Importantly, these results demonstrate continued strong community support for programs funded through the Environmental Levy and the importance placed on the protection of the natural environment by the community.
Continuing the Levy – where would the money be spent? It is proposed to continue current environmental initiatives and programs, including but not limited to: ■■ Urban water management, including the installation of stormwater harvesting systems, sediment and filter basins, biofilter systems, gross pollutant traps, creek stabilisation works and water quality and macroinvertebrate sampling across the Local Government Area (LGA) ■■ Energy management, involving the delivery of a range of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects such as HVAC upgrades, LED lighting upgrades and intelligent lighting control upgrades, the installation of solar PV, solar hot water upgrades and the installation of energy management tools such as Building Management System (BMS) controls and sub-metering ■■ Biodiversity management, including bush regeneration activities in Council’s high value bushland reserves, including two reserves subject to a Conservation Agreement (Browns Forest and the Ku-ring-gai Flying-Fox Reserve) and reserves containing Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs) and threatened flora and fauna species, ecological burns and fauna monitoring and management
• Energy Smart Savers, providing rebates for energy efficient pool pumps and regular information sessions on energy efficiency and solar power; • Smart Units, providing Ku-ring-gai unit blocks with energy, water and waste audits and tailored action plans; • Smart Homes, an online web resources for incorporating sustainability into house renovations, retrofits or rebuilds and a sustainable building design event series; • Compost Revolution, offering subsidised compost bin or worm farms and online tutorials; • Better Business Partnership (BBP), providing a sustainability advice service to small and medium businesses in Ku-ring-gai; • Climate Wise Communities, designed to improve community resilience to the impacts of severe weather events as a result of a changing climate at a personal, property and neighbourhood level; and • Our sustainability event series. ■■ Council’s Community Small Grants Program, assisting the Ku-ring-gai community to deliver small, community based, environmental projects at a neighbourhood level ■■ Council’s Wild Things program, which distributes stingless native beehives to Ku-ring-gai residents and assists local residents to convert their unwanted pools into easy-tomaintain ponds rich in biodiversity
■■ Bush fire risk management, including fire trail construction and maintenance
■■ Sustainable transport, through the creation of cycle ways across the LGA
■■ Council’s environmental volunteering program, whereby over 600 volunteers dedicate over 12,000 volunteer hours per year at over 150 sites within Ku-ring-gai on bush regeneration activities
■■ Community recreation, such as the construction of the Jubes Mountain Bike park and the maintenance of walking tracks across the LGA
■■ Council’s dumping and encroachment in bushland program, which manages unauthorised dumping or encroachments from private properties on to Councilmanaged bushland reserves ■■ Council’s Loving Living Ku-ring-gai community engagement program, including: • Water Smart, offering water rebates on raingarden and 10
rainwater tanks to all Ku-ring-gai residents;
Delivery Program 2013 - 2017 and Operational Plan 2017 - 2018
■■ Participation in research partnerships, such as the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Water Sensitive Cities and the University of Technology (UTS) on water management research projects, including investigations into the quality of Council’s harvested stormwater. The Environmental Levy funds or partly funds 14 staff with the technical knowledge and specialist skills in a range of disciplines, including bushfire management, catchment management, natural
areas management, land use planning, community engagement, biodiversity and conservation management and environmental engineering. Environmental Levy funded staff develop and review a range of environmental policies and strategies, ensuring Council delivers best practice environmental management; respond to federal and state policy directions and legislative changes; provide expert guidance and advice for a number of sections across Council; and are responsible for ensuring environmental assessments are conducted for all Council projects and that all of Council’s legislative requirements are met.
Next steps The IPART application process Early application is imperative to secure the ongoing delivery of Council’s environmental programs, to retain the technical knowledge and specialist skills for program delivery and continuity and for a coordinated approach with the development of Council’s other capital works and operational programs. Following Council’s decision to prepare a Special Rate Variation application to continue the Levy in June, it will undertake extensive consultation to gauge community support. Proposed community consultation Council intends to consult extensively with the community on this Special Rate Variation application, specifically on the need for a continuation of the levy, the cumulative impact on Ku-ringgai’s ratepayers and the uses to which the funds will be put. Community consultation will be conducted through a variety of appropriate engagement methods to assess the community’s support for continuation of the levy, including but not limited to: ■■ Letters and information sheets sent to all residential and business ratepayers; ■■ Newspaper and social media advertisements; ■■ Representative telephone survey; ■■ Recruited deliberative workshop(s); ■■ Online survey, Q&A and comments (using online community engagement platform); ■■ Community meeting(s); ■■ Drop in information sessions.