City starts Sustainable Neighborhoods Program, modeling Denver, Lakewood
The history of environmental sustainability in Fort Collins extends back many years, and with the recent implementation of the Climate Action Plan and declaration of a climate emergency, Fort Collins constantly looks to become more sustainable.
Another program the City has implemented to work toward environmental sustainability is the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program. The program involves community members by giving them an opportunity to make a change.
“We share the planet with so many other people and animals and living things, and we’re doing things that are really harmful,” said JC Ward, senior city planner for Neighborhood Services for the City of Fort Collins. “We have opportunities to make different changes.”
Fort Collins is the third city in Colorado to implement a sustainable neighborhood program. However, the City created a different model from its predecessors: Denver and Lakewood.
“They have a project manager and coordinator in the city of Denver and of Lakewood who go out to all of the projects with the neighborhoods; they do a lot of heavy recruitment,” Ward said. “Our model is not really like that. (The model is) a less direct delivery of programs by City staff and more of a collaboration per support network.”