Green Building Vision
The City of Sacramento’s guiding vision is to become the most livable city in America, and encouraging green building practices is a key strategy to help us reach that goal. In recent years, there has been a growing market and community interest in developing a local green building program to encourage building and remodeling practices that use energy efficient and environmentally sensitive techniques. The Green Building Task Force was convened in partnership with the County of Sacramento, Valley Vision, and local stakeholders to provide a unique opportunity to facilitate resource development and to identify policies and best practices to support this emerging market.
Process Overview
The Green Building Task Force process involved several major categories of work, including: researching best practices and models, outreaching to stakeholders, engaging key informants in idea development, gathering public input, refining recommendations, and identifying resources for implementation. The Task Force identified policies and programs that support green building goals for existing and new construction. The Task Force also developed recommendations that emphasize high-return actions and included practical guidelines for the timing and phasing of new requirements. These recommendations captured a body of work that was developed over the course of a year through Task Force working meetings and with public input at key junctures.
Task Force working meetings and public events were held throughout Spring and Summer of 2010. The timeline was as follows:
City/County Green Building Task Force Timeline
Phase |
Tasks |
Date |
Formation |
Kick-off meeting,
Interview of key stakeholders,
Work plan development |
March 2010 |
Research |
Discuss current conditions and best practice research |
May 2010 |
Brainstorming |
Consider research and brainstorm best strategies for the Sacramento area |
June 2010 |
Evaluation & Prioritization |
Evaluate strategy ideas |
July 2010 |
Recommendation
Refinement |
Creation of recommendations and implementation phasing |
August 2010 |
This diagram illustrates the topic areas and work plan developed for the Green Building Task Force and public review process.
Recommendations & Updates
The Green Building Task Force’s final report was published on December 17, 2010. The report contains recommendations that identify ways to achieve energy and water savings in both new and existing buildings using a variety of approaches. The report was presented to the Sacramento City Council on March 1, 2011 with staff’s recommendation to review Green Building Task Force recommendations and direct staff to further develop key green building requirements and incentives.
While the Task Force recommendations were developed for application within the City and County of Sacramento, the recommendations have wider application to other cities and counties in the region because of the broad stakeholder representation on the Task Force and the breadth of topics covered. An important goal in this process was to create policies and programs that promote equity and consistency among jurisdictions in the greater Sacramento region. As such, several Task Force recommendations identify opportunities for private sector and nonprofit partners to play an active role in strategy implementation to further green building in the region.
Meeting Agendas, Notes and Handouts
Meeting Date |
Focus Area |
Notes |
Handouts |
04/21/10 |
Task Force Kick-Off Public Meeting |
|
|
6/22/10 |
Full Task Force Meeting |
|
|
07/14/10 |
Existing Residential Subcommittee |
|
|
07/14/10 |
Existing Commercial Subcommittee |
|
|
07/20/10 |
New Development Subcommittee |
|
|
08/12/10 |
Existing Residential Subcommittee |
|
|
08/12/10 |
Existing Commercial Subcommittee |
|
|
08/17/10 |
New Development Subcommittee |
|
|
09/16/10 |
Existing Buildings Subcommittee |
|
|
09/21/10 |
New Development Subcommittee |
|
|
10/20/10 |
Existing Buildings Subcommittee |
|
|
10/28/10 |
New Development Subcommittee |
|
|
11/10/10 |
Public Meeting |
|
|
Project Sponsers
 
|
Project Manager
|
|
