The Circle Pines City Council is adopting an environmental stewardship plan (ESP). Consulting firm WSB prepared the report, which includes a greenhouse gas inventory, a climate vulnerability assessment and a community engagement compilation. The city plans to include large portions of the ESP in its Imagine 2050 Comprehensive Plan for the Metropolitan Council.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) fully funded preparation of the plan through a Local Climate Action Planning Grant.
“This will be an entire section of our comp plan,” said Circle Pines City Administrator Patrick Antonen at the July 28 Circle Pines City Council meeting. “We would’ve had to come up with $40,000, if we didn’t get the grant, to pay for this study.”
By simply adopting the ESP and including it in its comprehensive plan, the city of Circle Pines will have more options for green-initiative grants. “Many funding programs favor communities with adopted plans like this,” said Maddie Anders, a sustainability program manager with WSB who presented an overview of the ESP at the same meeting.
According to Anders, the ESP contains a framework on how to protect and enhance Circle Pines’ natural assets; practically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and guide future city decisions by integrating environmental stewardship into policies, operations and planning efforts.
Anders said that to gather community input, Circle Pines created an anonymous online survey. The city then informed residents of the survey by sending out more than 2,000 postcards, posting on social media and holding a community event at the Centennial Library (see “Circle Pines family fun night revolves around wildlife,” Nov. 11, 2025).
“Before identifying solutions, we first asked residents what they value the most … what environmental challenges the city should prioritize,” Anders said.
According to the survey, resident responses listed the protection of natural resources as well as the improvement of water and air quality as the environmental issues that matter most to them. Similarly, survey participants named water and air quality as the top issues that the city should prioritize.
Anders said, “Overall, I think they made it clear that protecting Circle Pines’ natural character, preparing for future environmental challenges and making thoughtful investments that improve quality of life should remain priorities for the city.”
Developed strategies within the ESP, Anders noted, are intended to be practical and achievable, yet flexible. “We recognized that implementation work really depends on staff capacity, available funding partnerships, evolving community needs — a lot of moving targets all at once,” Anders said.
One specific, immediate strategy she mentioned involves reducing GHG emissions from residential energy use.
Anders said that Circle Pines has goals of cutting 2005-level emissions in half by 2030 and achieving “carbon neutrality” — reducing emissions as much as possible, then balancing any remaining emissions through other actions — by 2050. These goals, Anders noted, are in line with international and state GHG reduction goals.
In 2005, GHG emissions in Circle Pines totaled a carbon-dioxide equivalent (CO2e) of 50,000 tonnes (metric tons). Since 2020, levels have hovered near 30,000 tonnes of CO2e, a 40% reduction. The plan’s GHG inventory also shows that 74% of emissions come from energy use, while 23% come from transportation.
“Circle Pines is actually pretty darn close to meeting their 2030 goal,” Anders said, though she added that this reduction is largely due to the energy sector switching the electricity grid to green sources.
Therefore, the ESP outlines a strategy to engage with more residents about SolarWise solar garden credits offered through Connexus Energy. Anders estimated that 1.5% of Circle Pines residents subscribed to these credits.
“The nice thing about those programs is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort,” said Circle Pines Mayor Matt Percy. “You don’t have to go into a contract with somebody to put panels on your house and go through all that effort. Just sign up for the program, and the rest takes care of itself.”
“It’s a small charge, and you can do a half-house or whole-house per month to buy in,” added Anders. “You’re helping support putting new solar arrays online.”
Another strategy the city is implementing involves purchasing more electric vehicles when replacing municipal trucks. Antonen said that while going electric is not possible for all vehicles, especially snowplows, Circle Pines will have a mix of vehicle types going forward.
“Circle Pines is in a really good place,” Anders said. “We have beautiful natural resources. We have a lot of these great policies that are already part of the fabric of how we do our work … (The ESP asks) ‘Where are the opportunities to do more … within the things that are important to the citizens in our city? Where can we empower people and give them more resources?’”