Sioux Falls’ sustainability plan is receiving criticism for its lack of specific and measurable goals.
Several community members spoke against it at a city council meeting discussing the final draft.
Megan EisenVos, a Sioux Falls resident, criticized the vague language in the framework.
“With words such as 'explore' and 'continue to work toward,' our city is not going to change any behaviors or practices. With this language, no metric will be moved, greenhouse gas emissions will not be reduced, and the improvement of quality of life for residents will only be on standby,” said EisenVos at Sioux Falls' informational meeting on Tuesday.
Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken defended this lack of specificity. He said part of reaching those goals is out of the city’s control.
“Reducing those goals, taking out those goals, doesn’t mean we’re not going to still strive towards them. But putting goals in place for things that quite honestly, a lot of it is outside of our control. There’s a lot of federal things, there are a lot of state things that’ll impact those numbers," said TenHaken.
The original plan from March 2022 had included goals such as Sioux Falls having net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This would have needed to be voted on by the Sioux Falls City Council.
The new framework no longer includes mandates and does not need to be voted on by the council, though the council would need to act on any individual future actions.
TenHaken said this framework will be used as a guideline for future policy.