Devens  Sustainable  Community  Indicators    

 Peter  Lowi*,  FAICP,  Neil  Angus  AICP,  and  Vesela  Veleva,  Sustainability  Consultant  UMASS  Boston  

3rd  Massachuse*s  Sustainable  CommuniDes  &  2nd  Massachuse*s  Sustainable  Campuses  Conference    

April,  2013    

Devens  as  Sustainable  Industrial  Park  

•  The  UN’s  Millennium  Ecosystem  Assessment  has  clearly  idenDfied  a  serious  problem  with  deficiencies  in  15  of  24  ecosystem  services  invesDgated.  Human  socieDes  and  economies  rely  on  those  services  to  prosper.  

•  Under  DEC’s  guidance  Devens  being  structured  as  an  ecological  industrial  park.  

•  Devens  Eco-­‐Efficiency  Center  provides  assistance  to  businesses  to  green  their  operaDons  and  footprint.  

2000  Sustainable  Indicators  Study    

•  Conducted  by  graduate  student    •  IdenDfied  need  for  viable  reverse  commute  and  need  to  incenDvize  green  building  

•  DEC  adopted  Green  Building  IncenDves    •  The  original  report  produced  over  $250  million  in  investment  for  the  region  as  DEC  headed  up  Fitchburg  Line  Reverse  Commute  efforts.  

Process  •  Presented  dra\  to  

Commission  •  Presented  at  Devens  

Business  Breakfast  •  Presented  to  community  

at  MassDevelopment  board  meeDng  

•  Determined  need  for  addiDonal  informaDon  and  began  conducDng  business  visits  

•  Survey  developed  by  consultant  with  DEC  staff  input.  

•  Will  present  findings  at  Sustainable  CommuniDes  Conference  in  April  and  at  ISIE  Conference  in  June.    

Defining  and  Measuring  Sustainable  Devens:  Framework  and  Seven  Key  Issues                              

Figure 1. Sustainable Devens: Framework and Seven Key Issues

 

Economic and Business Sustainability

Environmental quality

Social

Transportation Public Health

Natural resources Governance

Sustainable

Devens

Table  Categories    Key  Issues:    From  Sustainable  Devens  Framework    

Goal  or  Threshold:    What  is  goal  for  the  issue/threshold  limit?  

Indicators:    Env.,  Social,  Economic  Indicator  we  are  measuring  

2000  Data:    Data  from  2000  study  or  for  Dme  frame  applied  to  our  study  

Current  Data:    Most  current  data  available  in  2012  for  indicator  

Progress  made?  :    Since  2000      Yes        measurable  progress  

 Min    minimal  progress/insufficient  data      

 No            no  progress  

Comments/Source  of  InformaDon:    Source  of  data  /comments      

YES

MIN.

NO

Economic  and  Business  Sustainability  •  Will  modify  unemployment  rate  for  region    

Governance  •  Entering  the  land  of  Quasi  •  Would  you  parDcipate  in  a  survey  to  assess  responsiveness  of  

governance  at  Devens?  

Public  Health    •  Difficulty  of  gathering  data  at  Devens  (Quasi  part  II)    •  All  new  proposed  indicators  

TransportaDon  

Natural  Resources  cont…  

Environmental  Quality  

Environmental  Quality  cont…  

Survey  

•  The  study  revealed  the  need  to  reach  out  to  our  businesses  to  gather  more  input  from  them.  

•  We  interviewed  29  of  our  90  businesses  in  the  first  quarter  of  2013.    

•  The  sustainability  survey  doubled  as  a  business  visitaDon  tool  and  produced  excellent  results  and  informaDon  to  assist  with  our  sustainable  redevelopment  efforts.    

Survey  results  

29  Surveys  Conducted  addressing  collaboraDon  

and  Eco  Industrial  Development  issues  amongst  others    

More  InformaDon  

•  As  an  Eco  Industrial  Park  Devens  needs  to  take  the  lead  in  restoring  threatened  eco  system  services.  

•  www.devensec.com  •  Its  cool  to  be  green!