Staff Feature – The Durham Region Development Review Team
August 4, 2020
The Development Planning and Permits team (DPP) team reviewed 720 planning applications in 2019 and issued 1,192 permits for a variety of different development proposals. Each and every one of the Planners along with their technical discipline colleagues in Development and Engineering Services are passionate and dedicated about protecting our natural heritage resources and ensuring life and property is protected from natural hazards, while supporting the growth of the region’s economy.
One such project identified as being of high importance to the Town of Ajax in the Regional Municipality of Durham is a 1, 324,569 square foot distribution warehouse necessary to ensure support for the growing on-line delivery services in the east end resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The warehouse will be located on the south-east corner of Rossland Road and Salem Road in the Carruther’s Creek Watershed and includes the creek corridor, a wetland-fed tributary and associated wetland and significant woodland.
Recognizing the importance of the project to our municipal partner, the team geared up for a significantly accelerated review timeframe based on the construction schedule of the developer’s consultant, Blackwood Partners, and the Town of Ajax’s special projects team. This involved site staking, accelerated two-week reviews of a Site Plan Application, and literally overnight 2-day reviews for the TRCA permit application necessary for the site servicing.
The team was led by Stephanie Worron, Planner, Development Planning & Permits who facilitated the payment of expedited review fees, direct communication with Blackwood and the Town, coordination of the technical comments, and the issuance of the approved permit. Technical reviewers who “dropped everything” despite heavy workloads to meet the Town’s timelines include: Sukhmani Bola, Analyst, Water Resources Engineering; Jamie Milnes, Ecologist, Planning Ecology; and Ali Shirazi, Senior Manager, Geotechnical Engineering. “They have been outstanding” says senior staff from Blackwood.
The project is now under construction. The natural heritage system on the private property including additional buffers and re-naturalization will be conveyed to the Town of Ajax for protection in perpetuity. And, finally, the first 25 mm of rainfall will be retained on site using innovative low impact development technologies. The project is a good example of how an integrated TRCA-municipality-developer design team working collaboratively can produce both good and fast results, while meeting or exceeding the TRCA’s Living City Policies and the objectives of the Carruthers Creek Watershed Plan.