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The Journal for planning in the West since 1979The Journal for planning in the West since 1979

Western Plannerwww.westernplanner.org

December 2011The

STRATEGIES TO HELP OVERCOME NIMBY OPPOSITIONPage 13

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As more local governments around the country confront climate change and develop climate action plans, it’s often the largest of them that grab the headlines—think about the City of Chicago’s or leading edge Portland, Oregon’s, climate action plans. However, underlying these high-profile initia-tives, many other communities are stepping up their efforts to inventory greenhouse gases (GHGs) and develop strategies to reduce emissions. In particular, in the Intermountain West, where the economic vitality of many resort communities depends on a reliable snowpack, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

One such community meeting climate change head on is Park City, Utah. Located in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City, this community of 7,500—better known for hosting the annual Sundance Film Festival and the U.S. Ski Team—has emerged as a state and national leader for its climate protection efforts.

Park City’s efforts have their roots in a strong community ethic of environmental stewardship. Several community-based, non-profit organizations are active in Park City. The city itself has been working for several years to promote pub-lic transit, walking and cycling, school programs, and renew-able energy. Park City developed a carbon footprint analysis and action plan for its own operations as a way to lead by example. The city also committed to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, a commitment to meet the former Kyoto Protocol GHG reduction targets and to urge Congress and other governments to take action.

To better understand what climate change may mean for Park City and Utah, in 2006 Park City Mountain Resort commissioned the first comprehensive scientific study of global warming’s effect on the resort and the Utah snow

sports industry. The study, completed by Stratus Consulting and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder, forecast local warming of 5.9 to over 150 F by 2100 in Utah, a delay in snowpack buildup of at least four weeks, and a decrease in mid-season snow depths of 15 to 65 percent by 2075. These predictions, if played out, will have significant repercussions for Park City’s resorts; some may not see any snow at all during some seasons, and by 2050, economic losses in the region may top $390 million.

Spurred on by these findings, Park City embarked on conducting a GHG inventory for the community and developing a “roadmap” for reducing emissions. City staff retained Colorado-based Brendle Group to develop the inventory and roadmap and convened a broad-based Community Carbon Advisory Board to support the effort.

2 The Western Planner • December 2011

by Dave Wortman, Fort Collins, Colorado

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Table One: Park City’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

Category Emissions %

Airline Transportation 39.6%

On-Road Vehicles 16.3%

Electricity in Commercial and Industrial Buildings 15.9%

Electricity in Residences 12.1%

Residential Natural Gas 8.5%

Commercial and Industrial Natural Gas 4.5%

Non-road Vehicles and Equipment 1.6%

Solid Waste 1.1%

Other (e.g., Propane, Refrigerants) 0.3%

Park City residents share their ideas for reducing local carbon emissions. Photo by Judy Dorsey.

Park City tackles climate changeFor a Western mountain resort town, it’s all about saving snow

www.westernplanner.org 3

Park City’s 2007 community GHG inventory reflects challenges shared by virtually all communities—how to reduce GHG emissions associated with transportation, electricity, and natural gas to light and condition buildings—as well as the unique challenges of resort communities. Park City, realizing the role tourism plays in its economy, unconventionally elected to include airline travel for guests and residents in its inventory to have a more accurate picture of its associated emissions. Results showed that nearly 40 percent of the community’s emissions were attributed to air travel, followed by on-road traffic and building electricity consumption. City staff and the advisory board also learned that Park City’s emissions per full-time resident were higher than the national average due not only to the contributions of tourism-related air travel, but also to the high mountain climate with large heating demands and the impact of a tourism infrastructure for up to 30,000 guests.

One of the Community Carbon Advisory Board’s first steps was to develop a community vision for reducing GHG emissions that reflected Park City’s priorities and values:

“The Park City community is committed to applying significant effort to combat the causes of climate change and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing our carbon footprint is our responsibility as citizens of the nation and the world.

Working together, using our community spirit, innovation, and environmental passion, we will ensure for future generations the

environmental protection, economic prosperity, and quality of life that makes Park City unique.”

To support this vision, advisory board members offered input to develop guiding principles for the roadmap:

• The municipality will be a strong partner in efforts to reduce community GHG emissions, leading by example and provid-ing policy guidance while promoting personal accountability and community responsibility.

• Park City should explore a range of regulations and incentives to reduce GHG emissions.

• Transparency and technical credibility should be maintained throughout the process.

• Park City should be a leader to help other ski communities ad-dress climate change.

• Education is key in determining what level of commitment Park City makes to reducing its impacts on climate change.

Backed by the vision and guiding principles, the advisory board set out to develop a GHG reduction goal for Park City. After lively discussion, a majority of the board members supported a goal of 15 percent reduction below 2005 emissions by 2020. This target was aligned with the goals established by the Western Climate Initiative, a collaboration

of U.S. states and Canadian provinces working together to identify, evaluate, and implement policies to tackle climate change at a regional level. The board developed 21 high-level strategies for community leadership, transportation and land use, energy use, energy supply, waste reduction and diversion, and carbon offsets to help Park City achieve this goal.

In 2009, Park City created two new climate initiatives: the “Save Our Snow” Action Plan to provide more specific implementation guidance for the completed roadmap; and <www.parkcitygreen.org>, an innovative website that allows residents and businesses to calculate their GHG footprint, compare it to others, network on topics related to climate and sustainability, and target actions to reduce emissions.

In April 2010, with the help of the Save Our Snow Task Force and 90 community members who participated in a brainstorming session, Park City completed a draft action plan. The plan refines strategies identified in the roadmap, further considers their implications, and recommends imple-mentation steps. It addresses energy use in existing buildings, improved building standards, local and utility scale renewable energy development, visitor transportation, and solid waste and recycling. Finally, the plan quantifies implementation costs, net annual cost savings, cost per ton of CO2 reduced over a project’s life, reduction in business-as-usual emissions, and absolute reduction of CO2 emissions by the 2020 goal year to help the community understand the real costs and benefits from specific climate action measures.

After completing the Save Our Snow Action Plan, city staff is looking forward to the next steps. The city has received interest from other communities across the nation looking to replicate its success. According to Tyler Pulson, Park City’s Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, imple-mentation of the plan’s strategies is well underway, with plans to roll out a “low carbon diet” community challenge, as well as a green business program. In December 2010, Park City became the first Utah community to adopt an anti-idling ordinance; and the Utah Transit Authority and local transit representatives started running a bus route between Park City and Salt Lake City to address visitor transportation impacts.

Park City’s efforts not only help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are affecting a climate on which the town’s livelihood depends, they offer many co-benefits to the com-munity, from reducing energy bills to providing more trans-portation options. It’s a lesson learned well worth passing on to other communities across the West. For more information, visit <www.parkcitygreen.org>.

David Wortman is the Program Manager for Colorado-based Brendle Group, an engineering consulting firm focused on sustainability <www.brendlegroup.com>.