Environmental Sustainability Council

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL (ESC) and ENERGY TRANSITION SUBCOMMITTEE (ETS) Thursday, February 17, 2022, Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. DRAFT MINUTES 1. Call to Order: 7:30 p.m. 2. Reading of Virtual Meeting Notice This meeting was held via electronic communications using ‘Microsoft Teams.’ This meeting was held pursuant to and in compliance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Section 2.2-3708.2 and state and local legislation adopted to allow for continued government operation during the COVID-19 declared emergency. 3. Roll Call Attendees: ESC Members: Joseph Schiarizzi (Chair), Stacey Evers (Vice Chair), Mike Trauberman, Jon Ward (ETS Chair), Andy Young, Andy Crawford; Student Member: n/a; City Council Liaison: n/a; Planning Commission Liaison: n/a; City Staff: Kate Walker, ESC Staff Liaison; ESC ETS: Stacy Noblet; Urban Forestry Chair/HRTG: Amy Crumpton; CACT member: Dave Gustafson; Public: John Ferris. 4. Public Comments None were received. 5. Bicycle Infrastructure in the City of Falls Church Andy Young and Dave Gustafson led a discussion of the memo (link included in agenda) to City Council from the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Transportation (CACT), sent Feb. 9 ahead of the City Council’s Feb. 22 retreat (6 pm – 9 pm, possibly in-person only). The memo emphasizes bike lanes and safety issues. Of the five recommended Actions, they noted that Action #2 (Park Ave. & Great Streets) should be discussed with staff now; Action #1 (Last ½ Mile to School Campus) is important but somewhat longer-term; and Action #5 (Master Plan) undergirds all discussions. https://BikeFallsChurch.org is a new advocacy group related to this topic. ACTION ITEM #1 (Kate W., Joseph, Andy Y.): It was decided to try hold a high-attendance micro- mobility panel session on March 17 with ESC, CACT, City Council and community members. Key planners will coordinate along with CACT within the next week to promote and plan the meeting. ACTION ITEM #2 (Joseph): Motion Passed (Y-6, N-0): “For ESC Chair to send a letter to City Council, endorsing the CACT memo, noting that bike infrastructure can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” 6. 2021 ESC Annual Report Members reviewed Joseph’s pre-meeting draft and highlighted various items worthy of inclusion. These included ESC recommendations on:  • Fellows Property • EV charger infrastructure • Equity (ESC webpage includes date-ordered recommendations) • Community Climate Mitigation and Energy Action Plan • Proposed commercial developments. Last year’s report called for “Leading by Example” on energy efficiency. In 2021, ESC/ETS gave input towards a government operations Energy Plan, efficiency in City-owned housing, and solar panels at the high school, but these remain in-progress awaiting completed “examples.” ACTION ITEM #3 (Joseph, Stacey E.): Finalize draft, Stacey will review; distribute to ESC membership for review. 7. One City Center ESC/ETS Comments – Mike Trauberman The ESC has not received the developer’s responses to unanswered question remaining from the January ESC meeting. The developer told Mike they’d respond by Feb. 18. ESC formal comments are due to City staff Feb. 24. With two existing large grocers and another proposed all within 0.3 miles, members discussed whether another grocery anchoring another project represents the community we want, with a sense that building policy in the City is on “auto- pilot.” While a grocery may reduce commercial diversity and be energy intensive, the benefits include walkability to food stores in a zone slated for increasing population density. Joseph, Stacey and Mike noted these concerns may best be documented through an enforceable Green Building-Policy. ACTION ITEM #4 (Mike T.): Finalize formal comments and circulate to ESC. ACTION ITEM #5 (Stacey & Joseph): Discuss possible guest speaker for April on green roofs. 8. Subcommittee & Liaison reports: ETS (Jon); ETG (Sarah); HRTG (Stacey/Amy) ETS: Jon W. reported that LEAP (Local Energy Alliance Program) this week did a preliminary walk-through of one of the City’s a newly-acquired affordable-housing quadplexes. The ETS goal is to advertise lessons-learned from City efficiency upgrades to other owners of comparable housing. A five-site LED-streetlight pilot project should be done by March so that residents can comment, and the full ~1000 lights would be replaced by April 2023. The ETS sent suggested to the Planning Department rewording of the Voluntary Concession language for rooftop solar, and Founders Row II developers are reviewing it. Loudoun County completed a feasibility study of Community Choice Aggregation; Jon is reviewing it and will forward a link to anyone interested. ETG: Kate W, noted that Operation Earth Watch is still going, but there are insufficient volunteers for the administrative tasks, and student participation has been dropping before and through the pandemic. Kate has recommended that the OEW coordinator (Naomi Goodwin) call a meeting of current and past volunteers to brainstorm options for re-energizing OEW. Stacey and Andy C expressed interest in helping to support. HRTG: Amy reported Spring dates for invasive plant removal are being set (3/19 Cavalier Trail; 4/9 Howard Herman; 5/14 Cherry Hill), and more programming at the library is planned. City has been doing plantings and invasives removal at Virginia Village. Stacey said HRTG will be working on the high school on landscaping, vegetable garden, and native plantings. She is also working with a Girl Scout establishing a seed library at the Library. There is still no staff liaison for HRTG. Invasive-plant factsheets need to have contact information updated. ACTION ITEM #6 (Kate & Amy): Discuss what webpage(s) and email address to direct people to for factsheets and volunteer information. 9. Staff updates Andy Sakallaris will not be renewing his next term for the ESC. His fellow ESC members thank him for his dedication and service. City Council has one candidate in the Appointments Committee pipeline, and Kate encouraged recruitment of potential members to fill future vacancies. City Council’s Planning Retreat is Tuesday evening, 2/22/2022. Kate has not seen info on broadcasting or recording, so public attendance may need to be in person. The hiring of a consultant through MWCOG to assist with the Community Climate Mitigation and Energy Action Plan has been delayed while awaiting signatures on an MOU with MWCOG. In a recent study, MWCOG’s Transportation Planning Board could not identify a feasible policy scenario that would by 2030 reduce GHG emissions from the region’s transportation sector by 50% relative to 2005. Therefore, other sectors would need to reduce by more than 50% for the region to meet its overall 50% reduction goal. Kate said we need to pay more attention to TPB, as their mission shifts from purely moving traffic to also reducing emissions. Kate noted that laws that the Governor and allies could not repeal or change in the party- divided General Assembly could be thwarted by defunding through the GA’s budget negotiations, so that is being watched. 10. Review & Approval of January 20th, 2022 minutes Minutes of the January 20, 2022, meeting were approved unanimously. 11. Next Meeting Planned for March 17. 2022. Working towards a joint meeting with CACT on bike infrastructure and micro-mobility, with significant City Council and community attendance.