For those of you who normally watch the City Council on Gaithersburg Channel 13, my understanding is that this session will not carried on that channel. It will, however, be carried on the Rockville channel, which I believe is on Channel 11 on Comcast, RCN and Verizon FIOS.
From the City’s website:
Agenda - Work Session (Rockville): Climate Change, 10/20/2008
Posted 10/17/2008
City of Gaithersburg
MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
WORK SESSION AGENDA
Monday, October 20, 2008
7:30 p.m.
Rockville City Hall
111 Maryland Avenue
- Receive Joint Briefing for the Mayors and Councils of Gaithersburg and Rockville on the July 9, 2008 Draft “National Capital Region Climate Change Report” Prepared by the Climate Change Steering Committee of the Council of Governments
Background Material (pdf format)
The (131-page) background document actually contains quite a lot of information, in the form of the draft from the Council of Governments. The cover memo provided by City Staff notes Gaithersburg’s extensive progress in complying with the report’s recommendations:
In 2006, the Mayor and Council, with the support of the City’s Environmental Affairs Committee, unanimously approved a resolution to sign onto the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement and join hundreds of cities throughout the nation in a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Subsequently, Gaithersburg’s 2008 Strategic Plan includes a goal to implement climate protection policies and programs.
In May 2007, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) established a Climate Change Steering Committee to catalog best practices and greenhouse gas reduction techniques and to develop a potential action plan to address climate change issues in the region. While Gaithersburg was not represented on this committee, the City is interested in the Committee’s findings and in regional coordination of climate change policies and programs.
COG has requested the opportunity to provide a joint briefing to the Mayors and Councils of Gaithersburg and Rockville on the July 9, 2008 Draft “National Capital Region Climate Change Report.” The report summarizes:
- The science behind the causes and effects of climate change;
- The likely ecological and economical impacts on the Washington, DC metropolitan region; and
- Recommended methods and actions for mitigating the effects of climate change.
During the course of the briefing, COG staff will provide highlights of the draft report, the significant comments received from member jurisdictions, and the likely revisions that will appear in the final report.
Attached for your review are the Draft COG Climate Change Report and the PowerPoint slides. According to the report, the energy sector (electricity and fuel use) and the transportation sector account for 66 percent and 30 percent of the overall regional carbon emissions, respectively. The report provides recommendations for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from both of these sources. The City of Gaithersburg has already implemented many of the recommendations outlined in this report, including the following:
Energy
- Adopted policy requiring all new City occupied buildings to achieve LEED Silver certification.
- Adopted Residential and Commercial Green Building Ordinances.
- An expanded residential recycling program that includes single stream recycling with an increase in the number of materials that can be recycled.
- Mandatory multi-family and commercial recycling programs that are administered by Montgomery County.
- Pursuant to a joint procurement contract, the City purchases 10% of its energy from wind power. This is expected to increase to 20% by 2011.
- The 2009 budget includes funds for energy audits at City facilities with high energy consumption and to implement retrofits when appropriate.
- In partnership with the City of Rockville, the Maryland Municipal League Legislative Committee has endorsed our request for statewide legislation that would create a loan program to assist homeowners with the costs of implementing energy efficiency improvements. The City has also budgeted modest funds ($10,000) to support residential home energy audits that identify eligible energy efficiency projects.
- A solar demonstration project will be included at the new Olde Towne Youth Center.
Transportation and Land Use
- Land use plans promote mixed use transit oriented development along the stops proposed for the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) and new development approvals include a shuttle bus service to the Metro or the creation of transportation management districts.
- The City’s green fleet program utilizes hybrid vehicles, police segway and bike patrols, and low sulfur B20 biodiesel.
- A GIS-based street tree inventory is being created to maintain and improve the City’s tree canopy coverage.
- Several bicycle and pedestrian improvements are in the planning phase to improve our alternative transportation network.
Given that the City’s existing climate protection approach generally follows COG’s recommendations, staff has no significant comments on the draft report at this time. The City will continue to evaluate our initiatives and will be establishing new goals and programs in the future.
Attachments
Draft COG Climate Change Report
PowerPoint slides
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An Amber Alert has been issued for a 5-year-old child last seen Sunday morning in Alexandria.