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It’s All Connected: Actions to Foster a Community-Wide Culture of Sustainability in Clarington

Final Report of the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee September, 2014

It’s All Connected: Actions to Foster a Community-Wide Culture of Sustainability in Clarington Final Report of the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee - Sept, 2014

IT’S ALL CONNECTED: ACTIONS TO FOSTER A COMMUNITY-WIDE CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN CLARINGTON FINAL REPORT OF THE SUSTAINABLE CLARINGTON COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 1 Part 1: What is the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee and What Is The Purpose of this Report .......................................................................................... 6 Part 2: Finding an Approach That Fits the Context ........................................................ 7 Part 3: The Committee’s Approach to the Assigned Task ............................................. 12 Part 4: What the Committee Heard ............................................................................... 14 Part 5: What the Committee Recommends ................................................................... 16 Appendix 1: Committee’s Terms of Reference Appendix 2: Clarington’s Population and Household Growth Projections Appendix 3: Places of Employment of Clarington Residents and Place of Residence of Persons Working in Clarington Appendix 4: Guests that the Committee Met With Appendix 5: Input Received From Guests Appendix 6: Match of the Committee’s Desired Outcomes with Municipality of Clarington and Region of Durham Plans


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Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide, as requested by the Clarington Municipal Council, advice to Council and Clarington community organizations on actions that will foster a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington. This advice comes from the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee. The Committee was appointed by Council in the Spring of 2013 after a public call for residents to volunteer to serve on the Committee. Mayor Adrian Foster and Councillor Ron Hooper were appointed by Council as ex-officio members. The Committee comes from a range of backgrounds, including agriculture, environmental advocacy, horticulture, nuclear science, education, public service and business and includes a youth representative. The names of the Committee members are shown at the end of this executive summary. This is the second report from the Committee. The first, submitted last Fall, recommended priorities among the 58 suggestions for community action as set out in the 2010 Green Community Strategy. That report also described the current actions to implement these priorities and suggested further steps to best implement these. This report concerns fostering a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington and recommends actions to move the community on this journey. The front cover of this report illustrates what the Committee suggests this culture could look like. And the title of the report, It’s All Connected, reflects what was heard in the community and the consensus of the Committee. The Committee had a dialogue with some 40 people in the course of its work, including 28 people representing 22 different community organizations, 11 Clarington staff representing five departments and 4 Region of Durham staff representing three departments. (See Appendix 4 for details.) A great deal was learned about our community in the process and the Committee worked to develop recommendations that fit the Clarington context. The Committee heard throughout its term that our residents care deeply about our community. It was emphasized that the key enabler to translate their care to action is communications. Our residents indicated that they strongly want this improved. The Committee has emphasized this throughout the report and its recommendations. Approaching its task, the Committee needed to be mindful of what the key vehicles are to achieve action in sustainability. Understanding who has authority to do what between the Municipality, the Region of Durham and the Province and how they relate to one another is also important. The Committee sought to shape its recommendations to work with what is currently underway.


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In brief, the Committee concluded that that the existing efforts are commendable and the key challenge is to determine how to optimize these efforts. There are four recommendations on actions to foster a community-wide culture of sustainability. Two are aimed at actions that the Municipality of Clarington working with Clarington community organizations should jointly pursue and two are aimed at actions that just the Municipality should pursue. Specifically, it is recommended:

That the Municipality of Clarington and Clarington community organizations 1.A. Strive to achieve and widely communicate the following nine outcomes for our community by 2019:

i. An Engaged Community – a community where residents and businesses are deeply involved

in contributing to the quality of life of the parts or the whole of Clarington through volunteering, participating in community events and helping their neighbours

ii. Self-Sufficient Neighbourhoods – a community where the key services and activities of interest

to residents are easily accessible without the use of an automobile and there are a range of housing choices available that enables residents to stay in their community of choice whatever their stage in life or financial circumstances

iii. Green, Efficient People Friendly Transportation – a community where the cost to the physical

environment and in people’s health and time for travelling is minimized and travel is safe and ideally much of it is in the form of active transportation

iv. Accessible and Integrated Trails – a community where it is easy to move from one part of the

community to another by foot or bicycle - especially from commercial to residential areas, from commercial areas to the waterfront and from one trail to another, visitors are attracted and the natural environment is conserved and appreciated

v. Natural Green Space – a community where resilient, abundant and widely enjoyed biodiverse

areas are promoted and protected

vi. Healthy, Accessible Waterfronts – a community where the waterfront is easily accessed and enjoyed by residents and visitors for its biodiversity, clean water, air and land

vii. Unique, Vibrant Downtowns – a community where strong local businesses work together and with the Municipality to: attract residents and visitors, provide a distinctive local flavor, enhance the sense of community and provide work and living opportunities for residents

viii. An Attractive Business Environment – a community where existing and prospective investors

experience the community as offering: an attractive quality of life, friendly to youth, a welcoming approach, effective collaboration within and across local governments, key infrastructure, a trained and qualified workforce, and is a place that people drive to rather than a place that people drive through

ix. Strong, Sustainable Agricultural System – a community where the residents are well educated

about the economic and environmental importance of local agriculture, agricultural land is actively protected, best practices in agriculture are supported, there is a favourable business climate for farm business and there is support for community gardens and the local food movement.


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1. B. Make a commitment to give priority to these outcomes recognizing that success on these outcomes has a strong likelihood of being greeted with community support; regularly and independently survey residents and community organizations to ensure that any changes in community priorities are well understood.

1.C. When assessing their potential initiatives, give greater priority to those initiatives that seek to advance more than one of these outcomes.

2. Work together to build stronger community engagement by:

i. leveraging technology to effectively communicate to residents about the

range of community organizations in Clarington and their events and activities

ii. actively promoting volunteerism, including helping Clarington residents interested in volunteering to be matched with organizations needing volunteers through such services as United Way’s volunteer registry

iii. assessing the needs for training in leadership, governance, volunteer

retention and recruitment for community organizations and jointly developing means to address these needs

iv. supporting the Youth Leading Youth community initiative and pursuing the

“Youth Friendly” community designation and enabling the community’s youth to contribute to the community’s zest and future

v. establishing a recognition program that recognizes people, businesses and

organizations that are championing these nine sustainable community outcomes.

That the Municipality of Clarington:

3.A. Address and implement in the Official Plan (OP) and the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) the nine outcomes for a sustainable Clarington that the Committee has set out in 1A and, in completing these plans, also consider the input received by this Committee as shown in Appendix 5 and 6.

3.B. Move these plans set out in Recommendation 3A to action by:

i. investigating, and where suitable, adopting the standards for measuring

success on these outcomes as set by an independent third party, such as the: - “Bike Friendly” community designation - “Walk Friendly Ontario” designation - “Age Friendly” dimensions for cities and communities set by the World

Health Organization - “Communities in Bloom” designation


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and where measureable standards are not yet in place, develop them and encourage others who set goals for our community to do so, including the Conservation Authorities that provide a vital role in protecting and promoting Clarington’s natural environment

ii. considering as other municipalities have done, establishing a Trails Committee or Trails Council that can bring all of the different users/interests - anglers, cyclists, hikers, naturalists, residents, tourism advocates – together to plan, communicate, educate and potentially assist in maintaining the trails

iii. holding meetings with community organizations, the Durham Regional government, the Ontario government and other affected agencies, boards and commissions about the best means to advance these outcomes

iv. setting out a clear financial plan that identifies the cost to realize the

Committee’s outcomes as reflected in the OP and the TMP, the financing sources and what can reasonably be expected to be accomplished by 2019, paying particular attention to whether a re-allocation of funding is required to address the public goods nature of trails, green spaces and the waterfront

v. incorporating the results of (i) to (iv) above in the Municipality’s 2015-2018

strategic planning

vi. effectively communicating to all affected parties the intended approach and timing to realizing the Committee’s outcomes and the progress in implementing these outcomes.

4. Establish a permanent, ongoing advisory committee to advise Council and the

community on Clarington’s sustainability journey.

Thank you The Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee thanks the many residents, businesses, community organizations and Clarington Municipal and Durham Regional staff who gave us their time, energy and expertise in order for us to provide this advice. Thanks as well to Clarington Municipal Council for this opportunity to contribute to our community’s sustainability.


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Part 1: What is the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee and What is the Purpose of this Report The Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee was appointed by the Clarington Municipal Council in the spring of 2013 after a public call for residents to volunteer to serve on the Committee. The eight members are: Mike Patrick, Chair Suzanne Elston, Vice Chair Kira Nowick, youth representative Ian Kruis, agricultural representative Mike Dymarski Allan Hewitt Lorraine Jones Kerry Meydam The Committee members come from a range of backgrounds, including business, environmental advocacy, agriculture, nuclear science, education, public service and horticulture. The eight members were joined by Mayor Adrian Foster and Councillor Ron Hooper as ex-officio members. The Committee was assisted by Linda Coutu, Executive Assistant to the Mayor and Curry Clifford, Corporate Initiatives Officer. Annette Van Dyk, Clerk II in the Planning Services Department provided logistical and administrative support. The purpose of this report is to provide, as requested by the Clarington Municipal Council, advice to Council and Clarington community organizations on actions that will foster a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington. The Committee’s Terms of Reference is attached as Appendix 1. This is the second report from the Committee. The first, submitted last Fall, delivered on the request of Council that the Committee (1) recommend priorities among the 58 suggestions for community action as set out in the 2010 Green Community Strategy and to (2) describe the current actions to implement these priorities and the Committee’s suggested further steps to best implement these. This is Part 1 of the report. The others parts are: Part 2: Finding an Approach that Fits the Context Part 3: The Committee’s Approach to the Assigned Task Part 4: What the Committee Heard Part 5: What the Committee Recommends. It’s All Connected: Actions to Foster a Community-Wide Culture of Sustainability in Clarington Final Report of the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee - Sept, 2014

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Part 2: Finding an Approach That Fits the Context In the course of the last 17 months the Committee learned a lot about sustainability. And the Committee learned a lot about the culture of our community. This context is important. As internationally recognized management thinker Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. So as the Committee formulated its strategy, it was very mindful of the culture within which its suggestions would be considered and sought to find a strategy that works within the culture so that it will take hold and it itself will be sustainable. There are many attributes of Clarington’s culture. Below are the ones that the Committee believes that all who wish to create success in our community will find especially relevant. Our (recent) history and geography: Clarington is now 40 years old. It was formed as one of eight lower-tier municipalities when the Region of Durham, the “upper-tier” was created. Clarington was formed through amalgamating four municipalities: the Township of Clarke and the Township of Darlington and the Town of Bowmanville and the Village of Newcastle. (The Police Village of Orono was not a separate municipality, but rather part of Clarke Township.) It is bounded by Lake Ontario on the south and the Oak Ridges Moraine on the north - with many river and creeks connecting these - and the Municipality of Port Hope on the east and the City of Oshawa on the west. With an area that is 611.3 square kilometers (231 square miles), it is one of the largest municipalities geographically in the GTA. Clarington’s geography has significant implications for how services are delivered, their cost, the diversity of sustainability goals, the nature and scope of the natural lands available for residents and visitors to enjoy and even the scale of municipal lands to manage - over 600 hectares (1,000 acres). Our people: While a significant majority of our 90,000 population live in one of the four urban areas of Courtice, Bowmanville, Newcastle and Orono, more than 18,000 residents make their home in one of the dozen smaller settlements in Clarington. There are about 400 farms in Clarington so some call a farm home and there are numerous other rural residents. By the time the outcomes that the Committee set out are to be realized (2019), Clarington will be home to over 100,000 people. By 2031 its population is projected to be over 140,000 (Courtice 36,600; Bowmanville 64,200; Newcastle 19,300 and the balance 20,300.) See Appendix 2 for more details. And of course our population will be older. More than 34,000 of us will be over the age of 55 vs. about 20,000 today. Seniors finding quality, affordable housing is already a significant challenge and will become even greater as our population ages. Even stronger interest can be anticipated It’s All Connected: Actions to Foster a Community-Wide Culture of Sustainability in Clarington Final Report of the Sustainable Clarington Community Advisory Committee - Sept, 2014

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in trails, green spaces and the waterfront over more traditional municipal recreational needs. Clarington will have major urban populations with different needs than today. Sustaining all of what makes our community attractive to residents, businesses and visitors including our ability to adapt to changing needs and realize our promising future, requires careful planning and action now. The Committee needed to shape its suggested outcomes and actions to reflect that. Our economy: Clarington’s economy provides some 20,000 jobs. Our diverse economy, as the Clarington Board of Trade notes, includes particular strengths in energy, agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, life science, tourism, aggregate and construction:

• Darlington Nuclear Generating Station which supplies approximately 20% of Ontario’s electricity needs is Clarington’s largest employer with 2,200 people and is embarking on a refurbishment of the existing four reactors. Whether two new reactors will be built is subject to future provincial government decision about how best to respond to any future gap between electricity demand and supply.

• Several manufacturing firms in the supply chain to nuclear have chosen to locate in Clarington in the last 18 months as Clarington develops as an energy hub. A diversity of other manufacturers have retained their operations and some have expanded, many employing highly skilled staff and applying sophisticated technologies to create products that serve a wide range of markets – from health care to auto to aerospace to construction. A range of professional services, including engineering, accounting and facility management, have in turn expanded their operations in Clarington.

• Clarington has some of the most productive award-winning farmland in Ontario, producing a wide variety of grains, seeds, dairy, beef, poultry and eggs and is home to Ontario’s largest apple producer. It hosts several pick-your-own and farm retail operations where residents and visitors can enjoy fresh produce from apple cider to honey to beef to blueberries to raspberries to pumpkins.

• These have become tourist attractions and in fact about a dozen of these type of operators have joined forces to create a “destination” to be known as “Country Path” in the Tyrone- Enniskillen- Hampton area. This adds to the draw of our historic downtowns, our budding arts community, antique shopping and savoury home baking.

• And this is in addition to the already sizeable tourism asset in Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) whose owners have made considerable investments in creating a new viewing facility and have attracted the internationally recognized NASCAR level events. And CTMP for the third summer hosted the growing Boots and Hearts music festival.

• The significant natural features of Clarington, including Lake Ontario, the Oak Ridges Moraine, the Ganaraska and Long Sault Forests, peaceful river valleys


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and considerable conservation lands are emerging as tourism draws for anglers, cyclists, hikers and people who just enjoy nature. In the words of Chris Winter of Canada Conserves who met with the Committee last Fall, “Clarington should strive to become the place that people drive to rather than the place that people drive through.” We’re well on our way to that and suggest the community look forward to the Tourism Plan to help further this goal.

Clarington’s economy is growing although it still depends on the economy of the adjacent communities for employment. As at 2011, 70% of our residents in the workforce had employment outside Clarington – 29% went to Oshawa, about 16% to Toronto, 13% to Whitby and about 13% to various other locations. On the other hand, just less than one-half of the approximately 20,000 jobs in Clarington are held by Clarington residents with 28% coming in from areas outside Durham Region, 14% from Oshawa and 9% from other Durham Region locations. (See employment tables at Appendix 3.) In formulating its recommendations the Committee needed to be very mindful of the nature and the potential of Clarington’s economy. The Committee quickly saw the importance to our community’s sustainability of creating a very positive business environment for investment and job creation. It is crucial to: retaining or repatriating our young talent; managing transportation demands; making time available for residents to volunteer (rather than commute) including volunteer work to preserve our natural environment; generating shopping in and support for our downtowns; producing revenues to finance municipal services. Our municipal governments: The responsibility of representing, planning for and providing services to our residents is divided between two orders of municipal government:

• The Municipality of Clarington has exclusive responsibility for: protection of people and property through fire protection, animal control, property standards, building inspection, school crossing guards, controlling nuisances; local transportation, including building and maintaining local roads and related aspects that make them operational including, bridges, traffic control, street lighting, as well as active transportation – sidewalks, cycling paths, walking trails; parks, recreation facilities, and sports fields; conducting local elections and a host of other local functions.

• The Regional government has exclusive responsibility for matters that cut across the region, including policing, paramedics, public health, social services, long-term care, social housing, waste disposal, transit, arterial roads and sewer and water (other than storm water).

• The two municipal governments share responsibility in the areas of: economic development, tourism and land-use planning. Clarington has a very positive relationship between business and the municipal government which is not always found in other municipalities. Clarington contracts out the delivery of the


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economic development service to the Clarington Board of Trade. Clarington and the Region directly deliver the balance of these services. The Clarington Official Plan must conform to the Durham Region Official Plan and each need to conform to a range of provincial plans, e.g., Places to Grow Plan, Greenbelt Plan, Provincial Policy Statements (a host of planning requirements to encourage sustainable development). And there are many other standards set by the province including, as examples: density targets, the boundaries of provincially significant wetlands, energy efficiency standards in new construction.

• Each of these municipal governments governing Clarington have advanced sustainability through a range of different programs and policies, primarily through land-use and transportation planning:

o The Municipality has adopted sustainability policies in its current OP, is currently reviewing its OP and in the course of this review has issued Discussion Papers and held public meetings on several themes relevant to the Committee’s work, including: Population and Employment Projections; The Countryside; Natural Heritage; Parks, Open Spaces and Trails; Employment Lands; Intensification; Growth Management.

o It has established “Priority Green Clarington”, a project aimed at setting a new standard for residential development that prioritizes sustainability and encourages “green homes” and “green neighbourhood” design and construction practices

o In 2013, Clarington, began developing its first stand-alone Transportation Master Plan which includes significant components dealing with “active transportation” and for the first time established bicycle lanes and Durham Region adopted a Regional Cycling Plan.

• Clarington is also using a number of other means to advance sustainability - from establishing community gardens to instituting an Adopt-A-Park program, to energy efficiency measures in municipal buildings.

• The Region of Durham, in addition to this focus on sustainability through land-use and transportation planning, has a separate initiative focused on climate change. The Durham Region Roundtable on Climate Change has a suite of some 18 projects in what is called a Local Action Plan.

Approaching its task, the Committee needed to be mindful of: what the key vehicles are to achieve action in sustainability; who has authority to do what between these three orders of government and how they relate to one another; what is currently being done or underway. Then the Committee needed to determine what could reasonably be achieved within this complex context within the time frame of the 2019 planning period that the Committee set.


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Our residents’ views on sustainability: The views of our community about sustainability were also critical in understanding the culture of our community. While the Committee didn’t have the advantage of direct opinion polling of our residents on sustainability matters - and the Committee would suggest that be done in the future - it did have a number of other useful indicators:

• The Municipality conducted a Customer Service Survey as the Committee was starting its work in Spring 2013. Four key natural environment matters ranked in the top 10 of 33 services in importance by our residents. Namely:

• public parks: 91% • preservation of natural environment: 90% • beaches/waterfront: 88% • trails and paths: 86%.

• This finding was reinforced by polling done for the Priority Green Project that

found that there is a very high level of importance attached to walkability – 91% rank it as important in the design of neighborhoods.

• There are a number of other community led initiatives planned or underway as

the Committee was meeting that were strong signals of the community interest in community sustainability, including:

o spring pick-up days organized by both the Bowmanville Rotary Club and by the Safe Communities Committee, engaging many young people

o construction of a fish ladder on Bowmanville Creek through considerable initiative of Valleys 2000 and the Bowmanville Anglers working with the Municipality

o recognition by CLOCA of the Friends of Farewell and Black Creek for their work restoring these creek areas

o strong community take-up to the Trees for Rural Roads program o awards to a number of community businesses for their innovation o expansion of the Clarington Older Adult Association’s service offerings

both types and locations - and the decision by the Municipality to develop an Older Adult Strategy to determine how best to address this growth

o the development of a partnership amongst community organizations and the Municipality to create a Youth Leading Youth strategy

o creation of studies by the Clarington Tourism Marketing Board of the economic impact of tourism in Clarington and the development of a Tourism Plan.

These were all strong signals to the Committee that community sustainability is a priority in Clarington. It meant that if the Committee focused on encouraging community engagement and on what residents were saying about what the local priorities should be (and watching their actions as much as their words), then it would find a direction that would have community support.


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Part 3: The Committee’s Approach to the Assigned Task Discussing and Deciding on Outcomes: Part 2 illustrates what was going on in the community and the Municipality as the Committee embarked on its task and how it influenced its conclusions. Part 3 of the report will outline how the Committee then came to approach its task - of formulating advice to Council and Clarington community organizations on actions that will foster a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington. It quickly became apparent that the Committee needed to do two things first: 1. Define what a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington should look like in order to recommend any actions to get to that end. 2. Set some time frames around when the Committee would like to see any outcomes realized. The Committee choose 2019, realizing that a target with a five year time horizon would provide adequate time to build community engagement and put the necessary ingredients in place for success over the course of the next Council term (late 2014 to late 2018) while still creating enough sense of urgency to mobilize action.

To accomplish #1, the Committee had the help of Helen Break, a skilled professional facilitator with expertise both in municipal government and sustainability. She led the Committee through a series of visioning exercises in its January meeting to determine what such a culture should look like. What the Committee came to was that a community-wide culture of sustainability in Clarington would be one that displays these outcomes by 2019:

i. An Engaged Community ii. Self-Sufficient Neighbourhoods iii. Green, Efficient People Friendly Transportation iv. Accessible and Integrated Trails v. Natural Green Space vi. Healthy, Accessible Waterfronts vii. Unique, Vibrant Downtowns viii. An Attractive Business Environment ix. Strong, Sustainable Agricultural Base.

The front cover of this report illustrates these nine outcomes and how they connect to create a sustainable Clarington.


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Consulting the Community on the Committee’s Suggested Outcomes: With the help of Mayor Foster, Councillor Hooper and Municipal staff, the Committee identified a number of community organizations and Municipal and Regional staff that it should hear from on these various desired outcomes. The Committee’s relatively short time lines meant that there were others it would also like to have heard from but was unable to. However, the Committee believes that it reached a good cross section of the community. The full listing of who the Committee met with over the course of its complete term are set out in tables at Appendix 4. The Committee met with more than half of these 43 people for this third task. For each of the nine desired outcomes, the Committee asked its invited guests three questions: 1. For this outcome, what measureable outcomes do you believe the Clarington

community should be seeking to achieve by 2019? 2. Where is the community now relative to this desired outcome? 3. What actions should be taken to close the gap between 1 and 2?

Municipal staff provided the Committee with some research on how other communities (including Kingston, Oshawa, Pickering, Niagara, Halton Hills and Rosland, BC and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario) are measuring these outcomes and the Committee shared these with invited guests to help them focus the collective discussions.


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Part 4: What the Committee Heard As noted, the Committee heard from many in the community as well as municipal staff. The details of what the Committee heard are set out in the two tables attached as Appendix 5 and 6. Here are the seven key themes that emerged for the Committee: i. Clarington residents care about the community and want and need to be enabled and communication is the key enabler. ii. Where a service is a municipal one, users need to be empowered - their views need to be brought into defining the needs and the appropriate responses to the needs, whether the service is transit, trails, green spaces or how the Municipality communicates. iii. The community shares the Committee’s interest in these particular nine outcomes. The Committee had little difficulty generating interest in the community in discussing these outcomes and that it chose them made sense to the community. Some did press for greater definition about some of the outcomes, especially “an engaged community”, “self-sufficient neighbourhoods” and “natural green space”. But most accepted that the process was a bit iterative as defining what success should look like was one of the questions the Committee was asking community organizations. While the Committee looked at how a number of other communities have defined these outcomes, it borrowed heavily from what it heard from the community to land on the definitions in this Final Report. iv. Recognizing the inter-connected nature of the nine outcomes is what creates the opportunities for efficiency, innovation and excitement - whether it’s the community’s advocates for youth working with the business community, the anglers and tourist advocates working with the advocates of our trails, green spaces and waterfront or the cyclists working with our agricultural community to create bike friendly destinations. Again, the front cover of this report illustrates these nine outcomes and how they connect to create a sustainable Clarington. In the words of the title of this report: It’s All Connected. v. The Committee’s nine desired outcomes match the Municipality’s plans. The Municipality’s land-use planning and transportation planning staff came to the Committee suggesting that what the Committee had identified as desired outcomes are largely what they are developing as the new Official Plan policies and the Transportation Master Plan directions - see Appendix 6. vi. The community is looking for the Municipality to move from plan to action and to give these plans priority. This is a common across the outcomes the Committee identified. As an example, the Board of Trade came to the Committee suggesting that completing the Official Plan needs to be made a priority and updating the zoning by-law to align with the Official Plan is critical to removing costly barriers to investments in the community.


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vii. Three of the outcomes - trails, green spaces and the waterfront – have a nuance and a complexity that is not easily apparent. How much to invest in these and how to distribute the cost of the investment needs to be simplified. There are three aspects of these three outcomes that stood out: First, these “services” are ranked as some of the highest ones in importance by Clarington residents - and will only get more important relative to other recreational services as our population ages. Second, a sentiment the Committee heard is that these natural features are critical elements of our community to be enjoyed in their own right and shouldn’t be considered as simply part of the Municipality’s “transportation system”, albeit that is one way to finance them. Third, these are largely public goods – that is people cannot be effectively excluded from using them and use by one individual does not reduce availability to others. In that regard, they differ considerably from many other services the Municipality provides and how they are financed then needs to reflect that. This is not a particular political philosophy but rather just the nature of some public services. These three factors mean that there is a need for the Municipality to simplify matters and first answer: what should Clarington be seeking to achieve in these three areas in the 2015-2019 period and what is the priority of these elements of our community as against other demands? The Municipality may need to consider what the alternative means are of delivering and financing non-public good services (that are not practically available to these three services). It can then determine what if any shifts are required to re-allocate funding to these three public goods, developing the financing plan for these priorities that will match the plans for realizing results in these areas. To be clear, how something can be done should not determine its priority.


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Part 5: What the Committee Recommends There are four recommendations on actions to foster a community-wide culture of sustainability. Two are aimed at actions that the Municipality of Clarington working with Clarington community organizations should jointly pursue and two are aimed at actions that just the Municipality should pursue. As the Committee found with sustainability itself, it found in developing its recommendations: it’s all connected. Specifically, the Committee recommends: Recommendation 1: That the Municipality of Clarington and Clarington community organizations:

1.A. Strive to achieve and widely communicate the following nine outcomes for our community by 2019:

i. An Engaged Community – a community where residents and businesses are

deeply involved in contributing to the quality of life of the parts or the whole of Clarington through volunteering, participating in community events and helping their neighbours

ii. Self-Sufficient Neighbourhoods – a community where the key services and activities of interest to residents are easily accessible without the use of an automobile and there are a range of housing choices available that enables residents to stay in their community of choice whatever their stage in life or financial circumstances

iii. Green, Efficient People Friendly Transportation – a community where the cost

to the physical environment and in people’s health and time for travelling is minimized and travel is safe and ideally much of it is in the form of active transportation

iv. Accessible and Integrated Trails – a community where it is easy to move from

one part of the community to another by foot or bicycle - especially from commercial to residential areas, from commercial areas to the waterfront and from one trail to another, visitors are attracted and the natural environment is conserved and appreciated

v. Natural Green Space – a community where resilient, abundant and widely

enjoyed biodiverse areas are promoted and protected

vi. Healthy, Accessible Waterfronts – a community where the waterfront is easily accessed and enjoyed by residents and visitors for its biodiversity, clean water, air and land


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vii. Unique, Vibrant Downtowns – a community where strong local businesses work together and with the Municipality to: attract residents and visitors, provide a distinctive local flavor, enhance the sense of community and provide work and living opportunities for residents

viii. An Attractive Business Environment – a community where existing and

prospective investors experience the community as offering: an attractive quality of life, friendly to youth, a welcoming approach, effective collaboration within and across local governments, key infrastructure, a trained and qualified workforce, and is a place that people drive to rather than a place that people drive through

ix. Strong, Sustainable Agricultural System – a community where the residents

are well educated about the economic and environmental importance of local agriculture, agricultural land is actively protected, best practices in agriculture are supported, there is a favourable business climate for farm business and there is support for community gardens and the local food movement.

1. B. Make a commitment to give priority to these outcomes recognizing that success on these outcomes has a strong likelihood of being greeted with community support; regularly and independently survey residents and community organizations to ensure that any changes in community priorities are well understood.

1.C. When assessing their potential initiatives, give greater priority to those initiatives that seek to advance more than one of these outcomes.

Rationale for Recommendation 1:

In finalizing its nine recommended outcomes, the Committee put each through a three-point test, asking:

• Is this suitable? Will this outcome significantly advance us to a sustainable

future, does it fit with the context of Clarington, does it address current and future challenges and opportunities?

• Is this feasible? Can this outcome reasonably be achieved by our community and our Municipality by 2019? Do we have the knowhow and the legal and financial ability to bring these to life?

• Is this acceptable? Will our community and our Municipality find broad acceptance for these outcomes by the people affected? Is there not just the ability but also the desire to bring these to life?

The recommendations meet this test. The Committee trusts that in providing these nine outcomes and the descriptions about them that it has sketched out a clear and compelling picture of what a sustainable Clarington should look like – a clear “community” vision.


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Community sustainability is increasingly being understood as concerned with the sustainability of the whole of the community in its many dimensions – as illustrated on the front cover of this report. And it’s being understood that all these dimensions are interconnected. Success in one dimension can lead to success in another, thus the title of this report: It’s All Connected. The Committee came to this by studying what others have done, but as importantly by listening to our community. Looking after the housing needs of seniors in our community, as an example, helps sustain the downtowns, encourages self-sufficient neighbourhood design and allows community engagement to more easily develop and have greater impact. As a further example, Clarington’s Board of Trade, told the Committee: “Business success means community success and community success means business success.” They went on to suggest: “Community agreement on this is the outcome this Committee should be urging the Municipality and the community to achieve by 2019. Having this clear “community” vision is the first step to be able to deliver on sustainability goals.” The community vision reflected in the nine desired outcomes of this report is well grounded. And its success will depend on getting a number of practical actions in place. These are enumerated in 1B and 1C and the balance of the recommendations.

Recommendation 2: That the Municipality of Clarington and Clarington community organizations: Work together to build stronger community engagement by:

i. leveraging technology to effectively communicate to residents about the

range of community organizations in Clarington and their events and activities

ii. actively promoting volunteerism, including helping Clarington residents interested in volunteering to be matched with organizations needing volunteers through such services as United Way’s volunteer registry

iii. assessing the needs for training in leadership, governance, volunteer

retention and recruitment for community organizations and jointly developing means to address these needs

iv. supporting the Youth Leading Youth community initiative and pursuing the

“Youth Friendly” community designation and enabling the community’s youth to contribute to the community’s zest and future


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v. establishing a recognition program that recognizes people, businesses and organizations that are championing these nine sustainable community outcomes.

Rationale for Recommendation 2: The Committee believes that an engaged community is the starting point for success in community sustainability. It deliberately chose to put this as the first outcome. No greater demonstration of the importance of this was shown than the Committee’s own experience as a community advisory committee. It was humbling and heartening that the leaders of our community organizations went to the efforts that they did in preparing for their discussions with the Committee. In fact one of Clarington’s community organizations - the Clarington Older Adult Association - hosted the Committee’s June 5th meeting when this first outcome of the Committee was discussed with them and a range of community organizations. It is no surprise then to learn about the significant results community organizations have brought to the quality of life of our community. The recommendations here come from both what was heard from the community about the tools they need to continue to succeed into the future and from the experience elsewhere about how municipal government working together with community organizations can ensure needs are well understood and efficiently and effectively met. (And the Committee understands that in the case of (iv) the Clarington Safe Communities Committee has also heard about and supports the Youth Leading Youth community initiative.)

Recommendation 3:


3.A. Address and implement in the Official Plan (OP) and the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) the nine outcomes for a sustainable Clarington that the Committee has set out in 1A and, in completing these plans, also consider the input received by this Committee as shown in Appendix 5 and 6.

3.B. Move these plans set out in Recommendation 3A to action by:

i. investigating, and where suitable, adopting the standards for measuring

success on these outcomes as set by an independent third party, such as the: - “Bike Friendly” community designation - “Walk Friendly Ontario” designation - “Age Friendly” dimensions for cities and communities set by the World

Health Organization - “Communities in Bloom” designation


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and where measureable standards are not yet in place, develop them and encourage others who set goals for our community to do so, including the Conservation Authorities that provide a vital role in protecting and promoting Clarington’s natural environment

ii. considering as other municipalities have done, establishing a Trails Committee or Trails Council that can bring all of the different users/interests - anglers, cyclists, hikers, naturalists, residents, tourism advocates – together to plan, communicate, educate and potentially assist in maintaining the trails

iii. holding meetings with community organizations, the Durham Regional government, the Ontario government and other affected agencies, boards and commissions about the best means to advance these outcomes

iv. setting out a clear financial plan that identifies the cost to realize the Committee’s

outcomes as reflected in the OP and the TMP, the financing sources and what can reasonably be expected to be accomplished by 2019, paying particular attention to whether a re-allocation of funding is required to address the public goods nature of trails, green spaces and the waterfront

v. incorporating the results of (i) to (iv) above in the Municipality’s 2015-2018

strategic planning

vi. effectively communicating to all affected parties the intended approach and timing to realizing the Committee’s outcomes and the progress in implementing these outcomes.

Rationale for Recommendations 3:

Clarington is well on its way to achieving the vision of a sustainable community that the Committee has articulated in its nine outcomes. To realize the promise of Clarington, there is a strong need to:

• incorporate the outcomes the Committee identified into the documents that will guide the Municipality’s future - the Official Plan and the Transportation Master Plan

• ensure that the input that Committee received is considered in the development of these plans

• move from plan to action by building an approach that will attract volunteer interest, philanthropic and government funding and trust and confidence by all affected parties. This in turn requires:

o adopting generally accepted third party standards, especially to put the desired outcomes into measureable terms and to operate to independently set standards


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o encouraging the Conservation Authorities that provided the Committee definition to the outcomes that should be achieved in “natural green space” to move to the next step of establishing measureable targets for each of its three goals in each of its watersheds in Clarington

o taking a customer focus approach to implementing each of the recommendations

o moving the customer focus approach in the case of trails to, as other municipalities have done, a new level of community involvement building on the current informal engagement of cyclists to bring others into the planning and promotion of trails

o bringing others that share the Municipality’s goals into advancing these through funding and supportive policies

o costing over the 2015-19 period the desired outcomes as set out in the renewed Official Plan and the Transportation Master Plan and being clear about how and when each will be financed, and paying special attention to how best to finance those services like trails, green spaces and the waterfront where it is impractical to exclude people from benefitting and one person’s use does not take away from another’s use

o incorporating the cumulative intended results into the 2015 to 2018 strategic plan

o communicating and monitoring the strategic plan.

These actions will guide Clarington on its sustainability journey.

Recommendation 4:


Establish a permanent, ongoing advisory committee to advise Council and the community on Clarington’s sustainability journey.

Rationale for Recommendation 4:

With recommendations 1, 2 and 3, the current committee has provided the community and the Municipality a guide for its journey to a sustainable community. The conclusion is that the Municipality and the community have solid plans in place to realize the nine outcomes recommended and the key next steps are to take practical actions to bring these plans to life.

However, recognizing that sustainability is an ongoing journey, not a destination, it is recommended that Council establish a permanent, ongoing advisory committee.


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There is more to do beyond the actions the current Committee has set out. There is a need to build awareness and create public education about practical actions that Clarington residents and businesses can take and there is a need for ongoing advice to the Municipal Council and the community about other actions to continue the sustainability journey. The Committee’s experience clearly demonstrated that there is tremendous willingness within the community to help make Clarington a more sustainable community. Furthermore, establishing a permanent, ongoing advisory committee would help fulfill Recommendation 2 by actively promoting volunteerism and engaging youth while providing Council with access to the expertise and passion of its citizens on an ongoing basis.


it’s all connected: actions to foster a community …...climate for farm business and there is...

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