City Council Wrap-Up: December 10, 2024

Here is an overview of key discussions and decisions from the City Council meeting on December 10.

Housing Supply Strategy

Council approved the final Housing Supply Strategy and implementation plan, which sets a path to achieve Greater Sudbury’s housing target for the next 10 years and establish a strategy to fill key gaps in the housing supply.

A draft Housing Supply Strategy was presented to Council in January. The strategy has now been refined to incorporate public feedback and to align with recommendations coming out of the Roadmap to End Homelessness by 2030 and the Housing and Homelessness Plan, updates to the Housing Needs Assessment, calls to action from the Future-Ready Development Services Ad-Hoc Committee, and numerous other influencing factors. 

The final strategy recommends 17 focus areas to realize the objectives and goals adopted by Council. Some of the focus areas are expected to have an immediate impact on housing supply and creation of new units, while others will result in more systemic long-term impacts.

Implementation of some actions has already begun and will continue through 2024 and beyond. Quarterly report cards will be presented to Council to provide status updates on key indicators related to housing supply and progress being made toward implementation of these actions.

Council also directed staff to develop a business case for a Residential Land Supply Strategy for consideration as part of the 2026 budget process. The goal of this strategy is to align the supply of residential land with required infrastructure investments, like water and wastewaster servicing.

Read the report, strategy and implementation plan online here.

Climate Action Annual Report 2023

Staff shared the City’s 2023 Climate Action Annual Report, highlighting the progress and achievements from corporate and community efforts to become a net-zero community by 2050.

The report outlines the ambitious goals and actions from the Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) and the Community Climate Change Adaptation Plan (CCCAP). It provides a full status update of both completed and ongoing projects and a summary of municipal energy consumption since the implementation of CEEP, and provides a look ahead at climate action implementation for 2024 to 2028.

Some highlights include:

• 5.1 million kilograms of residential green cart waste collected.
• 1.3 kilometres of new cycling infrastructure constructed.
• 113,075 tree seedlings planted.
• 1,000 metres of new sidewalks constructed to increase active transportation options.

The report reflected that while there have been many successes and accomplishments, greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease at a faster rate and achieving the ambitious CEEP goals will still require more commitment to energy efficient buildings, sustainable transportation and renewable energy production. Staff and the community will continue to collaborate to integrate climate change action into projects, budgets and daily decisions.

Read the 2023 Climate Action Annual Report online here.

Member’s Motion on Climate Action

Council approved a member’s motion from Mayor Lefebvre providing direction to staff on a number of items related to climate action

By Q2 2025, staff were directed to: 

• Provide a detailed report to Council demonstrating energy use and related costs at all municipal facilities.
• Bring recommendations to Council for developing an agreement with reputable third-party providers to increase the number of pay-to-use public EV chargers at City-owned facilities, at little or no additional cost to the City.
• Provide a report to Council with options for a community-wide home energy and resiliency retrofit guidance program.

By Q3 2025, staff were directed to: 

• Provide a report to Council itemizing the City fleet of low-emission vehicles and outlining scenarios for increasing that number over the next 10 years, with short, medium and long-term goals, expected investments, cost efficiencies and payback periods.
• Develop a land use planning policy framework to support renewable energy projects in the city and review City-owned properties to support the development of a renewable energy land bank program.

Other Items

Council meetings often include reports as “Correspondence for Information Only”. At this meeting, those reports included the following:

• A status update on volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention, and on the City’s progress in meeting provincially mandated certification requirements for all firefighters. Read the report here.
• An update on progress to implement recommendations in the Roadmap to End Homelessness by 2030. Read the update here.

For more details on these and other items from this week’s meetings, visit www.greatersudbury.ca/meetings-agendas-and-minutes