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Appendices E. Summary of Draft Best Practice Requirements from Technical Committees The full draft of best practices can be found at the following URL: www.cleanenergyresourcetea-ms.org/ greensteps. It is expected that these best practices will be further refined prior to implementation of the beta phase of the program. Common to all the categories is passing a city resolution, committing to completing the requirements, and appointing a coordinator (it can be an existing staff member) to lead GreenStep efforts. Below is a brief summary of each of the categories. BUILDING & FACILITIES The committee focused on energy- and cost-saving strategies that could be employed by local governments in publicly -owned facilities and infrastructure, and encouraged in the private sector. A city must commit to the evaluation of a majority of its public buildings, facilities, and street lighting to identify energy efficiency opportunities. Energy efficiency improvements will be implemented over the course of five years, with a payback of less than five years. The evaluation must be conducted using an approved process. A community energy plan is also required. LAND USE PLANNING Land use planning is a particularly challenging issue area for which to identify simple best practices that apply to all cities. Therefore cities under 5,000 have separate requirements than larger cities. The committee recommends that a comprehensive plan be completed as a prerequisite, and cities can chose from a list of best practices to reduce vehicle miles traveled, promote green infrastructure and carbon sequestration, and promote sustainable construction and waste. Notable examples of best practices include reducing lot sizes to achieve higher density, and extensive urban forestry and woodland preservation ordinances. 24 Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program Proposal TRANSPORTATION The Transportation Committee developed a list of required best practices that depends on city size, with progressively more actions required for cities with 500, 5,000, and 50,000 residents. Highlights include: city vehicle fleet transformation, working with the road authority to incorporate street improvements that reduce transportation -related greenhouse gas emissions (round - a -bouts, pedestrian friendly design, improved street connectivity, signage changes), a "no idling" policy, and establishing purchasing guidelines that require future vehicle purchases to meet a specific miles -per -gallon requirement and/or be equipped to utilize alternative fuels. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Best practices were split into three groups: solid waste, water management and economic/community development. Preliminary draft best practices — some required and some optional — include: adopt a mandatory city environmentally preferable purchasing policy, arrange for a residential and/or business organics collection program, add/enlarge reuse businesses/services, document the use of assistance programs, adopt a stormwater infiltration ordinance standard, adopt a conservation rate structure for water withdrawls, use a feebate system to encourage the purchase of EnergyStar and WaterSense rated appliances, co -generate electricity and heat from wastewater plants, certify lakes (and rivers) as Minnesota Star Lakes, become aTree City U.S.A., use a sustainable tourism promotion program, plan for greater food security, emphasize green job development, earn the MPCA Green Star environmental compliance award, develop local renewable energy generating capacity, inventory global warming emissions, adopt sustainability, indicators, structure the involvement of citizens and businesses.