The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is considering some green building rule changes, with revisions under consideration that could alter the green standards currently required for downtown development. The discussion was started when Coun. Tyran Ault proposed a motion that calls for the removal of the Canada Green Building Council LEED Gold building standard as part of the land use requirements for developments in the downtown area. As the standards and requirements currently stand any Centre City area project that involves more than 1,000 sq. ft must be built according to the Gold certification level instead of one of the lower 3 LEED levels that are also available. Coun. Ault’s motion first came up on June 9 of this year, and it is under consideration by the entire council.

The green building rule changes being considered by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo would make it easier and less expensive for developers to meet sustainability and green building requirements. There are 4 levels of LEED certification. These are Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certified. According to Coun. Ault “We’re really not seeing any movement in the downtown core in terms of buildings going up, especially from the private sector, … that was originally envisioned when council approved the City Centre Land Use Bylaw. One just needs to take a look around to see it may not be working,” he said. “I think we need to be more realistic with what we’re asking developers while still being concerned with the environment at the same time.”