Ithaca sustainability commission advances climate action plan, schedules public outreach and staff search

The Ithaca City Sustainability Commission on Wednesday reviewed next steps for the draft climate action plan, agreed to seek City Council adoption of the plan as part of the city’s comprehensive plan, set a public outreach event for Aug. 28 at the library and confirmed a posted search to replace the departing sustainability planner.

Rebecca (staff member) told commissioners that Savannah, the city’s sustainability planner, will not be returning from maternity leave and that the city posted the sustainability planner position with applications expected to close on Aug. 20. “We are hoping to close the job posting on August 20,” Rebecca said, adding that staff hope to make an offer in September and have someone start by October if possible.

The commission discussed public engagement for the plan and agreed to hold an event at the library on Thursday, Aug. 28, with a tentative community session from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Rebecca said the event will likely include visuals on the wall, printed materials and a short prerecorded or 15‑minute overview to leave time for public questions. “Rather than trying to wrangle everybody’s schedules, we’ve just picked a date,” she said.

Commissioners pressed staff for more clarity about next steps: David (commissioner) asked to see the budget‑impact memo that staff is preparing and Iris (commissioner) said it would be useful to review the memo before council sees it. Rebecca said she is preparing a budgetary impact memo for council covering 2026 implications for municipal buildings and fleet electrification and expected to submit the memo with the September council agenda packet. “It should go to council just as part of an agenda packet in September,” she said.

On legal and implementation issues, Rebecca told the group she will ask the city attorney to review the recommendations to flag items that the city cannot require by ordinance and to propose alternative language where appropriate. She also said staff will ask council to adopt the climate action plan as part of the comprehensive plan to strengthen its status. “The action that we are asking council to take as part of this document is to not only adopt the climate action plan, but adopt it as a part of the comprehensive plan,” Rebecca said.

Commissioners debated how to present priorities to council and the public. Some members urged a short list of top priorities or “low‑hanging fruit” to make the plan actionable and to avoid overwhelming readers; others recommended including a prioritization process in the plan and offering tools — such as a matrix or an online interface — that let staff, council and the public sort recommendations by impact, cost and timeline. Nick (commissioner) suggested using a spreadsheet‑style analysis to let different stakeholders sort recommendations by the criteria they care about.

The commission also discussed related outreach and technical presentations. The county Environmental Management Council has requested a 15‑minute presentation to municipal advisory groups about the county’s updated Unique Natural Areas map; commissioners suggested a presentation in October or November and asked presenters to emphasize why sites are designated and how those designations intersect with city priorities such as flood risk and green‑space planning.

On program specifics, Rebecca said the draft plan includes about 70 recommendations across sectors and that staff will prepare a condensed table to show priorities and staff responses to commission comments. Commissioners asked staff to flag which recommendations require external approvals, regional coordination or substantial new funding. There were no formal votes on policy items at the meeting; the commission closed the meeting by unanimous voice consent.

The commission asked members to submit written comments on the draft recommendations; Rebecca said she will compile public and commission feedback into a matrix to present to council as part of the adoption packet.