Years in the making, council’s committee of the whole on Monday received the city’s Climate Action and Resiliency Improvement Plan.
“It’s been a process over a couple of years now involving many people who have sacrificed of their time willingly and joyfully to create this plan,” said Council President Mark Hollenbaugh at the meeting’s outset.
The executive summary of the report outlines the principal findings of the Sustainability Advisory Committee, including that “there are significant risks of climate-related, environmental hazards to this community due to the intensification of natural processes such as floods, droughts, tornadoes, winter storms, and heat waves according to the Ohio Emergency Management Agency,” with mitigation strategies enumerated later. One suggestion includes “following national trends, steps to improve energy efficiency of government buildings could be integrated with efforts to make such buildings ‘resiliency centers’ that are flood-proofed, with back-up water and power supply, and able to provide assistance to residents during an environmental disaster.”
The process to create the plan began in March of 2021, when the city’s Sustainability Advisory Committee completed its sustainability report. In July of that year, council approved a resolution calling for a sustainability and climate action plan; the committee to create the plan was formed the next month. During that process, in 2022, the city also completed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory for government operations.
As it worked on creating the plan, the committee’s process involved reviewing the Sustainability Advisory Committee’s sustainability inventory as a starting point; meeting with all city departments; reviewing climate action plans from other communities and other references; meeting with consultants who had themselves completed other plans; and meeting amongst themselves regularly to review sections of the draft plan that required further discussion and understanding.
According to a presentation on the plan, made by Communications Director Amanda Gamby, who chaired the committee, “In some cases, it was difficult to keep up – we’d get a section written and then the city would complete an initiative or begin a new” one, including funding for shared use paths, or the completion of a blower project at the wastewater treatment plant.
Mayor Mike Aspacher expressed his appreciation for those involved.
“There was a good deal of work went into this plan and I think that this plan has at least exceeded my expectations,” he said. “The final plan is an impressive document that does identify” opportunities for the community and options to consider for further sustainability efforts.
The report itself, including appendices, tips the scales at more than 250 pages.
“We were literally working on this down to the wire,” Gamby said of the document, which is available to the public on the city’s website, under the sustainability tab.
“When we initially set out to tackle this very first climate action plan for the city of Bowling Green, I think we… thought we were going to have it done in a year,” said Gamby.
Included in the report are sections on the city’s electrical transmission and distribution system; water and wastewater treatment facilities; buildings and other facilities; transportation; waste diversion and recycling; green spaces; and education, outreach and community involvement.
The summary additionally notes that carbon emissions for electricity generation for the city’s government operations is only 1.6% of the community total. It states that “the critical action is finding ways for the entire community to reduce carbon emissions, not just to address government operations.” However, “government plays an outsized role because as a municipal power provider, it decides the nature of the energy portfolio for the entire community.”
Further, “at the present time, net zero carbon emissions can only be achieved by a combination” or joint strategy involving shifting the city’s energy portfolio to renewable energy, reductions in energy use, and “significant carbon offsets.” Among other findings, it states that “there is continued need for public outreach, education, and participation in Bowling Green’s efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions… The city might prioritize incentives to stimulate and support citizen-led efforts to address resiliency and sustainability.”
Among the sections in the report is one focused on equity and environmental justice, which Gamby said is a new concept in the planning world, and featured more and more in the sustainability field. Her presentation noted that “impacts of climate change can cause greater harm to populations that cannot mitigate or avoid the results. Environmental justice is defined as the ‘just and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of income, race, color, national origin, tribal affiliation, or disability.’”
The plan also includes a section on the implications of global climate change.
“The majority of folks I see at other sustainability events,” Gamby said Monday of the gathered audience at the meeting, “and I think many of them believed in climate change, but it’s still a very politicized topic and folks are very much divided on whether or not” it is real. “But we wanted to make sure that folks are aware of some of the implications of global climate change.”
“I look forward to opening up my laptop and diving into all 300 pages and then we can sort out what the next step is from there,” said Hollenbaugh at the meeting’s conclusion.
Committee members included Gamby; Marissa Beckstein, representing the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments; Jim Evans, a retired Bowling Green State University geology professor; Nicholas Hennessy, Bowling Green State University sustainability director; Mick Murray, the city’s public works director; Jim Odneal, the city’s assistant utilities director; sustainability coordinator Rachel Sizer; Katy Thompson, director of BG Economic Development; and Tyler Williams, plant manager at Southeastern Container, Inc.
In other business, council:
• Heard from Alex DiPuccio and Nancy Eidson, both residents of Revere Drive, who reported issues with wildlife in their neighborhood, including opossums, raccoons, woodchucks and skunks. Both advocated for an animal control officer in the city. Aspacher, later in the meeting, addressed their concerns, and noted that previously, when the city’s animal control officer retired, the city evaluated the position and it was decided that based on governmental services and professional contractors available in the area, as well as the cost of such an officer, it was decided not to replace them. However, Aspacher recognized the complications involved in managing wildlife in city neighborhoods. He said that if council wished to pursue reinstating such a position, it could be a part of their upcoming strategic planning process.
• Heard from Kathleen Dennis of BG Save Our Neighborhoods Group, who noted that the group will be holding a Call to Action meeting Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Community Center, seeking input on efforts to increase available housing in the city. “Housing is a pressing issue for Bowling Green’s future,” Dennis said. “Let’s address it together.”
• Saw Ethan Basham, Allison McCoy, and Ryan Steen sworn in as firefighters with the Bowling Green Fire Division.
