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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-01-18ENVY1995-01-18 JAN UARY 18, 1995 ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER The Environmental Committee met this date commencing at 3:30 p.m. with the following members present: Councillor C. Weylie, Dr. J. Kay, Ms. K. Kempel, Ms. W. Matchett, Mr. K. Meinzinger, Mr. D. Hilker and Mr. M. Barker. Councillors T. Galloway and J. Ziegler entered the meeting shortly after its commencement. Officials Present: Mr. B. Stanley, Mr. G. Nixon, Mr. L. Masseo, Mr. T. Boutilier, Mr. C. Ford and Mr. L.W. Neil. 1 .OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIC PLAN Councillor C. Weylie advised that when the City first resolved to address changing environmental issues and concerns, it chose to do so from a corporate operations viewpoint. For almost a year the Committee and staff held public meetings and discussed input, after which staff gathered the data and after further Committee discussions, the Strategic Plan for the Environment was produced and adopted by City Council. The Plan is now several years old and should be updated where required. She pointed out that Kitchener's Plan was chosen one of the ten best plans at the World Environmental Conference held in Brazil a few year's ago. Councillor Weylie advised that she accepted an invitation from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities to promote Kitchener's Plan and that subsequently Kitchener's environmental logo was incorporated on City Letterhead. In preparing the Plan, a Mission Statement was first developed and seven Main Functional Areas of environmental issues were defined relative to the City's operations. Mr. B. Stanley commented that the Plan was prepared in such a way that it was not done on a departmental basis but rather on a subject basis that often cut through responsibilities of more than one department. Councillors T. Galloway and J. Ziegler entered the meeting at this point. The Committee reviewed a slide presentation depicting storm water management activities and the revisions that have taken place that have resulted in adoption of naturalization processes. Dr. J. Kay presented a slide presentation for the Environmental document. He specifically referred to the advantage of how the Functional Areas in the Plan are anchored in the ecological world rather that in the bureaucratic world. He explained how the Initiatives of each Main Functional Area were prioritized as Level 1, 2 or 3 and used the Waste Management topic as an example to explain the level categories. Mr. B. Stanley pointed out that each lead department was responsible for incorporating Initiatives into its Operating Budget and Budget Capital Forecast. Councillor T. Galloway stated that is was hoped to commence an annual review of the Strategic Plan after this year. 2.REVIEW OF "ENERGY SYSTEMS" FUNCTIONAL AREA OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Mr. Chris Ford appeared before the Committee to present the Energy Systems Main Functional Area. He quoted the primary objective of the Functional Area and commented that he thought it still applies given it refers to reduction of use, change of sources and change of life habits. Mr. Ford pointed out that his duties deal with City owned assets which were things that the City could control. Accordingly, his focus has been on reduction and change of sources. One of his primary tasks has been to make all buildings of the city into "smart buildings". In this regard, he distributed a copy of the "Automated Building Control Installation Program" listing specific city buildings and implementation dated from 1991 to 2002. He advised that currently, 5 major city buildings were "smart buildings": Transit Terminal, Centre In The Square, Farmers Market, City Hall and the Kitchener Public Library Main Branch. The cost of the program for all buildings is estimated at $1.6 million. Mr. Ford then referred to other energy reduction programs that have been implemented and noted that savings achieved are plowed back into reduction programs. He suggested that need now was for a different process other than policies and guidelines and that a better approach would through workshops, etc. He advised that at the present time due to commitments, he was unable to address other programs on the list. ENVIRONMENTAL COMMII-FEE MINUTES JANUARY 18, 1995 CITY OF KITCI:IENER 2.REVIEW OF "ENERGY SYSTEMS" FUNCTIONAL AREA OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (CONT'D) Ms. K. Kempel commented that education relative to energy savings procedures was an issue and questioned if there is an on-going problem as a result of staff turnover at many city facilities. Mr. Ford responded that education was critical and must be focused on in order to get needed information out to and retained by facility operators. Councillor T. Galloway pointed out what Mr. Ford was saying was that what has been done has been successful but that no headway could be made on other Initiatives on the list. He questioned how the Committee could deal with this matter. Mr. B. Stanley suggested consideration be given to which of the uncompleted items could be put into a seminar or other format and commented that it was evident one individual could not handle it all. Mr. Ford noted that there could be a variety as to the type of workshop/seminar and to whether they should be mandatory or voluntary. Councillor T. Galloway suggested Department's should provide related educational seminar comment at the time of their presentations and he reviewed Council's March 28, 1994 resolution which outlines a focus for the Strategic Plan review. He asked that it be re-circulated to Departments as a reminder respecting the Plan review. Mr. Ford then reviewed "Energy Systems" Initiatives as prioritized. Under Level 1, he advised: 1.1- be consolidated into a workshop 1.2- be consolidated into a workshop 1.5- has been completed 1.7- comments: vehicle NC is contentious, the norm in private industry was questioned, NC only appropriate under very specific situations - retain 1.7 wording and consider development of more stringent criteria and designate responsibility to Fleet Division 2.1- comments: passive solar energy in buildings requires fundamental design change with too many problems, better approach is to put equivalent funds into more insulation - delete 2.1 2.3- on target as per Installation Program 2.6- comment: new engine technologies are coming, increased awareness overall operating costs should be part of decision making process - retain 2.6 and designate responsibility to Fleet Division 2.7- comment: education issue - consolidate into a workshop 3.1- comment: on an annual basis review available technology and make decisions at the time, generally retro-fitting is not a good approach, retain as a separate item but acknowledge it involves a lot of work beyond Mr. Ford's capability to address it - change 3.1 to a Level 3 priority and designate responsibility to Fleet Division 5.1- retain, completion anticipated in 1995 2.2- comment: Ontario Building Code has dealt with it, substantially out of city control - delete 2.2 1.6- consolidate in a workshop respecting driving practices 2.13 - retain 3.4- comment: intent was to look at total cost of a particular energy source in a specific situation but not a lot of practical implications, its an issue of keeping abreast of technology but is not really an initiative - delete 3.4 2.8- consolidate into a workshop 1.8- consolidate into a workshop (basically done) The question was raised as to what are new strategic priorities, for example what items in Levels 2 and 3 should be bumped up, if appropriate. For the next meeting, it was suggested Mr. Ford table any new priorities or any re-prioritization. Mr. Ford commented that because Level 1 still has too many priorities, it was not possible to deal with Level 2 and 3 priorities but that he would consider possible reprioritizations. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOP OR VISIONING SESSION ENVIRONMENTAL COMMII-FEE MINUTES JANUARY 18, 1995 -3- CITY OF KITCI:IENER A Staff Report dated January 13, 1995 concerning the March 25th Environmental Workshop proposal was distributed this date for the Committee's consideration. Mr. B. Stanley advised that following staff consideration of the workshop format it is suggested that the consultation process be undertaken in two sessions. The first session would consist of a "in house round table discussion" among just the committee and staff and the second session would consist of the "community based workshop" on March 25th. Mr. Stanley advised that a draft agenda for each session was attached to the staff report. He commented that an invitation list of all environmental groups would be prepared and that a successful workshop event should attract at least 50 participants. With regard to the first session the Committee agreed to hold an informal in house round table discussion with staff commencing at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, February 8th, and direction was given to staff to further refine the agenda. With regards to the March 25th workshop it was noted that promotion of the event could commence as soon as possible utilizing newsletter and media advertising, and notification also be given to the adopt the environment groups, the school boards, and other agencies. It was agreed that details in this regard would be left with Mr. Stanley to address. 4.CITY OF GUELPH - "NO JUNK MAIL" STICKER PROGRAM A copy of the minutes of the Environmental Committee's October 5, 1994 meeting were distributed to the Committee. It had been proposed to invite distributors of unaddressed mail to attend a future meeting to discuss a way of controlling delivery of unaddressed mail to households that do not wish to receive it. The Committee was requested to consider how it wishes to address this matter in consideration of the 1995 work program. Most members of the Committee agreed that the public is very interested in the issue and were strongly in favour of dealing with it. It was agreed that since the Committee was scheduled to consider the Waste Management Main Functional Area of the Strategic Plan at its April 5th meeting, that meeting date would be an opportune time to consider the unaddressed mail issue and hear presentations in that regard. It was requested that the Clerks Department issue the necessary invitations to mail distributors such as Netmar, etc., and that it be determined what the City of Guelph has done in this regard and what material including stickers Guelph could provide. As well it was requested that information be obtained from the City of Waterloo respecting a pilot study which it conducted in the Spring of 1994 on this topic. 5. UPDATE - REGIONAL REVIEW OF WASTE MANAGEMENT Councillor T. Galloway advised the Committee that there had been no response as yet to the Committee's request for an opportunity to provide input in the review process. He advised that it was expected the report would be sent directly to the Region's Engineering Committee. Dr. J. Kay advised that the review report is done and that the report flies in the face of the public input process and the process as undertaken was completely unacceptable. He stated that he hoped Councillor's who sit on the Regional Engineering Committee can make these views known at the Region. 6. VIDEO - HURON NATURAL PARK The Committee was advised that a video for the Huron Natural Park was now complete. It was suggested that the video be shown at the Committee's next meeting. Further it was noted that the legal entity being formed to operate the park would be in place shortly. 7.INFORMATION ITEMS ENVIRONMENTAL COMMII-FEE MINUTES JANUARY 18, 1995 -4- CITY OF KITCI:IENER A. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS (a)McGill Study - News Article from Globe & Mail, December 17, 1994 (b)lnstitute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. - Article from IEEE Spectrum Magazine, December 1994 Dr. J. Kay advised that the International Journal for Electrical Engineers was a conservative publication generally and in this context the study should be considered to be significant. Of particular concern is the information concerning electrical stoves and locations where the power box enters homes to produce high electromagnetic fields. It was suggested that Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro be approached concerning this issue and an invitation be extended to a representative to attend a future meeting. B.WATER USE EFFICIENCY- REGIONAL REPORT E-WE-94-004 - 1994 REGIONAL TOILET REPLACEMENT PROGRAM C.REGIONAL ADOPT-A-ROAD PROGRAM -INFORMATION PACKAGE (LETTER ONLY) Mr. G. Nixon advised that the Region has experienced a good response to the program. With respect to the City he advised that four Adopt Your Park agreements were recently completed and that three agreements were pending. D.PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH LOCAL STRATEGIC ACTIONS "A MUNICIPAL PRIMER ON THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCED)" The Committee considered the above document dated January 26, 1994 sponsored by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. Mr. B. Stanley advised that the document provided a good background of the municipal process and clarifies the direction of municipalities on environmental issues. Councillor T. Galloway questioned if it could be determined where the City stands in relation to an evaluation against the objectives of the Agenda 21 program. E.1993 AIR QUALITY DATA SUMMARY FOR REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF WATERLOO AND THE COUNTIES OF WELLINGTON AND BRANT The Ministry of Environment and Energy provided a copy of the above report dated November 1994. Such report(s) have been received in the past. F.KMPG CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEY - 1994 RE MUNICIPALITY SECTOR RESULTS The Committee was provided with a copy of the above document reflecting data relating to the document that was distributed to the Committee at its December 14, 1994 meeting. 8. NEXT MEETING -WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1995 (4:00 p.m.) 9.ADJOURNMENT On motion, the meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. L.W. Neil, AMCT Assistant City Clerk