A commission of Athens residents will soon be able to bring environmental concerns directly to city officials in an attempt to meet growing local interest in green practices.
The city of Athens will establish the Environment and Sustainability Commission, a seven-member group of local residents, which will begin meeting this fall to discuss controversial environmental topics.
Recently, local interest has grown about environmental topics such as hydraulic fracturing, climate change and renewable energy, said Edward Baum, chair of the Athens Comprehensive Plan Review Advisory Commission.
“Ten years ago, there wasn’t a great deal of traction (about environmental issues),” he said. “It’s much stronger now and people are more aware of the need to protect what we have.”
The new commission will allow citizens to make recommendations about such topics and suggest ways the city can move forward in protecting the environment, said Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward.
“It will be an avenue for activism and input,” she said.
Athens City Council has placed a greater focus on improving the environment and promoting sustainability in recent years, but residents are pushing for more development, said Councilman Elahu Gosney, D-at large.
The commission members will be appointed by City Council and anyone can apply, Baum said.
“Some of the best ideas come directly from members of the community,” Gosney said. “This is a way to help gather those ideas and make sure that we have the right people helping to provide guidance on environmental issues.”
Though Athens will be one of the first college towns in Ohio to have such a commission, the city is only catching up to Oxford’s 20-year-old Environmental Commission, Baum said.
“We’re running a little behind here,” he said. “(Oxford) had a group to say, ‘We really need this,’ 20 years ago and we didn’t.”
Wright State University, the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and Youngstown State University’s surrounding areas do not have separate entities for citizen input about environmental issues.
Because the environment is becoming a larger issue on the political agenda, the need for these specific commissions is growing, said David Treleaven, environmental specialist for Oxford.
“One of the advantages that (Oxford) has and Athens has is that we’re an educated and aware group of the population,” Treleaven said. “People in the university environment are aware enough to know there are options for alternative operations. It’s going to be a long, slow process, but it’s going to become more common.”
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