Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/04/2014

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Last revised July 24, 2014 Sustainability "Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors," Dr. Jonas Salk once said. And that responsibility calls us to live and act sustainably. Sustainability means protecting our regional vitality for generations to come by preserving our capacity to maintain and support our region's well-being and productivity over the long-term. The region's investments in prosperity, equity, and livability will fall short over the long term if the region exhausts its resources without investing in the future. Housing contributes to environmental sustainability in three ways: Key takeaway: Compact residential patterns and environmentally -sustainable housing can help reduce our region's contributions to climate change. • Compact residential development patterns (community or neighborhood -level) • Environmentally -sensitive building design and construction techniques (building -level) • Lifestyles and conservation habits of residents (occupants) The Council and local governments can influence overall community and neighborhood development patterns; local governments can influence how buildings are designed and constructed. Promote residential development patterns that contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing water sustainability, and growing resiliency to the impacts of climate change Compact development patterns, integrated natural resources, and interconnected local street networks all add to the livability of our communities. Effective land use planning provides a community with the tools needed to better address climate change locally. Encouraging land use policies that create a more compact land use pattern can reduce energy consumption, protect public investments in infrastructure, lessen development pressures on habitat and open space, provide benefits to public health, and create more sustainable communities. Innovative land use policies can create a more compact region resulting in more efficient use of our infrastructure investments, cost-effective extension of urban services, and preservation of natural and agricultural areas within the region. Land use patterns can impact the quality of both our surface water and groundwater, both through the quantity of stormwater generated from development entering those water bodies and pollutants contained in that stormwater (non -point source pollution). Land use patterns that integrate natural areas into development at the site level add to livability and help avoid costly future projects needed to alleviate environmental impacts of development, such as infrastructure to assist in the management of stormwater. A pressing concern is the possible impact of future development on the reliability of groundwater as a water source. Consideration of what affects our groundwater resources is important during planning and development processes to ensure that we are not negatively affecting those resources and that we are taking advantage of any opportunities to recharge our groundwater. The effects of climate change transcend community boundaries and are felt throughout our region, whether as flooded farmlands, modified growing seasons, rising energy costs, or storm sewer systems overloaded from large summer storms. The built environment is a primary contributor to climate change, resulting from the energy used in homes and businesses and our travel behaviors which result from our pattern of regional land use development. 2040 HOUSING POLICY PLAN I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL DRAFT RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Part II: Outcomes (Sustainability) I Page 38