The city of Dayton is drafting its next sustainability plan, and it’s looking for city residents and community stakeholders to help shape it.
The city of Dayton has a track record of prioritizing sustainability goals, from being one of the first cities globally to receive a “Platinum” rating by the U.S. Green Buildings Council for its sustainability efforts, to its city commission taking a stance on climate change through its 2021 climate emergency declaration.
Now the city will be making a sustainability plan looking forward to what it wants to accomplish in the next 10 years, and the city is planning multiple opportunities for public engagement.
Longer term plan with more feedback to be incorporated
The plan will last 10 years instead of five years like the time frame of the city’s last sustainability plan that concluded in 2025, Meg Maloney, Dayton’s sustainability manager, said.
“That is because with the last plan, what we realized is sustainability projects take time because a lot of them involve capital infrastructure, investment and funding,” Maloney said.
Despite that, Maloney said the city completed 80% of more than 100 projects from its 2020-2025 Sustainability Plan.
That includes:
- restarting a citywide energy aggregation program using 100% renewable power
- supporting energy efficiency improvements through the Dayton Home Repair Network
- planning local solar projects on under-used land and city-owned properties
- planting more than 1,200 trees for cleaner air and providing shade to reduce heat
- installing a biodigester at its water reclamation facility to reduce carbon emissions through methane capture
The city is working on the remaining projects through this year.
This time around, Maloney said the sustainability office wants to expand on the community engagement element; the last plan was created in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, limiting feedback opportunities to virtual meetings.
“Something that we heard a lot from the last plan was we really needed more residents' voices reflected in this iteration. So this time around, we've been very, very intentional about trying to think through that process,” she said
“That we could have multiple touch points with community, that they could give us their opinions or help us really shape the goals and actions that are going into this next draft.”
The city wants input from the general public and plans to schedule community workshops throughout the drafting process the rest of this year. The next community workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6-7:30pm at the Lohrey Recreation Center.
The city is also convening multiple stakeholder groups, both internally at the city and externally in partnership with local organizations.
Each will convene multiple times before to work on the draft and refine it.
A survey is also available for residents to take.
'Choosing wisely' amid changing federal funding
When asked what it’s like working on sustainability goals during Trump’s second term, in which billions of federal dollars for environmental justice and climate change projects were halted, Maloney points out Dayton’s last plan was drafted during Trump’s first term.
“We've kind of been in this similar environment before, where we don't have a ton of money coming from the federal government. So we're choosing wisely how we're doing certain programs and what funding is available for us to pursue.”
Given that, sustainability office staff will continue to try to be creative in thinking about how to accomplish these goals — especially the goals that align with Daytonians the most.
“Again, this plan, I think will also help us reprioritize where we should be focusing our time and where we should be looking for those additional dollars that we might not be getting from the federal level, but might be available through philanthropy or the state,” Maloney said.
The city hopes to finish drafting the plan by January 2027. The plan will last through 2037. Maloney said the drafting process could extend into spring 2027 depending on feedback received.
More information with updates on the Sustainability Plan can be found on the city of Dayton’s website.
