Green Infrastructure

As communities become environmentally conscious and involved, they modify and reach beyond old development-impact reduction methods to more interlinked, efficient and cost-effective strategies at site, neighborhood and regional levels.

The Green Bylaws Toolkit explains how to use a myriad of tools—from planning to regulatory bylaws—to protect wetlands, grasslands and other important ecosystems in British Columbia.

Effective September 5, 2008, every new building in B.C. will meet progressive standards for energy and water efficiency. Greening the B.C. Building Code will help meet the Province’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Inland Kenworth industrial development in the City of Nanaimo illustrates what can be accomplished through collaboration when a municipality challenges a development proponent to be innovative. “As a planner, I believe we should start by looking at site constraints and opportunities. And that is where our conversations started with the developer and consultants team,” stated Gary Noble. The Inland Kenworth story was incorporated in the curriculum for the 2008 Vancouver Island Learning Lunch Seminar Series.

The Province enacted legislation (Bill 27) that will help municipalities and regional districts create more compact, sustainable and greener communities. The legislation came into force in June 2008. “The Province is leveraging its grants programs to influence changes on the ground. British Columbia is in transtion. Today, assessment criteria are based on a philosophy of ‘the greener the better’ Tomorrow, all projects must meet a green standard,” stated Catriona Weidman.

“We are looking at our building inspectors doing more than just inspecting plumbing and buildings. We want them to be more involved at the front-end of the process, not the back-end when the building is being built. We want them involved at the subdivision stage so that they understand what we want to achieve. In other words, it is more than just a building going up, The building permit is for the site. The site needs to be managed,” stated Kevin Lagan.

“The 2008 Series featured projects that demonstrate what is meant by ‘The New Business As Usual’, and set provincial benchmarks for others to measure themselves against. The series was a progression, starting with a roadway in View Royal and ending with the mini-municipality that is the University of Victoria,” stated Jody Watson.

“The goal of the Showcasing Innovation Series is to promote networking, inform and educate practitioners, and help local governments move ‘from awareness to action’ in doing business differently — The New Business As Usual — through sharing of approaches, tools, experiences and lessons learned that will ultimately inform a pragmatic strategy for climate change adaptation,” explained Eric Bonham.

“The question and issue format enabled a seamless transition into a town hall discussion where seminar participants talked about what they have done or what they want to do. Kevin Lagan and Derek Richmond of the City of Courtenay provided me with some questions that were at the forefront of their minds. I morphed what they gave me into generic questions. Previously when I made presentations, I focused on the legal tools and then worked from the legal tools to how do you apply them. In the Comox Valley seminar we flipped that upside down by saying: I have this problem, now what do I do in terms of a solution,” explained Susan Rutherford.

UVic transitioned to a water-centric approach that is holistic and integrated –– the new business as usual. “This transformational experience resulted in a new vision for constructing water and energy efficient buildings in a built environment that respects the natural environment. UVic is leading by example,” reports Sarah Webb.