Planning for an Environmentally Friendly Community

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Introduction:

Action Chelsea for Respect of the Environment (ACRE) welcomes the opportunity to participate in the Chelsea Master Plan Review. Our organization, comprised of over 100 members of the community, is committed to assisting Chelsea work towards becoming a truly sustainable community. We congratulate the Municipality on the achievements made over the past decade, initiatives that have been recognized provincially, nationally and globally. We recognize that without the support of a receptive municipal government, many of the achievements that ACRE has been involved in would not been possible. However, we also believe that there is much work that remains to be done to live up to our reputation as a community interested in sustainability. We believe that by working together during the next five years, the government of Chelsea and its citizens can move much further towards truly being an environmentally-friendly community.

Instead of commenting exclusively on the perceived "hot issues" facing the community, our submission attempts to provide a set of principles and a comprehensive planning framework for environmental sustainability. We hope this approach will allow for a clear and transparent approach to planning that will then allow for setting priorities on the key issues facing our community.

We recognize that a community of 6000 people will have limits to both the number and scope of specific actions that can be taken in any planning period. Clearly, our community has made substantial progress, and is a recognized leader, in some areas of environmental stewardship. However, we are at a critical time in our development. We believe the Master Plan review provides an opportunity for Chelsea to move to the next level of environmental leadership and frame our development decisions within a strong environmental planning and decision-making framework. We hope that this submission will assist the Municipality in integrating the concept of "environment-friendly community" in a systematic and comprehensive way into the Master Plan and all future decisions guided by this plan.

In the development of a master plan for an environmentally friendly community, the following principles should apply:

1. To be environmentally friendly, planning must be comprehensive and address the full range of environmental issues. This exercise is aimed at broadening the scope of what we perceive as environmental issues, in order that we may better consider the entire set of issues before deciding on priorities. Comprehensive planning ensures planning is not directed only by the "hot button" issues of the day.
   
   
2. Community participation in planning and decision-making should be open, transparent and interactive. The environment is generally a "common good", and thus is best served when community decisions are made that explicitly consider the common good.
   
   
3. There should be a public record of goals, and progress towards achieving these goals. To achieve this, Chelsea needs to develop and monitor a meaningful set of indicators of environmental sustainability.
   
   
4. Chelsea should apply a meaningful test of sustainability against which all community decisions are measured (Chelsea currently does not have such a test, and therefore there is not a commonly understood context for community decisions). This would provide criteria that would inform the recommendations of various committees as well as all decisions made within the municipality.
   
   
5. Because of the nature of our community, we will be successful in achieving our goals if we engage the talents, skills and knowledge of community members. In the past, the volunteer sector in Chelsea has proven to be an incredible resource that has boosted the capacity of a small municipality to achieve great things, including on environmental issues. This proven record of volunteerism should be encouraged and engaged as we continue to move forward towards a goal of being an environment-friendly community. (The municipality could foster volunteerism through the provision of common space and office facilities for organizations.)
   
   
6. Chelsea's ability to chart its own course as an environmentally sustainable community is dependent on maintaining our municipal status independent of Gatineau.
   
   

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.

ACRE Priorities

Master planning requires a comprehensive environmental framework, as outlined above. Over the next five years, ACRE has identified three top priorities:

1. Protecting and conserving groundwater
2. Promoting energy-efficient modes of transportation
3. Protecting key lands for conservation

Approaches to achieve objectives:

The main approaches available to a municipality to achieve its goals can be summarized as:

1. Regulation
2. Education
3. Incentives
4. Collective investment

In exploring how to achieve the goals and objectives set out above, all four approaches should be considered. As an example, to reduce energy consumption we could:

• regulate to ensure new buildings meet energy standards;

• educate to encourage the purchase of more energy efficient vehicles, as well as increased use of federal programs for home energy audits;

• incent behavioural change by providing energy efficient light bulbs, and appliances at a lower cost through bulk purchasing;

• collectively invest in enhanced public transportation.

In most cases, a combination of approaches will be necessary to achieve environmental goals.

ACRE comments on pivotal issues identified in public consultations:

During the public consultations on the Master Plan, several pivotal issues were identified. While we believe that these issues should be addressed within an overall framework, we feel it is important to include some comments on these issues.

Element 1: The protection of groundwater

ACRE is in agreement that this issue is one of the most significant environmental issues facing the community in the next five years. We believe that a combination of regulation, education, incentives and investment will be needed to ensure a sustainable groundwater supply for our community.

The proposal to complete the build-out of the community using 2 acre lots in itself will not meet environmental objectives. There are lots of other solutions for undeveloped lands other than developing them with 2 acre lots. These should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, using the PAE process and using clear decision-making criteria for sustainability.

Element 2: Housing for senior citizens - and related housing issues

ACRE believes that ensuring appropriate housing for community members at all stages of their lives is an important part of being a sustainable community. This not only applies to seniors, but also to lower income residents who may not be able to afford housing in a community with rapidly increasing housing prices and little diversity in housing supply. Residents should not feel obliged to move out of their home community when they wish to "downsize" their homes. In fact, smaller homes can be more environmentally friendly and should be supported as a viable option for all demographic groups. Subdivisions requiring a minimum home size should not be permitted in the community as they are in direct contradiction to conservation goals.

We support the concept of allowing some multi-unit housing based on a minimum acreage per unit. For example, a ten unit complex built on ten or 20 acres of land enhances conservation of greenspace (wildlife habitat), water, and energy when compared to ten single units each on one or two acre lots. However, we need to make sure that future build-out on the acreage surrounding the clustered units is maintained in a natural state through legal mechanisms such as conservation easements.

Also, water supply and wastewater treatment are significant issues to assess in the design and location of housing. Currently, there is not adequate information available to determine the best location or design for such a project, nor does there appear to be an adequate needs assessment to inform such a decision.

At this stage, it seems premature to be proposing sites for this type of construction in the Master Plan. We would suggest that the Master Plan outline the objective of ensuring housing options for Chelsea residents, and propose an informed and open process, which will assess proposals against environmental and social objectives.

The proposal for inlaw suites seems to be unduly punitive without adequate evidence that this approach will meet the objectives of conserving water. If your objective is to conserve water supply, then the indicators used should be consistent (ie. bedrooms, not kitchens if this has been found to be the most accurate indicator of water use).

Element 3: Public services for Farm Point and Centre Village

We are not opposed to centralization of services in these areas assuming a full environmental assessment of options has been conducted.

Other Comments

PAE designations:

It would appear that the use of PAE designations has potential to apply to a range of planning issues, not simply multi unit buildings. We support the idea of using the PAE to apply to all remaining large undeveloped areas to ensure protection of groundwater and landscape connectivity as well as other environmental and social objectives.

Committees:

All Committees of Council, need to be given clear terms of reference that link directly to the principles and objectives of the Master Plan. At present it is not clear that Committees are making recommendations based on consistent and clear criteria.

Developing a "meaningful test of sustainability" would provide a means of testing proposals against a common set of decision-making criteria.

The Planning and Sustainable Development Committee currently operates without terms of reference or any mandate to engage in broad planning or sustainability issues. Their main focus has been on variance issues. A meaningful test of sustainability is necessary to guide the work of the Committee. A clear terms of reference that broadens the scope of the committee's work is in keeping with the committee's title.

Conclusion:

Chelsea's sustainability will be defined by the thousands of decisions that are made every day by Council, staff, institutions, and residents. Perhaps the most important thing we can do as a community is agree upon a set of criteria that we can apply to each of those decisions. Certainly the Municipality can show leadership by publishing a set of sustainability criteria against which all decisions are measured.

We believe that the principles and objectives that we have proposed could form the basis of a workable set of sustainability criteria. We would be pleased to work with the Municipality in elaborating these criteria.

ACRE believes that this Master Plan review should present a principled approach to community planning that embraces a broad framework of environmental sustainability. We also believe that we need to monitor our progress towards sustainability through the development and measurement of a set of indicators of sustainability. In our document we have proposed several indicators such as reduction of greenhouse gases and reduction of ecological footprint which could provide a starting point for developing a set of criteria and indicators. Within the ACRE membership we have considerable expertise in this area, and would be happy to work with you to develop this idea further.

ACRE believes that we need to work collectively to achieve an environmentally friendly future. Chelsea has been recognized for environmental leadership, but we all understand that we have a long road to travel to achieve real sustainability.