The management of brownfields in Ontario: A comprehensive review of remediation and reuse characteristics, trends, and outcomes, 2004–2015

Abstract

Brownfields remediation and redevelopment continues to be an important issue for policy makers and planners seeking to unlock its many socio-economic and environmental benefits. While technical approaches to assessment and remediation have become rather standardized and governments have largely embraced voluntary programs to oversee their application, the degree of regulatory oversight continues to differ among jurisdictions. This article examines the scale and character of remediation activity in Ontario, Canada over the last decade using records submitted by qualified persons from the private sector. It finds that Ontario’s approach has been quite successful in scale and character in stronger urban real estate markets despite most matters related to cleanup and reuse escaping the direct oversight of provincial regulators. The province’s less-interventionist approach may need some review to address the nature of cleanup techniques being applied and the recent slowdown in cleanup and reuse activity, especially given the growing push toward regional growth management and more effective use of brownfield land resources in both larger urban areas, and smaller ones where greenfields are plentiful and brownfields are less competitive.