Climate Action Subcommittee

City Hall, Council Chamber City of Santa Rosa 100 Santa Rosa Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final Wednesday, January 13, 2021 4:00 PM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Rogers called the meeting to order at 4:01 PM. Present: 3 - Chris Rogers, Eddie Alvarez and Natalie Rogers 2. ANNOUNCEMENTS NONE. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.1 November 18, 2020 - Draft Minutes Attachments: Draft Minutes approved as submitted 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS PUBLIC COMMENT Woody Hastings, speaking on behalf of CONGAS, requested Climate Action Subcommittee agendize an ordinance to place new restrictions or a complete ban on the development of new gas stations within the City of Santa Rosa. Jenny Blaker, speaking on behalf of CONGAS, requested Climate Action Subcommittee agendize an ordinance to place new restrictions or a complete ban on the development of new gas stations within the City of Santa Rosa. Mike Turgeon, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, thanked the Mayor for his new Subcommittee member appointments. Regional Climate Protection Authority and the Sonoma County Transportation Authority unanimously endorsed the Climate Safe California Campaign and requesting the Climate Action Subcommittee endorse as well. City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final January 13, 2021 Kevin Conway welcomed Vice Mayor Rogers and Council Member Alvarez to the Council and Subcommittee; requested adding a section on future agendas entitled “Old Business” with updates from items on previous agenda, such as Microgrids, and encouraged support of Climate Safe California. Mark Mortensen echoed previous commenters about CONGAS opposition to agendize new gas stations and looking forward to a status update on Micgrogrids. END OF PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Rogers acknowledged the request to agendize an item regarding a ban on new gas infrastructure and will discuss with staff to bring this item to the next (March) or following (May) Subcommittee meeting. Late Correspondence (Uploaded 1-20-2021) Attachments: Late Correspondence received and filed 5. DISCUSSION ITEMS 5.1 UPDATE ON CONVERTING STREETLIGHTS TO LED The Traffic Engineering Division will present an update on the LED conversion for streetlights. This item is being provided for informational purposes. Attachments: Staff Report Presentation Michael VanMidde, Associate Traffic Engineer for Public Works, gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Pete Gang suggested offering the people of Santa Rosa free or City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final January 13, 2021 low-cost LED light bulbs to replace the incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs in their homes which would result in immediate savings on their monthly energy bills and lower the overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions throughout Santa Rosa. Mark Mortensen, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, echoed Pete Gang’s suggestion and commented on San Diego’s Smart Street Programs which uses sensors to modulate lighting from the streetlights to reduce energy and to keep anonymous statistics on vehicle and pedestrian counts. 5.2 FLEET CLIMATE ACTION PLAN Presentation and discussion of fleet activities related to Climate Action Plan. Attachments: Presentation Zac Brand, Fleet Superintendent for Public Works, gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Mark Mortensen thanked staff for the hard work done in electrifying the fleet; shared several comments: most of the Climate Action Plan’s around the Country get down to electrifying the fleet as 50-60% of Greenhouse Gas emissions are from transportation and that Santa Rosa is fortunate to get their electricity from the Evergreen program, which is renewable, so the quicker we electrify the fleet, the quicker we will reduce our Greenhouse Gas emissions; requested more information as to where we are currently with Greenhouse Gas emissions based on how many electric and gas vehicles are in the fleet; what are the plans for future conversions moving away from fossil fuel based gas vehicles, including compressed natural gas?; requested more specificity for goals of emission reductions in terms of the fleet; and mentioned telematics can help with collecting the data on vehicle miles traveled. Michael Lipelt inquired about the goals for future in terms of City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final January 13, 2021 percentage of electrification of the Santa Rosa fleet; echoed Mark’s comment about compressed natural gas use in vehicles due to the toxicity; and inquired about the composition of R99 fuel. Pete Gang commented about if we are sincere about a 2030 target date for zero or net-zero target emissions, that would suggest we reduce emissions by every department by 10% of year 2020 baseline for 10 years; suggested policy of no vehicle idling of all City owned vehicles; when considering new vehicle purchases, considering life cycle costs over a period of 5 years instead of considering first costs; and include metric of tons of greenhouse gases as was included in the streetlight presentation. 6. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Mayor Rogers anticipates bringing discussion surrounding ban on gas stations and a future workshop on carbon sequestration. Tomorrow, January 14, is the California League of Cities Environmental Quality Committee Meeting focused on proposed environmental legislation in the State Capital this year. 7. DEPARTMENT REPORTS Amy Nicholson, Senior Planner and Staff Liaison, gave a brief report about the three part Climate Change Adaptation Eco Workshop, January 19, January 21, and January 22 with 30 individuals registered including City staff, partners, and members of the community. 8. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Rogers adjourned the meeting at 5:00 PM. Approved on: March 10, 2021 /s/ Kali Mahre, Recording Secretary