Planning for an Environmentally Friendly Community

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Objectives for planning for sustainability

A comprehensive framework for environmental sustainability needs to consider the following general areas:

1. living sustainably
2. energy consumption
3. nature conservation, and
4. nature protection

Each of these general areas can be sub-divided into more specific environmental themes that are relevant to our community. For each of these four general areas, we have developed goals applicable to master planning, as well as specific objectives for each of the relevant themes. We acknowledge that many of these themes are being addressed, but believe that they would be better integrated into the plan if dealt with within a comprehensive framework.

1. Living sustainably -- Achieve measurable progress towards sustainability, reducing our overall consumption of ecological goods and services. This objective can be made tangible as "reduce ecological footprint of our community by 10 percent over 5 years". (Practical measures of ecological footprint are currently available).

   1. Water

      1. Quality and quantity of groundwater supply must be maintained so that groundwater supplies are not depleted and ground water quality meets or exceeds provincial and federal drinking water standards.

      2. Surface water quality should be maintained based on targets established from "pristine" lakes or stretches of rivers and creeks (such data is available from H2O Chelsea).

   2. Sewage and waste-water

      1. Ensure safety of drinking water supply by preventing contamination of groundwater;

      2. Ensure use of best available technology for sewage and wastewater treatment based on full environmental audit or full-cost accounting (ie. taking into account least environmental impact from waste treatment options, including analysis of energy used in various options, along with environmental risk). For example, it may or may not be better environmental practice to pump and haul sewage, rather than create multi-unit sewage treatment plants. These decisions should be based on a full environmental assessment;

   3. Material consumption

      1. Reduce the impact of material consumption by encouraging environmental purchasing and material usage by individuals, households and institutions;

      2. The Municipality should show leadership through a green purchasing policy.

   4. Waste management/recycling

      1. Regional waste diversion objectives should be met or exceeded through implementation of regional waste management program complemented by education program providing residents with full range of options for waste diversion.

      2. Create public awareness of options for disposal for toxic products such as computers.

   5. Re-using

      1. Encourage re-use of materials by supporting community initiatives that encourage such actions (Nearly New, ski and skate swap, outdoor gear exchange etc);

   6. Pesticides and toxics

      1. Minimize risk to human health and environment from pesticides and toxics.

2. Energy consumption - Reduce overall per capita energy consumption by (10%) over next five years.

   This objective must be met collectively through actions by individuals, households, government, and commercial establishments. This will require a community energy audit as a starting point for monitoring progress. Clearly energy consumption is a fundamental challenge to Chelsea's claim to be "environmentally friendly", and reducing energy use is critical to Chelsea being a good environmental "citizen" within Canada and the global community.

   As part of our objective of reducing energy consumption, Chelsea should focus its efforts on contributing to achieving Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Accord on climate change. We believe Chelsea should show leadership by exceeding Canada's Kyoto target by reducing C02 emissions to eight percent below 1990 levels (Canada's commitment is to 6% reduction below 1990 levels).

   It is important to remember that our contributions to the Kyoto target must be made primarily through reducing fossil fuel consumption. Because Quebec's electricity supply is primarily hydro-electric, not produced from fossil fuels, reducing electricity contributes little to achieving Kyoto targets (although all reductions in energy consumption contribute to reducing Chelsea's ecological footprint and are important to sustainability). Following through on Chelsea's commitment to the "Partnership for Climate Protection" program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is a good way to start Chelsea down the path towards meeting Kyoto targets.

   Areas where we can reduce energy consumption include:

   1. Buildings

      1. Reduce energy consumption in existing and new buildings, both public and private. We suggest the Municipality could require, through regulation, that all new residences meet defined energy efficiency standards such as the R2000 (or better) standard.

   2. Encouraging energy-efficient transportation through:

      1. better access to public transit;

      2. encouraging purchase of energy efficient vehicles, and operation to maximize efficiency;

      3. provision of safe network of cycling paths both within the community and between Chelsea and the city;

      4. provision of a network of trails to encourage walking within the community.

   3. Demonstrate leadership in energy efficiency through municipal construction and retrofit projects that use best environmental practices and technologies.

3. Nature protection: Our vision for Chelsea, including Gatineau Park, is an area where viable populations of all native plants and animals can persist. The plants and animals that live in and around our community have definable needs. To achieve this vision, we need to plan how we use the land and interact with wildlife, including the following:

   1. Habitat protection

      1. Establish and support a Chelsea Land Trust (or engage with existing land trusts if feasible) that will acquire several key properties to be managed for conservation and appropriate use. Land trusts are a proven legal conservation mechanism that enable conservation through easements, landowner agreements or outright purchase.

      2. One habitat protection option that would achieve several objectives (recreational, political and environmental) is to establish a conservation corridor on the southern boundary of Chelsea that would maintain a "green belt" between Chelsea and Gatineau. This could buffer Chelsea from Gatineau, enhance the conservation role of Gatineau Park, and provide recreational connections. We suggest that we could pursue such an arrangement in cooperation with the NCC and the Quebec government.

   2. Rare and Unique sites - fundamental to any habitat conservation program is protecting rare and unique sites. To achieve this objective the municipality should:

      1. Conduct an inventory of rare and unique ecological sites (e.g. rare plant communities) by engaging its considerable local capacity in this field.

      2. Initiate a landowner contact program to promote awareness and voluntary stewardship of identified rare and unique sites.

   3. Wetlands

      1. Continue to protect all existing wetlands through the Wetlands by law.

4. Nature conservation: To conserve functional ecological communities throughout the Municipality and region. Nature conservation implies the wise use of species and ecosystems. The community of Chelsea is the steward of large amounts of wild land and needs to consider stewardship in the following areas:

   1. Exotic species

      1. Reduce the impact of exotic species on native species and communities through awareness and prevention programs. There is an initial efforts underway to control the exotic plant called "dog strangling vine". There are other threats of this kind in our community and these need to be addressed in a systematic way.

   2. Harvest levels

      1. Ensure that harvesting of local wildlife populations is sustainable and meets community objectives e.g. white-tailed deer

   3. Living with wildlife

      1. Chelsea has ongoing wildlife issues due to encroachment of human populations into wildlife habitat (eg. black bears, beavers, fishers). We should have a "living with wildlife" program that aims to educate residents about how to prevent wildlife conflicts. This is another area in which the voluntary sector could be mobilized to contribute.

   4. Landscape connectivity - It is important to maintain a connected natural landscape so that wildlife can move to meet lifecycle needs. A simple example is the importance of protecting breeding ponds for amphibians. A pond is not useful if frogs, salamanders etc. cannot reach the pond to breed because access is blocked by a road. Connectivity is an overlooked but critical conservation issue. The municipality can be proactive in this area by:

      1. Identifying, mapping and conserving functional connections for wildlife;

      2. Planning on a whole ecosystem basis by cooperating with Gatineau Park and adjacent municipalities for nature conservation. We are doing this for water (watershed initiatives) and should expand this concept to the conservation of biodiversity.

5. Gatineau River - Ensure the maintenance of ecological integrity and water quality in the Gatineau River

   1. Maintain the Gatineau River at or above provincial water quality standards through best practices in Chelsea, and engagement with other Municipalities in the watershed.