Council pulls the plug on environmental designation

Kathy Michaels - Penticton Western News Published: April 14, 2009 6:00 PM

It’s not easy being green — especially when it requires an expensive certification. Penticton city council approved spending more than $365,000 in changes to the engineering component for the wastewater treatment plan but they drew the line at getting a costly LEED certification on the facility’s administration building. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an industry standard the province is encouraging municipalities to adopt for their own buildings to both reduce harmful emissions and encourage the leery private sector to get on board with greener practices. The building is already being built to LEED-silver standards, said public works manager Len Robson, but getting the test and subsequent recognition for meeting the benchmark would cost the city $72,870 — and that didn’t sit well with the bulk of city council members. “Don’t you think that’s a bit of a rip-off?” asked Coun. Mike Pearce. “Function is the key, not how proud we are to have the certification.” Referring to the certificate as little more than a “plaque on the wall” Pearce said he’d refuse to approve the expenditure, despite assertions from Coun. Garry Litke that it could result in carbon tax credits down the road.

“We are building to LEED standards, and that’s enough,” Pearce said. “We don’t need to spend $73,000.” While couns. Litke and Andrew Jakubeit voted in favour of the extra cost, the rest voted the expenditure down. Council did, however, give the go-ahead for keeping on a full-time inspector for $214,026, a bio-gas electricity generation plan for $83,600 and energy recovery feasibility study for $68,297. The bio-gas electricity generation was actually a necessary component for snaring a $10 million grant from the federal government. When all was said and done, Robson said tacking on the cost for the three extra components still made the project come in below $22,177,665 — the approved budget for the complete project. The current estimated cost is $21,548,793, and that number will be refined upon completion of the final plant design.