The Mid-Hudson Sustainability Planning Consortium has kicked off an ambitious smart growth planning process to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region, and the community’s got a chance to get involved.

A public meeting about the process, dubbed the Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan, will be held at 6:30pm on Monday, July 30^th, and is open to everyone [click here for an invitation]. A website has also been launched to encourage dialogue on the subject.

As part of the Greener, Cleaner Communities Program, each of New York State’s 10 economic development regions is creating a plan to help achieve Governor Cuomo’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Statewide, there will be up to $90 million available, via competitive grants, to fund projects identified in the different regions’ plans.

Despite the promise of funding for projects that come out of the planning process, achieving a Mid-Hudson consensus will take hard work. An aggressive schedule has been set—the plan needs to be delivered by the end of December—and the Mid-Hudson plan covers a sprawling, seven-county region with urban, suburban, and rural issues to contend with (the area includes Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Putnam, Sullivan, and Dutchess counties).

Tri-State’s Nadine Lemmon is co-chairing the transportation, land-use, and livable communities working group. Additional working groups, headed up by a broad representation of experts from the public and private sectors in the region, will address the myriad other issues related to Mid-Hudson sustainability: energy, waste management, water management, economic development, agriculture and foodsheds, and governance.

The first public meeting will be held on July 30^th at SUNY Orange’s Newburgh Campus, in “The Great Room” at Kaplan Hall, from 6:30-8:30 pm. Doors will open at 6:00 for refreshments.