Report to: GENERAL COMMITTEE Report Date: September 17, 2007

SUBJECT: Proceeding with a Community Sustainability Plan

PREPARED BY: Victoria McGrath x 7516

RECOMMENDATION:

That the staff report entitled “Proceeding with a Community Sustainability Plan”, dated September 17, 2007, be endorsed;

And that staff be authorized to develop a Request for Proposal and to retain a consultant to undertake a Community Sustainability Plan in 2008 for the Town of Markham, as outlined in this report, to an upset limit of $120,000, to be funded by the Gas Tax as identified in the 2008 capital budget process;

And that staff report on the progress of the Community Sustainability Plan through General Committee;

And that Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The focus of this report is to seek Council’s approval for staff to develop a terms of reference and retain a consultant to prepare a community sustainability plan that would encompass Councils strategic priorities, build upon the corporate environmental management plan and move the Town of Markham toward a sustainable future. A community sustainability plan would be long term, comprehensive, community-driven and action oriented. In addition, the completion of a community sustainability plan would meet the terms of the Gas Tax agreement with the federal government, thereby providing continued funding under the agreement for sustainability initiatives.

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial

5. Others (Environmental, Accessibility, Engage 21st, Affected Units) 6. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to seek Council’s approval for staff to prepare a request for proposal and retain a consultant to undertake a Community Sustainability Plan that will expand on the corporate environmental management plan. The Community Sustainability Plan would recommend a number of strategies, supported by individual and community-based actions, developed in consultation with the community, each designed to move the Town of Markham toward a desired sustainable future.

BACKGROUND:

At their June 26, 2007, meeting, Council received a report from the City of Melbourne entitled “Zero Net Emissions by 2020 – A Roadmap to a Climate Neutral City” and referred the report to the CAOs Office. Staff were asked to report back to Council in September 2007 with a terms of reference for a committee to develop an environmental plan for the Town of Markham. In addition, staff were asked to consider how the Town of Markham might emulate the City of Melbourne’s approach to becoming carbon neutral.

In his inaugural speech, the Mayor outlined a strategic framework for the upcoming term of Council, including a GreenPrint for Markham, tree planting, growth and transportation initiatives. Subsequently, in March 2007, Council developed six themes within the strategic framework: growth, transportation, environment, parks recreation, culture and library master plan and public safety, service levels and diversity. Municipal action around each of these strategic areas would help move Markham towards community sustainability.

In 2005, CH2M Hill was retained to develop an environmental management plan for the Town. The environmental management plan was completed and presented to Council with a staff report in June 2006. The recommendations of the environmental management plan (EMP) included establishing an overarching office to oversee implementation of the EMP and establishing an environmental standing committee of Council. The staff report outlining the completed environmental management plan is attached as Appendix A. There is an opportunity to expand on the environmental management plan, which was corporately-focused, to develop a community sustainability plan.

The policies, projects and initiatives identified as priorities by the Mayor and Council can all be included under the umbrella of a community sustainability plan.

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

What is a Community Sustainability Plan

A community sustainability plan would help the Town of Markham move towards a sustainable vision for the municipality. A community sustainability planning process typically involves Council, staff, the public, community organizations and businesses in order to begin to build support for the long-term sustainable community vision.

The community sustainability plan would help to accelerate the shift in local planning and decision-making toward a more long-term, coherent and participatory approach to achieve sustainable communities.  The community sustainability plan would facilitate more effective planning and management of the Towns assets and resources to achieve identifiable outcomes, deliver services and address priorities within an integrated framework encompassing the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of community sustainability.

Building Markham’s Future Together

Significantly, each of the strategic priorities developed by Council at their workshop in March 2007 – growth management, transportation, environment, parks recreation, culture and library master plan and public safety, service levels and diversity - concern sustainability as a general framework. Sustainability is comprised of economic, social and environmental elements and helps to maintain balance between these fundamental themes.

“Imagine if you will, three overlapping circles: one representing environmental needs, one representing economic needs, and one representing community social needs. The area where the circles overlap is the area of sustainability, the areas of livability – the area where all the threads of quality of life come together... we must recognize that these three circles are not separate, unrelated entities.” (John Kitzhaber, former Oregon Governor)

To move towards sustainability, Council needs to develop a vision of what Markham would look like in a successful and sustainable future, and then identify actions required to achieve this future.

A community sustainability plan (CSP) would include the following elements: a strategic environmental plan and “green print” for Markham, including policies for natural heritage protection; civic engagement, including an education and communication strategy; a funding strategy and economic considerations; green policies and processes related to natural heritage, climate change, buildings, waste management and energy, and; strategies and initiatives for maintaining a healthy, vibrant and sustainable community. In addition, the CSP would be long term, comprehensive, community-driven and action oriented.

Zero Net Emissions as part of the CSP

The City of Melbourne recently released a strategy or roadmap that leads to a carbon neutral future – “Zero Net Emissions by 2020”. Within this strategy are means to achieving “carbon neutral” status where the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the operations of the city are consciously offset by directed actions including green buildings, carbon sequestration and trading mechanisms, investment in renewable energy and various social marketing tools.

The City of Melbourne has been working towards becoming a sustainable community since approximately 1996 when it joined the Cities for Climate Protection Program (CCP - now called Partners for Climate Protection). Since joining the CCP, Melbourne recognized the need to develop a longer term approach to sustainability and undertook an Environmental Management Plan in 1999 which deals broadly with waste management, a Growing Green Environmental Sustainability Plan which deals with the City’s natural heritage resources and open spaces and developed a Greenhouse Action Plan 2006-2010 where Melbourne Council set a goal to reduce emissions from its operations by 30 per cent by the year 2010 and upon which the 2020 strategy was built. The City of Melbourne has developed a range of other strategies intended to lead towards sustainability but has not, apparently, developed a comprehensive approach that provides a strategic framework and encompasses the broader sustainability context.

Certainly, staff could embark on a strategy that would lead Markham towards carbon neutrality. In some respects this has already begun, for example, with the establishment of the Markham Energy Conservation Office and the initiation of the Partners for Climate Protection Milestones as an implementation initiative of the environmental management plan. The concern with this approach, however, is in its individual action; the ultimate goal is carbon neutrality rather than considering greenhouse gas reduction in the context of sustainability. Within the sustainability framework, greenhouse gas reduction might be an individual strategy or could be a co-benefit to other initiatives. For instance, a strategy to improve air quality would provide environmental benefits by protecting biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions while socially the co-benefits would include reduced health-related issues and, economically, reduced health costs of people in the community falling ill from pollution.

Similarly, from an environmental perspective agriculture may be perceived as having negative consequences, given the resulting animal waste and heavy reliance on pesticides. However, agriculture can also provide significant opportunities for carbon sequestration and provides economic and social benefits. For example, a local food movement which includes farmers markets in the community improves economic conditions for farmers and social conditions for the community by making local food more accessible. In addition, promoting local food and farmers markets reduces reliance on transportation – both of the produce and those requiring it – and thereby becomes a co-benefit to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, smog and improved air quality.

Another example from an economic perspective would be related to the implementation of triple-bottom-line accounting through a CSP. Currently, municipal financial accounting focuses mainly on the fiscal bottom line; triple-bottom-line accounting would take into consideration the economic, social and environmental aspects of an initiative or program. In this instance, the Town of Markham may consider how it manages its aging infrastructure; although it is extremely costly to maintain or replace older infrastructure, with the potential impacts of extreme weather events, drought and flooding associated with climate change, the cost of leaving the infrastructure in its aged state could be many times more should property, roads or other infrastructure be damaged. Triple-bottom-line accounting would provide an overall picture of the costs associated with leaving the infrastructure in its current state versus the costs of improving it over time.

In fact, a CSP would provide a number of strategies, supported by hundreds of individual and community-based actions, developed in consultation with the community, each designed to move the Town of Markham toward a desired sustainable future. This is the approach recommended by staff in this report.

Purpose of a Community Sustainability Plan

Through its development, the CSP would examine issues, policies, projects and events that have Town-wide sustainability implications and would include a definition of sustainability with supporting goals, policies, objectives and standards. The purpose of the CSP would be to enhance or build upon existing environmental, economic, social and cultural initiatives, planning instruments and processes.

In this regard, the Official Plan Review and other planning and development initiatives would inform the CSP and be coordinated within it. This would include the Environmental Policy Review, currently underway, as an integral component of the Green Print, or natural heritage strategy. The Green Print would be one component of the CSP, just as a climate change action plan or transportation master plan would be. The CSP would provide a comprehensive and strategic umbrella under which other initiatives, processes and programs could be coordinated, integrated and informed.

A CSP would ensure Markham has:

• A coordinated approach to community sustainability (e.g. linkages of various plans, planning and financial tools that contribute to sustainability objectives)
• Reflected and integrated social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability objectives
• Engaged residents in determining a long-term vision for the municipality, and,
• Collaborated with other municipalities and other levels of government, where appropriate

In addition, over the life of the federal gas tax funding, municipalities are required to create a CSP.

The CSP is a requirement of the Federal Gas Tax:

In the 2005 federal budget, the Government of Canada created “The New Deal for Cities and Communities” to help progress towards sustainability.  This “New Deal” uses gas tax revenue to fund community sustainability infrastructure projects.  In order to access such funds, municipalities are required to have a Community Sustainability Plan (CSP). CSPs are intended to engage community members in a dialogue on the sustainable future of their city or community. A portion of the gas tax allocation can be used to develop a CSP.

CSPs are defined in the gas tax agreement as: “long term plans, developed in consultation with community members that provide direction for the community to realize sustainability objectives for the environmental, cultural, social and economic dimension of its identity.”

The gas tax money is designated for “green infrastructure” projects. These can include:

·        Drinking water treatment and distribution

·        Public transit

·        Wastewater systems

·        Solid waste

·        Community energy systems

·        Building system improvements that yield significant energy efficiency improvements, and

·        Transportation infrastructure that enhances sustainability outcomes

Developing a CSP would meet the criteria of the gas tax funding agreement and provide an opportunity for the Town to move forward with its sustainability agenda.

To develop a CSP and meet the terms of the Gas Tax Agreement, Markham would need to follow this methodology:

ü Establish a timeframe.

ü Develop the CSP through a public consultation process. The Town would advertise and hold at least three public meetings, all three of which can be regular meetings of the organization. The CSP process would provide at least two methods for public input. The comments and submissions as part of the public review process must be shared. The draft and final CSP must be publicly available. The CSP must be approved at a regular or special meeting where the public is able to attend.

ü The CSP would address sustainability principles.

ü The CSP would identify priority projects. There are many sustainability-linked initiatives already underway at the Town. These could continue and new initiatives could be prioritized to compliment existing initiatives. Coordinating, integrating and building on these efforts and communicating them effectively would enhance community engagement.

ü The CSP would demonstrate that cooperative efforts have been made between governments. The CSP would provide an opportunity to enhance intergovernmental affairs and promote the Town of Markham’s sustainability agenda.

This course of action is set out in the Gas Tax funding guidelines by the Association of Municipalities for Ontario (AMO).

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference for the CSP would be prepared in consultation with all commissions in the Town. A project manager would lead the process, consult with a staff team and work with the staff team throughout the RFP process. Once a consultant was retained, a staff team would once again guide the consultant. Throughout the CSP process staff would report to General Committee and seek input. General Committee may wish to establish a consistent reporting process to ensure Council involvement and participation, particularly throughout the civic engagement.

Conclusion

This report seeks Council approval to prepare a request for proposal and retain a consultant to undertake a Community Sustainability Plan. The CSP will, among other things, expand on the corporate environmental management plan to incorporate a climate change action plan, the green print and meet the criteria for continued federal Gas Tax monies.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE: (external link)

A Community Sustainability Plan for the Town of Markham has been identified in the 2008 capital budget process, to an upset limit of $120,000, to be funded by the Gas Tax.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

A Community Sustainability Plan would inform and strengthen each of the strategic priorities developed by Council at the Council workshop in March 2007.

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable.

ENGAGE 21^ST CONSIDERATIONS:

A Community Sustainability Plan would support all of the Town of Markham’s corporate goals.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

All

RECOMMENDED BY: ________________________

John Livey, CAO

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix A - Environmental Management Plan Final Report - Phase One, dated June 12, 2006