Our Sustainable Oldsmar
What is Sustainability?
Sustainability is meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of tomorrow. It is looking at current and future needs to make the best decision for both. There are 3 Pillars of Sustainability - People, Planet, and Profit. These pillars are like a three legged stool...if you take one away, you can balance for a little while, but eventually you will fall. In Oldsmar, we strive to ensure our community grows and thrives in a sustainable way.
What is Resiliency and how is it different from Sustainability?
Resiliency is the capacity of individuals, communities, and systems to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of stress and shocks and even transform when conditions require it. Though resiliency uses similar tools as sustainability, they are different concepts. Sustainability focuses more on the average day to day workings of a system, where resiliency prepares and focuses on extreme or extraordinary events (such as hurricanes, flooding, pandemics, and economic crisis). Though separate, the two work hand in hand in creating a more robust and successful community.
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Ben Cegelski
Sustainability Coordinator
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Ashlee Painter
Environmental Management Supervisor
What is Oldsmar doing to be more sustainable and resilient?
The City of Oldsmar has a strong history of innovation and commitment to sustainability. The City was the first municipality in the Tampa Bay area to implement single stream recycling, the first municipality in the Tampa Bay area to install electric charging stations, and Florida’s first Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant to be certified in Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) and second in the nation.
For all its sustainability efforts, the City was awarded two 1st Place Future of the Region Awards in both "Development/Infrastructure" and "Going Green" by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, has been recognized as Outstanding Municipality of the Year by the US Green Building Council Florida Gulf Coast Chapter, and is certified as a Gold Florida Green Local Government by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Oldsmar completed its first Climate Resiliency Plan in 2021. This plan assessed the risks to city infrastructure and proposed a suite of strategies to help mitigate the affects of the risks. Through programming and capital improvements, the City is committed to creating a more sustainable and resilient community.
If you’ve got a great idea for how to improve the Sustainability Initiatives in Oldsmar, please contact the Sustainability Coordinator.
You can help keep our City stormwater system, roads, and waterways clean by joining the Adopt-A-Street program! The program provides opportunities for individuals, businesses, and other organizations to adopt a section of City-owned streets and to play an important role in the appearance and function of our City assets.
Why Is Your Help Needed?
Litter on the ground gets picked up with the stormwater every time it rains and flows directly to our waterways. Adopt-A-Street allows citizens and businesses to demonstrate community pride, make a positive statement for a clean and attractive community, and have a better understanding of stormwater pollution.
Program Goals
- Prevent flooding due to litter clogging storm drains and ditches.
- Keep our surrounding environment, including stormwater inlets, clean and functional.
- Reduce litter along Oldsmar roadways while increasing beautification and community pride.
- Increase public awareness about public works infrastructure, stormwater management, and the environmental impacts of littering.
Program Basics
- Adopt an available roadway and agree to clean both sides of it at least quarterly.
- Two signs will be put up with your group’s name in either direction on your section of street.
- Schedule your cleanups, review the safety information, and complete the post-cleanup report.
How To Adopt-A-Street
- Contact the Sustainability Coordinator for a current list of available streets.
- Fill out the request form and return via email or at City Hall.
- Receive confirmation from Sustainability Coordinator that application has been accepted by the City.
- After your first clean-up, the City will create personalized signage and install it a the beginning and ending points along the adopted street reflecting your group’s commitment.
Oldsmar goes GOLD!
The Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) create the Green Local Government Standard to designate green cities and counties that exemplified in environmental stewardship. The program was developed in partnership with experts from local governments, private sector green building industries, universities, and state & federal agencies. The standard looks at all aspects of local government operations. Because no two municipalities are the same, the standard allows for flexibility by having over 300 different metrics that can be used towards certification.
The City of Oldsmar received a Silver certification in 2013 with 33% of maximum applicable points awarded. Through the hard work and dedication across all City departments, we were able to increase our score to 54.63% in 2020. The higher score allowed Oldsmar to achieve Gold status! In fact, we had the third highest score in Florida!