City's Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative

City's Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative

Mayor Greg Ballard today unveiled the City's Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative, a collaborative effort between the Office of Sustainability, the Department of Public Works and the Office of Code Enforcement, which provides a framework for encouraging green infrastructure in Indianapolis. The crux of the initiative is the Green Supplemental Document that provides guidance for developers, architects and engineers as they work to incorporate green infrastructure into their projects in Indianapolis.

"Since creating our Office of Sustainability in October of last year, we have taken great strides toward achieving our goal of making Indianapolis the most sustainable city in the Midwest," said Mayor Ballard. "Public private partnerships have played a critical role in every one of our successes, and today's announcement of our Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative will make low impact development and green infrastructure more easily attainable for our private sector."

The Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative is the result of input from City staff and consultants, and it not only provides guidelines for how to develop green infrastructure, but it also gives the Office of Code Enforcement the authority to approve permits that incorporate green infrastructure to manage stormwater, as long as it adheres to the guidelines established in the Green Supplemental Document.

The Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative will allow the City to have more green buildings and more buildings that seek LEED certification.

"The Sustainable Infrastructure Initiative encourages the private sector to be a part of the cost-effective solution to our City's combined sewer overflow challenges," said Kären Haley, Director of the Office of Sustainability. "This opens the door for the private sector to develop projects that manage storm-water in a sustainable manner."

About SustainIndy:
SustainIndy is Mayor Ballard's bold and innovative enterprise for making Indianapolis more sustainable. Its aim is to deliver long-term cost savings to tax payers and improve our local environment, while improving the quality of life for citizens and building our local economy. Its efforts are designed to aggressively move Indianapolis toward becoming one of the most sustainable cities in the Midwest. SustainIndy is driven by the City's Office of Sustainability and takes a public-private partnership approach to making Indianapolis a great place to live for generations to come.