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At the Town, much of the work being done is focused on sustainability. The Town committed to The Natural Step (TNS) for a Sustainable Canmore in 2004. The Natural Step provides a framework to help communities make smart economic decisions to move them step-by-step towards a successful and sustainable future. A good example of a process that developed out of the Town’s adoption of The Natural Step is the Sustainability Screening Report (SSR) process. The SSR process asks the development community to present a report to Council outlining the net environmental, social, and economic benefits of their project as it relates to community sustainability. This report must be accepted by Council prior to an application being made for development. The process also provides for public participation. After a presentation by the developer, comments and questions from the public are invited. The simple question being asked by Council is “what net benefit is there from your project for the community of Canmore and what will your project do to help to sustain Canmore into the future?” While this may appear, at first glance, to be a simple question to answer it does require a substantial change of thought and innovative and unique solutions to be able to clearly demonstrate “benefit”.
Council adopted the SSR process in July of 2007 and the development industry is coming forward and really meeting the challenge. We are fortunate to have several developers in Canmore that are industry leaders. They have been investigating and demonstrating sustainable building practices for years. For others, the SSR process is asking them new questions and many of their answers have been impressive. By working together, the Town of Canmore and the development industry are moving Canmore towards a more sustainable future. |
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Sustainability Screening Reports
