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Program Design Recommendations <br />Sartell installed rainwater gardens in the yards of 51 residents as part of their street reconstruction projects <br />in two neighborhoods adjacent to the Mississippi River to replenish the soil, improve water quality, bring in <br />native plants, and bring neighbors together. <br />2. Incentives: offering individuals or businesses <br />something of value to influence key decisions or <br />change behavior to be more sustainable. <br />3. Regulation: using local government regulatory <br />powers to require, determine, or direct sustainable <br />decisions or behavior of residents or businesses. <br />4. Public ownership/management: focusing <br />on malting more sustainable investment or <br />management decisions that are entirely within the <br />public sector. <br />Hybrid strategies, such as incentive regulation, <br />exist, but these four types define nearly all types of <br />strategies that delineate actions cities would take. <br />The action must result in measurable progress <br />toward sustainability goals. Measurement—for <br />example, conducting a carbon baseline assessment— <br />is not an implementation strategy unless it is tied <br />explicitly to some specific action to be taken. The <br />action must be demonstrated to be achievable. A <br />best practice is not theoretical. Costs and benefits of <br />10 Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program Proposal <br />best practices need to be clearly identified, though <br />measurement may be difficult and cities may <br />find benefit from working with local educational <br />institutions to complete measurements. Note that <br />measurement is not the same as requiring cost- <br />effectiveness. A best practice needs to help achieve <br />a sustainability goal, but an individual best practice <br />does not necessarily have a positive economic <br />payback. Implementing a cluster of best practices, <br />however, should in the aggregate have a net positive <br />economic payback. <br />The following are the recommended categories of <br />best practices, with the scope of each category listed. <br />1. Buildings and Facilities: City buildings, public <br />housing, other city facilities such as drinking water <br />Plants, street and building lighting, private buildings <br />(residential, commercial, and industrial), green <br />building programs (LEED, MN GreenStar Homes, <br />B3, MN Sustainable Buildings 2030 Standard), <br />permit incentives, city financial assistance, building <br />codes. <br />