CANMORE – A use of $200,000 from the Town of Canmore’s sustainability reserve will be put toward four municipal programs.
Council approved the use of funds to be used with the residential solar incentive, commercial solar incentive, affordable services program retrofit pilot, multi-family electric vehicle readiness pilot and associated communication and promotions costs at its Feb. 14 meeting.
“We’re not just looking at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, we’re also looking at equity,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert of the programs the money will go to fund. “The focus of all of these is exactly where we should be in terms of future areas where there’s the most that we can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s going to be in retrofitting currently existing buildings.”
The residential solar incentive will receive $25,000, with applications open from Feb. 14 to April 5. The program provides 20 incentives of $1,250 for solar installation on a rooftop. The commercial solar incentive receives $60,000 and is awarded by a lottery for both new and existing construction.
The affordable services program retrofit pilot will get $74,000, which includes fully funding energy retrofits for four to seven homes up to $15,000. The electric vehicle multi-family readiness pilot will have Town staff pick at least one multi-family and/or mixed-use building and one building under construction and work on installing electric vehicle charging readiness.
Coun. Joanna McCallum noted the programs create “something for everyone”, particularly the affordable aspect in helping remove potential financial barriers.
“People who can afford an e-bike are going to go out and buy it whether or not they’re going to get a rebate or not,” she said. “Just like they’re going to replace their windows whether they need a rebate or not. In this place, we’re really focusing on folks who require both transit and bicycle to get their family around … and I think that’s great.”
Of particular interest was the affordable services program retrofit pilot, aimed at homeowners in the Town’s affordable program list. Though the majority of people on the list are believed to be renters, Town staff said the pilot will provide more information moving forward.
“It’s something we’re hoping to pilot and get a better understanding of community needs for this type of program. … We suspect a large percentage of the affordable services are renters and there currently are no good or great renter programs being offered across the country,” said Caitlin van Gaal, the Town’s supervisor of environment and sustainability.
“This is a problem that a lot of communities and provinces are trying to resolve because there’s the risk of renoviction or increasing rent costs after you do upgrades, so you have to make sure you have a strong regulatory or legislative background to support those people that are in that situation so they don’t get evicted from their homes as a result of these.”
The sustainability reserve was established in 2021, using some of the franchise fees received by the municipality from ATCO and Fortis.
In the 2024 budget, council approved a $200,000 annual operating budget for the Town’s greenhouse gas incentive program and a one-time $50,000 use for an e-bike incentive in the affordable services program. The e-bike incentive will have a 67 per cent point-of-sale discount for Tier 1 affordable program members up to $2,400 and 35 per cent for Tier 2 up to $1,300.
Town staff developed seven guiding principles for the program creation, including helping residents and businesses save money on energy and fuel; reducing community GHGs and having a range of programs for different sections of the community.
Town staff are in the process of developing an overarching guiding document that brings together the existing Environmental Sustainability Action Plan, Climate Action Plan and Climate Adaption Plan.
The staff report noted the multi-family electric vehicle readiness pilot came in part from engagement with Bow Valley Builders and Developers Association, which had an online survey and workshop last year to receive feedback from its members.
“Although there is general support for the direction of EV readiness, there were varying opinions on the extent that should be required, and how it should be prioritized,” the staff report stated.
“As a result of this engagement, administration determined the next best step to encourage EV readiness would be to work with the development/building/property management community,” the report stated. “This would give administration a better understanding of the processes and considerations required to incorporate EV readiness into various building types.”
Amy Fournier, the Town’s energy and climate action coordinator, said part of the pilot will require people to document their process, challenges and costs.
“We want to create a longer term incentive program and we want to make sure the costs and incentive levels are appropriate to the amount of work so it will be attractive,” she said.
The remaining programs, according to the report, stated they came from research and projects done in previous years.
A potential incentive for installing electric vehicle chargers in new and existing developments was pushed back to gain more information from the 2024 programs.
“With the larger program goal of encouraging widespread EV adoption, an increased understanding of the costs and challenges associated with EV charger installation was deemed more valuable at this stage in the process,” stated the report.
“The information gathered in 2024 with regards to EV charger installation in Canmore can help inform future policy direction, as well as potential future incentive programs.”
