Longmont is piecing together efforts to encourage a cleaner and more sustainable environment locally, including a mapping project to identify pockets of the city hit especially hard by climate problems.
Longmont this year received $110,012 from Boulder County’s Environmental Sustainability Matching Grant Program, which provides municipalities a chance to address environmental sustainability projects in their communities, according to a Boulder County webpage on the program.
The city also matched the county’s grant with $27,503.
The funds are paying for a $40,383 sustainability and program coordinator for a second year, a climate equity and engagement specialist for $30,000 and a climate risk and vulnerability mapping project at $39,629, according to a report to the Longmont City Council.
The city council, this week, approved an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, with Boulder County that funds the positions and program. The original IGA established a three-year term. The amendment establishes a one-year term for the IGA with automatic renewals for additional one-year periods, according to the city report.
The sustainability and program coordinator position was filled in April 2020 by Aterah Nusrat, said Lisa Knoblauch, the city’s sustainability coordinator.
Nusrat’s job is to reach and engage residents in sustainability and climate action programs as well as secure funding to implement programs, according to the staff report.
The climate vulnerability and risk mapping project is still being developed as only internal work has been done thus far, Knoblauch said in an email. The mapping project will find areas in the city which may be disproportionately impacted by extreme climate conditions, including “heat islands” or areas with limited open space or tree canopies, the city report states.
Knoblauch said a Request For Proposal for the project is being finalized and should be released in the coming weeks. The city should have a contract finalized in late May or early June, she said.
The climate equity and engagement specialist slot remains open, Knoblauch said. The specialist will conduct targeted bilingual community outreach, the staff report states. “This will support wider engagement with existing sustainability programs and reduce barriers to adopting sustainability practices, which will ultimately help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the report.
