December 11, 2017 Council Meeting Notes: City's own GHG emissions down, plus 48 Avenue sewer replacement moving forward.

Last night was the final Langley City council meeting of 2017. Two of the major items on the agenda were the receipt of the 2016 Corporate Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) Inventory, and tendering a contract to replace a section of sanitary sewer between 208 and 210 Street along 48 Avenue.

Langley City is a signatory to the BC Climate Action Charter. As such, we are committed to reduce our own GHG emissions by 134 tonnes between 2008 and 2018. The major incentive of being a signatory to the BC Climate Action Charter, and reducing GHG emissions, is that the City receives a 100% refund of any carbon tax that it pays.

The City has met its original target of reducing direct GHG emissions by 134 tonnes. The following table shows the year-over-year reduction throughout the last eight years. Most of the reductions in GHG emissions have been obtained by making municipally-owned buildings more energy efficient. There is still work to be done to make our vehicle fleet less GHG intensive.

Langley City direct GHG emissions. 2008 – 2016 Tonnes CO2e. Select chart to enlarge.

The City must also report GHG emissions from contacted services. In 2016, contact services added an additional 128 tonnes of CO2e emissions to our bottom line.

Some of the 2017 projects that the City is working on to further reduce GHG emissions include:

• City Hall LED Lighting Retrofits
• LED Streetlight Replacement (203 Street, 56 Avenue)
• Vehicle Replacement (Plug-in Hybrid)

Over the next several years, the City will be replacing 100% of municipally-owned streetlights with LED lights. City staff is also developing a new 10-year GHG reduction plan.

Council also approved awarding a $495,000 contract to PW Trenchless Construction Inc. for the 48 Avenue sanitary sewer replacement.

City council adopted seven bylaws last night. Most of the bylaws were related to water, sewer, and garbage services. You can read more about these in a post I wrote last week. The other bylaw was a housekeeping amendment to the Council Procedure Bylaw.

Council appointed the following people to the Advisory Planning Commission for 2018: Trish Buhler, John Beimers, Jamie Schreder, Dan Millsip, Kimberley, Kim Mullin, and Ron Madsen. The Advisory Planning Commission “reviews development proposals while considering criteria that includes: overall design appeal, form and character, siting of the buildings and total site development in relation to its surroundings.” The commission provides advice to council and developers for consideration.

City council members sit on about two dozen committees. Council approved the list of committee appointments for 2018, as well as the finalized 2018 regular council meeting schedule.