Goal

E

Develop and expand climate-smart land use and development policies that promote resilience while encouraging community development.

As the City attracts new development and residents, there is an opportunity to move the City towards a more climate-smart, resilient community. By creating thoughtful and clear policies for new development, the City can ensure each new project adds to a positive, low-carbon future. These actions inspire new approaches to zoning, parking, and infrastructure development, while providing potential incentives and resources, like sustainable building guidance, so that St. Louis City can be both development- and climate-friendly.

Strategy

Ensure development processes and city policies, including zoning standards, development policies, and building ordinances, advance climate goals, support resilience, and do not create unintentional barriers.

Expected Outcomes

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and minimized environmental impact from development, especially in neighborhoods already burdened by environmental risks, while making St. Louis competitive for development.

How will we achieve this?

Our Actions

E.1

Create a climate-smart development action plan, policies, and process in consultation with developers and businesses to explore and establish feasible incentives and regulations for promoting sustainable development.

E.2

Develop a policy for construction demolitions, including banning the burial of all construction debris, reducing or reusing construction and demolition waste materials, and determining how to mitigate existing debris to help spur climate-smart development.

E.3

Support and regularly update building and energy codes and standards to meet the latest International Energy Conservation Code and establish a reach code or similar for affordable multifamily buildings to ensure the highest level of resilience and energy efficiency possible.

E.4

Consider buy outs, consolidation of vacant land, and changing zoning classifications to establish larger-scale open space, river access, city vibrancy, and flood plain restoration.

E.5

Develop and implement an energy policy for all existing and new energy- and water-intensive users, like data centers, that explores opportunities for waste heat recovery technologies to reduce impacts on infrastructure needs and leverage future opportunities.

Case Studies

Learn more about the sustainability practices or principles mentioned in the actions above.

Green Building Standards

Green building approaches are encouraged through various standards and systems, such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED). These systems define criteria and guidance to reduce a building’s environmental impact. The LEED certification assesses different aspects of sustainability in a building, including the use of low-carbon and efficient construction materials, indoor air quality, access to transit options, and water efficiency. Pursuing green building standards like LEED can help cities like St. Louis achieve their climate goals.

Durable Sanctuary

One way to make our buildings more climate resilient is by designing buildings to function as durable sanctuaries. A durable sanctuary refers to a home or building that ensures a safe and healthy living space for its occupants both every day and during extreme weather events and emergencies, including power outages for multiple days. A durable sanctuary should support the needs of the resident population (including communications, medical needs, and refrigeration) by maintaining safe temperatures, good air quality, and providing electricity for key uses. This design is particularly important for multifamily buildings that often house disadvantaged populations who are more likely to have increased vulnerability to climate threats and health complications from these events.