futureshock€¦ · Contents 14 12 22 About the Cover 30 MAy/june 2008 ... FinAnCe Jane Addie Printed in Canada on Stora Enso Fortune paper. 100% Canadian. 30% recycled content ...

p3s, tollsand growth

planningMay/June 2008

futureshock

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how to Make transit work in a Modern city

The Evolution of Our Cities in a Changing Economy

PLUS Underground Secrets

Canadians at Work: 50 International Projects

– david caplan p. 12

CP

MP

#4

08

54

04

6

Contents

14

12

22

About the Cover

30

M Ay / j u n e 2 0 0 8

This month’s cover image comes from design artwork from Final Fantasy XII, a fantasy-set videogame. Commuters in the fictional city of Dalmasca take flying air ships from port to port. We’d like to remind people that it’s 2008—where are our flying cars?

35

FeAtureS 14 off-balance Cities are in a precarious position as

they try to balance growth and economic development with good urban planning and ecological sustainability. By Mira Shenker

18 revitalization Is Griffintown the future of urban Montreal or the first of poor planning choices to come? By Jason Magder

36 Flaunting the Label Energy efficiency is the latest must-have for commercial developers—partly for the profit and partly for the positive PR a “green” accreditation brings. By Kerry Freek

trAnSit 22 tunnel vision Are subways, and LRT in general,

the future of public transit? By Saul Chernos

24 Demand for Supply Creating a ridership for new transit. By Michael W. Roschlau

unDergrounD 27 Streamlining Creating new standards equals

better asset management. By Isabel Tardif

28 Secret Spaces The infrastructure you need a flashlight and a map from city archives to visit. By Mira Shenker

30 Subsurface Survey The underground asset our largest cities consider top priorities. By Jason Magder

DePArtMentS 4 editor’s note Mira Shenker is on the

lookout for floodwater in her basement.

5 Letters A bad reaction to P3s and the similarities between burnt toast and trash.

8 opening Shots Official funding for NRTSI, P3 for a new road in Montreal and more.

10 reLocate Jobs gained and lost in the industry.

12 rethink David Caplan talks P3s, toll roads and the “evolution” of Infrastructure Ontario.

19 StormWatch Planners and economic developers can—and must—get along. By Storm Cunningham

21 reMediate Taxes are stifling redevelopment in urban centres. By Etienne Kishibe

35 Community Profile Bouctouche, New Brunswick.

38 the LeeD List Six new CaGBC certifications.

40 reevents GLOBE08, CAMPSI, WaterTech and more.

42 Closing Shot Guerilla gardeners find an infrastructure-related cause. By Todd Latham

Special Supplement Canadians at Work: 50 International Infrastructure Projects© 2006 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. CHARACTER DESIGN: Akihiko Yoshida.

May/June 2008 renew Canada 3www.renewcanada.net

May/June 2008 volume 4 number 3

renew Canada is publishedsix times a year by We Communications inc.

editor’s note

Proud members of:

www.renewcanada.net

eDitor Mira Shenker

PubLiSher Todd Latham

vP PubLiShing Ray Blumenfeld

CirCuLAtion Kerry [email protected]

ADvertiSing Todd [email protected]. 416.444.5842, ext. 111

Miles Andrew [email protected]. 416.444.5842, ext. 116

ContributorS Saul Chernos Storm Cunningham Etienne Kishibe Jason Magder Michael W. Roschlau Isabel Tardif

Art DireCtion& DeSign Donna Endacott

FinAnCe Jane Addie

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By Mira Shenker

Out Of Sight

If the City of Toronto put money into a building that never got used, people would ask questions. But nobody

seems to mind that they built a handful of subway stations that sit unused. The best known of these are Lower Bay and Lower Queen stations which have found at least some use as playgrounds for bored “urban explorers.” (see page 28) They seek out spaces they’re not allowed to access—utility tunnels are their favourite uncharted territory—for the thrill of discovery and breaking the law. But do they care about the underground infrastructure you can’t illegally crawl through?

Toronto sits on top of 510 kilometres of huge trunk mains and 9,977 kilometres of local sewers that are rusting, leaking and waiting to burst. Back in 2006 a major water main burst in Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges neighbourhood, causing a part of the street to collapse into a six-metre hole.

The dozen or so people who had to flee their flooded basements temporarily stopped complaining about the potholes on their street and complained about the lack of sewer maintenance. Quebecers will tell you their streets have the worst potholes in the country. It’s hard to argue with that after you’ve accidentally fallen into one, or ruined your car’s suspension. But what they won’t tell you is that the water loss from the city’s leaky iron pipes or the corrosion that slowly eats away at water mains in the sewer system is wasting a lot of water and costing a lot of money.

After the Cote-des-Neiges incident, Montreal officials acknowledged that one-third of Montreal's underground water pipes are really old. About 1,500 kilometres of pipes needed attention and an additional 1,600 kilometres of the sewer network had structural problems. This isn’t surprising if you know that Montreal has a series of partial systems under private ownership dating back to 1801. But don’t think this is a problem that’s limited to Montreal: in Winnipeg this February, a water main that was installed in 1921 burst and Halifax’s public water system was built in 1841.

To be fair, these systems have been upgraded, but a lot of the iron pipes installed in the 1950s are leaking and corroding more than some of the hundred-year-old pipes. Toronto Water estimates that about ten per

cent of the water pumped into the system is lost before it's delivered to customers. That figure includes water lost due to main breaks—about 1,300 break every year.

The only reason this doesn’t freak out most Canadians is that they can’t see it. Driving under an overpass in Montreal is scary because of the visual: exposed rebar and chunks of cement held together by mesh. In the same way, “big smoke stacks belching black pollution into the air,” as Marvin Hunt puts it in a letter to ReNew Canada (see page 6) are pretty disturbing (even if sometimes it’s nothing more than steam). The visible emissions from waste treatment or energy plants create fear and NIMBYism, but as Hunt points out, “leachate from

landfills can contaminate water supplies (underground…) and the methane gas produced is 21 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.”

But we don’t see that happening, so maybe it isn’t. We try to discreetly chuck our used gum and bus transfers into storm grates—the hardest part is not letting someone see you do it. Once it’s underground and out of sight, it’s out of our minds. Who knew that Toronto storm grates flow directly into Lake Ontario without any filtration? Certainly not Torontonians. This is something we all do that extends far beyond underground infrastructure. Adam Legge says on page 17, “We’re sticking our heads in the sand.” He’s talking about impending water shortages, but the saying can be applied in all of our lives. Eventually, that unseen water main is going to burst, so maybe we should be dealing with it now, before our basements get flooded.

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Website: renewcanada.net

ReNew Canada subscriptions are available for $39.95/year or $69.95/two years.

©2008 We Communications Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be

reproduced by any means in whole or in part, without prior written consent from the publisher.

"ReNew Canada" and "ReThink. ReBuild. ReNew" are Trademarks of We Communications Inc.

intern Courtney Horner

Driving under an overpass in

Montreal is scary because

of the visual: exposed rebar

and chunks of cement held

together by mesh.

4 renew Canada May/June 2008 www.renewcanada.net

FeAture ContributorS

Letters

Thank you for supporting ReNew Canada. Call 416.444.5842, ext.111 to be part of the

July/August issue. The deadline is June 20, 2008.

www.renewcanada.net

Design-BuilD-Stop

in thiS iSSue:

AECOM Canada 29

Aecon 13

Atlantic Industries Limited 19

Autodesk 33

BOMA Toronto 37

Canadian Brownfields 2008 40

Cement Association of Canada 36

CH2M Hill 31

Con Cast Pipe 20

CPCI 7

CSPI 26

Decommissioning Consulting Services 21

Enbridge Gas Distribution 38, 43

Federation of Canadian Municipalities 34

Gartner Lee 10

Giffels 15

Golder Associates 31

Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP 9

Halsall Associates 38

IBI Group 32

Infrastructure Ontario 25

Jacques Whitford 18

John Laing Infrastructure 11

Macquarie Group Limited 24

Miller Thomson LLP 2

MMM Group 15

Multiview 27

Municipal DataWorks 23

Ontario Public Works Association 41

PriceWaterhouseCoopers 17

RCCAO 16

reWealth 37

RIVA Modeling 17

Sanexen 21

Toronto Economic Development Corporation 32

TSH 41

Wardrop Infrastructure 27

WeirFoulds LLP 44

XCG 10

Zurich Insurance Company 39

Isabel TardifIsabel is a Technologies Director pertaining to underground infrastructures for CERIU.pg. 27

Jason MagderJason is a reporter for The Gazette newspaper in Montreal. pg. 18

Saul ChernosSaul is a Toronto freelance journalist specializing in environmental issues.pg. 22

Michael W. RoschlauMichael is President & CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA).pg. 24

As Canadian and international e x p e r i e n c e

with P3s grows, the case for pursuing any more P3s for hospitals or other

infrastructure shrinks. Higher costs and reduced transparency, combined with a direct impact on service levels and quality, make P3s the wrong public policy choice for any level of government. It’s troubling that Ontario continues to promote and pursue P3s (rebranding them Alternative Financing and Procurement). Equally disturbing is the federal government’s Building Canada initiative, which pushes municipalities into P3s despite their many problems.

David Wright’s article [“Partnerships Revisited,” March/April 2008] acknowledged the inconvenient—and significant—truth that P3s cost more than publicly-financed projects, thanks to higher private sector borrowing costs.

P3s also direct scarce tax dollars to lengthy and costly contracting processes, as well as drawing extra resources to oversee and administer contracts lasting two or three decades. This money could otherwise be used to build more and better facilities, as well as providing the best possible services in those facilities.

Economist Hugh Mackenzie has analyzed Alberta’s plan to build new schools as P3s. He concluded that for every two schools financed as P3s, three could be built publicly. In Ontario, the P3 Brampton Civic Hospital cost as much as $300 million more than the public sector alternative, according to independent analysis of a government-commissioned review. The same analysis found the 1.35 per cent higher cost of private borrowing added $94 million to the price tag.

The Brampton hospital is one of the few projects of its kind that has received the public scrutiny all such projects require. Until a court order forced the release of many documents, corporate commercial confidentiality meant details of the hospital project were hidden from taxpayers, patients and public health care advocates.

The documents made public reveal that while project costs increased 186 per cent, the hospital shrank from a three-building to a two-building facility with fewer operating rooms and 22 per cent fewer beds. While we await the results

of a full investigation by the provincial auditor, it’s unclear what the benefits to the taxpayer are from this particular P3.

The level of secrecy with P3s is a public policy problem, another truth Mr. Wright all but acknowledges when he says “it is impossible to know without seeing the contract” whether the Brampton hospital contract was structured to meet public sector specifications around service levels, delivery date and budget targets.

These accountability and transparency problems are bad for business. Under traditional public sector procurement, the construction industry worked directly with the relevant public authorities to design and build hospitals and other facilities. Now, the deals have become much more complex—and potentially risky—for both sides. What was once a direct relationship has been diverted into dealings with support service corporations and financial service institutions. The construction industry may find itself in politically-fraught situations, as has been the case in Britain, where the quality and cost of PFI (the British equivalent of P3) hospital construction have drawn fire.

In Britain, architects have criticized the impact of privatization, with one national

the private sector has a

central role in the design

and construction of

infrastructure like hospitals.

When private involvement

spreads beyond these

initial stages into financing,

delivery and management of

services and infrastructure,

taxpayers, governments

and businesses are in for

nothing but trouble.

— Paul Moist, CuPe

(continued on page 6)


Letters

www.renewcanada.net

What do you think?We welcome your feedback. Letters should

be sent to [email protected].

Burnt tOast, Burnt garBage— it’S ALL the SAme

“Fired Up” by Jordy Gold (March/April 2008) continues the

wonderful, age-old debate of what to do with our municipal solid waste.

When was the last time you ate a snail or shucked an oyster and let it slither down your throat? Sound delicious? Well, with the wonders of thermal treatment (in other words, cooking) we turn slimy, revolting items into delicacies that people eat in fancy restaurants. We take other slimy remains from those same restaurants and through the wonders of thermal treatment (composting) turn them into rich compost to fertilize our gardens.

However, when it comes to municipal solid waste (garbage), some people like to invoke the most negative image they can think of—big smoke stacks belching black pollution into the air (incineration).

Their solution is to bury the waste. However, landfills have a negative side as well. Leachate can contaminate water supplies and the methane gas produced is 21 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. Even with collection systems, over half of the methane produced in a landfill filters through the soil into the atmosphere.

Just as my sister’s cooking has improved (in other words, burnt), so has waste disposal. With today’s

technologies, the organic portion of municipal solid waste can be converted into compost, methane (natural gas), steam, electricity or biodiesel. Once metals are removed, the majority of the remaining waste can be converted into steam, electricity, syngas or syndiesel.

One ton of municipal solid waste has the energy of a barrel of oil. With the price of oil over $100 per barrel, you can see why local politicians are looking at alternatives to burying this resource.

However, not all of these technologies are tried and true.

With over 400 plants in Europe alone, mass burning is the most advanced of these technologies. With modern pollution controls, the discharge air is often cleaner than the ambient air in the surrounding area.

Other technologies like anaerobic digestion, biofuels, gasification, pyrolysis, plasma gasification and refuse-derived fuel are in various stages of development with much fewer plants and much less certainty in the composition of the end product and the discharge air.

This, then, is the challenge for local politicians. Can we safely extract resources from our waste or should we just bury it and leave our problems for future generations to solve?

Marvin hunt Surrey, british Columbia

group calling the first wave of PFI hospitals “urban disasters.” Scottish and Irish architects have been equally outspoken, and now a prominent Canadian has added his voice. Last December, renowned architect Moshe Safdie resigned as the lead designer of a Montreal P3 hospital. He told the media that P3s are “highly problematic” and are not suited for building something as “qualitatively sensitive” as a hospital.

He said, “My experience is that the PPP process is not going to lead either to innovation or to anything outside the box, other than the minimal interpretation of the written specifications.” Safdie’s concerns about low quality and corner-cutting were reinforced by Manhattan architect Michael Fieldman. A few days after Safdie went public, Fieldman revealed that he had withdrawn from a bid to design a P3 hospital in Abbotsford, B.C.

The problems don’t end with those designing and building facilities. P3s place governments in politically fraught situations, leaving them to discover that risk transfer is illusory, or ends abruptly, leaving the public sector to pick up the pieces.

“The power of P3” is a myth. P3s have not proven themselves to be the best way to deliver on-time and on-budget construction, or provide more and better services. Indeed, the opposite has often proven to be the case.

Low-cost maintenance can be built into public projects. In fact, in the hospital sector the Ontario government has moved to a system where most support services are not part of the P3 deal—a modest step towards a more balanced policy. The government’s short-term P3s, which involve private financing over the construction period, don’t touch support and maintenance services, a tacit acknowledgement that these are best delivered publicly.

The private sector has a central role in the design and construction of infrastructure like hospitals. When private involvement spreads beyond these initial—and crucial—stages into financing, delivery and management of services and infrastructure, taxpayers, governments and businesses are in for nothing but trouble.

The private sector played a key role in designing and building the infrastructure that is our country’s bedrock. The traditional design-build approach, which keeps services and facilities in public hands, is a partnership that works.

Paul Moist is the national president of the 570,000-member Canadian union of Public employees CuPe.

(continued from page 5)

SmArt anD SuStAinABLeIn two decades in the environment and business field,

pushing the envelope of sustainability, I have been looking for a publication that gets to the heart of issues. As I read each issue of ReNew Canada I know I’ve found just that kind of publication. Your quality product, insightful articles and superb presentation invigorates my entrepeneurship.

Thanks, keep it up.

Christopher henderson Chairman, the Delphi group President, Lumos Clean energy


SASKAtoon DeALS With the FeDSGerry Ritz, minister of agriculture and agri-food, and provincial municipal affairs minister Bill Hutchinson have signed a $635-million agreement to improve Saskatchewan’s infrastructure over the next seven years. Among the first projects the federal government has committed to funding will be upgrades to Highway 11 between Prince Albert and Saskatoon, up to a maximum of $10 million, and the interchange at the junction of Highway 1 and Lewvan Drive, to a maximum of $16 million. Details at buildingcanada-chantierscanada.gc.ca

SunCor AnD ALBertA pAir upThe province of Alberta has announced its partnership with Suncor Energy in the construction and maintenance of an interchange on Highway 63. The interchange, which will be built 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, is expected to reduce congestion in the busy area as well as increase safety through the addition of on- and off-ramps to the intersection. The $55-million interchange will be paid for and constructed by Suncor. Upon completion ownership will be transferred to the province. Details at suncor.com

eAStmAin-1-A poWerhouSe proJeCt unDerWAY Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation has announced that the engineering and model testing of the turbine and generator units for the Eastmain 1-A powerhouse at James Bay in northern Quebec is well underway. The contract, valued at $140 million, includes designing, building and installing three 260 megawatt Francis turbine-generator units. Work started in November 2007 and the commissioning of the last unit is expected

for 2011. See top100projects.ca for more information on the Eastmain-1-A project.

more inFrAinVeSting For CAnADiAnSThe Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), and Alberta Investment Management (AIM) are part of a consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (MIP) merging with Puget Energy Inc. The consortium of long-term infrastructure investors also includes Macquarie-FSS Infrastructure Trust (MFIT) and Macquarie Bank Limited. The $6.7 billion transaction is expected to close later this year. Puget Energy is a regulated utility that specializes in providing electric and natural gas service in Washington. Details at bloomberg.com

moneY For nrtSiMinister Lawrence Cannon has written an official letter to Pierre Coulombe, president of the National Research Council (NRC) and Engineers Canada’s Marie Carter, confirming that NRC and the National Roundtable on Sustainable Infrastructure (NRTSI) will work together to develop a framework to assess the state, performance and management of Canada’s core public infrastructure. Infrastructure Canada is finally funding the round table’s work, devoting $465,000 to the NRC and $350,000 to Engineers Canada (representing NRTSI).Details at infrastructure.gc.ca

montreAL’S roAD reLieFMontreal is facing problems with aging transportation infrastructure [ReNew Nov./Dec. 2007], but the city will very soon start

to feel some relief. In June, Quebec will announce the winning bidder (either SNC-Lavalin, Macquarie Bank or Acciona) for a project to extend Highway 30, linking up with two highways that come into the city to create a ring road effect. The P3 project is estimated to cost $1 billion and save the province infrastructure costs; in exchange, the province will allow the builder to operate the road, which may mean tolls for end users. The concession would last for 35 years. Details at tc.gc.ca

eXtreme mAKeoVer: SAint mArY’S uniVerSitY eDitionHalifax’s Saint Mary’s University is getting a facelift. Aecon Group Inc. announced that its Atlantic Buildings group has been awarded a construction management contract for a $17.5-million building project. Included in the project is the construction of a 43,000 square foot, three-storey atrium building. The Atrium will be designed and constructed to LEED standards and will include an interior bio-wall, a glass roof over the Global Learning Commons and a green roof. Details at aecon.com

opening Shots

Infrastructure reporting from across Canada. Send your news and announcements to [email protected].

Cred

it: dsai

the revamped Museum Station.

$5m CoLumnS For muSeum StAtionToronto’s Museum Station underwent a significant redesign over the winter. Revealed on April 8, the station’s new look reflects its proximity to the Royal Ontario Museum and George R. Gardiner Museum and is based on its artefacts. Column designs represent Canada’s First Nations, Ancient Egypt, Mexico’s Toltec Culture, China’s traditional culture and Ancient Greece. The designs are the result of months of collaboration between the architects (Diamond + Schmitt), curators and specialists from the Museums, the fabricator and individual artists. Despite the fact that municipal money wasn’t involved (the work was financed by a public-philanthropic partnership), the $5-million cosmetic redesign has its critics. Details at dsai.ca

Cred

it: Saint M

ary’s University

A rendering of the future Atrium at Saint Mary’s university, n.S.


experience in corporate finance and business acumen. Between 1985 and 2007, Meti held executive and top management positions at the National Bank of Canada (NBC), where he supervised the bank’s commercial banking activities and international operations.

Engineers Canada has announced that Chantal guay will succeed Marie Lemay as CEO. Lemay was recently named CEO of the National Capital Commission. The organization says Guay’s arrival will further advance its work on major national initiatives and issues, including the launch of the National Roundtable on Sustainable Infrastructure, research on the vulnerability of Canada’s public infrastructure to extreme climatic events, immigration and foreign credential recognition and labour mobility.

HAZCO Environmental Services, based in Calgary, Alberta, has announced the acquisition of TEAM-1 Environmental Services Inc. (TEAM-1) based in Hamilton, Ontario, to form TEAM HAZCO. TEAM-1 provides emergency support services to government, transportation and industry. Mitchell gibbs, the entrepreneur who founded and managed TEAM-1, will act as Director of National Emergency Services.

reLocate

of the Stantec-led Project Management Office at the University of Alberta. Driedger will be the senior executive in Plenary Group’s new Edmonton office.

France bilodeau, senior vice-president for Aon Consulting Inc., and Anthony David Perl, have joined the VIA Rail Canada Inc. board of directors. Bilodeau is senior vice president for Aon Consulting Inc. Perl is professor and director of the urban studies program, and professor in the department of political science at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Kenneth Cory will replace Mark Wiltzen on the board of EPCOR Power Services Ltd. “Ken’s extensive experience in strategy and financial management, which includes serving as the

head of strategy for two Fortune 500 power companies, will be an asset to the Board,” said Don Lowry, chairman of the board. “I would also like to thank Mark Wiltzen for his efforts and strong contribution to the partnership during his period as a director.”

Antonio P. Meti is joining ADF Group Inc.’s Board of Directors. Meti is highly recognized in the financial milieu for his extensive

Craig MacLennan is leaving the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal after four years of service. He was responsible for facilitating the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe

and ReNew Ontario, the province’s first long-term capital plan. Most recently, MacLennan was Chief of Staff. heather Mack, former Deputy Chief of Staff to glen Murray when he was mayor of Winnipeg, joins the Ministry in MacLennan’s place.

Sophia A. Muirhead has been named General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at The Conference Board, Inc., the global business research and membership organization.

Muirhead will be responsible for, among other things, corporate matters and board processes for the Trustees of The Conference Board.

gordon Driedger has joined Plenary Group as Vice President, Project Delivery. Driedger has worked as Managing Principal for Stantec’s Program & Project Management group in Alberta

North, Project Executive on the Edmonton Light Rail Transit project and as the Director

Sophia Muirhead

gordon Driedger

Dr. Kenneth Cory

heather Mack


Q+A With Pir

ReneW CAnADA: There’s concern transportation corridors might harm rural and agricultural areas that fall

outside the Growth Plan.

DAviD CAPLAn: The Greenbelt protects 1.8 million acres; the Growth Plan is a compendium to it that allows us to protect lands and ask questions like, what is growth going to look like and where will people live? The third leg of the stool is that transportation, or infrastructure, overlay. That includes the transportation master plan that Metrolinx is developing to connect urban growth centres.

reneW: Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac says they’re putting together some white papers.

DC: We’re very eager to see what that plan is. The Growth Plan is conceptual lines on maps, so we don’t know exactly where a highway is going to go—by the way, in the Growth Plan we call them economic corridors. We’re hoping the local authority will drill down and be able to tell us, “here’s where the route goes; here’s the kind of cash that we have to line up over whatever period of time to be able to make that a reality.” In that way, we’ll marry the growth planning side with the infrastructure side.

reneW: Who will your main support be in realizing this plan?

DC: Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is going to

continue, but Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC) is another implementation tool, allowing us to greater utilize publically owned, or government owned, properties.

reneW: Is that something new—expanding your circle of supporters—now that the organization is a little older?

DC: I’ve discovered that infrastructure is a team sport.

reneW: There have been rumours of a shakeup at IO, that there’s a need for some changes there.

DC: I haven’t heard of anything along those lines. One of the things I’ve discovered in the last two-and-a-half years is there’s a lot of cross-pollination. I know one of the things that David Livingston is doing is making sure we have an organization which can meet the different project needs and to be able to have an organization which evolves. Transit and transportation are becoming the next wave [of AFPs]; water longer term is an area where we see tremendous AFP potential. It’s going to be critically important for IO to organize themselves to take on new projects.

reneW: So it’s a retooling of IO?

DC: I would call it an evolution.

reneW: Let’s go back to those “economic corridors.” Do you think we could also rename toll roads to make them more palatable?

DC: It’s important to realize that it’s not just a new terminology; it really is a made-in-Ontario solution. We want it to be reflective and descriptive of what we were actually trying to do. In the case of tolls, the Ministry of Transportation is looking at potential solutions. Unfortunately, I think public confidence [in tolls] was undermined by some of the fiasco we saw related to the 407 and the commitments to the public that were not kept.

reneW: The City of Toronto Agenda for Prosperity recommends uploading Highway 404 and the Gardiner Expressway to the province and turning them into toll roads.

DC: The premier has said that he’s open to the report’s recommendations. Our approach has been not to act unilaterally but really work to forge a new partnership and relationship with the cities. We’d have to see where the city council wanted to go and so far they haven’t really engaged us on the substance of the report.

reneW: If Rob MacIsaac puts forward recommendations for toll roads, will you accept that?

DC: The Ministry of Transportation is taking the lead on the release of those papers and the ensuing public conversation. We’d have to demonstrate the benefits and also see what the potential concerns would be. I think that by Rob [MacIsaac] leading that

rethink rethink

By Mira Shenker and Todd Latham

Cred

it: Todd

Latham

We sat down with Minister of Public infrastructure

renewal (Pir), David Caplan, to talk about following

through on their ten-year, $60-billion plan for Ontario,

the evolution at infrastructure Ontario, toll roads, P3s,

“economic corridors” and why there can never be too

many players on “team infrastructure.”


them that they have nothing to fear. That in fact we’ve made provision for people to remain unionized and to remain in their jobs. We actually have separate contracts: one is for the capital construction and the other would be for the facility maintenance and the soft services.

reneW: The Ontario Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (OCSI) is trying to pull together all the various associations and give them one voice in Ontario. Would you be in favour of that?

DC: It would be a lot easier for me if there was one group that I could go to and say, “What’s the view of everybody and how do these plans that we’re putting in place meet all the different needs out there?” But I don’t know practically speaking that one organization can really speak for the diversity of partners we have. It’s helpful to have organizations to help group things together, but I know there will be differences of opinion and I try to hear individual concerns.

rethink rethink

conversation, we’ll get a good sense of where the public’s at.

reneW: Have you talked to Minister Cannon about a national P3 office?

DC: My understanding is that it’s not going to be Minister Cannon; it’s going to be the minister of finance. It seems there’s a bit of a tug of war going on in the national government about whose role and responsibility it is.

reneW: Does it make sense for a P3 office to be the minister of finance’s responsibility?

DC: Let me relate it to our experience in Ontario. When the previous government set up the SuperBuild Corporation as a secretariat of finance, unfortunately infrastructure got lost. That was one of the reasons SuperBuild was a colossal failure. When, in 2003, Premier McGuinty said, “We want to have a ministry solely devoted to and dedicated to infrastructure,” that became a powerful driver for getting things done. If the national government is intent on recreating the SuperBuild model, my concern is that they’re going to have the same experiences and lack of delivery that we saw in Ontario. That being said, I don’t know exactly what the mandate of this P3 agency is going to be.

reneW: So it’s more a show of support for this funding model at this stage?

DC: It’s hard to say. In the previous budget, there was $1.4 billion put away as a P3 fund. Has anybody accessed that yet? How do you do that? What is the money for? I mean, it’s not funding infrastructure, it’s sitting in some bank account in Ottawa. We’re very much interested in being able to access it, but when we’ve made inquiries, no one’s been able to tell us how you do that, who you even apply to, who’s evaluating it.

reneW: Unions have been vocal in their opposition to AFPs.

DC: I think the service workers—the CUPEs (Canadian Union of Public Employees) and the OPSEUs (Ontario Public Service Employees Union)—are the ones who, for ideological or practical grounds, are quite strongly opposed. I find it hard to believe that we’ll be able to convince them. I think they’re worried from a practical perspective about the jobs of their members, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s what union leadership is there to do—protect the jobs of their membership. We try to explain to


to attract and retain young workers that are trained to do creative jobs in science, technology, design, culture, and financial and professional services.

In the 1950s, most Canadians still made their living in manufacturing. Now design firms are taking up office space in old carpet factories, and lamp factories are being converted into swank artists’ lofts. Some argue those changes should correspond to a change in the way cities are planned and zoned. For starters, it’s been argued that cities should stop protecting their industrial lands.

There is evidence of a decline in manufacturing jobs. A recent Conference Board of Canada report says “the economic miseries of Windsor and Thunder Bay stem from deep structural changes in manufacturing (especially in the auto and the pulp and paper industries).”

But according to Hemson Consulting’s research, Toronto, one of our biggest cities, is still very much an industrialized metropolitan economy with an increasing demand for employment lands. There are more jobs around Toronto’s Pearson Airport than in the city’s financial district. But with that land valued at around $700,000 an acre, the pressure to sell it off to developers is high.

At this March’s GLOBE08 conference in Vancouver, it was clear the west feels the

I n 1836, settler Catherine Parr Traill wrote The Backwoods of Canada while travelling via slightly more rugged modes

of transportation than most of today’s home-to-office commuters can imagine. On her way from Quebec to Montreal, she wrote, “The rich tint of harvest formed a beautiful contrast with the azure sky and waters of the St. Lawrence.”

The 80 per cent of Canadians now living in cities are probably not seeing a lot of tobacco crops on the way to work. But we’re still part of an ecosystem. Unfortunately, our cities have reached a point where they can’t grow without burning out what’s left of our ecosystems. We’re living far beyond the carrying capacity of the natural resources that helped define the layout of our cities.

On top of that, economic developers and city planners often have conflicting goals, and cities don’t have the revenue tools they need to adapt and grow. To make matters worse, some argue we’re not planning in accordance with a relatively sudden change in our urban economy—the shift from manufacturing to creative jobs.

industrial is so 1950s

Richard Florida is well-known for writing books—and blogs—about the rise of what he calls the “creative class.” Cities are trying

same pressure. “We need to protect the rest of our employment lands from sexy new projects,” said Vancouver’s chief planner Brent Toderian.

There’s no risk of sexy projects taking over Calgary’s industrial lands. The city has a fair amount of industrial land, but Calgary Economic Development’s Adam Legge says there’s no pressure to develop it. “Ontario is taking big hits in the industry because of what’s happening in the United States,” he says. “We’re not seeing the same change in our economic structure.”

Legge does concede that Calgary has a lot of big box outlets on what used to be industrial lands. In Toronto, big box retailers are also buying their way onto employment lands. SmartCentre is planning a 650,000-square-foot retail development on Eastern Avenue in Leslieville, an area designated as employment land. At a recent session organized by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), Toronto Economic Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) Jeff Steiner was discussing the design of their new Canpar Parcel Sortation and Distribution Facility. “It can’t look ugly,” he said. “Maybe you can get away with a monster big-box somewhere with less activity.”

Apparently Steiner underestimates the residents of Ontario’s small towns. Outside the city centre at Black Creek Drive and

the relatively sudden shift in

our economy from industrial

to creative, not to mention a

looming shortage of natural

resources, is putting cities in a

precarious position—and putting

pressure on planners to rethink,

rezone and restructure.

oFF BalanCe

By Mira Shenker

© 2006 S

QU

AR

E E

NIX

CO

.

How do cities need to change—and how will they change—in the future?


Eglinton sits 50 acres of unused land—the former site of the Kodak Plant. Since it closed in 2005, the community of Mount Dennis has been fighting against the “monster big-box” just as hard as members of the Leslieville community. Located on a rail and transit corridor, the former Kodak Lands are perfectly situated to be industrial land, which is what the community wants. Speaking on the same panel as Steiner, Mount Dennis Community Association President Barbara Stone said the community doesn’t want a big box; they want green manufacturing. She said those types of jobs give their young people a chance to make a better living than working minimum wage at Wal-Mart.

Car City

Part of Mount Dennis’ objection to big boxes is that they make the community unwalkable. The majority of big box outlets are tailored for car convenience. When you travel along Kingston Road in Scarborough or into Mississauga, Richmond Hill and Markham, there are huge boulevards surrounded by parking lots, with big box retail outlets or stores set way back from the street. Great neighbourhoods like Toronto’s Kensington Market are tied together by their main arteries: pedestrian- and bike-friendly narrow streets.

Yet locals oppose the narrowing of streets and cling to their cars. Cleaning the cars out of our cities is not as simple as narrowing the streets, but according to Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller’s 2006/2007 annual report, it’s a necessary goal. “Without a change in the car-based culture, we are going to see a million more cars trying to use the roads of the Greater Golden Horseshoe,” he said. Vancouver already refuses freeways into the city. Montreal has requests for proposals out for the equivalent of a ring road (see “Opening Shots”, page 10) to reduce the amount of traffic moving through the city. But if Toronto tore down the 70s concrete monster that is the Gardiner Expressway in an effort to create a car-free city, leaving commuting 905ers marooned on GO Train platforms, it would be a mess. Commuters

like their suburban spaces, a choice Legge says Calgary’s planning department takes into consideration. “Not everyone wants to live in the city,” he says.

But Toderian says when people move their offices to skyscrapers and live in the suburbs, it hurts urban centres, causing the decline of inner-city neighbourhoods like those on Vancouver’s east side.

So, a planner, an economic developer and a lawyer walk into a bar…

Neighbourhoods like Vancouver’s Gastown need revitalizing, but it’s difficult for planners to control how a neighbourhood develops. When Toronto’s Queen West became home to a group of glossy, made-over hotel-bars, it displaced the local artists who couldn’t afford the rent hikes. It was an example of planners losing control of a developing area. “Toronto doesn’t have a plan,” said planningAlliance’s John van Nostrand at a recent CUI session. “The city is being driven by developers and their relationship with councillors.”

Joe Berridge of Urban Strategies said, “We may have a shortage of funding in Toronto, but what we really have is an intellectual deficit.” Legge says Calgary is constantly short of planning staff. In Toronto, that staff shortage sometimes adds up to an unchecked development process. It happened in Queen West, starting with the renovation of the Drake Hotel, and now it’s happening in Leslieville with SmartCentres. The city has vetoed the plan, sending the developer straight to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Queen’s Park has decided to stay out of it, which means the case will go before the OMB next month.

OMB hearings have become a way for developers to bypass Toronto’s planning department. In fact, it’s been said that some developers hire a lawyer before an architect. Legge has a friend who works at a Toronto firm and says that lawyers “make a significant amount of their income from OMB hearings.”

“We don’t get into the litigation,” says Legge. “It sounds like too many trivial matters make their way to the OMB.”

Cities like Vancouver and Calgary are OMB-free, leaving planning and development approvals up to independent, arm’s-length bodies. Is this better? Toronto architect Peter Gabor can answer that in five sentences: “Vancouver Council has no say in development. Toronto Council does. Look at the Vancouver Waterfront/railway lands redevelopment. Look at the Toronto Waterfront/railway lands redevelopment. Draw your own conclusions.”

“We need to protect the rest

of our employment lands

from sexy new projects.”

—Brent Toderian


The Construction Industry Voice

For more information please contact RCCAO’s executive director, Andy Manahan, at

[email protected] or by calling 905-760-7777

The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario

was formed in late 2005 by bringing together major contractor

associations and construction unions. Collectively, we aim to

facilitate dialogue and ensure that the voice of the construction

industry is clearly heard and understood by key decision-

makers. RCCAO will work with all levels of government to seek

out solutions to a variety of challenges facing our industry and

the communities that we build in. Encouraging more strategic

infrastructure investment and seeking ways to fast-track priority

infrastructure projects are primary objectives of this labour-

management construction alliance.

RCCAO also has an interest in promoting regulatory reform and

its most recent report is an Examination of Recent Reforms to the

Building Code Act and the Building Permit Process in the GTA by

Hemson Consulting Ltd.

To review this report and seven other reports that have been

independently commissioned by RCCAO go to www.rccao.com.

The RCCAO is an alliance of:

• Greater Toronto Sewer and

Watermain Contractors Association

• The Heavy Construction Association of Toronto

• Metropolitan Toronto Apartment Builders Association

• Toronto Residential Construction Labour Bureau

• The Residential Low Rise Forming Contractors

Association of Metropolitan Toronto and Vicinty

• Residential Carpentry Contractors

Association – RCCA

• L.I.U.N.A. Local 183

• Toronto and Area Road Builders Association

• Carpenters Union Central Ontario Regional Council

• Ontario Concrete & Drain Contractors Association

RCCAO25 North Rivermede Road, Unit 13

Vaughan, Ontario L4K 5V4

Gabor says, “It’s a very good idea to join economic development and planning departments. That said, if council ignores economic development issues when weighing approval of development plans, what’s the difference?”

Legge, a planner who works as an economic development officer, says the disconnect comes out of a lack of understanding. “Both sides have a lack of appreciation for the issues that drive decisions. I don’t think planners understand real estate investment and, at the same time, I don’t think economic developers understand why planners might delay proposals. Economic development will try to attract or retain a company and planning keeps stalling approvals.”

how to fund it all

In a presentation to Toronto’s Planning and Development Committee this January, the Board of Trade suggested that when the city-wide development charge bylaw expires in 2009, it should be amended to make development charges a new source of revenue for the city.

It’s not a bad idea, considering it’s one of the few ways a city can raise any funds.

There are no toll roads or bridges in Calgary, and Legge says that’s not changing any time soon. Ontario, on the other hand, has a history with toll roads and Premier McGuinty is considering it as an option for the future. But for the most part, the only revenue tool available to cities is taxes. And even that is a tricky manoeuvre.

Last year, Mayor Miller proposed a land

transfer tax and vehicle tax to address Toronto’s $575-million budget deficit. He was rebuffed twice and had to create a website and aggressively campaign to get his “Fair Tax” passed.

In Mississauga, Ontario, Mayor Hazel McCallion proposed an annual five per cent infrastructure levy as a potential solution,

which council approved as a concept. After public opposition, council passed a smaller one per cent levy, leaving the city considering service cuts and putting the municipally-owned hydro utility, Enersource, up for sale. Property taxes are also up 3.9 per cent, a measure Regina City Council has also been considering. But they‘re holding off, hoping the

Saskatchewan government comes through with more funding.

“Cities are very restricted in terms of how they can create revenue,” says Legge. “The model in Canada has to change dramatically—if you’re going to make cities responsible for the delivery of essential services, then let them raise revenue.”

“It’s a very good idea to join economic development and

planning departments. That said, if council ignores

economic development issues when weighing approval of

development plans, what’s the difference?”—Peter Gabor


That brings us back to the conflict between planning and economic development. Growth is desired for

economic prosperity. It’s seen as positive from an economic standpoint, but unsustainable from a planning perspective. Or maybe we’ve got that wrong.

A team of researchers, including an economist from Arizona State University, has studied the growth of cities in different parts of the world and found that bigger is actually better. Their research shows that the larger the city, the greater the return on investment and the higher its creative output. Jose Lobo, an economist in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, says, “It’s true that large cities have more problems: they are more congested, they create more pollution and they have more crime. But also because of their size, cities are more innovative and create more wealth.”

“Large cities,” says Lobo, “are the source of their problems and they are the source of the solutions to their problems.”

power issues won’t necessarily affect form, but water might.

“We’re sticking our heads in the sand as far as water,” says Legge, whose city is more than a little concerned about their use of natural resources. Calgary’s government has launched an Ecological Footprint Project with U.S.-based NGO Global Footprint Network to create a more ecologically sustainable city.

Last December at Queen’s Park, Gord Miller said that projected growth for the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region is impossible based on that ecosystem’s carrying capacity. “Population projections imposed on some communities for economic growth reasons exceed the available local water supply and the natural limits of the rivers to receive and assimilate the treated sewage,” he said.

Mira is the editor of this magazine and is advocating more neighbourhoods and less pavement in her city.

our five-earth lifestyle

Infrastructure isn’t the only asset cities are running short on. The bigger our cities get, the more out of balance they become with their natural environment. Okotoks, Alberta famously decided to live within the carrying capacity of the local Sheep River. Our urban centres are way beyond that—the city of Calgary uses 9.9 global hectares per person.

If all people lived that way, it would require five Earths to support our lifestyle.

In the past, we’ve changed natural elements to suit the form and location of our cities. The Hoover Dam near Las Vegas lets half a million people live luxuriously in the desert. Now, nature will start to dictate what form our cities take. Cleaner sources of energy, for example, would change the layout of a city to make transmission possible. Legge says

“Toronto doesn’t have a plan. The city is being driven

by developers and their relationship with councillors.”

—John van Nostrand


By Jason Magder

if the redevelopment of griffintown is “the future of downtown” as it’s

been touted, maybe somebody should have let its residents know.

neW Plans fOr an oLD ’hooD

It’s one of Montreal’s oldest neighbourhoods, but for the past half century, Griffintown has mostly stood

as a collection of abandoned buildings in the shadow of downtown Montreal’s skyscrapers.Now Devimco Inc., best known for its massive Quartier Dix 30 commercial development on Montreal’s south shore, wants to build 3,830 residential units and 60 to 80 stores on 10.2 hectares of the former industrial and working class neighbourhood (see “Opening Shots,” Jan./Feb. 2008).

But the project is being opposed both by residents and by the city’s most prominent architects and planners. In March, a group of 20 Montrealers, including several prominent architects, signed a letter in the French newspaper Le Devoir, saying Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay should have sent the massive project to the city’s office of public consultation, rather than allowing the consultation process to be handled by the Southwest borough, where Griffintown is located.

“This is something that is too big and too important to be left to the borough level,” says Joseph Baker, a past president of the Quebec Order of Architects, and a former director of Université Laval School of Architecture. “It will have an impact on all of Montreal.”

Baker says the office would have conducted a more rigorous process and would have encouraged a better public debate about the project. The office is also seen as an unbiased body, independent from city hall.

But Alan DeSousa, the mayor’s point man on economic development, disagrees. He says city rules state that when a special planning program is outlined, such as what’s being done for the Griffintown development, it’s the borough’s responsibility to consult citizens and make a recommendation to the central city.

“There is a legal requirement for us to consult on the local level for this,” DeSousa said. “We realize the scope of the project is large, so we undertook to do the best consultation process possible, with rules that were state of the art.”

The borough’s mayor, Jacqueline Montpetit, said she wanted the consultation process to be open to all Montrealers. The consultation was held in a hall in an engineering school in downtown Montreal. Three public information sessions were held and five sessions where members of the public were asked to submit briefs. DeSousa said the consultation was a resounding success.

“More than 1,200 people attended and the process was even extended so we could accommodate everyone who wanted to speak,” he said.

But DeSousa’s argument doesn’t hold water with critics. They say the consultation office and rules governing what is referred to the body were made up by the city. Michel Gariépy, a professor in the Université de Montréal’s urban planning institute, says the city is setting a dangerous precedent here.

“The developer of this project has shown he has good intentions and is open to criticism,” says Gariépy, who has sat on the board of several public consultations. “We need the city to show the same openness. If public input is presented well, it can be very constructive.”

Cred

it: Com

munications A

ndré B

outhillier

Jason Magder is a reporter for the gazette newspaper in Montreal. he has been covering news in and around the city for six years.

A rendering shows how new buildings will

mingle with old ones.

the city is setting a

dangerous precedent here.


StormWatch

Planning should ideally be the most holistic of disciplines, addressing the needs of human culture, wildlife,

economics, and a plethora of other agendas in a systematic manner that has a rigorous theoretical basis.

Now that you’ve stopped laughing, let me point out that the reality—planning reduced to primarily a land-use function—is not the fault of planners.

Here’s a lament I encountered recently, from an architect who would rather remain anonymous:

“You must have heard all the developers and consultants bitching about the planning process for a while now. Economic development is the last thing the planning department considers when giving, delaying, procrastinating, postponing, negotiating, and blocking applications. Planning department and council only pay lip service even to provincial and their own development policies. It would be refreshing to link planning approvals with at least consideration of economic benefit/impact.”

The disconnect he referred to doesn’t exist only at the planning/economic development interface. Environmental agendas and social/cultural goals are often just as marginalized by the planning process as economic objectives.

While the speaker was Canadian, the wall between city planners and economic development officers/departments/organizations is every bit as pronounced down here in the United States.

While the problem doesn’t vary much from country to country, it does vary from city to city. Cities are where almost all

innovation in public policy takes place, and where new socioeconomic “technologies” are born. In fact, I’ve encountered places where this disconnect doesn’t exist, and both their economy and quality of life have grown spectacularly as a result.

Those places had several things in common. But let’s get a little more insight into the problem before we get into solutions. Why are so many cities struggling with this disconnect? I trace it to two primary causes: turf protection and silo thinking (also silo budgeting).

Turf protection requires no explanation: we do it as individuals, as professions, and as organizations. Silo thinking—as it relates to this discussion—primarily takes the form of addressing our natural, built, and socioeconomic environments separately, rather than as different aspects of the same inseparable, interdependent system.

Turf protection by other public agencies prevents them from getting out of the land-use silo. What’s more, public policy seldom encourages holism (non-silo thinking) of any sort. Most public policy is crafted by special interest groups, each of whom usually suffers from turf protection and silo thinking.

Individuals tend to protect turf and tend to think in silos. As a result, organizations comprising, or led by, such individuals do the same. The organization reinforces such behaviour, both actively and passively inhibiting enlightened individuals who wish to break these habits. As a result of this behavioural feedback loop, these aren’t the kinds of problems we can tackle head-on, like plugging a leak in a dike.

Most well-established organizations are complex adaptive systems. Two of the most

By Storm Cunningham

the DisCOnneCt BetWeen Planning anD eCOnOMiC DevelOPMent (AnD hoW to FiX it)


effective ways of altering the behaviour of complex systems are by changing the basic decision-making rules of the agents within the system, and by aggregating its members in a new way. The former approach can work all by itself, but not the latter: thus the failure of most organizational change initiatives are based only on rearranging the org chart.

So, here are two of the best ways to heal the disconnect between planning and economic/ environmental/social/cultural issues:

1. Introduce no more than three basic rules for decision-making. People aren’t likely to remember more than three, and they must be basic in order to be universally applicable throughout the organization/community.

2. Create a mechanism to integrate all the goals into a vision and engage all the stakeholders. With a vision, you can create a strategy. With a strategy, you can plan.

Those two bits of advice are hopelessly general for use in the real world, so let’s be more specific. If your goal is rapid, resilient

Storm Cunningham is the author of reWealth! (now released from Mcgraw-hill), and The Restoration Economy (2002). he is the founder of the revitalization institute

(toronto), and Ceo of resolution Fund, LLC (Washington, DC). [email protected]

renewal, these are the three rules that should be driving your policies, plans, and projects:

renew: Base your economic growth primarily on the renewal of the assets you have, rather than on creating more and more of the kinds of assets (highways, malls and so on) that few people want more of.

integrate: Coordinate the renewal of your natural, built, and socioeconomic assets. This is where your strategy derives its efficiencies and synergies.

engage: Effectively involving all stakeholders in their future is how you grease the wheels of growth, preventing expensive last-minute objections to projects, and designing them right the first time.

Require all public and private individuals and organizations involved in shaping your community’s future to audit their decisions according to those three rules (and enforce the requirement). Nothing will do more to reduce or overcome turf protection and silo thinking.

But that’s not enough. The communities that are world champions of regeneration did more than change their rules: they organized in a specific way that produces rapid, resilient renewal. I refer to this kind of organization as a “renewal engine” (see “Stormwatch,” Nov./Dec. 2007). It has three primary functions: visioning, culturing, and partnering.

The result is a constant flow of well-designed, fully-funded “renewal partnerships” (public-private, public-public, and private-private) that hew to a vision shared by all stakeholders, and that are supported by policies driven by the three “renewal rules.”

These communities have something else in common: their economic, ecological, cultural, social, infrastructure and other agendas are not disconnected from their planning processes. Imagine how things might have been different if New Orleans (or Iraq, or Afghanistan) had had a renewal engine in place a few years back. Renewal engines are powerful at the community level, but work better at the regional scale. I’d love to see someone try it at the provincial, or even national scale—maybe someone Canadian.

StormWatch


“Our urban centres are at a critical stage where intensification of the urban

fabric is required,” said Dr. James McKellar in a report he helped prepare for The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

The York University professor examined tax rules that favour investments like stocks and bonds over real property—small investors who put “sweat equity” into keeping their properties in good shape are then subject to tax implications that discourage selling and reinvesting in alternate real property investments. Known as the “lock-in” effect, this is a drag on the economy. It ties up capital that could be better used elsewhere, maybe invested in deteriorating assets for which no incentives to improvement currently exist.

Because the cost of selling is too high, dilapidated buildings sit idle on valuable land ripe for redevelopment and brownfields sit vacant, their potential unrealized.

Owners who aren’t inclined to sell and trigger a tax bill are keeping older properties off the

market and unavailable to new investors who would be willing to redevelop and improve them. As a result, new investment is often funnelled to greenfield developments rather than the renewal of existing urban properties and contaminated sites that could be remediated.

McKellar believes that a capital gains tax deferral could help counteract this wastefulness. “This [deferral] can only occur if properties are turned over at a rate sufficient to promote intensification and the regeneration of older neighbourhoods,” he says.

It’s strongly believed that increased economic activity would quickly create revenues surpassing losses from the deferrals. Dr. Thomas Wilson, senior advisor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Policy Analysis, estimates that the year-one loss in tax revenue for the deferral of both capital gains and recaptured capital costs is $415 million—that’s without any tax offsets or any spin-offs that would be generated by increased economic activity.

Deferring capital gains taxes on real property investment would help to restore balance

and fairness that tax policy changes over the last 25 years have eliminated. For example, a healthy stock of well-managed rental housing is essential to promoting urban intensification. But a consequence of the current the tax system is a disincentive to invest in improvements to the rental housing stock, particularly real estate held by small investors in our urban centres—where the need is greatest.

Last February’s federal budget again passed on an opportunity to implement a key 2006 Conservative party election promise that would encourage Canadian entrepreneurs to invest in redeveloping our urban centres: defer both the capital gains tax and the recaptured capital cost allowance when an investment property is sold and proceeds are reinvested in another, within a one-year time frame. This will benefit the Canadian economy as a whole, but as it stands, the taxation system is still unbalanced.

etienne Kishibe is with the Canadian real estate Association.

reMediate

taxes StiFLe grOWthhow Ottawa can promote urban revitalization. By Etienne Kishibe


The Montreal subway had three lines and 26 stations when it opened in 1966, a year before the city leapt onto

the world stage to host Expo 67. Today, with four lines, 68 stations and more than 65 kilometres of track, the metro is the second largest in Canada and is considered a key contributor to a redefined, revitalized downtown core.

The metro was inspired in part by its namesake in Paris and a desire to emulate Europe’s larger centres—the world’s great cosmopolitan cities, from London to New York, generally have thriving subways. Does this mean, then, that cities with world-class aspirations need to start digging tunnels? What role does rapid transit, above or below ground, play in modern big-city life?

In Montreal, André Lavallée oversees transportation as a member of the city’s executive committee. He says the metro has left an enduring mark on the downtown. The city core used to consist of multiple small communities, and the new rapid-transit system effectively kick-started a period of significant change. No sooner was the rapid-transit system in place than land speculators took notice and buildings close to subway stations gave way to new, bigger, more modern structures. This, in turn, fuelled a heritage movement to preserve

older buildings and the human scale of the older neighbourhoods. The rest is history.

“People didn’t fight the densification, but they did fight demolition of existing communities,” says Lavallée. “We can now say that Montreal is a modern city with a human scale, and the metro has provided a clear definition of our new downtown.”

Though attention-grabbing—mostly because of the invasive construction and big dollar value of creating a new line—subways

hardly dominate public transportation in Canada. Buses generally rule the roost, and any rapid transit generally consists of dedicated lanes for buses and streetcars and some combination of light-rail or subway, both below and above ground.

“The distinctions are blurred,” says Toronto

Transit Commission chair Adam Giambrone. Light-rail vehicles and infrastructure cost less than heavier-duty systems, and subways tend to travel underground whereas light-rail often runs at street level along its own right-of-way, controlling traffic signals. But nothing is cut-and-dry—the city’s extensive transportation plan includes subway extensions and new light-rail routes. And light-rail trains along Eglinton Avenue, just north of the city’s downtown area, are slated

to run underground in more built-up areas and above ground farther out.

More importantly, the new Eglinton line will take passengers relatively quickly and directly to and from the airport—something which may go a lot farther towards defining the Toronto public transportation system as world-class

transit

tunneL visiOnDo subways Make a City World-Class?

By Saul Chernos

“The physical design of communities needs to facilitate the use

of transit. The way we built subdivisions and suburbs from the

1950s until now has been very car-oriented. It’s hard to get from

the middle of a suburban community to a transit line.”

—Andrea Gabor

A Tube by Any Other Name: Underground transportation networks in North America are an imitation of what has worked very well in older European cities.

Cred

it: Nick C

atford


than the kind of vehicle that’s used.Ultimately, the city plans its transportation

with population size and density in mind, as well as cost. “You need upwards of 40,000 people around a subway station to make it cost-effective,” Giambrone says, adding that a new subway station can cost ten times what its light-rail counterpart tends to cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, and so

a business case needs to determine which transportation technology to use.

“The Greater Toronto Area has 5.5 million people while the greater New York City area has more than 25 million people. New York also started building subways earlier, when they were cheaper, and we have the challenge here of having started later. So, you have to

put things in perspective.”Vancouver has also embarked on a line-

building frenzy, with two rapid-transit SkyTrain lines already in place and three more rail lines slated for completion within the next decade or so.

“Our grade-separated systems are usually running 100,000 passengers a day,” says Pat Jacobsen, CEO of TransLink. “It all depends on demand. You really need a whole suite of options, depending on the volume in a particular corridor.”

Jacobsen, a former assistant deputy minister with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, says Calgary has done well with its two light-rail lines, while Ottawa has achieved success with a rapid-bus system that travels on a dedicated right-of-way and whose operators can control traffic signals. “You need different technologies.”

Ultimately, Jacobsen says, the question comes down to land-use planning. “We have the power to buy land along current and future rapid-transit lines. It’s part of TransLink’s mandate. This gives us a very strong position to work with the cities, and to tell them that if they want rapid transit in their community then we need density.”

Andrea Gabor, a planning consultant and

partner with Urban Strategies in Toronto, says population and infrastructure go hand-in-hand towards developing transportation policy.

“You have to have the people there to use the transit, but the physical design of communities needs to facilitate the use of transit,” Gabor says. “The way we built subdivisions and suburbs from the 1950s until now has been very car-oriented. It’s hard to get from the middle of a suburban community to a transit line.”

Pressure from intensification will be the deciding factor, Gabor says. “Municipalities are looking increasingly at how to design communities so they’re transit-oriented in development. They’re planning for more intensity around the stops and more accessibility from the neighbourhoods to the stops. That is ultimately the major difference between whether you’re going to put in a subway, light-rail transit, or bus route.”

transit

Saul Chernos, a toronto freelance journalist specializing in environmental issues, rode the rails and collected toronto transit Commission (ttC) transfers when he was a child.

“Montreal is a modern city

with a human scale, and the

metro has provided a clear

definition of our new downtown.”

—André Lavallée


By Michael W. Roschlau

investing in transit infrastructure

is important, but so is

encouraging a ridership.

DeManD fOr SuppLY

With the trend towards increasing government support for investment in transit, be it through federal infrastructure programs or through the transfer of a

portion of the federal gas tax to municipalities, governments are showing a growing willingness to invest in the supply side of the transit infrastructure equation. The trend at the federal level is echoed by the larger provinces—Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta—who are maintaining or increasing their funding.

Pumping funding into transit is only one part of the equation. Creating incentives to encourage more people to use transit, thereby supporting the demand side of the equation, is another challenge. A measure receiving a lot of attention is the concept of an income tax exemption for employer-provided transit benefits. It’s a similar idea to a measure that’s been in place in the United States for over twenty years and has been promoted by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and many other supporters for half that time.

Simply put, the tax exemption would allow employers to offer their employees a non-taxable transit benefit, in the form of a monthly pass or a financial contribution towards transit fares. A perk like this could be an alternative to free parking, a benefit that most Canadians currently get, but which usually escapes taxation.

The 2006 federal budget included a tax credit for monthly or longer-duration public transit passes, which was subsequently extended to weekly passes and electronic payment cards. This measure has the government forgoing a projected $240 million in revenue annually. But transit ridership has maintained its average annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent. And anecdotal evidence suggests that the primary impact of the tax credit has been to encourage people to shift from using tickets and cash fares to buying monthly passes, resulting in reduced revenue for the transit systems without a significant impact on the ridership growth rate. These results have many arguing that this incentive would have been better invested in infrastructure to provide more capacity.

A tax exemption for employer-provided transit benefits, by contrast, specifically targets the journey to work and levels the playing field between employees who receive a parking spot as a benefit and those who choose to use public transit. The majority of Canadians get free parking at work and, even though the value of this parking is considered a taxable benefit, most are not taxed.

transit


That’s because parking spots that aren’t reserved are exempt. Yet, an employer who wants to offer staff the choice between free parking and a public transit benefit is at a disadvantage, since the transit benefit is always taxed at the marginal rate.

Such a tax exemption could do for the journey to work what universal transit passes (U-Passes) for post-secondary institutions have done for the journey to school. Deeply discounted transit passes at universities and colleges across the country have resulted in major increases in transit use and reduced

parking requirements on campus. Some of the more recently introduced U-Pass programs in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sherbrooke, Quebec, St. Catharines, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, have led to ridership increases of 30 to 50 per cent in larger communities, and 100 to 200 per cent in smaller ones.

The concept of a tax exemption for employer-provided transit benefits is estimated to generate an increase of commuter transit ridership of about 30 to 50 per cent for employees who accept the benefit and 10 to 30 per cent for all commuters, at a cost

transit

to the federal treasury of $15–50 million in the initial years, climbing to $100–250 million annually once in a mature state.

Some employers have already led the way in offering their employees transit benefits through discount programs with local transit providers, including the federal government. EcoPass programs in cities like Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver are small-scale examples that have shown significant ridership increases even without a tax exemption. The potential for a program that levels the playing field in terms of equal tax treatment of employer-provided parking and transit benefits is enormous—and it gets around concerns over the ability of individual systems to accommodate the demand generated by such incentives, in that it allows them to promote the concept in a targeted way, based on available capacity.

Supply-side infrastructure investment still needs to take precedence over demand incentives, as service and capacity must be in place first. But as the expansion begins to have an effect, the concept of an income tax exemption for employer-provided transit benefits emerges as a targeted, flexible instrument that has a high potential return on investment. It stands out as an attractive complementary measure to long-term, predictable and dedicated infrastructure investment.

tax exemption for employer-

provided transit benefits

is estimated to increase

commuter transit ridership

by about 30 to 50 per cent

for employees and 10 to 30

per cent for all commuters.

Michael W. roschlau is President & Ceo of the Canadian urban transit Association (CutA).

renew Canada publisher todd Latham will be moderating a session on infrastructure at the CutA conference — May 25–27 in edmonton.


In 2006, the Centre for Expertise and Research on Infrastructure in Urban Areas (CERIU) conducted a poll of closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspection professionals that prompted

cities, engineering consulting firms and professional companies to face the need to adopt a unified protocol for evaluating and inspecting sewer systems.

In fact, there’s an urgent need to standardize sewer inspection coding. Right now different, or a combination of, existing protocols are being used. That multiplies the different standards available, making its interpretation difficult. A defect can be classified as a crack or as a fracture depending on the standard that’s being used. The same goes for inherent subjectivity of the work force—the results might vary from one operator to another.

In cooperation with the professional community and the Underground Infrastructure Permanent Counsel, the CERIU created a committee composed of city representatives and CCTV inspection professionals. Their combined expertise and experience resulted in the adoption of the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) protocols for mains, laterals and manholes. Now all the essential ingredients are available to start work on standardizing the interpretation of CCTV inspection. That is, organizing information sessions in different regions of Quebec as well as translating and adopting the NASSCO protocols.

It’s also important to devote resources to development and training. Regardless of the adoption of a unified protocol, CCTV sewer evaluation is an operation that leaves room for subjective analyses by the person responsible for sewer codification. That’s why the CERIU will oversee the French certification program for engineers, city managers and operators.

Using a standard protocol, Quebec professionals will be able to create, exchange and integrate their reports on common rules and codification objectives. They will also be able to compare their results, develop a better understanding of the causes and the degradation process, and allow for innovation using the different rehabilitation techniques.

City managers know how important it is to maintain assets related to economic development as well as public security—their real challenge is excelling in asset management, to act at the right time and place. Consensus will allow them to intervene more effectively and make better use of material, human and financial resources.

underground

isabel tardif is a technologies Director pertaining to underground infrastructures for Ceriu in Montreal, Quebec.

streaMliningstandardizing sewer inspections for better asset management in Quebec.

By Isabel Tardif


underground

This April, Toronto council’s public works committee adopted a city plan to entrench and refill two

blocks of York Street, adding a new tunnel to the underground network that connects Toronto’s office core (PATH). The price tag for two blocks of underground space: $65-million.

During rush hour, 19,000 people use PATH to cross through Union Station to the Royal Bank Plaza—that’s 4,000 more than are walking up on Front Street. People would rather walk below ground than above. They would also rather shop below. Toronto’s 30 kilometres of underground retail outlets is,

according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest in the world and in Montreal, tourists constantly stop locals to ask for directions to “the underground city.” Basically, they’re looking for the cave-like shopping centre that connects to the metro.

It’s not just shoppers and tourists seeking out underground spaces. Utility tunnels, subways and long abandoned passageways have been explored and photographed by urbanites for at least as long as obscure webzines have existed. There’s a whole culture around urban exploration, and the subterranean stuff is some of the most popular. Zine publisher Jeff Chapman

(a.k.a. Ninjalicious) was well-known in Toronto as the urban explorer who founded Infiltration: the zine about going places you’re not supposed to go.

The most fascinating subsurface spaces seem to be relics—infrastructure and spaces that have been abandoned, like the complete second platform under Toronto’s Bay subway station. Lower Bay Station was briefly active when the Bloor line opened in 1966, so it’s completely equipped with signs, lights, tiled walls and tracking, creating a lost-city feel that urban explorers can’t resist. There’s also an unfinished second level at Queen station. Since it was never used, it’s more of

seCret SpACeSthe fascination with underground infrastructure.

By Mira Shenker

Cred

it: Agnese S

anvito

Cred

it: London and

Continental R

ailways

Other underground infrastructure covered in the exhibition include London’s historic sewer system, built by the Victorians. There’s a feature on the Thames Water Ring Main, a network of deep level tunnels twice as far down as the underground built in 1993 to improve the supply of drinking water around London. There’s also a section on underground infrastructure of the future, including combined heat and power services, and a multi-utility system planned for Elephant and Castle. Right: Tube tunnels being bored and an abandoned tube station.

Cred

it: Nicj C

atford

© 2006 S

QU

AR

E E

NIX

CO

.


underground

Hanging on the wallsof the “Underground”exhibition in Londonare photos of unused

tube stations, tube stations connected to

secret security bunkers, and utility tunnels (like

this one under London’s Rosebery Avenue).

a hollowed-out pit, just bare concrete walls and no fixtures.

European cities have even more hollowed-out, concrete pits for urbanites to delight in. The old catacombs in Paris and Edinburgh are popular with tourists. “Underground,” an exhibition on right now at London’s Building Centre is proof of how interesting the infrastructure we don’t see can be. The exhibition starts off at King’s Cross station, underneath which the Roman Queen Boudica is supposedly buried. Historic underground structures in the city include Roman ruins, buried rivers, and catacombs that were built when traditional cemeteries filled up during the Black Death.

What makes the tunnels we hollow out below street level worthy of an entire exhibition and a long list of websites? I’ll allow Scott Simpson, former editor of the webzine Cygnals, to put it into words: “Most people don’t know there’s another station under Bay/Bloor. Now it’s locked up, very dirty, and falling apart. But very cool, cuz hardly anyone gets to go there.”

Cred

it: Nick C

atford, S

ubterranea B

ritannica


underground

Cred

it: Autod

esk

Modern technologies can render the sidewalks invisible—uncovering critical infrastructure below.

lOOking unDer the hooDevery major Canadian

city is undertaking

massive projects to

repair or update roads,

sewers and rail lines—

most of the work is

happening underground.

Jason magder

surveyed our biggest

cities to see where

their priorities lie.

Halifax would like to stop pumping raw sewage into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so they’re pumping $333 million into installing three new sewage treatment plants. The first plant in the Halifax harbour recently came on line. The two other plants in Dartmouth and Herring Cove will be completed by the end of this year. On the horizon, the city is looking to upgrade the treatment plants from primary to secondary treatment capacity—a project that could be done over 30 years, says Carl Yates, Halifax Water general manager. In the meantime, the city will also look to address the problem of sewer overflows.

Montreal is world-renowned for its extensive underground network of tunnels and walkways that connect downtown buildings and shopping centres to the city’s metro system. Despite its huge network of underground infrastructure, the city’s experts could not say which underground network is the biggest priority for the city. But politicians have been publicizing a $4-billion, 20-year initiative to renew its hundred-year-old sewer system. Citizens have been paying a special tax on their property bills to help pay for the project since 2004.

halifax montreal


underground

In Quebec City, the first priority is to diagnose the problem. The city is undergoing a huge analysis of its underground sewers and aqueducts. The project, which began in 2002, is only 75 per cent complete. City spokesperson Jacques Perron said the analysis will allow the city to make the best use of its resources.

Ottawa’s priority is a $45-million project to replace the water mains leading from the Lemieux Island filtration plant to the Fleet Street pumping station. It’s a major project because some of the pipes are 80 inches in diameter and most of them are 100 years old. It also involves decontaminating some soil-

Toronto is currently undergoing an aggressive replacement of its underground pipes and sewers. Michael D’Andrea, director of water infrastructure management, says the city is using structural liners to do much of the work without digging. As part of that work, the city is embarking on a nine-year program to replace 65,000 substandard water service lines, or those made of lead. The city is spending $37 million on that project this year. Another major project on the horizon is a wet weather flow master plan to address sewer overflow. The project is expected to cost the city $1 billion over 25 years.

Light-rail transit is the priority for the city of Calgary. While most of the LRT system is above ground, an $800-million project to expand the system westward starting next year will require about 1.5 kilometres of tunnel to be built in the city’s downtown core.

calgary

toronto

quebec city

ottawa


The city of Victoria needs to treat its wastewater. It’s about to undertake a pilot project to rehabilitate sanitary sewers and to reduce inflow and infiltration in the James Bay neighbourhood. The project will use many trenchless technologies such as lining, grouting, pipe bursting, epoxy wall coating and PVC liners. The goal of the James Bay Inflow and Infiltration pilot project is to identify the most cost-efficient technology for use in the future. It will cost $3 million and will start next year, for completion in 2010. The city’s main priority over the next few years is major repair work on its sewer system, as most of the 240 kilometres of pipes were built prior to 1920.

underground

victoria

The municipal staff who manage our underground infrastructure are continuously assessing the condition

of the sewer and water assets. But their recommendations can conflict with the provincial initiative to intensify downtown areas, the economics of which often centre on low or no cost operation of existing infrastructure. The problem: existing infrastructure may not be able to service denser developments safely and reliably. Intensification sites also tend to be more unpredictable in terms of locations versus new developments. Master servicing studies can try to address this variability with best engineering practice, but some areas just can’t support intensification without a massive influx in capital replacement funding. Funding is scarce and shouldn’t be redirected from other urgent needs. But for intensification to be successful, all of the stakeholders involved—engineers, planners, developers, treasurers and politicians—need to be flexible in deciding how to allocate funds to keep the sewer and water systems working.

—rick tolkunow, hatch Mott MacDonald

DenSe DevelOPMentedmonton

Like Calgary, Edmonton is embarking on a project to expand its light-rail transit system. The $1-billion project over the next 10 years will involve digging a tunnel in the downtown core, which is expected to cost around $45 million and will begin in the next two years.

With no subway system, Vancouver has less underground infrastructure to worry about. However, the city is working on a continual renewal process of its sewers—some of which date back to the 1890s—at a rate of about one per cent each year. The project costs about $60 million annually in borrowed money.

“We realized in the 1980s that our pipes were bursting on a much more frequent basis, so we decided it was more cost effective to replace old pipes, rather than repairing when the breaks occur,” said Doug Doyle, senior engineer for Vancouver waterworks.

vancouver

Jason Magder is a freelance writer and reporter for the gazette newspaper in Montreal.

What’s happening in your city?Write [email protected]


Community Profile

Community Profiles features different Canadian communities and their infrastructure issues.

BOuCtOuChe, neW BrunsWiCk

infraStats• Nominated for an

international award (Tourism for Tomorrow) for their work on Project Ecotouristique's Bay Bouctouche (PEBB).

• First municipality in the province to adopt a green plan, back in 2006.

• Currently implementing water and energy efficiency as part of their Green Plan.

• Installed an anemometer tower to gage wind energy potential and are considering a community wind park.

In the past two decades, especially during the past few years, the town of Bouctouche has witnessed significant growth. This is due to the regions active involvement in economic and tourism

development, creating the proper climate for investments and playing a leadership role in community economic development. Paul Gregory at FCM says “The municipalities moving ahead are the ones hiring environmental coordinators.”A bold new vision was developed in 1995 and it resulted in Bouctouche becoming the ecotourism destination of Atlantic Canada. Details at ville.bouctouche.nb.ca

—staff

Location: Kent County, in the eastern region of New Brunswick.

Founded: First settled in 1785

Population: 2,426 (2001)

Capital budget: $2.2M

Funding: In 2007, the town received $88,000 through FCM’s Green Municipal Fund grant to help develop a Green Plan.

Major industries: Forestry, agriculture, fisheries

Major employer(s): Fantech, Mills Sea Food, Kent Homes

green Plan coordinator Denny richard says: “We’re working now to implement some of the plan’s recommendations related to energy and water use.”

St-Jean Baptist Church is one of many tourist attractions in Bouctouche, but visitors mainly come for the town’s eco-features, like the Irving Eco-Centre: La dune de Bouctouche.

Cred

its: Ville d

e Bouctouche


In 2000, commercial and industrial buildings consumed more than 479 million gigajoules of energy, equivalent

to the total consumption of four million Canadian households. This makes them the focus of a long list of green rating systems and efficient technologies.

This March, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC), which facilitates Canadian LEED certification initiatives, announced that it’s working with commercial property owners to develop the rating system’s next generation, which will involve a new building performance tracking and management model. Owners and managers of commercial buildings who participate in LEED pilot projects are helping to test the design of new energy measurement and efficiency data analysis tools and web-based delivery.

The heat surrounding energy efficiency is turning into a boon for service providers.

We interviewed several companies in the business of energy efficiency, all of which play the “green” card, but above all, promise long-term savings.

In British Columbia, the environmental focus of the 2010 Olympics is a major impetus for energy efficiency, and the issue is getting a lot of press. Companies specializing in energy savings technologies, like B.C.’s Sempa Power Systems Ltd., are taking advantage of the media attention.

In Whistler, Sempa’s work has resulted in a net energy savings of over $1 million annually, a reduction of over 2,360 tonnes of GHG emissions, and a net energy savings of over 23,616 gigajoules to date. Offering a hybrid heating system that automatically load balances fossil fuel sources with electricity consumption, Sempa claims to reduce energy costs, decrease GHG emissions and increase efficiencies.

“We monitor each building, tracking how

much gas is displaced and exactly how much money is saved,” says Malcolm Metcalfe, the company’s vice president and chief technology officer. He claims that owners of existing commercial real estate can expect annual reductions in energy costs of 10-30 per cent, reduction in GHG emissions of 28-58 per cent, and energy consumption reduction of 5-15 per cent.

How does the hybrid system—which uses natural gas, propane and electricity—compare to “greener” heating methods like geothermal or solar? “With geothermal and solar, the payback is nearly 12 years, and you still require an electric heat supplement,” says Metcalfe.

Encelium Technologies Inc. specializes in energy management and control systems for commercial buildings, and its latest big ticket customer is Toronto’s Rogers Centre. With an electricity bill that exceeds $3 million per year,

What DOes Your LABeL say?the race to have the most energy-efficient building is on. By Kerry Freek


the former SkyDome is being retrofitted for Encelium’s Energy Control System (ECS) and is expected to save an initial $300,000 (and, of course, reduce GHGs).

“Lighting is the largest energy load in a building,” says Terry Mocherniak, president and CEO. “We can typically reduce lighting load by 20 per cent, and control any type of lighting. The bulk of our work is with fluorescents—the savings are best and it’s most common.”

Like Sempa’s hybrid heating system, ECS lighting and energy management technology monitors and avoids energy peak loads. Load is shed through selective and gradual dimming applied to zones as individual fixtures in a prioritized sequence starting with hallways and washrooms. Sensors that detect motion, sound and sunlight also moderate load.

Both Sempa and Encelium help bring down system costs, but improvements to the building envelope also trigger energy savings.

“Glass is the weak link of the building envelope,” says John Miller for Southwall Technologies, whose heat mirror technology aims to correct inefficiencies. Generic low-e (low-emission) glass allows the sun’s heat and light to pass though, and also blocks heat from leaving the building. In terms of performance, low-e glass tops out at R-4 (resistance to heat flow) compared to an insulated wall of R-19 (a higher number is better). Southwall’s glass can provide insulating ranges from R-6 to R-20, a serious option for energy conservation.

Durham College’s Whitby campus recently installed Southwall’s heat mirror insulating glass and its hydro bills have dropped by 20 per cent from four years ago. But Miller points out that return on investment differs with the size of the building, quality of glass and size of the HVAC system.

While LEED and other certifications may ultimately lead to savings for building owners, implementing efficiency systems to reach green standards depends on owners’ willingness to adopt them. The bottom line, says Sempa’s Metcalfe: “If it doesn’t save money, most people won’t buy it.”

to see the latest evolution of LeeD, register to attend the CagbC’s national summit, Shifting into the Mainstream on June 11-12 in toronto. Details at shiftingintothemainstream.ca

Kerry Freek is the assistant editor at renew Canada and is looking forward to attending the World bioenergy Conference in Sweden this month.


the LeeD® LiSt sPOnsOreD By

Certified: October 31, 2007, leeD® Canada-nC 1.0 Platinum

owner: Windmill Development group ltd.

green Building Consultant: Buildgreen Consulting

Vento residences

6 neW LeeD® CertiFiCAtionS in CAnADAtotal leeD® Projects: 99

5 Platinum, 39 gold, 31 silver, 24 Certified

Calgary, Alb.—highlights: optimized energy cost performance of 47 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, and energy consumption savings of 45 per cent, through enhanced building envelop performance with improved building insulation levels and double-glazed, argon-filled, low-e windows; exhaust air heat recovery; and, lighting occupancy sensors in the residential units and in the storage area of the basement; achieving an Innovation in Design credit for Water Management Advocacy through demonstrating the substantial environmental impact from the design team’s advocacy efforts.

Cred

it: Scott P

ickles

Certified: January 25, 2008, leeD® Canada-nC 1.0 gold

owner: kingston Police

LeeD® Consultant: enermodal engineering ltd.

Kingston, ont.—highlights: optimized energy cost performance of 53 per cent better than the Model National

Kingston police headquarters

Energy Code for Buildings, with an energy consumption savings of 58 per cent through condensing boilers for all space heating; energy recovery ventilators and heat recovery ventilators; increased thermal performance of the building; occupancy sensors and daylight sensors for lighting control; reduced indoor potable water use by 71 per cent along with an 80 per cent reduction in the use of potable water for sewage conveyance through the use of collected rainwater, half-flush urinals, and low-flow faucets and showerheads; eliminating the need to install an irrigation system through the use of xeriscaping.

Cred

it: Wayne H

ebert


this column reports on new leeD®-certified projects in Canada using information from the CagBC. leeD® is administered by the Canada green Building Council. cagbc.ca.

this column sponsored by halsall. halsall’s purpose-driven approach to sustainability consulting focuses on connecting each client’s success factors to practical solutions. With our solid technical foundation, we provide green advice for forward-thinking building, community and policy development. halsall.com

Certified: March 18, 2008, leeD® Canada-nC Certified

hamiltion, ont.—highlights: optimized energy cost performance of 24.6 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, and energy consumption savings of 30 per cent, through energy recovery ventilators; variable speed pumps to circulate water in heating and cooling loop; lowered lighting power density; and occupancy sensors and daylighting photocells; reducing indoor potable water use by over 55 per cent with waterless urinals, low-flow lavatories and showers, and use of rainwater for sewage conveyance; exemplary performance in recycled content at 23 per cent and regional materials at over 30 per cent; providing construction indoor air quality management throughout the construction period and performing a building flush out.

David Braley Athletics Centre (at mcmaster university)

Certified: november 28, 2007, leeD® Canada-nC Certified

owner: sobey’s Québec

Saint-Pascal-de-Kamouraska, Que.—highlights: optimized energy cost savings of 42 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings through heat recovery from case refrigeration systems; high insulation exterior envelope; reducing indoor potable water use by almost 48 per cent with high efficient toilets and ultra low-flow faucets; implementing a measurement and verification program for energy and water use; and a green education program to reach the public.

Le supermarché igA de Saint-pascal-de-Kamouraska Certified: January 18, 2008,

leeD® Canada-nC 1.0 gold

owner: sisters of st. Joseph of london

LeeD® Consultant: enermodal engineering

London, ont.—highlights: optimized energy cost performance of 52 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, with an energy consumption savings of 46 per cent through ground-sourced heat pump system; energy recovery ventilators and heat recovery wheels; increased thermal performance of the building; occupancy sensors and daylight sensors for lighting control. Indoor potable water use reduced by over 40 per cent.

Sisters of St. Joseph residence Certified: January 30, 2008,

leeD® Canada-nC 1.0 gold

owner: Minto apartments limited

LeeD® Consultant: Minto green team

toronto, ont.—highlights: optimized energy cost performance of 38 per cent better than the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, with an energy consumption savings of 34 per cent through high efficiency, condensing boilers; heat recovery wheels; solar wall to pre-condition make-up air to the building; and, the provision of Energy Star rated appliances in each suite. Indoor potable water use was reduced by 39 per cent. Reclamation of a brownfield site; car share program; green education program.

minto roehampton


gtA trAnSportAtion Summit mArCh 5-6 – toronto Record amounts of snow in Toronto didn’t stop participants from attending the 6th Annual GTA Transportation Summit. Attendees heard from a wide range of local and international speakers about transportation planning and what exactly should be done in the Greater Toronto Area. Intermodal transportation was the hottest topic. York Region’s proposed Viva rapid transit links to Toronto’s subway system would allow many commuters from the 905 area get out of their cars and onto public transit. Details at strategyinstitute.com

reevents

gLobe08 participants at the ontario government reception. From left: Cement Association of Canada’s teresa Sarkesian; Jon ogryzlo, niagara College; bill humber, Seneca College; and Dan Mcgillivray, ontario Centres of excellence.

gLoBe 2008 mArCh 12-14 – VAnCouVer The tradeshow floor at GLOBE was one bright idea after another—clean fuel, clean construction, tiny flashlights that light up without batteries (you have to wind them up first), funds and organizations devoted to achieving sustainability. Comments during panel discussions ranged from, “Isn’t the technology you’re describing exactly the opposite of sustainable?” to an even more challenging, “This has been completely

predictable—when is this discussion going to move outside the box?” But the conference also brings out those who want to profit from the green trend with no desire to contribute to the discussion or the solution to our climate change problems. Thankfully, the good outweighed the bad as delegates from the Middle East, Italy, France, Holland, Canada, the United States and India (to name only a few) showed up with truly innovative, forward-thinking ideas. Details at globe2008.ca

Cred

it: Todd

Latham

Above left: A packed house at the opening plenary session. Above right: ontario environment Minister John gerretsen and Jonathan Westeinde, Windmill Developments at the ontario reception. Left: Liberal leader Stephane Dion stops for a chat on the tradeshow floor with Alan Darlington of nedlaw Living Walls (see Jan./Feb ’08 issue, pg. 44).

Cred

its: Todd

Latham


www.opwa.ca

Upcoming Events

Technical Workshop

Making it Clear: DWQMS in Practice

June 5, 2008

Drinking Water System Owners will not want to miss this

practical and timely workshop

Presentations from DWQMS pilots and a panel of consultants and lawyers give practical advice

reevents

WAterteCh 2008 ApriL 16-18 – LAKe LouiSe, ABBuilding on the success of the Remediation Technologies Symposium (RemTech), the Environmental Services Association of Alberta (ESAA) launched the Water Technologies Symposium (WaterTech), a water technology transfer event for environmental professionals. As with RemTech, the event was sold out and the networking was phenomenal (kudos to Maxxam Analytics who had a giant screen set up to watch the Flames-Sharks NHL playoffs). ReNew Canada’s sister publication, Canadian Water Treatment, was the media sponsor of the event which included 33 presentations grouped into eight sessions. Norm Jede, Alberta Finance and Enterprise, spoke during the opening plenary about the province’s water management strategy, the $700 million recently invested in water and wastewater treatment plants and the future direction of P3s as the province grows and accommodates new growth. Details at esaa-events.com

CAmpSi 08 ApriL 22-23 – torontoCAMPSI (Canadian Asset Management Planning for Sustainable Infrastructure) put together an interesting lineup of speakers, starting with a presentation from Edmonton’s director of infrastructure planning and funding Konrad Siu. Terry Corrigan, a principal at PSAB and CICA, discussed how to report on tangible capital assets. Details at strategyinstitute.com

prioritY Setting For Big CitieS ApriL 25 – torontoThe Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) hosted panelists and delegates to discuss what Toronto can learn from other places, as part of their ongoing Urban Leadership Series. Keynote speaker John van Nostrand related his experience working on the master plan for Amman, Jordan. His firm architectsAlliance helped Amman avoid placing “giganticons” like Dubai’s towers in the wrong places. Planning consultant David Gurin suggested Toronto adopt New York City’s planning approach which is, essentially, not to plan but rather to zone more meticulously. Toronto’s chief planner, Gary Wright, was in the audience and said he doesn’t agree with van Nostrand’s comment that Toronto’s plan ignores areas north of Eglinton. Details at canurb.com

Parliamentary Assistant to the government of ontario’s Minister of energy, Kim Craitor, delivers the keynote address to a room full of lunching delegates.

energY mAtterS Summit ApriL 1-2 – toronto Hosted by the Region of Peel’s Corporate Energy Division, Energy Matters explored energy management issues facing the public sector. Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) Kristina Edwards presented their new energy labelling and rating system, still in development. When we asked her why they didn’t leave this kind of benchmarking up to the Green Building Council, Edwards said they felt energy efficiency is only a portion of what LEED rates, and that this additional labelling system was a good incentive. But NRCan is open to collaborating with CaGBC. In fact, Edwards and CaGBC’s Ian Jarvis had a very positive conversation after his presentation later that afternoon. Details at energymatterssummit.ca

the eSAA events team from left: Craig robertson, oscar gonzalez, Joe Chowaniec, Lorrine hamdon, Samantha Stasiuk and Joe barraclough. not pictured: past eSAA President rhonda rudnitski.

Cred

it: Todd

LathamC

redit: R

egion of Peel


Closing Shot

todd will be making seedbombs with his kids this weekend. he is also the publisher of this magazine.

Guerilla gardening is not weeding your flower bed in camouflage pants. It’s a potent grassroots activity which attempts to “green” underutilized public spaces

and bring nature back into our grey city vistas. As part of a worldwide Earth Day celebration (April 22), a group of 38 artists from 16 countries went into their communities “seeking cracks in the infrastructure where nature’s beauty could shine through.” Organized by Roxanne Brousseau-Felio of SpreadArt.net, the event had global participants filling potholes with earth and flowering plants to symbolically demonstrate the perseverance of nature in otherwise flower-hostile environments. Even though it was only one day, I’m sure those people driving along, swerving to avoid the petunias, got the message: what place does nature have in our built environment?

The effort is also local. The Toronto Public Space Committee’s Guerrilla Gardeners recently went on a “seedbombing” outing to try to bring out more of the “park” in Parkdale. Dozens of pre-made “seedbombs” (mixed local flower seeds with soil wrapped in biodegradable plastic bags) were thrown along train tracks and onto neglected ground between rusting fences and graffiti-laden walls.

These kinds of benign (and sometimes government endorsed) “green vandalism” are fun, constructive ways for environmentalists to take action, make a difference and get noticed (we did!). It is not littering, it doesn’t deface public property and has an immediate, positive impact on the local community. If your community doesn’t have guerrilla gardeners, maybe you could start a green militia at your public school. This is boy scouts and girl guides gone wild... but clean, green and friendly.

streetFLoWerS anD SeeDBOMBsBy Todd Latham

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it: Hanna W

atts

Canada

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it: Roxanne B

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redit: K

elly Stachura

Israel

United Kingdom

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it: Julie Collins &

Derek John

Australia

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it: Frédéric B

oulleaux

France

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it: Nicholas S

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USA


futureshock€¦ · Contents 14 12 22 About the Cover 30 MAy/june 2008 ... FinAnCe Jane Addie Printed in Canada on Stora Enso Fortune paper. 100% Canadian. 30% recycled content ...

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