At the Bond Oversight Committee meeting, Project Manager Gina Oberging introduced a new ecological guidelines and tracking tool developed with the Sustainability Commission to measure environmental performance across bond projects. The tracker will cover three main categories: water use, stormwater management and green infrastructure; biodiversity and habitat connectivity; and native-friendly maintenance and education. “Our 10 bond projects will be using the ecological guidelines and tracker on a year to year basis,” Oberging said.

Oberging credited Mel England and a colleague, Colton, from the sustainability effort for helping build the framework and said Adrianne and Tyler presented the tracker to the Sustainability Commission earlier in the month. Staff said they plan to establish a baseline at project start and then report progress annually.

Jenna, a Parks and Rec Commission member and landscape designer, suggested exploring site certification programs (a landscape equivalent to LEED) for projects that might qualify; staff asked Jenna to follow up by email with details. “It could be interesting if we’re already trying to meet this if maybe certain parks are also site-certified,” Jenna said.

Oberging noted one council direction that constrains implementation: council has capped conversions of turf to native plantings at no more than 10 percent, which staff said complicates achieving some ecological goals and will require trade-offs. The committee discussed communications and baseline reporting so the city can show year-over-year progress. Staff said they will coordinate with communications to present initial baseline results and then annual updates. No formal committee action was taken at the meeting.