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VOLUME 8 JULY 2013

MADISON COLORS WISCONSIN GREEN

PLANNING FOR AN AGING AMERICA6TH ANNUAL SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PASSES KC TEST

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VOLuME 8 JULY 2013

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contentsBuffalo ‘Green Code’ to ReplaceCity’s 60-Year-Old UDO

Planning for an Aging America

Small Town Makes Big Stridesin Energy Efficiency

Power Purchase Agreement Wins in Iowa District Court

Dubuque to Host 6th Annual Sustainability Conference

Community Gardens Flourish inLawrence, Kansas

Seattle Breaks New Ground with Bicycle Master Plan

Green Infrastructure Passes Kansas City Test

Cities Share Advice on Disaster Recovery 5

c o v e r s t o r y

Gulf Coast Slow to Recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac

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Sustainable City Network magazine is produced by WoodwardBizMedia, a division of Woodward Communications, Inc.

GROuP PuBLISHERKaren Ruden

PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITORRandy Rodgers

ASSOCIATE EDITORMichael Manning

BuSINESS MANAGERLinda Flannery

CONTRIBuTING WRITERJulianne Couch

DESIGNImagine That!, Dubuque, Iowa

Sustainable City Network, Inc.801 Bluff StreetDubuque, Iowa 52001

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The Best of Sustainable City Network is a quarterly magazine highlighting the most popular articles posted on sCityNetwork.com, an online trade publication that serves municipal professionals and elected officials in all 50 u.S. states and the provinces of Canada. The magazine is available in print or as a digital download at www.sCityNetwork.com/bestof. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those ofthe authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sustainable City Network, Inc.

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SuSTAINABLE CITY NETWORK ADVISORY CABINET

Jeffrey F. Bullock, Ph.D.Presidentuniversity of Dubuque

Roy BuolMayorCity of Dubuque

Cori BurbachSustainability CoordinatorCity of Dubuque

Jeffrey L. BruceOwnerJeffrey L. Bruce & Company, LLC

Scott KnappVP MarketingA.Y. McDonald Mfg. Co.

David LyonsPresidentThe Iowa Institute

Dan McDonaldVP Existing BusinessGreater Dubuque Development Corp.

Prof. Philip J. Parker, Ph.D., P.E.Dept. of Civil and Environmental

Engineeringuniversity of Wisconsin - Platteville

Bob SettleVice President, MarketingCrescent Electric Supply Company

Barry ShearCEOEagle Point Solar

Cindy SteinhauserAsst. City ManagerCity of Dubuque

Scott TaylorPresident & CEOCarteGraph

VISIT uS ON THE WEBsCityNetwork.com

Balanced Information. Intelligent Solutions.For Municipal Professionals

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f rom the editorWelcome to Sustainable City Network Magazine – the Best of sCityNetwork.com! This quarterly magazine isa compilation of the most popular articles on our web site and in our weekly e-newsletter, the InBox, whichis now delivered to more than 40,000 municipal professionals and elected officials across the u.S. andCanada.

Sustainable City Network, Inc. produces advertiser-supported, non-partisan articles, webinars, trade showsand white papers that provide local governments with quality, organized and timely information about sus-tainability projects, plans and best practices. This magazine is another way we fulfill our mission.

In this issue, we continue our Leaderboard Series by showcasing the City of Madison, Wis. As the capital ofWisconsin and home to a Big Ten university, Madison is a regional center for government, education andhealthcare – recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as the city with the highest percentage of individualsholding Ph.D.s in the united States. Long-time Mayor Paul Soglin started his political career as a studentactivist in the late 1960s and has been a strong advocate for environmental and social issues ever since,making Madison one of the “greenest” cities in the u.S.

Madison leadership must be doing something right: even at the height of the recent recession, its unem-ployment rate was 3.5 percent.

In other top stories: Find out how Buffalo, N.Y. is completely scrapping its out-dated unified developmentcode and starting over with a new “green code” that makes sustainability a primary objective. And, learnwhat cities across the country are doing to prepare for the aging of America. If your community hasn’tstarted preparing yet, then you’re already behind. One in five Americans will be over 65 by the year 2030!

Other articles in this issue look at topics from small-town energy efficiency projects to community gardens,disaster recovery, power purchase agreements, green infrastructure and bicycle transportation plans.

The articles in this magazine have been selected by our readers. We’ve packaged them together in thisconvenient magazine format, available in print or as a digital download at sCityNetwork.com/Bestof.

We hope you find value inside.

Randy Rodgers Publisher & Executive Editor

SuSTAINABLE CITY NETWORKwww.sCityNetwork.com

801 Bluff StreetDubuque, IA 52001563.588.3853

randy@scitynetwork.com

OUR MISSION“To make u.S. cities more sustainable through quality andwell-organized information.”

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MADISON COLORS WISCONSIN GREENBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

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In the heart of America’s breadbasket, Madison, Wis., is a blue city ina red state with a long tradition of green living.

A college town with a vast network of bicycle trails, more than 500rain gardens and a farmers’ market almost every day of the week,Madison is a city where every homeowner has the RIGHT to installsolar or wind power, and where people are free to pick and eat fruitsand berries growing in public parks and green spaces.

First a Bit of HistoryMadison was named the capital of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836,even though the town only existed on paper. Designed by a landownerspecifically for a bid to develop the capital, the city was named forfounding father President James Madison, who had died earlier thatyear. It was laid out with streets named for each of the 39 signers ofthe u.S. Constitution, its thoroughfares converging on the capitolbuilding in the center of an isthmus between two lakes.

Since that time, Madison has grown to become a regional center forgovernment, education and healthcare – recently recognized byForbes Magazine as the city with the highest percentage of individu-als holding Ph.D.s in the united States. According to City-Data.com,48.2 percent of Madison’s population over the age of 25 holds atleast a bachelor’s degree. Even at the height of the recent recession,the city’s unemployment rate was only 3.5 percent.

Madison is a liberal-leaning city in a conservative-leaning state, andcity officials make no secret about sometimes contentious relationswith Gov. Scott Walker’s Republican administration on issues relatedto sustainability, among others. Madison’s Democratic mayor Paul R.Soglin is a veteran advocate for environmental and social issues. Be-ginning his political career as a student activist at the university ofWisconsin – Madison, Soglin was elected to the common councilwhile still enrolled as a graduate student in 1968. He served asmayor from 1973 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1997. His currentterm as mayor began in 2011.

“We are way past the global warming debate,” Soglin said. “Even forthose who refuse to accept the changing environment, the economicreality is that every city must prepare to deal with the unpleasantconsequences of climate change.” He said Madison’s current counciland its electorate provide “tremendous support” to his administra-tion’s sustainability efforts.

“If there’s any disagreement it’s about what to do first, and if there’sany criticism from the public it’s that we’re not moving fast enough,”he said.

Step One: Getting the House in OrderAs in many cities, Madison’s first sustainability plan looked inward,said Facilities and Sustainability Manager Jeanne Hoffman.

“That first plan was really about making sure city operations werebeing sustainable. I think that was a very important first step. Beforewe could go out to the business community, neighborhood and stake-holder groups and ask them to be sustainable, it was important forthe city itself to have a sustainability story to tell; to show the com-munity that we weren’t asking them to do something we weren’talready doing ourselves.”

Madison’s first sustainability plan adopted in 2005 establishedHoffman’s position and focused primarily on installing energy effi-cient lighting, insulation, HVAC systems and renewable energy in citybuildings; incorporating alternative-fuel vehicles into city fleets;adopting green purchasing policies; and establishing sustainabilitymetrics and reporting structures. The plan adopted as its foundationThe Natural Step, an international framework for strategic sustain-able development.

Bringing the Community into the Fold“Our second plan, which was just adopted a few years ago, basicallysaid, ‘We as a city have done a lot of things to be more sustainableand now we’re asking the community – other governmental groups,the business community and residents – to also take a stake inbeing more sustainable,’” Hoffman said. “So that second plan ismuch broader, in that it has recommendations and goals in areaslike natural systems, climate and energy, transportation, culture andart, education, and a whole host of chapters that obviously go wellbeyond what the city has direct control over.”

The control the city did have, however, was in its zoning code, whichit completely rewrote with the help of an ad hoc committee of stake-holders and focus groups. The new code incorporated renewableenergy, urban agriculture, increased density and mixed-usedevelopment.

Capital City Takes Leadership Role in SustainabilityBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

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The city’s old zoning code included specific restrictions on installa-tion of solar and wind energy systems in certain urban design andhistoric districts throughout the city.

“The old code made it possible for renewable energy to be denied ifsomebody didn’t like the looks of it, based solely on aesthetics,”Hoffman said. “We went through all that code and changed it, andbasically made it a right to be able to install renewable energyregardless of whether you’re in an urban design district or an histori-cal district.” She said aesthetic considerations are still incorporated,but they can’t prevent a project from moving forward as long ascertain standards are met.

Green Building – Despite ObstaclesNow that the zoning code has been revamped, Hoffman said the“next big project” is to rewrite the city’s building code. But, accord-ing to Hoffman and Mayor Soglin, that’s where the city is buttingheads with state government.

“In Wisconsin, the state controls most of the standards for buildingand construction,” Soglin said. “It preempts us in many areas. Itallows developers with short horizons to go outside the city,contributing to sprawl.”

In response, Soglin said, the city has “penciled in” $3 million toprovide incentives for developers who maintain greener standards,with particular emphasis on advanced insulation technology, low-volume toilets, green roofs, LED outdoor lighting and modernizedwater softeners.

Funded in part by a federal Solar American City grant, Madison hireda “solar advocate” to help property owners navigate the complexsteps necessary to finance and install solar energy. A bulk-purchas-ing program allowed groups of homeowners to install solar at a lownegotiated price.

The city has also grappled with the state on power purchaseagreements, which are not currently allowed in Wisconsin. Theseagreements, allowed in many states, make it possible for thirdparties to finance renewable energy installations and sell the energyback to public entities for a long-term negotiated rate.

“We did a lot of research and tried to suggest to the statewide policy-makers that opening up (power purchase agreements) would be awin-win,” Hoffman said. “It would provide green jobs as well as low-cost renewable power to the state. But, we have a political structurethat isn’t going to consider those kinds of changes right now,” shesaid.

Local Foods for EveryoneMadison is also encouraging residents to think differently about theirlawns and public green spaces. urban gardens are now allowed onterraces between the sidewalk and the street in residential neighbor-hoods. Another recent ordinance allows individuals or groups to plantfruit trees and berry bushes in public parks, provided they care forthe plants and allow anyone to pick and consume the fruits andberries.

“Gardening is a really big deal in Madison. We have many, manyfarmers’ markets all over the city. Basically, every day of the weekyou could do your shopping at a farmers’ market. All of our farmers’markets are very traditional, in that almost all of the food is locallysourced,” Hoffman said.

Madison and the Dane County area have a robust network of urbangardeners and community-supported farms that provide food stocksfor the markets and many area schools, hospitals and restaurants.Many of the farms are food co-ops that sell shares to area residentsbefore the growing season begins. This gives them capital to plantand harvest the crops, which are then delivered to shareholders’homes throughout the harvest season, Hoffman said.

“One of the grocery stores in town has a mobile market – a refriger-ated tractor-trailer with produce in it that goes to parts of the citythat have less access to food… so everyone can have access to freshproduce,” she said.

Caring for Madison’s WaterSurrounded by four large lakes, one would think the city of Madisonwould have plenty of potable water. But, looks can be deceiving. Infact, water quality has created concerns among public officials,prompting the city to initiate a number of water conservation andpollution control programs.

Madison’s water utility is in the process of installing “smart meters”that have already helped identify leaks in the system and “saved alot of water,” Hoffman said, as has the low-volume toilet replace-ment program.

Madison hopes to create 1,000 rain gardens in the city, and is morethan half way to achieving that goal. Each time a residential street isreconstructed, residents are given the option of having a rain gardeninstalled in their terrace, Hoffman said, and the city has installedmany large bio-swales in city parks and greenways. Developers arerequired to include sustainable stormwater management features innew and renovated developments over a certain size.

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The city is partnering with Dane County, the local sewerage districtand the state Department of Natural Resources to extend funding forwatershed restoration projects into the rural areas feeding into thecity, she said. Projects include putting roofs over livestock feed lots,fencing off livestock access to stream beds and building bio-reten-tion facilities to protect against floods and destruction of naturalhabitat in the waterways.

The primary objective is to reduce the amount of phosphates andmetals that find their way into the lakes and the undergroundaquifers that supply Madison’s drinking water.

Recycling, Reusing and ReducingMadison has a long history of recycling. Programs include curbsidecollection of plastic bags, pots and pans, hand-held power tools,faucets, small kitchen appliances, and all the usual paper, card-board, metal, glass and plastic products, said Recycling CoordinatorGeorge Dreckmann. In the past 20 years, the city has sold more than25,000 home compost bins, and its drop-off site accepts items suchas cooking oil, electronics, polystyrene, scrap lumber and a host ofother items. It will soon accept mattresses and box springs, too.

In 1999, the city diverted 52 percent of its waste from the county land-fill. It implemented single-stream recycling in 2006, which increasedits diversion rate to 57 percent. A 2010 ordinance controlling construc-tion and demolition waste got the city to 66 percent, and by 2012 itwas diverting 69 percent of its collected waste, Dreckmann said.

Two years ago, the city started a pilot food-scraps collection projectand now plans to build an anaerobic digester to take that program tofull-scale implementation, Dreckmann said. The digester will be usedto process food waste and other source-separated organics like dirtypaper napkins, plates and pizza boxes. Energy generated by the di-gester will be used to power a new fleet maintenance facility andprovide natural gas to fuel some city vehicles, Dreckmann said.

“It’s the largest single piece remaining in our waste stream,” Dreck-mann said of the food scraps. “We landfill about 45,000 tons of ma-terial on an annual basis within the city – the part that the citycollects – and this digester will take care of somewhere between 15and 20 thousand tons. So, between 30 and 40 percent of what welandfill we’ll be able to pull out with this program.” That should takethe city’s diversion rate to about 80 percent, he said.

Dreckmann’s goal is to make Madison a zero-waste city, but he saidwaste diversion projects have been slowed by the fact that landfilltipping fees are still relatively low in Wisconsin, as compared to otherparts of the country.

“When you’re paying $100 or more per ton to dispose of your materialin a landfill there are lots of options that are less expensive than

that,” Dreckmann said. “But when you come to Wisconsin, whereyou’re paying $40 per ton, it becomes much more of a challenge tomake diversion strategies cost effective.” He said tipping fees areexpected to increase when the county implements a planned landfillexpansion in the next few years.

A Bicycle CultureMadison adopted its first bicycle transportation plan in 1975, theresult of a 1972 resolution co-sponsored by young alderman andfuture mayor Paul Soglin.

“So we’ve been working on consciously accommodating bicyclists inour transportation system for at least 40 years now,” said Pedestrianand Bicycle Coordinator Arthur Ross.

Since then, the city has been developing “complete streets,” evenbefore the term complete streets came into fashion, Ross said.What’s changed over the years is that bicycle paths and lanes usedto be scattered throughout the city as disparate pieces. Today, thefocus is on interconnecting those systems, making traveling bybicycle a legitimate option for those commuting to work, school,shopping or other destinations.

Bicycle usage in Madison has tripled since the early 1980s, and Rosscredits the interconnections.

“As things become more connected and networked, use goes up andup,” Ross said. “People start to say, ‘Hey, you mean now I can ridemy bike from here all the way over to there?’ And use just goes updramatically whenever that happens,” he said.

Today, Madison has 46 miles of bike paths, 112 miles of bike lanes,7 miles of curb lanes and 116 miles of designated bike routes withinthe city limits. These connect to a vast network of regional andsuburban systems throughout the Madison area.

In recent years, city designers have focused on retrofitting “loop andlollipop” neighborhoods by interconnecting cul-de-sacs with bicyclepaths that allow people to move efficiently through residential areaswithout increasing vehicle traffic. New developments are returning tomore of a grid design to allow for that interconnectivity, Ross said.

Other aspects of Madison’s bicycle transportation system include:All metro buses are equipped with bike racks; snow is plowed frombike paths in the winter; there are police and first-responder crewson bicycles at various locations throughout the city; a bicycle parkingordinance requires new developments to provide off-street parkingfor bicycles; the city uses a variety of innovative traffic control fea-tures to protect the safety of bikers and pedestrians; and the city hasabout 30 Madison B-cycle bike-share kiosks where users can swipe acredit card or pay an annual membership fee to rent a bike, returningit to any of the kiosks when they’re done using it.

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BuFFALO, N.Y. — Two years in the making, Buffalo’s new unified Development Ordinance (uDO) – dubbed the Buffalo Green Code – is about to be unveiled. In a bold and daunting initiative, the city decided in 2010 to completely scrap its 60-year-old developmentcode and rebuild it from the ground up, using a New urbanism modelsteeped in smart-growth development principles, green infrastruc-ture, clean energy and sustainability best practices.

Working with consulting company Camiros, Ltd., urban design company Goody Clancy and more than 5,000 citizens over the pasttwo years, the city has refined the draft ordinance that officials hopeto adopt by the end of the year.

Chris Hawley, a city planner in Mayor Byron Brown’s Office of Strategic Planning, said Buffalo’s existing code, adopted in 1953 at the onset of the “urban renewal” craze, has become grossly out-dated as the city’s goals and objectives have changed over the years.Hawley gave a presentation on the Green Code project at the BuildingEnergy 13 conference hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) recently in Boston.

While big-box stores on huge lots without pedestrian access are perfectly legal in Buffalo, and even encouraged under existing code,Hawley said sidewalk dining at neighborhood restaurants is techni-cally against the law, requiring a zoning variance to allow what mostpeople find desirable in today’s urban landscape.

So, on Earth Day of 2010, Mayor Brown announced the launch of theBuffalo Green Code project, an ambitious plan to completely scrapand re-write the city’s land use plan and uDO.Although not as densely populated as it was prior to urban renewal,Buffalo still has 6,400 people per square mile, which Hawley pointedout is denser than Portland, Ore.

It also has about the same transit and walk-to-work rates as Port-land – 13 and 6 percent, respectively. With a population of 261,000,Buffalo is the smallest city in the nation with a metro rail system,and as a result, 30 percent of its population is car-free, Hawley said.

“In Buffalo, it’s possible to live without a car. I might be a living ex-ample of that, because I’ve never learned how to drive one,” he said.

In 2006, a special task force developed Buffalo’s comprehensiveplan. But, in it the authors of the plan said, “Without a companionzoning ordinance the comprehensive plan will lack the enforceability that will make it credible and achievable.” That spurred leaders tobegin laying the foundation for the Green Code project, which Hawleysaid will use the New urbanism model of mixed-use neighborhoods surrounded by districts such as college campuses and industrialparks, and the transportation corridors that connect them. “Walka-ble, mixed-use neighborhoods is the foundation,” Hawley said.“Sprawl is, in fact, the legally required outcome under our currentzoning code, and under the new code, mixed-use, walkable neighbor-hoods will be the default development option,” he said.

Developing the new code is a daunting task for a city with a relativelysmall planning staff. “It’s my project,” Hawley said. “It’s what I workon all day, all night and all weekend.”

The LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system has been aguide for the project, Hawley said, and more than 5,000 Buffalo citizens have provided input over the past two years.

“We’re trying to move toward a much more predictable and certaindevelopment process where both investors and neighborhood residents know what’s required, making the process easier. The document will be a visual instruction manual for how to build ourcity, so requirements will be depicted not just through text, butthrough helpful diagrams, tables, and illustrations.”

BEST OF

Buffalo ‘Green Code’ to Replace City’s 60-Year-Old UDOCity Starts from Scratch to Completely Replace unified Code

BY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

CHRIS HAWLEY BYRON BROWN

n Former Buffalo Mayor Frank A. Sedita, left, was known by some as the “urban renewal” mayor. Serving from 1958 to 1961, and again from 1966 to 1973, Sedita presided over a massive transformation of the city landscape. Along with most other cities across the country, urban planners in Buffalo helped usher in the age of the automobile, low-density development and suburban living, all concepts that are now falling out of fashion. Photo credit: City of Buffalo

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Hawley said the new code will be much shorter and easier to under-stand than the 1,500-page document it will replace. He said the newcode will “legalize” many of Buffalo’s historic buildings and neigh-borhood developments that were written out of the code in 1953.

“We want a return of the corner tavern and the corner store, which is a staple of Buffalo… and we want to be able to adaptively reusesome of our historic resources with an adaptive reuse permit that allows a wider variety of uses for buildings that are landmarked or on the National Registry of Historic Places,” he said.

Open-air markets, artisan industrial uses, roof-top solar and residential wind turbines will all be allowable under the new code.He said the new ordinance will accommodate garden-style residen-tial landscaping rather than restricting yards to traditional turf, andit will protect some of the city’s legacy trees. The code will provide direction on rain gardens and wetlands as well as a “dark sky” ordinance that aims to reduce “light pollution” from buildings andparking lots.

One of the controversial aspects of the new code is a proposal toeliminate all minimum parking requirements. If approved, Buffalowill be one of the first large cities in the country to do so.

The Green Code project will fix what Hawley called “the worst signcode in the entire country.”

under existing code, if you own a restaurant and want to put a small“sandwich-style” chalkboard sign on the sidewalk in front of yourbusiness, you must first pay a $75 application fee. Then you need thepermission of the commissioner of inspection services and the commissioner of public works. Then you need to post a $5,000 performance bond acceptable to the city controller, holding the cityharmless in case somebody trips over the sign. Finally, you need theapproval of the common council.

“And then once you go through all that, the permit lasts for 30 daysand you have to go through the process all over again,” Hawley said,to a roar of laughter from the audience. “So, removing barriers andmaking things easier is an import part of what we’re doing.”

The Green Code will incorporate “complete streets” concepts, as wellas something Hawley called “complete blocks,” which provide guid-ance on connectivity between neighborhoods. He showed an aerialview of an “absurd example” in Orlando, Fla., where two propertyowners who share a rear lot line have to travel seven miles by car to get from one address to the other.

“That is NOT a complete block,” Hawley said. “That’s the state of ourcountry.”

He said complete blocks are “a system of small connected blocksthat allow walkable communities to happen. Complete streets are notenough; we need complete blocks.”

“What this whole project is about is deciding what kind of city Buffalo should be,” Hawley said. “That is a question that anyonewho’s thinking about their community should ask. What has occurredover the past couple of years is we found that the city we want to beis very much like the Buffalo we already have, only better. So, we’redesigning a code that hopefully will make Buffalo healthier, wealthierand more beautiful for future generations.”

For more information on the Buffalo Green Code project, seewww.buffalogreencode.com.

related youtube video: http://youtu.be/jxmEwa-KPcA

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Planning for an Aging AmericaOne in Five to be Over 65 by 2030BY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

“I hope I die before I get old…”

That line from Pete Townsend’s iconic rockand roll anthem, “My Generation,” mighthave helped American baby boomers breakfree from the shackles of a repressive establishment in 1965, but it’s evidenttoday that not many of them got their wish.

“Every 7.5 seconds, another baby boomerturns 50,” said Sandy Markwood, CEO of theNational Association of Area Agencies onAging (N4A). And, barring any unforeseencatastrophe, not many of them will be dyinganytime soon. In fact, by 2030, analysts say,more than 70 million Americans – twice thenumber in 2000 – will be 65 or older. At thattime, older adults will comprise nearly onein five Americans.

Markwood, a former urban planner, and two policy advisors from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) spoke at the recent New Partners for SmartGrowth Conference in Kansas City, Mo., in a presentation on “strategies for creatingcommunities for all ages.”

The first of the post-World War II baby boomgeneration, those born between 1946 and1964, entered the ranks of the 65-and-oldercrowd in 2011.

“So, you can no longer talk about the factthat the baby boomers are coming,” Mark-wood said to advocates for older Americans.“The aging of the baby boomers is here.”

But, while those post-war babies grab theheadlines, as they usually do, Markwoodsaid they’re not the only ones coming ashorewith the silver tsunami. The fastest growingsegment of older Americans is actuallythe 80-plus age group, meaning that theparents of baby boomers are living longerjust as their children are joining them onthe plus side of 50. The combined effect will impact Americans of every age, Markwood said.

“We’ve got a dramatically increasing agingpopulation that has just begun to turn intowhat once was called the ‘golden years,’”she said. “We’ll see how we define it, and/orredefine it, as the baby boomers age.”

“Old age isn’t really what it used to be,”Markwood said as she juxtaposed photos ofan attractive Tina Turner and a haggardAnna McNeill Whistler (made famous in the1871 portrait, Whistler’s Mother). Bothwomen were 61 years old at the time theywere photographed, yet Turner looks 20years younger.

Life expectancy in America has increasedfrom an average of 46 years in 1900 to morethan 77 today.

“We’ve really redefined what aging is in thiscountry and we’re just at the beginning ofthat redefinition,” Markwood said. “All olderadults aren’t alike… so, when you’re planning for an aging population, pleaserecognize the fact that you’re planning formultiple generations.”

The aging population also has a widely diverse racial and socioeconomic makeup.And, while the correlation between age and disability is not a direct one-to-one correlation, it’s still a fact that disabilitydoes increase as a population ages, Markwood said.

JANA LYNOTT SANDY MARKWOOD RODNEY HARRELL

Sustainable City Network Magazine

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While the aging of America will create new challenges, not all the indicators arenegative, she pointed out.

“Older people are not just a drag on society.In fact, they’re workers, they’re entrepre-neurs, they’re volunteers, they’re consumers,they’re homeowners, they’re investors. So,there are a lot of positives that come withan aging population. But, to be able to agesuccessfully, people need to plan,” she said.

That planning needs to happen at a personal level, as well as at a family andcommunity level, she said. And, it won’t justimpact your aging services department.Markwood said whole communities need tobe prepared for significant impacts to:

• Housing – Modifying existing housing, developing new housing, regenerating housing in downtown areas, developing new active communities and assisted livingfacilities, and developing new technologiesthat assist aging people in their existinghomes.

• Transportation – Making roads safer forolder drivers, making communities morewalkable with safer sidewalks and streetcrossings, expanding mass transit options,increasing mobility management efforts.

• Economic Development – Taking advan-tage of the fact that older people createeconomic opportunities and attract newbusinesses.

• Public Safety – Promoting safe communi-ties, preventing elder abuse, altering plansfor emergencies and disasters.

• Recreation – Providing multi-generationalcommunity facilities and civic programs.

N4A and a variety of local government inter-est groups conducted a survey of 10,000u.S. cities and counties in 2011, findingthat less than half of them had even begunplanning for an aging population. In its report, “The Maturing of America,” the research team concluded:“…As a result of the severe economic challenges associated with the recession,

most communities have been able only to “hold the line”— maintaining policies, programs and services already established.Thus, they have not been able to move forward to the degree needed to address thenation’s current “age wave.” The surveycaptures encouraging steps forward in someareas, and retrenchment in others. But overall, it appears that many communitiesare struggling to maintain the status quo.“We call upon policymakers at all levels ofgovernment, but particularly at the locallevel, to move forward energetically – evenif incrementally – to address the challengesat hand.”

Markwood said the report includes examplesof what some communities are doing to implement whole-scale planning – lookingacross the board at all the things they doand how those things will be impacted byan aging population.

“The bottom line is that looking at develop-ing livable communities for all ages is goodplanning; it’s good governance and it’s goodfor everyone,” Markwood said. “Whateveryou do to plan for an aging population willhelp all of your citizens.”

Rodney Harrell, Ph.D., senior strategic policyadvisor for AARP’s Housing/Livable Commu-nities Public Policy Institute, said the recentrecession not only impacted local govern-ments, but caught many older Americans off guard. He said a 2012 survey indicated a growing number of baby boomers are concerned that they may not be able to afford to stay in their homes as they growolder. And, a recent AARP study suggeststhey may be right.

“Over the last decade, all age groups havereally hit financial difficulties and that’s reflected by the fact that more older adultsnow have mortgages,” Harrell said. He saidthe study showed a significant shift from2000, when the majority of homeowners over50 owned their homes “free and clear,” to2009 when the majority had a mortgage.

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In 2011, one out of seven who still had amortgage owed more than the home wasworth, the study showed.

“And, more importantly, housing cost burdens are worsening for older adults,”Harrell said. The study showed the percent-age of middle-income people 50 and overwho spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing increased from 20 to 29 percent between 2000 and 2009. Thatthreshold defines a household as “housing-cost burdened,” he said, “meaning youcan’t afford things like emergency healthcare if something like that comes up.”

Harrell said the study concluded that housing affordability for middle-class olderadults is in jeopardy and will likely worsenas the population age 50-plus grows overthe coming decades. The recent decline inhome values will further limit the choices ofhomeowners who must rely on their home

equity to pay for supportive services orhousing alternatives, the report noted.

Harrell said local communities can help byconsidering older citizens when planning fortransit-oriented development and livablecommunities.

Jana Lynott, also an AARP public policy ad-visor, said the use of public transportationby older Americans increased by 40 percentbetween 2001 and 2009. About 16 percentof that ridership was on transit vehiclesspecialized for older or handicapped users,she said.

Lynott said one way communities are expanding the potential of these services isthrough mobility management.

“This can take many forms, from bringingthe stakeholders together to do very inte-grated public transit/human services

transportation planning, to reaching out tothe land-use planning community, as wellas being a broker to help put the consumerin touch with the transportation services available to them in the community,” she said.

One example of this exists at the Marin Access Mobility Management Center inMarin County, Calif.

“They have found a sustainable form offunding for their mobility management services,” Lynott said. “In 2010 voters approved a referendum to increase their vehicle registration fees by $10 annually. All of that funding is going to transportationin the county, but 35 percent of it is dedicated to the mobility center,” she said.

AARP’s Public Policy Institute has a variety of research papers, surveys and reports on its web site at:http://www.aarp.org/research/ppi/liv-com/

related youtube video: http://www.aarp.org/videos.id=773683854001

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NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — When you’re tryingto advance sustainability in a small town,it’s important to focus on priorities, pickyour battles carefully, and don’t show up in the council chambers looking for a hand-out.

Chris Mason, energy and sustainability officer for the small town of Northampton,population 28,500, said prioritization is akey component of a sustainability strategyin a smaller community where manpowerand financial resources are often in shortsupply.

Mason shared his perspective at the Building Energy 13 conference hosted by theNortheast Sustainable Energy Association(NESEA) recently in Boston.

“When I was hired by Northampton, my jobdescription was to improve efficiency, getrenewable energy, guard against climatechange, and guard against energy-supplydisruptions or depletions in all communitysectors… and it was a part-time job,”Mason said. “So, my first question was,‘Can you prioritize?’”

“I knew I had to work on city facilities first,to lead by example. The city had to be seendoing the right thing before it could ask private residents and businesses to join in,”he said. The first step was to create a database for tracking energy use and sav-ings through efficiency and cost-effectiverenewable energy projects.

“We spent over $6.5 million on efficiencyimprovements and, as of fiscal year 12 ourbuildings had dropped their energy use by27 percent over fiscal year 09,” he said.

All but a few city buildings were convertedfrom heating oil to high-efficiency gas or to air-source heat pumps; some parking lotlights were converted to LED lamps; and thecity installed solar-powered parking meters.

Mason’s office also facilitated the installa-tion of 129 kilowatts of solar power at twolocal schools and an adult learning center.“I install renewable energy when it makeseconomic sense, and that largely meanswhen I have a grant,” Mason said. In thecase of the Smith Vo-Ag-Tech High School inNorthampton, half the money for its 106-KWsolar array came from a low-interest CleanRenewable Energy Bond (CREB) and theother half came from a MassachusettsGreen Communities grant. The bond is paidoff with the off-set cost of electricity.

In Massachusetts, qualified rate payers also receive Solar Renewable Energy Credits(SRECs), which total between $30,000 and$70,000 per year for the Smith school proj-ect. That money is used to feed a revolvingenergy and sustainability fund controlled by

the mayor’s office and the Northampton Energy and Sustainability Commissionto drive more energy efficiency projects inNorthampton.

Acquiring these funding sources is a bigpart of the job, Mason said.

“You need to bring your own resources to thetable. I didn’t expect to go to the city counciland have them give me a lot of funding to do stuff. So, I’m always looking for resources and I’m always looking for community support.”

Mason said Northampton has had an energycommission and designated energy officers“on and off” since the mid-1980s.

Small Town Makes Big Strides in Energy EfficiencyNorthampton Makes Sustainability a High PriorityBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

CHRIS MASON

The current commission includes four city department heads, two city councilors, arepresentative of a local school, four members of the public and several non-voting associates, including Mason.

Mason’s job is funded by a state programthat provides local communities with a certain amount of money for every residentor business that selects the renewable energy option on their electric bill.

“Northampton raised over $260,000 thisway, over three years,” Mason said. “Weraised twice as much as any other commu-nity in Massachusetts, including Boston andWorcester. So, that gives you a sense of wholives in Northampton. They’re willing to puttheir money where their mouth is.”

Northampton’s downtown trash is collectedby haulers on bicycles, and the city’s 121-acre community farm is the largest in thestate, Mason said. Its landfill has an 800kilowatt gas-to-energy plant, and 70 per-cent of city residents live within a half mileof a multi-use trail.

The city has won a number of state awardsand designations for its sustainability efforts. “We’re doing a lot, but there’s a lotmore to be done,” Mason said.

After making city facilities energy efficient,Mason’s next priority is to reduce barriers for private property owners by doing what he can to change city policy and build partnerships to make energy efficiency andrenewable energy easy and affordable. A big part of that job is opening the lines ofcommunication between citizens, local utilities and city staff to make sure thecommunity knows what incentives are available, who qualifies and how to apply.

“One local business owner said, ‘Surethere’s money out there, but what’s the painfactor?’ And what he meant by that is howmuch time, how much effort, how many

phone calls do I have to make in order to getthis energy efficiency in? …We want to reduce that time and effort for businesses,”Mason said.

So, a partnership was established betweenthe local utility company and a nonprofitgroup to act as an “energy concierge” service helping businesses select and apply for the appropriate rebates and otherincentives. The city’s role in the project isto act as a public relations component, encouraging participation and promotingthe advantages of the program.

City code now requires new buildings to exceed Energy Star ratings for efficiency;the city provides “as-of-right” and expe-dited permitting for photovoltaic generationprojects greater than 200 KW; it enactedstreamlined permitting and site-plan review of residential level ground-mount PV; it developed a fuel-efficient vehicle purchasing policy; and it now requires new municipal buildings to meet LEED criteria,specifically with regard to clean energy.

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related youtube video: http://youtu.be/W8Goth_NvpA

n Northampton, Mass., Mayor David J. Narkewicz, left, unveils a sign for the Florence Organic Community Garden, 7+ acres of space at the Northampton Community Farm dedicated to making garden space available to residents of any income level. At 121 acres, Northampton’s community farm is the largest in the state. Photo credit: Grow Food Northampton

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DES MOINES, Iowa – You can call BarryShear and his Dubuque-based company,Eagle Point Solar, a lot of things – renew-able power advocates, solar energy systemdevelopers, cutting-edge local business, for example – but the one thing you can’tcall them is an electric power utility. Soruled a district court judge recently when reversing an Iowa utilities Board opinion tothe contrary.

Polk County District Court Judge CarlaSchemmel reversed the board’s 2012 rulingthat a power purchase agreement betweenEagle Point Solar and the city of Dubuqueconstituted a breach of Alliant Energy’s protected service territory.

This story begins in 2011. That’s whenDubuque, a city interested in sustainabilityand lowering its carbon footprint, decided asolar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of its Maintenance Operations Center wouldbe a great idea. City officials worked withEagle Point Solar, which developed and installed the system.

One wrinkle: as a tax-exempt organization,Dubuque could not use the renewable energy incentives crucial for making renewable energy systems affordable. So, they convinced a local bank to act as a third-party investor that would own thesystem and sell them the power through athird-party Power Purchase Agreement(PPA).

However, Alliant Energy objected to thisplan, arguing that PPAs are not allowed inIowa and that Eagle Point Solar was, in effect, acting as a utility company, thus illegally competing with Alliant. They arguedthat in a regulated utility state like Iowa,the utility company’s rights, duties and obligations are assigned by law.

According to Shear, “Alliant is taking theposition that by furnishing electricity, I aman electricity provider, triggering their monopoly provisions as a regulated utility.”The difference, he said, is that he is not“furnishing electricity to the public for compensation.”

Judge Schemmel ruled that selling electric-ity to the city of Dubuque via a third-partypower purchase agreement does not meanEagle Point Solar is a public utility or anelectric utility. However, the ruling was narrow. The court said “its determination islimited to these parties, this PPA and theparticular facts and circumstances of thecase before it.”

Alliant officials have indicated they are considering what might happen next, whichcould include an appeal of the ruling to ahigher court. “We’re still trying to figure outwhat it means,” Alliant spokesperson JustinFoss told the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.“What we know is, this order only applies tothat one installation on that one building inDubuque. It is not a broad order or a policychange overall.”

Dubuque and Eagle Point Solar had to dosome complicated negotiations to changetheir thwarted PPA into a lease agreement.The solution was to lease the solar equip-ment directly to the city, charging a flatmonthly fee.

The 847 rooftop PV panels were online inlate November of 2011, allowing them toproduce electricity right on schedule. ButDave Heiar, economic development directorfor the city, said it was only a few monthsago that the city was able to receive anycredit from Alliant for any excess power thesolar system produced.

“We were surprised based on previous rulingfrom the utilities board,” Heiar said of thecourt’s ruling. “This was a huge reversal.”That said, the city is unlikely to backtrackand negotiate the PPA they’d once hope toenter into.

“After the initial decision by the utilitiesboard we revamped our agreement withEagle Point Solar so we have an agreementin place that does coincide with the way therules were being interpreted by the board.We are not sure if we want to go back to theoriginal agreement. We would need to donew calculations to decide if it was worth itto change,” Heiar said.

Shear’s reaction to the ruling was not somuch one of surprise as it was of “delight,”he said. “We had a very high confidencelevel that we would win in district court and that the Iowa utilities Board did not adequately consider current state lawaround transactions.” He isn’t sure on whatgrounds the case could be appealed.

Power Purchase Agreement Wins in Iowa District CourtJudge Rules Solar Company is Not a ‘Public utility’BY JuLIANNE COuCH

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“The utility took the position Eagle PointSolar would be one of the state’s three utilities, since we were proposing to sell energy behind the meter on a customer-owned site. They didn’t win.”

Shear said he’s spent a great deal of timeover the matter of his company being considered a public utility and whether PPAsare legal or not. As a result, “I haven’t reallypursued municipal deals, which is a shame.They all want to power their buildings, theirwastewater treatment plants, their highschools. unless I can deliver it in a structurethat works, these entities can’t get incen-tives for renewable energy.”

Shear said he will now start trying to pursuemunicipal deals using PPA instruments “because we won the case, so right nowthat is the law.”

As Shear noted, “this is not just about meas a businessman in Dubuque. This is not a Dubuque or an Iowa case. It is really a national case. Twenty-three other states areclosely following the decision.”

According to the Database of State Incen-tives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE), manygovernmental entities and other tax-exemptorganizations are developing renewable energy projects. For example, in recentyears, the city of Minneapolis used a PPA toinstall a 600 kilowatt solar PV system on theroof of the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Regulations vary widely by state. In light of this, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), operated by the u.S. Department of Energy, issued a technical report describing the desirability of renew-able energy and the often prohibitive cost.One solution they describe is the third-partyPPA. While acknowledging some of the obstacles presented by public utilities, NRELsaid some states, including Colorado, NewMexico, and California, have determined

that third-party owned systems are not utilities or electrical corporations and aretherefore exempt from regulation.

Nevada and Oregon exclude third-partyowned renewable energy systems (specifi-cally solar and wind power in Oregon) fromthe definition of a public utility. Peter Kostesof the Nevada Public Service Commissionexplained that even though Nevada is astate that regulates utilities, it has a “hybrid condition for those large commercialcustomers or public entities as a way toleave the electric grid provider in a regulated process.”

Nevada codifies exemptions to developersbased on location, size, and percentage ofthe overall electrical requirement. “There is a process for commercial customers, 1 megawatt or larger, to exit the system,”

Kostes said. “There is another way for publicentities to do the same thing if aggregatedto at least 1 megawatt. under bill SB 211,they could exit the system, but the difficultyis the reserve requirement for transmissionand that economically kills that process formost. The requirement that such systemscan’t produce more than 150 percent of theelectrical load on site is key.”

For Heiar and the city of Dubuque, the bottom line is that having more than oneway to pursue renewable energy projects isa good thing. “For future projects, assumingthe ruling stands, cities would have anotheroption on how to fund these improvements,”he said.

Julianne Couch is the author of “Travelingthe Power Line: From the Mojave Desert tothe Bay of Fundy” (2013).

n The city of Dubuque, Iowa rescinded a power purchase agreement with its solar contractor, Eagle Point Solar, in 2011 when its public utility said the PPA violated the monopoly provisions of the state’s utility regulations. Instead, the city agreed to lease the solar equipment installed on the roof of its Maintenance Operations Center. In April 2013, an Iowa District Court judge reversed the state utility board’s decision and ruled the solar contractor is not a public utility under existing law. Photo credit: Eagle Point Solar

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DuBuQuE, Iowa – Three women who have helped community leadersand some of the world’s most successful companies plot a coursetoward a more sustainable future will deliver keynote addresses at

the 6th annual Growing Sustainable Communities Conference Sept.24-25 at the Grand River Center in Dubuque.

Michele Hunt, founder of Vision & Values, a leadership consultingfirm based in Washington D.C., will share her thoughts on The Powerof Visionary Leadership, which she defines as leaders who put visionand values to work to achieve extraordinary success. Hunt is astrategic advisor on leadership, team and organizational develop-ment, cultural transformation and communications. She is known internationally for her work helping leaders develop strong, cohesiveleadership teams to enable them to create high-performance,high‐energy organizations. Read more about Michele Hunt.

Rebecca Ryan, futurist, author and founder of Next Generation Consulting, will present Cities 3.0: Reflecting, Responding and Redesigning for an Uncertain Future. As we enter a new era in whichcities have fewer resources, citizens are uncertain about their future,and people become more “home-oriented,” civic leaders must remember what cities are for, and make smart, contemporary choicesto endear them to generations to come. In this dynamic presentation,audiences will learn about NGC’s extensive research on “Next Cities”- places that have the attributes to become talent magnets - and willhelp cities gather momentum for “The New Normal.” Read moreabout Rebecca Ryan.

Deb Frodl is global executive director of ecomagination, GeneralElectric’s commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions totoday’s environmental challenges while driving economic growth.

Dubuque to Host 6th Annual Sustainability ConferenceVisionaries to Headline Sept. 24-25 EventBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

DEB FRODL MICHELE HuNT REBECCA RYAN.

growingsustainable communities

www.gscdubuque.com

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Learn how GE is investing $10 billion in clean-tech research and development and reducing water use by over 45 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30 percent. GE, the thirdlargest company in the world, is currently the number one wind manufacturer and is developing hybrid locomotives, desalination and water reuse solutions. The company has deployed more than5,000 alternative fuel vehicles and has launched infrastructure solutions including CNG in a Box and Wattstation to support adoption. Read more about Deb Frodl.

Presented by the City of Dubuque and Sustainable City Network, the Growing Sustainable Communities Conference is intended forcommunity leaders representing local government, business, non-profits, and schools. This year’s event, sponsored by CrescentElectric Supply, GE Lighting and other corporate sponsors, will directly precede the Iowa League of Cities’ annual conference, also atthe Grand River Center. Iowa League members who register for theGrowing Sustainable Communities Conference will receive a couponcode for $60 off the ILC conference registration fee when registeringonline prior to Aug. 21.

The GSC conference will feature 25 educational workshops and mobile tours related to sustainability, resource conservation and community engagement. Registration is now open at http://gscdubuque.com. Early-bird pricing is in effect for a limitedtime.

Complete session descriptions and updates can be found athttp://gscdubuque.com/programming.htm.

Workshop topics will include:– Creative stakeholder engagement– Waste-to-fuel technology– Green-business certification– Sustainability planning– Renewable energy– Green building best practices– Deconstruction– urban forestry– Composting– Bike-sharing– Green infrastructure– Green fleets– Lighting retrofits– Flood and drought protection– Alternative fuel vehicles– Sustainability metrics– Stormwater management– Health and aging– Local foods

Connect with the conference on Twitter at #gscDubuque.

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Community gardens have the potential to beautify vacant lots, augment local food supplies and enhance the urban environment ina variety of ways. But, successful program management requirescareful planning and ongoing support, according to Eileen Horn, sustainability coordinator for Douglas County and the city ofLawrence, Kan.

In the winter of 2011, the city surveyed its vacant and underutilizedproperties, identified appropriate sites for agriculture, and madethese sites available to citizens through an application process.

During the 2012 growing season, four pilot sites were opened to thepublic through partnerships with neighborhood associations, nonprofit organizations and schools. The sites include a neighbor-hood community garden, a youth-focused garden in a city park, acommunity orchard for free picking, and a market farm coordinatedby college and middle school students. In exchange for receiving afree license for use of city property, each applicant created a community benefit plan for their project.

Horn presented an overview of the city’s “Common Ground” community gardens program in an April 18 webinar hosted by Sustainable City Network. A video recording of the webinar can bedownloaded at sCityNetwork.com/webinars.

Home to the university of Kansas, Lawrence is a town of approxi-mately 88,000 people located between Topeka, Kan., and Kansas City,Mo. Despite last year’s devastating drought, the four gardens

maintained by 41 gardeners and 640 volunteers managed to generate an estimated 5,800 pounds of produce at a market value of approximately $11,700.

Horn said the city was encouraged to develop a community gardenprogram by citizens active in a grass-roots effort to promote localfoods. A food policy council had already been established by DouglasCounty in 2009 and participation in the local farmers’ market hadbeen growing exponentially for several years, she said.

“Although we had some privately funded community gardens aroundthe city, many of them lacked continuity or potentially lacked fund-ing, so some of them would fizzle out after a couple years,” she said.

Spurred by research from the food policy council that revealed morethan 10,000 area residents had limited access to grocery stores and healthy food choices, and less than 0.1 percent of the area’sfarmland was devoted to vegetable production, Horn said the city decided to investigate how community gardens might play a role inmitigating the area’s 54 percent overweight/obesity rate withoutbeing overly burdensome for city staff to implement.

Lawrence drew inspiration from successful community garden programs in Cleveland and Boston, both of which provide city prop-erty but rely heavily on local organizations to take responsibility foroperating the gardens.

Community Gardens Flourish in Lawrence, KansasBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

E ILEEN HORN

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Key goals established for the Common Ground program includedsupporting the local food economy; supporting the city’s healthy food

initiatives; helping address food access issues in the city’s “fooddeserts;” providing for potential “agritourism;” supporting neighbor-hoods; and avoiding maintenance costs of existing vacant lots.

“A lot of the applicants ended up donating their excess produce (550pounds of it) to food pantries and organizations that serve familiesin need,” Horn said, “and this was a great way to help address foodaccess issues in our community.”

As the city looked for properties that would be appropriate for community gardens, certain characteristics emerged.

“We were especially interested in looking for vacant or under-utilizedproperties,” Horn said. “Being near neighborhoods was a key point,because we wanted to be sure people could walk to these communitygardens, feel pride and keep an eye on them to protect them fromvandalism.”

It was also important that sites had access to existing water infra-structure; were unlikely to face development pressure; and had aknown land-use history. The latter consideration was particularly important for ensuring that food grown in the gardens would behealthy and free of toxins.

“The past use of a particular site – for example, if it was a housethat had lead paint on it – can be really critical,” Horn said. “It couldpotentially be a source of contamination for your garden, so we definitely wanted to avoid that.”

The city identified more than a dozen sites of various sizes. Somewere on undeveloped park land and some on vacant lots. A few proposed sites were on county land outside the city limits, but thosewere eventually ruled out. The city tested the soil for contaminatesand reviewed the sites for potential stormwater issues. A press release was issued, site neighbors were notified and public meetingswere held to gather citizen input.

Once the sites were established, the city published a request for applications on its web site. The application asked prospective garden organizers for a narrative description of their project plan,design drawings, a business/fundraising plan, a community benefitplan and an agreement to adhere to city codes and procedures.

“We wanted to know what kind of production they were going to beusing,” Horn said. “Was it a community garden; was it a marketfarm; were they going to be selling the produce; donating it; working

with a school? If it was a community garden, then they didn’t haveto do a business plan or talk to us about their business model. But, ifit was going to be a market farm, we asked the growers to explain tous where their outlets were. Were they going to be selling at thefarmers’ market, were they setting up a community-supported agriculture program, etc.”

Design drawings helped city planners determine if there would beany conflicts with city development codes. Horn said no codes wereadded or revised, although the city already had some applicable codewith respect to gardens, urban chickens, hoop houses and such.

“In recognition of the fact that they get free access to this land andthey could potentially be using it for commercial gain… we askedthem to propose a community benefit plan,” Horn said. “In the community benefit plan, they outlined what they were going to do to pay that back or pay it forward. And we got some really creativeproposals to donate food to the food pantry, to teach classes andworkshops, to partner with schools. There were some really creativecomponents, so I would highly recommend including the communitybenefit plan if you’re considering a program like this,” she said.

These plans also help answer potential concerns about the programunfairly competing with commercial growers, Horn said.

A dozen applications were reviewed and scored by the DouglasCounty Food Policy Council, which sent its recommendations to thecity commission.

In 2012, four sites were awarded “rolling” three-year license agree-ments: a children’s community garden in a city park; a garden operated by a nonprofit neighborhood group on a vacant lot; a community orchard; and a market farm operated by a local community college’s sustainable agriculture program in partnershipwith a foundation that supplies food to local schools.

The rolling license is renewed for another year after each successfulyear of operation, assuming the grower complies with the program.The city pays for the installation of water meters at each site, andthe growers pays for any water infrastructure beyond the meter.Growers pay the “irrigation-only” rate for the water they use. In somecases, the city provides liability insurance and allows the gardens tobe subleased to multiple participants.

Growers must maintain properties in compliance with noise andweed codes, and must adhere to the city’s agricultural chemical policy. Oversight is provided by Horn and the food policy council,however, Horn said numerous city departments have been involved in creating and maintaining the program.

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“This required the participation of our water utility, our planning department, our waste-reduction/recycling division, which donatedcompost, our city manager’s office, the city attorney… this was amulti-departmental effort,” she said. Her busiest months, when shespends 10 to 20 percent of her time on the Common Ground program,are January during the application phase and March, when the gardens begin operations. “They kind of run themselves after that,”she said.

Horn called the success of the first year “remarkable.”

“I had one citizen complaint call (concerning weeds at one of thegardens) over the course of the entire growing season,” she said. “It was really amazing to see how the community supported and embraced this.”

As a result, the city has expanded the Common Ground program for2013. Added was an “incubator farm,” which will be operated bythree independent market farmers who will donate some of their produce to food pantries, and another nonprofit neighborhood community garden.

Horn’s advice to cities considering similar programs include: – Target “food deserts” – Partner with organizations with proven capacity – Educate commissioners about the community benefit plan – Monitor and evaluate – Form solid partnerships with community groups

n A children-focused community garden in Lawrence, Kan., hosted “The Great Veggie Hunt” organized by the Dads of Douglas County in summer 2012. The “garden incubator” project was funded in part by a $4,500 grant from the Kansas Health Foundation. It includes a variety of “sensory plants” that are fun and educational for children to touch and smell. The garden is one of four pilot sites in the city’s Common Ground community garden program, which is expanding in 2013. Photo credit: City of Lawrence, Kan.

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Seattle Breaks New Ground with Bicycle Master PlanCity Revs up Its Pedal Power

SEATTLE, Wash. – Already considered amongthe leading u.S. cities for “bikeability” thecity of Seattle has recently taken strides toaccelerate its plan to triple bicycle usageand improve bike safety in the city.

In June, the Seattle Department of Trans-portation made a draft of its 2013 BicycleMaster Plan available for public comment. It includes the city’s vision of making “riding a bicycle a comfortable and integralpart of daily life in Seattle for people of allages and abilities.” The improvements andactions identified in the plan will not onlymake bicycling a viable form of transporta-tion for Seattle residents, workers and visitors, but will also help the city achieveits goals relating to climate change, economic vitality and community livability.

“This plan will make riding a bike easierand safer for a broad group of people,” saidMayor Mike McGinn. “A combination of cycletracks, trails and neighborhood greenwayswill encourage healthy active travel foreveryone from our children to our grandpar-ents.”

using public input, the draft plan was developed over the past year and reviewedby the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board. Twophases of outreach have been conducted to date, including an online survey andmapping tool, and a series of public meet-ings in November 2012. The draft includesan updated policy framework; a networkplan map, showing the location and type ofnew bicycle facilities throughout the city; abicycle facilities visual glossary; recommen-dations for end-of-trip facilities and pro-grams; and a prioritization framework forhow new projects will be evaluated.

“Council intends for the new Bicycle MasterPlan to make Seattle the leading city whenit comes to providing a safe, connected bicycle network that works for all riders,ages 8-80,” said Councilmember Tom Rasmussen.

Rasmussen, who chairs the city’s trans-portation committee, has been a long-timeproponent of bicycling in Seattle. Safety hasbeen one of his biggest concerns. In anewsletter released in May, Rasmussen recounted the recent death of a bicyclist in

a collision with a truck on a designated bicycle route leading from West Seattle todowntown.

“While we are not certain what led to thecollision, I am determined to improve conditions on this route that will benefit bicyclists and motorists,” he said. Rasmussen said he bikes the route himselfon occasion and knows first-hand how badly improvements are needed.

“It is very challenging because of the heavytraffic and the many and sometimes con-fusing crossings. There are long stretcheswhere the streets have been pulverized bythe mammoth trucks going to and from thePort. The conditions require extra caution oneveryone’s part whether they bicycle or drivethis route,” he said.

Last fall the Seattle City Council increasedthe 2013 SDOT budget for bicycle improve-ments city-wide, and specifically fundedimprovements to the West Seattle - EastMarginal Way bike corridor. The accident inMay has given new urgency to completingthose improvements.

TOM RASMuSSEN

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Seattle has been working on its bicycle system since the early 1970s, when theemphasis was on building off-street trailsand installing signage for designated on-street bike routes. On-street bike lanesbegan appearing in the 1980s.

“As the bicycling movement grew, an emphasis was placed on the shared use ofarterials,” Rasmussen said. “Seattle recog-nized a need for a comprehensive approachto our bicycle investments. This was thecontext for development of the 2007 BicycleMaster Plan.”

It was this plan that set up a 10-yearframework for tripling the use of bicycles inthe city and reducing the rate of bicyclecrashes by one third, through education, enforcement and investments in 450 milesof safe, connected bicycling facilities, according to Rasmussen’s newsletter. Thesefacilities included in-street bike lanes,shared lane pavement markings (called“sharrows”), climbing lanes, bicycle boule-vards (neighborhood greenways), multi-usetrails, as well as safer intersections andcrossings.

Rasmussen said the city is on track to fulfillthe 2007 plan’s goals for most of the in-street network of bike lines, sharrows andsigned routes, but is behind on some of themore “complicated or expensive projects,”which he said have been held up by fundingshortfalls, permitting or legal hurdles.

Despite those obstacles, Seattle’s bicyclesystem improvements helped the cityachieve gold level “Bicycle Friendly Community” status by the League ofAmerican Bicyclists, and Seattle’s bicyclecommute rate (3.5%) is second only to Portland, Ore. (6.3%), among the 70 largestu.S. cities, according to the league.

Seattle, along with cities like New York andPortland, has helped write the book on engineering standards for bicycle facilities.These and other cities formed the NationalAssociation of City Transportation Officials(NACTO), which in 2011 published its firsturban Bikeway Design Guide. This guidehelped form the basis of Seattle’s 2013draft plan.

According to the plan’s introduction, “theBMP update provides an opportunity to include fast-evolving best practices andnew thinking towards bicycle facilities, resulting in planned investments that will

serve a broader range of people who ride bicycles as well as those interested in riding a bike.”

“The case for improving the bicycling environment for people of all ages and abilities is growing,” the plan authorswrote. “Academic and popular literature isexpanding America’s under¬standing of therelationships between bicycling and health,economic, and environmental benefits, timecompetitiveness, space efficiency, and equity. There is evidence that bicycling isgood for individuals, cities, and society as a whole.”

n The city of Seattle has released a draft of its 2013 Bicycle Master Plan, which includes fast-evolving best practices and new thinking towards bicycle facilities. The new plan intends to increase the number of people who bicycle and make it safer for everyone. Photo credit: City of Seattle

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Gulf Coast Slow to Recover from Hurricanes Katrina and IsaacAuthor Finds Signs of Hope Amid Damage Still ApparentBY JuLIANNE COuCH

Earlier this year, during a long spell of snow and cold, the travel bugbit me. My thoughts drifted to the white sands and blue waters of theGulf of Mexico. My fingers soon followed, and in no time I found myself online, surfing vacation rental homes up and down the coastof Mississippi and Louisiana. Based on my aversion to crowds andcasinos, I selected a vacation home half a mile from the beach in thequiet town of Waveland, Miss. It was just small enough and farenough from the water to be affordable, thus perfect for my husband,our dog, and me.

It honestly never occurred to me to connect the list of towns I’d re-searched, including Waveland, Bay St. Louis, and Gulfport, to anyspecific events in the news. I knew there were frequent hurricanes,such as Isaac, which struck in 2012. I knew the BP drilling rig explosion gushed oil into part of the Gulf in 2010. I knew HurricaneKatrina had badly damaged the Gulf area, most famously New Orleans, about 50 miles west of Waveland. But that was in 2005. Ancient history, I thought.

A Google Earth view of the rental house was my first indication thatWaveland’s significant damage from Katrina lingered still. It was in abeautiful spot: a quiet cul-de-sac blocks from a major street, with amature live oak in the front yard and wooded lots filling the block.Zooming in closer, I could see etched in those overgrown lots the outline of a foundation here, the remains of a crumbled drivewaythere. The streets here are not much wider than a bike path might bein other towns. Panning in all directions, I saw that the aerial viewrevealed mile after mile of neighborhoods, each with only a few intact houses. It wasn’t until arriving in town that I understood thatwhile quiet streets are nice for middle-aged spring breakers, they are getting old for the local residents.

My husband and I started each morning of our week-long tripdrinking coffee on the front porch of our rental-house-on-stilts. Theplace was built in 2010 to hopefully sit higher than the next tidalsurge. Swaying on our porch swing, we’d notice the neighbors fromthe two houses still standing on our block leave for work. Then in the motorless quiet, a cacophony of mockingbirds, blue jays, and

cardinals would fill the densely timbered lots with song. Some days astray dog, not ever the same one, would tentatively skitter down themiddle of our road, headed for the trees.

One evening we walked two blocks to a neighborhood bar and grillthat specialized in soft-shell crab and alligator Po-Boys. This structure was not on stilts and, indeed, had filled with water nearto the ceilings when Katrina hit. The owners had soldiered on, however, repairing what they could, leaving the foundation at groundlevel and hoping for the best.

Part of our daily routine included driving a few miles southwest alongBeach Boulevard, past block after block of empty waterfront property,occasionally punctuated by an under-construction home or condo-minium. Here, “empty lot” might include a set of porch steps to

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nowhere, or a teetering chimney stack. Our destination on thesedrives was Buccaneer State Park, on the west edge of Waveland, to wander the trail system which led to a gazebo overlooking amarshland full of egrets, pelicans and other water birds.

Katrina’s 140 mile per hour winds and a tidal surge of nearly 30 feetcompletely destroyed all of the park’s structures, ironically includingthe water park. The state park has been under varying stages of reconstruction since that time. Phase III of the reconstruction isscheduled to be complete this year. As testimony to that goal, our nature strolls were accompanied by the smell of freshly oiled parkinglots and the sound of skid-steer loaders prepping the campgroundfor resurgent motor home traffic.

Some mornings we’d leave our neighborhood and drive northeastalong Beach Boulevard, into Bay St. Louis. This community andWaveland are really one — at least in the eyes of visitors — their division only apparent by a line on the map. At 12 feet above sealevel, Bay St. Louis is the highest point along the Gulf Coast. Thisarea was heavily destroyed by Katrina also, including the Highway 90 causeway and railroad bridge connecting this part of the GulfCoast to Pass Christian. Now a small restaurant, antique store andart gallery district is thriving there.

We stopped a few times at Antique Maison, in Bay St. Louis, just afew blocks from the Gulf. We visited with proprietor Ed Young, a NewOrleans native and long-time resident of Bay St. Louis, who madesure we found at least one thing we couldn’t live without that wouldstill fit into our car. We told him we’d escaped south from the longstring of winter storms in the Midwest.

“I’m not trying to be facetious,” he said, looking only a little bit likehe was. “But how do y’all live there?”

Not letting on we’d been thinking the exact same thing about people choosing to live in the path of one devastating hurricaneafter another, we asked about the town’s recovery from Katrina.Young told us stories in the way of a man who can sit all day on aporch, visiting with friends, never tiring of tales. He told us he andhis wife Sylvia operated a bridal/tuxedo rental store in the buildingwhere the antique store is now. When the storm hit, they had “wedding gowns and tuxedos floating all over the Gulf.” He describedthe unthinkable

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scale of the disaster, in human and commercial terms. He also saidthat volunteers from churches all over the country made the differ-ence in the area’s recovery. Now, he said, things were moving moreslowly without those legions of volunteers, especially when it comesto the skilled crafts people require in construction.

“We rednecks know how to put up a roof,” he said, chuckling.

“But now we need men who know how to do electrical work andplumbing.”

That need might be real, but the “rednecks” and their supporterswere able to rebuild the causeway, the railroad bridge, and muchmore. Waveland, too, is progressing, with much of the area north ofHighway 90 still a vibrant community. It has schools, a hospital, intact residential neighborhoods and useful businesses. It also hasthe Garfield Ladner fishing pier, which looks inviting, with its baitshop and restrooms. The pier is new, built to replace the onecompletely destroyed by Katrina. But it was damaged in 2012 byHurricane Isaac and still sits barricaded and unused. Now the city ofWaveland has sued the contractor, arguing the pier was not elevatedto required levels, making the city ineligible for reimbursement byFEMA for damage repair. This brief telling belies a long complicatedstory, the sort that is not unusual along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.Wrangling between local governments, federal agencies, insurancecompanies and average citizens was evident wherever we looked.

We’d see this deserted pier each day as we walked the white sandbeach, flanked between a broad, newly laid concrete sidewalk andthe sparkling blue Gulf waters. Our dog chased seagulls and learnedthe hard way not to slake his thirst with salt water. Walking along theedge of the surf, we gathered to take home with us the sorts ofbeach-combed treasures people have brought back from ocean vacations since vacations began: a red plastic lobster, a white coffeemug, a mostly eroded fishing bobber. And in a little plastic bear thatonce held Iowa honey, we stowed a handful of that white sand.

Julianne Couch, who resides in Bellevue, Iowa, is the author of Traveling the Power Line: From the Mojave Desert to the Bay of Fundy (2013).

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related youtube video: http://youtu.be/ddWMi5f34rQ

n This property in Kiln, Miss., is about 12 miles north of Waveland. Kiln is best known as the birthplace of NFL quarterback Brett Favre. Now it is also known as being hard-hit by hurricanes Katrina and Isaac. Many Gulf Coast properties are in various stages of rebuilding. The owners of this property make it clear that even though they don’t have much, they are prepared to defend what they have left. The message scrawled on the building reads, “No Trespassing. u-Loot, I Shoot.” Photo credit: Ronald K. Hansen

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Just last year, workers inKansas City replaced the last of the city’swooden sewer pipes, some constructed priorto the Civil War. But, the infrastructurechanges having the most impact on onechallenged neighborhood are blossomingabove the ground, not buried beneath it.

Green infrastructure is helping alleviatecombined sewer overflows, as intended, inthe neighborhood where heavy rains oftensent raw sewage spilling into the waterwaysof the Middle Blue River Basin.

But, Jan Marcason, a Kansas City coun-cilmember speaking at the recent New Partners for Smart Growth Conference inKansas City, said going green in the basinhas created a ripple effect, increasing community pride, a spike in private investment, an increase in property values,and citizens who are more engaged inneighborhood beautification projects andcity policymaking.

Marcason said her city plans to spendnearly $4.5 billion over the next two decadesto implement its combined sewer overflow

control plan, the largest capital project inthe city’s history.

In a city that has expanded to more than320 square miles – eight times the area ofSan Francisco – Marcason said Kansas Cityhas 1,750 miles of sanitary sewer lines and1,050 miles of combined sewer lines, whichserve 653,000 people in the city and 27satellite communities. Its seven wastewatertreatment plants treat nearly 40 billion gallons of sewage per year.

As in many cities across the nation, the u.S. Environmental Protection Agency ismandating changes to Kansas City’sstormwater management systems to bringcombined sewer overflows under control.

Kansas City’s consent decree with the EPAgives the city 25 years to develop systemsthat will capture and treat 88 percent ofcombined sewer overflows and eliminatesanitary sewer overflows during a five-yearrain event. The region’s clay soil and “tor-rential” rain patterns make this particularlychallenging in Kansas City, Marcason said.

To meet the federal demands, the city’s 25-year plan, beginning in 2010, starts withvarious green infrastructure projects andpostpones the construction of huge under-ground rainwater detention systems forabout 14 years. This buys the city time toextend financing terms and see just howmuch green infrastructure and other systemimprovements can reduce the overflows before final decisions are made on the size and scope of the gray infrastructure investments, Marcason said.

She said Kansas City was the first city inthe nation to include green infrastructure inan EPA consent decree, and the first to begiven 25 years to execute the plan – anextra five years to allow the native plantsused in green infrastructure to reach theirfull potential.

In May of 2011, the city started with an $80million investment in green infrastructurethat included the construction of 64 raingardens, 30 bio-retention cells, 36 curb extensions, five cascade rain gardens, fourpermeable paver sidewalks, and 23 porouspavement sidewalks, among other green solutions. Construction was completed inDecember 2012.

Half of that $80 million investment hasgone toward green infrastructure in the Middle Blue River basin, a “challenged”neighborhood that was originally intendedto get a $50 million underground stormwa-ter detention facility. “With green solutions,we think we can capture the same amountof rainfall for $40 million,” she said.

Marcason said green infrastructure has four economic advantages over conventionalstormwater management techniques:

1) It costs less to construction and implement.

2) It is used as a neighborhood and community development strategy. “We don’t just do pipes,” Marcason said. “We use green infrastructure to improve neighborhoods and do economic devel-opment.” She said property values in the Middle Blue River Basin have already

Green Infrastructure Passes Kansas City TestCity Official Says Green Solutions Make Economic SenseBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

JAN MARCASON

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gone up, and she credits the green infrastructure for creating a “spring-board” to neighborhood beautification efforts and private investment.

3) The strategy creates “green jobs” in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the city. Maintaining green infrastruc-ture requires low-skill labor that is available locally.

4) It makes city operations more efficient.

“We’ve really looked at our businessprocesses and have done a lot more inte-grated planning with our water services department, our public works departmentand our parks department,” she said. “Andthat’s saved us money.”

The integrated planning approach used in Kansas City is being offered as a best-practice example by the EPA, as reportedlast November.

Citizen engagement has also been a keyfactor in the project’s success, Marcasonsaid.

Kansas City formed the Wet Weather Panelin 2003, a 50-member citizen group thatprovides input in the overflow control program. A utility Funding Task Force is another citizen-led initiative that has researched and made recommendations onthe level of funding coming from taxes, special assessments, system developmentcharges and other local sources.

Marcason said these groups have pushedfor green infrastructure solutions, particu-larly because very little federal or statefunding is available for major gray infrastructure projects. At the same time,

Kansas City has initiated a relief program,funded by late-payment fees, to assist low-income rate payers who have trouble payingtheir ever-increasing utilities bills.

Marcason credits the city’s community outreach and engagement efforts for thefact that a $500 million water and sewerbond referendum passed with 80 percent of the vote in 2005.

“With green infrastructure, we wanted tomultiply the spending impact,” she said.“When people are spending that muchmoney, they want to see something for it.When you just put pipes underground, theydon’t see where their money is going.”

“We really feel like this will show that greensolutions do work and they provide much-needed economic development and increaseproperty values. These results will guide theother phases of the overflow control planthat will follow,” she said.

“The community’s commitment to green infrastructure provides that triple bottomline – social, economic and environmentalbenefits that make our city a better place tolive and work,” Marcason said. “So, we feellike we’ve proven in Kansas City that we canre-think the way we do infrastructure. Forus, green infrastructure was a viable solu-tion that not only saved money, but re-builtcommunity pride.”

n Kansas City Mayor Sly James shows off the design of street sign toppers for the first “KC Green Neighborhood.” The city completed an $80 million green infrastructure project in December and officials say the new rain gardens, curb extensions and other green solutions have boosted neighborhood pride, spurring private investment and increased property values. Photo credit: City of Kansas City

related youtube video: http://youtu.be/pi7WHysURGs

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The recent news that Moore, Okla., had beendevastated by another EF5 tornado – thesecond of that magnitude in 14 years –brought to mind a session at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference inKansas City this past February. In that session, titled “Howling Winds and OminousSkies: Disaster Resilience in the Age of Climate Change,” speakers recounted twoextreme weather events and how local officials worked with state and federalagencies to deal with the aftermath and rebuild their communities.

A 2007 EF5 tornado that nearly wiped outthe village of Greensburg, Kan., and a 2008flood that spilled over the 500-year flood-plain in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, provided lessons applicable to any community thatsuddenly finds itself up to its neck in mudand mayhem.

Bob Dixon was elected mayor of Greensburg,population 777, in 2008 about a year afterthe 1.7-mile-wide tornado destroyed nearlyevery building in the community, includinghis own house. The city’s population wasmore than 1,500 prior to the storm.

“The concept of resiliency meant nothing tome until May 4, 2007 at 9:40 at night,”Dixon recalled. “Ninety-five percent of ourcommunity was leveled to the ground andturned to rubble, and the other five percentwas severely damaged.”

The city took a direct hit from the tornado,which generated winds of 210 mph, killing11 people.

Dixon joined Christine Butterfield, the community development director for the cityof Cedar Rapids, in sharing insights at theconference. The panel also included SteveCastaner, branch chief of community recov-ery with Region VII of the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA), and DougKluck, central region climate services director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Butterfield became community developmentdirector in 2007, just seven months beforethe Cedar River overflowed its banks onJune 13, 2008. The flood inundated a two-mile wide swath through the heart ofthe city, covering 1,400 city blocks withnearly 32 feet of muddy water. It was by far the worst flood in the city’s history, exceeding the previous record by 12 feet.

Butterfield said the flood engulfed thecity’s downtown where many of its primaryemployers are located, and 5,900 homeshad to be evacuated. “We had about 22,000residents that were displaced and 900 businesses that were impacted,” she said.“The value of the damage was estimated at$7 billion.”

Making matters worse, 310 city facilitieswere caught in the deluge, including cityhall and the public works building. Thecounty courthouse was also damaged.

With 14 percent of its land mass underwater, the city of 126,000 people was rockedto its core.

A common theme expressed by Dixon, Butterfield and Castaner was that a community destroyed by disaster can turntragedy into an opportunity to build a better,more resilient city rather than just restoringthe community to the way it was before theevent.

“There is never a better opportunity tochange systems, perspectives or mindsetsthan when a disaster hits,” Castaner said.“Once you get past the trauma, the hurting,the loss of either possessions or family andfriends, there are real opportunities tochange the mindsets and perspectives community-wide for a better, more resilientfuture.”

Contrary to what a lot of people think, Castaner said, FEMA does not tell communi-ties what to do.

“We may advise them on what the impactsof their decisions might be on funding, insurance or other things, but we never tella community what to do,” he said. “We don’tknow all the answers, but we have the roleof bringing partners to the table who canhelp communities look at alternatives andopportunities after a disaster.”

Some of those resources include servicesprovided by the Department of Energy, theEnvironmental Protection Agency, otherstate and federal agencies and numerousnonprofit organizations, he said.

Dixon said it was public/private partner-ships and the determination of the people ofGreensburg that allowed his town to rebuildand recover.

Cities Share Advice on Disaster RecoveryGreensburg and Cedar Rapids Learned How to Weather the StormBY RANDY RODGERS, PuBLISHER & EXECuTIVE EDITOR

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“Too many times, post disaster, communi-ties think they’re entitled; that the state andfederal government is going to come andmake them whole. Ladies and gentlemen,that doesn’t happen,” Dixon said. “In America, we’re entitled to the opportunity toachieve. You pull all the resources to thetable at the time you need them, and that’swhat happened in Greensburg.”

Dixon cautioned against making major decisions too rapidly after a disaster.“You’re in an emotional state of mind.You’re going to doom yourself to what gotyou in this situation. Systematic problemswill continue,” he said.

“Is your community resilient prior to disas-ter,” Dixon asked. “Are you sustainable? Do you have the ability to endure? Are youdoing things for future generations? Areyou smart, prudent and responsible ineverything you do in your community? Do you have those public/private partnershipsand work together?

“If you have that prior to disaster, you’regoing to come out on the back side of thatdisaster in great shape,” he said.

“You have to be adaptive and willing tochange; and willing to listen to every ideathat’s out there.”

Castaner, who was part of the FEMA teamthat helped Cedar Rapids and Greensburgthrough their recoveries, said Cedar Rapidsbroke new ground by aggressively planningduring the restoration and recovery process.He said the state of Iowa helped thatprocess by giving the city time to developthose plans, while some other states oftengive their local communities restrictivefunding windows that force reconstructionto begin before solid planning has had achance to take place.

When the water receded, the Cedar RapidsCity Council organized around the conceptthat restoring the damaged properties

would not be enough. The disaster recoveryplan had to provide protections from futureflood events. Rather than sit back and waitfor direction from state and federal agen-cies, Butterfield said the city governmenttook ownership of the challenge.

“There is a real lack of clarity on the role ofgovernment in response and recovery,” shesaid.

“understanding where one agency’s roleends and another agency’s role begins is acritical part of resiliency.”

Communicating with other cities that hadrecovered from similar disasters provided alaundry list of best practices and things toavoid, Butterfield said.

An immediate concern was reining in themassive influx of building contractors andhomeowners eager to repair their damagedproperties. Butterfield said the city shutdown any non-essential services and

repurposed all available staff to help conduct background checks and issue special permits to contractors, taking greatcare to prevent citizens from being swindled.

The city engaged more than 3,000 residentsin a four-month community dialog to develop a plan for recovery and protectionfrom future floods.

“They said, ‘We want to retain our neighbor-hoods, but we also want to provide moreroom for the river to flow,’” Butterfield said.

After receiving input from the public, theArmy Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and about11 different consulting groups, city staff developed a flood protection plan that wasapproved by the council in November of2008. The plan was a combination of structural and non-structural measures tosafeguard the city. Developing the plan wasa lot of work, but implementing it wouldprove exhausting.

In order to complete 10 neighborhood redevelopment plans in four months, thecommunity development team surveyedother cities, developed a set of best prac-tices, and held eight more public meetings.

“We asked the community and businessowners how they wanted to see housing recover, how they wanted to see businessesrecover, where did they want to see them located, how would it be integrated withflood protection, including flood walls andlevees, and how did they want to ensure the community was stronger once it was implemented?”

In May of 2009, 11 months after the flood,the council approved the development plansand the recovery of Cedar Rapids began totake shape.

In tiny Greensburg, getting input from community stakeholders was easy.

“We were all homeless – the whole commu-nity. So it was very easy when FEMA cameand put us up a big tent on the east side oftown. We’d have 4 or 5 hundred people showup at community meetings and planningsessions facilitating a long-term recoveryplan. Everybody was listened to and provided an opportunity to be heard… It’sabout conversation and collaboration; listening to everybody, even people in thoseCAVE organizations (citizens against virtu-ally everything) that every community has.There are some good nuggets and ideas inwhat they have to say. Listen to them.”

In hindsight, the disasters in Cedar Rapidsand Greensburg, combined with HurricaneKatrina and other storms of the pastdecade, seem to have marked the beginningof a gradually escalating problem: The increase in the frequency and intensity ofextreme weather events as a consequence ofclimate change. While climate and weatherdata clearly validate that presumption, theycan’t predict exactly where and when thenext major event will occur, said NOAA’s

Kluck. He said governing bodies need tomake sure their policies stay up to date withchanging realities.

“It’s very hard to build resiliency with lawsand policies that were written in the 40s and 50s that may not even be climatologi-cally realistic,” Kluck said. He used the example of the Colorado River, where waterallotments were decided as far back as the1920s, a time when precipitation and snowmelt far exceeded that of recent years.Kluck said local governments can get awealth of information about local climateand weather conditions on three federal

web sites: drought.gov, weather.gov and climate.gov.

For Dixon, the role of government is to prepare communities in advance to be resilient in the face of disaster.

“Are you operating in your community as crisis managers, or visionary managers?We’re all good at putting out fires. But thosefires will keep coming if you don’t have a vision and a commitment to a brighter tomorrow; to address those systematic problems that keep coming up.”

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n The center of Greensburg, Kan., 12 days after it was hit by an EF5 tornado in 2007. The twister generated 210 mph winds and killed 11 people. Although the city lost nearly half its population, it recovered and today is a model for other cities racked by disaster. Photo credit: Greg Henshall/FEMA

related youtube video: http://youtu.be/08PM3YEqBcE

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