On the agenda for the February 26 council meeting there is a report presenting the final draft of the new green building standards for King Township called ThinKING Green: Sustainable Development Program. Although there continues to be limitation on our ability to enforce I am very enthused about this as it sets out very clearly what standards we want and I do believe that overtime we will progress towards achieving that standard. There will be a presentation at Council on this.

The program expands on the sustainability policies in our Official Plan and builds on and replaces our current green development standards program. Not only is the new Program more robust with improved metrics it is, I believe, truly streamlined so that it is easier to understand and to work with. The draft Program is proposed to apply to both site plan and draft plan of subdivision applications; the broad applicability of the program encourages a larger portion of new development to be built to a higher standard and to protect and enhance the natural and built environment while incorporating efficient, innovative and sustainable measures. All of this is increasingly important given serious concerns about living with and mitigating climate change and housing costs which encompasses both acquisition and on going costs.

As I mentioned above there are limitations on enforcement. In fact, participation in the program is voluntary. As reviewed in the report there are sections in the Planning Act which allow for reviewing some elements through the site plan application process and there is a potential for a bylaw focused very specifically on certain elements. I am very interested to understand more about this.

As reviewed in the document there has been substantial consultation including some developers who are active in King and BILD (Building Industry and Land Development Association).  The last 10 pages of the report show the feedback on the draft and our planners comments to that.

As always emails to council or deputations at council are much appreciated; send emails to clerks@king.ca or register for deputations at clerks@king.ca. Please do so by noon on Monday, February 26. Also I’m interested to receive your comments on this blog.