Ellensburg EECS

City of Ellensburg Energy Efficiency & Conservation Strategy (EECS) and Land Development Code Update

O’Brien & Company is leading a team of consultants to assist the City of Ellensburg in their effort to develop an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, paired with a Land Development Code Update. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (EECS) will identify and address the City’s future energy efficiency and conservation goals, priorities and actions, and will include a preliminary budget and list of projects to reduce community energy consumption, promote conservation, foster cost savings, and ensure long term sustainability and rate stability. The EECS effort includes identifying and addressing current Code deficiencies and obstacles to energy efficiency and conservation efforts. The Land Development Code Update (LDCU) will update currently outdated code, reflect current best practices, remove inconsistencies, help implement a recently updated Comprehensive Plan, and serves to simplify the code language and organization to make it easier to follow and implement.

Our work consists of developing the strategy, completing stakeholder and community outreach around the effort, assisting the planning firm’s (Makers Architecture) staff in the LDCU project, compiling recommendations related to green building and energy efficiency that should be incorporated in the 2011 Code Update, and research. We are also facilitating technical review and educational briefings with the Planning Commission, the Utility Advisory Committee, and City Council. The Code Update will be complete in summer 2011, while the complete strategy and action plan will be delivered in 2012.