To Whom It May Concern:…

To Whom It May Concern:

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on ERO posting 026-0302. Please see attached an electronic submission from the City of Burlington. Below are the key points extracted from the submission, c/o of City's Community Planning Department.

The proposed legislative framework would shift the existing permissive consent model, under which municipalities may exercise discretion in approving or refusing proposed communal systems, to a mandatory consent model. If prescribed criteria and conditions are satisfied, a municipality would be required to provide consent. The specific criteria and conditions would be set out in future regulations not yet drafted, which the Province has indicated will be made available for public feedback at a later date.

Burlington is a lower-tier municipality within the Regional Municipality of Halton. Halton Region still retains responsibility for water and wastewater servicing planning across the Region. Burlington also has a substantial rural area north of its urban boundary, including lands within or adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment Plan area and the Greenbelt. The majority of Burlington's rural lands are presently served by private wells and individual septic systems. The potential for non-municipal communal servicing in these areas is a matter of significant land use, environmental, and economic interest to the City.

1. Consent Framework
The City acknowledges that the existing municipal consent process for non-municipal communal systems can benefit from greater consistency and clarity. Where a non-municipal communal system is technically sound, financially secure, and aligned with applicable land use policy, a clear and predictable consent framework may serve the interests of applicants, municipalities, and the public. Therefore, there is support in principle of a rules-based approach to municipal consent, provided that the criteria and conditions established through future regulations are appropriately calibrated to protect land use planning integrity, environmental quality, and long-term municipal interests.

2. Regulatory Framework
The City's most significant concern is that the proposed legislation creates a mandatory consent obligation for municipalities, while the criteria and conditions that would define that obligation are entirely deferred to future regulation. Municipalities are being asked to accept a fundamental reduction in their discretion without knowing what threshold will replace it.

It is recommended that the Province commit to making the draft regulations available for public and municipal consultation before the proposed legislative amendments are proclaimed in force. A full ERO consultation on the regulations is essential; it is requested that the province include this commitment explicitly in any response to consultation submissions on ERO 026-0302.

3. Prescribed Criteria
It is requested that the prescribed criteria and conditions under any future regulation explicitly require that a proposed non-municipal communal system be consistent with the applicable municipal Official Plan, provincial plans (including the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the Greenbelt Plan, 2017), and the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024.

Burlington's policy framework designates the rural area north of its urban boundary predominantly for agricultural/rural, natural heritage, and resource land uses and strictly limits residential/commercial development in those areas. One of the longstanding constraints on rural development has been appropriate levels of servicing. If landowners were able to obtain mandatory municipal consent for a non-municipal communal system serving rural or Escarpment-adjacent lands in Burlington by meeting provincially-prescribed technical criteria alone this could create significant pressure on lands that are not intended for development under Burlington's Official Plan, the Niagara Escarpment Plan, or the Greenbelt Plan.

Mandatory consent that is decoupled from land use planning policy would effectively allow infrastructure approval to drive land use change, rather than the reverse. The City requests that the Province ensure this outcome is expressly precluded in the regulatory criteria.

It is further requested that a clear articulation of the intended policy purpose of the expansion to communal servicing permissions be stipulated. If the intent is to provide interim servicing capacity pending the extension of permanent municipal infrastructure, the regulation should reflect that purpose, including requirements for transition planning and decommissioning timelines. If the Intent is to facilitate development in areas where municipal growth frameworks have not planned for growth, this carries a direct risk of undermining the provincial land use planning framework (NEP, GBP, PPS). Clarity on the Province’s policy objective is necessary to ensure that the consent criteria are calibrated appropriately and do not inadvertently enable development pressure on lands that are not intended for intensification under any applicable planning framework.

4. Two-Tier Municipal Context
Burlington is a lower-tier municipality within Halton Region. Halton Region has retained responsibilities for water and wastewater servicing planning even through Bill 185. ERO 026-0302 does not clarify how the proposed consent framework under the Municipal Act, 2001 will interact with upper-tier servicing responsibilities in two-tier municipal structures. It is requested that the Province address the following questions in developing the regulations:
- Whether the consent authority under the proposed section 93 of the Municipal Act, 2001 would rest with the lower-tier municipality (City of Burlington), the upper-tier municipality (Halton Region), or both.
- How the mandatory consent framework will interact with Halton Region's servicing master plans, and water and wastewater capacity allocations.
- Whether an applicant who obtains mandatory consent from one tier of government would thereby be entitled to consent from the other tier, or whether consent from both tiers would be independently required.

5. Environmental Sensitivity of Rural Burlington Lands
Burlington's rural area encompasses lands within and adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment Plan, including significant natural heritage features and watershed areas that contribute to Lake Ontario water quality. The City requests that any future regulations prescribing criteria for mandatory consent include provisions that:
- Apply heightened technical and environmental assessment standards for communal drinking water and wastewater systems proposed within or adjacent to Niagara Escarpment Plan lands, Greenbelt Plan lands, and other provincially significant natural heritage systems.
- Ensure that the regulatory criteria would not permit consent for systems that would, by their nature or location, pose risks to groundwater, surface water, or sensitive ecological features in these areas; and
- Require the completion of any applicable environmental assessment process as a precondition of, or concurrent with, the municipal consent process.

6. Financial Assurance and Long-Term Municipal Risk
The proposed legislation references financial assurances and reserve funds as criteria to be prescribed in future regulations. There is support for the inclusion of robust financial assurance requirements. However, it is noted that privately operated communal systems have, in other Ontario contexts, been abandoned or required emergency municipal assumption when private operators became insolvent or unable to maintain service standards. The City requests that the regulations include provisions that:
- Require applicants to provide financial assurance instruments sufficient to cover the full cost of operating, maintaining, and, where necessary, decommissioning the proposed system over its design life.
- Impose mandatory insurance requirements and financial security instruments (including letters of credit or equivalent) that would be available to fund emergency municipal assumption if a private operator fails.
- Establish a clear and funded pathway for municipal assumption or decommissioning, and ensure that municipalities are not exposed to unfunded liability in the event of operator insolvency.

7. Source Water Protection.
Burlington falls within the Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Region, administered under the Clean Water Act, 2006. The Source Protection plan for this region establishes policies designed to protect municipal drinking water supplies, including wellhead protection areas and intake protection zones applied to Halton Region’s municipal water systems. Non-municipal communal drinking water systems, despite supplying water to the public, are not currently subject to equivalent source water protection requirements. This creates a regulatory asymmetry that the proposed consent framework should engage with directly. It is requested that future regulations prescribing consent criteria require:
- That all proposed communal drinking water systems be screened against the applicable SPP prior to consent. Including assessment against any applicable prohibitions, significant threat policies, and risk management requirements established under the CWA, 2006.
- That hydrogeological studies be required for all proposed communal systems to assess long-term water quantity and quality sustainability, including the potential for naturally occurring groundwater contaminants, and cumulative impacts where multiple systems may draw on or impact the same aquifer or groundwater recharge areas.
- That Source Protection Authorities, including Conservation Halton as the relevant authority in Burlington, be afforded a formal role in the consent application review process.

In conclusion, the City of Burlington offers these comments in the interest of ensuring that the proposed mandatory consent framework for non-municipal communal systems is developed in a manner that protects land use planning integrity, environmental quality, and long-term municipal interests.

Given the short period for consultation, the attached comments have not been approved by City Council. This submission will be shared through an upcoming Council Information Package. Should Council determine any additional comments or refinements are required, the Ministry will be advised at the earliest opportunity.

In the interim, we look forward to continued collaboration on Bill 98, and please feel free to contact us should there be any follow-up questions or information required.

Best Regards,

City of Burlington
Community Planning Department
Development & Growth Management