Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Council introduces Healthy Buildings Ordinance, citing emissions goals and federal grant
Summary
The Evanston City Council introduced and approved the Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO) after months of staff and public engagement. The ordinance would set building performance standards for large buildings and creates an implementation process tied to a $10.4 million Department of Energy grant.
Evanston’s City Council on Jan. 13 introduced and voted to approve a proposed Healthy Buildings Ordinance that would require large buildings in the city to reduce energy use, eliminate on-site fossil fuel combustion and transition to renewable electricity over a multi‑decade timetable.
The ordinance targets buildings of about 20,000 square feet and larger — roughly 500 properties identified by staff — and sets a framework of interim performance targets that would be strengthened every five years through 2050. City sustainability staff and the ordinance’s sponsors said the law is intended to advance Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP) and was crafted to include equity and alternative‑compliance processes for special cases.
The ordinance’s backers said it is both legally defensible and financially supported in part by a newly awarded U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant of about $10.4 million to help implement the law. “HBO has a high emissions reduction impact, eliminating almost half of our community‑wide carbon…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
