Huntsville General Committee deemed the regional Climate Change Mitigation Plan "unrealistic" in the December 11, 2024, meeting.

Tatham Engineering consultants were hired to take corporate inventory of the municipalities in Muskoka, including preparing baseline inventories of Town assets, such as buildings, fleet, and streetlights to determine GHG emission risks and reduction targets.

According to their report, the Town’s energy consumption is 44% natural gas, 31% electricity, 20% diesel, 3% gasoline, and 2% propane.

62% of the Town’s emissions come from its buildings, 37% from fleet, and 1% from streetlights.

It adds, “The recreation centres and administration buildings are the two major operations producing the highest GHG emissions (79% of total). These facilities also account for 83% of the floor area of the corporate assets and has more energy consuming operations like pools and arenas.”

Regarding their fleet, heavy duty vehicles generated approximately half of emissions, and other equipment and light and medium vehicles are responsible for the other half.

Population growth was reported at 21,040 in 2018 to 24,850 in 2030, and 30,315 into 2050, resulting in a housing increase of permanent residents from 8,391 in 2018 to 13,627 by 2050.

The specified a goal to reduce emissions by 30-45% by 2030 (or by 45% below levels from 2018) to meet federal and provincial targets will be to “decarbonize the assets in a feasible way.”

Recommended changes included retrofits, solar rooftop panels, replacing the furnace with SPHP backup heating coils, and using LED lights for the buildings, and replacing fleet with electric or zero emission vehicles.

Total costs for the changes are estimated at $42,642,000 for buildings, and $4,361,000 for fleet.

Councillor, Cory Clarke, said, “This plan is very ambitious if not somewhat unrealistic.”

He added that he hopes staff returns with a plan “with not only realistic goals but achievable goals.”

Councillor, Scott Morrison, likened the situation to a “collision” given the challenge between reducing emissions and working within a realistic budget. He said, “I’m anticipating it’s going to be a real challenge to meet these goals.”

Mayor, Nancy Alcock, expressed confidence in staff’s awareness of the funding available to meet their goals.

Staff will review the assessment and return to Committee with recommendations for the next steps.