Plan seeks to make Atlanta a top 'green' city

/Home/Atlanta and the Environment

Plan seeks to make Atlanta a top 'green' city
October 26, 2010
By Leon Stafford
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mayor Kasim Reed on Monday rolled out a plan to make Atlanta a greener city with less smog, more park space, a larger percentage of locally produced food and improved water conservation.
More Atlanta/Fulton news »

And he wants the moves to make Atlanta one of the nation's top 10 green cities as ranked by Sustainlane.com, an online site for green living fans. Atlanta ranked 19th in the group's 2008 peer-reviewed survey, up from 38th.

"It's an ambitious plan," said Mandy Mahoney, the city's director of sustainability, who will lead the charge for Reed. "Mayor Reed has set a high bar."

The goal is to make the city more competitive against peers like Seattle, Chicago and New York, which have "cutting-edge" policies on green building, electric vehicle infrastructure and pedestrian-only zones, and to improve quality of life.

"The mayor believes sustainability is critical to the growth of the city," Mahoney said.

The plan, which also includes increasing public transportation and reducing municipal energy use, sets goals through 2050. The first goal, which is to have a city fleet composed of 15 percent alternative-fueled vehicles, is set for 2012.

Experts in sustainability government are pushing "green" planning at the insistence of residents and businesses. As both look for ways to be more efficient through replacing aging HVAC systems or building towers with low-flow toilets, they expect government to do the same.

Cities also are taking advantage of billions in federal funding directed toward green or sustainable projects, said Ben Taube, executive director of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance.

But there are challenges, Taube said. Acquiring land for parks can be expensive and improving water treatment facilities can cost millions.

One of the first projects taken under the plan will be the construction of more efficient turbines at the R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center on Bolton Road, Mahoney said.

The city has received $7 million in grants and loans from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority for the work, which Mahoney said will create renewable energy to lessen the amount Atlanta has to buy from Georgia Power.

And creating a sustainable future is a process that can take decades and requires a commitment that may not be shared when a new leader is elected, Taube said. Priorities can also change based on funding or fiscal policies that are at odds with long-term strategies.

It also can be challenging on a more practical level, said Taube, who has worked with the city on its plans. For instance, Reed wants to increase the number of days Atlanta receives a "good" rating on air quality from the Environmental Protection Agency from a little more than 40 percent to more than half of the year.

To achieve that, however, the region and the state would have to improve its air quality at the same time since Atlanta does not live in a vacuum.

"You can't control where emissions are coming from all the time," he said.

Still, Tom Salyers, executive director of green space advocate Park Pride, thinks the plan is a critical.

"Especially as the city's population is expected to grow tremendously in the next five years, it's essential to look at plans for increasing green space per capita," he said. "The mayor's sustainability plan is taking that into consideration, which is essential for our quality of life and having a greener city."