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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil - 2011-03-28 SSPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES MARCH 28, 2011 CITY OF KITCHENER A special meeting of City Council was held at 3:07 p.m. this date, chaired by Mayor C. Zehr with all members present. Councillors B. Vrbanovic, K. Galloway and J. Gazzola were in attendance for part of the meeting. Notice of this meeting had been previously given to all members of Council by the City Clerk pursuant to Chapter 25 (Council Procedure) of the Municipal Code. A staff team consisting of Mr. J. Willmer, Deputy CAO -Community Services, Ms. B. Steiner, Senior Environmental Planner, Ms. A. Dennis, Program Assistant, Ms. C. Fletcher, Director of Facilities Management and Mr. D. Ritz, Supervisor -Design /Development, provided Council with an orientation to City policies, practices and programs respecting the environment as contained in Community Services Department report CSD-11-042, dated March 18, 2011. Councillor Z. Janecki noted that the financial implications of the environmental initiatives have not been provided. Councillor B. Vrbanovic stated that a comprehensive report has not been done; however, all of these projects have been approved in the Capital Budget. He advised that all of the environmental initiatives come from the fact that the community told us that the environment is important to them. Ms. C. Ladd advised that when the Parks Master Plan was completed it included a comprehensive financial impact. She stated that although budgets are spread out, it would not be too difficult to capture the capital costs of all these initiatives; however, operating costs would be much more difficult. Ms. Ladd then advised that in the two Environics Surveys the community rated the environment as their number 1 priority and stated that the City was not doing a good job at keeping up with what is needed in terms of parks in new areas taking too long and parks in older areas needing to be maintained. Therefore, from the community perspective it appears the City still not doing enough. Councillor K. Galloway advised that Council approved all of these initiatives and the corresponding budgets through the annual budget process. She questioned the value of a staff report on costs. Councillor S. Davey commented on the Air Quality Best Bets, noting the limitations a municipality has to deal with. Ms. C. Musselman commented that staff understands that we cannot affect the policies of other levels of government; however, we do work with the Region of Waterloo and with the Province when they are willing. Ms. B. Steiner commented that local municipalities can control about 50% of emissions. Councillor S. Davey referred to capital investments being made, such as the roof on the Consolidated Maintenance Facility (CMF) and he questioned the additional costs involved in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification; particularly respecting the Gold certification for the CMF. Ms. C. Fletcher responded that the solar roof on the CMF only counts as 1 point out of the 39 points needed for the Gold Certification. Ms. Fletcher advised that she will provide members of Council with the percentage of costs for the CMF that are attributable to LEED certification. Councillor Y. Fernandes requested more information on marketing the Kitchener Green Building Incentive Program. Mr. M. Selling advised that the program started 1 year ago and 2 applications have been received. He advised that Mayor C. Zehr spoke of this program recently, at the Waterloo Region Home Builders Association and it has been marketed to Real Estate Agents. Councillor Fernandes questioned whether "hits" on the Environmental Page on the City's web site are counted and she was advised that "hits" to a specific page on the web site may not be available. Councillor Fernandes then commented on follow-up inspections for the Community Environmental Improvement Grants and was advised by Ms. C. Musselman that one inspection is made in the year the grant is awarded but agreed that subsequent inspections would be worthwhile. With respect to a question on communicating the Tree Conservation By-law, Ms. C. Musselman advised that she receives many calls from people in the spring, about trimming and removing trees and is able to educate in that way; however, she has not been able to go out into the community to educate the public. SPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES MARCH 28, 2011 - 65- CITY OF KITCHENER In response to a question concerning City staff receiving LEAF funding, Mr. Willmer advised that consideration was given to excluding City projects from receiving this funding but in the end it was not included in the criteria. Ms. Fletcher advised about Green Wood construction stating that, as far as LEED certification is concerned, the applicant must be able to show how the kind of wood and plywood used was harvested and manufactured. Regarding cash-in-lieu of parkland dedication, Mr. D. Ritz advised that cash is accepted where the amount of land would be too small to develop a park, adding that too many small parks become an operational issue. Councillor P. Singh questioned if the City ever receives gifts of undevelopable land. Ms. Steiner responded that staff does look for those opportunities and always starts negotiations by asking the owner if they would be willing to gift the land. Councillor D. Glenn-Graham questioned why the City chose to apply for LEED Silver Certification for the CMF and was advised by Mayor Zehr that the decision was based on cost. He then questioned whether the City Hall building has LEED certification and was advised by Ms. Fletcher that there was no such thing as LEED when City Hall was built; however, LEED has instituted a new certification program for existing buildings. Mayor Zehr asked Ms. Fletcher to provide members of Council with the new process for certifying existing buildings. Councillor D. Glenn-Graham asked that staff provide a report to a future Committee meeting on the Leaf Collection process including educational promotions done and the cost benefits of the different options. In response to questions from Councillor K. Galloway, Mr. J. Willmer advised that the City is in a very strong position that 5% of a subdivision will be developed as an active park. In some cases development of the park may take some time when there are several phases in a subdivision and the park land is in one of the later phases. The City is now able to have the developer construct the park. Several reports were requested by Council from staff: Ms. C. Musselman was requested to provide more information on the Tree Conservation By-law; Ms. C. Fletcher was requested to provide information on cisterns in City buildings and more information on the solar roof on the CMF. Moved by Councillor K. Galloway Seconded by Councillor D. Glenn-Graham "That an in-camera meeting of City Council be held this date to consider two labour relations matters." Carried. Mr. R. Regier, Executive Director, Economic Development, presented the City's proposed 2011-2015 Economic Development Strategy, to provide opportunity for Council members to provide input and direction into the process prior to it being submitted for Council approval. He advised that the Economic Development Strategy ties into the Environmental Strategy and emphasizes the Brownfield Program and Re-urbanization. In response to questions from Councillor Y. Fernandes, Mr. Regier advised that the Economic Development Strategy will be undertaken by staff as it is seen as being one of our core functions. In terms of investment, Mr. Regier stated that he does not foresee anything like the Economic Development Investment Fund but noted that some investment is required in order to leverage other funds. Ms. C. Ladd stated that staff is looking at innovative ways to build money for investments, including looking at other municipalities and staff is looking at investment to become self funding. With respect to involving students in this Strategy, Ms. Ladd stated that generally the City is trying to involve students in City initiatives so that they will want to stay in Kitchener once they graduate. Due to time constraints Mayor Zehr advised that further questions and input on the Economic Development Strategy will be scheduled for another meeting. SPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES MARCH 28, 2011 - 66- CITY OF KITCHENER On motion the meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m. MAYOR CLERK