The City of Duncan is looking to quickly accelerate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings as part of its updated official community plan, which received two readings at the council meeting on Feb. 20.
After a recommendation from Duncan’s Community Plan Advisory Committee, council voted to have the city advance to the highest level of emission reductions set out in the province’s Zero Carbon Step Code initiative in 2024, if the OCP passes, six years before the province mandates it to do so.
But concerns were raised at the council table, and Coun. Mike McKinlay put forward an unsuccessful amendment for the city to not move forward with fully implementing the new code before the province mandates it by 2030, and that it be taken out of the proposed new OCP.
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He said the province has mandated that the Zero Carbon Step Code be implemented, and handed it to municipalities stating that they can accelerate the initiative if they choose.
“But then we would look like the bad people to the construction industry and elsewhere,” McKinlay said.
“If the province wants this code implemented quicker, than they should do it.”
The Zero Carbon Step Code provides tools for local governments to encourage or require lower emissions in new buildings to meet commitments in the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 to gradually lower emissions from buildings until all new buildings are zero carbon by 2030, and municipalities are being encouraged to move faster than the mandated provincial requirements.
The initiative means that builders will likely have to move away from using natural gas as the main source of heat and energy, and use more hydro-generated electricity.
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Fossil-fuel space heating (64 per cent) and water-heating equipment (35 per cent) currently produce the majority of GHG emissions from buildings in B.C.
Coun. Garry Bruce said he understands what the province is trying to achieve with the new code, but he questions the plan to begin replacing natural gas when all the infrastructure for gas systems is currently in place.
He said natural gas is a clean-burning fuel, but acknowledged there are issues around carbon emissions.
“However, I wouldn’t want to put all our trust in an electric system in this climate, and other climates in B.C., to heat our houses,” Bruce said.
“I don’t think it’s capable of doing that and I’d hate to see us go ahead with what the province wants to do in the near future to achieve that. I called a couple of builders and they said not to get rid of natural gas. In their view, that’s a very backward step and it has to do with costs as well.”
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Coun. Jenni Capps said the province is moving forward with the new code regardless, and the City of Duncan would not be the first municipality to opt into the highest step quicker than mandated.
“There’s only so much you can control when it comes to emissions as a municipality, and a lot of stuff you can’t control,” she said.
“This is coming anyway, so I won’t vote in favour of [McKinlay’s] amendment because I support the recommendation from the committee.”
Mayor Michelle Staples said she believes it’s council’s due diligence to begin moving forward with such initiatives when it can.
“This is where we’re moving, so I think this is a good time for us to make this part of where we start, once the OCP is adopted,” she said.
The next step in the adoption of the proposed new OCP process is for the city to hold a public hearing to officially hear from the public on the proposed bylaw.
The public hearing has been scheduled for March 4 at 4 p.m. in the council chamber at City Hall.
