Green Development Standards Handbook

The Town of Aurora Green Development Standard (G.D.S) is a tiered set of performance measures with supporting guidelines for new development. The standard promotes sustainable site and building designs that address energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and efficiency, ecological health, connected communities, and building and waste objectives for new developments in the Town of Aurora.

Sustainable initiatives, in all their forms, are one of the most significant influences on the way we design and build our environments. The Town prioritizes reducing emissions and increasing resiliency both within its operations and at the community level as part of its commitment under the 2019 declaration of Climate Emergency.

The G.D.S is a made-in-Aurora implementation and policy tool that can help the Town to support local and regional official plan policy goals, sustainability and climate change objectives, greenhouse gas (G.H.G) reduction targets, and several other co-beneficial directives. The G.D.S is inspired by third-party certification programs to encourage development that includes innovative and progressive frameworks.

The G.D.S is a flexible, living document designed to respond to emerging climate challenges and local environmental priorities. Informed by the current legislative and regulatory framework, local building expectations, and emerging trends in sustainable development, the Town will monitor implementation to refine the G.D.S as needed.

This handbook will assist Town staff and development applicants understand and implement the G.D.S when preparing all new development applications. It is a supplemental document to the G.D.S Checklist and should be referred to when contemplating which requirements to pursue and compiling the Green Development Report.

As part of the development application submission, applicants are expected to submit a Green Development Report (GDR) through an online web form. The Green Development Standards submission is required for all development applications. If the GDR is not applicable for some outstanding reason, this would have to be done through a rationale provided. Generally, applications are not exempt.

The Green Development Report will support Town staff in addition to compliance specification identified for each G.D.S performance metric. At a high level, the Green Development Report should include the following components:

• Summary – Overview of the project and G.D.S initiatives included in the development application.
• G.D.S Overview – Summary of how the project responds to policies within Section 5.0 of the Official Plan.
• Tier 1 Performance Measures – List and briefly describe all mandatory Tier 1 performance measures and their related reference documents in an easy- to-read format (e.g., bullet point list, table, etc.).
• Tier 2 Performances Measures – List and briefly describe all mandatory Tier 2 performance measures and their related reference documents in an easy- to-read format. Confirm that the minimum number of performance measures under Tier 2 have been met.
• Voluntary Performance Measures – Where a higher performance tier is being pursued, list and briefly describe all voluntary performance measures and their related documents in an easy-to-ready format. Applicants will refer to the G.D.S requirement tables described in Sections 5.0 and 6.0 for a detailed description of the specific plans and additional files that must be submitted to ensure compliance with the G.D.S.

The G.D.S will be integrated into the development review process. The following describes how the G.D.S relates to current development review process at the Town of Aurora.

Pre-Consultation

The applicant will fill out and submit the mandatory Pre-Application Consultation Request Form. Staff will direct the applicant to the G.D.S handbook to understand what requirements must be met. This is also an opportunity to discuss raised performance objectives for the site.

Application Submission

The applicant submits all required G.D.S documentation and supporting materials to the Town. This includes the Green Development report. The Town then determines if the application is complete.

Technical Review

Staff responsible for circulation of applications circulate the G.D.S checklist and Green Development Report to the applicable Town departments and main point of contact within each department as part of the development review process.

Comments on the application and the G.D.S will be provided to the Development Planner on file.

Application Revision and Resubmission

The applicant will revise and resubmit plans, reports, and other materials based on comments through the overall evaluation of the development application. If any revisions are proposed to the development plan, the revised checklist and Green Development Report will be included in the resubmission.

Report to Council

Town staff are encouraged to report on the G.D.S performance measures in reports to Council. This would be focused on annual reporting on items such as total EV installations, green roofs, and other metrics implemented through the GDS. This may be coordinated with climate change reporting.

Draft Plan of Subdivision or Site Plan Agreements

Pending approval of the development application, development agreements or final plans will contain specific conditions for meeting the G.D.S measures that the applicant has committed to.

Pre-Consulting Meeting

Applicant meets with Town staff for pre-consultation and is advised of the Green Development Standards requirement.

Submissions

Applicant submits complete application to the Town, which includes the Green Development Report and the Green Development Standards Checklist.

Internal/External Circulation

Town circulates complete application to internal staff and external parties to verify compliance with the Green Development Standards has been met.

Planning Review Committee/Re-Submission

if required, applicant updates necessary documentation to achieve full compliance with the Green Development Standard. Further resubmission and circulation may be required.

Recommendation Report & Site Plan Agreement

Staff report on the applicant's final submission relative to the Green Development Standard. Include Plan of Subdivision or Site Plan Conditions(s).

The G.D.S is organized under five themes with corresponding performance metrics that promote sustainable site and building design.

Each theme contains at least two and up to four performance tiers. At a minimum, all new development applications submitted to the Town of Aurora must demonstrate compliance with Tier 1.

Tier 2 is also mandatory however applicants are provided with several options from which they are required to achieve a specified number of performance measures. This provides the applicant with flexibility and choice.

Tiers 3 and 4 are higher level voluntary standards that will be tied to financial and non-financial incentives.

The G.D.S will be implemented in two phases:

• Phase 1 – Implementation in 2022.
• Phase 2 – Implementation at a date to be determined by the Town. The Town will explore incentive options to support implementation of Phase 2, which will include Tiers 3 and 4. The Town is also encouraged to further consult with utility providers to facilitate incentive funding for implementation.

The following sections (Sections 5.0 and 6.0) provide comprehensive requirement tables intended to support Town staff and applicants with implementation, compliance, and review of the G.D.S.

Each G.D.S metric is assigned a unique letter and number value that reflects the theme, phase, and tier specific to the metric. For example, metric ‘EN1.1.1’ should be read as:

Table example:

Applicant is required to meet all criteria.