Will Lodi get recognition for environmental work?

Kathy Grant speaks to students from Kole Elementary School in Stockton about the Lodi Lake area Tuesday morning at the Discovery Center. Grant hopes that when students come back in four years, the nature center will be on the west side of the lake, along with the water treatment plant. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Will Lodi get recognition for environmental work?

By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:41 AM PDT

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Citywide recycling efforts. Energy efficient buildings. Tree planting programs. Solar-powered electric cars.

These are some of the steps Lodi has taken to reduce the city's mark on the environment. The next step is to seek a sustainable certificate to let people know Lodi is a green city.

But it's too soon to change the city motto to "Sustainable, lovable Lodi." While sustainable certification would improve the city's image and help win grant funds, some City Council members are wary of spending the time and money on the process.

City Manager Blair King said the city already has many sustainable practices, some of which are required by state mandates. The certification would allow the city to market itself as a sustainable community.

"It's getting a good housekeeping seal of approval," he said at a Tuesday morning meeting. "There is a business practice, a community culture that we want to highlight. Is the bragging rights worth it? We'd be on the leading edge of a change that's occurring."

Kole Elementary School fifth grader Arturo Marquez, 10, makes his lists of animal prints he and classmates found in the Lodi Lake basin Tuesday morning on a field trip. Marquez learned about stormwater and the ecosystem in and around the lake. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

For the last two years, city staff and the Lower Mokelumne Watershed Steering Committee have been talking with Audubon International, which evaluates cities and grants sustainable certification.

The certification could help the city obtain thousands of dollars in Measure K and state grants, according to Planning Manager Peter Pirnejad. On the flip side, the two-year certification process through Audubon International could cost $15,000, not including staff time.

Mayor Bob Johnson said he was not in favor of the added expense.

"It's wonderful, it's nice, but is it something we really need right now?" he said. "I can't get excited about staff taking time to do this. With all the stuff we've got on our plate, it seems like an awful lot to get our arms around."

A sustainable city certificate program is similar to what Lodi winegrape growers are already doing. The Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission's Lodi Rules program awards environmentally friendly grape growers. That program costs $90,000 to implement, according to Cliff Ohmart, the commission's research director.

"Certification is an interesting thing," Ohmart said at the meeting. "It creates a lot of angst, but it creates a lot of opportunity. It's a little scary because not many are doing it yet."

Audubon International has certified only one city, Eufaula, Ala., since it started the program in 2003, according to Peter Bronski, manager of the sustainable communities program.

Eufaula, a city of 14,000 in the southeast corner of the state, has used the Audubon logo on its signs and Web site to attract businesses and tourists since it became certified in 2003, according to Eufaula City Planner Tim Milner.

Sustainable Lodi

Some ways Lodi is already practicing sustainability:
• Citywide recycling efforts.
• Solar powered electric cars.
• Tree planting programs.
• Energy efficient buildings.
• Renewable sources of electricity.
• Energy Smart workshops.
• Lodi Lake docent program.
• Lodi Storm Drain Detectives program.
Source: City of Lodi.

"We've gotten national recognition for the whole process," he said. "Our economic development people have used it to our advantage."

A handful of cities are undergoing the certification process, Bronski said.

Other nonprofit organizations such as the Sierra Club also certify sustainable cities, King said.

By becoming a certified sustainable city, Lodi would be getting a jump on costly state green mandates and addressing imminent environmental problems, Councilman Larry Hansen said.

"If our going through this can better position us in terms of minimizing the impact of all this legislation, then maybe it is worth it," he said. "I believe in the next five years we are going to be dealing with some environmental issues that will pale in comparison to anything we have had to deal with in the past."

Environmentalists welcome Lodi becoming a sustainable community. Kathy Grant, a Lodi Lake docent and Storm Drain Detective, said the city would be setting a good example for the rest of the community.

"This allows the government to take the lead for the city," Grant said. "It forces the community to look at what we are doing."

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.

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