Community Sustainability Planning (Part 1)
What does it mean for my Community?

Community sustainability is a buzz term that can mean many things. Fundamentally, it is about creating communities where there is a resilient economy fostered by a vibrant community and supported within a healthy environment.

One approach to community sustainability planning is what’s become known as 'integrated' community sustainability planning. Since sustainability problems are often complex and overlapping, they cannot be solved in isolation, and are best addressed using a comprehensive, systems-based approach that addresses the root of the problem, rather than only the symptoms. For example, toxic effluent in rivers affects fish health (environmental), which affects people (social) and financial prosperity (economic). All of these elements and their connections must be considered to arrive at effective solutions.

An Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSP) is as much a process as it is a plan. The end result is more than a document: it is in fact an on-going process of engaging stakeholders in the community in co-creating and updating a vision of a sustainable future and linking that to realistic planning and collaborative action today. ICSPs emphasize long-term thinking, collaboration between departments and between sectors, engaging community stakeholders, creating partnerships, and continuous monitoring and evaluation.

Keys to Successful Community Sustainability Planning:

• An ICSP should be guided by a vision of a community in a sustainable society, and be created by all those whose actions it is meant to guide.
• At the heart of this sustainability planning approach is a commitment to a bottom-up participatory process that engages those affected by decisions and those who will be responsible for implementing parts of the plan.  Just as important is to design the process so that the time and energy that participants put into the project benefit both themselves and the wider community.
• The planning process should combine planning and action by implementing easy first actions (“low-hanging fruit”).  Often these first actions are efficiency improvements that generate savings that can be invested in more challenging measures later. Sometimes it is even effective to begin implementing these actions while the planning process is still underway.  This parallel action/planning process can create buy-in among a diverse group of stakeholders and increase their enthusiasm for the planning process.
• The approach to planning is holistic, systems-based, and integrated as opposed to addressing issues in a fragmented, case-by-case basis. This requires a focus on building capacity among the participants to see the planning process from a “big picture” perspective.
• Ongoing education and training programs, monitoring the effectiveness of actions with indicators, all guided by the vision and sustainability principles, help institutionalize change and keep adopted practices going over time.  

Stay tuned for our next blog about the basic steps to creating a community sustainability plan...

The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.
Gaylord Anton Nelson (1916-2005)

Whistler's OCP Update

Over the next 12 months, Whistler’s Official Community Plan (OCP) is being updated and community engagement is crucial every step of the way. The OCP update will be a collaborative process lead by the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) and supported by the Whistler Centre for Sustainability.

The importance of the OCP – a regulatory document that has implementation power similar, yet distinct, from Whistler2020, our comprehensive sustainability plan – is significant in that it is a document that will enshrine the community’s vision and priorities within a provincially recognized legal framework. This is another example of how Whistler2020 is a living, thriving vision – it does not sit on a shelf, and it has an ongoing, adaptive role as we move toward success and sustainability.

The last OCP update occurred in 1993. But the OCP is an organic document, constantly updated through the ongoing operations of Whistler’s local government. The significance of this update is that it will allow Whistler to clearly state how, and with what regulatory tools, we will move forward from a period of rapid resort growth, culminating in the successful hosting of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, to a stable, mature four season destination resort community with a resilient tourism economy.

The kickoff event for this OCP update will be the third annual Après in Action, in the Grand Foyer of the Whistler Conference Centre on May 26, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Last week, a questionnaire was launched online at whistler.ca) for the community to identify key OCP issues.

Want the inside scoop? Some of the issues already on the Apres table: air and water quality, smart growth, rideshare and bicycling benefits, how non-car owners deal with garbage, moving transit toward the frequency we had during the Games, energy conservation, tourism market trends, affordable housing, longer Library hours, and adding another ice arena. These are just a few.

The Après keynote speaker is Patrick Condon, senior researcher with the UBC Design Centre for Sustainability where he holds the James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Livable Environments. Condon will speak about best practices in community sustainability, how Whistler can stay on the cutting edge, and why OCPs are an important part of the process.

After Condon’s talk, participants will have an opportunity to have in depth discussions on the topic areas of the OCP: the natural environment, land use and development, transportation and utilities, climate action, energy and resources, economic viability, Whistler’s quality of life, and neighbourhood vitality.

Après isn’t the community’s only opportunity to engage with the OCP update –events throughout the summer will be used to gather input and feedback. Further, working groups will be established in the fall to review and provide feedback on draft OCP work. Community members can even host their own working group meeting around their kitchen table and invite friends and neighbours to participate.

Meaningful community engagement is the norm in Whistler. The Whistler Centre for Sustainability has been an innovator in this area and is supporting the OCP review by leading and executing the public engagement strategy, and assisting with the integration of the vision and principles of Whistler2020 into the OCP policies.

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. --John Ruskin

Bill 27
The Importance for Local Governments in BC

Bill 27 in BC is the Local Government Statutes Amendment Act, which requires all local governments to include targets, policies and actions for reducing GHG emissions in their OCPs by May 31, 2010. While these targets can be specific GHG targets, they can also be non-binding aspirational targets, which need only to indicate the potential or intention of a community to work toward targets based on current inventories.

Those of us who wanted to see the Provincial government push harder to get targets and action plans in place to start seeing significant progress in GHG reductions may be disappointed that these targets are aspirational, and that policies and actions only need to provide general direction. However, having a requirement for any type of targets, policies and actions is a hugely important first step for most local governments who are still trying to come to grips with understanding GHG emissions, inventories, carbon tax, etc. Having targets mandated into an Official Community Plan is the first step in entrenching energy and emission reduction intentions into a regulatory document.

An OCP governs land use decisions in a community, and land use-related factors such as buildings and transportation together account for at least 50% (often much more) of a community’s GHG emissions. Until we better integrate land use, transportation, building – design, construction, location – decisions, we will not be able to achieve meaningful GHG reductions.

Bill 27 may not be the answer for our communities’ challenges in reducing GHG. However, it is the beginning, as we will inevitably see increasingly more robust best practices for matching targets to the realities of the scientific consensus, identifying strategic actions to best bridge the gap between our current performance and our identified goals, and policy creation that best leverages a local government’s legislative opportunities to effectively drive change toward a lower-carbon economy.

Is your community prepared to meet its Bill 27 requirements?

Local Government (Green Communities) Statues Amendment Act, (Bill 27) 2008

We have entrenched greenhouse gas reduction targets in law, including a
commitment to reduce B.C.’s emissions by one-third by 2020.
Premier Gordon Campbell and
Minister Barry Penner 

Climate Smarter
Getting Down to Business in Whistler - Spring 2010 Workshops

Whistler’s ongoing transition to a lower carbon resort community took another step forward last year as 11 local companies worked to better understand their specific carbon footprints, and to adapt their operations toward a better way of doing business. During the fall and winter of 2009, a number of Whistler SME’s (small and medium sized enterprises) took on the climate change leadership challenge and put their collective shoulders to the greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) grindstone – and you know what, they’re quite likely to improve their financial bottom lines while they’re at it.

In 2008, direct carbon emissions from Whistler’s commercial, residential and institutional sectors tallied just more than 126,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). While this represents a two per cent reduction versus 2007, and is more than 10 per cent below 2000 levels, our community still has a long way to go to achieve our shared climate protection goals. To reach these goals -- a 33 per cent reduction from 2007 levels by 2020 -- there is little doubt that we need leadership across all sectors of our community.

An innovative shared learning program delivered by Climate Smart (a subsidiary of Ecotrust Canada) and the Whistler Centre for Sustainability (WCS) has started to build Whistler’s low carbon leadership. Supported by the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) Climate Action and Innovation Fund and the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, this first cohort of climate leaders undertook the process of compiling a full inventory of their respective energy expenditures and carbon emissions. Working with this baseline they learned skills and techniques for setting reduction targets and evaluating the return on investment (ROI) for specific reduction strategies. The first six businesses to finalize their inventories and start into their reduction strategies had a collective carbon footprint of  roughly 2,200 tCO2e with an average individual footprint of approximately 350 tCO2e/year. Evaluating these inventories revealed that the largest sources of emissions were travel-based, followed by space heating, landfilled wastes and electricity.

More importantly, highlights from these businesses’ new reduction strategies include:

• a workplace social marketing campaign for improving energy conservation at Gone Bakery, Moguls and Zogs;
• a fuel efficiency based fleet replacement and waste reduction strategy at Canadian Snowmobiles;
• a tenant communication strategy aimed at reducing building energy use at the Whistler Housing Authority;
• installation of occupancy sensors and a waste reduction strategy at Nicklaus North Golf Club;
• fleet efficiency investments for tours and guest transport at Blackcomb Snowmobiles;
• increased use of biodiesel and an improved ride sharing program at Glacier Creek Contracting;
• more occupancy sensors, LED lights and expanded in-room recycling bins in guest rooms at the Residence Inn, Coast Whistler; as well as
• a full climate neutrality commitment from Peak Ventures.
   

Interested in Getting your Whistler-based Business Involved? The next Whistler-based Climate Smart training cohort is scheduled for May 17 and June 24th. To find out more, contact Dan Wilson at the Whistler Centre for Sustainability at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

About ClimateSmart: Climate Smart is a Vancouver-based social enterprise launched by Ecotrust Canada in 2009. It is a leading provider of carbon tracking tools, training and technical support to small- and medium-sized businesses. Its online greenhouse gas management tool for SMEs was rated No. 1 in North America by Carbonzero (climatesmartbusiness.com).

About the RMOW’s Climate Action Innovation Fund: In July of 2009, the RMOW became the first municipality in BC to approve a policy that formally directs the local government’s carbon tax rebate (CARIP) to support improved carbon management capacity across the community. For more information: search “CARIP” on www.whistler.ca.