Case study: City of Corner Brook Integrated Municipal Sustainability Plan
LAND USE
The City of Corner Brook developed a 10-year integrated municipal sustainability plan (IMSP) that serves as a hybrid document, combining the goals and objectives of an integrated community sustainability plan with the legislative authority of a municipal plan. It includes a vision, goals and objectives for long-term development, addressing the five pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, social, cultural and governance. It includes specific policies, regulations and implementation targets for the physical design and development of the city and identifies opportunities for partnership and collaboration. In force under the province's Urban and Rural Planning Act, the IMSP replaces Corner Brook's 1994-2004 Municipal Plan. The full plan is expressed in two documents: the Integrated Municipal Sustainability Plan and the Development Regulations.
To develop the plan, the city completed an extensive community consultation process, including public meetings and communication with stakeholder groups. Provincial government departments were also consulted. Municipal staff worked closely on the regulatory aspects of the plan to ensure that it would align with regional and provincial policy instruments.
Results
| Environmental | Economic | Social |
|
|
|
Challenges
- The process of working remotely with consulting firms located in other provinces was a challenge. Modern communication technologies cannot replace the added value of being located in the same community and the efficiency of holding face-to-face meetings to resolve issues quickly.
- The time required to complete the plan was longer than anticipated because of the complexity of prepare a hybrid document that combines sustainability goals with regulatory policies that must align with provincial legal frameworks.
Lessons learned
- Identify the appropriate type of plan for the community (anything from a simple statement of visions and objectives to a detailed, legally binding implementation document) by considering how the plan will be used and assessing the resources available for its preparation.
- Collaborate closely with the consultant preparing the plan, to ensure that every detail fits the local community.
- Allow adequate time for municipal staff to complete multiple revisions of development regulations so that the regulations are fully aligned with related policies.
Resources
Partners and collaborators
- The city consulted several provincial government departments (including the Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs), municipal staff, residents and numerous community representatives of service groups, seniors, youth, environmental groups, economic boards and community development associations.
Project contact
Colleen Humphries
Supervisor of Planning
City of Corner Brook, NL
T. 709-637-1553
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
Related Resources
See All
Land Use
Toolkit: Making sustainable land use decisions in your municipality
Solutions for Canadian communities to achieve significant GHG emissions reductions in buildings and meet long-term sustainability objectives.
Municipal and community buildings
Energy | Housing
Webinar recording: How to get a project started, tips for small francophone communities
If you’re a small francophone municipality looking to develop sustainability projects and access funding, watch this webinar to learn how others overcame common challenges.
Waste
Webinar recording: Net-Zero Circularity: Procurement
Watch this webinar recording to see how circular procurement can help put the principles of a circular economy into action.
Water
Webinar Recording: Sustainable municipal water management
Watch the webinar recording to discover current trends and research on the importance of sustainable municipal water management.
Land Use
Learning Journey: Brownfields Redevelopment in your community
Find out how to rehabilitate and redevelop brownfields
Waste
Resources: Strengthening your municipality’s circular economy initiatives
Find case studies, exercises and worksheets to help your municipality reduce waste and strengthen its circular economy initiatives.
Land Use
Webinar recording: Benefits of integrated intensification for sustainable community development
This webinar teaches participants how land use decisions are tied to the fiscal health of a municipality and its ability to achieve climate targets.
Waste
Webinar recording: How to start the conversation about circular economies in your municipality
Land Use
Video: new purpose for a 20-year-old brownfield site
Tara Tran, Senior planner, shares tips on how to sustain your efforts and progress in brownfield (or others) projects.
Water
Video: Yorkton meets their feasibility study goals by valuing community involvement
Glenda Holmes, Water Works Manager, explains how a feasibility study helped the City of Yorkton ramp up the environmental benefits of its new water treatment plant by treating the wastewater it produced.
Energy | Housing
Webinar recording: Take your project from study to capital
Watch this webinar recording and discover how others have successfully converted studies into a capital project that provides social, economic and environmental benefits.
Energy
Webinar recording: The 5 keys to a green municipal project business case
Watch this webinar recording and discover the five critical focus areas you need to address to get your project started, from financing and partnerships to integrating a triple-bottom-line approach.
Waste
Circular Cities & Regions Initiative
Interested in learning more about how the circular economy can come to life in cities and regions? Review the CCRI webinar recordings featuring speakers from leading organizations and global cities.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmaps
GMF's Brownfield Roadmaps provide a detailed overview of the process of bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province or territory.
Energy | Housing
Webinar recordings: Best practices in municipal sustainability
How are cities and communities of all sizes tackling their environmental challenges? Find out from our five-part webinar series on innovations and opportunities in municipal energy, waste, water, transportation and land use initiatives.
Land Use
Report: Sustainable land use practices in Canadian municipalities
A snapshot of emerging trends, key issues and best practices in sustainable land use.
Waste
Report: Solid waste management in Canadian municipalities
Expanding responsibility for producers to include the post-consumer stage of their products is a key solution for financial and environmental sustainability in the waste sector.
Water
Report: Water management trends in Canadian municipalities
A snapshot of existing and emerging water management trends, best practices and opportunities for innovation.
Land Use
Guide: LiBRe best practices framework
The LiBRe program is structured around a best practices framework for becoming a municipal leader in brownfield renewal.
Land Use
Guide: Getting started on your brownfield sites
Discover how to raise awareness and secure a formal commitment to support brownfield redevelopment in your municipality. Read the guide.
Land Use
Guide: Developing a municipal brownfield inventory
Free guidebook. 10 steps to creating your brownfield inventory. Libre Guidebook series.
Waste
Webinar recordings: Plastic waste management solutions for Canadian municipalities
Watch our webinar recordings to see how your Canadian municipality can reduce and better manage your plastic waste through innovative solutions and approaches.
Water
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Water
Learn how to implement the best practices and strategies used by Okotoks, AB, our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards water winner.
Waste
Guide: 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards project guide: Waste
Learn how to implement the best practices and strategies used by Kitimat-Stikine, BC, our 2018 Sustainable Communities Awards waste winner.
Energy | Housing
Webinar recording: How to prepare a GMF capital project application
Need advice for preparing your GMF capital project funding application? Watch our webinar recording to hear tips from our staff and find out what reviewers are looking for.
Land Use
Guide: Evaluate and improve your municipal brownfield programs
See how two communities benefit from evaluating their brownfield programs and find tips you can use in your municipality to enhance your offering.
Land Use
Tool: Benefits of Sustainable Brownfield Activities
Cleaning up contaminants and redeveloping a brownfield site can bring communities a number of environmental, economic and social benefits. You can achieve even greater benefits by incorporating sustainable approaches throughout the site remediation and risk management activities.
Land Use
Tool: Sustainable Remediation and Risk Management Options
Any technique that remediates or manages the risk of contamination at a site has an environmental benefit as it eliminates or reduces exposure to contaminants. Some techniques, however, are more sustainable than others.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Newfoundland and Labrador
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: British Columbia
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in BC.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Nunavut
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Nunavut.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Alberta
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Alberta.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Nova Scotia
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Nova Scotia.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Manitoba
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Manitoba.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Ontario
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Ontario.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Prince Edward Island
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in Prince Edward Island.
Land Use
Tool: Finding Remediation Service Providers
Get a sense of the services required at different project stages and find providers using various directories.
Land Use
Tool: Sustainable Site Assessments
You can use various techniques to find out whether a suspected brownfield site contains contaminated soil or groundwater.
Land Use
Case study: Ladysmith Waterfront Brownfield Study
The Town of Ladysmith commissioned three studies of contamination at a former industrial site on its waterfront, to review options for remediation.
Land Use
Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and Remedial Action Plan, Cooper Site
As part of a plan to build a University of Waterloo satellite campus next to its downtown core, the City of Stratford completed a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and Remedial Action Plan for the Cooper Site, a 7-hectare former industrial site.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Northwest Territories
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Northwest Territories.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: Quebec
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the process, learn about the legislative framework and find funding for redeveloping brownfields in Quebec.
Land Use
Tool: Sustainable remediation
Almost every Canadian municipality is home to a brownfield site.
Land Use
Webinar recording: How to build partnerships to help revitalize your brownfields
Waterfronts were once bustling engines of a past industrial economy; some now sit vacant — void of the productivity that once supported their communities.
Water
Guide: Best practices for scoping a wastewater upgrade project
Get your wastewater project off to a successful start with these best practices in defining project scope and engaging stakeholders. Part one in a three-part article series.
Water
Guide: Lessons in planning and designing a wastewater plant upgrade
Learn how to avoid one of the most common mistakes in wastewater plant upgrade projects: insufficient planning and analysis. Part two in a three-part article series.
Waste
Six sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada: Article series
In a series of six articles, we explore inspiring projects and sustainability solutions being implemented in cities and towns of all sizes across Canada.
Water
Guide: Tips for the building phase of a wastewater plant upgrade
Discover four practices that will help make the procurement, construction and start-up phase of your project a success. Part three in a three-part article series.
Land Use
Webinar recording: Fostering brownfield redevelopment
Learn best practices in brownfield revitalization you can apply in your municipality, and understand FCM's brownfield funding opportunities and resources.
Water
Tool: Checklist for a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade
Follow this checklist based on best practices to help ensure success and address key issues during each phase of your project.
Water
Article series: Tips for a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade
Implement a successful wastewater treatment plant upgrade with help from this series of three articles packed with best practices from GMF-funded projects. Read the articles.
Land Use
Tool: Evaluation tools for sustainable remediation and risk management
Browse through a range of tools to help you evaluate your options and compare potential benefits.
Land Use
Brownfield Roadmap: New Brunswick
Use this easy-to-follow path to navigate the processes, legislative framework and funding for redeveloping brownfields in New Brunswick.
Land Use
Report: Leadership in Brownfield Renewal Program Annual Review
Discover brownfield redevelopment initiatives and advancements in Canadian municipalities made during the Leadership in Brownfield Renewal program's inaugural year.
Land Use
Webinar recording: Ideas to move brownfield projects forward
Join this webinar to get practical ideas for working with partners and community groups to bring abandoned properties back into productive use.
Water
Webinar recording: Wastewater best practices, strategies and solutions
Watch the webinar recordings from our three-part, online workshop series on wastewater best practices, strategies and solutions for Canadian municipalities.
Waste
Guide: Sustainable Neighbourhood Development
This guide, Sustainable Neighbourhood Development: Practical Solutions to Common Challenges, is designed to help you re-imagine your municipality's approach to planning, development and regulation.
Land Use
Guide: Promoting brownfield programs and opportunities in Canada
Read this step-by-step guide to marketing brownfield redevelopment opportunities to local developers and property owners.
Water
Webinar recording: Optimizing your wastewater treatment plant
Join our webinar to learn proven practices to help you identify ways to optimize your existing wastewater treatment resources. Speakers from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Grand River Conservation Authority will share lessons learned that you can apply in your municipality.
Transportation
Webinar recording: Solutions to municipal sustainability challenges
Watch our webinar recordings to learn how you can address sustainability challenges in waste management, transportation and asset management in your municipality.
Land Use
Webinar recording: Introduction to the brownfield redevelopment process
Watch this webinar recording for an introduction to the process of developing a brownfield site in your community, from the environmental assessment to site remediation.
Land Use
Guide: Tendering a municipal brownfield project
Conducting an efficient tendering process is a key step in managing a successful brownfield redevelopment project.
Water
Webinar recording: Managing stormwater through low impact development
Learn how to use green stormwater infrastructure, or low impact development, as an affordable alternative to grey stormwater infrastructure in your community.