Climate Action Subcommittee

City Hall, Council Chamber City of Santa Rosa 100 Santa Rosa Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Climate Action Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes - Final Wednesday, April 21, 2021 4:00 PM SPECIAL MEETING 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Rogers called the meeting to order at 4:02 PM. Present: 3 - Chris Rogers, Eddie Alvarez and Natalie Rogers 2. ANNOUNCEMENTS None 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - NONE 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS Woody Hastings spoke about the drive-up Earth Day event. Kevin Conway spoke in favor of a Sustainability Director and implementation team; encourages a staff member to join the Urban Sustainability Directives Network; asks CAS promote Santa Rosa and support programs and communities of color relative to climate change and environmentally sustainable practices. Mark Mortensen appreciated the minutes that were published awhile back and wants to continue getting regular minutes; echoes the sentiment from Woody Hastings about the Earth Day event and Kevin’s comment about joining Urban Sustainability Directives Network. 5. DISCUSSION ITEMS 5.1 RCPA SONOMA CLIMATE MOBILIZATION STRATEGY On March 8, 2021, the Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) Board adopted the Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy and prioritized strategies for action over the next 12-18 months. RCPA is now working with local jurisdictions and agencies to develop implementation plans for the priority strategies. Attachments: Presentation City of Santa Rosa Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes - Final April 21, 2021 Tanya Naranth, Director of Climate Programs for Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA), gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Mark Mortensen thanked Tanya and RCPA staff on the SCNS Mobilization Strategies and encouraged City of SR to be the first to adopt it; identify priorities and align the City’s with SCTA/RCPA to have more people working on specific strategies; encouraged Tanya to look at the County of San Diego’s implementation plan; specific actions and ordinances as well as identifying funding; recommend connecting the dots with Urban Land Institute presentation and recommendations with the RCPA mobilization strategy; and RCPA strategies collaborating with community based organizations, we are ready to collaborate and support, i.e. carbon sequestration for specific species of trees. Mayor Rogers and Subcommittee members have agreed to adopt RCPA Climate Mobilization Strategies and it’s principles. The following vote: Yes: 3 - Chair Rogers, Committee Member Alvarez and Committee Member Rogers 5.2 OVERVIEW OF GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORIES RCPA produces countywide greenhouse gas inventory updates every 2 to 3 years. It published the most recent greenhouse gas inventory (GHG) update in July 2020 for emissions generated in 2018. RCPA’s inventory is designed to capture the primary sources of emissions within a jurisdictional boundary that can be reduced through the actions of local governments and regional entities. As part of the Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy, RCPA plans to identify additional indicators that could be used to track progress toward our climate goals in between major inventory updates. Attachments: Presentation Tanya Naranth, Director of Climate Programs for Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA), gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Mark Mortensen commented about the benefits of the Sonoma Clean Power EV car program; EVs are being more affordable since people are turning into City of Santa Rosa Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes - Final April 21, 2021 leased cars; there’s a lot of talk about EV’s being the solution but there are GHG related to using EVs and personally likes to take his bike or public transportation instead but those options don’t make the connections or run with the frequency needed; keep hearing the word transportation and we’ve identified the biggest bang for the buck already - complete streets that are bike and pedestrian friendly, transit that is affordable, frequent, and goes where we want to go; Steve Birdbough and Sonoma County Transportation and Land Use Coalition have a lot of great ideas on policy to use transit and bike baths and disincentivize use of personal autos; appreciate consumption based emissions being tracked (i.e. Portland, Oregon being tracked). Kevin Conway commented that a lot can be done to determine how many gallons of gas are sold and would like to see RCPA track and set some goals and timetables for reducing that number; in regard to EVs, educate the public, especially with the PSPS problem, about the vehicle to home technology - technology that allows drivers to use their EV battery to power their home in the event of a power outage; carbon gardening - we do have the Southeast Greenway campaign strip of land, especially between Summerfield Rd and Farmers Ln, the Southeast Greenway group would not have any objection to have some amendments and utilize the land for carbon gardening/farming and community gardens that are carbon based. 5.3 FUTURE TRANSPORTATION PLANS, MEASURE M, AND THE GO SONOMA ACT In November 2020, more than two-thirds of voters passed the Go Sonoma Act which extends the ¼ cent Measure M sales tax for an additional 20 years. When it goes into effect in 2025, Go Sonoma will more than triple local funding for bike and pedestrian projects and more than double the amount of local money going to bus service. In the meantime, SCTA will be working with local jurisdictions to prepare projects for funding when funding from the new measure is available. Attachments: Presentation Suzanne Smith, POSITION with Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA), gave a presentation and answered Subcommittee member’s questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Mark Mortensen thanked SCTA for the work to get the measure passed; transit ridership has been measured on commutes and it was measured at 2% of commute trips taken by transit, which was a decrease; look at reducing fares City of Santa Rosa Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 Climate Action Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes - Final April 21, 2021 and community education on the cost of driving vs. the cost of bus travel if there is regular and convenient service that goes where you need to go; all bike paths are not created equal - cheapest route is painting green sections of the road which does not keep bicyclists safe, separated bike paths will be an essential part of the transportation solution; City of Santa Rosa Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan update goal #2 having more connections for people to safely take those trips; jurisdictions provided project ideas for Go Sonoma, suggest taking a look and connect with the RCPA priorities. 6. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Vice Mayor Rogers spoke to citizen comments on the Earth Day Event, sharing that plans were made when COVID tier was stricter and plans will continue as previously set; in honor of the commenters, pledging to bike to the event. Mayor Rogers pledged to ride his bike to the Earth Day event as well. 7. DEPARTMENT REPORTS Amy Nicholson, Senior Planner with Planning & Economic Development, thanked Tanya and Suzanne for their presentations. 8. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Rogers adjourned the meeting at 5:27 PM. Approved on: September 8, 2021 /s/ Kali Mahre, Recording Secretary