Approximately 100 people showed up to the first public meeting of Dundas, Ontario In Transition –or “Do It” for short –at Dundas town hall Friday night.

More than 60 ideas were submitted by 47 people during a six-week Transition Town ideas contest, where anyone was invited to propose ideas to help make Dundas a more sustainable community while facing challenges of peak oil and global warming.

Michelle Chin’s suggestion of a “100-block lifestyle” that encourages residents to create organic gardens and businesses to support rooftop community gardens earned a $300 first prize.

“The community gardens would not be small separately run plots per individual as is traditionally the case, but would have an overall plan for providing fresh produce in Dundas year round,” Ms. Chin wrote in her one-page proposal.

She suggested rooftop gardens will decrease a building’s energy consumption, and less transportation of food means less reliance on non-renewable energy.

But the evening was about more than recognizing all the winners.

While cheques were earned by the top three proposals as chosen by a three-person judging panel, the real core of the Transition Town movement happened afterwards. Each of the proposed projects was divided into one of seven nodes – including Wildlilfe Habitat, Heart and Soul, Transportation and Local Economy.

McMaster University engineering professor Brian Baetz, one of the Dundas Transition Town group’s steering committee members, explained the local movement will now move forward, in what might be described as an organic manner.

Residents who put their names forward to help in a particular transition node will make up individual groups. Leaders from each node will then form a new steering committee.

“The original steering committee will fade away,” Mr. Baetz said. “We want to encourage participation. It’s not designed for one person, or a small group.”

More ideas, or ways of making existing suggestions more workable, are still being solicited.

Inspiration might be found in some of the other ideas recognized Friday night. Carl Lehman won the second place cheque for proposing the harnessing of historic Spencer Creek for the creation of renewable energy, the way dozens of mills did when Dundas was born.

“Today’s hydro-turbines require a drop in elevation of less than a metre and a flow of water less than 25 litres per second to generate 500 watts per hour of electricity,” Mr. Lehman wrote in his submission. “These small units are no bigger than a sump pump. Larger units will dramatically increase the amount of electricity produced.”

He suggested planned condominiums at the former Dundas District School, Grightmire Arena and the Spencer Creek Village could all benefit from the use of this green energy.

Third place went to David Wilson, who proposed neighbours combine their garbage and recycling for a single pick-up stop between every two or three houses to time, money and environmental impacts for city waste management crews.

“If some households combined with at least one neighbour, even just some of the time, the number of stops and starts would be substantially reduced,” Mr. Wilson wrote.

He suggested the change would result in less fuel use, less carbon dioxide emissions and less noise, quicker routes for city truck drivers and less wear on vehicles.

The judges also recognized six other proposals with honorable mentions. John Walker’s proposal to bring back a Dundas farmer’s market, Lorna Mac-Queen’s plan for making the Valley Town more bike friendly, the team submission from a Body Therapies Yoga class for signs on parking meters downtown reminding shoppers to bring their own shopping bags, Milicia Pavlica’s annual swap fest idea, Graeme Mac-Queen’s proposal for clearly marked 100-mile food sections in local grocery stores and Keith McKenna’s plan to bring back a Hatt Street train were all pointed to as good examples of Transition Town plans.

See www.dundasontariointransition.ca for more.