Public Agency Council News

Zack Fergus, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, introduced an idea for making Omaha a more sustainable community on www.passthepotatoes.com. Later this year, his idea will be planted in two Omaha parks.

Last fall, Pass the Potatoes – a virtual town hall event sponsored by Environment Omaha – invited anyone interested in Omaha to submit ideas for improving the sustainability of the city. Users submitted more than 100 ideas in five areas, including: preserving and enhancing Omaha’s natural environment; improving how people move around the city and determining what shape its future growth should take; improving the way Omaha builds, renovates and maintains its buildings; conserving the city’s natural resources; and improving Omaha’s overall health. Following an idea submission period, the public was asked to improve upon the ideas of others and then vote for their favorite idea.

At the conclusion of the online outreach effort, a panel convened by Omaha by Design and city officials reviewed the top ideas in each category for potential implementation in 2011.

Fergus, a native of Omaha, will be among the first to graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s landscape architecture program this May. His idea, introducing the prairie aesthetic into Omaha public parks and properties, was among the most popular in the natural environment section.

“What if we replaced the manicured bluegrass and fescue lawns with sustainable plant communities like the tall- and short-grass prairies native to our region, which were then allowed to naturalize, thus cutting down on management?” Fergus said.

The review panel, in consultation with the parks department, will put in place the “prairie in the park” idea prior to the start of the planting season. Benson Park and Fontenelle Park will serve as the project sites. In addition, a project fund will be established with the Omaha Parks Foundation for those who would like to make a donation.

–Contributed by Teresa Gleason

One initiative. Two years. More than 4,000 volunteer hours logged by Omahans – and counting. The result is Environment Omaha, a new environmental vision for the city.

The Environment Omaha team – a partnership of the City of Omaha, the community and Omaha by Design – has proposed a set of 25 goals in five areas to form a comprehensive new environmental section for the City of Omaha’s Master Plan.

“We asked Omahans to envision a greener city, and the Environment Omaha document is based on their response,” said Connie Spellman, director of Omaha by Design. “They saw an Omaha in which the air and water are clean, the buildings are energy efficient, the landscaping is functional and attractive, the children walk or ride their bikes to school, and the landfill is less full. They saw a community in which the shops are within walking distance, the creeks are recreational outlets, the homes are safe, the access to healthy food and economic opportunity is balanced, and the streets are welcoming to cars, walkers, cyclists and users of mass transit. The 25 in five are a roadmap to this Omaha.”

A summary document outlining the 25 in 5 is now available on www.environmentomaha.com. The seven goals in the natural environment section seek to preserve and enhance the city’s natural environment. The six goals in the urban form and    transportation section seek to improve how Omahans move around the city and determine what shape its future growth should take. The four goals in the building construction section seek to help Omaha become a national leader in innovative building construction, renovation and operation. The five goals in the resource conservation section seek to help the city conserve its natural and material resources and capitalize on the potential of its human resources. The three goals in the community health section seek to help Omaha become more active, safe and healthy.

Each goal is accompanied by a set of objectives and strategies, and a set of measurements has been developed for each of the five areas. The entire drafts of all five sections are available for review on www.environmentomaha.com.

Now that the draft document has been completed, it will be brought before the Omaha Planning Board Wednesday, Oct. 6. The Omaha City Council will consider the planning board’s recommendation later this fall. The end goal is the adoption of Environment Omaha as a component of the city’s master plan, Spellman said.

For more information, contact Omaha by Design at 402.554.4010 or info@omahabydesign.org.

-Contributed by Teresa Gleason, Omaha by Design

Did you know Americans collectively use an average of 26 billion gallons of water each day or that almost one-third of the residential waste generated in the United States is packaging? Environment Omaha is striving to reverse those trends locally, and a new draft document lays out a plan for making that happen.

Community feedback is sought on the Resource Conservation final draft of Environment Omaha, a new policy development initiative that’s creating a comprehensive environmental section for the City of Omaha Master Plan. The initiative covers five areas – the natural environment, urban form and transportation, building construction, resource conservation and community health.

The document was developed by the Environment Omaha Resource Conservation Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Marcella Thompson, director of sustainability at ConAgra Foods Inc.

The committee, a group of 27 volunteers representing a diversity of professions and perspectives, included suggestions from the public in developing the content. The document was then reviewed by the Environment Omaha Core and Working Committees. It begins with an overall vision statement: Omaha will be a thriving community that provides an exceptional quality of life centered on an unwavering dedication to resource conservation. Its areas of focus:

• Conserving and protecting the high quality and adequate supply of water resources
• Improving air quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the risks of climate change
• Improving energy efficiency and encouraging the supply of renewable and sustainable energy systems
• Working aggressively toward becoming a zero-waste-to-landfill community by maximizing the use and reuse of material resources
• Becoming a leader in green economies by using the creativity, productivity and ingenuity of the community’s human capital

The draft establishes a number of measurements that will be used to chart progress toward the achievement of long-term goals. Among the targets is reducing total water use per capita by 20 percent by 2020 and continually reducing consumption by 20 percent every 10 years thereafter.

“We want to grow and prosper as a city, but we want to do so in a responsible way, one that respects the planet’s finite resources,” Thompson said. “Thinking about what we use and how we use it is not only responsible but could jumpstart a local green economy that provides jobs and taps into our population’s ingenuity and productivity.”
Members of the public can post their questions and comments about the draft on www.environmentomaha.com/discussion.

Funding for Environment Omaha, which is receiving significant city staff and resource support, is provided by grants from the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency and the City of Omaha’s Stormwater Management Plan Program Grant from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. Omaha by Design serves as the project manager. For more information, call 402.554.4010 or email info@omahabydesign.org.

-Contributed by Omaha by Design

The author is State Senator Heath Mello, who represents District 5 in South Omaha and Bellevue.

Addressing energy efficiency and clean energy in Nebraska is both urgent and overdue. Energy efficiency and renewable energy were smart choices for our communities when times were good, and they remain smart choices when times are tough. Building a new clean energy economy in our state will provide jobs and allow government and homeowners to save money while being responsible stewards of the earth.

In 2009, Senator Mello introduced the Nebraska Green Building Advantage Act, a bill that would have created tax incentives for LEED-certified buildings. While this bill did not advance in the Legislature, Mello returned this session with a full slate of clean energy bills. He has introduced six bills that focus on the clean energy economy:

• LB 977 – Require new state buildings and renovations to comply with energy efficiency standards
• LB 978 – Provide requirements relating to energy star-certified appliances in the state’s competitive bidding process
• LB 997 – Require cities’ comprehensive plans to include an energy element
• LB 1098 – Enable municipalities to create sustainable energy financing districts that establish Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs.
• LB 1099 – Authorize the establishment of an expanded, voluntary recycling program in cities of the metropolitan class
• LB 1100 – Allow operation of low-speed vehicles on highways as prescribed

LB 1098 will make it more affordable for property owners to make energy retrofits to their homes and businesses. By allowing property owners to pay for energy retrofits via their property tax bill over a period of years, homeowners and businesses will save money on utilities and encourage a market for services and products related to energy retrofits. That market will in turn lead to new jobs in the clean energy sector.

“States and communities need to look at meaningful long-term solutions to emerge from this fiscal crisis,” said Mello. “Now is the time to take action and pursue a different course for Nebraska. The legislation I have proposed is good for the earth, good for our pocketbooks and creates jobs. We have a unique opportunity and we need to take full advantage of it.”

As a member of the Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now (CLEAN), Mello was recently invited to the White House to discuss the clean energy economy.

“It was an extraordinary opportunity to meet with White House officials and other legislators who are committed to growing the clean energy economy,” he said. “Clean energy is a growing and increasingly bi-partisan issue, and Nebraska can either stay ahead of the curve, or play catch-up in the years to come.”

Mello is a member of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and sits on the Council for State Governments-Midwest Legislative Conference, Energy Committee and Economic Development Committee.

The Public Agency Council (PAC) is currently working to complete an Industry Green Practice Matrix that will compliment the Public Agency Green Practice Matrix completed in July 2008. Similar to the first matrix, the Industry Green Practice Matrix will provide an overview of sustainable practices industries in the Omaha metro area are currently engaged in. This will be done primarily through a phone survey. The PAC hopes to uncover some practices that were initially done as a cost savings but have the added bonus of helping the environment. Results should be compiled in the next few months and will be posted at this website.

The Public Agency Council is proud to announce its new chair, Lynn Dittmer with the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency. This council also enjoys representation from many other key agencies in Omaha, including Omaha by Design, the Mayor’s office, Omaha Planning Department, Omaha Public Works, OPPD, MUD, Papio NRD, MAT, and UNO. The Council has created a Public Agency Green Practice Matrix, which identifies green practices in which member organizations are engaged. This matrix will continue to expand as participation increases.

May Forum Set for May 3, Elmwood Park, 2-4 pm

Please join us for the second annual May Forum! Members and volunteers have the chance to hear about the activities of the different councils, share news of their own initiatives and meet other active leaders in the community.

Green Omaha Coalition, Public Agency Council, City of Omaha Accomplishments

The City of Omaha had many sustainability successes in 2008, and city staff continues to work toward attaining an even more sustainable community in 2009. Among Omaha’s successes was the SustainLane.com annual rankings. SustainLane.com conducted its annual sustainability survey of United States cities, and Omaha moved up 12 spots in the rankings, from 37th in 2007 to 25th in 2008. Highlights of the ranking include recognition as the 7th city in the United States in the category “energy and climate change policy,” and 10th for “metro street congestion.”

Another endeavor undertaken by the City of Omaha is the development and implementation of pilot programs to recycle compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, and to replace traditional street lights with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs.

In partnership with Wastecap Nebraska and Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), in September 2008, the City initiated its first pilot program that allowed the general public to dispose of used CFLs at any of the 14 Omaha Public Libraries. The pilot program was designed to educate the community on the benefits of CFLs, and to simultaneously provide a safe, convenient, and environmentally-conscious way to dispose of old light bulbs. Within a three month period in the fall of 2008, 368 CFLs were dropped off at Omaha Public Libraries. The program met such success that the City of Omaha Public Works Department, Omaha Public Library, and OPPD will continue to work together on the project.

Clearly a great sustainability partner for the City of Omaha, the City collaborated with OPPD on a second pilot program in October of 2008. This project focused on reducing energy costs by replacing street lights with LED bulbs. The LED bulbs are designed to use half of the energy that the traditional high-pressure sodium lights consume. The LED pilot is still in the trial phase, and different LED models are tested in Omaha neighborhoods to address effectiveness and safety concerns.

Although the City of Omaha’s master plan addresses environmental issues to an extent within the eight existing elements, the addition of an environmental element to the plan will comprehensively address environment and sustainability concerns. This undertaking is referred to as Environment Omaha, and the five goal areas include: natural environment; urban form and transportation; building construction; resource conservation; and community health. With the added benefit of public input, the Environment Omaha Project will help create an environmentally sustainable community. To learn more about Environment Omaha, see http://www.environmentomaha.com

-Andrea Fox, City of Omaha

Public Agency Council 2008 Achievements

The Public Agency Council benefits from Connie Spellman’s leadership. This council enjoys representation from many key agencies in Omaha, including Omaha by Design , the Mayor’s office, Omaha Planning Department, Omaha Public Works, OPPD, MUD, Papio NRD, MAPA, MAT and UNO. The Council has created a Public Agency Green Practice Matrix, which identifies green practices in which member organizations are engaged. This matrix will continue to expand as participation increases.

The Mayor’s office, including Andrea Fox and the City of Omaha, has been a key partner in the green movement. Through its work and our partners’ work, the City of Omaha has recorded improvement as a sustainable community, as recognized by the Sustainlane 2008 US City Rankings. Omaha jumped from 37th place to 25th.

For more information, visit http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/cities/omaha.

GREEN PRACTICES MATRIX NOW ONLINE

The Public Agency Council has completed an initial survey of its members detailing the sustainable practices already employed by organizations represented in the council. This matrix is intended to be a useful reference for other area agencies and businesses to showcase what some organizations are doing to integrate sustainable practices into the workplace.

by Katie Torpy

PAC Forum
The five councils of the Green Omaha Coalition met together for the first time at the inaugural forum of the Public Agency Council May 4th. In what will be an annual event, members and volunteers had the chance to hear about the activities of the Green Omaha Coalition’s five councils, share news of their own initiatives and meet other active leaders in the community.

Suggested topics for future forums included: justice and diversity in the environmental movement; the future of our children and the environment; how to green the workplace; passive and solar energy systems; smart growth and transportation issues; the Home Energy Rating System program (HERS); climate change; peak oil; and net metering.

Earth Day Omaha
More than 300 attendees visited the Green Omaha Coalition booth at Earth Day Omaha on April 19, providing their contact information and receiving towels with 10 simple tips for being green in Omaha.

The event was the largest Earth Day celebration in Omaha’s history, featuring thousands of attendees, hundreds of exhibitors and dozens of volunteers.

The five councils of the Green Omaha Coalition met under one roof for the first time at the inaugural forum of the Public Agency Council last May 4th.