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A message from Mayor Byron W. Brown

The Green Code is a historic revision of Buffalo’s land use and zoning policies that will promote investment, facilitate job creation, and improve the environment. Work to create a healthy, sustainable, and prosperous community is already underway, spurred by residents in neighborhoods across the city. The Green Code is designed to support these efforts.

The first step in this process is a land use plan that will guide the city’s development over the next 20 years. The second step is a new zoning ordinance – the first in nearly six decades – that will promote investment by making the development process simple, transparent, and in line with the vision we share for our city.

We face some daunting challenges – vacant land, declining population, environmental damage, an economy in transition. But we also have much to build upon – great neighborhoods, beautiful parks, world-class architecture, and, as always, our people.

The goal of the Green Code is nothing less than the economic resurgence, community renewal, and environmental repair of Buffalo. Let’s work together to make this goal a reality.

City Completes Green Code Working Group Sessions
The city’s Office of Strategic Planning recently completed an extensive round of working group sessions with community stakeholders as part of the development of the new zoning code. Approximately 400 residents participated in 28 meetings across the city. Participants volunteered an estimated 1,000 man hours reviewing each section of the draft code and provided extensive comments and feedback that will be incorporated into the public draft, which is expected to be completed in the next several weeks.

Mayor Brown hosts community meetings to discuss Green Code benefits
Mayor Byron W. Brown and the City’s Office of Strategic Planning hosted a meeting at the Independent Living Center of WNY to discuss the Buffalo Green Code and how it meets the needs of city residents with disabilities. Here’s a link to YNN’s coverage of the meeting. Mayor Brown hosted similar meetings in recent weeks at the Richmond-Summer Senior Center, Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Library and the Belle Center.

Buffalo Green Code Gaining National Recognition
Chris Hawley of the city’s Office of Strategic Planning presented on the Green Code in Boston, MA last week at BuildingEnergy 13 — the most established, most cross-disciplinary renewable energy and high-performance building conference and trade show in the northeastern United States.