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The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has posted on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry and its website Draft Revised Minimum Distance Separation Formulae 2015 for public review and input. Many of you will have previously attended one of the technical experts meetings or the stakeholder’s workshop and through those meetings provided valuable input into the MDS review.
For those of you that have not, as background, the Minimum Distance Separation (MDS) Formulae is a land use planning tool that determines a recommended separation distance between a livestock barn or manure storage and another land use. The objective of MDS is to prevent land use conflicts and minimize nuisance complaints from odour. The 2014 Provincial Policy Statement requires that the Minimum Distance Separation Formulae be applied to various types of land use planning matters and building permit applications. The website provides a summary of the key changes proposed to the MDS Formulae and Implementation Guidelines. We are inviting comments until May 20, 2015.
To assist technical experts and stakeholders to review and provide comments on the Draft Revised Minimum Distance Separation Formulae, OMAFRA staff will be hosting an information session/webinar on Tuesday, April 28 from 1 PM to 3 PM. The information session will summarize the key proposed revisions to the MDS Formulae. The information session will be held in Woodstock OMAFRA Office Boardroom. Recognizing that this session will be of interest to technical experts and stakeholders from across Ontario, you may also choose to participate via teleconference/webinar. Space in Woodstock is limited, and in-person attendance will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. With this in mind, we would encourage organizations or municipalities to only send one representative to the session in Woodstock, and encourage other staff to participate via teleconference/webinar.
Please note — this session is not a training session on the draft revised MDS Formulae or the process for calculating an MDS setback.
To register for the information session, please RSVP to OMAFRA-Guidelines@ontario.ca and indicate if you will be participating via webinar or in person in Woodstock.
