Area leaders will discuss sustainability
Posted On: Sunday, Jan. 24 2010 02:26 AM
By Hailey Persinger
Killeen Daily HeraldCentral Texas leaders will descend on Killeen starting Wednesday to discuss future projects that will ensure the sustainability of the region as a whole.
The Centex Sustainable Communities Conference, which will last through Friday, will involve Fort Hood's Garrison Commander and city mayors from Killeen, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights and Gatesville in the first region-wide gathering aimed at making growth more sustainability-centered.
"We're going to talk about initiatives that have long term impacts on our environmental economic and social well being for the region," said Killeen City Planner Tony McIlwain. "We're keeping it broad because part of having a conference is getting stakeholders together to narrow the focus."
After the first day of the conference, which is open to the public, those stakeholders – city managers, planners, developers and other city officials – will use the last two days of the event to brainstorm the best ways to use all resources for development and raising the quality of life for Central Texans.
The event's keynote speaker will likely give those stakeholders some idea of what they'd like to see happen in their own cities once the conference ends.
Mayor shares story
Keynote speaker Bob Dixson, mayor of Greensburg, Kan., rebuilt his entire city with the help of his staff after a tornado ripped through and demolished 95 percent of the city in 2007.
In an effort to restore the flattened area, the Greensburg City Council passed a resolution to use "green" methods to rebuild the city and subsequent resolutions passed within the past three years have, according to a news release, "laid the groundwork to transfer the town to 100 percent wind power and bring all government buildings to a LEED platinum standard."
Though it took a tornado for the city to begin fostering a sustainable citywide lifestyle, McIlwain said Central Texas will be able to look toward that goal without such a destroying force.
"You hear people saying 'oh it can't work here,'" he said, "but this guy made it work from scratch."
Dixson is scheduled to speak about 2 p.m. Wednesday, when the conference is open to the public.
The process of creating goals happens for two full days after the opening of the event. Jennifer Rawlings, an environmental protection specialist who has helped plan the entire conference, said the city representatives' goals will no doubt range in scope, price and long-term vision.
"It could be something like 'develop a bike trail system for the region in the next five years,'" she said.
Come April, during what Rawlings called a "one-year reunion" of the mayors and officials who first decided to start looking at sustainability in Central Texas, those ideas will be released for the public to give input.
"We'll release the goals to the community and kind of show what project ideas we have on different booths," she said. "It's all a continuous process."
Contact Hailey Persinger at
haileyp@kdhnew.com or (254) 501-7568. Follow her on Twitter at KDHcity.