Policy Committee Notes -- October 2, 2008

Sustainability Alliance of Southwest Colorado

• Twin Buttes. The discussion is heating up, with informational meetings sponsored by Save Twin Buttes on September 30 and October 1, and a neutral discussion scheduled for October 2. The latter has been organized by the Grassroots Visioning Project to follow up on Bliss Bruen’s proposal that we chose not to act on. The City Council will take up the issue of annexation and approval of the preliminary plan on Tuesday, October 21. The situation seems to be evolving into a win-lose situation, where otherwise sustainable community design might win out at the expense of degraded wildlife habitat, or else wildlife habitat might be preserved at the expense of pushing development into the County. It is unclear whether Nancy Jacques proposal of a land swap is viable. I hope that however the present issue is decided, we can discover a mechanism to promote win-win decisions in the future. 
   
• Oil and gas regulations. The County Planning Commission decided not to recommend our amendment. Upon recommendation by the Smart Energy Committee and with approval from the Board of Directors, I submitted a revised amendment (mandating greenhouse gas reporting, but no implementation provisions) to the Board of County Commissioners. I spoke in support of the amendment at the September 30 public hearing. San Juan Citizens Alliance and the WesternEnvironmentalLawCenter also supported the amendment. (There may have been others, but I left the meeting after two hours.) I don’t know the schedule for further deliberations by the BOCC, but advocacy to the commissioners on behalf of the amendment would be welcome.
  
  
• Advocacy criteria. The Board approved the criteria formulated at our August 25 meeting.
   

• Energy and Food contingency planning. Rebecca Koeppen and Tom Riesing have not had time to pursue this issue, although it may be more obvious and urgent in the face of the national fiscal crisis. It is not likely to advance without additional volunteer effort.
  
  
• Candidate forums. The San Juan Citizens Alliance forum on September 8 was well-attended. Additional events are on the calendar throughout the county in October, in addition to League of Women Voters forums concerning the many ballot issues.
  
  
• Zero Waste consultant. There has been no progress on inviting zero waste expert Gary Liss to Durango.
  
  
• County and City budget processes. Budget study sessions will be starting soon. In particular, the City Planning Commission is holding a meeting on Monday, October 6, at 8 p.m. (after the LWV candidate forum) to review the 5-year capital budget plan for Durango. The Sustainability Alliance and Chamber of Commerce have submitted requests to both jurisdictions for support of buy local efforts, in particular, for the LOCAL campaign developed in collaboration with our Sustainable Local Economic Development Committee.
  
  
• City of Durango Sustainability. As reported in the Durango Herald, City Manager Ron LeBlanc has proposed several reorganization steps to support city sustainability efforts, in particular moving the recycling program into his office and proposing an increase in trash removal rates to support sustainability efforts. Ron shared these initiatives with Werner Heiber and me prior to the public announcement. He will welcome our support as the proposals are reviewed by the City Council.