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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDAC 2011-06-22ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES June 22 2011 Ci of Kitchener The Economic Development Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Councillor Paul Singh; the following members were in attendance: Jeremy Auger, Len Carter, Darrin Snider, Darren Shaw, Rebecca Short, Councillor Scott Davey, Shawn DeBruyn, Peter Benninger, Ian Cook Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Alain Pinard, Silvia Di Donato, Tracey DeVille, Valerie Machado, Cory Bluhm Approval of minutes - The minutes of the May meeting will be available for approval at the August meeting. Project Updates: Rod Regier advised that the project updates are still in progress and the full update will be sent out by email early next week. New Business: 2.1 Round Table Follow-u to the Economic Develo ment S m osium The committee members had a short round table discussion on the Economic Development Symposium that was held on June '14th. Rod Regier advised there were approximately 15D people in total in attendance. We are currently getting our first look at the charts. The committee offered the following: • key things many mentioned the downtown retail aspect for the downtown core, stimulate and encourage residential development • diverse group at the tables, smaller groups provided more dialogue • 25 minutes for conversation seemed to be enough -the first round maybe not enough time but after that 20 minutes would have been fine • a lot to say with the- exception of renewal energy, very interesting when it came to the prioritization • the format was very engaging and i# made for more participation and engagement • if this was done more often and people were able to participate more then they could come prepared. You can hear from people with ideas that you would never expect. Rod Regier advised that staff will now be working through the prioritisation sheets; we will workshop the content at the next EDAC meeting as well as with stakeholders to develop a .formal strategy that will be presented to Council in early-mid fall 2.2 Green Ener Act Discussion Delegation Derek Satnik, Community Renewable Energy Waterloo (CREW) provided a presentation regarding the local solar jobs in the region and the potential of those positions. He is asking the committee to endorse local solar jobs, and in particular to provide their support in a non partisan way in support of the Green Energy Act. The following concerns and comments were raised: • To understand the feed in tariff uncertainty is the certain rate change - and the possibility of cancelling the program. The applications are growing in number but it is hard to tell if that is because of the potential cancelation of the program or if it is growth in the industry. • Conestoga College has pushed and have a solar program and we need to promote this from a training and education paint as well. Rod Regier noted concerns surrounding timing with the summer recess of Council, advising that we are prepared to comple#e a background report far the August '15t'' meeting, should the Committee agree to move forward. The Committee thanked Mr. Satnik for attending and continued the discussion, citing the following concerns and comments: • we should have everything in order before we go to council if they ask a question and we don't have an answer we might not get the results we are looking for, would like to see more -support from other municipalities, explanations and more + what is our role as an advisory committee - it is good to have this information in front of us. It has been brought to our attention we have a concern and we would like to recommend to council that they allocate resources to the full understanding of the effects of potential changes to the F!T program • problem is timing -- while some council may support it we have to be careful -the intention is either to change this position or vote someone else -this should be an AMO mandate -would be more comfortable after the election if Kitchener is the only municipality to do this we have to be careful • Kitchener can show leadership here we have a good area to influence here don't believe that our position as a committee or a council will have a lot of impact, during a campaign it is inappropriate -only after the election should we be lobbying for the program. This is a politico! issue and it is not appropriate for us to take a position on it there are other issues that are more important -concern is it we sit on this we might loose opportunities. with varied views -have staff consult with other municipalities and send a recommendation tv AMO The Committee agreed on the following action: That staff consult with other municipalities to see what they are doing, consult with Ontario Ciean Tech Alliance, and contact AMO to determine if they plan to take a position on this issue. Staff will then bring an information report to EDAC prior to circulating to Council as soon as possible. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.