Commission Vice-Chair Michelle Spence-Jones, Commissioner Tomas Regalado, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, Commission Chairman Joe Sanchez, Sonia Succar, Nick Gunia, Edith McCray, Kristin Herbert, Robert Ruano, Mayor Manny Diaz, and Glenn Hadwen. Photo Credit: Jorge R. Perez/City of Miami.

(Miami, FL.)— The Miami City Commission today undertook three sustainable initiative items that further Mayor Manny Diaz’s sustainable initiatives program during the City Commission meeting held during Miami’s Green Week, a week that the City of Miami has dedicated to the environment with events centered on education, investment, and our parks. With the Green Week events, the City is challenging all residents to start their Summer Green. 

“The Commission once again demonstrated how important it is to create a sustainable, green Miami for all of our residents to enjoy, now and in the future,” said Mayor Diaz.

Mayor Manny Diaz joined the City Commission to present a check for a total of $8,000 to Dream in Green to go towards a joint collaboration between the City of Miami and this local environmental nonprofit for the ‘Home Energy Saver Challenge’. Through this program, 50 Homes in the City of Miami will partake in a 6 month program that will monitor the energy use of each home and provide homeowners with training to teach them about low cost methods to reduce energy.

Through the Gateway to Green event, the city's first green building conference that took place in April 2009, the City collected proceeds over $5,000. The City of Miami was also able to secure an additional $3,000 from the Home Depot Foundation, and presented a total of $8,000 for this initiative. 

The Mayor also sponsored two ordinances on first reading related to “Green Initiatives”. Both ordinances were approved by a vote of 5 – 0 and will go back to the Commission for second reading on July 9. The ordinances are:

FR.2 - Indoor air quality management in construction – This ordinance requires contractors to implement a construction management plan to prevent future indoor air quality issues associated with construction activities and to protect the health of construction workers.  The plan must include protection of the air handling systems from dust and protection of absorptive materials, such as sheetrock from moisture. This ordinance applies to residential buildings with three or more units and non-residential buildings of over 4,000 square feet.

FR.3 - Soil erosion, waterway sedimentation and airborne dust generation control - This ordinance requires construction sites with areas of disturbed soil 0.5 acres or greater to develop, submit, and implement a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) which will prevent erosion, sediment releases into waterways and air pollution from construction sites. Failure to control releases of construction site dusts may result in fines of $1,000 per violation.