So before you head out on your summer road trip, or even drive to the park for a picnic, take a moment to make sure your car is in good working order. It will be more than worth your time when you notice the savings.
 

(Photo: City of Frisco)

Darell S. Bagley, the City of Frisco’s senior landscape architect, recently accepted a Merit Award from the Texas chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects in behalf of the Development Services Department. The award acknowledges the Department’s efforts in framing and implementing Frisco’s new landscape requirements, which the ASLA says “exemplify a commitment to sustainability in one of America’s fastest growing cities, strengthening landscape standards and making use of a new easier to understand graphical format.”

The ordinance, which took effect last year and is a revision of the 2006 ordinance, provides the City with a way to measure landscape performance and the means to track it. The ordinance includes an annual landscape water allowance and measurement tools to reduce landscape water consumption by 50% over conventional development, and it designates landscape water resource zones to protect water quality and manage stormwater, along with natural landscape zones that do not require irrigation.

The City now also requires the efficient use of irrigation, smart controllers, hydro zones and no-spray zones, and the use of shade tree planting to mitigate urban heat island effect and reduce energy consumption. It encourages pedestrian friendly streets and retail frontages, and the protection and promotion of healthy soils.

The requirements have greatly impacted landscape design in both the City and the region, and have influenced other cities to adopt similar standards. In fact, the Awards Jury (Louisiana’s ASLA Chapter) noted that this should be a model landscape ordinance for other cities to follow.

Since the ordinance was implemented in December 2006, it is estimated that 224 million gallons have been saved thus far. More than 231,432 square feet of water resource zones — mostly bioretention — has been constructed. And 8,160 canopy trees have been planted on commercial properties, with many more trees planted along residential streets still to be inventoried. The research efforts of this project also led to the development of a City Smart Irrigation Controller rebate program with the 2006 ordinance update.

Bagley, who has been with the City for 10 years, said he was “very excited” to receive the award in behalf of Development Services and to be a part of this effort. “Our landscape requirements are on the cutting edge.”

George Purefoy, City Manager, asked several department directors several years ago to review and develop alternatives to conserve and encourage the efficient use of water. John Lettelleir, the City’s Director of Development Services, created an internal team, with Bagley as the project manager for reviewing ways to conserve water on private property. Bagley involved landscape architects and developers in the development of the ordinance. During the process, commercial land owners came to support the proposed changes because the recommended changes would reduce their watering requirements. Many of the important “green concepts” put forth in this ordinance were first put into place in the City’s ’06 amendment, before being refined into the new ordinance.

Though there was some initial resistance to the new requirements, most properties have been able to meet the water use parameters, with many properties watering well below expectations.

“Everyone realizes we need to conserve water,” Bagley says. “The water (issue) could really shut everything down if we’re not careful with it.”

BE A SUPERHERO FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT!

Complete ONE OR MORE of the challenges below to get a surprise reward from Ms. Molly and Rufus.

Let us know when you’ve completed a challenge:
Email Ms. Molly at mkinson@friscotexas.gov to turn in your reporting form (if applicable).

Challenge #1:  “Track That Trash”

Did you know?  The average American throws away about four pounds of trash every day, which equals about 1,460 pounds of trash per year. This activity helps you track how much trash you throw away in one day (and how much can be recycled instead).  How do YOU measure up?

For a printout of this activity and its reporting form, please click here.

To learn more about what you can recycle in your blue cart at home, please click here.

Challenge #2:  “Join the Storm Drain Marking Brigade”

After a heavy rain, water runs off of our streets into storm drains – and eventually, into nearby lakes.  Since people drink water that comes from lakes, it is important that we keep our storm drains clean!  This fun project for you and your friends helps mark Frisco storm drains to prevent illegal dumping!

For a printout of activity directions, please click here.

To learn more about using water wisely in Frisco, please click here.

Challenge #3:  “Special Recycling Scavenger Hunt”

There may be unexpected items around your home that can recycled.  This activity teaches you which items can be brought to Frisco’s Environmental Collection Center for “special recycling!”

For a printout of this activity and its reporting form, please click here.

To learn more about the special items you can only recycle at Frisco’s Environmental Collection Center, please click here.

Dedee DeLongpre Johnston, Director of Sustainability at Wake Forest University (Photo: Ken Bennett, Wake Forest University)

A recent study found that 93 percent of CEOs believe sustainability will be “important” or “very important” to the future success of their companies. DeLongpré Johnston offers three simple solutions for students wanting to bolster their green potential without greenwashing their resumes.

1. “Act like an ‘intrapreneuer.’ Seize opportunities for innovation and creativity – just like an entrepreneur – by incorporating sustainable values and practices into existing campus organizations and everyday life. Internships focused on sustainability are especially invaluable because they help students demonstrate to employers that they can think critically and solve problems.”

2. “Start a ‘green team.’ Demonstrate results-driven leadership and help others develop more socially and environmentally responsible behaviors by evaluating the current level of sustainable practices on campus and taking action for improvement. Even small initial actions such as making available reusable mugs rather than using disposable cups can inspire larger scale changes over time.”

3. “Look beyond job titles. Sustainability is a way of thinking, and opportunities are often embedded in functional areas such as marketing, research and development, and even accounting.”

Tracey Watson never imagined her campus sustainability internship would lead to working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its “Go Green, Get Healthy” initiative. The 2010 Wake Forest graduate says promoting her on-campus experience was invaluable in landing and enjoying her job, which combines her personal and professional interests in the environment and health communications.

“I am one of the few people on my team who doesn’t have a environmental science background, and in some ways that has helped me,” says Watson. “Don’t let your major discourage you from a career in sustainability – just follow your passion, be a self-starter and learn as you grow. There’s plenty of room for progress.”

(Photo: The City of Frisco)

The City of Frisco Parks & Recreation Department has achieved national accreditation, making it only the 7^th such department in Texas — and the 74^th city department in the United States — to accomplish this goal. To date, there are 102 accredited park and recreation agencies in the country.

The Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) presented City of Frisco representatives with a certificate of achievement March 29 during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

“I’m so proud of our staff,” said Rick Wieland, Director of Parks and Recreation.  “Achieving national accreditation means we’re managing our system efficiently, effectively and not haphazardly. This recognition is important because it signifies the City of Frisco is administering our resources wisely and utilizing ‘best practices’ in our industry.”

Established in 1989, CAPRA is a division of the National Recreation and Park Association and the only national accreditation program recognizing park and recreation agencies for excellence in operation and service.  Accreditation is based on an agency’s compliance with 144 standards.  CAPRA evaluates agency oversight of various areas including goals, objectives, planning, finances, programming, facilities, land use, volunteer recruitment, risk management and public safety. The City of Frisco Parks and Recreation Department met 143 of 144 national standards.

“When you go to a park or attend an event, you want to know your kids will be safe while having a fun experience,” said Mike Gfeller, Chair, Parks and Recreation Board.  “Having an accreditation from CAPRA demonstrates to our citizens that we are doing this, that we take care and pride in what we do and how we do it.  It’s definitely a team effort.” added Gfeller.

The City of Frisco established its Parks and Recreation Department in 1996. Wieland has served as the department’s only director since then.  At the inception, Wieland’s employee roster numbered six, including himself.  For the fiscal year 2012, Parks and Recreation budgeted for 291 employees.

In 1996, the department had seven park sites, totaling 57 acres.  Today, Frisco’s Parks and Recreation system includes 36 developed park sites, totaling 669 acres.  The system also provides an additional 794 acres of undeveloped land for 12 future park sites.

Wieland applauds all staff, particularly division managers, for achieving this prestigious milestone.   He also credits Dudley Raymond, Planning and Business Development Manager; and Wes Hicks, Parks Project Coordinator, for helping steer the department through the accreditation process over the past year and a half.

“Many of the standards considered to be ‘best practices’ are principles we’ve been operating under for years,” said Wieland.  “But we’ve been growing at such a fast pace, in some cases, we didn’t put these practices to paper. Working through the accreditation process forced us to better organize our policies, plans and operating procedures.  We always heard we did a good job managing resources; but with this national accreditation, we have the confidence to say we operate under the industry’s highest standards.”

Frisco joins Austin, College Station, Coppell, Houston, Plano and Round Rock as the only cities in Texas nationally accredited.   CAPRA reviews cities’ operations every five years in order for them to maintain national accreditation status.

The City is asking for your assistance in maintaining these trees to a height of fourteen feet above the street and to seven feet above sidewalks, which are located in the area behind the street curb on your property.

Enforcement of this ordinance is ongoing, however, the City’s objective is to educate homeowners and have the assistance and support of all Frisco property owners!

Yesterday, the North Texas Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors approved its staff recommendation to relax restrictions and move from ‘enhanced’ to ‘regular’ Stage 3 water management measures, which allow outdoor watering once a week.

Under Frisco’s Stage 3 restrictions, outdoor watering is limited to once a week on trash collection day — but only if necessary.  The district’s decision does not change what Frisco residents are already doing under Stage 3.

“Our conservation message stays the same, for now,” said Gary Hartwell, Director of Public Works.

“Keep your sprinkler systems turned to ‘off’ and subscribe to our weekly e-mail watering advisories, which are based on data collected from the city’s weather station,” added Hartwell, noting Frisco’s Stage 3 restrictions have allowed for weekly watering since the city moved to Stage 3 of the city’s Drought Contingency and Water Emergency Response Plan in November 2011.

In addition to Stage 3, Frisco is currently operating under time-of-day restrictions as part of its year-round Water Management Plan. Outdoor watering is prohibited between 5 a.m. – 8 a.m. and between 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.  Time-of-day restrictions coincide with Daylight Saving Time (DST), which began March 11 and run through November 4 of this year.

Recent rains have filled area lakes, ending drought throughout the region. Lavon Lake is the primary source for the NTMWD. However, 28 percent of the district’s water supply remains ‘offline’ because of zebra mussel infestation at Lake Texoma, which is a supplemental source. For these reasons, Hartwell acknowledges many residents may wonder why Frisco and other NTMWD member cities continue to operate under Stage 3 restrictions.

“The issue is no longer drought – but supply,” said Hartwell.  “It’s not really about ‘when’ you can water, but whether you need to water,” said Hartwell, adding recent rains make outdoor watering unnecessary at the moment.

In 2011, the City of Frisco calculated residents needed to water just 11.5 inches to supplement the 27 inches of rain the city received last year.  In fact, the City of Frisco advised NO WATERING was necessary for 33 out of 52 weeks last year.  For more information, go to www.friscotexas.gov/water.

A Styrofoam densifier helps Frisco Environmental Services minimize a difficult recycling issue. Photo: Frisco Environmental Services

By Bill Sullivan

After the gifts have been opened and the holidays are gone, Frisco residents annually are left with a nagging question:

What do you do with the Styrofoam?

One solution: If you can’t completely solve a problem, minimize it.

That’s what is happening at Frisco Environmental Services, where Manager Jeremy Starritt came up with a creative way to make the best of a bad situation.

In 2010, the department received an $88,850 grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments for the purchase of a Styrofoam densifier. Instead of dealing with mountains of Styrofoam that weigh virtually nothing, Frisco now can cut the ubiquitous packing material down to size (Styrofoam is about 95 percent air) with a process that accomplishes three goals:

• An economically sensible amount of Styrofoam can be loaded on to trucks headed to a recycling plant.
• By recycling, there will be less need to produce more Styrofoam.
• The amount of essentially non-biodegradable material headed out to the landfill will be reduced.

“Without condensing it, what you have is loose product sitting in bags,” Starritt explains.

Enter the new equipment, which went into operation in September of 2010. Starritt says it creates a 600-to-1 densification rate, turning a 75-pound load of polystyrene foam into something considerably more substantial and manageable.

By early December, 2011, Environmental Services had recycled 5,054 pounds of Styrofoam and had another 2,200 pounds scheduled to be hauled off the following week. (Only Styrofoam used for packing large objects such as TVs or computer equipment is accepted; items such as egg cartons and food trays are not eligible for the program.)

“Now, when we fill a truck, it’s literally tons and tons of Styrofoam, where it really is worth both the time and the money for them to get it,” Starritt said.

Early shipments had to be carted off to East Texas. Since then, Environmental Services has located a recycler in the Metroplex. Payments made by the company help offset the cost of other environmental programs in Frisco.

While making a profit is nice, the positive impact on the environment is the real payoff. Once Styrofoam is created, it pretty much is what it is. About three million tons of polystyrene foam — Styrofoam actually is a brand made by Dow Chemical — is produced every year, most of it ending up in landfills, where it is virtually immortal.

If you are in the Styrofoam business, however, re-using the product is something of a no-brainer.

“It’s one of the easiest things to recycle,” Starritt says. “It’s even easier than plastic, because you don’t have to melt it down. They just have to shape it and harden it again, and it becomes whatever it is they want it to be.

“It’s basically a complete loop, with almost zero loss in product. With plastic, paper and everything else, you have up to 10, 15 percent reduction recycling every time. With Styrofoam it’s more like a one percent loss.”

Now, those piles of light-as-air Styrofoam at Frisco Environmental Services will be smaller, denser, and far more manageable as they head off to the recycler. It’s a solution in line with the department’s mission to combine good stewardship with good economic sense.

Finished product ready to be sent to the recycler. Image: Frisco Environmental Services