Ladies and gentlemen, start your analysis.
Metro Councilors waved the green flag on Metro's Climate Smart Communities project Thursday, approving the criteria Metro staff will use to look at ways to curb the region's tailpipe emissions.
The work is in response to a state mandate that the Portland region come up with a plan to curb emissions from cars and light trucks by 2035.
Metro's planning department and regional stakeholders have been looking at ways to reduce emissions for about two years, and have been circulating the draft criteria for the analysis for the past few months.
The Metro Council's unanimous approval tells staff to start using that criteria to show how actual plans to curb tailpipe emissions will affect things like the economy, transit service, public health, jobs and housing.
The project, said Councilor Carlotta Collette, "builds on what we're doing as a region, and I think that's why people have been able to … grasp what we're trying to accomplish and be able to participate in it."
That regional participation included recommendations from both the Metro Policy Advisory Committee and Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation for approving the evaluation criteria.
"Sometimes, when Metro's involved in a program like this, it seems as though many of our regional partners do not get well engaged until we get far into the process, toward a decision-making point," said Councilor Craig Dirksen. "That is not the case here. We've had a very robust discussion, both at MPAC and JPACT, and a lot of input and engagement from leaders around the region."
Collette, who earlier emphasized that the tailpipe project must incorporate Metro's six desired outcomes for the region, said the Metro Council and staff have been working hard at outreach.
"All of us have been meeting with our city officials, and in some cases planning commissions," she said. "We've had meetings with the environmental community, the equity community, the business community. This has been a great outreach program and I think that is reflective in the product."