City committee to debate stronger green-building standards in Ottawa

The City of Ottawa wants all new subdivisions and largerdevelopments to meet a new, stronger set of municipal green-building standards.

When city council approved toughertargetsa few years ago for reducing greenhouse gas emissionsanda road map to reach net-zero by 2050, city staff started working on standards aimed at one of two mainsources of emissions locally: buildings.

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It's easier to design a new building to be energy efficient from the get-go than to retrofit older buildings, staff note in a report that goes to the city's planning committee on March 10.

City staff have crafted a "high performance development standard" for Ottawa, which they anticipate would take effect in a bylaw on June 1. They based it on the Toronto Green Standard, which that city has usedsince 2010, and say the provincial Planning Act gives municipalities the authority to roll out such rules.

During consultationssome environmental advocates feltit didn't go far enough,city staff note, while the construction industry felt they would be too hard to hit andwould add costs. Delegations can sign up to five-minute presentations to planning committee next week.

New checklists

The new rules would not apply to projects that need onlya building permit, or small residential infill projects or low- or mid-rise buildings.

Larger buildings that require the city to approve a site plan would have 15 new metrics to meet, though.Theywould have to show a building would use only so many kilowatt hours of energy per year, for instance.

Other rules would lead to more bird-friendly glass, green roofs, and high-quality soil for street trees while not planting any invasive plant species.

Subdivisions would have three metrics, such as submitting a"community energy plan."It would give scenarios for how much energy the community would use, and show how that could be reduced throughhigh-efficiency heating and cooling systems, overhangs to shade from the sun,and preparing for electric vehicles, for instance.

To push builders to hit even loftier goals,staff intend to come up with financial incentives by the spring of 2023. They also anticipate this new standard will need updating to get to its ultimate goal of net-zero emissions, so versions two and three are already anticipated for 2026 and 2030.

All of these steps only relate to the exterior,and are separate from the specific constructioncriteria of Ontario's building code. Staff recommend Mayor Jim Watson also write the Ontario government to update those rules to align with climate change targets.