GREENER

Waste Diversion:

Janice believed strongly in the Park in the City Committee initiative which led to the elimination of the sale of beverages in plastic bottles at municipally-owned facilities. She was extensively involved behind the scenes in that effort, working with staff in advance and spending long hours addressing concerns subsequently expressed by members of the public. She notes that, besides the positive environmental impacts of this initiative:

“We pay, through our property tax bill, landfilling and recycling costs. By keeping plastic beverage bottles out of waste stream, we reduce these costs. This accomplishes the goal of keeping property taxes low, and frees up tax monies to repair aging water and sewer infrastructure and improve the delivery of municipal services.”

When three respected provincial associations (Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Municipal Waste Association and Regional Public Works Commissioners) jointly developed recommendations supporting a provincial Waste Diversion Act, Janice got behind this initiative as well. The recommendations propose making individual producers (those who create consumer goods and their packaging) fully and financially responsible for the management of all the material sold into the Ontario marketplace. Janice recognized that this would not only lead to lower waste disposal costs for municipalities but would encourage producers to find ways to produce less waste at source. Janice’s motion that Council go on record as endorsing this “Toward a Zero Waste Future” initiative was supported unanimously.

Farmland and Natural Heritage preservation:

Janice has, from her first days on Council, been a vocal advocate of the need to preserve our precious farmland, and to protect the wetlands and woodlots which help purify our air and water. She recognizes the importance of maintaining biodiversity, and has advocated for protection of creeks, forests and other natural features which are the habitat of rapidly disappearing flora and fauna.

Janice applauds the Provincial requirements for intensifying development inside our existing urban boundaries, instead of sprawling further out into the countryside. She recognizes that this saves taxpayers money by making better use of our existing roads, sewers, water mains, and transit facilities instead of requiring that extensions be built and maintained.

Janice also recognizes the challenges and pressures this brings. She comments:

“I like to find ways to make development work and to mitigate development impacts on neighbouring properties. I like to turn conflicts into win-win situations when possible – for instance, when I added a stipulation that garages be required for new townhouses in an established residential neighbourhood. The addition of garages ensured that the development would be more upscale, allaying the neighbours’ concerns, and ensuring that the new development would be a beneficial influence on the neighbourhood rather than a detrimental one.”

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