Conservation Ontario becomes an official One Ontario supporter
TORONTO, Ontario, January 5th, 2021
AECO Innovation Lab has announced that Conservation Ontario has signed on as an official supporter of the One Ontario initiative.
Representing Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities, Conservation Ontario is committed to streamlining their approval activities.
Conservation Ontario is a non-profit association that represents Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities. They recently endorsed the Client Service and Streamlining Initiative, which represents a commitment to undertaking improvements to conservation authorities’ roles in municipal plan review services and permitting services, while providing for the continued protection of public health and safety, and the environment. Through the Initiative, conservation authorities have identified three ways that they can streamline their approval activities and reduce “red tape” in order to help the Province address the lack of housing supply. They believe data harmonization with their municipal partners will be very helpful to these efforts.
Conservation Authorities (CAs) undertake watershed-based programs to protect people and property from flooding and other natural hazards, and to conserve natural resources. There are 31 Conservation Authorities operating in southern Ontario and five Conservation Authorities delivering programs and services in northern Ontario. CAs are involved in the review of planning applications under the Planning Act, and developments may require permission from the CA to confirm that the control of flooding, erosion, dynamic beaches, pollution or the conservation of land are not affected.
In the course of meeting their planning and permitting responsibilities, CAs interact with a wide range of individuals and organizations including land developers, municipalities and the public. Conservation authorities are established on a watershed basis, which means that multiple municipalities are served by a single CA. For example, the Grand River Conservation Authority provides programs and services to 39 distinct municipalities. Having a set of data exchange standards would assist conservation authorities with interfacing with their typically multiple municipal partners as well as provincial and possibly federal agencies. This would assist with information sharing between agencies and applicants to help expedite approvals.
Conservation Ontario believes that the data exchange standards and centralized review platform proposed by One Ontario would assist CAs with interfacing with municipal, provincial and possibly federal agencies, ultimately helping to expedite approvals.
About Conservation Ontario
Conservation Ontario is a non-profit association that represents Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities. Conservation Authorities are community-based watershed management agencies, whose mandate is to undertake watershed-based programs to protect people and property from flooding, and other natural hazards, and to conserve natural resources for economic, social and environmental benefits. To learn more visit – www.conservationontario.ca
About One Ontario
One Ontario is a collaborative initiative established by AECO Innovation Lab, with the aim of establishing a set of provincial guidelines for data and information exchange throughout the development approval process. The framework will be aligned with regulatory requirements set by the province and will be driven by technological tools and advancements within the AEC industries.
About AECO Innovation Lab
AECO Innovation Lab leads digital transformation of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries and governments through collaborative R&D projects. We are dedicated to breaking down silos and increasing the productivity of the AEC sector by providing a hub for collaboration, knowledge sharing and digital transformation. AECO R&D projects unite the private, public and academic sectors by building coalitions to investigate AEC industry operating practices and develop optimization solutions. To learn more visit - www.aecoinnovationlab.com and follow AECO on social media: LinkedIn and Twitter
