Business View Magazine | February 2019

292 In 2013, the Longmont City Council voted to finance and build out its own municipal, giga- bit data fiber-optic network, NextLight, to every house and business. The entire community now benefits from that enhanced connectivity. In 2016, in its quest for a more sustainable future, Longmont adopted its first Sustainability Plan. The Plan lays out a roadmap for achieving the City’s sustainability vision and supports the guid- ing principles of its Comprehensive Plan called “Envision Longmont.” The Sustainability Plan focuses on actions in ten primary topic areas to promote the triple bottom line of environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic oppor- tunity for City residents and businesses. Areas addressed for implementation within the next five to ten years are: air quality; buildings & infrastructure; community cohesion & resilience; economic vitality; energy; food system; natural environment; transportation; waste; and water. “We’re on the Front Range of Colorado, the east- ern border along the Rocky Mountains, and the population in this whole area is exploding right now,” says Lisa Knoblauch, City of Longmont Sus- tainability Program Manager. “Longmont is just shy of 100,000 residents and growing quickly.We took that into account in projections for the Sus- tainability Plan, particularly from the standpoints of resource conservation, community well-being, and business sustainability.We work closely with our Planning and Development Services, Com- munity Services, and Longmont Power & Com- munications Departments to ensure that we are equitably meeting the needs of all residents as our community grows and changes.We are a diverse community and maybe not as affluent as others around Boulder County or the Front