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Short Recap of the City Sustainability Plan Public Forum on Saturday

Promises to be a very busy next couple of weeks. My father just had knee replacement surgery and I've got a MA thesis proposal to write (a couple of weeks earlier than I had thought due to my own error). Spent a lot of today by a hospital bed, studying.

So, short and snappy posts here will featured for the next while.

How was the City Sustainability Plan Public Forum?

In my view, not was as well attended as I had hoped. This, however, allowed people who did attend a real chance to give feedback. Meeting did allow a lot of time for discussion. I commented that I hope all the feedback will be made public and that some response will be made for the various ideas offered - we did this, we could'nt do this/ didn't do this because...

As is now often the case, my friends on Facebook had a great discussion - this time, about the attendance / lack of attendance at the forum. Hans Peter Meyer even wrote a blog post.

Full page of Sustainable Kamloops Information Packages...

It is becoming pretty clear to me (crystal clear, in fact) that I am not going to be able to summarize all the Sustainable Kamloops information packages before Saturday's forum. Lot's of stuff going on - if you know anybody who is looking for a good apartment, for example, my paying job might help.

I will keep beavering away on summarizing the info packages but, just to make the information as web accessible as possible, here are all the information packages grouped together and displayed in handy dandy viewers.

More Info on the Sustainable Kamloops Forum Agenda...

When I posted the draft agenda for the Sustainable Kamloops forum this weekend, I also wondered how much time there would be allotted for feedback and discussion. Over on facebook, Dylan Houlihan, who is one of the key consultants on the Sustainable Kamloops plan, responded:

Arjun, there's going to be tons of time for discussion and feedback. Each one hour block will be about 10 minutes of presentation and 30 - 40 minutes of discussion with time for some wiggle room logistics. Each person will have the opportunity to go to focus group tables and discuss the topic at hand in-depth - they'll get a chance for 5 topics areas given the format of the day ... if they can't make it to a focus group table then     they can provide comments in one of a bunch of other ways.

My Summary of the Sustainable Kamloops Energy Info Package...

In another in a series of posts leading up to the public forum on the Sustainable Kamloops plan, here is my attempt to meaningfully summarize the energy use information package that has been created to support the planning process. I am also posting the full document in a viewer below so that folks can see the whole document, summarize it for yourselves, and assess my summary

Summary: The twin motivations behind this information package seem to be reducing greenhouse gas emissions and securing stable, reliable sources of energy. The Provincial government is planning a diverse range of measures towards these two goals.

Comparing Kamloops to other BC communities, we are towards the high end in our energy use - both in heating buildings and in transportation. 40% of city hall energy usage goes towards water pumping and treatment, and community recreation facilities account for 60% of natural gas use. Natural gas generates more greenhouse gas emissions than electricity.

By 2035, city hall hopes to use energy in city facilities that generate no greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, city staff hope to generate 10% of facility energy through green energy (solar, wind, geothermal, etc) by 2020. They also hope to reduce the use of fossil fuels by 25% in power city vehicles (by 2020).

Also by 2020, the goal is to increase the use of alternative transportation (walking, biking, carpooling, transit) by 30%. By 2050, the goal is to increase the density of new development by 25% and to reduce summer time water consumption by 50% (to reduce water pumping energy use).

Full Document:

Sustainable Kamloops Plan - Energy Info Package

My Summary of the Sustainable Kamloops Air Quality Info Package...

In another in a series of posts leading up to the public forum on the Sustainable Kamloops plan, here is my attempt to meaningfully summarize the air quality information package that has been created to support the planning process. I am also posting the full document in a viewer below so that folks can see the whole document, summarize it for yourselves, and assess my summary.

Summary - Our air quality in Kamloops is generally good when compared to provincial and national standards and when compared to other BC communities. However, when it comes to a high profile component of air pollution (smoke or PM 2.5), experts say that there are no safe levels and any reduction in this component will lead to an increase in the health of the community. Additionally, long terms effects from consistent exposure to air pollution has ten times more impact than short term impacts. Children, the elderly, and people with existing repiratory and cardiac issues are more at risk from air pollution.

Good air quality is a component in fostering a strong business community and economy.

The primary goal is to develop an airshed management plan by 2012.  The development of this plan would involve setting air quality targets, soliciting further public input and engagement, gathering and assessing air quality data, and examining the measures government, businesses, organizations and citizens could take to improve air quality.

Full Document:

Sustainable Kamloops Plan - Air Quality Info Package

Draft Detailed Agenda for the Sustainable Kamloop Plan Public Forum, April 17th 2010

Here is the draft agenda for the forum - in the Scribd viewer below.

My main question right now which I will ask this week: How much time will there be for questions and discussion? Is this more a presentation format type of forum?

Sustainable Kamloops Forum Draft Agenda - April 17th 2010

Hello Kamloops - Back With A Post on Citizen Satisfaction...

I'm hopefully getting back into a community groove.

• House moved and basically renoed - check.
• First year MA residency completed - check.
• Completed my hectic fall 09 travel season - check.

City hall recently released the results of the 2009 Kamloops citizen survey (PDF file) and there is a lot of good information on which to reflect. The local media ran with stories that talked about some of the highlighted strengths and weaknesses of our community and also highlighted the $18 000 cost.

The one thing I did not see in any media reports (I may have missed a mention) was the stats on citizen satisfaction in their communication with city staff. I know that the vast majority of city employees would take notice of this declining trend, and are likely looking at strategies to get the stats going the right way again.

When Ipsos Reid asked about citizens' overall satisfaction in their communication with city hall,

• 2001 - 88% *
• 2003 - 76%
• 2006 - 72%
• 2009 - 71%

* 2001 data from 2006 survey (PDF file).

Overall the citizen survey is a pretty positive document of accomplishment for our community. I hope that we also look at it as constructive feedback as well. Perhaps this drop from an high A grade to a low B grade for city hall communication is readily explained. I expect city council will be looking at this.

PS....here is the 2003 survey (PDF file), for comparison.

New Abderdeen Development - Beautiful Dream or Tragic Nightmare?

Dramatic title, hey? Here is hopefully a balanced overview:

The draft Aberdeen plan document projects up to 10 000 new people by 2036, most of them living upslope from the already developed areas. Many folks say that we need new residential lots to accommodate Kamloops' population growth.  Aberdeen is a very desirable area of town in which to live and the developers who own the upslope land have had a reasonable expectation that they would be able to build neighborhoods on that land one day.

The big questions about the proposed plan revolve around its environmental responsibility. In a nutshell, are the proposed developments going to be nasty examples of sprawl? We will certainly be expanding the footprint of habitation in our community, going even higher up the southern face of our valley. Are there creative ways we can reduce the number of car trips? Will we be creating an area that supports grocery stores and transit close by?  In a province where more than 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, this is something we need to consider. The province has already told us they will mandate local governments to incorporate greenhouse gas reduction strategies in community planning.   

The other issue is, of course, groundwater. Will new development help or hinder slope stability?

All things to consider....

Creating a 3 year plan for Kamloops City Council.

It cost about $5000, involved 17 people, and it was totally worth it. Your City Council, Senior City staff, and a facilitator by the name of Hugh Culver - we all met this weekend at TRU to develop a new 3 year strategic plan for Kamloops.

Hugh had us:
1) Rate completion of goals in the past strategic plan.
2) Add ideas to the plan / Reemphasize old goals
3) Decide whether we wanted to change the major headings in the plan.
4) Vote on our new ideas and the goals people wanted to keep (council only)
5) Write up our draft new plan into a document projected on the big screen.

It worked really well, in my view. We decided to keep the major headings in the past plan. Environmental issues came closest to becoming a new heading but we decided that, at this point, the creation of a comprehensive environmental strategy would be under the "livability" heading.

As the strategic plan is still in draft format, I don't want to talk about all the different goals. Notable in my head as newer goals are the desire to improve city efforts to help facilitate the growth of TRU, a commitment to help local citizens take advantage of the many opportunities that will come with the 2010 Vancouver / Whistler Olympics, and the environmental strategy I spoke of in the last paragraph.

Just also to say that this plan is flexible. While I would not like to see this happen a lot, we can amend the plan anytime in the 3 year term.