Reducing LangfordB次元官网网址檚 environmental impact is on the top of the priority list for at least one of the CityB次元官网网址檚 committees.

LangfordB次元官网网址檚 planning, zoning and affordable housing committee recently reviewed a draft five-year financial plan for 2016 to 2020 and was asked by City staff to rank outlined priority budget items to help prioritize capital purchases, projects or new staffing requests.

Coming out on top of that priority list was community energy and emissions reduction. In each of the past three years the City has budgeted $20,000 to fund research, projects and policy updates to keep Langford current with changing provincial mandates relating to climate change, energy conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The same amount was proposed for 2016, although the staff report noted only a fraction of budgeted funds have been spent to date. That report advised that at some point in the future it may become necessary to purchase carbon offsets, at an estimated cost of just under $19,000 to more than $22,500 per year.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a priority,B次元官网网址� said Coun. Denise Blackwell, chair of the planning, zoning and affordable housing committee. She noted the City has signed the provinceB次元官网网址檚 Climate Action Charter, which committed Langford to becoming carbon neutral in its corporate operations. Blackwell said City staff members are working with the province to calculate the CityB次元官网网址檚 greenhouse gas emissions profile and will be looking at ways to reduce it once that is done.

Some other key initiatives outlined in the 2016 financial plan for the planning services department include: a proposed review of LangfordB次元官网网址檚 Official Community Plan (OCP), a comprehensive update of zoning bylaw No. 300 (a bylaw to regulate the use of land, buildings, and structures as well as the provision of parking/loading spaces, screening and landscaping), film commission funding and continuing the beautification grant program.

The second item on the priority list is film commission funding, followed by the zoning bylaw rewrite and the OCP review. She noted the budget for continuing beautification projects was moved to the parks department.

B次元官网网址淭he (planning) budget is in pretty good shape,B次元官网网址� Blackwell said, noting they did not make any recommendations to remove items from the proposed budget and a number of the items up for review or rewrites can be done by staff members to help save costs. B次元官网网址淭he things weB次元官网网址檙e planning to do is what we think we can afford.B次元官网网址�

LangfordB次元官网网址檚 five standing committees are currently going over proposed department budgets and making recommendations on what should be included or potentially cut. The budget in its entirety will go before Council to approve before the end of the fiscal year in the spring.

That proposed financial plan for the planning services portion of the CityB次元官网网址檚 2016 budget is just over $830,000. In 2015, just over $1 million was budgeted, representing roughly 1.5 per cent of the CityB次元官网网址檚 total 2015 operating budget, which was $73,774,100.

According to the staff report, this roughly $220,000 decrease may be attributed to a one-time contribution to the MB次元官网网址檃kola Housing Society ($200,000) for their project on Goldstream Avenue in 2015, a reduction in the amounts budgeted for the Official Community Plan and zoning bylaw rewrite (down to $15,000 from $30,000) and an adjustment in budgeted amounts for affordable housing to more accurately reflect expenditures. The budget for 2016 includes a general 1.5 per cent cost of living increase.

It is estimated, according to that staff report, that planning services are roughly $36,000 below budget for 2015. Expenses (relating to the planning function as a whole) are estimated to be approximately $140,000 (roughly 13 per cent) below budget and the net cost of the planning function (total cost less recovered costs from fees, grants and reserves) is estimated to be approximately $96,000 lower than what was budgeted for 2015.

The Administration and Finance Committee reviewed the general government net budget last week, which saw a proposed increase to over $3 million, up from the 2015 net budget of just under $2.8 million. Some of this increase was attributed to the transfer of asset management from the capital budget to operating, reduced business licence revenue and additional software licence fees.

katie@goldstreamgazette.com