Washtenaw County holds its own in the Green Communities Challenge

In what's deemed a friendly competition, the cities of Saline, Ypsilanti, and Ann Arbor, along with the village of Dexter, are taking part with roughly 90 other communities state-wide in the Michigan Municipal League (MML) Green Communities Challenge. The challenge began two years ago as a collaboration between the MML and the state to offer resources and information on eco-friendly activities and serve as a forum for local governments to share environmental intelligence.

Any unit of local government in the state is eligible to join, says Project Coordinator Luke Forrest. While the MML stops short of directly offering financial resources, "we work with the state and federal government and share information about finding resources and other sorts of assistance that's available, so it's a good way for a local government official or activist to really stay on top of the cutting edge in terms of what communities can do in order to be more environmentally sustainable."

Communities earn green brownie points for various qualifying activities. For instance, Ann Arbor is developing a comprehensive Sustainability Plan to meld over 20 documents the city has on environmental issues. "They'd be one of few cities in the state that have done something that ambitious," Forrest says.

Ann Arbor is also the first city to offer a Property-Assessed Clean Energy program, which allows it to finance energy efficiency improvements for private commercial buildings through public bond offerings. Property owners reimburse the city by spreading payments out via several years' worth of property tax bills.

In other examples, Dexter has replaced 124 streetlights downtown with LED lights.

Saline installed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on the roof of its city hall, and also has a water protection education and tree planting and preservation programs.

Ypsilanti also has solar PV panels on its city hall. And it created an energy efficiency revolving loan fund to pay for future projects, including LEDs on Cross Street and in several city buildings.

"Washtenaw [County] definitely has a lot of leader communities in this area," Forrest notes.

In what officials hope will become an annual event, the MML will be hosting the Michigan Green Communities Conference in Lansing this fall to recognize exemplary work and serve as an information swap for local governing bodies.

Source: Luke Forrest, project coordinator for the Michigan Municipal League
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar