Burlington Sustainable Development Advisory Committee Meeting
Minutes
Meeting #:
Date:
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Time:
7:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.
Location:
Room 247, Level 2, City Hall
1.
Members Present:

​Tim Park (chair), Jim Feilders (vice-chair), Carolyn Barnes, Katie Rauscher, Herb Sinnock, Steven Horwood, Farzaneh Farahani, Herb Lewington, Kelly Cook, Colleen Lowe and Councillor Sharman

2.
Others Present:

​Susan Mattine (Alt), Bob Burchett (Alt), Dmitry Kats (Alt), Gareth Williams (volunteer – arr. 7:55), Lynn Robichaud (staff) and Milfred Hammerbacher – S2e Technologies (guest presenter)

3.
Regrets:

​Tania Barlow (Alt), Guy Sheppard, Ramsha Ahmed, Chris Maynard

4.
Declarations of Interest:

Katie advised that her company is working with both Emshih and Carriage Gate Homes and therefore will not participate in discussions on topics related to their developments.

5.
Approval of Minutes:
5.1
Approve minutes from meeting held April 19, 2017

​Motion for approval by Carolyn. Approved.

6.
Delegation(s):

​None.

7.
Presentation:
7.1
Milfred Hammerbacher, S2e - Smart Sustainable Communities -  We don’t have to wait for the Future

​Milfred made a presentation to the committee related to how the West5 net zero development evolved, involving research by several universities and 90 students. The West 5 development is a mixed use project by a forward thinking developer, the Sifton Group, on a 70 acre site on the edge of London, designed to be net carbon zero. This will be achieved by designing buildings to be extremely efficient, including passive home design principles and renewable energy. Additional details on the presentation are appended to the minutes.

8.
Regular Items:
8.1
Updates from previous events
a.
Ontario Climate Change Symposium
Jim circulated notes on the symposium with some additions by Steve. Presentations reinforced that community groups can lead local action on climate change. Jim is working on a pledge that SDC members can take. Steve was impressed with John Goldfrey who did a very good job of identifying where homeowners can get information to make changes/retrofits to improve energy efficiency and resiliency. John talked about developing a concierge service – a one stop shop to get both information and financing and would be geared to homeowners and renovators, etc. Steve suggested that the SDC could request John to come speak to the group.

Steve also talked about the Toronto green standard presented by Lisa King for tier one and two buildings. There are three metrics which should be used to monitor buildings, including energy intensity, thermal demand and ghg intensity.

​

b.
Ontario Cap & Trade Forum

​Carolyn attended a two day forum in Toronto about the Cap & Trade program. Staff from the MOECC as well as industry reps and brokers were in attendance to learn about offseting carbon. MOECC also talked about their action plan. MOECC’s recent carbon auction raised almost $.5 billion which will fund their programs. Some of the initiatives that they are working on include initiating changes to the Building Code; rebates for net zero buildings; promoting market readiness through training; land use planning and requiring municipalities to consider climate change in their official plans. They are starting to consult on their cap and trade targets beyond 2020, from 2021 to 2030. Consultation will continue into fall of 2018. If the government changes next year, cap & trade may end and be replaced with a carbon tax.

8.2
Upcoming events/news

​

a.
a) Burlington Community Foundation Event with Spencer West at the PAC – May 24,
b.
SDC’s Let’s Live Green – Tansley Woods – May 27, 1:00-5:00 pm
c.
CoB Tree Planting – Thorpe Park – May 27, 10:30 am
d.
Halton Food Council – Policies, Practices & Partnerships:  Reducing Food Waste Symposium, Country Heritage Park, Milton – May 30, 8:30 am – 3:15 pm
e.
CoB Tree Planting – Brant Hills Park – June 3, 10:30 am
f.
Halton Rain Barrel Sale – Mapleview – June 3
g.
BG EcoFilm – Bikes vs Cars, Central Library – June 7, 6:30 pm (doors open @ 6:00)
h.
Ward 2 BBQ – Chat and Chew - Lions Club Park - June 9, 5:00 – 8:30 pm
i.
CCIW Open House – June 16 (9:30 – 3:30) & June 17 (10:00 – 4:00)
j.
Grow Bold, Mobility Hubs Consultation – burlington.ca/growbold – click on ‘get involved’ for dates
8.3
Council updates

​Councillor Sharman updated the group on the Carriage Gate residential project at 421 Brant Street. How will the proposed OMB changes impact developments like this in Burlington? Is land economics an issue? How high is too high? What are the returns for the developer if the city restricts the height? A student provided a land economics study looking at different scenarios to Councillor Sharman.

Action: Councillor Sharman will share the report with Lynn to circulate with the minutes.
The ecomomics of redeveloping older plazas like Roseland and Lakeside also need to be considered. Councillor Sharman noted that a council workshop is needed on this issue.
Need to get the policies right in the OP. For example, office towers in the downtown are not happening because parking is costly and businesses want to be accessible near the highway.

8.4
Staff Updates

​Lynn provided an update on the SDC’s budget. To date, the committee has spent $640 from their budget of $9,250. Fleur expects that another $3,000 will be spent related to the Let’s Live Green event.

There was a discussion whether to provide gifts to speakers at the event or make a donation in lieu of gifts. Some felt it was not necessary due to speakers being from the private sector promoting their own business or public sector speakers. Action: Lynn to follow up with Carolyn to discuss. Carolyn will purchase gifts for speakers (native perennials).

Lynn attended a session hosted by QUEST with representatives of the province who are consulting about amending the growth plan to require municipalities to deal with climate change and set a carbon reduction target. QUEST will help to facilitate more meetings between the province and municipalities.
8.5
Business arising from the minutes
a.
Detroit Urban Agriculture Presentation – future meeting

Deferred until next meeting as Chris was absent.

8.6
Awareness sub-committee update

​Carolyn provided an update about the Let’s Live Green event on May 27th. All the tables are booked for displays and there is a schedule of presentations for the afternoon. The Mayor will be there to provide an introduction. Members are asked to be in the room to hear the Mayor’s presentation if possible. She tried to minimize the time members have to be there during the day given the number of volunteers. Fleur has done a great job at promoting the event.

Action: Members should review the revised volunteer list that Carolyn circulated with the Awareness minutes

8.7
Policy and Development subcommittee update

​Tim provided an update for the P&D sub-committee. Comments have been submitted to the Planning Department on the Tall Building Guideline and 421 Brant Street.

Special meetings have been set up to review sections of the OP.

Actions: SDC members should check P&D minutes for details. Lynn to check if a room has been booked for June 13th meeting.

8.8
Reports from external groups and conferences
a.
Halton Environmental Network (haltonenvironment.net)

​No update for HEN.

b.
Community Energy Plan (burlington.ca/CEP)

​Lynn has submitted an application to the Ministry of Energy for funding for the review and update of the Community Energy Plan.

Lynn and Allan are working on the next phase of the district energy study to determine the best business entity to implement a system in Burlington and finance it. They have met with Hamilton and Markham DE staff and have a meeting scheduled with Toronto.

There is a stakeholder advisory committee meeting scheduled for June 6th. Jim Feilders advised that he will be now representing BurlingtonGreen on the committee.

Action: Lynn to follow up with Jim on details related to the CEP Committees.
c.
BurlingtonGreen (burlingtongreen.org)

​Jim advised that David Suzuki has been booked by BG to speak at the Youth Summit on November 21st at the Performing Arts Centre.

9.
Other Business:

​Surplus lands (Kelly) – Related to the minutes from the previous meeting on April 19th (4.3). Halton Federation of Agriculture had asked for a deferral of a decision at the regional planning committee as there is a split in the community. There was agreement to defer by committee members. Kelly reviewed the staff report and consulted with colleagues. It has been the policy since 1995 not to allow these types of severances. She noted that there was an opportunity to raise the issue during Sustainable Halton in 2009, but the agricultural community was silent. There was an appeal but then withdrawn where a regional OPA was subsequently submitted, which is confusing. The main concern is continuity of agricultural lands in Burlington. A number of farm lots could be created if this went through. There is the issue of minimum separation distances with the potential need to protect agricultural lands and operations particularly from residential uses. Conflicts between residents and agricultural operations can occur. Could restrict farm uses for farmers if tied up. Staff analysis was in line with provincial policies that discourage fragmentation of agricultural land. Staff report was peer reviewed by an agricultural expert. Need to consider the cumulative impacts in the long term.

Action: Kelly to provide her analysis to Councillor Sharman to help him assess the issues for the June committee meeting at the region.

Info from cycling advisory committees – deferred until next meeting.

10.
Adjournment:

Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:05 pm

Upcoming meeting dates:

Policy and Development subcommittee – Wednesday, June 7, Room 307 (7:00 pm)

Awareness subcommittee – Wednesday, June 14, Room 305 (7:00 pm)

Committee of the Whole – Wednesday, June 21, Room 247 (7:00 pm)

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