Council Receives Staff Report on Feasibility of a Health Protection & Air Quality Bylaw in Burlington
MY TAKE:It's truly tough to read in the staff report that a Health Protection and Air Quality Bylaw would not be a meaningful avenue to bring about change for oversight of air qualities issues in Burlington generally, and in particular, at our two operating quarries: Nelson and Aldershot. All of us on Council were hoping a municipal bylaw would be a tool to protect our community and get more data, but we've seen from staff's report that would not be the case. I cannot in good conscience support a bylaw that we cannot properly resource and may not end up doing what it is intended. Further, we have no evidence that the Oakville Air Quality bylaw has resulted in any improvement in air quality of industrial operations.Our primary job is to hold the feet to the fire at the Provincial ministry of those whose job it is to enforce air quality and aggregate operations. Even though this bylaw might not be the right tool for our desired outcomes, we will continue working to ensure we do find the right tools towards air quality protection.I've also learned via sitting at the Top Aggregate Producing Municipalities of Ontario (TAPMO) table, and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) table, that there's not enough meaningful oversight of aggregate producers by provincial bodies. So, what we can and will continue to do is advocate to other levels of government to improve oversight and regulations in this sector, as we did recently at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.We have a lot of work to do with our partners at the Ministries. Our MPPs have been very supportive and are opening doors for us to connect with ministers and their staff.I want to thank our local community groups like Conserving Our Rural Ecosystems (CORE) and Tyandaga Environmental Coalition (TEC), and the residents who reach out to us with research and information on what they've observed. That background and lived experience helps in our advocacy to the Province and ministries.I want to finally thank Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman for his motion to Direct the City Manager to consider options and methods to systematically monitor the performance of emitters of odours and air pollution to ensure that regulators are actively engaged on achieving sustainable, compliant, safe air quality and report back in Q2 2023.
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At our Sept. 20 meeting, Burlington City Council received an overview on the complexities and challenges that would be faced in proceeding with the development and implementation of a new municipal Health Protection and Air Quality Bylaw.Air quality in Burlington is affected by a number of different sources both internal and external to our boundaries. The overall conclusion in staff's report is that the intended benefits of implementing a new bylaw would be limited since it would only target a very small portion of potential sources.The purpose of the bylaw and its ability to be effective also needs to be weighed against the need for significant incremental resources to develop, implement and administer the bylaw as a new regulatory city service.The City is on the leading-edge of adopting green initiatives and best practices aimed to reduce carbon emissions from the City’s operations and within the community, with the eco-benefit of reducing health-related air emissions. To this end, the City is well-positioned to continue its resource placement on the benefits of the environmental and climate action initiatives that are currently in place.The development of a Health Protection and Air Quality Bylaw process would compete with the limited resources needed to implement the City’s current environmental and climate action program – that have the potential of delivering more effective and broader community benefits.Here is the full motion that was unanimously approved at Council:
- Receive and file city manager’s office report CM-22-22 providing a response to staff direction SD-06-21 regarding the review of the feasibility of a city-wide Health Protection and Air Quality By-law; and
- Direct the City Manager to consider options and methods to systematically monitor the performance of emitters of odours and air pollution to ensure that regulators are actively engaged on achieving sustainable, compliant, safe air quality and report back in Q2 2023. (SD-25-22).
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