Solar farms, EV charging: DeKalb adopts environmental sustainability plan

DeKALB – To forge a more sustainable future for residents and community members, DeKalb city leaders decided this week to adopt a new environmental sustainability plan.

The plan approved Monday evening by the DeKalb City Council proposes supporting the creation of large solar farms locally, installing new electrical vehicle charging stations and pursuing new recycling initiatives.

The action items are among a list of priorities identified for the next three to five years on renewable energy, climate change, municipal operations, promoting a sustainable community, land use, safe and expanded public transportation, recycling, safe drinking water water, and economic development.

The city charged members of the Citizens Environmental Commission, created in 1991, with the task of implementing and monitoring the sustainability plan.

“[We’re] very passionate people as we all are to some degree about our city, our world as a whole, about keeping it healthy and keeping it clean and everything, but, yes, we had to get it down to something reachable.”

—  2nd Ward Alderwoman Barb Larson

The last time the DeKalb City Council approved an environmental sustainability plan was 2014. An updated plan has been in the works since 2021.

City staff was presented in January with a draft sustainability plan from the commission, which officials said focused more on regional, national and international policies designed to address climate change and so was revised to be more specific about what the city can do.

City Manager Bill Nicklas lauded 2nd Ward Alderwoman Barb Larson for serving as liaison to the commission.

“Her liaison role was very valuable to me in putting this together,” Nicklas said.

Larson said it’s clear that she and her fellow council members all care about the environment.

“[We’re] very passionate people as we all are to some degree about our city, our world as a whole, about keeping it healthy and keeping it clean and everything, but, yes, we had to get it down to something reachable,” Larson said.

Nicklas said he doesn’t think the sustainability plan is out of reach for the city and its priorities.

“I would say [it] is a plan that provides some action steps within our grasp to implement,” Nicklas said. “The focus is work that we can engage in everyday as citizens. Certainly there are trained practitioners who work and live in our community who can add their expertise to help us in this. But ultimately and finally, on a local stage, it comes down to what everyday people are wiling to embrace and feel they can accomplish.”

In a related development, the council endorsed the Greenest Region Compact of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus.

The initiative helps align DeKalb with 275 cities, towns and villages in northern Illinois. The Greenest Region Compact is designed to provide support and enhance sustainability efforts in individual communities, according to city documents.