Kevin Redden, the city's director of land, environment and governmental relations, discusses at Monday night's council meeting the city's move to develop an "environmental roadmap" over the course of 2022.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City hall will renew an “environmental roadmap” in 2022 to give an overarching set of principles it would use to consider the effects of climate change on planning and to reduce its own carbon footprint, including in its electricity generation business.
Bringing together such a plan was agreed to unanimously at city council’s regular meeting on Monday as administrators argued it would promote the city to green-conscious industry, benefit citizens, bring in grant funding and avoid higher costs in the future.
“The goal is to go above compliance and what we are doing today,” said Kevin Redden, the city’s director of environment, land and governmental relations, who presented the initiative to council.
He said while environmental considerations, like right-sizing storm drains to weather bigger storms, are already part of a host of city plans, such as the municipal development plan, there is no “overarching plan to tie it all together.”
A new road map would define ambitions, “create an identity” for the city, lay out targets and also make the environmental framework a consideration in program development and city operations.
Utility and infrastructure committee chair, Coun. Alison Van Dyke, says Medicine Hat will benefit.
“We’re putting ourselves at a disadvantage with industry and businesses that are looking to ‘green’ their operations,” she said. “It’s time has come that the city develop a strong environmental lens to use in our decision making.”
Mayor Linnsie Clark said the city is one of the last of its size in Canada without such a document that focuses efforts.
“It has to be something that we can deliver on, but I’d encourage us to be visionary,” she said.
The city’s last “environmental roadmap” was drawn up in 2008 and set green energy goals for the city as a whole, as well as the municipal utility wings, and called for energy consumption reduction targets.
It called for a goal of having one quarter of the city’s power production to come from renewable energy by 2025, but when the number was a mere 7 per cent by 2016, the goals were generally abandoned.
Council discussed a potential update in 2019, after then councillor Kris Samraj questioned how goals of the HatSmart energy conservation program were set, but that was apparently put on hold during the pandemic.
Coun. Robert Dumanowski says plans can be well intended, but also “an exercise in frustration” if they don’t align with a will at city hall or in the public to meet targets.
Redden says the plan would set goals and targets for city operations, not residents, since the city has little control over public preferences. However, the city does control its energy production mix, and will explore alternative fuel and renewable power generation, said Redden.
Van Dyke said work in the power division is “advanced” and well positioned already with exploration of carbon capture, hydrogen blending and other initiatives.
Couns. Allison Knodel and Cassi Hider also spoke enthusiastically about creating a plan. It was approved by an 8-0 vote (Coun. Shila Sharps was absent).
A new “roadmap” process will see work done this winter in house at city hall to evaluate the body of study on urban environment, current regulation and best practices in other Alberta cities.
The spring and summer would see a local gap analysis done, including potential funding sources, such as grants, reserves or utility fees. General strategies for key items would be developed before year end, and then a complete plan would move to council for approval and implementation in 2023.
The presentation states the roadmap would reduce risk related to climate change, attract new economic activity and improve the community for residents while providing “systemic” environmental consideration and feedback protocol.
It would also improve operations while opening up new grant funding opportunities from the province and Ottawa to help offset costs.
In terms of renewable energy, not only large-scale power decisions may be affected, but last month, the utility committee heard that expected increase in power use (especially to fuel electric vehicles) as well as more and more powerful home solar systems, may dramatically change the requirements on the city’s power distribution network.
The framework could inform planning and infrastructure decisions, such as the amount of land required to be left as reserve land or blending changing weather patterns into infrastructure planning.
