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There have been simply three resident commenters on display this time versus the 69 who appeared on the final Mercer Island Metropolis Council assembly.
On March 2, the trio was equally as captivated with its matter of selection, the town’s Sustainability Work Plan, which adopted up final assembly’s passage of an ordinance to ban tenting on public property.
This day trip, council voted 7-0 to approve the plan, which Metropolis Supervisor Jessi Bon stated is in its evolving phases. Earlier within the assembly, the commenters thanked council for together with the plan presentation on its agenda.
The town’s sustainability and communications supervisor Ross Freeman led a presentation that centered on the plan’s background, main sustainability program capabilities and examples of sustainability in motion.
“…Efforts to curtail consumption of scarce sources together with electrical vitality, water, fossil fuels and landfill area, and set new targets for conservation of such pure sources,” was language added to the great plan in 2006.
Transferring ahead to 2021, the place of a full-time sustainability supervisor — Freeman — has been cemented into the 2021-22 biennial finances.
“One of many advantages of shifting this place into the operations division, Public Works, is that we are able to actually combine the actions of this place throughout many various metropolis actions,” stated Freeman, noting that program capabilities can be effectivity, waste and toxics, vitality, greenhouse gasoline emissions, transporation, CIP and operations and outreach and schooling.
Freeman, who will assume his full-time publish within the spring, stated that within the close to future the town will focus extra time on its stormwater scenario.
“We’d suggest to spend so much extra vitality integrating the town’s initiatives and actions such that we’re at all times stormwater by the identical sustainability lens,” he stated.
Close to the start of his eight years of metropolis employment, Freeman stated it was his mission to move the Island’s single-use plastic bag ban, which council achieved. A statewide ban is forthcoming later this 12 months, added Freeman, who famous {that a} ban on disposable Styrofoam within the type of restaurant takeout containers may very well be subsequent on the town’s menu. He famous that many Island meals venues already use absolutely compostable containers.
On the vitality effectivity entrance, the town has switched to LED fashions on practically all of its streetlamps and has begun this course of at a few of its ballfields to chop prices on vitality, labor and upkeep. Within the clean-power realm, Freeman has run two residential photo voltaic set up applications during the last a number of years by including 100 new arrays onto rooftops.
A latest sustainability milestone in 2020 was switching 100% of the town’s vitality must renewable windpower from a brand new Puget Sound Power wind farm. The town has constructed off one other key milestone from eight years in the past when it acquired United States Environmental Safety Company recognition as “Inexperienced Energy Accomplice of the 12 months” for its clear vitality applications.
For extra info, together with parks info, go to https://www.mercerisland.gov/publicworks/page/sustainability and https://letstalk.mercergov.org/miprosplan.
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