ANN ARBOR, MICH. (Michigan News Source) – State taxpayers covered the $3.1 million state grant the city of Ann Arbor is using to “decarbonize” a residential neighborhood.

The Michigan Public Service Commission’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs under the Renewable Energy and Electrification Infrastructure Enhancement and Development Grant program gave the city $3.1 million. That money supported hiring contractors to make improvements in approximately 50 homes in the Bryant neighborhood. That neighborhood is situated on a floodplain with a landfill to the southeast and I-94 to the north.

MORE NEWS: From Cellblock to Inbox: Livingston Jail Inmates Learn Digital Basics

The Ann Arbor City Council passed a 2019 resolution where it declared a “climate emergency” and set 2030 as the year the entire Ann Arbor community – not just city infrastructure – could be carbon neutral. Carbon neutrality is defined as when an entity that produces the same amount of carbon emissions as it removes from the Earth’s atmosphere.

The city’s stated goal was to make the Bryant neighborhood “one of the nation’s most sustainable and resilient existing neighborhoods.”

The Ann Arbor City Council reviewed plans for the $3.1 million in expenditures with vendors at its Aug. 7 meeting.

The city will do work such as weatherization, flood remediation, appliance replacements, electrical upgrades, solar, and energy storage solutions in the Bryant neighborhood.