At the September 28th Whitby Council meeting, council voted unanimously to pass the revised Whitby Green Standards, with a revision.
Through DRHBA's extensive advocacy work, the Town conceded that they could not mandate building above code. This memo was attached to the item at the council meeting, which essentially made the requirements to build beyond code preferred but not mandatory.
The rest of the Whitby Green Standards passed as is. While Tier 1 becomes mandatory immediately, most of the requirements were already mandatory through other Whitby bylaws and standards. However, Tiers 2 through 4 will require much more from builders and developers. DRHBA will continue to work with the Town to create incentives for these additional tiers, and will continue to oppose mandating any requirements that go above and beyond the Ontario Building Code and the Planning Act.
Tier 1 is mandatory immediately. Here are the relevant documents on the Whitby Green Standards:
DRHBA worked extensively to ensure that the Town did not mandate anything above code, and the following details our advocacy efforts:
- 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 (Johnathan, Tiago and Emidio) at Committee of the Whole - September 21, 2020
