Omaha officials asking for public input in next steps of Climate Action Plan - WOWT

Omaha officials asking for public input in next steps of Climate Action Plan

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The City of Omaha has been working for nearly three years on creating an action and resilience plan to address climate change.

Monday was the first of four public open houses for community members to learn, engage, and share opinions on draft plan goals.

This comes after data analysis has been going on for the past year to establish baseline information and identify vulnerabilities and potential areas of improvement. While it may look like a lot of the legwork is done, city planners and consultants assure people their comments will be taken into consideration and could even make it onto the final draft.

“Really what we’re talking about is beginning a long-term journey,” said paleBLUEdot consultant Ted Redmond.

It’s a living project, one that continues to be changing, officials said.

The Omaha Climate Action and Resilience Plan(CARP) is now in the drafting stage, with the long-term goal to be climate-ready, resilient, and carbon-neutral by 2050.

It’s an initiative that Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen is proud of, and he hopes community members take part in the process.

“Ultimately it’ll be the community that implements it in the coming years,” said Festersen.

The city-hired consultant identified preliminary goals across eight areas the city could work on to reduce emissions, including targets that fall under transportation, building energy use, and waste management.

But they’re not set in stone. For example, officials said multiple comments at the first virtual meeting made about curbside composting are resulting in consideration for the next draft.

“We’re still looking at these options and due to the interest that we’ve had from the public on composting, I can see there would be real value in pursuing a composting program,” said Robert Laroco with the city planning department. “We’ll see how that develops as we move forward.”

Another comment asked about the plan promoting or subsidizing energy-saving measures for renters or homeowners. The idea was welcomed.

“Please put your comments on the form, because those are great really specific ideas that you’ve got,” said Redmond. “We’d love to have them. Please share them on the form if you’re able to. That would be fantastic.”

That form for input is on the website dedicated to the CARP in the “get involved” section.

Nearly 60 people logged in for the virtual meeting and most of them stayed for questions. Officials said input will be summarized, put together, and provided to the planning team. That’ll be in the midst of their process, as they’re refining and considering direct action.

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