Environmental Sustainability Council

Environmental Sustainability Council/Energy Transition Subcommittee Meeting Agenda March 21, 2024 ❖ 7:30pm 300 Park Ave, Council Chambers, Falls Church, Virginia 22046 • Call to Order • Roll Call -- • ESC Members: Joseph Schiarizzi (Chair), David Stile, Jennifer Tabola, Matthew Cunningham. Student Representatives: Wendy Abstone, Lilja Anderson, Clementine Kim, Hayden Kusic. City Staff: Kurt Lawrence (ESC Staff Liaison), Kerri Oddenino (Principal Planner). City Council Liaison: Debbie Hiscott • Public Comment Period • ESC received one public comment from Amy Crumpton (104 West Marshall Street) Volunteer Coordinator for Habitat Restoration, Chair for Urban Forestry Commission • Habitat Restoration looking to grow a larger Urban Forestry crew. Currently meeting at Herman Park every Tuesday at 9AM. Recruiting environmental leadership core and providing education to identify invasive species. • Urban Forestry has planting goals. Planning Arbor Day celebration. During the event, they plant trees that the Urban Forestry Commission selects. This year they are possibly targeting Oak Street Elementary for the tree planting. • The Urban Forestry Commission is seeking budget for additional staff to support the city arborist. Amy is seeking ESC support for this request. • Approval of February ESC Minutes • David proposed a motion to approve the February minutes. Matt seconded the motion. The meeting minutes were approved unanimously. • Bicycle Master Plan Presentation – Kerri Oddenino • Kerri Oddenino, Principal Planner for the City of Falls Church presented bicycle priority routes concepts and markups of the Bicycle Master Plan document. Primary request is for feedback on documents. Kerri reviewed the 8 priority routes as well as the vision and goal sections of the Bicycle Master Plan. • Kerri began with a review of the Priority Routes document: • Joseph asked a question about the process for getting the priority routes funded. Will the funding sources be enough for implementation?  • Kerri responded that they are planning for $110K in funding needs in the plan for FY25, $50K of which is to be allocated for Broad Street Engineering Study. Additional budget requested for other project related costs like paint + flexi posts. Community Survey and signage on routes to be used to inform priority route plans. First step is to apply for grants. Some possible sources include: • The Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment (An organization that supports VA’s Secretary of Transportation). The grant application is in the Fall. Accepts requests for $80-100K • Apply for Transportation Alternatives Funding for adopted plans. Funding preference goes to projects in the adopted city plans. • NVTA - Northern VA Transportation Authority paid for by Commonwealth taxes (70% from Fed Grant program) • ESC can advocate for local funding for some of the projects • Some funding could be requested from the asphalt planning fund though there is already great demand for these services and their associated cost to repair streets in the city. • Matthew asked about overarching community feedback on priority routes plans • Kerri mentioned that feedback was somewhat mixed, with support from those attending meetings. She is interested in getting more input from a wider range of community members. • David asked for more information about the Broad St shared path concepts/ • about how engineering study would inform decision making on Broad. Kerri responded that they are essential considering VDOT’s role with Washington and Broad. • Kerri also mentioned they are looking into the impact of a shared path on stormwater infrastructure and ADA sidewalk requirements. • Joseph asked about the priority route goals and if the objective is to connect areas of the city with businesses. Requested to add this to the goal section of Bicycle Master Plan.  • David asked about the Priority Route, for S. West street, Option 1 - “Shared Use Path.” He questioned one of the listed “Cons”, “Might lead to conflicts between pedestrians and bicycle users” given the presence of a sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. • David asked if the purpose of the community comments and surveys is to help with decision-making for priority route options. Kerri confirmed. • Joseph expressed concern about the risk that curb extensions for S. West street, Option 4 - “Traffic Calming” could pose in terms of cost to future dedicated bike path strategies • Joseph asked about the stage of each of the concepts and timeline for next steps. Kerri responded that next steps are community feedback and surveys • David suggested that the community survey include broader context about overarching goals that can be achieved with the implementation of each of the priority routes. • Jennifer asked about examples of each Priority Route implementation strategy in neighboring cities and counties. She raised that peoples' greatest concerns will be the loss of parking and wondered what the solution would be to address those concerns • Joseph mentioned the CEAP, emissions goals, and broader MWCOG goals as something that should be considered when making decisions regarding the priority bike routes. Not all decisions can be left exclusively to homeowner feedback. • Kerri Transitioned to reviewing the Bicycle Master Plan Markups. The focus of the conversation was on the vision statement and plan goals. • Joseph asked about the bicycling friendly report card and if it is included in the plan. Kerri responded that that was not a part of this document, however, mentioned that some feedback from the scorecard made it into plan • Joseph suggested we take a stronger position and define a more specific goal to achieve an “A” grade. “Let’s become a gold city!” Joseph asked that goals be specific and measurable. • Similar to Joseph’s prior suggestion regarding the CEAP, David suggested that a goal be added to the Bicycle Master Plan that links the outcomes to the success of the Community Energy Action Plan. Jennifer agreed that the city will be unable to achieve CEAP goals without making some of these decisions regarding bike paths.  • A student representative commented on how they see a teacher biking on street to school and how this plan will help • Approve 2023 Annual Report - Joseph Schiarizzi (10 minutes) • Joseph read through report • Amy Crumpton requested a grammatical change to streamline the Habitat Restoration section. • Matthew made a motion for approval, David seconded. All ESC members said “Aye” • Updates from City Hall – Kurt Lawrence (15 minutes) • One-Stop Shop for Community Energy Action • Kurt reviewed city website landing page. David made suggest to add heat pump dryer to appliances section. • Matthew asked about including Energy Star database in appliances section • Jennifer asked if there is a way to prioritize which items people should think about first. • Amy Crumpton asked about similar energy related pages appearing elsewhere on the city website (green power, rooftop solar). Kurt responded that these will all be consolidated into the one-stop shop section of website. • David asked about ways the website can guide residents on making these sometimes-complicated decisions. He referenced a couple organizations for Kurt to check in and consider if it is appropriate to add. • Amy Crumpton asked about section that will cover tax credits and Kurt walked through where some of these details are already posted. • CIP Review • FY2025-2030 CIP Report has been shown to City Council, and ESC members can get more information via the City website. • City Council Priorities – Kurt Lawrence (10 minutes) • Kurt reviewed a list of city council priorities for the upcoming year • The priorities were environmental sustainability, transportation, economic development, housing, and good governance. Environmental sustainability appeared first in the presentation. • Adjourn