By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, February 1, 2019
If the Ontario government wants to speed up building approvals and housing construction, it should start by streamlining the unwieldy environmental assessment process for new roads and sewers, the City of Ottawa says.
"The [municipal environmental assessment] process is overly general, time consuming, costly, repetitive and not protective of the environment," chief planner Steve Willis wrote on behalf of the city in a letter to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
It was one bit of advice from the city as the Progressive Conservative government crafts its "housing supply action plan."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/city-urges-province-fix-environmental-assessment-1.5002556