The City of Hilliard Sustainability Plan

Hilliard Sustainability PlanRoundabouts in Carmel, IndianaRoundabouts have been argued to be very useful to calm traffic aswell as removing unnecessary long stops at traffic lights. The Mayorof Hilliard has begun replacing highly congested intersections withroundabouts. His inspiration: Carmel, Indiana, a city with a populationof about 80,000, that has over 60 roundabouts in their communityand has 35 more planned before the end of their project. x This processstarted in the late 1990s and they now have the most roundabouts inany city in the United States.Benefits of roundabouts include: calm traffic patterns, increasingsafety, better aesthetics, and promote a more pedestrian and bicyclefriendly community. The main environmental benefit is reduced fuelconsumption due to less of idling. Roundabout construction costsare lower than that of traffic lights. xi In Carmel researchers have foundthat roundabouts can save $125,000 compared to traffic intersectionswith traffic lights. They are also more sustainable, even more so whenusing techniques like porous concrete for construction and utilizing thecenter of the roundabouts for green space or even rain gardens to helpwith storm water management. Hilliard is on the right path of followingsuit with Carmel, Indiana, however it is important that Hilliard considersthe more sustainable ways of implementing roundabouts.WasteIn 1988, Ohio passed House Bill 592. The bill—established in responseto dwindling landfill capacity and environmental issues—provided a framework for handling Ohio’s solid waste from generationto end of life. It resulted in a plethora of data about solid wasteactivities and a push for future planning in the area. According tothe Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there were 42publically available landfills in Ohio in 2010; 64 these landfills hadan average remaining capacity of 34.4 years. 65 Hilliard’s solid wasteis designated by law to go to the Franklin County Sanitary Landfilllocated in southeastern Franklin County. As mentioned earlier, thelandfill had 26.9 years of remaining capacity as of 2011. 66The city of Hilliard generated a total of 11,787 tons of residentialand commercial waste in 2011. 67 Converting that to a more standardmeasure of Pounds-Per-Person-Per-Day (ppppd), the measurecomes out to 2.66, which is below the average rate of 4.43 nationallyand 6.01 for Ohio as of 2010. 68,69 Of that total waste, the 7,296.2ton majority was residential solid waste, 2,045.8 tons entered theRumpke recycling program, and Hilliard’s residential yard wasteconstituted the remaining 2,445.1 tons. 70 Combining the recyclingand yard waste tonnages into a singular measure of diverted wastereveals that Hilliard’s residential diversion rate is an impressive38.1%. 71 For information about Hilliard’s waste trends, see the “TotalTons Generated, City of Hilliard, 2004 to 2011” figure.According to data kept and analyzed by the Re-TRAC Reporting systemfor 2011, most of Hilliard’s waste, approximately 4,000 tons, wasgenerated in Quarter 2. In May 2011 residents disposed of the mostwaste, approximately 1,549.1 tons, which was closely followed byJune with 1,397.6 tons. On the other hand, residents generated theECON. EXECUTIVEENERGY DEV. &SOCIAL SUMMARY WASTE EQ.REDUCTION» http://www.carmel.in.gov/index.» http://www.carmel.in.gov/index.aspx?page=12319