Brownfield Regulations

Jurisdiction

Legislation/Regulation

Federal Government

Although federal legislation, such as the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, could apply to brownfields, the federal government has generally deferred to provincial legislation except in the case of federally owned land. The Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory provides details on how the federal government approaches contaminated sites such as abandoned mines on Crown land in the North, airports, and military bases.  

Provincial Government 

The Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act governs the prevention of contamination, liability for costs, responsibility for cleanup of brownfields as well as the manner in which remediation or reclamation efforts are conducted.

Under the Act, the province has established a  Contaminated Sites Policy Framework, which sets the current path towards achieving remediation in the province. The framework integrates provisions relating to contamination set out the Public Health Act and Water Act into guidelines for remediation.

Municipal Governments

The Municipal Government Act provides municipalities with a variety of land use planning and financial tools that can be used to address brownfields. The Act is currently under review, and proposed amendments may provide additional tools to incent redevelopment. See the section below for details on how the Municipal Government Act amendments will impact brownfields.

Also, see the section Brownfield Case Studies for more details on how municipalities are managing contaminated properties and pursuing redevelopment opportunities.

s.364.1

The MGA has been amended to enable municipalities to grant multi-year tax cancellations, reductions, or deferrals on brownfield properties. This tool applies to properties suitable for redevelopment that councils deem contaminated, possibly contaminated, vacant, derelict, or underutilized.

Previously, cancellations, reductions, and deferrals were limited to one year.

One of the issues with the previous one-year limit on brownfield tax incentives was unpredictability for developers. As municipalities had to re-pass the incentive every year, developers were less willing to invest in properties that take multiple years to remediate and redevelop.

The new tax incentive tools will allow municipalities to grant incentives that last the length of the redevelopment process, attracting investment in brownfield sites.

In order to utilize the tool, municipalities must pass a bylaw that:

• Must identify the properties that the cancellation, reduction, or deferral will apply to;
• May set special criteria that must be met for developers to qualify for the incentive;
• Must specify the year or years the incentive will apply for each identified property;
• Must specify conditions in which the incentive will be cancelled.

Prior to passing the bylaw, the council must hold a public hearing.

Once the bylaw is in place, brownfield property owners can submit an application to the municipality for the incentive. A designated officer of the municipality can determine whether a property meets the requirements and issue a certificate granting the incentive.

The amendments enabling the brownfield incentive tool came into force on January 1, 2018. 

Alberta Municipalities is supportive of the amendments enabling tax cancellations, deferrals, or reductions to incent brownfield redevelopment.