Healthy and Sustainable Communities Project
How will we sustain our quality of life for future generations – and how do we measure our progress?
To guide local policymakers and help promote a sustainable quality of life, the Montgomery County Planning Board, in partnership with the County Executive, is developing overall environmental policy goals and indicators measuring our progress toward meeting those goals.
View the Framework for Action report, a joint effort of staff from the Planning Department and the county Department of Environmental Protection. The Board approved the full set of recommendations of the report in September. The report will help policymakers and community members judge how their policies, programs, and actions contribute to achieving goals such as clean air and water. Drafted in a partnership with the County Department of Environmental Protection, the report evolved from public input gathered at a “Healthy and Sustainable Communities” workshop in June. It specifies six goals and recommends a number of indicators that will help measure the county’s collective efforts toward reaching those goals. We see the project as a starting point and will work with the County Executive to create more indicators to measure our mutual goals.
Healthy and Sustainable Communities Workshop
The Healthy and Sustainable Communities Workshop, held June 25-26 in Rockville, set the stage for a new dialogue on suggested goals and indicators that will serve as a barometer to measure how well we have met our sustainability goals. Together, the goals and indicators provide a comprehensive picture of our collective sustainability efforts and will help generate coordinated policies.
Workshop co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Planning Board and the
NEW See notes and summaries of the workshop below. Please review the results of any sessions that interest you and provide comments on those results via links in the 'Give us your feedback' box at right or below with each goal. Comments received by July 31 will be considered in the draft report to the Planning Board.
The workshop help set the agenda for county planners as well as a new county Sustainability Working Group.
Goals and Indicators
As our county works toward achieving a number of environmental sustainability goals, we will develop indicators that will serve as a barometer measuring our progress. For example, the number of high-ozone days and daily vehicle miles traveled serve as useful indicators of clean air.
Together, the goals and indicators will provide a comprehensive picture of our collective sustainability efforts and facilitate coordinated policies.
- Climate protection
workshop presentation | meeting notes- View/comment on energy use
- View/comment on carbon emissions
- View/comment on waste management
- Clean air
workshop presentation | meeting notes- View/comment on air quality index
- View/comment on travel indicators
- Clean water
View/comment on clean water | workshop presentation | meeting notes - Green infrastructure
View/comment on green infrastructure | workshop presentation | meeting notes - Smart communities
View/comment on smart communities | workshop presentation | meeting notes - Healthy people
View/comment on healthy people | workshop presentation | meeting notes - Green economy
workshop presentation | meeting notes- View/comment on jobs
- View/comment on agriculture
- Environmental justice
View/comment on environmental justice |workshop presentation | meeting notes
Using these measures, county officials, in concert with the newly established Sustainability Working Group, will make decisions on county spending and programs that lead to increased sustainability. County residents and businesses will be able to see more clearly their role in forging a sustainable future and more easily engage public officials in policy deliberations.
The Sustainability Working Group
A Sustainability Working Group, comprised of 26 senior experts from county government and the private sector, was appointed by the County Executive and approved by the County Council in mid-July. This group will use the goals and indicators to develop a Climate Protection Plan that will guide county officials in making decisions that lead to increased sustainability for the county.
Date of last update: July 21, 2008
