Class Environmental Assessment Process
The Ontario Environmental Assessment Act (EAA) lays the groundwork for the Environmental Assessment (EA) process, a planning and decision-making process that ensures all technical and environmental factors of a project are considered. A Class EA is a pre-approved and specific process for a defined group of projects that are similar in nature. Projects included in the scope of a Class EA can be implemented with no further approval under the EA Act, given that the specific Class EA process was followed.
The Class EA process for this Detail Design study will be completed as a Group ‘C’ project under the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Transportation Facilities (2000).
As required for Group ‘C’ projects, an Environmental Screening Document (ESD) will be prepared to document and summarize the environmental work carried out during the study. This includes the existing environmental conditions, environmental impacts, proposed mitigation measures and monitoring requirements, and the environmental permits and approvals obtained. The ESD will also document the consultation activities undertaken as part of the project; additional details on consultation can be found on the Consultation page.
The figure below illustrates the key steps during Detail Design for Group C undertakings:
