Although the study has a strong technical and scientific direction, there remains a need to ensure that the scientific understanding gained from the study is used in day-to-day decision making at the agency level. A core team of Municipal and Conservation Authority planners from the partner agencies embarked on a process to develop science based generic policies under the YPDT-CAMC partnership.

This process led to a study being comissioned to examine and improve on the link between Watershed Plans, typically prepared by Conservation Authorities, and Official Plans, carried out by municipalities. The report from this study, “Watershed Planning - From Recommendations to Municipal Policies: A Guidance Document” has been released as a working draft. The guidance document provides generic policies that watershed and municipal planners can reference: a) when writing watershed plan policy recommendations; and b) to obtain guidance on how these policies could be implemented through municipal official plans. The study generated policy guidance under four broad areas that are addressed in watershed planning:

• Water
• Natural Heritage
• Landform Conservation
• Infrastructure

By defining the level of direction needed to implement watershed policies, the study will:

• provide direction to watershed planners regarding the requirements of watershed plans that will assist in the transfer of the science-based recommendations into official plan policies; and
• provide municipal planners with the direction to demand watershed outcomes that are readily transferable into the Official Plan.

In summary the study will ensure that, at the outset of the watershed planning process, technical studies provide effective policy direction for further consideration during the planning process.

Click HERE to view a PDF of the paper: “Watershed Planning for Recommendations for Municipal Policies“. (Note: the PDF file is approximately 3MB in size.)