Environmental Sustainability Council

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL (ESC) Thursday, January 17, 2019, Community Center Art Room, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. MINUTES 1. Call to Order: Members: Cory Firestone Weiss (Chair), Jon Ward, Chris McCloud, Andy Crawford, Andy Young, Thomas Cash. Planning Commission Member: Tim Stevens. City Staff Liaison: Kate Reich (City Arborist). City Council Liaison: Dan Sze. Public: Lorien Hinsz (student), Joyce Migdall, Megan Kuhman, Chris Thompson 2. Public comments: Lorien Hinsz informed the ESC the he had an interest in legislation to ban disposable plastic shopping bags. Joyce Migdall asked what could be done about the slippery run off from the Sonic Soft Car Wash on W. Broad St. near Falls Ave. that makes walking dangerous and forces some people to walk in Broad St. to keep their footing. She also advised the City to have a system for capturing easements that residents want to offer for future sidewalks / paths. 3. December 2018 ESC Meeting Minutes: Approved unanimously 4. Report on City environmental staffing: Dan Sze reported that DPW is “receptive” to the ESC having representation on a DPW interview panel when interviewing the final few candidates for key DPW positions; ESC’s interest is particularly in the areas of stormwater and solid waste. 5. Comprehensive Plan: Kate Reich reported that, with Kate Walker’s temporary absence, the City has retained Shelley Mastran (Virginia Tech professor) to continue drafting the environmental chapter. Kate R. will ask Shelley how many Objectives are desired to stay within page limits. The ESC had defined six Sections (e.g., Climate & Air, Waste, Urban Forest, etc.), and Kate R. suggested the ESC prioritize 3-6 near-term action items per Section for the City to pursue. Cory led a survey of ESC members and public attendees which identified 11 of the current 90 ESC action items as priorities in the first year or two. The text below reflects the title written during the survey; the related numbered action items from the ESC’s working spreadsheet typically have more detailed text, which would be used in Chapter 5: o Conduct a Climate Risk Assessment and develop a resiliency plan (Climate Resiliency Goal, AI #1 & #2) o Perform energy audits on all public facilities, and assess suitability for renewable energy (Public Facility Efficiency Objective, AI #4 & #3; 2025 Objective, AI #1 & #6) o Promote and incentivize the use of non-single-occupant travel and transit options (Transit Objective, AI #3) o Enforce or pass anti-idling regulations and policies (Community Exposure Goal, AI #1; and Public Fleet Emissions Objective, AI #2) o Expand bike and pedestrian infrastructure (Walkable Objective, AI #2 & #1) o Implement a Green Building Policy, including adjustments to the Special Exception criteria (Net Zero Objective, AI #2 & #1) o Implement a climate-resilient Stormwater Management Plan using increased precipitation forecasts (SWM Objective, AI #1) o Develop a Green Infrastructure Plan, and develop greenspace goals (SWM Objective, AI #2)  o Develop and adopt a Zero Waste Plan (Waste Section, AI #1) o Increase community outreach and momentum following publication of Environmental Chapter (Educate Community Goal, AI #1) o Issue an annual report on the City’s sustainability performance (Educate Community Goal, AI #4)  MOTION PASSED: To recommend that these “top priority action items” be included in the main body of Chapter 5 of the Comprehensive Plan. (Motion by Cory; seconded by Chris McCloud; approved unanimously) 6. ESC 2019 Priorities: Cory conducted another round of survey and discussion eliciting what members thought should be the ESC’s goals for the coming year. She captured 8 or 9.  ACTION ITEM 1: [Cory] Email the list to members.  ACTION ITEM 2: [ALL] Review the list and consider how to allocate ESC-member time to accomplish these goals. Identify tasks of particular interest to you. This assignment may be refined by Cory in the email. 7. ESC Annual Report: Cory said she would work on the annual report, share it with the full ESC by February, and then deliver it to City Council by March. 8. Subcommittee Reports:  Habitat Restoration Group: None.  Energy Transition Subcommittee: Tim reported that he had presented to the City Council the ETS’s citywide greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory (based on MWCOG models) and suggested actions to support GHG reductions. The ETS continues to advocate for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) legislation in the City and to support the process of getting EVgo charging stations installed in the City. 9. Next Meeting  Thursday, February 21, 2018. Thomas Jefferson Elementary School library, 7:30 p.m. Note that the ESC subsequently agreed to cancel the February meeting in light of the fact that a special meeting would be held in March for the ESC, Tree Commission and Planning Commission to review the West Falls Church project. Abbreviations / Terminology:  AI: Action Item  DPW: Department of Public Works  ETS: Energy Transition Subcommittee  MWCOG: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments