Sterling Heights city staff and the Sustainability Commission on the council meeting agenda Thursday summarized 2024 work and next steps for implementing the city's climate action plan.

"2024 was an exciting year when it comes to sustainability and the progress that the city has achieved," Sustainability Planner Alexis Weinberg told the council, then introduced Nathan Inks, chair of the Sustainability Commission, who described committee work on solar zoning, waste diversion, stormwater, biodiversity and tree plantings.

Inks said the commission helped finalize zoning amendments to explicitly permit rooftop solar throughout the city and worked with the Office of Planning and the city attorney; the proposed solar ordinance had been scheduled for a planning commission public hearing and was expected to be taken to council later. The commission recommended the city purchase an enterprise tree-management system after a 2022 inventory by Davey Tree; TreeKeeper now holds right-of-way and park tree data so staff can track plantings, maintenance tickets and removals.

City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the administration is planting aggressively and expanding related programs. "We are providing universal, curbside recycling," Vanderpool said, and highlighted a goal to plant thousands of new trees and a multiyear funding commitment for reforestation. He also reported an electric vehicle pilot with about five city EVs in service and plans to add four to five more this year; he said General Motors and State Electric are installing roughly 30 public charging ports across city sites.

The sustainability team discussed a community greenhouse-gas inventory used as a baseline for the climate action plan the council adopted earlier in the year. Weinberg and Inks said the commission now will shift from planning to implementation and noted a July 8 online food-waste information session for restaurant owners featuring Make Food Not Waste and Too Good To Go.

Public comments during the meeting echoed the implementation needs: resident Sarah Fisher urged a city drop-off composting program for residents who cannot compost at home, saying about 21% of the city's residents live in non-single-family housing and cannot compost in a backyard.

No formal council action was taken on the commission report; staff and commissioners asked for council support as they move to implement the climate action and tree programs.