We recently talked to Jason Lindahl, Planner with the City of Rosemount about their clean energy efforts. Here’s a look at where they’ve been and what they’re up to…
In the beginning…
Rosemount sustainability efforts started with the City Council in 2007 after the City Council established the goal to “promote greening Rosemount.” Prior to this, the City had a group of policies and programs that addressed environmental issues but operated without a coordinated focus. Since then the City has learned sustainability is much more than just the environment. It also includes social and economic issues. They believe when these three areas of sustainability (economic, social and the environment) work together they can have a powerful impact on the future of the community and its quality of life.
Some of the City’s initial efforts produced positive results including building audits that have made city facilities more efficient and a bicycle and pedestrian plan that helped the City target infrastructure improvements to get more people walking and bicycling. However, to maintain a sustainability focus, the City needs to keep that topic “top of mind” when making decisions and conducting future planning. It’s easy to do a few projects and feel good about the outcomes, but bring sustainability issues to the forefront of public policy requires a more systemic approach. The City of Rosemount passed a resolution in December of 2011 to join the GreenStep Cities program. They were recognized at the League of Minnesota Annual Conference in 2012 as a step 2 GreenStep City. Additionally, Rosemount is the only Minnesota city that is involved in a national sustainability rating system called Star Community Index, a program of ICLEI. The STAR Community Index™ is a national, consensus-based rating system for community sustainability. STAR, now in beta release, provides communities with a standard and comprehensive set of goals, objectives and performance measures by which to improve interdependent environmental, economic, and social conditions. STAR is also a community of leading local governments creating more sustainable places for the long term.
Recommitting
In 2014 the City Council and Mayor renewed its goal to becoming a more sustainable community. This includes:
- Identify and implement best sustainability practices
- Use Resilient Communities, STAR Communities, and Green Steps implementation strategies and Regional Indicators Initiative
- Implement comprehensive plan strategies
- Increase well-designed and diverse public spaces
- Encourage community, cultural and leisure events to add vibrancy to our quality of life
- Increase existing community transportation and transit connections
- Increase community lifecycle housing options addressing rental, senior and affordability needs
- Maintain an engaged, healthy, inviting, prepared and safe community
Good Decisions
The most useful thing the City has done is to identify a context for assessing sustainability. Our work plan for 2014 includes the City participating in the STAR (Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating) Communities Leadership program. This yearlong assessment program acknowledges that the path to sustainability is different for every community but includes the common elements of a healthy environment, a strong economy and the well-being of the people living in the community.
Overcoming challenges
Like most cities, one of the biggest challenges was knowing where to start. Rosemount will use the STAR Communities program to provide a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess current conditions and establish future sustainability goals.
Sharing the story
Rosemount is also planning to use a wide variety of tools to communicate with residents and stakeholders about their sustainability and clean energy efforts. These include the City newsletter, surveys, local newspaper articles, presentations, social media and the City’s website.
