Prince Rupert is going to get greener, just don’t ask to see the details in black and white just yet. In a rather confusing bit of bafflegab, city council has decided that they will not include in the Official Community Plan, the recommendations from the Green Advisory Task Force regarding greenhouse gas reductions.
Of course, part of the problem is that the green house reduction plan isn’t exactly ready for its debut, as the Sheltair Group was recently hired on to assist with the document, which isn’t expected to be ready for presentation to council until May.
With that unfinished bit of business still to come, the dilemma for city council was summed up by city planner Zeno Krekic, who said “It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we are committing to.”
Council seemed to agree with his view and decided not to incorporate the greenhouse reduction agenda into the Official Community Plan.
The Daily News had two articles on the green plan deliberations, one the front page story detailing council’s dilemma, the other outlining the background information on Sheltair’s contribution to the greening of Prince Rupert.
CITY PROMISES A GREENER FUTURE BUT AVOIDS DETAIL
Official Community Plan will not commit city to meet specific greenhouse targets
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and three
The city has greened up its Official Community Plan, but without having completed a greenhouse energy reduction plan, council has not been able to commit to any specifics.
Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the green advisory committee, advocated council include a specific reference to growth taking place in line with the province’s Climate Action Charter and urged the city to commit to achieving its targets set out in the yet to be assembled green house gas reduction plan (see story below).
However, she only received her fellow council members’ support on the first point.
The city signed the provincial Climate Action Charter last October, committing itself to become carbon neutral by 2012 along with 62 other communities.
While Zeno Krekic, the city’s planner was okay with mentioning the charter in the OCP, he was against including a statement that “development and growth in Prince Rupert is taking place under the charter,” because the provincial document has not been cross-referenced with the city’s bylaws for zoning, subdivision and building codes.
“The charter itself is prescriptive and very general and I am just safeguarding our existing development regulations,” said Krekic.
Thorkelson said the committee has spent hours and hours going over the charter and that there was nothing there that would hinder the city.
“It’s something we have already signed and it is an important document and it needs to be part of our Official Community Plan,” she said.
Council sided with the recommendations of the taskforce and included the statement.
But that was as far as they would go. They would not include recommendations from the taskforce to commit to follow the greenhouse gas reduction plan in Official Community Plan.
The city only recently agreed to hire the Sheltair Group to help with the document and the plan is expected to be presented to council in May.
“It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we committing to,” said Krekic.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the greenhouse reduction plan will have no less impact just because it isn’t included in the Official Community Plan.
“We have many, many planning documents that are not part of the Official Community Plan,” said Pond.
“The OCP is a very specific document and just because it is not in there does not mean it does not matter.”
Other changes included a commitment by the city to develop roads with sidewalks on at least one side of the street. The task force had recommended side walks on both sides to ensure pedestrian travel. And the city committed to look at transit to major employment areas outside the city such as to Ridley Island in order to encourage the use of public transit.
Experts help city with its eco goals
Consultants will help prepare a plan to make Rupert carbon-neutral
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and five
The city has agreed to spend $10,000 to retain a Vancouver-based consultant to help it develop a greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Last week, the city’s Green Task Force recommended the Sheltair Group be hired to help the taskforce assemble a community energy plan in accordance with city’s commitment to the province’s Community Action on Energy Efficiency Program.
“The total budge for this is about $30,000, with $10,000 of that coming from the municipality,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.
City council signed an agreement with the province to become “carbon neutral” by 2012 during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention last October.
As part of the program, they were eligible for about $20,000 in grant funding from the province.
The taskforce is expected to complete its greenhouse gas reduction plan by early summer.
In the presentation submitted by Sheltair, they outlined six targets for the community including a 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption for existing city buildings and vehicles.
Other targets included achieving an EnerGuide for Houses rating for all new home construction by 2010; achieving a two per cent reduction in energy consumption for all commercial, institutional and industrial buildings by 2010 and a 25 per cent reduction by 202 compared to 2007 levels. And the city will also generate 10 per cent of the community’s energy needs from community-based, clean resources or bioenergy.
In order to do this, the consultants will help the taskforce lay out a greenhouse gas action plan, community energy plan and local air quality action plan.
There was some concern among councilors, however, that the Vancouver based company did not really show a thorough understanding of the community in its proposal.
“When I read through this proposal my only concern was… I wasn’t sure they had really captured our current situation – they state we have a “static or declining population’ and that we have ‘a potential increase in energy use because of port expansion’. I am thinking they don’t really know the current state of where we are and where we are headed. I am sure the Green Task Force will have them revise that,” said Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne.
However, Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the Green Advisory Task Force, said the document simply reflects Statistic Canada data.
“They did a snapshot of the community and we have had a declining population. It just reflects what has happened over the census years,” she said.
One of the challenges for the consultants and taskforce will be how to plan for greenhouse gas reduction with a growing economy.
The Sheltair Group will be the third consulting firm hired by the city for planning purposes in the last year or so. The city hired UMA Engineering and Jennifer Wilson Consulting to complete its Official Community Plan for a cost of about $90,000 and also hired the Boulevard Transportation Group to complete it sparking study for $28,500.
Of course, part of the problem is that the green house reduction plan isn’t exactly ready for its debut, as the Sheltair Group was recently hired on to assist with the document, which isn’t expected to be ready for presentation to council until May.
With that unfinished bit of business still to come, the dilemma for city council was summed up by city planner Zeno Krekic, who said “It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we are committing to.”
Council seemed to agree with his view and decided not to incorporate the greenhouse reduction agenda into the Official Community Plan.
The Daily News had two articles on the green plan deliberations, one the front page story detailing council’s dilemma, the other outlining the background information on Sheltair’s contribution to the greening of Prince Rupert.
CITY PROMISES A GREENER FUTURE BUT AVOIDS DETAIL
Official Community Plan will not commit city to meet specific greenhouse targets
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and three
The city has greened up its Official Community Plan, but without having completed a greenhouse energy reduction plan, council has not been able to commit to any specifics.
Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the green advisory committee, advocated council include a specific reference to growth taking place in line with the province’s Climate Action Charter and urged the city to commit to achieving its targets set out in the yet to be assembled green house gas reduction plan (see story below).
However, she only received her fellow council members’ support on the first point.
The city signed the provincial Climate Action Charter last October, committing itself to become carbon neutral by 2012 along with 62 other communities.
While Zeno Krekic, the city’s planner was okay with mentioning the charter in the OCP, he was against including a statement that “development and growth in Prince Rupert is taking place under the charter,” because the provincial document has not been cross-referenced with the city’s bylaws for zoning, subdivision and building codes.
“The charter itself is prescriptive and very general and I am just safeguarding our existing development regulations,” said Krekic.
Thorkelson said the committee has spent hours and hours going over the charter and that there was nothing there that would hinder the city.
“It’s something we have already signed and it is an important document and it needs to be part of our Official Community Plan,” she said.
Council sided with the recommendations of the taskforce and included the statement.
But that was as far as they would go. They would not include recommendations from the taskforce to commit to follow the greenhouse gas reduction plan in Official Community Plan.
The city only recently agreed to hire the Sheltair Group to help with the document and the plan is expected to be presented to council in May.
“It is really difficult to commit to something when we don’t know what we committing to,” said Krekic.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the greenhouse reduction plan will have no less impact just because it isn’t included in the Official Community Plan.
“We have many, many planning documents that are not part of the Official Community Plan,” said Pond.
“The OCP is a very specific document and just because it is not in there does not mean it does not matter.”
Other changes included a commitment by the city to develop roads with sidewalks on at least one side of the street. The task force had recommended side walks on both sides to ensure pedestrian travel. And the city committed to look at transit to major employment areas outside the city such as to Ridley Island in order to encourage the use of public transit.
Experts help city with its eco goals
Consultants will help prepare a plan to make Rupert carbon-neutral
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Pages one and five
The city has agreed to spend $10,000 to retain a Vancouver-based consultant to help it develop a greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Last week, the city’s Green Task Force recommended the Sheltair Group be hired to help the taskforce assemble a community energy plan in accordance with city’s commitment to the province’s Community Action on Energy Efficiency Program.
“The total budge for this is about $30,000, with $10,000 of that coming from the municipality,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.
City council signed an agreement with the province to become “carbon neutral” by 2012 during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention last October.
As part of the program, they were eligible for about $20,000 in grant funding from the province.
The taskforce is expected to complete its greenhouse gas reduction plan by early summer.
In the presentation submitted by Sheltair, they outlined six targets for the community including a 15 per cent reduction in energy consumption for existing city buildings and vehicles.
Other targets included achieving an EnerGuide for Houses rating for all new home construction by 2010; achieving a two per cent reduction in energy consumption for all commercial, institutional and industrial buildings by 2010 and a 25 per cent reduction by 202 compared to 2007 levels. And the city will also generate 10 per cent of the community’s energy needs from community-based, clean resources or bioenergy.
In order to do this, the consultants will help the taskforce lay out a greenhouse gas action plan, community energy plan and local air quality action plan.
There was some concern among councilors, however, that the Vancouver based company did not really show a thorough understanding of the community in its proposal.
“When I read through this proposal my only concern was… I wasn’t sure they had really captured our current situation – they state we have a “static or declining population’ and that we have ‘a potential increase in energy use because of port expansion’. I am thinking they don’t really know the current state of where we are and where we are headed. I am sure the Green Task Force will have them revise that,” said Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne.
However, Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sits on the Green Advisory Task Force, said the document simply reflects Statistic Canada data.
“They did a snapshot of the community and we have had a declining population. It just reflects what has happened over the census years,” she said.
One of the challenges for the consultants and taskforce will be how to plan for greenhouse gas reduction with a growing economy.
The Sheltair Group will be the third consulting firm hired by the city for planning purposes in the last year or so. The city hired UMA Engineering and Jennifer Wilson Consulting to complete its Official Community Plan for a cost of about $90,000 and also hired the Boulevard Transportation Group to complete it sparking study for $28,500.
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