Environmentally Sustainable Design in Subdivisions in Regional Victoria - Implementation Actions

Survey for Environmentally Sustainable Design for Subdivisions in Regional Victoria (Research Paper)

Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) for residential subdivisions and individual houses can increase property values, enhance community wellbeing and improve environmental sustainability.

Council is seeking the community’s opinions on how to best implement the recommended actions contained within the ESD in Regional Victoria Research Paper. Your responses to a short survey will assist Council to develop an implementation program.

Low cost ESD improvements for subdivisions include:

- new lots that allow for beneficial solar orientation

- more trees and shading, use of drought tolerant indigenous plants etc

- reduction in impervious surfaces throughout the subdivision for improved stormwater drainage

Optimal dwelling orientation for passive solar gain can save householders in Wangaratta approximately $460 per year in electricity costs.

The full set of implementation actions can be viewed in table on pages 58 to 61 of the ESD Research Paper.

Question Title

* 1. Do you think environmentally sustainable design in residential subdivisions is the responsibility of:

Each individual

Developers and builders (to provide sustainable subdivision layout options)

Councils (to promote and encourage sustainable subdivision design)

Other Regulators (to enforce standards and hand out penalties for breaches of standards)

A combination of the above - please specify

Question Title

* 2. Would you be willing to pay more for a new parcel of land if its sustainable design meant that you would save money on energy costs in the medium to long term (over a 5-10 year period)?

Yes

Question Title

* 3. On a scale of 1 to 5 please rank the actions which you believe will have the most impact on achieving sustainability in new residential subdivisions.

1 being the action which you believe will have the most impact through to 5 which you believe will have the least impact:

Raising Awareness in the Community for example:

- Forums with developers
- Promote exemplary case studies within our community and region
- Identifying grant opportunities

Demonstration Projects for example:
-Implement energy efficiency and other ESD measures in council buildings
-Demonstration and promotion of ESD measures in a subdivision (this could be an existing best practice project or a best practice model that RCOW would like to see in future subdivisions in the Rural City of Wangaratta)
-Investigate funding mechanisms to incentivise ESD such as green loans and environmental upgrade agreements.

Education Projects for example:
-Provide workshops for community members, local builders, development consultants or other interested parties explaining the different measures that can influence sustainable design at the subdivision level.
-Development of a climate region kit for new home owners/builders/community members based on the climate conditions of our region.
-Development of a new home owners kit (that provides information on housing orientation and other measures including plants for landscaping, waste information

Regulation changes for example:

- Development of a voluntary assessment tool to guide improvement of ESD in subdivisions
- Development of planning policy
- Advocate to the state government for a ESD planning tool, changes to the subdivision act and changes to Clause 56
(subdivision requirements)

Mainstream projects for example:
-Partnership projects – subscribing to and working with peak bodies including CASBE, Sustainability Alliances (Goulburn Broken Green House Alliance)
-Investigate shared resource for an ESD officer across councils to provide advice on voluntary assessments
-Advocate for the mandatory disclosure of energy ratings at the time of building design and time of sale in Victoria (as has been adopted in the ACT).

Environmentally Sustainable Design in Subdivisions in Regional Victoria - Implementation Actions

Survey for Environmentally Sustainable Design for Subdivisions in Regional Victoria (Research Paper)

Question Title

* 1. Do you think environmentally sustainable design in residential subdivisions is the responsibility of:

Question Title

* 2. Would you be willing to pay more for a new parcel of land if its sustainable design meant that you would save money on energy costs in the medium to long term (over a 5-10 year period)?

Question Title

* 3. On a scale of 1 to 5 please rank the actions which you believe will have the most impact on achieving sustainability in new residential subdivisions.

1 being the action which you believe will have the most impact through to 5 which you believe will have the least impact:

Question Title

* 4. Which actions would you like to see implemented first?

Question Title

* 5. How can you personally help Wangaratta become more environmentally sustainable? (In terms of improving ESD in housing and neighbourhoods)

Question Title

* 1. Do you think environmentally sustainable design in residential subdivisions is the responsibility of:

Question Title

* 2. Would you be willing to pay more for a new parcel of land if its sustainable design meant that you would save money on energy costs in the medium to long term (over a 5-10 year period)?

Question Title

* 3. On a scale of 1 to 5 please rank the actions which you believe will have the most impact on achieving sustainability in new residential subdivisions. 1 being the action which you believe will have the most impact through to 5 which you believe will have the least impact:

Question Title

* 4. Which actions would you like to see implemented first?

Question Title

* 5. How can you personally help Wangaratta become more environmentally sustainable? (In terms of improving ESD in housing and neighbourhoods)

* 3. On a scale of 1 to 5 please rank the actions which you believe will have the most impact on achieving sustainability in new residential subdivisions.

1 being the action which you believe will have the most impact through to 5 which you believe will have the least impact: