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Program Design Recommendations
<br />2. Transportation: City fleets, green infrastructure,
<br />complete streets, bike paths, public transit (bus,
<br />vans, train, streetcars), private transit (car sharing,
<br />on -demand carpooling, cabs, car rental), walking/
<br />biking, telecommuting, TDM (transportation
<br />demand management), traffic signal coordination,
<br />roundabouts, traffic calming.
<br />3. Land Use Planning: Comprehensive plans, form -
<br />based zoning, transit -oriented design, density and
<br />mixed uses, city expansion zones, parking, infill
<br />development, planned unit developments, inter-
<br />regional corridors, green infrastructure and carbon
<br />sequestration, working landscapes, local food,
<br />landscaping performance standards, urban forests,
<br />low -impact development, conservation design and
<br />subdivisions, eco -industrial development, historic
<br />preservation.
<br />4. Environmental Management and Economic
<br />Development: Wastewater, stormwater, surface
<br />water, groundwater, solid waste management
<br />(purchasing, reuse businesses, composting, landfill
<br />methane, recycling), renewable energy generation,
<br />local food, tourism, public outreach, education and
<br />involvement programs, tracking and benchmarking
<br />progress.
<br />The four technical committees have all met
<br />several times and produced draft best practices, a
<br />summary of which is in Appendix E. The full draft
<br />of best practices is available on the Web (www.
<br />cleanenergyresourceteams.org/greensteps).
<br />Program should take a tiered
<br />approach, focusing first on
<br />cost-effective options for
<br />greenhouse gas reductions
<br />Although the required and optional best practices
<br />have not yet been fully defined, it is anticipated
<br />that there would be different achievement levels,
<br />such as "Step One," "Step Two," and "Step Three,"
<br />for progressively higher achievements. The first
<br />tier would focus almost exclusively on actions that
<br />result in greenhouse gas reductions that could be
<br />implemented cost-effectively by all cities. Successive
<br />tiers would focus on additional environmental
<br />issues (such as water and waste reduction), and
<br />successively deeper actions to cut greenhouse gases.
<br />Local governments that meet
<br />criteria should be recognized
<br />by the state
<br />The workgroup recommends that a city completing
<br />a minimal number of best practices would
<br />be recognized by the State of Minnesota as a
<br />Minnesota GreenStep City for three years. Yearly
<br />recognition might happen at an event such as the
<br />annual League of Minnesota Cities conference.
<br />Realizing that it could take several years to complete
<br />the actions, particularly if they require capital
<br />budget allocations, cities would formally enroll in
<br />GreenStep after completing the minimal number
<br />of best practices and be recognized by the MPCA
<br />as a program participant. After being recognized as
<br />a GreenStep City, work on more challenging best
<br />practices would begin, and a city would have three
<br />years to demonstrate it had completed all of the
<br />additional best practices to be re -recognized as a
<br />GreenStep City at the end of the three-year period.
<br />It is anticipated that most of the administrative
<br />activities would take place on-line.
<br />The MPCA Prevention and
<br />Assistance Division should
<br />administer GreenStep as a
<br />public-private partnership
<br />The program administrator would need to fulfill the
<br />following functions:
<br />• Confirm that participating cities meet program
<br />requirements and process any required paperwork
<br />• Convene technical and advisory committees that
<br />would update the best practices on a periodic basis
<br />• Facilitate technical and financial assistance for
<br />program participants (but not necessarily be the
<br />Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program Proposal 11
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