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, March 10, 2021 4:00 PM 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Rogers called the meeting to order at 4:01 PM. 2. ANNOUNCEMENTS None. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3.1 January 13, 2021 - Draft Minutes Attachments: Draft Minutes Late Correspondence (Uploaded 3-10-2021) PUBLIC COMMENT Jenny Blaker, speaking on behalf of CONGAS, apologized for her misunderstanding of when the discussion on the gas station ban would be on the agenda and was glad it would be heard May 12. approve as amended 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS PUBLIC COMMENT Mike Turgeon, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, will speak during 5.1 regarding future agenda items. Woody Hastings, co-coordinator of Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations, congratulated and welcomed two new City Council members; works at Climate Center and offered his help; glad to be on agenda for May; part of why they wanted to prohibition is they don’t want to have to keep stomping out fossil fuel fires - Novato recently approved a 28-dispensary gas station for the Costco; want to work towards a cleaner California; would like to provide a presentation in the future. City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 Kevin Conway is part of a large group climate activists working to reverse the path we are on who advocate for specific actions because they want to help and understand the overwhelming demand on elected officials and City staff but the reality is that it is the Council that needs to take administrative steps to address this crisis at the speed science says we must and must remove obstacles, such as long standing bylaws, such as thinking outside that box in order to address this crisis, like using the police power allowed for in our state constitution to protect the residents; we need to change the paradigm of how our government works; poses the question that Mayor Rogers asked at the recent RCPA meeting: what it would look like if our City took immediate actions to address this emergency? Alexa Forrester, Professor at Santa Rosa Junior College, after watching the Novato City Council meeting, worries that the emergency resolutions that are passed are just talk; wants to see results of the policies that change things and asks that a climate communication comes out, whether it is yearly or quarterly, that states what is changing, what affects her life, and updates on progress. Hoai - An Truong, Sonoma County Climate Activist Network, is thrilled that the City has a Climate Action Subcommittee; glad that the City is maintaining the gas ban because fracked gas is mostly methane, which is 84% times more potent than greenhouse gases and CO2; thanked Mayor Rogers for the Subcommittee and welcomed the new Council members; there is a 30 year lag time when the greenhouse gases are admitted and when the effects are felt - the catastrophic wildfires and droughts we are dealing with now is due to emissions from 30 years ago; as if pandemic related food insecurities were not enough, global food supplies could go into major crisis due to the climate, including right here in California; according to the IBBC report and Project Drawdown, we need to remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce emissions or we will not reach our climate goals; urges the committee meet more City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 than every two months in order to educate themselves and our community; update the Santa Rosa Climate Action Plan, with input from the community, as soon as possible; find ways to support regenerative agriculture as it not only helps remove carbon from the atmosphere, it also improves soil health and farm productivity which will help to address food insecurity; please work on transitioning us away from using fossil fuels in buildings. Pete expressed his gratitude to the Subcommittee and to the individuals; we all sense the urgency and gravity of the climate crisis; when speaking to elected officials, even though we sense the gravity of the challenge, we haven’t brought ourselves to change our behavior in order to meet our hugely ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2030; we need to change our habits and procedures because business as usual will not get us to our goal; looks forward to City and County committee and elected officials working together on this. Mark Mortensen, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, requests the Subcommittee should meet more than every two months - Sebastopol Climate Action Committee meets every two weeks, Petaluma Climate Action Advisory Committee meets every month, and several City of Santa Rosa Boards meeting more frequently; recommend adding community members to Subcommittee; find the money to hire a Sustainability Director and implementation team; there are models from other cities on how this can be done and can provide links and resources to show how it works; possible to use PG&E settlement funds. Chris Thompson, Vice Chair of the Oakmont Democratic Club, welcomed the new Council members; spoke about the multiple evacuations Oakmont residents have had to endure since 2017; wants us as a local community to address the current climate crisis; and advocates for hiring a Sustainability Director and implementation team for focus and accountability; needs Council and community support to take this problem seriously. City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 Deborah Adams, Citizens Climate Lobby, would like to add community organizations involved with Climate Action Subcommittee, including Citizens Climate Lobby; their path towards working on this problem is a promoting a carbon fee and dividend bill in Congress. PAUSE IN PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Rogers acknowledges that a support letter was sent for that Congressional legislation. PUBLIC COMMENT CONTINUED Michael congratulated the new Council members; reiterated comments from previous speakers: as a climate subcommittee the task is all things climate as such we recognize the urgency for action and your action adopting the Climate Emergency Resolution/ Action Plan is evident of that and the fact that all of our current problems are exacerbated by climate change; we need bold actions to show the community that these actions will facilitate an equitable and livable planet for generations; actions now may be inconvenient but imagine non-action now; we need to start to ask the right questions so we can move away from the “quick fix” culture as opposed to finding underlining causes and proceeding with equitable and corrective action. Christine Byrne, organizer with Sunrise Movement Sonoma County and an educator for the Sonoma County Water Agency; climate crisis is of extreme concern, the catastrophic wildfires, extreme heatwaves, the droughts and massive floods, have been unimaginable that unfortunately that’s with only 1 degree Celsius increase; we must follow what the science says and make urgent and bold climate actions to protect the City and its residents; we cannot and should not create this plan on our own - we need to include community representation and contributions from those most impacted by climate change in our community (youth, elderly, BIPOC community members); let’s not react, instead let’s adopt a City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 plan to create a resilient, adaptive, and just Santa Rosa that we all deserve. 5. DISCUSSION ITEMS 5.1 FUTURE TOPICS FOR CLIMATE ACTION SUBCOMMITTEE This is a time when any person may suggest future topics within the subject matter of the City for the Climate Action Subcommittee to consider for upcoming meetings. Each speaker is allowed three minutes. Attachments: Late Correspondence (Uploaded 3-10-21) Late Correspondence (Uploaded 3-11-21) Mayor Rogers reiterated the items requested for future agendas, including: Policy and process changes to expedite climate action at City Hall, discussion regarding ban on new gas stations, continuing to fight the repeal of the all-electric ordinance, more updates on climate action, more frequent meetings, more citizen involvement, update to Climate Action Plan, more on sustainable agriculture, add a Sustainability Director position, and implementation of the Climate Mobilization Action Plan. PUBLIC COMMENT Mike Turgeon, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, would like to agendize the Climate Safe California Campaign to the agenda for endorsement - the initiative from the Climate Center; is geared to get Sacramento to enact policy required by science so that we can reach negative emissions by 2030; the point of it is to get local jurisdictions, individuals, government, and non-profits to endorse to that Sacramento can see there is a ground swell - already 800 individuals, and hundreds business, organizations, and governments, including Sonoma County Transportation Authority, Regional Climate Protection Authority (unanimous vote on January 11), Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (bringing to agenda in March or April) have endorsed to pressure Sacramento to influence policy so behavior will change; this is a comprehensive program that has the basic 4 pillars of accelerating the phase out of fossil fuel: City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 increasing sequestration, investing in community resilience, and funding climate action. PAUSE IN PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Rogers will confirm with City Attorney correct procedure in endorsing this campaign on behalf of the City Council. PUBLIC COMMENT CONTINUED Xinci Tan, Zero Waste Sonoma, making comment as a resident of Sonoma County: would like to see increased discussion on increasing biking infrastructure and making biking or walking more accessible to all. Jerry Bernhand, Oakmont resident and local environmental attorney, would like to see the climate action update be an expansion of the scope of the greenhouse gas inventory for the City to include trans-boundary emissions; example: if you build a hotel you include all emissions from traveling of people arriving at the hotel, including air travel and consumption based emissions; we can’t affect what we don’t measure. Jane Bender, former Mayor of Santa Rosa, congratulates Council and urges bringing forward Climate Safe California for support; if we get the State of California on board, there is going to be money, work and support for the local groups and agencies to do the hard work that will be needed for the climate situation; it’s in the Council’s best interest to get on board with this support for financial assistance. Mark Mortensen, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, agrees on Climate Safe California endorsement; would like to see general SMART goals - specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound; as the City’s Climate Emergency Resolution says the actions that we take going forward need to be looked at through the lens of climate, including actions of Council, staff, and community City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 based organizations - ask ourselves how will the action affect our efforts in dealing with the Climate crisis? How will this action impact emissions or impact sequestration targets?; we must model and measure emissions avoided and the sequestration with the various actions that have been discussed going forward; City should have an annual goal for avoided emissions and sequestration in order to get to net zero in 2030; prioritize the strategies from the Sonoma County Climate Mobilization Strategy that the RCPA adopted this week and Climate Action Subcommittee can act as a driver in leading SR to align and extend the actions of the City with those strategies - comprehensive transportation strategy, home energy efficiency and electrification with microgrids, and rural and urban land management program to improve soil health. Shelly Browning, co-founder of Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa, the City banks with JP Morgan Chase who are the largest financiers of fossil fuels in the world; in 2019, the CA Public Banking Alliances passed the Public Banking Act, ABA 57, which enables Cities, Counties and regions to establish their own public banks - there will only be 10 licenses available; requests that we agendize a public banking presentation so that we can educate what public banking means, what is involved, and what are the advantages. Gayle Goodbread agrees with everything that has been said especially with Climate Safe California and meeting more often with broader public involvement; would like to see downtown Santa Rosa be more community friendly, with more trees - make Santa Rosa pretty again. Michael Lipelt, Working Group for Emergency Climate Action Now, reiterated that we need safe bike and pedestrian infrastructure which would entail creativity, the Bike Pedestrian Master Plan since 2010 has been updated and there are a lot of great plans that are designated but very little funding is attributed; would like to see creative ways where we can use low hanging fruit to create infrastructure all parts of the City to downtown, SMART Train, and transit center - one way streets that are adjacent with room for bikes City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 and pedestrians, using physical barriers or trees to separate traffic and bikes and pedestrians; NACTO.org (National Association of City Transportation Officials) has a format for urban planning and safe speeds; adequate signage, apps to indicate safe separate paths, adequate bike security stands, 110 charging for e-bikes at EV Charging stations; would like to see agendized community health care vulnerabilities exasperated by climate change. Pete, Friends of the Climate Action Plan, will resend the action list that was submitted a year and a half ago to the City; highlighted the request to agendize complete streets, City’s 2018 update to the Bike Pedestrian Master Plan stated that people would bike more often if there were dedicated bike facilities provided. Jenny Blaker, two things she is not hearing in regards to the zero net emissions by 2030: (1) the best way to sequester carbon is in existing forest ecosystems, the bigger the trees the better and Redwoods trees are the best of all, and (2) we should resist any efforts at allowing or permitting the burning of woody biomass for energy because it is worse than burning coal in terms of carbon dioxide and toxic emissions; trees are being cut and logged out in quantities to be burned in bioenergy facilities out of the County. END OF PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Rogers and Subcommittee members discussed frequently mentioned items from public comment and provided direction to staff. Items to be discussed at the next regularly scheduled meeting: Mayor Rogers will report back on the Climate Safe California Campaign, discussion on ban on new gas stations, and a presentation on the Climate Mobilization Strategy and where staff efforts can be focused on. received and filed 5.2 INTRODUCTION TO SB 1383 (SHORT-LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS - ORGANIC WASTE REDUCTIONS) REQUIREMENTS AND IMPACTS (Continued to a Date Certain of May 12, 2021) City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 It is recommended by the Transportation and Public Works Department that the City Council Climate Action Subcommittee receive information and ask any questions of staff regarding Senate Bill 1383 -Short-lived Climate Pollutants - Organic Waste Reductions. Attachments: Staff Report Presentation Due to time constraints of the Subcommittee members, took Item #5.3 first and continued Item #5.2 to the next regularly scheduled meeting of May 12, 2021. continue 5.3 FOLLOW UP ON PROPOSED REUSABLE AND COMPOSTABLE FOOD WARE AND LITTER REDUCTION ORDINANCE It is recommended by the Transportation and Public Works Department that the City Council Climate Action Subcommittee receive follow up information and provide feedback on a proposed Reusable and Compostable Food Ware and Litter Reduction Ordinance. Attachments: Staff Report Presentation Joey Hejnowicz, Administrative Analyst for Transportation and Public Works, gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Deborah Adams likes the proposal and approves of plastic reduction in the community. received and filed 6. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS None. 7. DEPARTMENT REPORTS None. 8. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Rogers adjourned the meeting at 5:48 PM. City of Santa Rosa Regular Meeting Minutes Page 10 of 10 Climate Action Subcommittee Regular Meeting Minutes - Final March 10, 2021 Approved on: September 8, 2021 /s/ Kali Mahre, Recording Secretary