Delray Beach presents draft strategies for climate action plan, seeks public feedback

Ken Edwards, sustainability officer for the City of Delray Beach, presented draft strategies Friday as the city advances a climate action plan and invited community feedback via a QR code link to a public comment page.

Edwards said the city has worked for about two years on the plan, including a greenhouse gas inventory and outreach. “We got more than 350 responses and more than 80% of the responses indicated they believe a climate action plan addressing certain key issues was an important thing for the city to do,” he said.

The presentation organized strategies into six sections: energy and built environment; green infrastructure and natural environment; water; waste; transportation; and climate resilience. Edwards said the plan will embed equity and outreach considerations into each section rather than creating a separate equity chapter.

On energy and the built environment, Edwards outlined measures ranging from energy savings performance contracting (ESPC) — described as 15- to 20-year agreements that finance building upgrades through expected energy savings — to benchmarking, retrofits (LED lighting, thermostats and controllers), staff training and continued review of the city’s green building ordinance. He recommended both city facility projects and outreach to help residents and businesses access grants, rebates and information from utilities such as Florida Power & Light.

Under green infrastructure, Edwards highlighted dune restoration, tree-planting and protection, invasive species management and park habitat restoration. He noted the city’s dune system is in “very healthy” condition and encouraged partnerships with Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University for research and monitoring. On trees, he emphasized “the right tree in the right place,” species diversity, maintenance and the possibility of hiring a city arborist or forester.

Water strategies included enhanced stormwater systems and a stormwater master plan revision, permeable surfaces and soil systems to increase infiltration, NPDES/MS4 permit management, water-use audits, enforcing the city’s watering ordinance, expanding reuse for irrigation per state reuse mandates and hardening critical water infrastructure against flooding.

On waste, Edwards said waste reduction and environmentally preferred purchasing were top survey priorities. He discussed outreach and event strategies to reduce single-use plastics, expanding recycling for multifamily and commercial sites (noting existing collection agreements with Waste Management and the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority), and the limits on city-run curbside composting because of county-level authority. He noted the region’s waste-to-energy plant generates electricity for about 40,000 homes.

Transportation, Edwards said, is the largest source of the city’s greenhouse gases. “Transportation is the largest generator of greenhouse gases as determined by our greenhouse gas inventory. Close to 60% of the greenhouse gases that are generated come from transportation,” he said. Proposed strategies included multimodal improvements (walking, biking, shuttles), leveraging the city’s bike-and-pedestrian master plan, tying into regional transit such as Tri-Rail and Palm Tran, demand-based parking pricing, and analyzing the city fleet for targeted electrification and charging infrastructure. He also mentioned use of low-speed vehicles for short trips.

Edwards framed many of the strategies as resilience measures: tree canopy to reduce local temperatures, stormwater improvements to reduce flooding, dune restoration to protect the beach and economy, and coral reef restoration as a longer-term ecological and economic initiative.

He said staff will compile feedback from the session and the online portal ahead of presenting a draft climate action plan to the city commission in April. “We really hope that the community will engage with us as we prepare to go to commission in April with a draft climate action plan,” Edwards said.

Ending notes: Edwards asked attendees to use the QR code to review the presentation and submit comments; he closed by opening the session for questions.