Going green is central to dealing with Hamilton’s $3.5 billion shortfall in the maintenance of existing infrastructure like roads, pipes and city-owned facilities says a former city councillor. The builder of one of Canada’s most energy efficient homes says similar principles must be applied “to our collective lifestyles, the layout of our municipalities and eventually the structure of our economy.”
Dave Braden spent fifteen years as an elected official including six as a regional councillor and deputy mayor of Flamborough, and six more representing the rural ward now held by Robert Pasuta on Hamilton city council. The off-grid bungalow that he and his wife built near Valens Conservation Area could be the most energy-efficient in Ontario and has been featured in full-page stories in Toronto daily newspapers.
Braden is finalizing a technical manual to guide others in how and why to utilize his home’s construction methods, but it also includes a chapter on municipal infrastructure with specific references to Hamilton. He says no matter how green we make our homes, if they are located in low density suburbs the energy required to pursue normal lifestyle patterns more than cancels out the savings.
“There is an intrinsic connection between our infrastructure and fossil fuel use which has been completely overlooked by civic leaders and planners,” argues Braden. “It is essential to understand the consequences of capital expenditures for infrastructure in view of the goal to reduce fossil fuel use.”
As a regional councillor in the late 1990s Braden pushed for the life cycle analysis that has revealed that Hamilton is $3.5 billion behind in the maintenance of its existing city-owned infrastructure that is increasing at about $200 million per year. Similar drastic shortfalls have been found in other cities that have calculated the cost of timely replacement of roads, libraries, underground pipes, police and fire stations and other essential municipally-owned facilities.
“The challenge gets more critical each day, as budgets are constricted and repairs are overdue,” warns Braden. “The face of dwindling revenues is not pretty: broken water mains, sink holes, collapsing bridges, and sewage spills are common symptoms of cities heading towards bankruptcy.”
He says this “concrete deficit is spiraling out of control” but “is not being confronted by politicians” either because of ignorance or political expediency, but “eventually the local taxpayer will have to pay up and/or services and service levels will have to be lowered or abandoned.”
Braden points to multiple studies that show low density suburban growth “represents a net financial liability” for cities and that each new unit on a greenfield site pushes up the infrastructure deficit. As an alternative he says “growth in already serviced areas should be obvious”, accommodating more taxpayers with minimal additions to municipal costs.
His book gives the example of a fire station required for new suburban growth which he calculates has “upset costs just shy of $6 million”. Whereas if a neighbourhood increased substantially in population, the likely change in fire service costs would be limited to the possible addition of one full-time employee, “around the clock” at an annual cost of about a quarter-million.
Higher densities will also improve the viability of transit, reduce the distances travelled, and avoid major new infrastructure. However, greenfield expansion has continued because “the energy consumed due to separation of uses and low densities has been financially tolerable because of low energy costs, an economic system which does not account for environmental degradation or climatic consequences and a strong economy”.
Braden will be addressing a joint public meeting of Environment Hamilton and the Conserver Society on Monday, April 30 at 7 pm in the Hamilton Central Library on York Boulevard. His title is “Using Uncommon Sense to Resolve Overwhelming Problems.”