To develop its own climate plan, Kane County is asking for community feedback
Kane County announced this week it will host three community listening sessions to help create its first Climate Action Implementation Plan, which the county will develop throughout the year with input from the public.
The plan is meant to serve as a road map for Kane County municipalities by providing goals, resources and contacts within various climate sectors, such as transportation, agriculture, buildings and energy, and health and public waste. It would provide steps to achieve those goals, and they can choose which work for them, said Ivy Klee, the resource management coordinator with the county Department of Environment & Water Resources.
Klee said the plan originated from a need to localize an existing regional plan developed by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. The caucus, which connects 275 municipalities, developed a Climate Action Plan for the Chicago metro area in 2021, producing one of the first regional climate plans in the nation.
“What we want to do is kind of break it down into something that's more digestible for our Kane County municipalities,” Klee said. “The municipalities within the county are very different and have different needs, have different available time to pursue these types of projects.”
With more populated communities along the Fox River such as Elgin, St. Charles and Aurora, and more rural communities west of the river, Klee said, the county is looking to put together a plan that can address the range of sustainability needs and goals.
“It's going to look a little bit like an a la carte style — a list of goals — so that different communities can choose which goals might be feasible for them, which ones might make the most sense at different points in time, which ones are going to be the most financially feasible,” she said.
While the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus's plan does include objectives and strategies municipalities can pursue, it doesn't provide local contacts and resources within Kane County.
For instance, one goal within the regional plan is for municipalities to pursue electric aggregation, where a group of residents join to form a single customer that buys energy for its members.
“That's something the county currently does, but if one of our municipalities were to pursue that and not know where to start, we want to provide them with steps as to how to do that and who they can contact to learn more,” Klee said. “The plan is to provide more tools so as to not overwhelm folks who are going to implement their goals right at the local level.”
To create a list of goals and local resources, Klee said the county is turning to its residents, business owners and anyone active in their community to give them an opportunity to learn about the county's existing climate conditions, and in turn to hear feedback from community members on what the plan should prioritize.
“We're looking to hear from folks who are concerned about climate impacts, and also folks who might not be concerned,” Klee said. “This is a community-based plan, and we want to engage with people who live in their community and hear what's going on in their perspective, and take that feedback and adjust the plan accordingly.”
The first two community listening sessions will be held March 27, followed by a third to be scheduled for sometime in April. Information for the sessions, which will be held in person and online, can be found at tinyurl.com/KaneClimateListening.
Still in the research phase of the plan, the county is working with consultant paleBLUEdot, which specializes in climate and renewable energy planning.
The documents the company has put together for Kane County — including a greenhouse gas inventory, a climate vulnerability assessment and a renewable energy potentials study — are publicly available at palebluedot.llc/kane-climate-action.
After the community listening sessions, the county will host smaller sessions with stakeholders within specific climate sectors before creating a draft, which will be shared with the public.
All in all, Klee said the county's climate action team hopes to have a final draft ready for approval by the county board by the end of the year. Community members interested in joining the planning team can find the application at tinyurl.com/KaneCAPApplication.
• Jenny Whidden is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by the Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.