Centre Wellington councillors are asking whether government requirements for low impact development are merely a way of accommodating higher density requirements.
On Sept. 8 council heard from Stantec Consulting representatives about how to prepare for low impact development and approaches to development standards.
Stantec representative Jennifer Young spoke to councillors on preparing for the new low impact development guidelines from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), which are expected to be released later this year or early next year.
What is low impact development?
Young, a water resources engineer specializing in low impact development (LID), green infrastructure, and integrated stormwater management planning, explained there are a lot of definitions out thereut essentially LID is a set of tools used to mitigate the impacts of development.
She said these tools can include bylaws, land use planning and the use of green infrastructure.
The idea behind it is to get storm runoff into the ground rather than into municipal storm sewers.
Low-impact solutions
Young stressed LID is not just green infrastructure – it is a process which includes site planning and development.
“LID seeks to maintain existing hydrogeological elements – so whatever water is running off the site now, we want to make sure that is what runs off the site afterwards.”
The idea is to minimize land and vegetation disturbance and capitalize on the natural hydrology of the site when locating roads, buildings and drainage features.
She said another aspect is to treat stormwater as close to the source as possible and incorporate multi-use landscapes which treat water as a resource rather than a nuisance.
She said one of the easiest methods is rainwater harvesting such as rain barrels used for garden watering.
Young said the simplest thing that can be done is removing roof leaders from the storm water system.
She also pointed to the use of more absorbent landscaping which allows water to be retained on site for slow runoff and infiltration.
“Bioretention is one of the most attractive LID features,” Young said.
She described them as gardens with a special soil and under drain.
“Permeable pavement is also a very viable option to traditional paving.”
She said the nice thing about this is that it eliminates a lot of icing issues … “if it is warm enough the water is going to flow, it is going to go into the permeable pavement and not refreeze.”
“You don’t have to use salt on a permeable paving parking lot and that protects the groundwater as well.”
What it means
Young said for municipalities, moving forward the MOECC has indicated an expectation for LID to be used.
She stated municipalities will need to implement policies to allow LID on all developments including municipal works.
Municipal staff will need to adopt and be able to review, and maintain LID features as they become more numerous.
She said options such as those listed previous will need to be included in design considerations.
This is where municipalities may need to look at their design standards.
Ownership
Young said ownership is a big issue for municipalities and whether private ownership of LID facilities will be allowed.
Private owners are generally responsible for ownership and maintenance of LIDs on their properties – and generally need to provide some kind of maintenance records to the municipality.
The issue facing municipalities is what happens if an owner decides to remove a rain garden or other LID – or if an LID feature fails.
Young said the municipality may want to consider bylaws and restrictive covenants to determine whether LIDs should be allowed on private properties or entirely on municipal lands.
Integration
Young said the goal is to make the approach seamless and have bylaws do not have clauses which contradict or prohibit LIDs.
As to maintaining LIDs, Young said municipalities need to define who is responsible, consultation and education for municipal maintenance workers.
She said municipalities also need to define in advance what types of LID facilities it is willing to accept – each approach has pros and cons.
Questions
Councillor had numerous questions. Mayor Kelly Linton said the MOECC is pushing for municipalities to move in this direction on one hand, while other ministries are pushing for high density and intensification.
Young agreed … to a degree, but said, “the approaches are not as much in contention as you would think. LIDs can be used to increase density …” Space still needs to be set aside to allow water infiltration, she said. That means the use of LIDs could potentially allow developers to add more density to a site.
Young noted some of these LID features can be installed underground … such as under parking lots.
Councillor Don Fisher asked what exactly was to be handed down by the MOECC. “Is it a guideline or a policy?”
Young said “they are calling it a guideline … 90% of all rainfall on the site would have to infiltrated or reused onsite.” At the same time, Young said “… they might be guidelines … but good luck in getting a permit without meeting (the guidelines).”
Fisher said if the MOECC is approving subdivision stormwater plans, the province will be telling municipalities what to do.
Young said there are a toolkit of options but Fisher contended “it is the ministry which says whether they like it or not.”
Planner Brett Salmon commented the current process includes that during the subdivision review process, involvement from the municipality and the GRCA.
“They are already reviewed by township engineers and the conservation authority.” At the construction stage, MOECC approval is needed, Salmon said.
Young said there are many considerations such as defining who is responsible for maintenance. She added council may want stipulations that plant material must survive at least two years “… or you might have a lot of dead rain gardens.”
Young believed municipalities would want to maintain at least some control over what developers are doing. She added while MOECC guidelines might point in certain directions “no guideline is going to meet all the needs of this municipality … because there may be unique things the municipality does … or does not want to look at.”
Young said the MOECC is concentrating on the stormwater side of LIDs – though she agreed there are many aspects of LID such as energy savings and connections with wildlife corridors.
Councillor Stephen Kitras asked how this affects individual properties owners if merely putting an addition on a residence.
Young said there are areas of limitations where projects under a certain size would not have to implement this.
Young suggested that “on average” green infrastructure is less costly. “Those savings are coming in with reduced pipe sizes, size of stormwater ponds, and the use of pavement/concrete.” She also stated that on average, such developments with visible LID features sell for more.
Young noted storm water management ponds will still be needed, but implementing LIDs might result in the need for smaller ponds.
Councillor Mary Lloyd said there are residents in the community who have created boulevard gardens, which can create issues with winter snow removal.
Lloyd asked if LID features could be used to reduce the size of existing storm water management ponds.
“We certainly have some significant-size ponds in urban areas, which are not great to look at … and in some cases, a waste of property.”
Young suggested that rather than reduce the size of existing ponds – the gain might be in creating additional parkland rather than additional building lots.
Linton said beyond stormwater management, Centre Wellington is concerned about maintaining trees and slopes on existing land – rather than seeing properties cleared and flattened for “Lego-style” development.
Councillor Steven VanLeeuwen said “the idea of low impact development seems to be holding the hand of high density development.”
VanLeeuwen asked what happens in the future when it is time to rebuild/replace water permeable driveways or water gardens. If those features disappear, VanLeeuwen said the municipality then ends up with undersized infrastructure for the increased density. To protect that, he said the municipality would need to be quite intrusive on bylaw enforcement.
“All of a sudden, our responsibility has skyrocketed.” VanLeeuwen said that “while I like the idea of LID, … I wish it did not go hand-in-hand with high densities.”
Fisher said that since LIDs could involve infrastructure on private properties “it could result in a massive enforcement, intrusive, ongoing cost with inspections, compliance … it’s huge.”
Young said some municipalities have banned LIDs on private properties. She said that should private LIDs be allowed, there needs to be something included on title so that if owner removes a rain garden, the property cannot be sold without putting the rain garden back in.
Lloyd echoed Fisher’s concern and has seen examples in older neighbourhoods where residents tired of dealing with storm drains simply fill them in, or fill in swales without any consultation.
Young agreed a lot of public education is needed.
