This ordinance outlines the requirements for city compost collection. It provides guidelines for vendors concerning acceptable compost and recyclables hauling practices. It creates special zones within municipal limits for the disposal of compostable matter as well as an equitable and manageable schedule of compost collection.

This ordinance establishes green building requirements for newly constructed residential and commercial buildings. The ordinance requires building departments in the city and county to enforce new regulations on lighting, insulation, climate control systems, and other building design and construction standards that increase energy efficiency. The ordinance allows for the adoption of local energy standards if the standards are cost effective and will save more energy than the statewide standards. In order to improve compliance with this ordinance, the city and county will seek out additional education and training opportunities for staff in green building technologies.

This ordinance establishes greenhouse gas emissions targets and departmental action plans for the City and authorizes the Department of Environment to coordinate efforts to meet the established targets.

This ordinance specifies municipal purchasing preferences and practices which favor locally owned and operated businesses. It provides definitions and useful language pertaining to local growing practices, government procurement, contracting, and purchasing preferences.

This ordinance imposes upon commercial developers in an arid, water-limited climate to provide landscaping water budgets and include a rainwater harvesting plan in their overall permit plan. These requirements require commercial businesses to develop economic infrastructure in an efficient and sustainable way.

This ordinance makes it unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to propagate, cultivate, raise, or grow genetically modified organisms in Mendocino County.

This is a point of sale ordinance that applies to anyone selling their home. When someone sells, their home, the ordinance requires the seller have a standardized Austin Energy audit performed on their house and the results must be disclosed to the prospective buyers. An energy audit is used for the following reasons: High electric and gas bills; Problems staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter; One room is too hot while another room is too cold; Air conditioner or furnace seems to run all the time; Indoor air quality issues, including problems with dust, mold, drafts, or asthma; Interest in renewable energy sources. In addition, having an energy assessment is the first step in reducing the environmental impact of one\'s home energy expenditure. Most homeowners can reduce their footprint by 20-50%, and the home assessment test is the best way to find out how.

This ordinance: requires, for participating developments, a minimum of 15% of the dwelling units within the participating residential development to be affordable to households with an income not to exceed 80% of the Area Median Income and that participating residential developments including or consisting of apartments provide affordable housing units as rental units in the same proportion that the apartments comprise a portion of the total residential development; provides density bonuses, including a 20% unit increase, and zoning ordinance dimensional adjustments; requires the appropriate agency to annually publish a pricing schedule of sale and rental prices for affordable dwelling units; establishes limitations governing the resale of affordable dwelling units created under this bill; and requires affordable dwelling units to be dispersed among the market rate dwelling units throughout the development.

This ordinance requires that new commercial and residential buildings or \'substantially improved\' buildings to meet specific energy performance standards. The ordinance requires commercial and high rise residential structures between 10,000 and 50,000 square feet to meet basic LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. In addition, buildings equal to or larger than 50,000 square feet must meet the LEED Silver certification.

This ordinance requires that all capital projects enacted by the county or to which the county lends or otherwise funds construction shall adhere to sustainable and green development and building practices. It establishes functional definitions of these projects and their core components as well as develops a clear and flexible justification for such policy.