Environmental Impact Study (EIS)

Development activities have the potential to cause damage to some of the most sensitive environmental receptors such as species at risk and natural features such as wetlands that provide us with invaluable ecosystem services that naturally filter our water and sequester carbon out of the atmosphere.

The stakeholders determined that the EIS should assess potential impacts to significant woodlands, wetlands, fish habitat, species at risk and stormwater hydrology associated with the proposed development area.

When planning a commercial or residential development project in rural areas, regulators such as municipalities and conservation authorities will often require an assessment of potential impacts to the surrounding natural environment before construction can begin. In this case study, CM3 was retained to conduct a Scoped-Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for a client after they submitted a development application for a commercial hunting lodge in a rural location in eastern Ontario. The governing municipality informed our client that they would require an Environmental Impact Study to assess potential impacts to specific natural environment features of concern within the proposed development area and adjacent lands in order to proceed with the permitting process.

CM3 acted as a liaison between the client, the governing municipality and conservation authority to determine the specific requirements of the assessment and to ensure that the applicable jurisdictional regulatory requirements were being assessed. In this case, the stakeholders determined that the EIS should assess potential impacts to significant woodlands, wetlands, fish habitat, species at risk and stormwater hydrology associated with the proposed development area.

CM3 conducted a preliminary desktop review to identify potential natural heritage features of concern, the potential presence of species at risk and hydrological features within the project area. With this information, CM3 proceeded with a field assessment of the subject development site to further delineate and classify natural heritage features, watercourses, identify flora and fauna and assess the presence of species at risk habitat.

Our EIS report included detailed findings of the desktop review and field assessment, including how the findings specifically pertain to local and provincial regulations and provided the client with recommended mitigation and compensation measures including biological and engineering controls to considerably reduce potential impacts associated with the development.

Using our report, our client was able to proceed with the next steps of the development permitting process with the municipality.