Rob Panzer. Page 1 of 2 AMENDMENT NO. OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF LONDON A. PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT

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1 Rob Panzer Page 1 of 2 A. PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT AMENDMENT NO. to the OFFICIAL PLAN FOR THE CITY OF LONDON The purpose of this Amendment is to amend Schedule "A - Land Use and Schedule " B - Flood Plain and Environmental Features to identify and protect an ecologically significant area (ESA) known as the UWO Gibbons WetlandMloodland located north of Fanshawe Park Road and east of Richmond Street. A brief description of the ESA will also be added to the text of the Plan and the wetland portion of the ESA will be changed from Class 4-7 to Class LOCATION OF THIS AMENDMENT The subject lands are located north of Fanshawe Park Road and east of Richmond Street. The natural feature that has been evaluated and found to be an environmentally significant area has been previously delineated by the City of London and identified as Vegetation Patch The majority of the vegetation patch is on lands owned by the University of Western Ontario. Smaller portions are located within Registered Plan 33M-405, including Blocks 1 and 11 and potions of Block 13 and 14. C. BASIS OF THE AMENDMENT Chapter 8 of the City of London Official Plan sets out the City's policies for the "Open Space" land use designation. One of the objectives of the "Open Space" designation (Sect.8A.l.vi) is to, "Provide for the protection of natural heritage areas which have been recognized by Council as being of city-wide, regional or provincial significance." Chapter 15, "Environmental Policies" of the Official Plan provides direction for the identification and protection of a Natural Heritage System within the City of London (Sect.15.2). Section 15.3 provides direction with regard to natural heritage areas to be designated as "Open Space" to provide for their protection as part of the Natural Heritage System. Natural Heritage Areas designated as Open Space are identified on Section They include "(b) Environmentally Significant Areas". Section I lists the ESAs that have been identified and provides a brief description of each. Section sets out the criteria for evaluating Environmentally Significant Areas. Section 19 "Implementation Policies" of the Official Plan provides that Council may adopt Guideline Documents to provide detailed direction for the implementation of Official Plan policies (Sect ). Council has adopted guideline documents to provide direction for the evaluation of vegetation patches to determine their environmental significance. The City of London initiated a study by a qualified ecologist to evaluate the significance of the UWOlGibbons vegetation patch. The evaluation was based on the criteria for significance set out in Sections and (Criteria for the Evaluation of Significant Woodlands) of the Official Plan and the City of London Guideline Document for Environmentally Significant Areas Identification, Evaluation and Boundary Delineation (July 1997) and the Evaluation of Ecologically Significant Woodlands (March 2006). The ecologist reviewed the available documents from previous studies of the subject lands and conducted site visits. He has concluded that the patch exceeds the requirements to be delineated as a "Environmentally Significant Area," on Schedule "6" - Flood Plain and Environmental Features of the Official Plan. The categorization of the wetland portion of the ESA on Schedule " B is changed from "Wetlands Class 4-7" to "Wetlands 1-3. This change aligns with the Ministry of Natural Resources classification of this feature as a Provincially Significant Wetland and is consistent with OPA 438 (five year Official Plan Update) which has been adopted by Council but is not yet in effect pending approval by the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

2 Rob Panzer Much of the vegetation patch is a wetland area that has been previously recognized as a natural heritage area and designated as Open Space. Other smaller portions of the patch are designated as "Environmental Review" and "Low Density Residential." To provide for the long-term protection of these areas, this amendment changes their designation to "Open Space." D. THE AMENDMENT The Official Plan for the City of London is hereby amended as follows: 1. Section I of the Official Plan is amended by adding clause xvii) as follows: Gibbons - UWO Wetland Environmentally Significant Area This 18 ha natural area is located on the edge of the Arva Moraine where groundwater discharge from the wooded slopes supports a provincially significant wetland dominated by the rare community Spicebush Organic Swamp, and with extensive areas of Skunk Cabbage, an indicator of groundwater seepage. Deep organic soils over 1.2 metres in depth are evidence of a long history of wetland presence. The site contains Butternut trees, which are listed as Threatened in Canada and several area-sensitive bird species 2. Schedule "A Land Use to he Official Plan for the City of London Planning Area is amended by changing the designation of particles of the vegetation patch north of North Centre Road and East of Richmond Street known as the UWOlGibbons Wetland Woodland form "Environmental Review" and "Low Density Residential" to "Open Space" as indicated on Schedule 1 attached hereto. 3. Schedule " B - Flood Plain and Environmental Features, to the City of London Official Plan is amended by changing the categorization of portions of the UWO-Gibbons vegetation patch from "Vegetation Patches outside ESA's and Wetlands"' to "Environmentally Significant Area" and by changing the wetland portion of the vegetation patch from "Wetlands Class 4-7" to "Wetlands Class

3 7 I SCHEDULE 1 TO OFFICIAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. PREPARED BY mpn,c~ ana intorm~n SW~CO~ FILE NUMBER: Gibbons Wetland PLANNER: Scale 1 : TECHNICIAN: DT le+ e@e s Meters DATE: 2009\08\17 RP

4 ~ 1 Legend NATURAL HERlTAGE SYSTEM pi Potential ESAs Vegetation Patches Outside ESAs and Wetlands River, Stream and Ravine Corridors Outside of Flood Plain Regulated Corridors Wetlands Class 1-3 Wetlands Class 4-7 ^I LI, Ground Water Recharge Areas.~..., { : : Woodlands A Potential Naturalization Areas and Upland Corridors NATURAL HAZARDS /v Flood Lines Flood Fringe NOTE FlmdFtiogemapplogfw~~~oarssr~I~ulyia ava;bam hmi Me Uppr Themes Rtrsr Consenellon Avmm'fv,&,' 100 Year Erosion Line, '...,.".-:.. NATURAL RESOURCES i ~ 1 Fill Lines Potential Special Policy Area Extractive Industrial Aggregate Resource,d Abandoned OilIGas Wells SCHEDULE 2 TO OFFICIAL PLAN THIS IS AN EYCERPT FROM THE PLANNING OlWSlONT worlon0 CONSOUDATION OF SCHEDULEB TD THECITVOF LONDON OFFICIAL PLAN, WITHADDED NOTATIONS I P I FILE NUMBER Gibbons Wetland Scale 1 30,000 TECHNICIAN: DT AMENDMENT NO..m rn PREPARED BY Graphics end In(0ma~im SBN~EQI DATE: 2009\08\25

5 Stephen M. Jarrett LE8(1) Cuuwd August Ms. Nancy Branscombe Chair, Planning Committee London City Council City of London P.O. Box 5035 London ON N6A 4L9 By Dear Ms. Branscornbe: Re: UWO/Gibbons Property - Proposed Official Plan Amendment I am writing on behalf of The University of Western Ontario to express our concern over the manner in which the Planning Committee is dealing with the issue of the designation of Property owned by the University north of Fanshawe Park Road and east of Richmond Street (the Gibbons properly ). In May of this year, the University agreed to co-operate with City staff in having the Gibbons property evaluated. The agreement was that we would each have our own consultants prepare reports and that the University would assist the City by allowing City consultants on our property to conduct their field work, provided that they attended at the same time as our consultants. Our consultants were delayed in commencing their work because of the unavailability of the City consultants, and in fact, the City consultants ended up going on to the Gibbons property without the University consultants. The result of all of this is that the City consultants have produd a draft report dated August 12,2009; the University consultants have not yet completed their work. We received the City s draft report on August 12 (informally and by smail), but were unable to review it, either internally or with our consultants, due to vacation schedules. On August 13, I wrote to the City Clerk, asking that I receive direct notice of any consideration by Council or Committee of mattm affecting the Gibbons property. I have also been in touch with Planning staff over the past two weeks, trying to ensure that we (and our consultants) have all of the information from the City before we meet with City staff (which we have been invited to do) to discuss these issues. The University of Western Ontario Stevenson-Lawson Building London, Ontario * N6A 5B8 Canada Telephone: (519) Fax: (519) jarrett@uwo.ca

6 Despite all of this, Planning Committee met on August 24Ih, and on the basis of a draft report, and without giving the University the opportunity to complete its work and meet and discuss the results of the assessments with City staff, directed staff to proceed with an Official Plan amendment to designate a portion of the Gibbons property as an Environmentally Sensitive Area. That matter is now back before the Planning Committee on August 31, again without any realistic opportunity for the University to assess the City s draft report or to provide meaningful input to the process. AS the owner of the land most directly affected by Council s actions with respect to the Gibbons property, and as a steward itself of public assets, Western has a vested interest in ensuring that decisions are being made with proper input and the most complete and accurate information possible. There is no urgency to this issue - there are no plans for development of this property that would be affected by any change in the official Plan designation at this time. It makes no sense for the City to start an Official Plan amendment process - which can potentially lead to positions being taken which may have to be altered through litigation rather than discussion - when we are still collecting information and talking to City staff. This decision should simply not be taken at this time. At the very least, Western should be permitted time to complete its own evaluation and meet with City staff before this matter proceeds. We request that this matter be deferred, to be brought back before the Committee in consultation with the University. Yoss gincerely, J Legal Counsel Cc: RobPanzer Lorelei Fisher Gitta Kulczycki Rob Esselment Helen Connell Ian Lord