On Monday, September 21, 2020, Whitby's Committee of the Whole vote unanimously to pass the Whitby Green Standards, with mandatory Tier One requirements to be implemented immediately.
The Durham Region Home Builders' Association strongly opposed the Whitby Green Standards and presented three delegations at the meeting. Tiago Do Couto, first VP and chair of the GR committee spoke about the impacts of the Standards on land development; Johnathan Schickedanz, president, spoke about the building codes and the risk of rushing into mandating building beyond code; and Emidio DiPalo, immediate past president, spoke about issues surrounding affordability and the legality of the standards.
DRHBA has been very active on this file and spent a great deal of time and effort to provide comprehensive feedback to Town staff and to highlight our concerns with council. Engagement included:
- Ongoing internal DRHBA meetings
- Attended virtual stakeholder session - April 29, 2020
- Letter sent to WGS Committee - May 11, 2020
- Letter sent to Council - May 11, 2020
- Letter sent to WGS Committee - May 29, 2020
- Legal opinion sent to Council and Committee - May 29, 2020
- Virtually met with Councillors Yamada and Leahy - June 8, 2020
- Met with OHBA/RESCON/BILD on WGS - June 11, 2020
- Attended virtual meeting with Town staff - June 23, 2020
- Attended virtual meeting with Town staff - July 29, 2020
- Virtual meeting with MP Ryan Turnbull - August 18, 2020
- Letter sent to Council - September 3, 2020
- Virtual meeting with MP Ryan Turnbull - September 15, 2020
- Three delegations at Committee of the Whole - September 21, 2020
Despite DRHBA's best efforts to inform Town staff and council of the real issues with the Standards, council opted to disregard our feedback and vote unanimously in favour of the Whitby Green Standards.
DRHBA will be continuing this discussion and would like to hear from interested members on this issue. Please forward your questions, comments and concerns to s.hawkins@drhba.com.
