On Sustainable Communities and the Environment

"I am committed to seeing Kitchener become one of the most progressive communities in Canada when it comes to the environment and sustainable community planning. We must encourage the greening of our community, find ways to minimize traffic congestion and plan future development and intensification taking economic, social, cultural and environmental considerations into account."

 

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Over the past four years, and in previous terms, Berry has…
  • Strongly supported the creation of the $5 million LEAF – Local Environment Action Fund, and the many projects that have been approved through the fund.
  • Been selected to be trained by former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore as a climate change speaker with the Climate Project non-profit organization.
  • Supported the creation of a Cycling Advisory committee and the newly written Cycling Master Plan.
  • Listened to the community and supported the decision to not sell unused green spaces for development purposes.
  • Supported the approval and implementation of the new Parks Strategic Plan for the City.
  • Worked with Grand River Car Share to make parking spots available at city facilities and for the city to work with car share as a way of meeting some of our fleet needs.
  • Served as Vice-Chair of the Environment Advisory Committee whose work has included support for the updating of both the City’s Environment Strategic Plan and Citizen’s Report on Air Quality
  • Pushed that LEED Gold become the city’s new building standard wherever possible for new and renovated city building projects.
  • As Vice-President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, represented Canadian municipalities at the Copenhagen Climate Change summit in December 2009.
Going forward, I will…

  • Ensure that the City focus on the implementation of the Parks Strategic Plan including benchmarking our city against other livable cities with a focus on the development of parks along the Grand River.
  • Work to see the City partner even more with community organizations like Sustainable Waterloo Region, Grand River Car Share and others to further enhance our environmental focus.
  • Encourage the creation of an Environment and Sustainability office where all of the city’s environment initiatives are co-ordinated for citizens, business and public sector agencies.