No mandates proposed; Plan Commission, Council reviewing it
A plan to help Richmond prepare for effects of climate change and working to reduce local carbon emissions is nearing completion. It will come before the city’s Advisory Plan Commission for review.
The city’s first Climate Action Plan is to be presented to the Richmond Common Council on Monday, July 18. The council is expected to ask the Plan Commission to review it at its meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27.
According to a memo to the council prepared by Ian Vanness, the city’s infrastructure and development director, “there are no mandates in the plan.”
It is broken into two sets of strategies: adaptation and mitigation, which provide strategies intended to better protect the health and well-being of residents. Adaptation strategies provide guidance on how to best prepar for the immediate effects of climate change. Mitigation strategies identify local areas where carbon emission reduction should be focused.
Richmond citizens participated in developing the plans by responding to a 32-question survey, Vanness reported. There were 175 responses with 82% of respondents saying they were concerned about climate change and its impacts.
Vanness wrote, “According to the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI), the most impactful effects of climate change in east-central Indiana will be continued increase in precipitation, flooding and extreme heat events. Members of Richmond’s business community have recognized these changes and have started preparing accordingly by developing their own sustainability and climate-related plans.”
The entire 132-page Climate Action Plan is available online at the following url: http://laserfiche.co.wayne.in.us/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=164326&dbid=0&repo=RichmondWayneCounty&cr=1