Late word that tomorrow, Thursday March 22, Toronto’s City Council will be discussingwhether or not to allow Public and Catholic Schools in Toronto to be exempted from the Green Roof Bylaw.
Some quick background. The Bylaw requires the building of green roofs on new buildings and has a cash-in-lieu provision which requires funds to be made available to the City’s Eco-Roof Program to help finance green roofs on existing buildings when green roofs are not included.
The Catholic School Board, in the midst expansion and the erection of several new buildings, wants white roofs instead of green roofs. Apparently, earlier this year, the industrial sector lobbied for this exemption and got it...that was news to me, I thought the decision was just delayed. The Chief Planner is all for a similar exemption for institutional buildings. We’ll see what happens. Critics say that the green roof bylaw is too expensive. Advocates say it has too many benefits to ignore and that it makes no sense to weaken the law.
For those interested, head to Committee Room #1 at City Hall tomorrow at 9:30 am. For those who cannot attend, I’ll be your fly on the wall...er, floor. I’ll do my best to be impartial, but, heck, I love green roofs. Let’s see how I do at playing journalist.
Stay tuned...
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