Urbandale council reviews Sustainable Urbandale Action Plan; staff to start website and native‑plant zoning work

The Urbandale City Council discussed steps to implement the Sustainable Urbandale Action Plan on a regular‑agenda item introduced by Mayor and presented by Curtis Brown, interim city manager. Staff outlined a phased approach and recommended beginning with two short‑term actions: enhancing the city website to host sustainability resources and drafting zoning or property‑maintenance code language to incent and clarify native plantings on private property.

The plan matters because it translates a multi‑year, university‑supported sustainability study into specific actions city staff can pursue without immediate new legislation. John Mayer, the plan presenter, told the council the plan contains 53 primary action items (with more than 80 subcomponents) grouped into short‑, medium‑ and long‑term timeframes and a scoring system to prioritize work.

Mayer said the plan “was an outgrowth of actually the work done prior with the University of Northern Iowa” and that students and local partners helped shape the recommendations. He summarized four overarching…