Falls Church is requesting $30 million in federal stimulus money to go green, by far the largest federal funding request in the small city’s history.
Assistant City Manager Cindy Mester said the “very bold” proposal will seek $2 million from the Department of Transportation, $3 million from the Environmental Protection Agency, and $25 million from the Department of Energy to be used toward revamping the city’s walkways, water management system, and renewable energy capacity.
The bulk of money sought from the Department of Energy would be used toward installing advanced technologies such as solar panels, vertical windmills, and smart meters, which improve energy efficiency via two-way communication between homeowners and electric companies.
The $2 million from the DOT would go toward improving pedestrian access by putting in new sidewalks, bike trails, and handicap assistance.
EPA’s $3 million would implement watershed program recommendations aimed at better dealing with storm water runoff and improving water quality.
Mester called Falls Church, which has a population of 11,000, an ideal Virginia “learning lab” for green technology. “Because we have about 5,000 homes, Falls Church is a good size for testing things, but it is small enough to be manageable,” Mester said. “We are close to D.C. so the federal government can easily track our successes and failures.”
The funding proposal predicts the energy initiatives would translate to roughly 271 new jobs, based on a rough federal calculator that estimates one new job is created for every $92,000 spent.
The city’s goal is to produce as much energy as it is reusing by 2050, Mester said.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed in February, projects $4.5 billion of the total $787 billion in stimulus funds will go to Virginia over the next two years. Because its population is under 35,000, Falls Church must partner and compete with other local governments to receive a portion of it.
The city government plans to submit its proposal within the next week, roughly a month ahead of the federal deadline, hoping that extra review time will result in greater cash allocation.
Mester said there was no way to predict how the proposal will be received, but cited the support of several Virginia politicians and said she was “very optimistic” about its success.
