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Sustainable Communities Initiatives

Sustainable Novato’s vision for our community is: a healthy ecosystem integrated with economic vitality and social equity for all who live, work or play in Novato. One of Sustainable Novato’s key initiatives this year is Climate Change, another is Planning Sustainable Communities. The two initiatives go hand-in-hand. We are all aware that Climate Change is one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century. Legislation is being implemented to combat the climate change challenge such as AB32. Because general plans govern the direction and long-term planning for our city’s development, updates to the general plan provide a key opportunity to ensure that our community adequately responds to AB32 by incorporating GHG reduction goals and policies. Furthermore, failure to address GHG emissions in a substantive and meaningful way in jurisdictions has already resulted in litigation and subsequent settlements agreements in which defendant jurisdictions (City of Stockton and County of San Bernardino) were required to add specific strategies to reduce GHG to their plans.

Land use policies, and related transportation and housing policies, are central to the goal of reducing GHG. In Novato, over 60% of our employees commute in, most from jurisdictions that offer lower-priced housing. This adds to Novato’s GHG emissions and rate of vehicle miles traveled, adding to congestion and traffic issues as well.

  • It is vital to remember that several elements must all be present to create a sustainable community. For example, a green building ordinance in a community that lacks adequate transit isn’t sustainable, a community with a vital local economy, but lacking in adequate affordable workforce housing isn’t sustainable, and so on. A sustainable community combines elements of adequate affordable housing, high-quality transit, transit-oriented development with limited sprawl, green building and zero-toxin practices, resource conservation and a thriving local economy.
  • Creating a sustainable community begins with good city planning. Provisions in the plan should encourage all the elements of a sustainable community and discourage sprawl, wasteful use of resources etc. Each city does a general plan update cycle every five years or so, and that is a good opportunity to impact the sustainability of the community. We are going through that process in Novato now.

SN has made significant contributions to raising awareness and advocating policy to promote sustainability in the community, including hosting 9 public forums such as a recent one on Creating Sustainable Communities. Each of our forums brings in nationally recognized experts, and draws an audience of key decision makers, elected officials and concerned community members who leave empowered with the knowledge to make a difference. At our recent forum, an expert panel of speakers on planning, transit, affordable housing, health and air quality and sustainability consulting pulled all the elements of “sustainable communities” together and wrapped up by giving Novato a “report card”. Local food, children’s health, affordable housing, and climate change, among other topics – will all be greatly influenced by upcoming planning processes in Novato and other Marin communities. It seems the old model, of suburban sprawl and car-dependent communities, is not only passé, it will soon go against the grain of new emission reduction regulations AB32 and SB375 signed into law recently. Some of the key takeaways from our recent “Creating Sustainable Communities Forum” are:

  • Mary Murtagh, emphasizing the importance of creating more affordable workforce homes near jobs, said that “6 or 7 out of every 10 jobs in Novato is held by someone living outside the community”
  • Stuart Cohen said, “people are not the problem” when it comes to improving our neighborhoods, “cars are the problem.” Structured parking can cost 20-30 thousand dollars per space and so reduced parking standards for large scale development projects located near public transit can free up millions in dollars to pay for transit passes, bicycle infrastructure, and ride sharing programs. “Parking standards are the ‘indicator species’ when it comes to determining how green a project is” said Cohen.
  • “’Community health’ includes everything from social connectedness, to air quality, to community gardens” said Heather Wooten, associate at Public Health, Law & Policy. “Many communities are now using the planning process and general plans to address these issues,” she said.

Please join us in advocating for planning a more Sustainable Community as Novato works through the general Plan Update process. Here is a link to the city website for updates on workshops and meeting open for public input - http://www.cityofnovato.org/, or send an email letter directly to your city council at novatocouncil@ci.novato.ca.us using some of the notes above as talking points.