And I will call our governance and priorities committee meeting for monday, November 10th,
2025 to order. And we just read the opening statement as part of our special council Meeting.
so we'll move to the approval of the agenda. And miss thistle, Is there anything else for the agenda today? Nothing from administration.
thank you very much. Next we have disclosure of conflict of interest in the general nature Thereof.
does any member have a conflict? Seeing none.
next we have a presentation regarding yellowknife transportation plan - Existing conditions interim report.
I believe we have mr. Patterson here to present. So take it away. Perfect.
thank you. Mayor hendricksen and members of council. Good afternoon, and thanks for having us here.
we're here to present an update on. Let's move yk, Yellowknife's transportation plan.
so what we're hoping to present today is really an update on progress to date. We are kind of finishing the second phase of the process, Which is our existing conditions phase.
so we wanted to summarize what we've learned from our existing conditions, Technical analysis and community engagement before we move into the next phase of the
process. So our agenda here will provide a bit of background and context on the Transportation plan.
summarize what we've been doing over the past few months on the transportation plan and Progress to date,
and then we'll walk you through what we've learned from the existing conditions phase of Work summarizing the findings of our first round of community engagement and key findings
for transportation in yellowknife today, and kind of walking through key findings for each Mode of transportation.
so the purpose of today's meeting is really to update council through this committee about The the project,
the transportation plan second, to share initial findings of the existing conditions, Analysis and community input as that will inform the remainder of the project.
third, to build a common understanding of some of the key transportation issues and Opportunities that we've learned so far through the process.
and finally, to obtain your direction and input on any directions moving forward, If you have any questions or comments based on what you learned today.
so providing a little bit of an overview of the transportation plan, Which again we're calling let's move yk.
the transportation plan looks to build on and combine a number of previous transportation Studies strategies and policies that have been
developed over the past two decades or so. And really bringing those all together into one Cohesive document and ultimately a master plan that guides the city moving
forward. So that will result in one document that would be a single unified roadmap for Yellowknife's transportation network that will guide the city's investments and decision
making in transportation for all modes of transportation over the next 25 years.
so we're looking at a plan that will extend up to 2050, Which would be the same as your community plan comprehensive update.
we're looking at creating a plan that looks at all modes of transportation and making Travel throughout the city safer and more welcoming and more inclusive for all,
regardless of how people choose to travel. So that includes walking, Cycling, driving or taking transit.
we're really looking at providing transportation choices that work for everybody.
and then finally, we're looking to ensure that the transportation plan aligns with other Initiatives.
so with the comprehensive or the community plan comprehensive update and the climate Action plan and making sure all of these plans are working in alignment to support
yellowknife's vision of being a welcoming, inclusive and prosperous community.
so in terms of the planning process, as I mentioned at the outset, We're kind of wrapping up phase two,
the discovering phase. So our first phase was launching, And that was kind of initiating the project.
and most of our work over the past few months has been in this second phase of work.
so this has involved some technical tasks and our first round of community engagement.
so as part of this, we've done a review of relevant plans and policies both among the city And gmwt and other actors.
we've done a kind of a community profile that looks at land use, Geographic characteristics,
demographic characteristics and things like that. We've looked at an existing conditions assessment of all modes of transportation.
so a technical review of how, you know, each mode of transportation is functioning and Looking at gaps and opportunities.
we've done a jurisdictional scan and best practices review. So this is kind of looking at ideas and opportunities from elsewhere. What are other Communities doing. And looking at research and best practices.
and we've also interviewed I think about 10 or 11 different jurisdictions across northern Jurisdictions alaska,
whitehorse, iqaluit, a number of other winter cities as well. So we're really trying to learn from some peer cities around north america and around the World.
and then ultimately with some of this analysis wrapping this up with an interim report Transportation in yellowknife today,
which will be coming. We're just finalizing that report, And today we're sharing some of the key highlights of that.
and then we'll also have an engagement summary report from the first round of engagement. And that will be coming later this month as well.
so really this meeting and this presentation is just summarizing all of these activities From this phase of work before we move into the next phase,
which is, which will involve coming up with a vision and goals and network plans and Recommendations.
so to summarize kind of what we've learned so far in terms of existing conditions and Context and starting with how the plan will be developed.
so the process we're going through, we're really looking to bring together various sources Of information.
so as I mentioned, the policy context and making sure we're aligning with some of your Other strategic documents like the climate action plan and the community plan,
and also bringing together all of the range of transportation plans and studies that have Been developed over the past 20 years or so.
we're also looking to bring together what we heard from our first round of engagement, And we'll be having a second round of engagement on the draft plan in the new year.
and then our technical review and technical analysis, We're trying to bring all three of these pieces together as we're developing the
transportation plan. And then on the right, again, Just highlighting the alignment of this plan with some of the city's other overarching
documents. So in terms of what we did for the first round of community engagement, This took place between the beginning of september and late october.
so this slide is showing some of the communications materials and how we informed the Community about the transportation plan.
the image on the right is just an example of some of our marketing and communication Materials.
so we have a project web page, both on the city's web page and the play speak engagement Website which had over 1500 views.
the city has had several social media posts and facebook and instagram and x.
we distributed materials throughout the community, A number of postcards and posters and stickers distributed throughout the community.
there was a press release and then ten posters posted at high traffic locations throughout The community.
and in terms of what we what we did through the engagement some of the activities and Tactics we held,
we were really focusing on going to the community and making it easy for community members To participate in the process.
so part of that was focusing on holding two pop up events back in september, On september 16th at the farmers market and september 17th at the aquatic
center. And through those two pop ups, over 180 people interacted with the project team at Those booths.
we also had some online engagement. We had an interactive map and a community survey.
so the interactive map you could drop pins on at various locations throughout the city to Identify specific transportation issues and travel patterns.
and we had over 130 unique pins on our mapping page.
and we had a community survey with over 160 responses.
we also noticed, actually, as we were kind of seeing some initial results from the Community survey,
that it was underrepresented with children and youth.
so we actually launched a youth survey a little bit later in the process, Because we really wanted to make sure that that perspective and voices of youth were
included, not just parents. We wanted to hear from children themselves. So we launched a Youth survey and had 55 respondents to that survey.
and then we also held a household travel survey. So this is a statistically significant representative survey of yellowknife households to Really understand travel patterns.
so understanding how they're traveling through the community, What mode of transportation they're using,
the purpose of their trips, the length of their trips. And so that will provide really valuable information as we develop the plan.
we received over 700 responses to that survey, Which is about 9% of all households in yellowknife,
which is great. That actually exceeded what we were hoping for with the household travel Survey. So that'll provide really valuable information.
the results of that, since it just closed october 31st. We don't have the details of that yet, but those will be forthcoming.
and then we also held a number of interest group meetings kind of targeted meetings with Different sectors of the community.
so all of these pieces together kind of summarize the range of activities that we held for The public engagement.
so in terms of the community survey, which is what I'll focus most on here.
again, we had 162 responses to the community survey.
over 70% of survey respondents lived in the downtown, Frame lake south, forest drive are,
and old town. Most respondents were kind of adult age between 25 and 54.
and as I mentioned, we did notice we were missing that youth perspective. So that's why we Added a separate youth survey to make sure we were hearing from children and youth in the
community. And we asked questions about whether people experienced any limitations or Disabilities that impacted their mobility.
so about 10% of respondents identified having some sort of limitation that impacted their Mobility throughout the community.
so two of the initial questions in the survey were kind of asking really about why Transportation is important and what are your priorities for transportation.
so the slide on the graph on the left is asking about transportation outcomes.
and really this question is why is transportation important to you. And maybe I'll explain the graphs first. This was on a scale of 1 to 6.
so one is actually the higher score. One means it was the most important and 6 means it's The least important.
so the lower numbers actually mean it's a more important score. So what we found is that improving road safety was the number one reason why people think Transportation is important,
followed by improving public health and providing more transportation choices. And the least important outcomes were reducing transportation costs and reducing travel Times and congestion.
on the right, we asked respondents about their priorities for the transportation system, So kind of similar.
a lower score means it's a higher priority. So we heard that walking was the highest Priority from survey respondents,
followed by cycling and transit. And then the lowest priorities were micromobility things Like scooters and skateboards and then commercial transportation or goods movement.
so this helps to provide us some guidance on kind of values and priorities from survey Respondents.
so looking at kind of a snapshot of transportation in yellowknife today, Some kind of key facts and findings about the community in general,
that creates some opportunities and challenges. I think a real unique opportunity is just the compact urban form that yellowknife has.
really the urban developed area is quite compact, Which helps encourage especially walking and cycling.
the map that you see here is looking at kind of walking distances from city hall.
and so what it's really showing is increments of five minute walking distances from city Hall using the road network.
so the darker colors are a further walk, but you can really see a large portion of the City is within a half hour walk of city hall or downtown.
so that creates a lot of opportunities. It's a really walkable community. Distances are generally quite short and similarly for biking as well.
you could really bike all ends to and from the, Throughout the city within a 30 minute cycling distance.
that creates a lot of opportunity as we're developing the transportation plan and kind of Building on the compact urban form.
we also, of course, recognize the unique northern winter context of the city, Which creates opportunities and challenges as it relates to weather and climate,
and particularly active transportation in the winter months. It's an economic and service hub. So it really is a gateway city to the northwest Territories.
and recognizing that the city has a role beyond just its residents, But also as a service center for other residents throughout the territory.
and anticipated population growth. We want to build on the population projections that Have been developed for the community plan comprehensive update,
and making sure we're kind of considering the impacts of population growth on the city's Transportation system.
so now I'll walk through some key facts and findings and survey results for each mode of Transportation.
and I'll start with walking. And the map on the right here is just showing the existing Pedestrian infrastructure throughout the city.
things like multi-use pathways shown in green also shows where sidewalks are located and Where intersections and crossings are located within the city.
and overall, when we look at sidewalk coverage, Sidewalks are provided on about half of all streets within the city.
and we see greater coverage across downtown and in many residential areas.
so quite good coverage already. Most of the kind of gaps within the sidewalks would be on Local streets.
whereas most of your collector and arterial streets do have sidewalks on at least one side Of the street, which is great. We looked at width of sidewalks as well.
and, and the condition and type of, of material.
so we know that there's a kind of a mix of concrete and asphalt sidewalks, And some of those asphalt sidewalks are used as multi-use facilities for people walking
and cycling. But also some of those are narrow and makes it challenging to actually Accommodate people walking and cycling as a multi-use facility.
and we're able to map out the width of sidewalks. And actually most sidewalks are below 1.8m in width, And 1.8m is an important number.
that's kind of the minimum width that you would want for two people in a mobility aid to Be traveling side by side.
so it's kind of a best practice to try and have sidewalks that are at least 1.8m wide.
so that's kind of a goal we'll be aiming for. And there's an opportunity maybe to, to improve that or making sure that new sidewalks are Built to that standard moving forward.
and then another factor for walking is just intersections and crossings. Those can pose significant challenges for people with disabilities and safety issues.
things like curb letdowns and intersection treatments and lack of crosswalks.
so we'll be looking at kind of identifying gaps in crosswalks throughout the city.
so in the community survey and you'll see these slides for each mode of transportation, We asked a question about what are your top five or what are your top barriers for each
mode, and what could the city do to encourage you to travel more by that mode?
so when we look at walking and there was a longer list, These are just the top five that we saw.
the top five barriers to walking were personal safety, Such as crime being the number one barrier that survey respondents felt,
followed by a lack of pedestrian facilities, Pedestrian facilities being in poor condition or uneven that they end abruptly,
or that they just feel uncomfortable because they're walking next to busy streets with Busy and noisy streets with vehicle traffic.
in terms of what the city could do to encourage walking providing more multi-use pathways,
more sidewalks, more crosswalks, especially those that have kind of flashing beacons to Improve visibility repaving uneven sidewalks and providing traffic calming.
so those give us some good direction about kind of what some of those challenges and Opportunities are moving forward as we develop the plan.
so similarly for cycling, kind of starting out with some key facts and findings.
there are some cycling facilities and multi-use facilities throughout the city.
but there isn't really a comprehensive, cohesive network. It's a fairly fragmented and not very well connected network of facilities.
there's a number of different types of cycling facilities throughout the city. There's Some really fantastic off street multi-use pathways like the frame lake trail which is
great. We have some multi-use sidewalks in some cases, The top picture on the right here,
where they're kind of sidewalks but kind of encouraged to be used by bicyclists.
there's off street the one example of an off street bicycle path and then some on street Bicycle lanes within the city as well.
but what we kind of want to focus on is how do we create cycling infrastructure that's Comfortable for people of all ages and abilities,
and that's what's highlighted in the text box at the bottom here. So triple a or all ages And abilities is really trying to design cycling infrastructure that is comfortable for
everybody, and that really means focusing on facilities that are physically separated from Vehicle traffic.
so things like multi-use pathways or protected bike lanes, As opposed to just painted on street bike lanes.
in addition to cycling infrastructure, there's a range of other support facilities that Can be provided,
like bicycle parking. The zoning bylaw doesn't currently provide guidance on long term Bicycle parking.
so there's an opportunity to add in some some guidance for long term bike parking.
and how to deal with personal e-scooter use. I think that's a question in many communities How where they fit in the transportation network and especially on multi-use
pathways, how do we make sure these are safe for people walking and cycling and using E-scooters?
in terms of what we heard from the community survey, The top five barriers to cycling.
the the greatest barrier was just a lack of on street cycling routes and infrastructure.
was the top barrier, followed by cycling routes that aren't physically protected from Vehicle traffic.
a lack of off street cycling routes like multi-use pathways or trails, And people feeling uncomfortable cycling next to busy large and high speed traffic.
and then gaps in the cycling network overall. And then in terms of priorities or opportunities moving forward, We heard people would like to see more multi-use pathways,
more on street bike lanes that are physically separated from traffic, More bicycle parking and end of trip facilities,
more on street painted bike lanes and then ensuring bike routes are properly maintained Throughout the year.
moving on to transit, the map on the right here is showing the existing transit network With your three main transit routes and bus stops throughout the city.
so this is and this network, which was introduced in october 20th 20 or 2024 has been very Successful.
it's it has very good coverage throughout the city. There's a few gaps in key destinations that aren't currently accessed via the transit Network.
but overall, most residents live within a five-minute walking distance of a transit route,
which is actually really great. We've seen, kind of looking at transit data that ridership Has been steadily increasing and actually since the introduction of the new
transit service or transit system in 2024, there's been a significant increase in Ridership.
so I think that is shown to be a good success. And transit is on the rise. When we look at the three transit routes, Yc connector, kind of the main east west route throughout the city,
is the most well-used transit route. And then another thing we like to look at is bus stop Amenities at transit stops.
this is things like benches and shelters and lighting and that varies.
about a third of your bus stops currently have a shelter, Which is great, but there's maybe some opportunities to improve that,
especially in winter months when you're waiting for a bus, Making sure you're comfortable and sheltered from the weather.
so in terms of the barriers and opportunities the number one barrier to transit was that Just transit isn't frequent enough or doesn't meet people's schedules,
followed by a feeling there's limited transit service to get to the destinations people Are going to.
transit doesn't take me to where I want to go. Transit is too slow and unreliable, or the transit stop is too far from where I start or End my trip.
in terms of opportunities to improve transit, Providing more frequent transit service, providing transit service on weekends and
evenings providing just more transit routes within the city, Providing faster and more direct transit service,
and providing improved information regarding transit routes and options.
and then finally focusing on driving. And this is kind of a broad category that really Looks at driving,
but also things like car share, parking goods movement and really just, You know, using vehicles on the road network.
so the map on the right is showing your road classification including kind of in, In yellow or gold highways under gnwt jurisdiction,
and then in red are arterial roads which are really meant for kind of city, City wide travel.
dark blue are collector roads, and light blue are local roads, Which are really kind of residential streets.
so maybe I'll start with the second bullet, kind of looking at some of the higher volume Corridors. We had some traffic data that we were using from the city to kind of understand
where the busiest roads are. Those generally align with the road classification. But busier roads, of course, are franklin avenue, Kam lake road and range lake road.
we've seen that speeding is an issue. We kind of we looked at gps based speed data to Understand where speeding is occurring,
and we did see some speeding issues on some of the arterial roads and on highway three Where people are driving above the posted speed limit.
and on local streets it was less of an issue. But that's where potentially traffic calming Could be an opportunity.
but recognizing the first bullet, the city doesn't currently have a traffic calming Policy. We also looked at seasonal maintenance and just looking at what the winter and
seasonal maintenance programs are within the city and recognizing in particular, Sidewalk clearing for snow and ice is only required in the downtown.
so finally, looking at the top five barriers and opportunities for driving.
in terms of barriers, unsafe driving behaviors such as speeding where the number one Barrier to driving followed by people having difficulty finding parking.
unsafe intersections, unclear about how to kind of use the road or share the road between Different users.
and then congestion or delays in terms of opportunities, This was quite interesting.
far and away, the greatest opportunity to improve the road network and driving is actually To improve walking and cycling transit infrastructure to reduce the need to drive.
so that was a very interesting finding. It was 66% of people identified this quite a bit Higher than the other choices,
but the other choice is encouraging people to drive less, Implementing safety improvements, providing more parking, and improving sight lines at intersections.
we also asked some questions about how about transportation safety and how safe people Feel when they're traveling on yellowknife's road network.
overall, most people generally feel relatively safe traveling on streets here.
and personal vehicles, if you're driving, are perceived as the most safe form of travel.
85% of people reported feeling very safe or somewhat safe when they're driving or as a Passenger.
but on the other hand, perhaps not surprisingly, Active transportation showed the lowest safety perceptions,
and particularly cycling and walking. People feel less safe when they're, You know, not protected by a vehicle.
so a lot of information there. We've learned a lot of really, Really valuable information from our technical analysis and from the community survey and
hopefully provides us some good guidance and direction and understanding of some of the Values and priorities of community members to help guide us as we move into the next phase
of the plan. So with that, I'll invite any questions or comments.
thank you. Thank you very much. So, you know, To my colleagues, first time seeing this presentation you know,
I know there might be things rolling in your head and maybe you don't have all the Questions now. So remember, you can always send in questions afterwards, too. But to
start, any questions councilor fequet and then deputy mayor warburton. Go ahead. Thank you For the presentation.
whoa. What's going on there? Who let the volume get adjusted there?
testing, testing. La la la la la la la. Beautiful voice, Sir.
okay. No. Echo. Okay. Okay. Thanks for the presentation, That was great.
awesome to see some of those findings. First, Just could you update us on the anticipated timeline for completion and delivery of the
final report? Yeah. So the next step of the process is to develop a vision and goals and Come up with a draft plan.
we'll be doing that over probably the next 2 or 3 months. And then would aim to come back to have our second round of community engagement probably In february or early march.
after that, we would be developing an implementation plan and then bringing a draft and Final plan to council for approval,
likely in june or july. So we're really looking at kind of early summer to be wrapping up The entire process.
thank you. When that implementation comes to council, And this might be a question in part for admin,
is it hoped that implementation plan would come with identified sources of funding?
let's give that to admin first. Miss thistle. Mr. Greencorn. Thanks for the question. I believe the first thing we would do is also Engage with council before the implementation.
implementation plan was finalized. We want council and the public to have input.
as mr. Patterson said. Depending on when we receive, If we reach the appropriate timing in our budgeting process,
we would include allocations in the capital budget for council to deliberate on in December of that year.
at the same time, we would also be exploring and seeking funding initiatives through Various government opportunities
federal, both federal and territorial, at the same time. And then all of that information would be wrapped up in for council's consideration during Deliberations.
so we got funding for this. Do you still want to do it? We don't have funding for this. Do you still want to do it, Or do you want a full capital investment on the city side,
so hopefully that makes sense. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, That process makes a lot of sense.
and so I guess I'm just double checking. Maybe this is with admin again.
is there any budget asks this year for anything to do with the transportation plan, Knowing that the implementation plan is slated for like middle of next
year? Yeah. Miss thistle. Mr. Greencorn. Anticipating some of the things coming out.
there are two. There's an allocation of approximately $900,000 and 25 and 26 or, Sorry, 26 and 27.
where, how we allocate that and that amount still remains to be deliberated in december.
but yes, we have contemplated in the current draft budget that council just received.
awesome. Thank you. And maybe jumping back to the presenter to a couple of questions.
I'm interested in the 50% preference of survey respondents who noted the benefit of Physically separated bike lanes.
and I'm just curious. That's something that's come up in my time here. And I know there's some real challenges with respect to operationalizing that.
so I was just curious if you have any insights on if that is something that eventually Makes its way into our implementation plan.
is there common ways to get around that or barriers that other winter cities have overcome In that space?
mr. Patterson. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, that was part of our best practices review and Jurisdictional scan is to kind of learn from experiences in other winter cities that have
seen success and have implemented cycling facilities, Protected bicycle lanes and what that means in terms of design requirements and kind of
their maintenance practices. So, and we have a lot of experience working in some of those Other winter cities as well.
so we reached out to cities like montreal, saskatoon, Winnipeg and calgary and edmonton.
they have all implemented protected bike lanes in the winter. And actually, They've all noted those are actually preferred,
even from a maintenance perspective, over painted bike lanes, Because the paint it painted bike lanes don't work in the winter.
they just become snow storage. So as long as you have a protected bike lane and if there's Enough space in that physical protection,
that can actually be a snow storage area. So I think as the plan moves forward, The question will be,
what's the right type of facility and what's the right context? It could be some on street protected bike lanes or multi-use pathways.
I think both have a lot of merit. So I think those are generally what we'll be looking For.
and then again, we know from a maintenance perspective those are actually better in winter Cities that they're also more effective at getting people cycling year round in those
cities. So. Awesome. Thanks. No. Yeah. Really curious to hear more about that.
and yeah, whether that's the right, right approach for yellowknife or not. Just two more Questions.
just noting. I appreciate the, you know, the thought of making sure that this plan aligns With our other goals,
like our community plan, our strategic directions, And the climate plan was also mentioned up there. Recognizing that we're just receiving
that today. I'm curious, how has that plan been relied on or used or compared to till now,
and also moving forward to the completion of this project?
I'll start with miss thistle first for admin, If they want to answer first and then I'll kick it over.
there's been a lot of engagement and inter-departmental work on a number of these plans.
I'll turn it over to miss white for anything she might have to add, As she's the lead department on the climate action plan.
thank you. So, yes, for the climate action plan as well as the community plan, There have been numerous sessions that have aligned and been both with our
departments, with other agencies within the community, As well as with the consultants who've been working on not just this plan,
but the others as well. So there's a multitude of consultants as well. So, yes, there has been collaboration and working on all of these policy developments.
you will see when we have the climate action plan in place and the community plan in Place,
a reflection of similar language and similar goals and objectives, Maybe worded a little differently,
but those key goals will be very, very similar. Thank you. And, mr. Patterson, if you had anything you wanted to add.
I would just add, we have looked at all of the kind of relevant background information, And we've been coordinating with those other project teams.
we're just at the starting point to develop our recommendations moving forward. So for now, it's really just been kind of making sure we're understanding those Initiatives.
over the next phase, as we develop our vision and goals, We'll be making sure that we're building on those other policies.
councilor fequet. Awesome. Thanks. And just last question. One of the four objectives on one of the first slides of the presentation was to get any Direction from council as needed,
and I just wanted to confirm that without the interim report or the summary of engagement In our hands,
was there anything specific that your team is looking for direction from council on at This time?
go ahead. Not at this time. It was really just based on kind of what you saw today.
if there was anything that stood out or any thoughts that would give us direction, But no specific asks at this time.
perfect. Thanks. Deputy mayor warburton. Thanks.
thank you for presentation. This is very helpful. I like updates as opposed to just getting a big fire hose at the end.
it's very helpful. You mentioned we don't have a traffic calming policy.
just a main question or a question for yourself is, I'm not looking for more policies and processes.
just hot tip, but is there a way that we're going to kind of address that through the Report?
is it through design standards like what's kind of the, Kind of lens we're going to kind of deal with that short of a nerve palsy.
we'll start with admin miss thistle, and then we can go over to mr. Patterson. Mr.
greencorn. Thanks, brian. Excuse me. A little bit of a sniffle.
brian and I chatted about that this morning. I think we'll wait for the next step to Happen.
it could be done a couple different ways. We could fully develop it out under the current Transportation plan,
but it is getting a little prescriptive. The other alternative is that the formal traffic Policy would be part of the
implementation plan and have its own assigned budget and have its own assigned focused so That it can be prioritized or deprioritized however,
council sees fit. That's where my where my gut is going.
but I welcome brian's input on this and how he sees it rolling out as well.
thank you for that. Mr. Patterson. Yeah, I'd echo that. There's different approaches we can take. Some cities would kind of have that direction in The transportation plan or developing a standalone policy.
and maybe as we move into the next phase of the plan, We can kind of figure out how to best approach that.
despite the deputy mayor's gun shyness over policies. Don't be afraid to give your best recommendation. But yeah, Deputy mayor warburton. And just one more thing to add to that. Even if it was developed
how we envision the document as a living document. So we have a transportation plan. If we did do a traffic calming policy or a safe streets Policy,
or even a change to the design standards that allow roundabouts or whoever, That would make,
I see those as amendments to the plan. So it wouldn't just be its own thing to go off and Die somewhere.
we would just keep it active. If that helps. Deputy mayor warburton, Thank you.
and mostly a comment for folks this is not I don't anticipate a massive capital plan to Redo the entire city.
this is obviously, I'm assuming, iterative as we, As and when we change things.
okay, I'm getting head nods. Okay, good. Just make sure it's clear, Because I know some folks think we're going to spend a ton of money on stuff, but that's
not my intention, so. Excellent. Excellent clarification for anybody reporting.
and one tidbit. Sorry, I'm jumping in. Go mr. [inaudible]. The horizon for the plan is generally, I think we've narrowed it down to 25 years.
it'll be a 25-year horizon, not just the next. Hammer it in in the next three years. Very good clarification.
so thank you for deputy mayor and director greencorn for highlighting that. Any other questions from colleagues? I guess just for myself, Mr.
patterson. I mean, you know me at this point. I could talk about this stuff for ages and ages and ages, So I won't. But I guess just for yourself as you're leading into the the next piece of
work, what's your biggest takeaway from what you've sort of learned about yellowknife so Far?
and our systems and what people are seeking, Like, what's your biggest takeaway at this moment? Oh,
that's a great question. I think I see a lot of opportunity here. I think with the compact nature of the city, As I kind of mentioned in that slide, I think for walking.
there's a lot of opportunity really to build on that. Your walking mode is already very high. I think it's, I don't know the number offhand.
I think 25 or 30%. So which is very good compared to most canadian cities. So I think a real opportunity there. Yeah, that's probably one of the big ones.
I think the other one is like, how do we celebrate winter as we're thinking about active Transportation as well?
I mean, when it's, you know, the extreme cold months of december and january, That's probably not a practical option.
but I think the lessons learned from the places like montreal and winnipeg show that, You know,
it is possible to do something for active transportation and recognizing some people will Be choosing to use that year-round.
we just need to make sure it's done. So kind of recognizing the context of the city and Considering trade offs and operational impacts and everything like that.
so it's done in the right way for yellowknife. So yeah. Thank you for that. One last go. Anything?
with that, thank you very much for the presentation. And that, As deputy mayor warburton said, it's nice to get that update sort of midway. So really
appreciate that. Thanks for your time. Next we have a memo regarding whether to adopt for Information the climate action plan 2026 to 2036,
as prepared and directed admin to use the plan for long term decision making and Investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
over to miss thistle. Thank you. And I'm going to turn it over to miss wade for a brief Introduction before we start the presentation.
thank you very much. So today we are pleased to provide a presentation and the climate Action plan for the city of yellowknife to council and to the public.
you will remember grace was here back in june giving an update on where we have come from,
what we were doing, public engagement, and a reminder that all those public engagement Documents are available on our website,
on our climate page. So if you want to go back and see where some of these recommendations Came from,
feel free to do that. Today is also the first day of the united nations climate change Conference.
the first of one of the main themes to that conference is cooperation.
and another main theme is connecting climate action to people's everyday lives.
and you're going to find these themes woven through the city's climate action plan as it's Presented today.
so while the world meets over the next two weeks at the climate action conference, We here in yellowknife continue to be impacted by what the rest of the world does
and does not do. We are a small community that is addressing disproportionate impacts.
our climate action plan is looking to take the next steps from a focus on emissions Towards additional mitigation and adaptation actions.
climate mitigation, just as a reminder, are ways in which we can reduce emissions or Increase carbon sinks.
and that's for the goal of reducing ghgs in our in our atmosphere.
and climate adaptation is the adjustments we can make in our systems that we are doing in Response to actual or expected climate impacts over time,
so now and into the future. And examples of all of these can be found on page 34 in the Climate action plan.
so I'm going to invite grace schaan to present all the great work that she's been doing And look forward to discussion afterwards.
thank you. Over to you. Go for it, grace. All right. Thanks. Thanks, chelsea, for the introduction.
my name is grace schaan. I'm the environment and climate coordinator. And as charlsey mentioned, I'm here to present our climate action plan.
so I'll start off with some background on where this plan came from.
how we actually developed the plan and then go into what the plan actually looks like.
so hopefully you've all had a chance to look at it. So we'll just briefly look at what the structure is before we talk about how it actually Connects to the council strategic directions.
so first of all this plan replaces what was the corporate and community energy action plan From 2015 to 2025.
this is also the city's first attempt at a plan to bridge mitigation and adaptation in One.
and what we've seen over the last 15 years or so is yellowknife has been on a trajectory Of lowering our emissions.
we've reduced them 20% from 2009 to 2023. However, In the last few years of our data, our emissions actually increased 16%.
so broadly speaking, we've been on a downward trend. But in the last couple of years, we're actually starting to move back in the wrong Direction. So previous plans such as the corporate and community energy
action plan included aspirational targets. But we fell short of these targets.
and the reason why is that these plans lacked concrete actions, And we actually failed to adequately fund initiatives that would have brought us closer to
those targets. So this climate action plan instead focuses on feasible and impactful Actions.
it includes qualitative measures for success, Reporting mechanisms and provides opportunity to create targets down the road.
so while you'll see in this plan, we don't have a, We don't currently have an overarching emissions reduction target aside from joining the
federal government and the territorial government with seeing aiming for net zero 2050.
this plan really lays the groundwork for more action to come.
and of course, the opportunity to develop some of those targets along the way.
so what we can see is that continuing with business as usual is not an option.
in fact, we need substantial additional action to put us on track.
so, as we all know, human caused climate change poses serious risks to our infrastructure,
our natural environment, and human health and well-being. And that is why both the federal government and the gnwt have committed to reach net zero Emissions by 2050.
now making up almost half the territory's population, Yellowknife has a significant role to play in reaching this goal.
so this graph that we see here is for yellowknife's community emissions.
it's a projection of 2050. Given the policies we have currently in place we are expected To see about a 23% reduction from
2023 to 2050. But that leaves us about 200,000 tonnes above that goal of net zero.
so that is why business as usual is not an option.
so of course, these emissions have led to impacts of climate change in our own community.
and some of the changes we're expected to see in the next few years include increasingly Warmer and shorter winters,
more precipitation in the form of snow, further permafrost degradation, Hotter and drier summers which lead to more intense wildfires,
and other extreme weather events and other climate hazards. So this thus far, we've seen community wide evacuations from wildfires, Costly infrastructure damage from permafrost thaw,
and changes to our way of life. So by proactively planning for these changes, We can be better prepared for the impacts of climate
change and save money down the road. So acting now will help prevent disruptions to our Daily lives,
our service delivery, our economy, and keep yellowknife safe for all.
so we launched this project, this climate action plan, In the fall of 2024 working with a consultant who in the first seven
months completed a literature review, produced two key background reports, And began the engagement process.
so our first phase of engagement from january to march of this past year, We saw engagement with public stakeholder and rights holders through
the form of letters to local indigenous governments public roundtable, A public survey and stakeholder meetings with
utilities and several local ngos. And then, based on the information we collected in those Sessions,
we drafted our first set of actions, which we then put back to the public for a second Phase of engagement.
and in the second phase, we met with rights holders including yellowknives dene first Nation and the north slave métis alliance.
we had a public survey, another public roundtable, A presentation to true north rotary club and stakeholder meetings with the gnwt,
arctic energy alliance and several other local organizations.
and that second phase of engagement is what led to the creation of the plan that we have In front of us today.
and I'd also just like to thank all of our colleagues in other departments across the city Who provided technical expertise throughout the whole duration of this
plan development and joined us for several targeted staff workshops as well.
so into the actual plan. So the plan starts off by setting the context for action, Specifically our emissions data that I just mentioned,
as well as our climate vulnerability assessment and how it aligns with ongoing work at the City,
the territory and the federal government. And then we set we created the set of guiding Principles that would outline
our decision making criteria for selecting actions in the plan.
so these guiding principles are partnership-driven action; Feasible, measurable and impactful projects;
advocacy and policy support; community engagement and education; Resilience and adaptation;
and community well-being and social capital. So from there we created a set of themes, Goals,
strategies, and actions. We have 6 key themes. Each theme has a set of goals that we'll be striving for.
and then we have strategies for it's basically a pathway for us to make changes and reach Those goals.
and then finally, actions, which are the actual mechanisms that we'll use to execute a Strategy and achieve those goals.
actions within the plan focus both on our corporate so city owned or operated assets as Well as community assets.
so actions within the plan include both direct actions. The city will take opportunities to incentivize and educate residents, Prospective partnerships with community groups or indigenous governments,
and areas to advocate for policy changes or resource sharing from other levels of Government.
so here is the brief summary of what our plan looks like.
those 6 themes with their strategies. I'll just quickly talk about the highlights from Each of those.
so our first theme is sustainable transportation. And our strategy is there will be to incorporate sustainable transportation and land use Planning,
enhance our city operations and services. So thank you to brian, Who's talking about our transportation plan.
and here's a little bit of that alignment that we were referring to earlier.
of course, enhancing that active transportation infrastructure and increasing low and zero Emission vehicle use and infrastructure.
second theme is waste management. So here we will be trying to increase reuse of waste Materials and diverting and reducing waste before entering
our landfill. Our third theme is resilient and efficient buildings and infrastructure.
so we're going to be focusing on transitioning to renewable energy sources increasing Resilience and efficiency of our city assets,
our buildings and infrastructure, as well as supporting in the transition of community Buildings and infrastructure,
and also how we can connect developers, building owners and residents with the resources That they need.
fourth, we have our responsible land use and planning theme. So under this theme we're going to increase resilient and efficient land development, Increase the use of nature based solutions,
and increase our amount of local food production.
fifth, we have governance and accountability. So in this category, we're aiming to integrate climate action across all of our city Departments.
we also outline here how we will be implementing the plan and how we will report on Progress.
and finally, how we communicate with the public and engage them along the way.
our last theme is community preparedness and emergency response.
so here we are trying to ensure equitable provision of support and resources.
we will be communicating with residents on how they can prepare for climate impacts.
and finally, how we will be supporting our neighbors as they undergo similar impacts and Challenges.
so we have the next ten years that we will be implementing this plan.
and we have a couple key actions along the way. So first is we will be here annually to report to council on our progress of how we are Progressing in implementing each of these actions.
there will be regular communication and updates with the public, And a midway review will happen in 2031.
the plan comes to a close in 2036. We will end with a final review of the plan and assess Future needs for action.
so I just want to highlight how this plan connects to council's strategic directions.
first of all, this plan hinges on partnership driven action, Primarily with the gnwt, but also local indigenous governments and community
organizations. This plan was developed in part through engagement with the yellowknives Dene first nation and the north slave métis alliance.
we are also hoping to be able to implement many of these actions in partnership with those Governments.
and hopefully this in some small way advances reconciliation.
this plan also seeks to advance equity and reconciliation by pursuing actions that support The most vulnerable members of our community.
and those are primarily unhoused people, tenants, The elderly, low-income individuals.
and we can do so by reducing energy and food costs, Increasing access to clean air in homes and in our community,
and improving access to more affordable modes of transportation.
third, the plan promotes responsible asset management through monitoring and budgeting for Climate impacts and rethinking our design and procurement
of new assets to ensure that they are resilient to our changing climate going forward.
and of course, this plan seeks to implement impactful solutions that reduce our emissions While enhancing our resilience to climate change and make
yellowknife a healthy, resilient community now and into the future.
and that is all. Thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation.
any questions or comments from colleagues? Councilor cochrane out of the gate. Thank you Very much,
mr. Chair, and thank you so much for the presentation and all the work that's gone into The plan by staff across departments here. It's an impressively large amount of work. A
few questions. I have one starting off with the ever present advocacy notion throughout The plan.
a lot of it is to address the legislative and policy barriers that currently exist.
first off, I'm assuming we're having ongoing conversations with ecc already on the staff Level.
and I'm just curious of what more we would want to establish within an advocacy.
is this political by nature? Is what we're getting at in here, Miss thistle?
miss white, thank you very much. Grace and tots have both been participating in Conversations for at least the last two years.
year since grace has been here. To understand not just what gnwt is doing, But what that support is that's being given from the federal government.
more info to come on that as they're still kind of deliberating their budget. But the answer is yes, and we will continue to do so.
thank you. Excellent. That's kind of what I was expecting.
I'm assuming we had a bunch of advocacy in the prior plan as well.
a lot of this is contingent upon our working relationship with the gnwt.
and I'm curious, from the prior plan, have they shown any did we have a metric of success For our advocacy in the prior plan.
miss thistle. Miss white. I'm going to say I'll have to get back to you, Because I don't know that it was actually
a direct objective. So while it occurred, I'm not sure if we even have.
actually, I'll ask grace, but we may have to get back to you grace.
I am not sure either, so we will get back to you. Thank you. Very curious, just to see. And for my next one, I read that we want to establish a committee of council for implementation.
I believe we had one for the prior plan. Two, If I'm correct, right?
miss thistle? Yes, there was. Thank you. I'm just curious, Being that we want to establish a committee of council that we wound
down and also establishing a working group, why would we do both when we could create Something similar to what we had within the accessibility committee that is purely
operational, instead of just having it more of a committee, Advisory board of council, when we can just utilize this form of gpc as the overarching
council over purview. Miss thistle. Miss white.
thank you. So the options are presented to council for your deliberation.
this is our recommendation because at a working group level, There would be different players with different background and knowledge who can provide
different advice than, say, a gpc meeting could. Ultimately, it is your decision, but this is our recommendation, Thank you.
and thank you for that. I do feel more comfortable with having it as an operational Committee,
with us answering up, as that will be a level of expertise that we on this council Certainly could not provide as laymen.
and then having the overview, but that's my personal opinion. I'm curious to see what the Rest of council feels about this. Thank you so much. Thank you.
councilor cochrane. Councilor fequet. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much for the presentation, Grace and the team behind all the work.
I am really happy to see all the extensive engagement as part of this project.
the various methods approaches are very much appreciated and I hope this will continue to Be the norm for projects of this magnitude and complexity.
hoping to get some clarification with respect to the two recommendations in the memo the First is simply asking council to adopt the plan for information,
and the second is to direct admin to develop an implementation plan.
the memo states that actions within the plan will be brought forward through an Implementation plan,
with the necessary budget, in alignment with the schedule outlined in the plan.
so I recognize there's actions. I recognize there's a schedule within this plan.
can you just confirm if identifying the funding sources to back up all these actions is The only remaining work needed before being able to prepare an implementation plan.
miss thistle. I'll start off and then I'll pass it to miss white.
it's not, wouldn't just be the budget required. For example, if you look at page 58 of the plan.
there's a number of items listed that overlap with other departments, Other strategies.
there's, actions are not prioritized. As we've all heard, The work plan is pretty intense.
there's not a lot of extra capacity. And so would be also with the lens of when and how Administration could incorporate some of this work and
also budget. So for example, expanding the highway traffic bylaws, Sidewalk snow clearing section can overlap with accessibility.
it can over, it will overlap with snow removal and budget from public works.
it could have enforcement impacts through municipal enforcement. So it's a bigger question than just doing research and amending a bylaw because there will Be people time required as well as budgetary
impacts if that happens. So it would be more than just budget.
and then yes, throughout you'll see it partner to provide incentives.
so clearly those are one to create the partnership and to then fund the budget.
from most likely hopefully external resources. And I will pass it to miss white. Thank you. What I would like to say is there is budget Allocated for 2026.
it is carry forward from previous allocations that have been given towards a number of Different pieces that were under the community and corporate energy planning,
plus additional money that was provided by council to create this updated plan.
we also have staff time that is budgeted, as well as the additional resources.
and another piece of the budget that does match here is we through half have been granted The ability to allocate some of that money where climate action will
support new affordable housing within the community and or transportation to and from Housing to places of employment.
so there's multiple pots. Total amount for 2026 is higher than $250,000.
and moving forward, we'll continue those conversations. And it's our goal that as we apply for funding, Usually it's a 25-75 split.
so we will have, we do have for next year our 25% and hopefully being able to leverage Those moving forward.
thank you. Councilor fequet. Thank you for that.
very helpful answer. Yeah. So I guess given all of that, What does it mean anticipated timing for development of the implementation plan?
and can you confirm either way, if the implementation plan will be coming back to council For approval or not?
miss thistle. Thanks for the question. Yes, it will definitely be coming to council for Approval.
and we, it will be q1 aiming for january, february, But q1 2026.
okay, thanks for that. Is okay. I guess more of a more of a,
a approach type of question. So in any participatory or transformational strategy Development,
there's always an intentional step where we talk about the roadblocks and the barriers.
we just saw it in the presentation we had on the transportation update about the modes of Transportation and people's barriers.
and the reason that's important is because strategies that aren't focused on actually Getting around those barriers will just kind of end us up where we've been in the past. So
I'm just curious if that is, that has been a step in our in our process to date, Where we talked about why we haven't achieved our vision already with,
you know, all the work and time and money we've spent and or if, If that hasn't been necessarily a step to date,
if that is something that admin can do when they're applying their lens of reasonableness And budgeting and,
you know, fitting into efficiencies and opportunities that might already exist.
miss thistle. I can pass it, miss white, for work that's been done to date with respect to Review of barriers and overcoming barriers.
and I can say it's definitely a consideration as part of the implementation plan.
over to you, miss white. Thank you. I guess first, What I'd like to say is there's been a lot of success for the past two plans that councils
previous have had. It's been over a 20 year period, And you've seen the results being a reduction in ghg.
so. So don't think that there haven't been those successes because they really have been There.
and it's not just from the things that city and our administration have done.
it's also been some parts of what the community has done. So that definitely has seen results. What we're doing is expanding.
so ghg reduction is still part of this plan, But we're expanding it to how do we touch people's everyday lives and the things that they
do. This is through that mitigation and adaptation conversation that we had.
so yes, it will be part of that implementation plan as it comes forward.
I know that grace and the consultants who've provided background information have looked At this,
and that will be informing what comes forward to council in q1. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you for that response.
I'm just going to a question about targets. Yeah.
I just kind of want to understand more or get some context for, You mentioned and my understanding from both reading the plan and kind of reiterated again
today in the presentation was that maybe we did have a lot of success, But in some of the places we didn't succeed or had some challenges,
it was mostly because maybe the actions weren't clear enough or well thought out, And there wasn't always funding or as much as we had hoped.
so it didn't seem like targets were the problem. So I'm mostly just looking for maybe some additional context on why we're not proposing Targets.
I recognize there'll be regular updates, but, You know, setting a goal for 2050 I would have assumed that we would want some targets to
know if we're on track to meeting that or not as we lead up to that. So I'm hoping you can Just provide some extra context. Miss thistle.
miss white. So in grace's presentation, she did note that as we do bring forward these Implementation plans,
there will be opportunity to adjust and or include targets.
but beyond just aiming for targets, the problem with chasing targets is you sometimes lose The forest for the trees.
and there are other things that are just as impactful, Not just to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
like we said, but also how are we making people's lives more energy efficient, More affordable?
and you know, just overall better in the community that we live?
or, as grace said, and supporting our neighbors and the communities who have to sometimes Come here.
so not that we're not using targets. We are and they will be built in, But we want to take a little bit larger step back and a little more holistic approach.
thank you. Cool, thank you. Appreciate all these great responses.
I'm just going to pick up on a question my colleague asked just about page 61 of the plan,
specifically action 5.2, a about the committee.
and so just kind of reflecting on the conversation that council had most recently when we Were deciding on how to move forward with the management of the destination marketing
office. I was just wondering if admin could elaborate.
and I recognize this is a different question, But can admin elaborate on the purpose of this committee.
you know, if council comprised of other partners for the implementation of the plan, Especially given the fact that the current plan,
like, will have its own implementation plan that will be approved by council. Miss Thistle.
miss white. Thank you. And I will ask grace to elaborate a little bit.
so part of it is to provide that qualified expertise as well as local experience, Depending on the composition of what that committee ends up being.
and it would be to provide a review and guidance or technical advice to staff or Administration as we prepare x,
y, and z from the implementation plan, which would then be brought to you. So that I think is kind of the function. But if grace wants to add by all means.
sure. So in that committee, there's a set of different groups we're hoping to have Representation from.
one big piece of feedback we received from the public throughout the development of this Plan was seeking council buy in to this plan,
and that this was one of several options to see that commitment from council that wasn't Necessarily felt in the past.
however as I mentioned, yeah, we're seeking various diverse voices on this committee, And it's an opportunity to bring those voices together where they wouldn't
otherwise have the opportunity. Thank you. Okay.
councilor fequet. Thank you. Yeah. No interesting response.
I'm just absorbing that. I guess I maybe just in response to that response, I would say I definitely support administration,
having whatever expertise they need to get their job done without adding administrative Hurdles that aren't worth your time. My initial gut reaction is like,
we don't need a committee because the council is going to be approving a work plan, Which is the shuffling of priorities at a citywide level,
which a committee can't do. But if a committee or a working group or something that Supports you guys and gives you the necessary expertise,
whether it's in the development of the implementation plan or it's actually in the Implementation of the implementation plan, whichever makes the most sense for you. I think
that is good if it works for you. But yeah, definitely a little hesitant with the idea of Another committee of council because council will have to ultimately decide the
implementation plan. And just a couple, two more questions.
on page six of the memo, it talked about the gnwt releasing its strategy in the spring of 2026.
so from an alignment lens, and especially considering some of the comments already about How much advocacy and other things are not,
you know, solely within the city's control how are we thinking to align that announcement From the gnwt with the work of
this plan and the implementation plan, just to make sure, Like, you know, if there's low hanging fruit because the gnwt is going to give money for
something, maybe that adjusts our implementation plan because we can. That's a low hanging fruit for us. So just kind of curious on edmond's vision for how we Can align that work so that we're not maybe getting out ahead in this case.
yeah. Miss thistle. I'll start and then pass it over to miss white.
you could also look at it. We can strategically advocate, Once our plan is adopted, for the gnwt to align with our work and or provide budget for
some of the items and that we're going to advocate for. So it could be strategic for our plan to be out first, But miss white.
and it won't be the first time we've been out first. We adopted the national building code First. So no,
there isn't a concern. Sorry. You guys laughing?
there isn't a concern with us being out first. So grace has had these conversations with The wto.
so unless there's some crazy realignment that goes on where they take a completely Different direction.
I think we're in good standing and good footing to move forward with this.
not just as the climate action plan, but the implementation plan, So that, you know, grace can present that to you in q1.
thank you. Thank you. I will refrain from making a joke about whether we should hold our Breath about the gnwt changing to the off ramp at the last
minute or not. You didn't really hold back on that joke, Did you? Councilor fequet. Keep going. Yeah. And last question.
just again, more kind of the bigger philosophical approach, Less to about this plan specifically.
but on page four of the memo, it talked about the city carrying out the second round of Engagement with rights holders,
and it included the ykdfn and the north slave métis alliance, The yellowknives dene first nation.
can you confirm whether the collegial government was included or not, Considering they are a recognized rights holder?
miss thistle. Miss white. I'll pass to grace.
thank you. Yeah, thank you for the question. So in our first phase of engagement was when Our mayor at the time sent out invitation letters,
and I believe a letter was sent to the tlicho government. And we just had not established a meeting from that invitation.
thank you, councilor fequet. Merci. Anything from any other colleagues?
for myself. I'll try to not be scattershot here. I've got all sorts of thoughts on the page. I guess just going to.
ultimately, the thing I'm sticking on is the difference between the action plan as we see It in front of us,
and what an implementation plan would be. Because I just fear that the next ten years will Be spent of
myself, colleagues, future councilors explaining to residents that we have an action plan,
but don't go there. Go to the implementation plan to see what the city is actually doing.
and so can you talk to me a bit about how to square that circle?
miss thistle. Thanks for the question. We also had similar reservations with respect to That.
we also were concerned that residents would see the plan posted on the website and point And say,
why isn't this done? Which is why we'll bring forward an implementation plan.
similar to we have a joint economic development strategy with ykdfn.
and then we brought forward an implementation plan. And we had the solid waste management Study done,
and then we had an implementation plan. And it's because we really need the administrative Lens put on the recommendations and actions because we have to balance that
about regular balance that with our regular day to day work. The other strategies and work that are going on.
so some of these initiatives are already underway or in work plan or in somebody's job.
because we're doing those, these kinds of things.
and then, and look at what we currently have resources for is miss white indicated we have Some and where we would need additional resources.
so the implementation plan takes that really holistic view and also has to like be a part Of our work plan because prioritize.
so there's a lot of actions in here. We clearly can't do all of them at the same time, Even in if it's over a ten year period.
when we look at all the other work as I mentioned, Some of these things will all be underway or recommended,
perhaps in other strategies. We just had a presentation from the transportation plan, And some of the initiatives in the climate action plan directly relate to the
transportation plan. There's reference in here to signage that directly references to the Wayfinding strategy and some work that's currently underway by community services
and our dmo. So there's a lot of overlap here.
and I think the way we can avoid over the next ten years, Things maybe not getting done or not being clear is to bring forward an implementation
plan that has budget resources, that has timing so that it's clear when we anticipate Getting things done as department,
and I can pass it to miss white in case she has anything to add. Thank you very much. Square pegs is a great show. You should watch it. So also everything Carrie just said.
plus as grace mentioned, will be coming back and doing yearly reporting, Which is a little bit different than what we've done previous.
so you're going to be able to see you and the public are going to be able to see the Implementation plan from the beginning of the year,
things that were done follow through and then the next steps for the next year, It's going to be more detailed. It's going to show the different departments that are all
involved in all of these pieces. And as carrie said, This is how we've done it for other projects and plans that are in place.
and this, as I said, is budgeted and funded. Thank you.
still nervous, but less nervous. In your presentation, Grace, you had mentioned that, you know,
20% reduction in the initial part of, you know, The community energy plan, and then we're back up 16%.
so I guess how much of that like, just when I look at those years and you mentioned it in The report as well, how much of those reductions initially and then the bounce back was a
result of covid and then not covid, do we know?
miss thistle. I will pass it over to miss schaan.
yeah, thank you. So definitely part of that. Like, You know, the 2021 to 2023, that is a bit of a rebound.
but there were some trends over the whole 20% period that, For example, like the number of flights,
I believe, because we count like turbo jet fuel is a really large source of our community Emissions.
I believe there was actually like just fewer flights in that entire period, Not just due to the covid pandemic,
but yes, that uptick was in part due to the response after covid.
and if I could just add one other piece, one of the challenges that we are going to have And it's a good challenge to have is we're a growing community.
so more people equals more garbage, more places to live, More transportation, more flights,
right? So all of that community amount, we're going to have to create policies and or Supports for the community to keep those levels down or
decreasing. Thank you. Thank you. Which yeah, Sort of gets me to my next question, because it's really,
it's a good point and it's a good problem to have. So that's good, I guess it ties into the flight question is, You know, one of the things that I had a challenge with,
and we talked about at the time when we were reviewing whether to do this work, Was, with the community energy plan,
was that there was a lot of stuff in there that we don't, As a city actually have control over, like flights. We don't, we can't control when people are coming and going.
we don't run the airport. Dnd is going to be investing more. We don't have any control over that, which is again a good, Good investment. That was don't take that negatively anybody if you're reporting on it. I
mean that in the context of this. But we don't have control of those things.
so I guess, does the administration have any thought on there's a part of me that would Love to strip out all the things that we don't have a direct impact on,
or we can't directly impact, because I feel like we're setting ourselves up for Disappointing the community by trying to overstretch ourselves or,
you know, outside of trying to have that advocacy, You know, impact perspective, as councilor cochrane,
councilor fequet were saying. Does the administration have any thoughts on that, Like about not trying to overstretch our commitments and
potentially disappointing ourselves or the community and or the community? Miss thistle? That's some great feedback. We could definitely consider that as part of the Implementation plan.
perhaps there's a way to bunch items together as advocacy or items within the city's Control,
and items without the city's control or or where we play a role, But we're not the lead role.
we can definitely consider that as part of the implementation plan that we bring forward.
because as you've noted, there are a number of actions in here that are either work with Partners,
budgetary requirements, etc. Or legislatively outside of our jurisdiction.
so we can definitely consider that as part of the implementation plan.
and for any information on what was previously done I defer to mr.
greencorn because the committee that used to exist used to be in public works.
I won't torture mr. Greencorn if he doesn't want to respond. He gave me the thumbs up. So Thank you. But,
yeah. You'll have to wait now. Councilor fequet.
yeah. I'm just going through the remainder of my questions. You know what?
councilman mclennan had a question that he's not available to be here, But he asked me to ask on his behalf.
so he said regarding action 3.1 a, which quote it says adopt and implement the Recommendations of the district energy policy framework,
including updates to the community plan and zoning bylaw. His question was why wait eight years to adopt the community plan to include this Framework when we're currently doing an update to it?
his statement was, we have the housing accelerator fund money for planning now and are About to discuss a budget with money for climate implementation.
so if the resources aren't in budget 2026 to include this as in our current community plan Update,
why are additional resources necessary in the future? Does that clear? Miss thistle, over to you. Thank you.
and I'm going to pass it to miss white because she's prepared to answer. Because the Question is clear and I think I know what he's getting at.
the answer is so we started our community plan update.
part of that policy development is grace working with muhammad and the team to create Climate action policies in the community plan.
community plan, fingers crossed to council in q2 of next year.
then it has to go to maca, to the minister for approval while it is in that process Stream.
that's when we are going to initiate the zoning update, Which has a bunch of things here.
in order to have a policy in place which will direct development. That's your community plan. Then the regulations, Which is going to be your zoning bylaw. Plus for district energy, we're also going to need
to look at our building bylaw because the two work hand in hand there. Those are going to need to be in place looking at approval in 2027.
so not until after those are in place does it actually flow out I.
so it is going to take some time. Will it be faster than eight years? Yes. I thought he meant 2028, because that is realistic.
so all of those pieces together community plan is already funded and being worked on.
zoning bylaw is funded and will be starting next year and then this will follow behind it,
thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I guess for me, and this is no knock to admin because the, You know,
the work being done, it's, you know, it's a tricky one having got it on friday.
chance to review a 60 plus page document, 71 plus actions.
thinking about how it fits into implementation though, This conversation has been super helpful. I,
for myself colleagues, I'm not ready to progress this to council yet. I would prefer to be able to take some time and digest this some more.
flip more questions back to admin. Think about and maybe talk about with admin some of the Stuff that we were just talking about there in terms of how do we organize what we have
control over, don't have control over before we jump to implementation.
which normally I wouldn't say wait a month and a half to january, But the reason I say that is when I look at our gpc schedule for the next several weeks,
and then we have budget at the start of december, My, this is my personal preference, so I'd like to hear from yourselves what you think.
is that we table this item until january, we bring this back, And we can continue this conversation after we've all had some time to rip into this.
and I don't mean that in a negative way, but dive into it, Digest it some more.
think about some of this feedback that mr. So miss white and [inaudible] have talked about Today,
and then we can come back a bit more fresh in the new year, Grappling with this, knowing that there is implementation action in the budget and all of
that, but that we then are a bit clearer about what our, Not just what we're trying to achieve with this,
but also how we're committing to the public, What we're trying to achieve and have follow through.
so that's my, where I'm at. And set for round two.
councilor fequet. Yeah, thanks for asking that question, Mr.
chair. I guess initially, I mean, I had maybe the same reservation because when I saw this Plan that actually has a schedule and actions
in it. And the language of the motion is adopt this plan for information.
I think that all of those three things combined made me very nervous, Because I think in the past there's been confusion,
and this council has discussed it during this term about what is adopting plans mean.
and I think maybe there's been different direction over the years and years about that. So My preference is you know,
I'm fine with the motion, with the understanding that this has not undergone the like the Detailed look from the administrative lens about budgeting and prioritizing.
and that will be coming back to council for approval, Like knowing that I, most of my remaining questions are about the implementation.
I don't think I have any direction regarding or thoughts on like useful direction.
I think like that admin needs to do that exercise, And that's where we're going to have a pretty good conversation.
and I would just the note that I had for myself was that, You know, I recommend I understand that all of these recommendations may not make it into
the implementation plan. So flagging those would be great. So we don't have to come back here and check. And also in a similar to some of the other Colleagues,
give heavy consideration to those actions within our control that will yield the greatest Impact.
because that little chart I mean, I know I don't have to say that, But that little chart,
you know, on page 92 of the pdf that talks about off road transportation is 40%, But 95% of that is jet fuel.
and we can't do anything about that. So I recognize you guys. I'm sure that's already on your radar. But given that, I mean, I would like to advance the conversation about the implementation as fast as
possible because it might take more than one conversation. So that's fair enough.
I mean, then and again, I want to hear from the rest of you. I would just say in response to that, if that's where my colleagues mind is at, Then I would prefer to even adopt the recommendation to just be the what is currently part
two, not, say, adopt it for information, just jump right to implementation because then we Get to the meat of the issue.
what? Yeah. I don't even think we need to do that. It's been drafted for clarity, that councilor fequet was suggesting maybe receive for Information.
I don't think that's the point. So anyway, that's, I still for myself. I'd love some more time to chew on it. But again, I am but one of you.
so, colleagues, I want to know from yourselves where you sit on it. Deputy mayor Warburton. It's a lot to digest and we're very busy with budget,
so I am happy to park this until january. I don't want to rush it.
councilor cochrane. I concur entirely with councilor warburton I think we should table This for now and come back into the new year,
as you suggested, with fresh brains and relaxed with everything.
and yeah, tackle it then. Any other comments?
thumbs up from councilor payne. Thumbs up from councilor foote. Councilor mcgurk. Okay then that's what we'll do. And admin, Truly thank you for this and getting this on the table.
it's as we saw from the presentation on the transportation plan. This is something that we can't mess around with. If we're going to commit to doing Things, we need to make sure we're truly, from our end,
owning what you're putting in front of us. So thank you for the work to bring this Forward. So that's what we'll do is we'll table this until january and bring it back then.
and so everybody what that means for us is don't wait to keep looking at it till january.
our jobs is to post budget, dive in and think about it and consider it. So when we come back in january you know, if you've passed on questions to admin, We've thought about what are those questions issues we want to grapple with before we get
to an implementation plan. So with that. Oh councilor mcgurk. Yeah. No, we I was just about to close it. It's over to you.
yeah. I guess I just have one sort of final comment slash or and question.
because I wanted to echo the sentiment. I really, Really appreciate this report and I'm very supportive of the contents of it,
generally speaking. And in that vein, I guess because we have our timeline of Implementation starting in 2026,
there's some things that would be very useful. Good. Like the idea of having those as being priorities.
but if we are going to wait until january to review this action plan, Will it impact our ability to look at
adding these things? Because truly, I don't want to delay action on something like this.
and the difficult part about this arriving to us and at this time and not maybe even a Month before,
like prior to this, is, is that pushing it back to january does take it out of our budget Or it doesn't.
I know it doesn't align up with how we're guiding our budget discussions.
I mean, I think just to and then I'll pass it to admin. But just a couple of things is one, you know, Admin has confirmed there's money allocated in the budget for implementation to it.
even if we progress it today, the implementation plan is not going to be done before Budget. So we're still resting on. So there is those elements as well.
but I'll pass it over to miss thistle. I don't know if you have anything you want to add. I'll just give a comment and then I'll pass it to miss white because she has a suggestion.
yeah. We are happy to have this come back in january.
with respect to concerns about nothing happening as I've indicated, Some of these initiatives or actions are already underway or a part of another strategy or
plan. So it's not that nothing's going to happen. We'll definitely as part of the implementation plan, They'll include like things that are already underway when other things could get started
and then the budget required. And who's the lead or not. With respect to the city versus partners but I will pass it over to miss white.
thank you. So you can take comfort in the fact that we have a position where it is their Dedicated job to look at environment and climate action,
not just with regards to this, but with a number of different programs that are currently Underway at the city. The second piece is maybe what we and we'll have a conversation is
we bring back the implementation plan whenever we book the gpc date for this action plan To come back.
so then you have them hand in hand. So if you, If I can request that if you do have considerations as you're going through it,
get it to us. And then we'll try to build a comprehensive package to bring back in the new Year.
so instead of just getting an implementation plan, You'll kind of get all of that together would be my recommendation.
thank you. I like the recommendation. And yeah, We can then talk between council and administration on picking the right date for those
things to happen so that we can, yes, see things a little bit more holistically with all Of the things we talked about. So thank you for that recommendation. Anything else from
colleagues? Seeing none. Then that is the end of our meeting today.
thank you everybody. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Deputy mayor warburton, Seconded by councilor cochrane. Have a lovely day.