In 2008, staff at the city of Cleveland’s Community Development, City Planning, Office of Sustainability, along with non-profit group Building Cleveland by Design and Cleveland Foundation’s special project coordinator Lillian Kuri formed a green team.

Meeting monthly, they tasked themselves with figuring out how the green design elements being introduced to the area through four pilot LEED-Neighborhood Development projects could be leveraged into more green building and sustainable land-use policy. One agenda item was identifying obstacles within city codes and writing new policy that would offer an opportunity for green developments to spread into the surrounding, existing neighborhoods. One outcome of their work, thus far, is a new green design district designation in Cleveland, which will be applied surrounding at least one of the LEED-ND projects, at Upper Chester.

In general, green teams may consist of interdepartmental staff at city hall with seats at the table for citizens and maybe an organization or two who can provide technical support. Or, green teams can be completely voluntary and citizen-driven. They can be an easy (and revenue neutral) mechanism for every city in Northeast Ohio to make progress on its sustainability goals. For example, establishing a green team can help a city that has signed or is considering making a commitment to reducing its impact on the environment, such as the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement.

If your city has established a green team, email us the details. If you’re wondering where to start, we suggest you check out the link to the Brunswick Green Advisory Group below, which includes their agenda and progress.