Leaders of the Sedgwick County Republican party are pushing back on Wichita’s climate action plan, which is currently in draft form.
The plan, published in October, sets a target of reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from a 2021 baseline within the next 10 years. It lays out a plethora of potential methods the city could take to reduce emissions, such as improving buildings’ energy efficiency and offering alternative transportation methods like walking, biking or public transit.
The plan’s development stems from community advocacy in 2021 to improve environmental sustainability in Wichita, which led to the creation of Wichita’s Sustainability Integration Board. The draft plan was developed to guide the board’s efforts and support future grant applications.
It has yet to be voted on by Wichita’s City Council.
John Whitmer, the president of the Sedgwick County Republican Party, said the party is encouraging Republicans concerned with the climate plan to attend city meetings and make their voices heard.
Whitmer said climate change is not a priority for Wichita residents, especially as the city faces rising property taxes and a budget shortfall in 2026. He hopes the City Council doesn’t pass the plan.
“My wife and I probably knocked 2,000 doors this last election cycle,” Whitmer said. “Not a single person brought up climate action. They did bring up property taxes. They did bring up cost of living.
“So my question to City Council would be: ‘What are your priorities?’”
Polling on the issue of climate change in Wichita and Kansas does not yield consistent views. A 2023 statewide poll by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays University found that 56.9% of Kansans believed climate change was a crisis or major problem.
Another source, the Yale Program for Climate Communications, found 49% of those in the Wichita metro area in 2023 thought local officials should do more to address global warming. That’s seven percentage points lower than the national average.
Ibrahim Abdallah, the chair of the city’s Sustainability Integration Board, and City Council member Dalton Glasscock both said they’ve heard an uptick in concerns from residents about the plan. One is the question of cost, which Glasscock said he shares.
“I have questions about, what is the footnote – in terms of the economic footnote – for the plan?” Glasscock said. “How much will this cost the city?”
Lizeth Ortega, the city’s senior environmental specialist, said in a meeting that the plan does not have a budget attached because the city plans to apply for grants to fund the potential programs. The 2022 federal Inflation Reduction Act made millions in environmental grants available.
But some people, such as Whitmer, are still concerned about whether the grants might require local matching funds or burdensome reporting requirements from the city.
Largely, though, Abdallah said he hears fears that the plan could limit residents’ freedoms. One member of the public said at a city meeting that she feared she would be expected to buy an electric vehicle. City staff say the plan does not compel residents to buy electric vehicles, though it does suggest seeking grant funding to build more electric vehicle charging stations in Wichita.
Others see in the plan a sinister future involving “15-minute cities.” This urban planning concept suggests designing cities so that basic necessities like groceries or schools are within a 15 minute walk or bike ride, therefore reducing reliance on cars.
But conservative pushback internationally has conflated the idea with policies in countries like the U.K. that restrict cars in certain neighborhoods or charge a daily fee for driving vehicles that produce more pollution, like diesel. Such rules are typically enforced using traffic cameras.
Stemming from this, some believe that 15-minute cities are part of a larger global movement to restrict people’s movements and increase government surveillance, which sources ranging from the Associated Press to international academics call a conspiracy theory. The idea grew after COVID lockdowns exacerbated frustrations around restricted personal liberties.
Wichita’s draft Climate Action Plan does not explicitly mention creating a 15-minute city. But several Wichitans see similarities, including resident Brett Anderson, who has spoken against the plan at several city meetings.
He points out parts of the plan that emphasize “transit-oriented development” – a planning strategy that aims to concentrate jobs, housing and services around public transport stations – and set a goal of increasing the number of trips that don’t involve automobiles.
“They want you within a certain area and that's where you do everything,” Anderson said. “You stay there. … You don't leave and go to Missouri. You don't leave and go to Texas. You stay in your area. It's about control.”
City staff – and some council members – refute this. The plan does not include any limitations on where members of the public can go. It does mention creating more green spaces, so that more residents are within 15 minutes of a park.
“There are no restrictions, and there will never be an attempt in this (to) keep people in,” Ortega told community members in a city meeting. “This is about making sure people have access to parks in all areas of the city. ... We don’t talk about 15-minute cites at all, and we’re not boxing anyone in.”
Council member J.V. Johnston was also presented with residents’ concerns about being “kept” in a building or zone of the city.
“I don’t think that is going to happen,” he told them. “That will not happen here.”
Abdallah, the chair of the Sustainability Board, added that the plan is meant to enhance, not restrict, anyone’s way of life.
“We need to make sure the future generations will inherit from us a resourceful, resilient and sustainable city,” Abdallah said. “Otherwise, we may be in trouble.”
Anderson isn’t convinced by the city’s protestations: “Nothing ever happens overnight. … we adopt a little bit legislation on this one, or a little bit on that one. And then, eventually things start to come into play.”
Glasscock, a Republican, says he wants to make sure that people have a place to share their fears. And he added he won’t vote for anything that mandates walkability in Wichita.
He thinks that despite the pushback the plan has received, there’s a path forward for it. He pointed out energy efficiency measures could save the city money.
“Everybody in our community wants clean air, clean water. They want a clean Wichita,” Glasscock said. “... Maybe there is some cost savings that are, you know, conservative things that we can do to protect our environment and also be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar.”
Anderson said he supports parts of the plan that suggest planting more trees and recycling.
A survey to gather feedback about the city’s Climate Action Plan is open through December 31.
