Submitted By
Mindy Agnew, Sustainability Coordinator
Reviewed By
CLP
Agenda Item Title
Title
Discuss Staff Recommendation for community engagement process and framework for development of a Climate Action Plan (CAP) and Resiliency Plan aligned with the ICLEI ClearPath platform as discussed on October 19, 2020.
End
Overview
Overview
On October 19, 2020 the Village Board received a report on the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Update, Energy Benchmarking with Energy Star Portfolio Manager with next steps identified as staff recommendations for a community engagement process and framework for development of a Climate Action Plan (CAP) and Resiliency Plan aligned with the ICLEI ClearPath platform.
Body
Staff Recommendation
Subject to the Village Board’s consensus staff will prepare the necessary actions to move forward.
Fiscal Impact
Discussion only.
Background
On October 19, 2020 the Village Board received a report on the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Update, Energy Benchmarking with Energy Star Portfolio Manager. At that time the next steps identified were a recommendations for a community engagement process and framework for development of a Climate Action Plan (CAP) and Resiliency Plan aligned with the ICLEI ClearPath platform.
Illinois’ CEJA bill before the legislature defines that the engagement process should include:
(a) An effective planning process shall engage with a diverse set of stakeholders in local communities, including: environmental justice organizations; economic development organizations; faith-based nonprofit organizations; educational institutions; interested residents; health care institutions; tenant organizations; housing institutions, developers, and owners; elected and appointed officials; and representatives reflective of each local community.
(b) An effective planning process shall engage with individual members of the community as much as possible to ensure that the Plans receive input from as diverse set of perspectives as possible.
(c) Plan materials and meetings related to the Plan shall be translated into languages that reflect the makeup of the local community.
(d) The planning process shall be conducted in an ethical, transparent fashion, and will continually review its policies and practices to determine how best to meet its objectives.
The Village’s CAP should include Equity Community-Driven planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare residents, businesses, and local partners and government institutions for a changing climate. In order to develop a CAP that will be successful it should consolidate and highlight progress made by the community to date, as well establish a roadmap for the community that includes goals, strategies, actions, and timeframes for addressing climate mitigation and adaptation needs in the community.
It is recommended the public engagement process follow the model of Envision Oak Park, the Village’s Comprehensive Plan adopted by the Village Board in 2014. The initial process of developing the Comprehensive Plan included an extensive public outreach program that allowed residents, businesses, agencies, not-for-profits, local governments, and other stakeholders to help draft the Plan’s recommendations. The resulting product, the Envision Oak Park document, is an overarching policy guide that aims to provide context for future decision-making by Village government and other implementation partners. As a result, the template used for public engagement is recommended by staff for the development of a CAP. It is this type of public engagement strategy that will result in a strategic framework for communications and public engagement around development of the Village’s CAP. It identifies strategies and tactics to engage the public and solicit feedback. This is essential as community outreach, social equity and citizen participation are the cornerstones of the Climate Action planning process.
Staff anticipates high levels of participation from our active and engaged community, outreach includes both traditional (face-to-face) and web-based activities to obtain the broadest levels of participation in preparing the CAP. Community outreach is included throughout the entire planning process. It is noted that the Envision Oak Park process lasted approximately
24 months beginning in August 2012. The process was specifically designed to ensure that the Comprehensive Plan is directly reflective of the community’s vision for Oak Park. In fact, many of the core recommendations were drafted by residents through a series of working groups.
At the beginning of the planning process, the Village Board of Trustees convened a Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee which a cross-section of representatives, including staff from the Village of Oak Park, elected and appointed officials, residents, and business owners. This committee had several responsibilities, including:
• Review and approval of the Envision Oak Park brand name, logo, and tag line;
• Identification of key local stakeholders to be engaged through various outreach techniques,
• Creating awareness of opportunities for citizens to participate in traditional and web-based outreach;
• Assistance in crafting a comprehensive and thorough public engagement program designed to
allow opportunities for all citizens to participate;
• Review of preliminary plan recommendations and draft documents;
• Education of residents, elected officials, and appointed officials regarding the planning process and resulting recommendations; and
• Approval of the draft Comprehensive Plan for formal review and adoption by the Village Board.
The Envision Oak Park public outreach process was comprehensive and thorough in its scope. From the outset, the goal of the Village government, the committee described above and the planning consultant’s team was to engage citizens in order to draft a vision and series of recommendations to specifically reflect local goals and objectives. Well over 1,000 individual citizens participated in the process, volunteering thousands of hours throughout the
creation of the Comprehensive Plan. The development of a CAP should equivalent to this effort.