Totally Green Inc : More Cities Tackling Sustainability

Council to look at proposed 'Sustainability Plan'

By Dan Eakin, [e-mail]

Published: Sunday, January 1, 2012 5:25 PM CST

After several years of receiving input from numerous community groups, the city of McKinney's Office of Environmental Stewardship (OES) will present a proposed Sustainability Plan to the McKinney City Council on Jan. 23.

The council is expected to examine the proposed plan in a work session, before taking final action in an open meeting.

Julie Smith, OES manager, said, "The city of McKinney's Office of Environmental Stewardship would like to thank the residents, businesses and teenagers of McKinney for taking the time in 2011 to share your ideas and vision for a sustainable McKinney. The process of drafting McKinney's first Sustainability Plan was a true community-wide effort which included participation of more than 500 community members at four public input meetings.

An entire draft of the proposed Sustainability Plan is available on the city's website at

On December 4, 2007, city council passed a resolution to support the McKinney Green Initiative, a program to address a broad range of issues in a comprehensive manner, including energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water.

The Green Advisory Team, comprised primarily of representatives of McKinney businesses, then made recommendations to the city council in a 2008 final report.

"The primary goal of this report was to develop a framework for a sustainable future," said Martha Cavazos Fipps, McKinney OES education coordinator.

In 2009, as a result of these recommendations, the city council created the Office of Environmental Stewardship and hired a manager to develop and implement a community-wide sustainability program. In the interim, the city has received almost $1.5 million in grants and implemented many of the recommendations of the 2008 Green Advisory Team.

The city was awarded a grant as part of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program to undertake several activities, including developing a Community Sustainability Plan.

The plan's purpose is to identify essential elements of community sustainability as well as to provide analysis and guidelines for the implementation and furtherance of community initiatives to ultimately achieve a more sustainable McKinney. The plan includes measurable indicators and planning principles for all key areas of the city.

The basic goals of the Sustainability Plan are as follows:

* Build upon and ensure the coordination and continuity of existing efforts currently underway to support sustainability objectives.

* Identify and prioritize activities for leveraging fiscal and non-fiscal resources in support of McKinney's objectives.

* Identify and implement strategies to build the capacity of organizations and individuals to participate in sustaining community-wide investment and participation.

* Build and nurture a shared, community-wide ownership of and participation in the city of McKinney sustainability vision. This can be accomplished through developing partnerships between individuals, governments, businesses and foundations working to identify physical, natural, and fiscal resources and achieve similar results.

* Develop clear and measurable sustainability goals with associated implementation tools and metrics.

"This Sustainability Plan represents the comprehensive efforts of four years of research, planning and community involvement and partnerships, and is illustrative of McKinney's truly unique nature," Smith said.