Anita Molaro

As a previous registered architect and planner with the City of Vancouver, I completed and received a LEED AP Certificate (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). I led policy development and implementation for green roofs, updated the tree by-law to secure our urban forest on public and private lands, collaborated with Sustainability and Building By-law staff to implement policies to improve building energy efficiency, and collaborated with Engineering staff to implement rain and overland flooding water management policies that utilizes rain-garden techniques on both public and public lands.

I continue to practice climate action daily by driving a fuel-efficient vehicle and combining my trips and errands. I utilize energy-efficient appliances and utilize heat pumps for cooling and heating. I also try to reduce food waste and buy locally sourced and seasonal produce. I practice reduce, reuse and recycle principles. I try to choose local and seasonal products with minimal packaging and support products/companies committed to sustainability. I use xeriscape principles in my home landscaping that utilize drought tolerant and native plants.

Integration of rapid transit into development was one of my key responsibilities when I was at the City of Vancouver-Planning, reflected in both Canada Line and Millennium Line Extension, pushing for and achieving integrated transit-oriented development.

While the RDOS and Area E are obviously more rural in nature, having our smaller communities better connected to transit is an important tool in addressing emissions. The demand for transit will increase when it is supported by local ridership that recognize it as an efficient and convenient system. Ridership demand to/from Naramata and Penticton would increase through appropriately scaled development in the community and would also provide an option for tourists end employees to access the wineries along the bench.
To support and encourage walking and cycling in our community I will advocate to MOTI to limit the speed limit to 30 km/h within the Village area.

I will advocate for more electric charging stations where appropriate.

I believe that a socially sustainable community needs people of different ages, incomes and stages of life: seniors, families, young people and the people who work in our local business and services. In Naramata, having people living here year-round also helps support a vibrant village centre throughout the year. Many of these properties in the Village Centre remain undeveloped and is an untapped opportunity to develop safe affordable homes designed to be resilient to climate change. The implementation of an improved shared wastewater system is a step towards reducing the wastewater seepage into Okanagan Lake and protecting its water quality.
Utilizing fire resistant materials is one way to improve resiliency, but buildings are the second biggest source of carbon emissions. The BC Building Bylaw has already taken steps to improve building energy efficiencies through its incremental Step Code. New technologies and approaches are continuing to be developed and moving towards a Zero-Carbon Step Code is one of those initiatives I will advocate for.
I will continue to support Building By-law changes to improve energy efficiency requirements and to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels such as natural gas for heating homes. I will continue to support ways to incentivize retrofits of existing homes and the construction of new homes with improved fire-resistant materials, energy efficient construction, heat pumps, electric water heaters, and induction stoves.

In addition to the drain on energy and water, data centres also generate a lot of noise from their chilling systems. There needs to be clear regional policy that restricts the development of data centres in our local communities.

I will not support AI Data Centres.

Education, Mitigation and Adaptation are important tools towards building our communities resilience. Many of these tools start with grass root initiatives, such as First Things First, Naramata Slow, Dark Skies and Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society, etc. At the regional government level, it is important for leadership to continue to support these volunteer organizations as they are the seed to growing, developing and achieving resiliency across the Okanagan Valley.

While FireSmart BC is excellent for property mitigation, an Exit Strategy Action Plan is also needed.

For communities like Naramata/Indian Rock with geographically constrained access roads, clear, pre-determined routing is vital. Given the limitations of Naramata Road, I will advocate to widen the shoulder areas of the roadway to improve capacity.

Neighbours working together who have extra space in their vehicles, trailers, and who will need physical assistance during a fast-moving evacuation.

Utilizing the Power of Annual, Repetitive Education I recommend Implementing a "Spring Readiness Cycle" ensures exit strategies and FireSmart habits to become second nature. Like school fire drills,a dedicated week every May (right before peak wildfire season) where the community actively reviews route maps, tests household emergency kits, and updates emergency contacts.

Intense heat combined with heavy wildfire smoke creates a compounding health crisis,especially for vulnerable seniors, infants, and residents without central air conditioning or proper HEPA filtration. Establishing a dedicated Clean Air and Cooling Centre is a tool to help offset these impacts.

Undergrounding our main power lines would protect this infrastructure from wildfire and storm damage.

After visiting family members in Naramata for over 25 years, in 2022 my husband and I made Naramata our permanent home. As an architect and planner, I bring more than 35 years of public- and private-sector experience in community planning, development, architecture, civic policy, public engagement and heritage preservation.

For 20+ years with the City of Vancouver, I held senior leadership positions in Planning and Real Estate, including Assistant Director of Planning and Assistant Director of Real Estate. I led complex planning and land-development processes, developed policy and worked with communities to find solutions to challenging issues.

My work involved collaborating across municipal departments and with internal departments (Engineering, Building, Sustainability, Housing, Parks, Law, Finance, Cultural and Social Policy, etc.) and external agencies (Translink, Vancouver Port Authority, Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and many community organizations.

In my previous role as the A/Director of Planning with the City of Vancouver, I managed a division of 50 planning staff with 3 areas of focus, Development Planning, Heritage and Landscape (including the Tree Protection By-law). I have direct policy development and implementation experience on climate change initiatives, such as Green roofs, Sustainable Sites, Energy Efficient Building Bylaw, etc.

I believe that good leadership starts with consistent communication and engagement with the stakeholders, listening and asking questions. In the role of Area E Director I will continue to advocate for climate change initiatives.