Sustainability Plan
WHY A SUSTAINABILITY PLAN?
The City is developing its first Sustainability Plan. The Sustainability Plan will serve as a guide for City of Lafayette leadership, residents and businesses on sustainability practices, to improve the quality of life, promote good stewardship of the environment, and promote sound long-term financial management.
The Sustainability Plan will contain goals, strategies, specific actions, and measurable targets on energy efficiency and renewable energy, waste reduction, and green and healthy buildings. Common themes across these topics are outreach and education and equity and inclusion. Please see the Sustainability Plan at a Glance in the document library on the lower right of this page to learn more.
While sustainability encompasses a broad range of topics, the city has chosen to focus its efforts and investment on a select few rather than dilute its resources on many. Additional topic areas may be added to subsequent versions of this plan as progress is made on the initial topic areas. Further, this plan will be aligned with other city planning efforts, including the Comprehensive Plan, Parks, Recreation, Open Space (PROS) Master Plan, and the Preservation Master Plan without duplicating efforts and topic areas.
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Energy production is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions world-wide. In Lafayette, building energy use accounts for nearly two thirds of the community’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The community’s energy supply is changing over time, as more renewable energy is added to the supply; in 2019, 29% of Lafayette’s energy supply from Xcel Energy came from renewable sources (Xcel Energy, 2019). As Lafayette looks to maximize their impact on local, regional, and global sustainability, energy efficiency and the transition to renewable energy will be crucial for high-priority action, and inform the goals set for this topic area.
What will you do to make your home or business more efficient or increase your use of renewable energy? What other actions should the City and the community pursue?
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Consuming goods and generating waste happens at myriad scales across a community and how these activities are managed determines our ultimate sustainability. Waste reduction focuses not only on diverting waste through recycling and composting, but also on waste generation through source reduction and behavior change. Currently, the City provides a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) three-cart system to about 55% of homes, encouraging recycling and composting by charging more for trash. This program has been successful at increasing waste diversion, but there is still room for improvement, and it does not address source reduction and commercial waste, which are key to waste reduction for a sustainable Lafayette.
What will you do at your homes or business to reduce and divert more waste? What other actions should the City and the community pursue?
View All Ideas5 months ago
Boulder CHARM
I always try to save "hard to recycle" items and drop them off at CHARM. It's such an easy (and often free!) decision to make, and i wish others would!
4 months ago
Commercial composting for apartments and townhomes
I live in a townhome, and we don't have access to commercial composting. We do vermiculture and do our best to reduce our food waste, but it would be amazing to have access to commercial composting that was apartment-friendly.
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Green and healthy buildings go beyond the impact on the natural environment and include the impacts of buildings on the people inside. Although energy is a significant aspect of building operation and performance, this topic area goes beyond energy to consider indoor environmental quality, including ventilation, lighting, temperature, noise, air quality, water quality, safety, moisture, chemical and biological pollutants (asbestos, lead, pests, etc.). In Lafayette, 4% of homes are mobile homes, 77% are 20 or more years old, and 35% of homes are renter-occupied (2018 ACS 5-Year Estimates). Indoor environmental quality is a particular concern in these types of homes, providing an opportunity to address equity through improvements and policies.
What will you do make your home or business greener and healthier? What other actions should the City and the community pursue?
View All Ideas5 months ago
Develop a public transport network strategy for new residential areas to be configured to provide convenient access to public transport
Neighborhood layouts clustered around hubs that are served by a bus line with all-weather shelters large enough to protect the user population. Long term agreements with public transport providers locking in the service.
4 months ago
Future use of newly acquired Waneka Centennial Farm
I was really excited to learn of the City's Open Space acquisition of the Waneka Centennial Farm and surrounding open space. This acquisition presents an opportunity to establish a new community gathering and sustainability orientated educational facility/location. I'd like to see this location prioritized toward connecting visitors to the natural world and humans working relationship with it. For example, interdisciplinary programs could be held such as, regenerative agricultural practices, edible landscaping practices, and/or solar garden integration with food production. This site could also host offices for various non-profits and/or private businesses who's mission is oriented toward sustainability and advancing community resiliency practices. As part of this site's future I would like to see a convening place established or various community-orientated meetings/events. When doing so, please consider reuse of existing buildings and inclusion of a multidisciplinary resource library. Perhaps this presents an opportunity to partner with the City's Library Advisory Board, Historic Preservation Advisory Board, and Public Art Committee. Some suggested examples of similar community oriented locations that our community could reference include: - Urban Ecology Center (Milwaukee, WI) - 3rd Street Center (Carbondale, CO) - The Alliance Center (Denver, CO) - Shoreview Community Center (Shoreview, MN) - Mayo Park Environmental Education Center (Racine, WI) - Ecology Center Store (Berkely, CA).
5 months ago
https://bouldercolorado.gov/ipm/protecting-pollinators
To be green... we need to protect the pollinators.
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Document Library
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Lafayette Sustainability Profile FINAL v2 (375 KB) (pdf)
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Lafayette Sustainability Working Group Meeting 1 Meeting Notes (242 KB) (pdf)
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Lafayette Sustainability Working Group Meeting 1 Topic Area Worksheet Results (187 KB) (pdf)
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Lafayette Sustainability Working Group Meeting 2 Meeting Notes (642 KB) (pdf)
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Lafayette Sustainability Plan at a Glance.pdf (431 KB) (pdf)
