That Council has reviewed the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) minor amendment as presented in the referral notice, attached as Appendix A to Administrative Report No. 24-083, and direct staff to communicate to the SLRD that Council supports the minor amendment and provides the following comments regarding proposed policies 11.1(a) and 11.2(a) and Goal 3:
- The Resort Municipality of Whistler supports and strongly encourages the adoption of achieving net zero by 2050 and recommends removing the reference to “carbon neutral”. A net zero commitment will support the achievement of the greenhouse gas emission (GhG) reduction targets outlined in the RGS. However, carbon neutrality may limit the region’s ability to achieve these targets, as carbon neutrality can be achieved through the purchase of carbon offsets without any or very little reduction in GhG; and
- Any requests for staff time that may arise regarding support for coordination on a Housing Needs Report and/or exploration of the establishment of a Regional Housing Authority would need to be evaluated against existing RMOW priorities and workplans; and further
That Council has reviewed the regional context statement (RCS) contained within the “Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 2199, 2018”, attached as Appendix B to Administrative Report No. 24-083, and direct staff to submit the RCS to the SLRD for its continued acceptance.