City of Powell River Council has given its first three readings to amend its building bylaw to provide for builders having to comply with the BC Energy Step Code in 2021.
At the November 19 council meeting, councillors debated the merits of imposing the step code before being mandated by the province to improve energy efficiency in buildings.
In introducing the recommendation, councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said the amendment was for the city taking action moving toward implementation of the code, effective January 1, 2021.
“We’re slightly ahead of the game in that the province will make the implementation of the energy step code mandatory in January 2022,” said Leishman. “If this (amendment) goes through, the City of Powell River will be bringing in the step code, but at the lower levels of meeting requirements.”
Leishman said this is a good way to move toward implementation because there is a learning curve for the local building community.
“It’s not that onerous,” said Leishman. “Once we do adopt this it will give the boost needed for the community to start getting an energy advisor certified. We have at least one local fellow who is almost certified and there are energy advisors on Vancouver Island who are willing to travel here in the short term.
“This is a good step for the city moving towards implementation and to start getting builders up to speed on how to move into the steps. This is really where we have to get going.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said the step code implementation would not be mandatory until 2022, and the city, if it implemented the recommendation, would be asking energy advisors to travel to Powell River. She said the travel costs would have to be paid but the city does not have to implement the step code. She said maybe the city can hold off implementation until there is someone in town who can conduct the energy efficiency testing. She said she thinks it’s unfair to pass a bylaw that is going to cost contractors money, and the implementation does not need to be done immediately.
Leishman said the one year in advance being proposed is not a long time. She said once it becomes provincially mandated, the building must meet step three of the step code, which is halfway to step five, which is net zero energy emissions, which is the standard scheduled for 2032.
“It’s really unfair to the building community to let this carry on for another year,” said Leishman. “It becomes mandatory at step three and everyone is scrambling. By adopting it one year early, at the bottom step, it’s just going through the process and it will give the incentive for locals to get certified.
“Many communities have adopted early. We are not on the front end by any means. I support this.”
Councillor Jim Palm said there is a lot of confusion in the province around the step code. He said a lot of jurisdictions don’t have anything in place at this time. Palm said he contacted a home warranty specialist in Vancouver who told him the only jurisdiction advocating step code is City of Vancouver.
“Learning that, it really changes my thought process in regard to speeding up the implementation that is going to affect our builders and is going to affect the cost of buying a home in Powell River,” said Palm. “It will be driving the cost up, not for the developer, but for the purchaser, for between $5,000 and $10,000 on your average home.
“I would highly recommend that we do not make it mandatory, and that we do not make it punitive when they are testing this; the house fails and they have to do it again. What I would like to propose is we give a little grace period, we move it down the road six months to the end of July and bring in step two at that point, plus make it non-punitive to 2022.”
Leishman said to clarify, step one is no change from the BC building code and there is no pass or fail. The bylaw amendment stated that if a builder was to install a low carbon heating system, they only need to build to the building code standard. If the builder wants to use something other than a heat pump, such as natural gas, they would have to build to step two, according to the bylaw amendment.
Councillor Rob Southcott said he had some of the same apprehensions that Palm expressed and he’s aware there are various opinions among people in Powell River. He said the step code represents a paradigm change, which is a whole new way of approaching construction.
Southcott said what reassured him was consultation the city did with builders, and the people who turned up to a meeting voted 85 per cent to support what was being proposed in the bylaw.
“There’s many challenges but I have to agree with councillor Leishman that we need to push forward and do everything we can to encourage this,” said Southcott.
Councillor George Doubt said he was in favour of the bylaw the way it is.
“Discussions have been going on with local builders since back in 2019,” said Doubt. “I went to a meeting where all the builders were in to talk about it and it’s not that this has just come out of the woodwork. There’s been intensive discussion with local builders for the last two years, talking about how to implement this and gradually do it.
“Different people have said to me that builders are already probably building to this code, they are just not testing it.”
Doubt said if the step code is implemented, it will make the houses more salable and valuable.
“It will in the long term save people money who are buying these houses and it will save greenhouse gases from being emitted from the community," he added.
Mayor Dave Formosa said council chambers were not full of builders completely freaking out over this. He said he has spoken with builders and at a recent meeting a builder appeared before councillors and ended up saying it’s a good idea.
Council voted in favour of giving the first three readings to the bylaw amendment, with Palm and Hathaway opposed.
