Table of Contents

Brownfields Redevelopment

This comprehensive plan highlights brownfield redevelopment as one of the core strategies for urban redevelopment in Syracuse, NY. The city explicitly identifies collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify and reclaim brownfield sites and tasks the city council with identifying barriers to brownfield redevelopment, and with expanding existing brownfield reclamation zones (p. 28).

Form-Based Zoning

The city’s comprehensive plan includes policy recommendations that support a form-based code approach. The “Character Areas” section of the plan’s Land Use & Development element lays groundwork for the subsequent adoption of a form-based code (p.11). 

Green Building

The city’s comprehensive plan includes a sustainability element with a chapter on energy and green building. It commits to creating a municipal energy policy (1.1.1.1), to training City employees in green building practices (1.1.1.7), and to creating a City Sustainability Fund for energy efficiency projects (1.1.1.4) with the goal of reducing public building energy consumption by 10%. The City currently requires all municipal construction and significant renovations attain the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification (1.3.1). 

Green Stormwater Infrastructure

The city’s comprehensive plan contains goals and recommended actions to support healthy environments near schools and reduce negative impacts on watersheds using green infrastructure. It commits to supporting green infrastructure projects around schools to ensure healthy environments and safe routes to school (D.1.a) and utilizing green infrastructure to reduce negative impacts on the Onondaga Creek watershed (I.1.a). The comprehensive plan also mentions the implementation of a green infrastructure program called Save the Rain that supports projects that both beautify neighborhoods and reduce stormwater runoff.

solar energy

The Energy and Green Buildings section of the Sustainability element of the city's comprehensive plan reports how much of the city's energy currently comes from renewable sources and highlights an existing solar energy system on city hall property (pp. 25-26).

This element contains multiple specific recommendations related to supporting solar energy use:

• Train staff in green energy and building practices (including solar installation) (1.1.1.7).
• Assess municipal buildings for daylight harvesting potential (1.1.1.8).
• Double renewable energy generation by 2020 (1.2.1).
• Implement municipal renewable energy projects (1.2.1.1).
• Conduct renewable energy studies for all city facilities (1.2.1.2).
• Invest in city-owned renewable power (1.2.1.3).