and Transportation PlanninglNeed Report are made available to the public, the IBI Group's Peer Review will commence the following five review tasks, with presentation of our final conclusions within 4 weeks. This will allow the Municipality to submit its position on the Terms of Reference based on our review report, and within the time limit set by MTO for responses. Task 1: Project Initiation . meet with involved Municipal staff to discuss previous and existing responses to the Highway 407 East Completion project in order to confirm issues and positions; . request to meet with MTO team members to discuss the Terms of Reference (Note: the MTO team may not be available during the public review period, but individual contacts via phone and e-mail should still be available); . meet with the Clarington Highway 407 Community Advisory Committee to discuss the Terms o'f Reference contents and implications and the Peer Review process, and also to solicit initial community response to the Terms of Reference; March 4,2003 IBI GROUt' 3, 682 -'" .'!~ PROPOSAL - Hi!:hway 407 East Completion Peer Review Task 2: Review Assignments . assign the EA Terms of Reference documents to appropriate technical, socio-environmental and economic experts on our team to review the following elements: o EA Terms of Reference - conformity of the document and contents to MTO and MOE requirements and guidelines; o Appendix A: Transportation PlanninglNeed Report - study area growth forecasting and sources, travel demand forecasting methodology, technical basis for the "Problem Statement", identification and rationale for "Alternatives to the Undertaking" (the Highway 407 East Completion), and methodology and criteria used in the impact assessment; o Appendix B: Environmental W orknlans - information and inventory methods and sources, existing condition profiles and potential effects of the Undertaking, and; o Report on External Consultation - Review the report and associated project records to assess the scope, appropriateness and completeness of the external consultation program to date, including information presented at the two previous PICs and the third PIC this spring. Task 3: Document Peer Review Findings . based on the results of the review assignments, the review team will report their findings on the strengths, weaknesses, completeness and implications of the EA Terms of Reference relating to the Municipality of Clarington, and to the study area generally; . conformity of the Terms of Reference process and information MTO, MOE and CEAA standards and guidelines will be reported, as well as conformity to Municipal and Regional policies and plans; . the Peer Review documentation will include a description of the continuing EA process as described by the Terms of Reference, the Municipality's role and responsibility in this process and potential impacts on community stakeholders, and: . if required, the Peer Review will describe the process to amend the Terms of Reference and/or the proposed Undertaking. Task 4: Present Draft Peer Review Findings . members of the review team will document and present to the involved Municipal staff our Review findings and conclusions, and solicit approval to proceed to the Community Advisory Committee and then Municipal Council to present the final Review findings. Task 5: Present Final Peer Review . the Peer Review process will conclude with the provision of our final Review report to members of the Community Advisory Committee and Council, followed by summary presentations on our findings, conclusions and recommendations to both groups. . the Peer Review report will then be used by the Municipality in further representations to MTO as provided by the continuing EA process. March 4,2003 lEI (;ROUP 4. 6 ( ~ b"