Public Consultation and Communications Plan
June 16, 1999
Prepared by:
the Centennial Community and Recreation Association,
the Port Union Village Home Owners Association,
the West Rouge Community Association, and
the Consultation & Community Outreach Unit - Works & Emergency Services Department
Bob Davis, Supervisor, 392-2990The Manson Factory land, formerly known as the Johns Manville Factory land, located at the corner of Port Union Road and Lawrence Avenue, manufactured asbestos products from 1948 until 1995. The site has sat vacant since 1995. Penfund Management Ltd. has been operating as the proponent for the project.
Tracey Ehl Harrison, Co-ordinator, 392-6698
As a result of the earlier manufacturing activities on the property, the buildings and surrounding property are contaminated with asbestos and other manufacturing by-products. In order that the site be used for other purposes, it must be cleaned up. This remediation process is expected to take place during the summer of 1999. Public consultation with the surrounding community will take place prior to and during the demolition and remediation period.
Public consultation is being carried out by the City of Toronto Works & Emergency Services Department, Public Consultation Unit. The lead staff from this unit are Bob Davis (392-2990) and Tracey Ehl Harrison (392-6698).
PURPOSE OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION:
Public consultation is a two-way dialogue between parties. The public consultation surrounding this project will permit 1) the City, Penfund, Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Labour and the City's Peer Reviewer, and others involved in the process, to provide information about the project to the public, and 2) allow the Community Associations and the public in general, to provide their comments and concerns to the City, Penfund, Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Labour, and the City's Peer Reviewer.
The public consultation for this project will be:
transparent (people will be able to see how information flows and decisions are made),
. open (all interested members of the public are welcome to become involved),
. flexible (the process will adapt to circumstances as they arise),
. information sharing exercise (the City, proponent and local residents can share their perspectives and understanding of the project)
CONTACT WITH THE PUBLIC:
There will be five general methods to provide ongoing contact with/and information to the public:
Public Review Committee (PRC) This committee, made up of representatives from the surrounding community, will provide an ongoing forum for discussion and project input. Although membership on the committee will be fixed by association or geographic area, all members of the public will be welcome to attend each meeting.
Membership
The committee will be of a fixed membership, as indicated below.
Group/Organization Number of Members
Centennial Community and Recreation Association 3
Port Union Village Homeowners Association 3
West Rouge Industrial Association 3
West Rouge Community Association 3
Other Local Residents (to be determined) 3*
City councillors 2
Member of Provincial Parliament 1
Ministry of Environment 1
Ministry of Labour 1
Toronto Catholic School Board 1
Toronto District School Board 1
Toronto Health Department 1
City of Toronto's Peer Reviewer 1
Urban Planning & Development Services - Communications 1
Urban Planning & Development Services - Building Section 1
Urban Planning & Development Services - Planning Section 1
PenFund Investments 1
(and other associations, groups - agreed upon by the currently identified stakeholder)
Terms of Reference
A "Terms of Reference" (TOR) will be used to define the role and responsibilities of the PRC.
Frequency of Meetings
The PRC will meet as required throughout the planning and implementation of the demolition and remediation of the Manson site.
Facilitation and Chairing
The meetings will be facilitated and chaired by staff of the City of Toronto Works & Emergency Services Public Consultation Unit.
Location
Whenever possible, each PRC meeting will be held in a location close to the intersection of Port Union Road and Lawrence Avenue. It is expected, subject to availability, that most meetings will be held at the Port Union Community Centre.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
At key times throughout the planning and remediation of the Manson Factory land, all members of the public will be invited to Open Meetings where information about the project will be presented. The purpose of these meetings will be to disseminate information regarding the decommissioning of the site, to exchange other relevant information, and to provide a forum for community input.
All communications to the public will have the agreement of the PRC. Dissenting opinions will be acknowledged in any communication sent out to the public.
Meetings will be scheduled as needed by the PRC.
Facilitation and Chairing
The events will be facilitated and chaired by staff of the City of Toronto Works & Emergency Services Public Consultation Unit.
Location
Whenever possible, the public meetings will be held in a location as close as possible to the intersection of Port Union Road and Lawrence Avenue.
Information Presentation
Information provided at the public meetings will be presented in various ways. For example, most of the information presented shall be by presentations made by the various stakeholder.
Project participants, either working with Penfund, the Community groups, or appropriate City departments, may be asked to provide information at these events. If an organization is setting up a display or table, it must be made obvious to the casual observer that they are presenting their own information to the public.
Basic overviews of the displays may be provided in handout form for members of the public, providing it is clearly noted on the handout as to who is providing the information.
NEWSFLYERS
At appropriate times throughout the planning and demolition and remediation process, the PRC will distribute a special newsflyers.
Format
The newsflyers will be produced in a single 8 1/2 X 11 page, double sided or 11 x 17 page, one fold with desktop production.
Content
Each newsflyer will contain timely information about upcoming meetings, the remediation process, and future public consultation activities. The content of the newsflyer will be overseen by the Communicants staff from the Urban Planning & development Services and Public Consultation & Community Outreach from Works & Emergency Services.
The communications staff will provide a copy of the newsflyer to the PRC prior to it being finalized, in order to facilitate comments.
Distribution Area
It is anticipated that the newsflyers will be distributed to all of the areas encompassed by CCRA, PUVHA and WRCA communities. The area might be enlarged, if necessary, based on public input.
Newspaper Advertising
It will be important to ensure that all local residents are informed of their opportunities for information and public input. Newspaper advertisements will be placed prior to any scheduled public meeting. Community associations will be provided with camera ready copies of the adds for placement in their publications if possible. Advertisements will be placed a minimum of one week in advance of any event.
Internet
Meeting schedules will be placed under a dedicated section of the City of Toronto website - Get Involved.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC INPUT
It will be important to provide the public with opportunities for asking questions, raising concerns, and receiving feedback. In addition to using all of the above-mentioned contact methods, the public will be encouraged to contact the City through the Works & Emergency Service (WES) Public Consultation Contact Points:
24-Hour Comment Line 397-7777
24-Hour TTY Line 397-0831
Fax 392-2974
Email: works_consultation@city.toronto.on.ca
Mail: 55 John Street, 18th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3C6
At public events, postage paid envelopes and comment forms will be provided.
Information Flow
All public input will flow through the WES Public Consultation Unit. This will permit unit staff to record all public input and track and ensure that all comments, questions and concerns are sent to the correct body(s) as quickly as possible. As well, the Unit will ensure that questions are responded to as quickly as possible. If urgent situations arise, relevant parties may need to disseminate information.
Public Review Committee
Meetings
Members of the PRC shall follow the Roberts' Rules of Order during meetings.
Recommendations are to be put forward to the proponent and the City's peer reviewer using a consensus based model. In cases where this is not possible, majority and minority reports can be carried forward to the City's Peer Reviewer and/or any other government body.
PRC Members can suggest items for the next agenda during PRC meetings, or by contacting staff of the Works and Emergency Services Public Consultation & Community Outreach Unit.
Members are to notify Public Consultation staff, if they are unable to attend meetings.
Public Review Committee
Terms of Reference
Preamble:
The Public Review Committee (PRC) has been established to provide an opportunity for the members of the immediate area to be provided with information as to the site demolition and site remediation of the Johns Manville Factory land, now known as the Manson Factory land located at the corner of Port Union Road and Lawrence Avenue, in the City of Toronto.
Mandate:
to ensure that the demolition and remediation of the land is done safely and without any health risk to the surrounding neighbourhoods;
the public is made aware of the issues and the process of the asbestos site cleanup by the free flow of information which is to be made available by the City of Toronto, the City's Peer Reviewer, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Labour, and the proponent;
there is a procedure in place for the meaningful input of the public's comments and concerns as to the remediation of the site, which will be provided to the various government bodies and Penfund.
Scope of Responsibility:
In order to fulfill its mandate, PRC will:
present the views and opinions of the respective community associations and the general public;
review materials distributed by the City, the MOE, MOL, and Penfund, and provide input to whomever.
Questions:
Open dialogue and questions are an important part of a meeting. Answers to some questions may require investigation and research by the proponent or City staff. It is expected that at all PRC meetings, representatives from the government agencies will be in attendance. If not, the process of obtaining, reviewing, and providing the free flow of information to the public, maybe severely compromised.
If for whatever reason an answer cannot be provided at a PRC meeting, or research is needed to answer the question such that it cannot be immediately answered at the meeting, the question will be:
distributed with the minutes for that meeting and mailed out to all on the mailing list;
the answer will be provided in writing as soon as possible and provided to everyone on the mailing list; and, if necessary, an emergency meeting will be called to deal with the issue.
Support Services:
City staff from Works & Emergency Services (WES) Public Consultation & Community Outreach will facilitate the meetings Staff or a contracted person will take minutes at all PRC meetings.
WES staff will distribute any mail or other communications directed to the PRC from members of the public.
WES staff will provide support in preparation of agendas and other documents for meetings. This includes ensuring that comments received from the public and members of the PRC are addressed.
Child care services will be provided on request. (If request made in advance).
Light refreshments will be available at all PRC meetings.
Terms of Committee:
The Committee will be established in the spring of 1999 and will run until the completion of the remediation. At that time, the committee's mandate may be revised/extended for the land use component (conditions of subdivision) of site development and ongoing air monitoring. It is anticipated that the consultation effort will be transferred to the Planning Department, as per past practice.
All meetings of the PRC will be open to the public and the media. Each meeting will have a period where members of the public may ask questions or make comments.
Proposed Meeting Dates
Public Review Committee
June 10, 1999 - startup meeting
June 17, 1999 - (optional) if any startup issues remain
July 7, 1999
August 12, 1999
September 9, 1999
October 7, 1999
