Summary 

Energy use for heating and cooling is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. As such, it presents a clear opportunity for municipalities to reduce their carbon footprints. New Westminster, B.C., has long recognized that building a district energy system to recover heat from wastewater would be a major step to help them reach their ambitious climate goals. Their newest feasibility study outlines a business case for the Sapperton District Energy System and a plan to make it a reality. 

Background 

New Westminster is a city of about 70,000 people in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, along the Fraser River.   

In 2011, the city published its Community Energy and Emissions Plan and identified a district energy system as an opportunity that could both help the city decarbonize and provide residents with energy resiliency and affordability. Then, in 2019, city council declared a climate emergency. This declaration included ambitious new greenhouse gas reduction targets of 45 percent by 2030, 65 percent by 2040, and 100 percent by 2050.  

Now called the Sapperton District Energy System (SDES), the project would use heat recovered from wastewater from the sewer system to provide heating and cooling and thus reduce demand for natural gas. The system’s primary customers are likely to be:  

• The nearby Royal Columbian Hospital, which is currently under expansion 
• New mixed use development project Sapperton Green, which will include 4,700 residential units as well as retail, commercial and community space

District energy system moves heat energy from a central facility to nearby buildings via a network of closed-loop pipes. 

The challenge 

With its new emissions reduction targets in place, New Westminster was ready to make the SDES a reality. While the technical aspects of the project were well understood thanks to previous studies, staff were not yet clear on how to fund and, ultimately, deliver the SDES. The next step was to answer any outstanding questions by completing a new feasibility study and business case. The overall objective was to confirm that this project would work for the city, and to figure out how best to make it happen. 

Approach 

With approvals in place, New Westminster was able to move forward on its new feasibility study. Study components included: 

• A reworked engineering design to ensure plans were up to date 
• A project cost estimate 
• Engagement with stakeholders to understand and incorporate their needs 
• A business case analysis, including potential integration of a private sector partner  
• Recommendations for project scope and delivery 
• Assessing and optimizing the project’s social, economic and environmental performance 

Results 

Study authors recommended a phased approach to building the system, beginning with a temporary energy centre at Sapperton Green to be completed in 2023, followed by connection to the hospital in 2025 and then further expansion in 2027 and beyond. They also mentioned that working with partners will be essential to success; this includes:  

• Cooperating with Metro Vancouver to secure funding and carbon credit exchange agreements, and to develop the sewer heat resource 
• Confirming service agreements with primary customers—Fraser Health Authority and the Sapperton Green developer—in advance of the design phase 

Benefits 

The new study confirmed that the SDES would have a large impact on New Westminster’s carbon footprint, as well as providing numerous environmental and community benefits. For example:  

• It will be placed on a brownfield site, and therefore will be a catalyst to development of this area, including environmental restoration of the Brunette River shoreline. 
• It has the potential to improve public space and offer better accessibility and public transportation to the community, such as a Skytrain elevator and crosswalk and a greenway extension. 
• It includes several resiliency measures intended to help the community cope better after natural disasters. 
• It could provide a savings of up to 120,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over 25 years, for a 30 to 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Sapperton District Energy Facility will recover heat from sewage and transfer it to connected buildings.

Lessons learned 

The feasibility study produced an updated business case that filled in knowledge gaps and was valuable in moving the project forward. By engaging stakeholders throughout the process, the project team also ensured their input was included and got their buy-in on the final report. 

Staff also recommend structuring these kinds of projects so that detailed information is available when needed, rather than moving forward with incomplete data. While extended timelines can feel like an unnecessary delay, in cases where there is a good reason for them, they may actually result in a better report and business case. 

Next steps 

In March 2022, Metro Vancouver and the City of New Westminster announced a partnership to build the SDES, with an investment from Metro Vancouver of up to $18 million. In addition, the following work is in progress: 

• Developing agreements with Metro Vancouver for sewage and connection to the sewer trunk 
• Developing a service agreement with the Fraser Health Authority 
• Discussing grant funding opportunities with provincial and federal entities 
• Performing investigations at the newly acquired project site 

New Westminster City Council is also working on a new District Energy Bylaw that will move the project into action.  

Summary

When Regina created its official community plan, it set a goal to maintain the city’s compact nature and increase density in the core. City staff knew one way to reach this goal was to make use of vacant land in established areas of the city, but it was unclear how much of this land existed and why it wasn’t being developed. To this end, the city commissioned a project to determine how to foster opportunities for redevelopment on underutilized sites while supporting broader community priorities. The resulting study and strategy outline barriers to development and corresponding actions that will help Regina meet its sustainability and community goals over the next 10 years.

Background

Regina’s population of about 225,000 people is spread across approximately 180 square kilometres of south-central Saskatchewan, in an open prairie landscape that is conducive to sprawl. In 2013, in response to past growth and in anticipation of an additional population increase of 100,000 within 25 years, Regina released its Official community plan (OCP). One major priority of the OCP was to maintain the city’s compact nature—most Regina residents live within a 15-minute drive of downtown—and to increase density, with a target of at least 30 percent of new population growth occurring within established areas of the city. Community priorities outlined in the OCP include:

• Develop complete neighbourhoods
• Support the availability of diverse housing options
• Achieve long-term financial viability
• Foster economic prosperity

The challenge

The OCP identified development on underutilized land in the city core as an opportunity to help meet density and community goals. The land in question includes brownfields, bluefields (unused institutional sites), surface parking lots and other vacant sites. However, there was no clear understanding of how much of this land was available, or of what barriers might be preventing development of such sites.

Approach

To gain a clearer understanding of how best to take advantage of Regina’s underutilized land base, the city commissioned a two-part planning project.

Part one was an Underutilized Land Study that explored the regulatory, environmental and economic barriers to development of vacant land, as well as creating a vacant lot inventory. The Study also included ideas and recommendations to address these barriers.

Part two of the project entailed building on the Study to develop an Underutilized Land Improvement Strategy (ULIS). The purpose of the ULIS was to outline what the City of Regina needs to do with regards to underutilized land to meet the community’s sustainability goals and to address barriers expressed by the development industry.

The Strategy includes five goals:

1. Rules: Ensure that regulatory frameworks such as zoning support redevelopment of vacant land.
2. Process: Ensure that information for redevelopment applications is easy to access and has a clear path to action.
3. Financial: Support redevelopment of underutilized land through strategic public investment.
4. Promotion: Foster collaboration, and communicate about redevelopment opportunities and the reasoning behind them.
5. Monitoring: Track progress and refine the Strategy as needed.

Results

The Framework for Action put into place by the ULIS outlines various tasks, guidelines and projects that staff are to undertake to move development forward on underutilized land in alignment with community. For example, the Framework includes:

• Investing along with provincial and federal governments in the Railyard Renewal Project, a revitalization plan for a 17.5-acre piece of land in the City Centre.
• Creating an updated, simplified zoning bylaw to align with the OCP and intensification goals, by allowing two-unit buildings in low-density zones and making it easier to redevelop and repurpose existing buildings.

The new bylaw went into effect in December 2019. In January 2020, the Housing Incentive Policy was revised, with amendments including expansion of a capital grant program for new affordable rental construction.

Benefits

Environmental, economic and social benefits are woven throughout Regina’s Framework for Action. For example, a number of tasks are geared toward:

• Making it easier and more attractive to clean up contaminated sites for redevelopment
• Supporting the creation of affordable housing
• Improving transit and other neighbourhood amenities

Many tasks in the Framework for Action are already ongoing, including infrastructure upgrades such as the Dewdney Avenue Corridor Rehabilitation Project. This project includes improvements to both underground and aboveground infrastructure, with the goal of transforming this route into what the city calls “a desirable landscaped roadway” complete with a sidewalk and potential bike lane buffered from traffic by street trees.

Lessons learned

Some lessons learned as a result of this project include:

• The two-step process of completing a study before moving into the strategy phase was beneficial, as it helped generate interest and build support.
• Having members from various departments as part of the steering committee was helpful for working through diverse feedback from a variety of stakeholders.
• The streamlined approach of focusing on solidifying the framework rather than getting stuck in the details of each action was key to completing the Strategy in a timely manner.
• Stakeholder perspectives on the most important barriers to development shifted through the project timeline. Initially, processes were seen as high priority, while later, costs became the focus. It could be beneficial to find better ways to zero in on stakeholder concerns earlier in the process.

Next steps

More than 80 percent of immediate and short-term actions from the Framework have been completed or are in progress. This includes the new Zoning Bylaw and updated Housing Incentive Policy and  improved Building Permit and Inspections Review processing times of 10 days for residential permits and 20 days for commercial. The next step is to look at ways to streamline processes for redevelopment and infill projects specifically and to implement medium- and long-term strategic actions.

Sources

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810001101
https://reginafiles.blob.core.windows.net/ocp/Design%20Regina%20OCP%20Part%20A.pdf