With the goal of developing a sustainability plan for the community, Orangeville Council has endorsed the formation of a Sustainability Working Group.

The staff working group is to compile a list of action items related to "greening" the Town of Orangeville and to set the foundation for the future development of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan.

Council passed a resolution last November endorsing, in principle, the creation of a Sustainability Plan for the Town. The Mayor's Environmental Advisory Committee was directed to investigate the resources required to develop such a plan.

In April of 2006, representatives of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) made a presentation to Council and staff on opportunities for funding through the Green Municipal Fund, on the development of a Sustainability Plan, and on the results of a Community Profile that they compiled for Orangeville. FCM noted that preparing a Sustainability Plan may help communities identify what their priority needs are in the areas of water, solid waste, energy, buildings, transportation, and land use planning - and that it may be used as a baseline to monitor progress in sustainable community development.

The committee's recommendations were to:

+ designate a staff member as a "sustainability co-ordinator";

+ engage key stakeholders in a sustainability planning process including Enbridge Gas, Orangeville Hydro, Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), Association of Municipalities (AMO), and others;

+ identify sustainability indicators and trends for the Town from existing information;

+ support the engagement of "thought leaders" in the community on sustainability, and to prepare a proposal seeking funds from FCM for the development of a Sustainability Plan

Orangeville Council recognized that all levels of government have a stake in ensuring that communities function and change in a sustainable and responsible way. Sustainability involves taking action to protect and/or enhance our natural environment, economic viability, and quality of life into the future.

A report by CAO Rick Schwarzer and Planning Director James Stiver states that a move toward being a more sustainable community means continuing to provide services by making the most efficient use of the available resources while generating the least amount of waste in everything we do.

"Integrated Sustainability Planning brings together economic, environmental, land use and recreation interests with a view to developing an inter-disciplinary approach to directing change."

The approach is one that needs to be taken in every aspect of Town business. The Town can demonstrate the benefits of this approach with respect to everything from development proposals, to transportation choice, infrastructure improvement, preservation/planting of trees, energy and resource consumption, and broadening lifestyle choices.

"Municipal governments can have a significant influence over the environment, economics, and human health through the management of drinking water, sewage treatment, solid waste, pesticides, land use, transportation, and energy planning," the report notes.

The Town has shown it is already conscious of its ability to affect change in terms of the environment. The recently undertaken Ainsworth analysis of Town facilities and approval of an energy efficiency plan demonstrates a commitment to energy conservation for the long-term.

Climate change considerations can also find their way into all levels of municipal decision-making. Taking on the sustainability issue now will prove to benefit the Town in the future.

Orangeville Mayor Rob Adams expects that once this work is under way Council can again advertise for citizen involvement and establish a Mayor's Environmental Advisory Committee.

Only one member of the public expressed interest in sitting on such a committee earlier this year but Mayor Adams anticipates renewed interest with the development of a sustainability plan now on the municipal agenda.