Overview
- The 2025 A2ZERO Green Fair will take place on Friday, September 19, from 5 to 8 p.m. along Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The event is organized by the City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations and will feature five themed areas—Electric Avenue, Circularity Street, Resilience Road, Nature Boulevard, and Kid’s Corner. Each area highlights a different element of sustainability, including renewable energy, waste reduction, climate resilience, conservation, and youth-focused education. The fair regularly hosts more than 100 exhibitors, giving residents the opportunity to connect with local organizations, businesses, and community groups that are advancing environmental goals (a2gov.org, ecurrent.com).
- Mayor Christopher Taylor has identified expanding housing supply and ensuring attainability as key city goals this year. Updates to the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which began in 2023, are intended to allow modest increases in building heights—raising the limit in some districts from 30 to 35 feet—and to direct more development to downtown areas and transit corridors. These changes are designed to address growing housing demand while maintaining sustainability commitments (wemu.org).
- On the climate front, Ann Arbor remains committed to its A2ZERO goal of achieving community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. Municipal operations are already powered by about 70% renewable energy. A major step forward is the development of a voter-approved Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU), which could provide 100% renewable energy to subscribers. This initiative is backed by a 20-year climate millage generating about $8 million annually, supporting renewable energy expansion, efficiency upgrades, and climate resilience projects (wemu.org, metrotimes.com).
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and on today's Issues of the Environment, we're going to talk climate, sustainability, and community education. I'm David Fair, and it's that time of year again! For a 25th year, Ann Arbor is about to host its free sustainability-focused Green Fair. Now, it used to be known as the Ann Arbor Mayor's Green Fair. Now it's called the A2Zero Green Fair. But we still wanted to talk with the mayor, and he happens to be on the other end of the WEMU phone line. Mayor Christopher Taylor, thank you for returning as our guest on Issues of the Environment!
Mayor Christopher Taylor: It's my great pleasure to be here! Thanks!
David Fair: Now, I can remember talking with the Mayor of Ann Arbor back in 2000 before the inaugural Green Fair. John Hieftje was very excited at the prospect that this could become an event that would serve as a conduit to greater commitment to a healthier and more sustainable city. What's your assessment a quarter century down the road?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Well, I think Mayor Hieftje's decision has paid off in spades. I mean, we are, of course, incredibly committed to the A2Zero project, sustainability in general and the environment, both as a municipal organization and as a community as a whole--crucially, as a community as whole. And we see that in the expanded and vital Green Fair.
David Fair: It's been five years now since Ann Arbor City Council adopted its A2Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan. Back in 2020, Council set a goal of achieving carbon neutrally by the year 2030. Now, that was always ambitious. Where are we at the halfway point of that target date?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: You know, we're getting moving. We have crucially passed a community climate action millage back in 2022, enabling us to have substantial and sustainable funds for the project. We have passed--when I say "we," I mean, of course, the voters--have passed the Sustainable Energy Utility in 2024. Council has just created the Sustainable Energy Utility as a matter of structure. We've hired an executive director. We are actively working on rate-paying structures, billing structures, customer acquisition, and so forth and hope, over the next 12-18 months, to get a Sustainable Energy Utility operational and off the ground. You know, I'd say we are accelerating, and we're incredibly excited about what we can do here for the project.
David Fair: But there are additional challenges. Now, the city is also going to have to assess the challenges to a more sustainable future with the changes in environmental policies at the federal level. What are your conversations surrounding those kinds of challenges?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Well, there's no question that the promise of the Inflation Reduction Act has been broken. The federal government now not only doesn't support sustainable energy in many respects but is actively take steps to counteract it. And that's going to be a problem for the City of Ann Arbor. That's going to be a problem for the State of Michigan and everyone who lives and breathes here in the United States. One point of small bright light is that the work on geothermal systems continues. One of the last things to come out of the prior administration was a grant from the Department of Energy which has been reaffirmed to provide $10 million to build a district geothermal system in our Bryant area, and we are incredibly excited about the prospect of that moving forward. We are going to continue to commit to working on it. We worked together with DTE Gas. When we renegotiated our gas franchise, they've committed to bid on the project. And I'm excited about the things that we can do. Of course, we're suffering from some challenges. We have a different political environment and a different funding environment, but we're doing everything we can here in the city. We know that it is our obligation to work to accomplish carbon neutrality when we can as we can, and we are working like dogs to get there.
David Fair: We're talking with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor about the City of Ann Arbor's sustainability efforts and the A2Zero Green Fair on 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. The fair will be held downtown this Friday from 5-8 P.M. And it's free and open to the public. And a big component of the A2Zero plan involves public education. There's going to be more than 100 vendors on hand for the Green Fair on Friday. Does that reflect the importance of collaboration and partnership in trying to achieve carbon neutrality?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Cooperation, partnership, working together--it's absolutely crucial. There's no single solution. There are multiple solutions, and we are just excited to be working with our government partners, our nonprofit partners, our community partners in order to get there. One of the great things I love about the Green Fair, too, is it gives ordinary residents the opportunity to see firsthand all the good things that the City of Ann Arbor is doing in order accomplish carbon neutrality, in order to improve energy efficiency, and so forth. And finally, it gives folks an opportunity to meet our staff. One of the great things about being mayor is working with residents, working with council members, but working with staff. We have a tremendous staff. They come to work every day at the City of Ann Arbor with optimism and energy trying to make the community better. And it's a great and good thing at the Green Fair for folks to come and see who works for them and get a full understanding of how excited they are to do it.
David Fair: It is said that everything is connected. And right now, the city and the community are looking at how best to shape the future of the city. A third draft of the Ann Arbor Comprehensive Land Use Plan is being worked on. How important a role will it play in achieving Ann Arbors sustainability goals moving forward?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: You know, it certainly will have an important element. Sustainability is an important part of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Sustainability, equity and affordability are crucial to the land use vision that we're trying to put together--a vision that will be implemented after much more conversation over many more years. Crucially, the Comprehensive Land Use Plan envisions more people living in the City of Ann Arbor. We know that we have tens of thousands of folks who come and commute into Ann Arbor every day. That commuting way of life creates traffic, creates congestion, creates carbon discharge, it dislocates our community. It is an expression of economic segregation. And these are things which are not good for any of us. So, one part of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan--one element of its vision--is to help envision a community, help devise a community, that is indeed more sustainable, where folks can get around with fewer car trips and shorter car trips, where there are neighborhood stores sprinkled throughout presently, exclusively residential areas where you can go to the corner and get some milk, get some sugar, get the coffee and so forth, where you can meet a neighbor and talk. It's a vision for a community where people work together, live together, commune with one another in a more intimate and personal way.
David Fair: I don't need to tell you there's a variety of passionate visions for how the city should move forward. I'm sure your email inbox and voicemail have been pretty full sometimes.
Mayor Christopher Taylor: I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.
David Fair: Some want to preserve city and neighborhood character, limit building heights. Some think the city is becoming too dense already. Others believe it needs to increase building and population density, as you've just pointed out. So, how do you create the kind of environment in which the community conversations can help dictate where we land?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Well, I think it's all about balance. And first, I'd emphasize I think the community conversation has already had a substantial impact on the draft Comprehensive Land Use Plan. You know, I've led City Council, along with other council members on resolutions at each point in the process, resolutions which reflect what we are hearing from residents all the time. I mean, we know the people love their neighborhood. And I love my neighborhood. I love so many of the neighborhood, in the city where I go with great frequency. And we're not going to mess that up. We're not going to disrupt things, so that you'll never recognize where you live. The things that you love about your neighborhood, that's gonna remain. The incremental change in detached home neighborhoods is not gonna be disruptive. I think it's going to be augmentative. We will have height limits. We will have step back requirements. We will have usage requirements. We are not going to be building small apartment buildings everywhere. We're going to enable new and dense development where it is attainable, downtown hubs, and we're going permit incremental in-growth where it's appropriate. We know that there's neighborhood context. We know that the streetscapes flow. How you look and feel when you walk down the street, how your look and feel check outside your window--these are important to people's lives. We know that that's crucial to how people feel about the community, and we're not going to mess that up.
David Fair: Once again, we're talking with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor on WEMU's Issues of the Environment. The city known as Tree Town, and there is a great deal of civic pride in how the city manages open space and its parks. Some are quite convinced that hundreds of acres of parkland are at risk of sale because the draft of the Land Use Plan doesn't include specific language ensuring its future in perpetuity. Any sale of that land, by the way, would require a vote of the people. But to ask the question directly, was the language left out because it is a matter being discussed among city administration and City Council?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Absolutely not! And the suggestion otherwise is a calumny. The golf courses are not up for sale. The parks are not for sale. Anything would require a substantial public conversation and a public vote. This is not some backhand way of getting things done. The particular map that we're talking about--the golf courses are not considered parks of general access. You can't go and have a picnic in the middle of Hole 14 at Huron Hills during the middle the day. It just doesn't happen. And the chart that people have used in order to attack the plan was referencing that kind of park. The golf courses are parks, but they are not that kind of park. You cannot just access them as you will. And the map that was identified was identifying general access parks. So, this is a homegrown disinformation. It's, I believe, bad face disinformation, and it's too bad, because these issues are hard enough without people trying to sow discontent.
David Fair: Well, and those that land on that side of the conversation will want to continue the public discourse and engagement. And again, you are front and center in all these conversations. I'm just curious--
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Absolutely. I'm sorry. I think I'm super excited about these conversations. These conversations are crucial. I don't shy from conversation anywhere, anytime. But the point is, it needs to be fact-based and needs to be open and engaging. And that's what I'm committed to.
David Fair: Well, I'm just curious. When it comes to being at front and center of these conversations, of being engaged and connected, have you ever walked Main Street during one of the A2Zero Green Fairs and found yourself saying, "Huh. I didn't know that"?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Oh, absolutely! One of the great joys about being mayor is that you are constantly learning things, talking to staff, talking to community members, constantly learning about different things that we do in the city, different things that homegrown non-profits do, different opportunities that vendors have to help residents reconstruct, rework, renovate their homes in ways that are more carbon neutral or more carbon-friendly. So, I've gone up and down the Green Fair and learned something every time, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can learn this time.
David Fair: Well, there are a number of interestingly titled opportunities for the Green Fair. There's Electric Avenue, Circularity Street, Resilience Road, Biodiversity Boulevard. Of course, there's the Kids' Corner, which is always fascinating. Have you found that there is something you consider a favorite?
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Well, I like them all! But I will say I'll certainly have my e-bike down at the end of the Green Fair. And I'll give a little bit of extra to Electric Avenue. How's that?
David Fair: That sounds great! Well, there's a lot of opportunity, and I hope people will get out and learn and engage and have those conversations. Mr. Mayor, thank you for sharing your time with us, and we'll see at the fair!
Mayor Christopher Taylor: Always a delight! Thanks so much!
David Fair: That is Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor discussing the A2Zero Green Fair. It's going to be held this Friday from 5-8 p.m. along Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. For more information, stop by our website at WEMU.org, and we'll get you connected there. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
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