A Baseline Approach to Sustainability

To make wise decisions about public property, municipal leaders must first understand their current portfolio. But many lack crucial information about the properties involved. Without this knowledge, it’s challenging for cities—especially smaller ones with limited resources—to take on meaningful sustainability and environmental programs.

Baseline Assessments

To implement effective sustainability or development initiatives, cities should begin with a “baseline assessment” of the real estate, which involves a deep dive into each property, gathering vital data about its condition, potential environmental issues and other features. This will form the basis for understanding the property’s potential for use or repurpose, and equip municipal leaders with the information they need to make more informed decisions.

Cities can conduct baseline assessments for individual, multiple, or even portfolio-wide number of properties. The latter is particularly powerful and can provide a holistic view of municipal assets, revealing environmental issues, usage trends and priority areas. For example, Chicago expedited the sale of vacant lots after conducting a portfolio assessment of over 10,000 properties.

Conducting a Baseline Assessment

Municipal leaders may initiate a baseline property assessment for various reasons, such as implementing sustainability programs or advancing economic development initiatives. Here are some key considerations when undertaking such an endeavor:

  1. Implement Asset Management Practices: Adopt practices that maximize the value of your public property portfolio, such as creating a long-term strategy for managing public properties or programs for reuse and repurposing of public assets.
  2. Build Staff Capacity: Enhance your city’s ability to manage a baseline assessment through staff training, professional development, and where needed bringing on supportive capacity.
  3. Leverage Technology: Use technology and smart tools to streamline the inventorying and condition assessment process.
  4. Engage Stakeholders: Involve relevant stakeholders in the baseline assessment process. Their input will enrich your understanding of the condition of and potential for municipal assets.
  5. Seek External Expertise: Boost your expertise and efficiency by bringing on external consultants who specialize in such assessments and environmental investigations.
  6. Align with Municipal Goals: Ensure any baseline assessment process aligns with your city’s sustainability targets and other environmental goals.
  7. Align with Your Priorities: Prioritize properties based on their importance to your initiative while taking into consideration their known conditions and potential.
  8. Establish a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Implement a framework to track the progress of your baseline assessment, document results, and measure the impact of sustainability interventions.

By following these guidelines, municipal officials can prioritize resources, make more informed decisions when pursuing real estate enhancements and drive progress toward more sustainable communities.