Environmental Sustainability Council

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL (ESC) Thursday, September 19, 2019, City Hall Dogwood Rooms, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. MINUTES 1. Call to Order: ESC Members: Andy Crawford (ESC Chair), Andy Young (Vice Chair), Jon Ward, Andy Sakallaris, Stacey Evers, Sarah Balydon, Chris Thompson, Alec Autor (student rep). City Staff: Kate Walker (ESC Liaison). City Council Liaison: Dan Sze. Public: Tina Ho, Jason Douglas, Tim Stevens (Planning Commission) 2. Public comments: Jason Douglas announced his intention to apply to join the ESC. Also, he received an affirmative answer when asking whether stream daylighting was or would be part of the Stormwater Management Plan. 3. April and July 2019 ESC Meeting Minutes: Both approved unanimously. 4. Subcommittee Report - Energy Transition Subcommittee (ETS): Tim Stevens said the new George Mason High School (GMHS) design was still targeting an Energy Usage Intensity of 22 kBtu/ft2, which would make it one of the best-performing high schools in the state. Conduit to support EV charging stations is planned. Allied Drilling has the contract for the ground-source heat pump system, using about 200 wells. Developers were examining a 750 kW rooftop solar installation, using a power-purchase agreement (PPA) by riding on a Fairfax County contract. This will not be sufficient, though, for net-zero energy. If the state does not lift its statewide 50 MW cap for solar PPAs, there is a risk that the cap may be reached before the 750 kW project can be secured. A ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold' rating (under LEED v4) is still planned for the school. ESC asked whether the energy savings from the school system operating budget could be used to fund energy audits and improvements at the other schools. o ACTION ITEM #1: [Tim or Kate] At the ESC’s request, ask the school system or the GMHS developers for information on the expected utility savings, and whether they can estimate the capital-cost and operating cost differential between the planned school and some minimum, “code-only” reference design. Gov. Northam and Dominion Energy announced a goal to replace all 17,000 school buses with electric buses. This would include Dominion ratepayers subsidizing the cost difference between diesel and electric (currently ~$350k electric and ~$100k for diesel). Dominion is interested in the potential to use the bus batteries as grid-connected storage. Falls Church has 23 buses and is awaiting a response from Dominion on its request for a subsidy to replace up to 4 buses with electric. Long-term, by 2030 all new bus purchases state-wide would be electric. 5. Subcommittee Report - Habitat Restoration Team (HRT): The Fall event schedule has been published: https://www.fallschurchva.gov/940/Environmental-Opportunities. Stacey Evers volunteered to be the ESC liaison to the Team. 6. Subcommittee Report - Education Task Group (ETG): Operation EarthWatch (OpEW) is proceeding satisfactorily, with no significant changes planned vs. prior year activities since two schools have new OpEW coordinators. 7. Staff Report (Kate Walker): Kate reported that electricity consumption in the renovated City Hall is down about 30-45% vs. pre-renovation operations. 8. Comprehensive Plan Chapter 5 – “Environment for Everyone”: Andy Crawford had previously emailed to the ESC a link to a draft of the chapter, and Kate made hardcopies available. Kate reviewed the definitions of ‘Visions,’ ‘Goals,’ ‘Strategies’ and ‘Actions.’ Strategies are worded broadly to accommodate future ideas for ordinances, policies, actions, etc. After discussion, the ESC Chair expressed to Kate the ESC’s consensus confidence that the chapter was on track, following prior feedback that the chapter organization could be improved and the Solid Waste portions were underdeveloped. o ACTION ITEM #2: [ALL] Comment on the draft chapter via e-mail to Andy Sakallaris (sakallaris@gmail.com) by Sunday, October 13, who will consolidate input and forward to ESC, for review and approval at the ESC meeting on October 17. o ACTION ITEM #3: [ALL] The chapter includes 47 proposed policy actions and programs to achieve the goals. Review and consider where you are interested in providing focused support; there is insufficient City staff to take on all of the proposals. Provide feedback at or before the October ESC meeting. 9. Roundtable Introductions: All attendees introduced themselves, including motivations for attending, roles within the ESC, and areas of interest and focus. Andy Sakallaris expressed interest in joining a Stormwater Management Task Force that the City may be standing up. Stacey Evers expressed interest in championing reduced consumption and solid waste generation. She also renewed discussion of the City affiliating with the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District to access technical resources and possible cost-sharing for small stormwater projects. The City previously opted to institute its RainSmart grant program through the City’s Village Preservation and Improvement Society. ESC members expressed interest in getting a program progress report from Capital Bikeshare. 10. Legislative Agenda: Dan Sze discussed the top priorities in the draft Legislative Agenda that the City plans to provide to the Virginia Municipal League in October, informing VML’s guidance to the state legislature. These included the Solar Freedom bill; stormwater regulations that promote on- site management vs. buying credits for improvements elsewhere in the watershed; and allowing tighter regulation of small plastics that often become litter, such as bags and straws. This discussion will be continued at the October ESC meeting. o ACTION ITEM #4: [Kate Walker] Circulate a copy of the 2018 ESC Legislative Agenda recommendations. 11. Next Meeting  Thursday, October 17, 7:30 p.m., City Hall Dogwood Rooms