City of Evansville Awarded 2020 Green Community of the Year
The City of Evansville received the 2020 Green Community of the Year Award from Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (Aim).
At last week’s virtual Ideas Summit, Aim recognized Evansville’s comprehensive effort to develop a Climate Action Plan (CAP) with the assistance of the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute.
The CAP will create immediate, lasting benefits for Evansville, including strengthened economic development, improved air quality, and reduced waste.
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke is directing the plan’s development, supported by IU Resilience Cohort extern Carolyn Townsend, a dual master’s degree student at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Timothy Weir.
“Engaging Southwest Indiana residents and seeking their input has been vital throughout the development process,” said Mayor Lloyd Winnecke. “Our team conducted a comprehensive community engagement campaign that employed a public survey, virtual town hall meetings, and a website and social media to gather community input.”
More than 1,800 people participated in the Public Survey. Nearly 200 people participated in one of eight Virtual Town Hall meetings. The team is also conducting 10 dedicated town hall sessions in partnership with corporations and civic groups, including the Evansville Chapter of the NAACP, Berry Global and the Southwest Indiana Chamber to the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville, Leadership Everyone, Wesselman Nature Society, and Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.
Once completed, the CAP will build upon the City’s ongoing efforts to be a greener, sustainable community.
Those efforts include:
Solar panels installed at city facilities including Swonder Ice Arena, C.K. Newsome Community Center, and Howell Wetlands Conservation Station. The Evansville Water & Sewer Utility (EWSU) completed a 200,000-kilowatt solar array off Campground Road earlier this year. City is leasing space at the Oak Hill Cemetery for a Vectren solar array project.
Electric Vehicle Charging stations – free to the public – installed at public Downtown parking garages.
EWSU captures methane during its wastewater treatment process, which is used to fuel generators to provide electricity to the facility.
City streetlights and traffic signals are being converted to LEDs.
The Wesselman Woods Nature Center is LEED Gold certified, and The Ford Center is LEED Silver certified.
EWSU continues its curbside recycling program. The recycling program started in 1994.
Trail extensions continue for the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage. The Mid Levee Corridor Greenway opened in October 2019. The city also has along-term regional bicycle and pedestrian plan.
The Evansville Department of Urban Forestry was established in 2001. Evansville has been a Tree City USA Community since 2000, celebrating 20 years in 2020.
Within the Evansville Gateway Project/Hoosier Heritage Roadside Program, over 8,500 native grasses and wildflowers were planted on a median on U.S. 41. The program marked the first time that the Indiana Department of Transportation utilized a structured plug planting method and Department of Corrections inmates to grow the plants.
Mayor Winnecke created Clean Evansville in 2012. The goal of the initiative is to involve the entire community in picking up trash, as well as targeting specific areas for clean-up on a monthly basis. The program was highlighted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in its Best Practices and has been replicated by Akron, Ohio.
FOOTNOTE: The Aim Awards Program honors communities and individuals for outstanding achievement, successful innovation, and steady leadership in municipal government.Â
The Green Community of the Year Award highlights a community that has gone above and beyond with green practices in the areas of procurement and municipal operations.
Evansville received the award in 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2018.
