At an environmental and sustainability meeting on Sept. 22, City of Phoenix staff members proposed projects to help combat climate concerns.
Subcommittee Chair Ginger Torres started off the meeting by addressing how important it is to discuss future projects that involve environmental protection. Torres said that climate change will likely result in more frequent, extreme and longer heat waves that present a public risk.
The current projects under the subcommittee’s plans that were proposed for an additional expansion were equipment replacement for energy and water efficiency, upgrades for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and other climate control equipment and fuel tank replacements.
Public Works Director Joe Giudice said, “If we were replacing a tank, we would put in one that we can have confidence that it is going to be protective of the environment.”
Giudice went on to explain how energy and water efficiency and renewable energy are upgrades needed at city facilities.
According to Giudice’s presentation, the goal is to invest the city’s efforts in renewables in Phoenix to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He also talked about pursuing solar projects in the next couple of years.
The first future project, tackling heat resiliency, was discussed by David Hondula, director of the Heat Response and Mitigation office. He said that their proposal includes a better reflection of the type of investment that the subcommittee wants to pursue.
The plan includes expanding tree planting in the city and green infrastructure. This would help capture stormwater which would promote tree growth. The green infrastructure in Phoenix helps with runoff in the streets.
For example, at the Orange Mall at Arizona State University in Tempe, green infrastructure guides all runoff to an infiltration well that recharges groundwater from a storm that produces rainfall expected to exceed or equal the average of once in ten years. The project costs $3 million dollars.
The next plan discussed was the City Brownfields Redevelopment project. Rosanne Albright from Environmental Programs said this plan involves redeveloping properties contaminated with hazardous or toxic substances.
“We’ve been able to restore over 300 acres of previously contaminated lands,” Albright said.
“We created about 3,000 jobs, and we brought about $350 million dollars in private investment into the city.”
Albright said that her team does not know what they will find until they start digging. After they collect samples, they can determine the cost of the project.
After hearing all the potential future plans the subcommittee talked about looking for actions that they need to take now. They are not focused on projects that will develop years from now.
The subcommittee will take a survey on which plan they think is the highest priority in terms of environmental needs in the community. They will decide at the fourth meeting which project they want to fund.
Contact the reporter at lboykins@asu.edu
