A 2009 Green City Vision Strategy, proposed by Charlottesville’s Environmental Administrator Kristel Riddervold to Charlottesville City Council, was approved Tuesday night. The initiative intends to pursue a wide range of “green” goals in the community.
Charlottesville spokesperson Ric Barrick explained that a public education aspect of the plan will focus on “getting people to understand why protecting the environment is important.” As part of this effort, the city plans to organize a summer youth employment group, which will employ under-privileged teens, Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said. One aspect will be the “City Green Team,” a project that aims to get local teenagers involved in environmental preservation initiatives, Norris added.
One of the things Norris said he hopes the Green Team will do this summer is encourage teens to return to their individual Charlottesville communities to promote environmental preservation at home.
“We’re engaging young people with productive job skills that happen to benefit the environment,” Norris said.
The Green City Vision Strategy also involves the continuation of previous efforts, including Charlottesville’s collaboration with Albemarle County and the University regarding greenhouse gas emissions, Norris added. The three groups are involved in “a regional climate action plan to see how we can collaborate to reduce carbon emissions.”
Other initiatives the city intends to pursue include “a wide range of issues like making our buildings more efficient, promoting alternative forms of transportation, land-use planning and how to promote more pedestrian dependent development, increasing our tree canopy [and] just a wide variety of things we can do jointly to reduce our impact on the environment,” Norris said.
Another planned project is a solar feasibility study that will explore the effectiveness of installing solar panels on city buildings, Riddervold said. Council member David Brown expressed some unease at the cost of the study, which could range from $25,000 to $50,000. Riddervold noted, however, that the study is necessary to pursue possible solar energy projects that may benefit the city. In the end, enough city councilors agreed, and the Green City Vision Strategy was approved. Both Norris and Riddervold also noted that one of the driving forces behind the new plan is a desire to save money.
“It’s an initiative that is good for our environment and good for our pocketbook,” Norris said.
Those in favor of the plan also noted some environmental projects’ proven track record. Some of the other projects the Green City Vision aims to pursue have already been successful, Barrick said.
“We’ve already made a good impact in areas like energy efficiency,” he said. “That is one area we can measure changes in behavior and infrastructure improvement. We’ve been able to save 20 percent in energy costs.”
These green movements are being led by the city’s public work’s environmental division, Norris said, noting, “many of our environmental initiatives have come under their umbrella so to speak.”
Along with those employed by the city’s environmental management office, the Green City Vision Strategy has also been subject to the Citizens Committee on Environmental Sustainability, Norris said.
“They’ve come up with a long list of proposals to be taken on by the city,” he said.
Riddervold also explained that a great deal of planning went into the new strategy, which builds off previous city environmental and sustainability efforts.
“This isn’t a scatter shot initiative,” she said. “The context is that we’re working collectively toward this goal.”
Norris added that city officials and residents cannot take a lax approach to addressing environmental and sustainability concerns now that the Green City Vision Strategy has been approved.
“We still have a lot do,” he said. “We can’t rest.”
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