Huntsville — District Councillor
1. What actions have you personally taken to support a greener, more sustainable climate?
Personally, I grow my own vegetables, reduce my use of plastic at every opportunity, I fix things that break rather than replace them, I am eating less meat and my wife is purchasing an Electric Vehicle.
2. What opportunities for climate leadership at the municipal level (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)) would you champion in one or more of these areas: Buildings | Housing | Land use (sprawl) | Transportation | Other
As combustion vehicles are 75% of the cause of GHGs there a number of things I hope to implement in this term of Council.
1 – ensure all new residential buildings have Level 2 EV chargers for each unit. 2 – Identify locations for new Level 3 EV chargers. 3 – Expand our Transit System routes and add an additional bus so all stops are passed every hour (currently every 2 hrs.). 4 – Get serious about Active Transportation lanes and make New trails to link them all together.
In addition to this, ALL plans and by-laws need to be reviewed under a “Climate Lens” before being passed to ensure our infrastructure is more resilient to the hotter, wetter and wilder weather that is expected in the next few decades. We can create incentives and payback plans to help citizens prepare as well for things such as back stops installed on drains, encourage green roofs, permeable paving and trees in parking lots to address flooding.
By creating a culture of responsibility and awareness with everything environmental we get everyone pulling in the same direction and can achieve much more. Having Chaired the Committee of Adjustment and sat on the Planning Committee for the past 2 terms we have already been hard at work. I championed the Dark Sky By-law that will be fully implemented in 2026. We are constantly protecting the “Ribbon of Life” (2m either side of the shoreline) to keep our fish healthy and waterways clean. We already have in place protections for our wetlands and prevent urban sprawl through our Official Plan.
3. A long-term problem requires a long-term solution. What is your 100-year plan? If elected, what would be your first action?
In my opinion a 100 year plan too far to plan effectively, however I do believe that we can set a plan for each of the next three decades. The District is currently putting a plan in place and I hope to be part of crafting that with all available science. My first action would be to have all current plans and By-laws reviewed under a “Climate Lens”. By doing this I would hope to find actionable items to prepare for the near future.