Annapolis Receives Sustainable Maryland Certified Award

From the City of Annapolis:

Annapolis, MD (10-21-16) Mayor Michael Pantelides announced that the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland honored the City of Annapolis as one of 14 Maryland municipalities for its attention to environmental sustainability.

Annapolis was honored for being one of the first municipalities to become a Sustainable Maryland Certified City in 2013 and was showcased for being re-certified again this year.

“I have seen how this certification benefits the city by measuring us against a statewide standard,” Mayor Pantelides said. “This award is an indicator that our city is a model for others to follow and I am proud of the work that we have done.”

Highlights of Annapolis’ accomplishments include:

• Passed a backyard chicken ordinance, allowing residents to keep and maintain hens on their property.
• Signed the Annapolis Renewable Energy Park (AREP) lease in 2015, starting the process of installing solar panels on 80 acres of closed landfill space. When completed, panels will produce 22 kWh of electricity/year, and will be the largest solar project identified by the EPA exclusively installed on a closed landfill in the US.
• Planning a Cultural Resource Hazard Mitigation Plan to identify and mitigate potential losses to historic, due to natural disasters, sea-level rise, subsidence, and flooding.
• Works closely in the past with the Main Street Annapolis Partnership to strengthen and sustain local businesses.
• Designated a Tree City USA for the past 24 years.
• Holds a GreenScape event each Spring and Fall, in which volunteers clean up and plant flower and vegetable gardens and public spaces throughout the City. In the past 10 years GreenScape volunteers have planted more than 15,000 perennials and 1,500 trees and shrubs.
• Adopted a Bicycle Master Plan in 2012 with the intent of earning the distinction of being a League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly Community”

To achieve certification, municipalities are required to form a Green Team comprised of local residents, community leaders, municipal staff and officials; complete a variety sustainability-related Actions worth a total of at least 150 points (including two mandatory actions and two of six priority actions), and submit the appropriate documentation as evidence that the Sustainable Maryland Certified requirements have been satisfied. Annapolis had 430 points.

The Sustainable Maryland Action Menu can be seen at: http://sustainablemaryland.com/actions-certification/actions/

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