Burlington Sustainable Development Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Room 247, Level 2, City Hall

1.
Members Present:
 

Carolyn Barnes, Tim Park, Jim Feilders, Susan Mattine, Hashem Hosseini-Mousavi (until 8:00 pm), Katie Rauscher, Michelina Longo, Dave Rokosh, Sarah Burjaw, Dave Bourns (alt) and Councillor Paul Sharman (arrived 7:55 pm)

2.
Others Present:
 

Lynn Robichaud (staff)

3.
Regrets:
 

Herb Sinnock, Chris Maynard, Peter Cookson, Herb Lewington, Mathew McCauley, & Mitchell French

4.
Presentation:
 

Kyle Vander Linden, a Program Manager at Credit Valley Conservation presented ‘Addressing 21st Century Water Management Challenges Requires Working Together Towards Innovative Solutions’. Kyle presented information about STEP – the sustainable technologies evaluation program, which includes low impact development; erosion and sediment control, road salt management and natural features restoration. The program relies on an integrated stormwater (SW) management approach: treat water where it falls, along the path, and before it hits the lake.


There are several different guides available on the website: www.sustainabletechnologies.ca. Kyle spoke about using the Drainage Act, which is used more in rural communities. It provides flexibility when proposing SW management measures on private property. He provided information about a 13 hectare site in south Mississauga in an industrial area where they are working with 13 different properties. Collaboration with property owners helps to distribute costs and maximizes performance and savings. SW measures include smart blue roofs, bio swales, bioretention and underground storage, tree planting, etc. Action: Lynn to share Kyle’s presentation when he sends it to her.

5.
Declarations of Interest:
 

None.

6.
Approval of Minutes:
 

7.
Consent Agenda:
 

8.
Regular Items:
 

8.1
Updates from previous events
 

a.
One Hundred in One Day, Yellow Fish Road event – June 1
 

Katie reported that 7 volunteers attended the event and painted yellow fish by 17 drains and distributed 120 door hanger fish. Katie noted that the event could have been better promoted.

b.
Citizen Action Labs – May 25th @ Mainway Arena 10:00 – 12:30 pm; May 29th @ Burlington Central Library 2:00 – 4:30 pm and 6:00 – 8:30 pm
 

Tim and Carolyn both attended sessions and found that they were well organized with good discussion but no real conclusions. Some issues that were raised included communications between advisory committees, staff and council and some participants expressed a feeling of not being heard. The Clerks Department will have a report to Committee (of Council) in September.

8.2
Upcoming events/news (All)
 

8.3
Council & Staff Updates
 

a.
Councillor Sharman
 

noted that the Take Action Burlington – an Update on Our Local Environment report was well received by council members, as well as the Climate Action Report. The Climate Action Plan will be brought back to Council in December for consideration.


He provided an update on the Official Plan review and the challenge to try and scope the review. The focus will be on the downtown and the area in the interim control by-law. The update to the Region OP is also in progress. A report was presented to regional council this week with 8 growth scenarios. Council deferred the decision to provide more time to work on the growth targets, which will also provide additional time for the city’s OP process. Link to Regional planning reports: http://sirepub.halton.ca/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=1928&doctype=AGENDA

b.
Lynn Robichaud
 

Lynn advised that council approved funding to single source two consultants to complete the Climate Action Plan and undertake community engagement. The consultants worked on the Bay Area Climate Change Council process and are familiar with greenhouse gas emissions data and local issues. This will help for a more efficient process to meet council’s target to have a plan completed by December 2019.

The Corporate Energy and Emissions Plan for city facilities and fleet will be presented to the Committee of the Whole on July 8th. This plan is required by provincial legislation and is the city’s 2nd plan. This one will have a greater emphasis on carbon reduction to meet the city’s goal for city operations to be net carbon neutral by 2040.


Council has directed staff to apply a climate lens to decision making including the budget process, projects and other matters. Staff are investigating how this can be achieved - there is not a lot of information about a climate lens being applied at a local level, although some municipalities are interested in speaking about it further. Council has also directed that a section on ‘Environmental Impacts’ be included in the staff report template going forward. Support will likely be needed for staff to effectively complete this section. Carolyn noted that ArcelorMittal Dofasco included a section on environmental impacts in capital projects. Action: Carolyn to share information with Lynn.


Transportation staff held a council workshop last week on the Integrated Mobility Plan. The 2020 budget process is underway and will require a climate lens on it. Lynn attended an excellent EV mobility workshop at the Plug’n Drive facility in Toronto last week with many other municipal participants and utilities.

8.4
Business arising from the minutes
 

a.
File Sharing Project
 

Tim noted that city staff are recommending to pilot the use of the Microsoft One Drive to share files since the city has it in their suite of options and there would be no cost to use it. A fictitious planning application will be used at first to test the process with SDC members. Because it belongs to the city, staff will have to upload documents onto One Drive but then SDC members will have the ability to edit the documents. There was also some discussion about uploading archived material but that will be a future discussion.

8.5
Awareness sub-committee update
 

Katie provided an update that Fleur is working with city staff on an on-line story map to compliment the Take Action Burlington – an Update on Our Local Environment report. It should be available soon. The fall library event is scheduled for Nov 12th at Central Library and the theme will be on climate action in Burlington. A fall tour is planned at the new Joseph Brant Museum but no date has been set at this point. Susan will be taking over for Katie as chair for the remainder of the year.

8.6
Policy and Development subcommittee update
 

There was discussion about the Eagle Heights development with the new planner on the file (this file has been around for many years). There was also a discussion about Lakeside plaza. The meeting for the pre-application of a project on Queensway had a low turnout. A new application has been submitted for Blue Water Place with 8 single dwellings. A decision was made not to submit comments on the new application.

8.7
Reports from external groups and conferences
 

a.
Bay Area Climate Change Council
 

Carolyn reported that BACCC members attended a strategy session earlier in the month to develop a mission & vision for the council. Funding is still required to support the council’s work. They are planning to develop round tables with experts

b.
BurlingtonGreen
 

a tri-athlete will be completing a tree-atholon – run bike and swim with a log on his back – to raise money for BurlingtonGreen. They have a Tree Loving Care event to return to previous tree planting areas to see if the trees are surviving. They are also planning a fund-raising event in October.

c.
Halton Climate Collective
 

Lynn advised that the collective will be doing community engagement on climate change over the summer and have a survey for residents to complete. Lynn noted that it will be a challenge to manage the work that the collective is doing and the work that the City will be doing on the Climate Action Plan to ensure residents don’t get confused.

9.
Other Business:
 

10.
Adjournment:
 

Chair adjourned the meeting at 8:50 p.m.

No Item Selected