Sustainability Performance Metrics

Upwind Downwind 2014 ConferenceFebruary 24, 2014

Implementing the

Measuring Sustainability Performance of New Developmentin Brampton, Richmond Hill and Vaughan

Outline of presentation

1. Project goals and context

2. Project phases and deliverables

3. Lessons learned from collaboration and early implementation issues

Measuring the Sustainability Performance of New Development

Brampton, Richmond Hill and Vaughan – Performance Metrics

• Provide municipal staff with tools to guide and quantify the sustainability performance of new developments

• Build on existing protocols for review of development applications

• Provide the development industry with a consistent set of sustainability guidelines and metrics across 3 municipalities.

• Value-added elements of the project include:• Municipal collaboration;• Metric testing in staff workshops;• Excel tool for scoring applications (consultant

addition);• Alignment with objectives of health agencies.

3

The project

Bill 51 amendments to Planning Act provide for exterior sustainable design elements as part of Site Plan Control;

Municipalities leading this effort include Toronto (Toronto Green Standard), Pickering (Sustainable Development Guidelines), Oakville, Markham, East Gwillimbury and others

FCM grant awarded in December 2010 and partner MOU signed in January 2011

Phase 1 underway in 2011 and Phase 2 underway in 2012

Third and final Milestone Report and Completion Report submitted to FCM in December 2013 to mark project completion

Context

Phase 1 – Brampton’s SCDG’s

• Sustainable Community Development Guidelines (SCDGs) prepared for Brampton

• SCDGs set out the qualitative preferences for the physical design of the built environment which set the framework for the Phase 2 work

Phase 2 - Sustainability Performance Metrics

• 3 Performance Tiers• Mandatory Requirements - existing standard or requirement

based on relevant legislation• Recommended minimum – “doing better than you have to”• Aspirational – “best in class”.

• Points system used to quantify how well developments achieve “recommended minimum” or “aspirational” metrics

• “Recommended minimum” or “aspirational” metrics do not need to be met for all metrics (i.e. different approach than Tier 1 and 2 in the Toronto Green Standard)

• Static Tool similar to a traditional checklist

• Dynamic Tool based in Excel

Static Tool

• Excel Spreadsheet – easy to update and conform to changing targets• Differentiates plan types and users• Tool is divided into the 4 core themes and quantifies and scores sustainability

performance• Measures compliance against mandatory requirements• Identifies Minimum and Aspirational Thresholds• Provides opportunity to identify scenarios for plan improvements

Dynamic Tool

Pedestrian Connections - Proximity to School

Are 50% of dwelling units within 800 meters walking distance of public/private elementary, Montessori, and middle

schools?Yes

Are 50% of dwellings units within 1600 meters of public/private high schools?

Yes

Are 75% of dwelling units within 400 meters walking distance of public/private elementary, Montessori, and middle

schools?No

Are 75% of dwellings units within 1000 meters of public/private high schools?

No

Dynamic Tool : Example Question

400m

Shared goal among partners

MOU identifies key roles and minimum financial details

Frequent partner communications and sign-off (longer schedule but better products in the end)

Information sharing as part of the collaboration was extremely useful in quickly addressing internal and external feedback

Partnership boosts the credibility of the products

Collaboration has been successful and there is interest in identifying other projects suitable for a collaborative approach.

Lessons from collaboration

Vaughan easing into implementation by first initiating a testing stage

Six additional staff meetings in June 2013 with a focus on implementation issues prior to Council adoption

No budget implications for testing stage

Will need to use the testing stage to identify amendments to the Site Plan Control By-Law, Site Plan Agreement template and Subdivision Agreement template to more fully implement the Sustainability Metrics

Will need to use the testing stage to identify sustainability thresholds to approve an application (although also through ongoing consultation with Richmond Hill and Brampton)

Implementation Issues

Thank you!