Richmond Hill hires new project manager to address climate change

By 2050, maximum summer temperatures will increase to about 39 or 40 C

Yorkregion.com
December 11, 2018
Sheila Wang

ce storms, heat waves and heavy rainfall; extreme weather occurs more often than ever both globally and locally.

Richmond Hill is no exception.

The town recently hired a new project manager in charge of planning and implementing municipal climate change priorities in order to address the worsening toll of climate change and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The new manager, Julius Lindsay, is on a two-year contract from October 2018 to September 2020 to oversee two initiatives: developing a climate change framework and a community energy and emissions plan.

The position was created as part of the town’s efforts to “advance the town’s climate change mandate” for the purpose of mitigating the local impacts as well as meeting the legislative and municipal obligations, according to Maria Flores, the town’s manager of sustainability, planning and regulatory services.

Earlier this year in June, council approved the proposal prepared by the planning and regulatory services which recommended a capital budget of $510,000 from the Cash to Capital Reserve Fund to develop the two initiatives.

“By developing a co-ordinated approach to climate change action,” Flores said in an email, “the town will focus on addressing local impacts, meeting our legislative and municipal obligations, and managing our resources and risks in the long run.”

The project manager is charged with finding out where the town is most at risk in terms of climate change impacts and take actions to protect safety, health, services, infrastructure and natural habitat, according to a staff report presented to council.

“While environmental issues have always been on the community’s radar, most of our policies and actions have focused largely on environmental protection and conservation,” the staff report states.

The town needs to make efforts to address the growing local impacts of climate change such as damage to infrastructure, power outages, and heat stroke, it points out.

The climate change conditions have already taken a toll on Richmond Hill over the years.

The devastating ice storm of 2013 is still fresh in local memory when the storm hit southern Ontario at the end of December bringing freezing rain and ice pellets that damaged trees and infrastructure. More than 500,000 electricity users across Ontario lost power.

In Richmond Hill, the severe weather resulted in damage to 200,000 trees on private and public property and left 36,000 of the town’s 60,000 PowerStream (now Alectra) customers without power, as yorkregion.com previously reported.

In total, the storm cost the town about $7 million, including the cost to replace trees.

The report states such impacts are anticipated to grow.

By 2050, maximum summer temperatures will increase to about 39-40 degrees and minimum winter temperatures will continue to increase and fluctuate causing more snow-rain-ice mix, according to the Historical and Future Climate Trends in York Region and other climate projection studies in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The project manager will also take charge of the development of the community energy and emissions plan which is aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The development of this plan will “help us understand the community’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission patterns in relation to future growth projection scenarios,” Flores said.

“This will in turn help us set appropriate greenhouse gas reduction targets,” she added.

The two climate change initiatives are nothing new.

The staff report states many York region municipalities have completed a climate action plan and/or community energy plan including Markham, Vaughan and Newmarket.

“Currently, the town is not eligible for grants under funding programs that require up-to-date greenhouse gas inventories, targets and policies,” the report says.

The development of both plans will help strengthen Richmond Hill’s funding applications from the federal and provincial governments for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It may also benefit the projects such as energy retrofits in existing building and supporting electric vehicles.

“I am really happy that the staff of Richmond Hill is dedicating excellent resources to the planning of climate action,” said Liz Couture, a local climate change activist.

Couture recently launched a new group, Global Warming Drawdown Richmond Hill Group, to address local climate change issues.

“There is so much more information available for people, and even though people are so busy with their lives, they are now starting to ask what they can do to be part of the solution.”

On Nov. 29, Ontario unveiled a new environment plan -- Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-in-Ontario Plan -- focusing on clean air, water, litter and waste reduction, and land conservation.

It calls on individuals, businesses, industries, and communities across Ontario to work together to combat climate challenges and meet the emissions-reductions goals in the Paris Agreement.

Canada has committed to reduce emissions by 30 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030. Ontario has reduced emissions by 22 per cent.

Municipalities have direct or indirect control over 50 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

“Town staff are currently reviewing the new Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan and will be submitting comments to the province as part of the consultation process,” Flores said.