Week 3 - AEE

Step 3: Talk to staff at the Council.

Once you have done your homework it is a good idea to talk to someone at the Council. The Council is likely to have pamphlets, checklists and forms to help you prepare an AEE.

If you don't know how to use a regional/district plan, ask the Council staff to help you. A word of warning: some councils charge for information and time spent helping you.

To summarise this step : communication is very important - talk to council staff as they are responsible for proposing consents so verbal communication from them is important.  This ensures that you are ahead of their expectations and are well informed should these expectations change.  Understand their charging regime is also useful as meetings may incur charges which have not been planned for.

Step 4: Identify the environmental effects

Understand the environmental issues arising from your proposal. An environmental effect is any change to the environment created by an activity. This includes effects on ecosystems, natural resources (land, air and water), buildings and people. 

• positive or negative
• temporary or permanent
• past, present or future
• cumulative (occur over time or in combination -  with other effects)
• of high probability
• of low probability but high impact.

Chicago city hall green roof - a positive effect! (Image courtesy of www.organicconnectmag.com)