Environmental Sustainability Council

Environmental Sustainability Council Thursday, December 15, 2016 7:30 - 9:30 pm Dogwood Room, City Hall Minutes 1. Call to Order ESC members present: Peter Adriance, Sarah Bayldon, Tom Cash, Cory Firestone-Weiss (Chair), Peter Oppenheimer, Jon Ward City Council Liaison: Dan Sze City Staff: Kate Walker, Wyatt Shields, Lauren Bruce Planning Consultant: Shelly Mastran Public: Diane Bartley, Tim Stevens 2. Public Comments – Diane Bartley spoke in favor of advancing use of solar and other measures needed to implement environmentally friendly improvements, notably the PACE program. She had an interest in Solarize but noted that the projected payout of 13 years for home solar panel installation was too long. Tim Stevens thanked her for her interest. He noted that Virginia now has an ordinance at state level to advance PACE which allows loans from banks to go on real estate bills and stay with the building through successive owners. This makes long-term loans for solar more feasible. There has been some complexity starting up the program. Falls Church is looking to Arlington’s leadership in drafting an ordinance in support of PACE and we hope to be able to use their work to make PACE possible in the City. Hopefully residents of the City can take advantage of PACE by early next year. Through the program, improvements in energy efficiency, renewable energy installations, and storm water abatement measures could get 20-year financing. Tim noted that a program administrator will be paid from fees. Other potential costs still need to be evaluated. 3. Approval of Minutes (October 20 & November 17, 2016) – Approved. 4. Vision Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan – Guest Presenter Shelley Mastran, Planning Consultant – Ms. Mastran presented highlights of the draft Vision Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. She requested formal feedback from the ESC before Jan 9th.  The vision statement represents an effort to paint a long-range vision. It should be short, simple and easy to agree upon. Values/ principles behind the Plan are included. Principles behind the plan are building blocks that reflect community priorities. The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).   The Comprehensive Plan (CP) is required by law and needs to be updated every 5 years. The CP guides planning and investment.  The drafting effort has engaged public in variety of ways and looked at best practices. It is now being reviewed by City boards and commissions.  The draft vision statement describes a vibrant, walkable, safe, special place. The eight draft principles include economic, environmental and social sustainability.  Community indicators are needed to track progress applying each of the 8 principles. Ms. Mastran is seeking help in developing the indicators. They should be numerical, trackable, easy to report and easy to collect. The process for developing the indicators is still taking shape. GHG emissions reduction could be an indicator of energy efficiency. ESC Comments:  Peter Oppenheimer asked in what ways are we a special place? There are many contributors to a high quality of life in the city such as good governance, the Farmer’s market, the library, the highest waste diversion rate in the state, the high voter turnout, etc. The city’s natural environment is relatively small with 90% built environment. How should we express sustainability? The vision should constitute an effective “elevator pitch” for the city. It needs to be short and sweet. He noted that making the city greener is missing from the vision statement. Parks are mentioned but are an extension of the surrounding neighborhoods.  Dan Sze noted that 85 % of vision statements have ‘unique and special’ as modifiers.  It was suggested that removing the word “natural” from “natural environment” would make the statement more applicable to the City. MOVED, SECONDED AND APPROVED -- to recommend deleting “natural” in the vision statement when speaking of the environment, and include further comments in a letter by January 9th. 5. Local Government Powers and Limitations in a Dillon Rule State: how the ESC can work towards its goals - Guest Presenter Wyatt Shields, City Manager – What can the ESC do in light of the Dillon rule? Dillon Rule requires that certain regulations cannot be implemented at the local level without state approval. In this way local governments are in fact agents of the state government. To understand the limitations imposed on us by the Dillon Rule requires an item-by- item discussion. Can we implement tax incentives for solar panels? No. Stricter energy standards in buildings? No. One way to achieve higher standards for development in the City than those required by state law is through the “Special Exceptions” process (see zoning ordinance 48-90 Special Exceptions). Developers may request exceptions to specific regulations and restrictions of the designated zoning districts of the city, such as increased height or reduced setback. Their request is evaluated against The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711). the criteria established in the ordinance. Primary criteria, such as substantial net new revenue, are required for any exception to be considered. The project is also evaluated against the secondary criteria listed in the ordinance, such as landscaping requirements, utilization of LEED criteria or the provision of affordable housing. During the negotiation process, developers may offer voluntary concessions to better meet the secondary criteria or other needs of the City. The ESC has the opportunity to review the voluntary concessions offered and advise the City on how they might fit our environmental goals. ESC Comments:  Peter Oppenheimer noted that we had explored placing a notification requirement on the application of pesticides but found the City had no authority to impose restrictions on pesticide application, much less requiring notification. He asked, thinking more broadly of promoting sustainability, what can we do?  Cory Firestone-Weiss noted that there had been interest in specifying environmentally friendly de-icing chemicals for the roads.  It was noted that generally, if someone is making money on an established practice, we cannot regulate it. We should promote positive rather than restrictive measures.  Some municipalities require disclosure of energy efficiency in a building. That would be a problem under the Dillon Rule. Making it voluntary would be OK.  Height and setbacks are what the City usually uses to set standards for building projects. FAR (floor to area ratio) is used by some communities – the City has often considered using FAR as a benchmark. However, it likes to keep things simple and has not pushed use of FAR. On heights, once you are a foot above the 55’ mark we have a lot of negotiating room. We must be careful about it. It’s more difficult to build into code. We’d need a rationale for doing it.  What are the best mechanisms for encouraging best practices and promoting positive change? We will need to lay out the rationale for any changes proposed for the building code.  Recycling is a classic case of citizen involvement in change. Changing energy use is a similar kind of thing.  Cory Firestone-Weiss suggested three potential “buckets of effective action” o Lean hard on the city to be a model o Take a sharper look at secondary criteria for voluntary concessions. (chapt. 48- 90). Changing secondary criteria takes time. ESC should send a representative to meetings of the Planning Commission, EDA, etc. o Undertake effective community outreach The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711). 6. Ongoing Business  Key dates in City projects and planning (Kate) – Kate prepared a draft calendar of city projects (Appendix 1). Other items should be added, such as dates for the legislative agenda, city council retreat (Jan), etc.  Developments in the city will be tracked by individual members. o Peter Oppenheimer agreed to track EDA activity. o There will be a report out of the Streetscape Taskforce. o ESC may want to attend various commission meetings re: FAR and other issues. o July/Aug is when VML meets re their legislative calendar. o COG meetings should be added to the calendar. o Chesapeake Bay Grant application deadline. Other grant deadlines. o At the next meeting: we will get a development overview from Rick Goff, Economic Development Director and explore key points for early intervention v. being reactive.  ESC Vision – asking City Council to adopt the MWCOG GHG reduction goal (Tim Stevens) – see Appendix 2, draft resolution. Most jurisdictions have a GHG reduction goal. The resolution calls for reduction in GHGs of 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, over 2005 levels. o Comments: how will we do the reduction? Most reductions have resulted from external energy changes. Do we put pressure on Dominion? All the COG communities could do that.  Arlington has a zero emissions goal. Arlington has a 3-ton GHG per capita goal by 2050.  COG has many ideas for implementation.  We should adjust the ESC vision statement to be parallel with the resolution (e.g. using the same base year of 2005 v. 2008)  Presentation of the resolution could complement release of the ESC annual report. 7. Information Items  Energy Lending Library (Aziz, Tim) – Tim reported that we are making progress. Final details are being pulled together to implement the program. The library has been very supportive. The announcement will go out with the release of the ESC annual report.  Stormwater abatement: Harrison Branch; RainSmart (Kate) – The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).  o Kate and Phil Skotte attended a meeting on daylighting of the Harrison Branch. The project would achieve many goals to improve the environment, water quality and public health. It is called for in the 2012 stormwater management plan. The public meeting was sparsely attended. More outreach is needed to raise awareness. o Rainsmart – Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation district has a similar plan. We could combine our efforts.  Transportation – sale of used lighting; electric school bus (Kate). o The old streetlights and globes were auctioned off. o Electric buses cost 3x what a regular bus would cost. Extensive safety training is required of operators. There are additional regulations. For now the City is taking a wait-and-see approach. 8. Next Meeting Thursday, January 19, 2017 – Sarah Bayldon minute taker. Staff Liaison: Kate Walker City of Falls Church 300 Park Avenue Suite 300 West Falls Church, VA 22046 Email: kwalker@fallschurchva.gov Phone: (703) 248-5297 The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability call (703) 248-5456, (TTY 711).