Sustainable Foster City

We recently celebrated the fourth anniversary of Sustainable Foster City Day with an infographic of accomplishments presented to City Council. What is Sustainable Foster City? As an overview, the Sustainable Foster City framework is for sustaining and enhancing the quality of life for those that live, work and play in Foster City, and includes:

• Economic Development, which serves the common good, is self-renewing and encourages a wide variety of community-serving businesses to operate locally, creating self-renewing economic resources to support a thriving community;
• Environmental Sustainability, that seeks to maintain a healthy environment including clean air, clean water, and the life resources community members need today and for generations to come; and
• Social Engagement and Education, which seeks participation and benefits for all segments of our community to allow each member of that community to pursue and enhance the quality of their lives.

The Policy Implementation Tools for the Sustainable Foster City Plan are:

• The Economic Development Plan, approved by Council on September 19, 2016;
• The Land Use and Circulation Element of the General Plan, approved by Council on January 4, 2016;
• The Climate Action Plan, also approved on January 4, 2016; and
• The Community Engagement Plan, used by all City Departments as they engage with the public and implement the Sustainable Foster City Plan.

Since that last update on the Sustainable Foster City Plan in November 2016, there are several accomplishments to report:

• Staff launched two community websites in 2017, first – sustainable.fostercity.org which helps promote our sustainable accomplishments and highlight new programs and initiatives and secondly, connectfostercity.com, which consolidates all the transportation and mobility options available to Foster City commuters.
• Since launching the Scoop carpooling initiative in October, there have been over 15,000 fewer commute-time car trips in and out of Foster City, saving over 375,000 pounds of CO2.
• Foster City residential water use from 2007 to 2016 reduced by 32%.
• City staff received the final 2015 Municipal Operations Inventory report which tracks the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. The report showed a 22.9% decrease in CO2 emissions from the 2010 report.
• The City launched a Community Dialogue Series in 2017, a series of four interactive community events designed to inform, engage and involve, centered around topics such as workforce housing, transportation and commercial retail. You can learn about upcoming sessions at sustainable.fostercity.org/social.
• Since launching Foster City Access in February 2016, residents have reported 1028 non-emergency issues and the City has resolved 938, so far.

The Sustainable Foster City Plan has evolved over the past four years to include new initiatives, programs, and even technology, but the framework remains the same and continues to serve the residents, businesses and visitors of Foster City.