Consultants and the town of Breckenridge’s sustainability staff are edging closer to releasing the final draft of the new SustainableBreck plan. 

For the past several months, they have worked to update the plan, which was originally released in 2011. Since beginning the update, the town has hosted public engagement events and surveys to gather public input on the plan, such as priorities and goals.

Earlier in the summer, a preliminary draft was released, which featured results from surveys taken at public events. According to the results, the top three outcomes that survey takers prioritized were affordable housing, less landfill waste and clean water.

Teddy Wilkinson, sustainability and alternative transportation administrator, and consultant Jerry Tinianow presented the current status of the update, including the plan’s future website, which will outline the town’s sustainability goals as well as other eco-friendly resources. In addition to goals set forth in the plan, the website will explain co-benefits of the town’s sustainability strategies. 

“The co-benefits are important because often in sustainability and particularly in climate action — this doesn’t really happen here but in other places — you could have controversy about these issues, so you always want to show that whatever strategy you’re doing, there are multiple benefits that can flow from it,” Wilkinson said. “You’re trying to multitask. We’ve tried to indicate that throughout the plan so that anyone who’s interested in a particular strategy can see which boxes they can check off.”

The website outlines each goal or strategy and which town department would be responsible for that goal. Wilkinson added that other groups outside of town government would be involved, but making sure a town department has a primary responsibility would be the best way to go if community members had questions.

For each focus area — such as energy and water — there are also “stretch goals and strategies,” or goals that are set years in advanced and would push the town to meet loftier sustainability goals that may not necessarily be met in the short term.

“We’ve also provided a time horizon for each of these strategies. Some will start and end pretty quickly. Others may be going on for the entire 10 years,” Tinianow said. “There are ongoing (strategies). Those are the ones that we expect from start to finish will be going through the entire tenure period, and then we’re giving a rough cost to implement for each of these strategies.”

Within the next three weeks, staff and consultants plan to present Town Council with a final plan and website.

Council member Kelly Owens recommended that the other resources presented along with the SustainableBreck Plan should explain them for community members who may be unfamiliar with them. This could include naming one of the links — “Do you want to put solar on your home?” — instead of “Solarize Summit.” Owens said this could lead users toward resources more easily.  

According to a memo from sustainability director Jessie Burley, the team expects to have a final draft update ready for review by the Town Council by Friday, Sept. 2. Proposed adoption is scheduled for Sept. 13.