City accepts gold designation

One year ago, Palm Coast accepted silver. Now, it's gold, and green ideas keep evolving.
by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer


In 2007, the city of Palm Coast established a group to focus on the green movement: the Green Team. Then, the Green City Committee was established. Local legislation offered incentives to protect the environment. For its efforts, the city has been recognized by the Florida Green Building Coalition as a gold-level, green local government.

This award is received for extraordinary environmental stewardship throughout all departments and across the community.

Denis Bevan, senior environmental planner, said the process has been an overall team effort. She added that perhaps the biggest factor in achieving the gold designation is that many programs work together for the ultimate goal.

"It's about being consistent throughout the city," she said. "Every department has initiatives, and they're all thinking about ways to help."

Public works, a program housed by the utilities department, has contributed through its swale rehabilitation project. Bevan said public works sifts through the soil to extract all usable elements in the swale soil. Some of the materials are then used to fill sandbags and then offered to Palm Coast residents for free in case of emergency.

Another significant aspect is the city's waste consumption. In December 2009, nearly 60% of households in Palm Coast recycled, and household waste has gone down while recycling has gone up.

According to Palm Coast waste-consumption data, the city produced 29,355 tons of garbage in January 2007. In 2009, January garbage was 26,172 tons. In the same time period, recycling tonnage increased from 3,253 to 3,954. Bevan said the data is evident that the citizens are doing their part and also represents the city is providing the proper services.

The recent gold-level designation for Palm Coast makes it the ninth local government to receive the award. However, Palm Coast is the only city in Northeast Florida.

Mayor Jon Netts said there is a misconception that going green costs money, when in fact, it can save money.

"It's indicative of a mindset," he said.

Netts added that achieving the gold-level designation wasn't implementing new strategies; however, it was the community picking up on the importance of going green and really focusing on the things already being done.

Perhaps one o the easiest ways to express the amount of dedication the city of Palm Coast is putting into becoming more environmentally friendly: The fire departments no longer use cups. Instead, each employee is given reusable coffee mugs.

In November 2009, the City Council adopted the Green Development Incentive Ordinance, which will require the city of Palm Coast to be able to numerically quantify the impact the green initiatives are doing.

And when the numbers will be available in January 2011, Bevan said it will help residents realize the full benefits.

Contact Andrew O'Brien at andrew@palmcoastobserver.com.