Fairfield Sustains plan saves waste, improves the environment in its first year

Another 16,000 pounds of materials from Fairfield was recycled or reused during the city’s 2025 Discard Day.

Those are just a few of the projects after a year implementing the city’s first Fairfield Sustains plan, adopted by city council in September 2024.

One of the plan’s greatest projects for this year began last month with the groundbreaking on the city’s first solar array panel on a five-acre site just east of the Groh Lane wastewater plant. It is expected to become fully operational this summer.

The 3,000-plus panels are projected to generate enough electricity to power more than 65 percent of the city’s electricity used at the wastewater plant.

The sustainability plan – developed after a two-year collaboration with consultants – is built around five core areas: mobility and transportation; buildings and energy; resource conservation; nature and a green community; and business and community resilience.

It has eight major goals, 30 strategies and more than 100 steps addressing those goals.

“In 2025, I think we really focused a lot on our resource conservation framework, especially with Discard Day, which is everybody’s favorite day of the year,” said Gillian Hart, the city’s sustainability manager, who just finished her first year on the job.

“Fairfield’s always been sustainability minded – we’re a founding member of the groundwater consortium, a member of the stormwater consortium,’’ said Adam Sackenheim, assistant city manager.

“This (plan) is trying to create an umbrella that all departments, all plans can still function out of – and under – to make sure that we’re being thoughtful on everything we do.”

That means that Hart is brought into almost every conversation on development, capital improvement, and other projects throughout the city.

“The first though is how do we address all those things to make a project really sustainable,” Hart said.

In the last two years the city has purchased three hybrid vehicles and one electric. The EV is being evaluated by the city’s fleet manager for its reliability, how it handles, maintenance costs and other factors to determine if additional EVs should be part of fleet replacement programs or if the city should continue to purchase hybrid vehicles.

Sometimes, it’s determined that it’s not cost-efficient to move forward on a project. For example, it wasn’t until a federal rebate became available that it became cost-efficient to move forward with the solar array.

“It’s really, how do we use resources in a way that we can save money, have an impact on the environment and then take those savings and redirect them,’’ Sackenheim said.

“It could be better parks, more recreation programs – even better police services.”

Urban Forestry

The city has received an urban forestry grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. It will be used to defray the cost of a tree canopy assessment, creation of an invasive species removal plan and an inventory of all trees in the city on public property – including street trees.

The city plans to create an urban forestry action plan to determine where and what kind of trees and shrubs to plant in parks and other areas.

As part of the city’s America 250 initiative, 250 trees about 6-feet tall each, will be planted in the city, beginning April 22 on Earth Day with trees planted at Huffman Park. Another group will be planted the week before Independence Day.

Other dates and locations will be forthcoming. Volunteers are needed. Call Hart at 513-858-8350 to volunteer.

“Trees add value to your community; they add value to properties. We are looking at them as an asset,” Sackenheim said.

“We map our street lights. We know where every fire hydrant is. We map street signs. We’re going to do the same with the trees that are on public lands. When we move forward, we can be a little more thoughtful, a little more strategic how we remove, replace, retain and replant.”

Each year an urban forestry project will be created.

Other initiatives