HomeMy WebLinkAbout24. 22-155APRIL 12, 2022 22-155 RESOLUTION
(CARRIED___7-0_____LOST________LAID OVER________WITHDRAWN________)
PURPOSE: SUPPORT INCORPORATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
CONCEPTS INTO CITY OF OSHKOSH PLANS AND PROCESSES
INITIATED BY: MAYOR PALMERI
SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDATION: Approved
WHEREAS, Oshkosh has affirmed our commitment to being a community for
everyone in aspiration and in reality, including building an inclusive, and welcoming
place to live, learn, work, and enjoy life; and
WHEREAS, we continue to rise to meet the challenges that misunderstandings
about our diverse experiences may present. We seek to listen to understand each other.
We aspire to learn from each other about our diverse experiences and barriers so we can
empathetically and soundly inform our community’s policies; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oshkosh is committed to engaging the community on
policies that affect residents, citizens, workers, employers, and visitors; and
WHEREAS, the principles of environmental justice can help build public policy
based on respect and equity for all people, free from discrimination or bias; and
WHEREAS, Environmental Justice is defined by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oshkosh seeks to actualize the goal of ensuring residents,
citizens, workers, employers, and visitors enjoy the same degree of protection from
environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to
have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work; and
APRIL 12, 2022 22-155 RESOLUTION
CONT’D
WHEREAS, the federal government has established robust policy addressing the
fair treatment of all citizens, residents, visitors, and businesses with special focus on how
policies may impact minority and low-income areas across departments and divisions
from the Civil rights Act of 1964 to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1992
establishment of an Environmental Justice Office to President Joe Biden’s 2021 Executive
order 12898; and
WHEREAS, the State of Wisconsin is committed to clean air and healthy
landscapes as foundations of Wisconsin’s environment and quality of life; and
WHEREAS, both the EPA and the DNR are vested with wide regulatory authority
to ensure public and private land users and businesses are adhering to the laws,
guidelines, and orders that protect our air, land, and water quality in addition to obeying
standards as they relate to investigation and cleanup of environmental contamination
and redevelopment of contaminated properties; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oshkosh seeks to affirm our commitment as good partners
to all citizens, residents, visitors, and businesses who seek to live and thrive in the city by
committing to work with the DNR and EPA in our respective authorities to ensure our
work together meets environmental justice standards; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oshkosh has supported work towards achieving these
goals over the last decade through policy writing, participation in supporting a variety
of brownfield redevelopment projects, and EPA and/or DNR planning grants,
sustainability and economic development plans, as well as applying for and having
designated two opportunity zones, having several distressed qualifying census tracts,
and various resolutions supporting our diverse community; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oshkosh has incorporated Environmental Justice concepts
in the City’s existing Strategic Plan and within plans for allocation of American Rescue
Plan Act (ARPA) Funding; and WHEREAS, environmental justice principles are a part
of the trillion-dollar federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill President Biden signed in
November 2021 that includes directing 40% of climate and clean energy investments into
communities of color and low-income neighborhoods; and
APRIL 12, 2022 22-155 RESOLUTION
CONT’D
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of the City of
Oshkosh that the City of Oshkosh will give consideration to environmental justice
principles during policymaking including updates to the City’s Strategic Plan and the
City’s Comprehensive Plan and other policies and plans developed for the City to ensure
that those responsible for decisions that could affect the quality of life for residents,
citizens, workers, employers, visitors, neighborhoods and our City at large hear and
consider meaningful, timely, inclusive, accessible public comment, with the intention of
being responsive to that public input.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City will provide links to the EPA
EJSCREEN, the EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool EJSCREEN
(epa.gov), and the State of Wisconsin Environmental Equity Tool and may provide
additional data or resources specific to the City of Oshkosh on the City’s website
accessible to the public, elected officials and city staff. This information will be reviewed
regularly and updated as new data becomes available.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City will give consideration to
environmental justice principles when discussing future infrastructure projects.
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council
FROM: Kelly Nieforth, Community Development Director
DATE: April 7, 2022
RE: Support Incorporation of Environmental Justice Concepts into City of Oshkosh
Plans and Processes
BACKGROUND
At the January 25th Council meeting Mayor Palmeri had introduced the idea of the City of
Oshkosh adopting an environmental justice resolution similar to one recently passed by
Wausau, Wisconsin. The Council referred this matter to the Sustainability Advisory Board for
review. Subsequent to the discussion the Mayor also provided a draft resolution, copy attached,
patterned after the Wausau resolution with additional language pertaining to use of
environmental justice principles in relation to funding of infrastructure projects. Staff presented
a brief overview of the topic at the Sustainability Advisory Board’s February 7th meeting and
indicated that additional time was needed to review how environmental justice concepts might
be incorporated into City of Oshkosh processes and policies. At the Sustainability Advisory
Board’s March 7th meeting, staff discussed the additional language suggested to be
incorporated into the resolution and how environmental justice principles could be incorporated
into city plans and processes. The Sustainability Advisory Board requested that the Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion Committee weigh in on the suggested language and during the Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion Committee’s meeting on March 28th, the committee agreed that the
resolution with the additional language was accepted to them. One April 4th, the Sustainability
Advisory Board approved the attached resolution with the additional language.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as “the fair
treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or
income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations, and policies.” “Fair treatment” means that no group of people should bear a
disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial,
governmental, and commercial operations or policies. “Meaningful involvement” means that
people have an opportunity to participate in decisions about activities that may affect their
environment and/or health; the public's contribution can influence the regulatory agency's
decision; community concerns will be considered in the decision-making process; and decision
makers will seek out and facilitate the involvement of those potentially affected.
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
The draft ordinance focused on three areas: 1) developing a plan with clear goals for meaningful
public engagement providing for meaningful, timely, inclusive, accessible public comment and
responsiveness to that comment; 2) development and maintenance of a GIS-based inventory of
environmental justice areas in Oshkosh; and 3) using an environmental justice lens when
discussing funding of infrastructure projects.
Staff reviewed and has several recommendations in relation to the proposed language. A
redlined and clean version of staff’s recommendations are also attached to this memorandum.
Further background regarding existing City of Oshkosh policies and processes is included
within the analysis section below.
ANALYSIS
1) Development of a plan with clear goals for meaningful public engagement providing for
meaningful, timely, inclusive, accessible public comment and responsiveness to that
comment.
The resolution is unclear as to exactly what is envisioned as to development of a specific plan
for public engagement, what types of projects or actions it will apply to and how it will relate to
the requirements of existing statutes, ordinances and policies. It may be difficult to address
every type of action or opportunity within a single plan. The draft language was directly copied
from the Wausau resolution. The proposed language appears to reflect or repeat an already
existing broader overall policy contained in the City’s Strategic Plan (excerpt below - emphasis
added):
2021-2022 STRATEGIC PLAN
Vision: A thriving and sustainable community offering abundant opportunities for
work and life
Mission: The City of Oshkosh provides goods and services in pursuit of a safe and
vibrant community
Guiding Principles: We Will…
1. Can Do Spirit: Serve the public with a confident can-do spirit
2. Accountable: Hold ourselves to the highest standards with a dedication to
preserving the public trust
3. Transparent: Provide the public with information on our actions and decisions
4. Engaging: Actively pursue citizen involvement throughout the decision making process
5. Economical: Act in a fiscally responsible manner on behalf of our citizens
6. Responsive: Respond to citizens’ requests equitably and fairly in a timely, informative and
thorough manner
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
7. Innovative: Take a prudent and creative approach to problem solving
8. Equitable: Strive to achieve equity in the allocation of community resources
9. Inclusive: Foster environments that welcome individual or group differences, in order to
promote dignity, respect, and opportunity for all people.
The Strategic Plan’s broader inclusive language is, in turn, reflected within individual plans
such as the Comprehensive Plan and the Go Transit Public Participation Policy, within policies
such as the city’s development policy under which developers may be asked to hold
neighborhood informational meetings and in public notices and public hearings before certain
actions are taken. Beyond what may be required by statute, ordinance or specific policy, the City
of Oshkosh currently provides memos and supporting documentation with nearly every action
taken by Council; and actively engages the public through social media, citizen surveys, press
and information releases, public informational meetings and other means. The City is currently
preparing for a review of the Strategic Plan and staff recommends that this particular objective
be raised within that context for further refinement of the existing language with the Common
Council and within the context of individual plans and policies as they are reviewed and
updated.
To that end, staff recommends amending the draft language to include the City’s current
commitment within the “Whereas” clauses and to modify the first “Be It Resolved” paragraph
to reconfirm the City’s already existing commitment and to include discussion related to
inclusion of the above referenced definitions of Environmental Justice, Fair Treatment and
Meaningful Involvement in discussion of the updates to the City’s Strategic Plan and within the
context of other individual plans and policies as they are reviewed and updated.
2) Development and maintenance of a GIS-based inventory of environmental justice areas
in Oshkosh.
Staff has reviewed the existing EPA Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, as well
as the similar tool being developed by the State of Wisconsin and the information already
generally available on the City’s GIS mapping tool. At this time staff recommends incorporation
of the existing information available from the state and federal government through accessibility
on the city’s website, along with the option to provide additional information specific to the City
of Oshkosh or to individual projects which may be undertaken. Staff does not recommend
specifically updating every two years. Staff regularly reviews information available on the
website and believes that this regular review and updating process can more efficiently address
updates which may be more or less frequent than every two years. Finally, staff does not
recommend providing the maps to Council members, as this implies a written document,
Council members may access the website and information in the same manner as the public and
staff and because some features will be interactive, online access provides better information
and is more sustainable than printing documents. Staff’s proposed language revision for this
paragraph would read:
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City will provide links to the EPA EJSCREEN,
the EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool EJSCREEN (epa.gov),
and the State of Wisconsin Environmental Equity Tool and may provide additional
data or resources specific to the City of Oshkosh on the City’s website accessible to
the public, elected officials and city staff. This information will be reviewed regularly
and updated as new data becomes available.
3) Using an environmental justice lens when discussing funding of infrastructure projects.
The final “Be It Resolved” paragraph of the proposed resolution directs the City to “use an
environmental justice lens when discussing funding of infrastructure projects”. Staff
understands this language to be general direction to consider fairness and equity concepts when
reviewing infrastructure projects and their funding. Staff believes that the proposed general
direction in the draft resolution provides clear direction. Staff proposes changing the language
to “giving consideration to environmental justice principles” rather than “using an
environmental lens” and broadening the language from focusing on “funding of infrastructure
projects” to allow for these principles to be considered in relation to any aspect of a future
infrastructure project rather than limiting the application to funding only.
Under this direction staff reviewed has begun to review current processes and identified several
potential opportunities for the City to more explicitly recognize environmental justice concepts
and identify potential impacts and benefits in the overall evaluation of infrastructure projects.
Staff also identified these similar concepts already identified in Resolution #21-498 creating
parameters for usage of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds adopted by the Council on
September 28, 2021. Staff is reviewing the potential to incorporate environmental justice
principles into existing processes for reviewing the City’s Capital Improvement Program and
proposed TIF projects. In addition, the City Manager is looking at including a specific section
within staff memos to council related to infrastructure projects noting any Environmental Justice
Impacts, similar to the section included in memos currently focused upon Fiscal Impacts related
to projects. Staff is also monitoring efforts by the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning
Commission (ECWRPC) to create an Equity in Community Engagement Toolkit and Guidebook
for communities in this area in relation to transportation-related plans and projects.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is minimal fiscal impact at this time in relation to the proposed version of the resolution.
Directions taken under the proposed redline can be completed by existing staff.
If the original version of the proposed resolution is preferred, there would be additional cost for
the development of an overall plan, which may require outside resources for a larger scale
review and the drafting of an overall plan. There may also be costs associated with the proposed
development and biennial updating of a separate City GIS function.
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
RECOMMENDATION
The Sustainability Advisory Board recommended approval of the resolution on April 4, 2022
Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution as amended and shown on the redline and clean
attachments to this memorandum.
Respectfully Submitted, Approved:
Kelly Nieforth Mark A. Rohloff
Community Development Director City Manager