1. Sustainability Performance Metrics Measuring Sustainability Performance of New Development in Brampton, Richmond Hill and Vaughan Upwind Downwind 2014 Conference February 24, 2014 Implementing the

2. Outline of presentation • Project goals and context • Project phases and deliverables • Lessons learned from collaboration and early implementation issues

3. The project Brampton, Richmond Hill and Vaughan – Performance Metrics • Provide municipal staff with tools to guide and quantify the sustainability performance of new developments • Build on existing protocols for review of development applications • Provide the development industry with a consistent set of sustainability guidelines and metrics across 3 municipalities. • Value-added elements of the project include: • Municipal collaboration; • Metric testing in staff workshops; • Excel tool for scoring applications (consultant addition); • Alignment with objectives of health agencies. Measuring the Sustainability Performance of New Development 3

4. Context • Bill 51 amendments to Planning Act provide for exterior sustainable design elements as part of Site Plan Control; • Municipalities leading this effort include Toronto (Toronto Green Standard), Pickering (Sustainable Development Guidelines), Oakville, Markham, East Gwillimbury and others • FCM grant awarded in December 2010 and partner MOU signed in January 2011 • Phase 1 underway in 2011 and Phase 2 underway in 2012 • Third and final Milestone Report and Completion Report submitted to FCM in December 2013 to mark project completion

5. Phase 1 – Brampton’s SCDG’s • Sustainable Community Development Guidelines (SCDGs) prepared for Brampton • SCDGs set out the qualitative preferences for the physical design of the built environment which set the framework for the Phase 2 work

6. Phase 2 - Sustainability Performance Metrics • 3 Performance Tiers • Mandatory Requirements - existing standard or requirement based on relevant legislation • Recommended minimum – “doing better than you have to” • Aspirational – “best in class”. • Points system used to quantify how well developments achieve “recommended minimum” or “aspirational” metrics • “Recommended minimum” or “aspirational” metrics do not need to be met for all metrics (i.e. different approach than Tier 1 and 2 in the Toronto Green Standard) • Static Tool similar to a traditional checklist • Dynamic Tool based in Excel

7. Static Tool

8. Dynamic Tool • Excel Spreadsheet – easy to update and conform to changing targets • Differentiates plan types and users • Tool is divided into the 4 core themes and quantifies and scores sustainability performance • Measures compliance against mandatory requirements • Identifies Minimum and Aspirational Thresholds • Provides opportunity to identify scenarios for plan improvements

9. Dynamic Tool : Example Question 400m

10. Lessons from collaboration • Shared goal among partners • MOU identifies key roles and minimum financial details • Frequent partner communications and sign-off (longer schedule but better products in the end) • Information sharing as part of the collaboration was extremely useful in quickly addressing internal and external feedback • Partnership boosts the credibility of the products • Collaboration has been successful and there is interest in identifying other projects suitable for a collaborative approach.

11. Implementation Issues • Vaughan easing into implementation by first initiating a testing stage • Six additional staff meetings in June 2013 with a focus on implementation issues prior to Council adoption • No budget implications for testing stage • Will need to use the testing stage to identify amendments to the Site Plan Control By-Law, Site Plan Agreement template and Subdivision Agreement template to more fully implement the Sustainability Metrics • Will need to use the testing stage to identify sustainability thresholds to approve an application (although also through ongoing consultation with Richmond Hill and Brampton)

12. Thank you!