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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 16, 2009 City 00 Minutes / Meeting Summary Sustainable Pickering Advisory.Committee i i September 16, 2009 PICKERI 2:00 pm Main Committee Room Attendees: Mayor Ryan Doug Dickerson, City Councillor, Ward 2 (Chair) Jennifer O'Connell, City Councillor, Ward 1 (Vice-Chair) Tom Melymuk, Director, Office of Sustainability Catherine Rose, Manager, Policy Lynn Winterstein, Manager, Marketing & Business Development Chantal Whitaker, Coordinator, Sustainability Deborah Wylie, Senior Planner - Policy Jack McGinnis - Durham Sustain Ability Marla Shim, Executive Assistant, Council (Recording Secretary) Absent: David Pickles, City Councillor, Ward 3 Item / Details & Discussion & 'Conclusion Action Items % Status Ref # (summary of discussion) (include deadline as appropriate) 1. Welcome & Introductions Councillor Dickerson welcomed everyone to the meeting and passed regrets from Councillor Pickles. 2. Green Energy and Green Economy Act Update D. Wylie provided an overview of the Planning & P&D staff will monitor Development Department's comments to the Ministry of the the EBR website and Environment's proposed regulations to remove local barriers report back to the to renewable energy installations. Some of the comments Committee. included: ~ P&D staff to send an • That the Ministry continues to enforce a tree protection/ electronic copy of their preservation by-law. Trees provide significant reduction comments to SPAC in energy consumption and green house gas emissions members. • The Province will setup a licensing/regulation regime to assist municipalities P&D staff to send a • Next step is the approval of regulations and posting on copy of their the EBR (Environmental Bill of Rights) website comments to Verdian for their information. Page 1 CORP0228-2/02 3. Letter'to the Region re: Waste Divdirs'id"w4br. Business A draft letter addressed to the Region of Durham regarding waste diversion within the IC&I sector was circulated to members. It is in response to an email that Councillor Pickles received from a resident who was concerned about the lack of recycling in local restaurants. Members discussed and agreed that the letter should be sent The letter will be sent to Cliff Curtis, Commissioner of Works with a request that it to the Commissioner of be forwarded to the Region's Works Committee for Works at the Region of endorsement before it goes to Regional Council. Durham. 4. Thermo-Chemical Storage of Solar Energy T. Melymuk informed Committee members that the City of Pickering has been asked to partner with SAIC Canada for their thermo chemical storage of solar energy system submission. It is a renewal energy source that captures solar energy, storing heat in the summer for use in the winter. It is .an efficient alternative to fuel and a potential marketable product for the future. He feels that it is a good opportunity for the City to become involved in a potential nationally recognized program and advised that our Chief Building Official is especially interested T. Melymuk will in the source, from a building perspective. The University of provide detailed Toronto Institute of Technology, University of Ottawa and information of the other firms are also involved in the technical component of project to members. the project. 5. Idling By-law The City of Pickering's Idling of Vehicles By-law Review was distributed to members. C. Whitaker advised that the by-law was adopted in 2004. Since then, several other municipalities have made revisions to their by-law. Staff researched 29 Ontario municipalities and made suggestions for improvements to Pickering's By- law. Some of the future recommendations included: • Reduce the idling time for both individual and transit vehicles and add boats • Add an extreme temperature component during the winter • Include a set fine • Develop a comprehensive education campaign to target various sectors of the community Page 2 CORP0228-2/02 • Engage schools so that students can assist in educating their parents/guardians • Add idling free zone signs near schools, libraries, community and recreation centres and the Pickering Civic Complex • Send businesses an email/e-postcard asking that they remind their employees, delivery service providers and customers about the revised idling by-law • Engage Durham Region Transit and GO Transit to ensure that their operators are aware of the revised by-law Discussion ensued and the following was agreed upon: • Explore the extreme temperature component, but include a range. Investigate if there was resistance in other municipalities. • Explore the feasibility of Part 1 and Part 2 tickets C. Whitaker will • Investigate if signage could also be installed near railway prepare a report for crossings SPAC. • Determine if special status can be provided to Pickering Town Centre security officers so that they could enforce a revised by-law on their property. • Prepare a report to SPAC with the findings and recommendations. SPAC to discuss and consider recommending to Council 5. Google Analytics for Sustainable Pickering Website, YouTube, Flickr and Next Steps C. Whitaker provided a demonstration and overview of Google Analytics service on the Sustainable Pickering website. She advised that Google Analytics (a comprehensive tool that allows us an in-depth look at traffic that is accessing our website) has been added. It tracks website traffic from all over the world and provides a breakdown of the number of visits vs. unique visits. It also provides information about how people are finding the site and what pages are most frequently visited. This information will enable us to make improvements and also assist in marketing the site. C. Whitaker also demonstrated the new Sustainable Pickering YouTube and flickr sites and a few new features on the website, such as the accessibility section. C. Whitaker advised that arrangements have been made to have the videographer from Sustainable Pickering Day videotape Councillor O'Connell, Sustainable Pickering Page 3 CORP0228-2/02 sponsors and a few City staff. They are scheduled to be at City Hall on September 28th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. 6. Mea'S rin Sustainabili Progress Re0ort T. Melymuk and J. McGinnis provided an update on our Measuring Sustainability Progress Report. They advised that we are now at the stage where we are ready to measure and monitor our progress. The information is being gathered and will be available as an online document. They advised that 19 of the 32 indicators (including community and corporate green house gas emissions) are proposed to be measured. The Report will be ready in the spring. After discussing, the following recommendations were made: • SPAC would like to discuss the indicators and review the spreadsheet for comments to find out if additional items C. Whitaker will could be measured for this report. Also look into what the prepare a spread issues are for those that cannot be measured.at this time. sheet of the indicators Staff to ensure that detailed reports are provided to the that shows the data Committee before they are released to the public. source (or lack of) and • This will be a "living document" recommendation. A discussion arose with regards to the previous work at the C. Whitaker to compile Recreation Complex with "Global Emissions Systems Inc." the information and and the resulting reduction in emissions from the ice send an email to equipment. C.Whitaker indicated that she would find out the SPAC. status of the proposed 2010 initiative (pending budget approval) to retrofit additional fleet vehicles with the same equipment. 7. OtherBusiness T. Melymuk reported that yesterday's meeting with Durham Sustain Ability and the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure T. Melymuk will notify was successful. It was an introductory meeting to table an committee members of idea. any future meetings with the Province. After a lengthy discussion, it was agreed that a request would be made to the Province for a follow-up meeting with A request will be made committee members. Interested staff members will also be to hold the meeting in invited to attend. Pickering. J. McGinnis provided an update on the Brock West Project. The original proposal, discussed last year with Council, is Page 4 CORP0228-2/02 focused first on,the City of Pickering assuming community control over the closed landfill site, which will continue to be owned by the City of Toronto (as part of their obligation for perpetual care). A photovoltaic solar project has been proposed for part of the 250 acre site and nature trails could be developed throughout much of the northern and eastern sides of the site. A number of other community-use components are being considered. Most recently, it has been suggested that this site could be ideal for the creation of a "recycling museum" - something in particular to mark the creation and growth of the Blue Box. More details will be brought to the Committee, as available. C. Whitaker to send an Due to the fact the meeting was running late, C. Whitaker email to SPAC about a informed members that she will be sending an email to solicit proposed Corporate feedback on the idea of a Corporate Sustainability Policy & Sustainability Policy & Procedures. Procedures. 8. Next' Meeting Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 2:00 pm Meeting Adjourned: 4:10 pm Copy: City Clerk Page 5 CORP0228-2/02