Kimberley City Council approved the first three readings of an amendment to Bylaw No. 2745 in response to recent changes at the provincial level that will be impacting the BC Building Code and a desire to keep Kimberley’s building bylaws in line with BC Building Code direction.
Manager of Planning and Sustainability Troy Pollock said the most urgent change currently happening that triggered this report is a change to the implementation of the BC Energy Step Code.
“For quite some time Kimberley has been a recognized leader in the implementation of the Energy Step Code and we’ve seen some really good success in our new construction, in particular on the Part Nine standard building side,” Pollock explained. “So your smaller residential buildings and small commercial buildings where we’ve been requiring a minimum Step Three on the Energy Step Code for a couple years now and having good success there.”
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The more immediate changes apply to part three for buildings, larger commercial buildings and larger, multi-unit residential. The requirement there so far has been at the first step of the Energy Step Code, and the BC Building Code will be requiring Step Two as of May 1.
The recommendation is that Council amends the bylaw to require Step Four, which if approved would come into affect for any permits issued after Jan. 1, 2024.
Additionally at the provincial level a Zero Carbon Step Code is being introduced, which will look at not just the energy efficiency of buildings, but the carbon emissions associated with building operations.
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“Because that’s a very new program, we’re recommending that we recognize the zero carbon step code in our bylaw, but only implement at the initial tier of the measure only,” Pollock said. “Zero carbon step code remains a voluntary opt in program for local governments, so we’re recommending we opt in but only require the measure only.”
Councillor Cairns said she thinks it’s nice to see Kimberley “stay ahead of the curve” in going to step four while it’s still voluntary to do so, and that it would be better to build to that code now, rather than incur retrofits later on.
Mayor McCormick said expressed concerns about getting ahead of the province.
“We talk about affordable housing on one hand and then on the other hand we are enforcing energy guidelines ahead of the curve that are in fact going to increase the cost of that housing,” he said. “I have some difficulty with that.”
He added he would prefer to see Kimberley stay in step with the Province as it moves forward, saying considering energy efficiency and housing affordability are “inextricably tied together.”
Pollock said that while it is a different way of building, it is not brand new any more and much of the building industry is already well aware and trained in implementing it.
“I think over time the cost of going to the next step is probably decreased relatively,” he said. “The other side of it is of course it can have some cost impacts on those new buildings, but it’s also about the long term operational cost and the efficiency of that building and the cost savings over time and the life of that building.”
The first three readings were approved with all voting in favour except for McCormick, with a vote on its adoption likely to come up at the next meeting of Council.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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