About Brownfields

Brownfield properties are vacant or underutilized places where past industrial or commercial activities may have left contamination (chemical pollution) behind, including:

  • factories
  • gas stations
  • waterfront properties (port lands) formerly used for industrial or commercial activities

Brownfields can:

  • pose health and safety risks
  • be costly for the communities where they are located
  • be redeveloped to meet health, safety and environmental standards

Recent amendments to the Brownfields regulation

Ontario amended the Record of Site Condition regulation to address practical challenges by reducing barriers to redevelopment and revitalization of historically contaminated lands, putting underutilized or vacant prime land back to good use.

The amendments to O. Reg. 153/04 remove unnecessary barriers associated with filing a Record of Site Condition. This includes removal of unnecessary sampling when undertaking a risk assessment if contamination at the property is already well understood; flexibility on meeting standards in specific circumstances; and removing the requirement for a Record of Site Condition for specific low risk redevelopment situations.

Complementary amendments were also finalized to ensure alignment between O. Reg. 153/04 and O. Reg. 406/19, the new On-Site and Excess Soil Management Regulation.

Further information on the regulatory amendments can be found on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

Ontario’s new excess Soil regulation

Ontario finalized a new On-Site and Excess Soil Management Regulation. Information on that regulation can be found on the handling excess soil webpage.

The law

If a brownfield property is being redeveloped for a new use, property owners and redevelopers must meet set requirements for:

  • assessing the environmental condition of a property through environmental site assessments
  • ensuring that the site meets the applicable site condition standards or standards specified in a risk assessment
  • submitting a record of site condition for filing in Ontario’s Environmental Site Registry

Source law

You can find the provincial rules related to this activity in:

Records of site condition

A record of site condition summarizes the environmental condition of a property, based on the completion of environmental site assessments.

Each record of site condition:

  • is based on the results of one or more environmental site assessments
  • is conducted by a qualified person
  • may involve the completion of a risk assessment and the development of property specific standards
  • a qualified person must certify that the property meets the applicable site condition standard or a standard specified in a risk assessment for the intended use
  • is filed to the Environmental Site Registry once regulatory requirements are met

If you are a property owner who wants to change the use of a property to a new use that is more sensitive than the previous use (e.g., houses on an old factory or dry cleaning site), you must have a record of site condition filed in the Environmental Site Registry first. The filing of a record of site condition in the Environmental Site Registry can reduce potential liability for property owners, municipalities and other groups.

Environmental site assessments

To prepare a record of site condition you will need to hire a qualified person who will undertake one or more environmental site assessments.

Phase one

Phase one environmental site assessments must be completed for all records of site condition and requires the qualified person to:

  • identify any potentially contaminating activity in the phase one study area, including the phase one property
  • identify areas of potential environmental concern on the phase one property
  • determine if a phase two environmental site assessment is needed (for some types of property uses and circumstances, a phase two environmental site assessment is mandatory)

You need to meet all requirements of O. Reg.153/04, including the requirements of Schedule D.

Phase two

Phase two environmental site assessments require the qualified person to:

  • determine the location and concentration of one or more contaminants
  • take actions to reduce the concentration of one or more contaminants if a standard has been exceeded and/or complete a risk assessment to develop property specific standards that are safe for the intended use
  • confirm that the site meets the applicable site condition standard or a standard specified in a risk assessment

You need to meet all requirements of O. Reg.153/04 including the requirements of Schedule E.

Qualified persons

To conduct and supervise environmental site assessments under O. Reg. 153/04, you must hold either:

  • a licence, limited licence, or temporary licence under the Professional Engineers Act or
  • a certificate of registration under the Professional Geoscientists Act, 2000 and be a practising member, temporary member or limited member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario

As a qualified person, both you and your employer must not have any direct or indirect interest in any property you are assessing, reporting on or certifying. You also need professional insurance.

Submit a record of site condition

To submit a record of site condition for filing, you must be a qualified person for environmental site assessments, defined in section 5 of O. Reg. 153/04.

Before you submit, read the guide for site assessment, cleanup of brownfields and filing of records of site condition to learn the requirements and prepare a quality submission.

If you are the property owner, you need to:

  1. Sign-in through Public Secure to access the ministry’s online services for environmental permissions.
  2. Set up your ministry account.
  3. Authorize a qualified person to submit a record of site condition on your behalf.
  4. Complete the owner certification or authorize an agent to complete the certification.

If you are a qualified person hired by a property owner to submit a record of site condition, you need to:

  1. Sign-in through Public Secure to access the ministry’s online services for environmental permissions.
  2. Set up your ministry account.
  3. Receive Authorized Representative roles from the property owner.
  4. Enter the required information and supporting documents.
  5. Complete the qualified person certification and agreement.
  6. Submit your record of site condition.
  7. Provide additional information (if applicable).

Learn how to set up your ministry account and manage Authorized Representatives .

If you have questions, you can contact us.

Site condition standards

When a phase two environmental site assessment is required, a qualified person must certify in the record of site condition, among other things, that the concentration of contaminants at the property meet:

  • the applicable site conditions standards or
  • the standards specified in a risk assessment

There are 2 different approaches you can apply to your property:

  1. generic standards (applicable site condition standards)
  2. property-specific standards (derived through a risk assessment)

The level of risk is a measurement of the likelihood that the contamination on the property will cause harm to:

  • people
  • animals
  • plants

For each contaminant, a concentration level is established by looking at the different ways these living things can come into contact with a contaminant.

Generic standards

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has established standards to use when assessing brownfield properties.

These standards are set based on:

  • intended use (e.g., residential, commercial)
  • certain physical characteristics of the property (e.g., how close to a water body)

A record of site condition based on these generic standards will confirm that the standards for the intended use are met.

If contaminants are present at concentrations higher than the generic standards, the qualified person may either:

  • choose to undertake remedial action at the property to reduce the concentration of contaminants to meet the applicable site condition standard or
  • decide that a risk assessment approach is appropriate

Read: Soil, Ground Water and Sediment Standards 2011

The rationale document, explaining the development of soil and ground water standards used at contaminated sites, is available upon request. Please contact Paul Welsh, Brownfields Coordinator at the Technical Assessment and Standards Development Branch.

Property-specific standards

A property owner can consider developing property-specific standards by preparing a risk assessment. The property-specific approach uses information about the conditions and characteristics of a property when calculating risk.

A risk assessment:

  • scientifically examines the risk posed to human health, plants, wildlife and the natural environment from exposure to a contaminant at the property
  • proposes property-specific standards that offer equal protection for human health and the environment as the ministry’s generic standards
  • may pose engineering or land-use controls to manage risk on the property
  • must be prepared and supervised by a qualified person who meets the requirements of section 6 of the O. Reg.153/04

Pre-submission

Before completing the written risk assessment report, the property owner must:

  • complete the Risk Assessment Pre-Submission Form
  • submit this form to:
    Director, Client Services and Permissions Branch
    Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
    135 St. Clair Ave West, 1st Floor
    Toronto ON M4V 1P5

This helps you decide the best way to proceed with completing the risk assessment.

To fill out the form you will need:

  • owner’s name(s) and address
  • owner’s signed statement
  • property location
  • supporting documents including maps
  • signed statement by the qualified person doing the risk assessment

This review allows the ministry to provide early feedback on:

  • scope and approach of the risk assessment
  • makeup of the risk assessment team
  • need to consult with local stakeholders who are affected

Modified generic risk assessment

For less complex projects that meet certain criteria, a qualified person may use a streamlined process as an alternative to meeting generic standards and the traditional risk assessment process. The modified generic risk assessment:

  • can be prepared using an approved model and a standardized report template
  • allows for convenient and controlled modification of the ministry’s generic site condition standards for use in a record of site condition
  • can be adjusted to match an applicant’s site specific conditions, supported by site specific data
  • provides a set of pre-defined risk management measures that can be selected for the site
  • is streamlined through co-submission of the risk assessment report and the pre-submission form
  • can be used with a traditional risk assessment submission

Environmental Site Registry

You must be a qualified person for environmental site assessment to create and submit records of site condition for filing in the Environmental Site Registry.

Once a record is submitted and complete, the Director will issue a notice and will have 30 business days from the notice date to check the record for administrative and technical errors, and to notify the property owner of one of these outcomes:

  • the record of site condition has been filed or
  • the record of site condition has not been completed in accordance with the regulations or
  • the intent to conduct a review before the record of site condition can be filed

Search records

You can search for records of site condition and transition notices filed in the Environmental Site Registry since October 1, 2004. Information is provided accordance with the Environmental Protection Act for informational purposes only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations in any circumstances.

Search for records of site condition.

Contact us

Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Client Services and Permissions Branch
135 St. Clair Avenue West, 1st Floor
Toronto ON  M4V 1P5
416-314-8001 in Toronto
1-800-461-6290 from anywhere in the province
Fax: 416-314-6810

For information on Provincially Managed Contaminated Sites, please contact ContaminatedSitesInfo@ontario.ca.