Runoff Rundown
Summer 2006
Feature Article #2

Update from the field - Mississauga workshop

June 22, 2006

Dear Center friends,

Greetings from Mississauga, Ontario!   For the Americans out there:  Mississauga is in the Greater Toronto Area, a.k.a. the Golden Horseshoe. 

Anne, Tom, and I just wrapped up a four day workshop with the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC).  The "Making It Work" workshop brought together local government, consultants, developers, planners and engineers to learn about better site design and innovative stormwater management.  Those Canadians are enthusiastic workshop participants!   

This year’s Credit River Watershed Management Study Update shows that to maintain high quality resources new development must be done differently than "business as usual" AND areas with existing development must be restored.  We thought it might be hard to introduce Better Site Design principles to areas where single family homes are less than 10 feet apart --oops, make that 3 meters!  Turns out, site designers and land use planners have many ideas.   During a site re-design activity on Day 2, they converted an already-dense subdivision into one with a mix of housing types and a stream corridor park.  Day 3 took the group into the field where folks identified large scale retrofit opportunities in public spaces and small scale pollution prevention projects at commercial areas and the police station.  On Day 4, small groups brainstormed actions needed to put principles from the workshop into practice.  In the next year CVC-led workgroups will identify changes needed in existing codes and regulations.

American cities could learn from the Canadians.  Ontario projected future population growth and allocated population to municipalities, leading to areas of population density intensification.  With intensification, other areas – such as the Niagara Escarpment – can be preserved.  Anne and I had the chance to go hiking in some of CVC’s conservation areas.  Glad they will be preserved!   Beyond regional planning, CVC – whose jurisdiction matches the watershed boundaries – conducts subwatershed planning that influences the requirements for new development in those areas.  In some municipalities, stormwater management is considered in neighborhood and block plans.

Many thanks go to Hazel Breton and Christine Zimmer for organizing the workshop and showing us around town.  I’m impressed by the enthusiasm of the participants.  In fact, when the discussion was going strong, folks stayed an extra half hour!

Until next time,

Anne and I visited a few of the CVC's conservation projects. Here I am at the Belfountain Conservation Area!

For more information on the CVC, visit their website at http://www.creditvalleycons.com/programsandservices/water.htm