City of Dover seeks input on sustainable development Planning Department

Dover residents are invited to provide input on sustainable development in the City during a special presentation on Monday, June 6, at 6 p.m.

The presentation, which will be held at the Media Access Center, Room 306, 61 Locust St., is the first phase of federally funded technical assistance the City of Dover will receive from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through a Building Blocks grant.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced recently that Dover is one of 32 communities, out of 354 applicants, selected to receive technical assistance under the Sustainable Communities Building Blocks program. The City of Dover Department of Planning and Community Development applied for the program as part of the Sustainable Dover initiative launched in March.

“The technical assistance will provide an initial assessment of the barriers and regulatory gaps in the current Dover land use ordinances to work towards achieving community goals under the Sustainable Dover initiative, and will help to identify potential incentives that could be adopted to move the City towards a more sustainable future with expert advice on implementation strategies,” said Christopher G. Parker, Director of Planning in Dover.

Michele Alexander, Sustainability Coordinator for Dover, added, “To achieve full value from the program the public, community and business leaders, elected officials, City Council, board and committee members, and other stakeholders are urged to participate. The program will help the City identify and consider amendments to our land use code to make sustainability-related improvements, but all change has numerous impacts which need to be considered. The immense benefit of this program is that it will provide expert-led facilitated discussion to ensure an outlet for stakeholders to provide feedback, suggestions for improvements and to identify and address concerns at the initial stages of the process.”

The Energy Advisory Committee is overseeing the City’s sustainability planning efforts. More information on the Sustainable Dover initiative can be found on the City of Dover website, and the Sustainable Dover Facebook page.

For more information please, contact the City of Dover Department of Planning and Community Development at 516-6008.