Sustainability Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Sustainability Commission Monday, May 23, 2016 7:00 PM Garden Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Special Meeting CALL TO ORDER Chair Paton called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. in the Garden Conference Room. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chair Paton led the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL Present: 4 - Chair Bruce Paton Commissioner Dan Hafeman Commissioner Petya Kisyova Commissioner Steven Zornetzer Absent: 3 - Vice Chair Amit Srivastava Commissioner Gerald Glaser Commissioner Brian Glazebrook Council Liaison – Jim Davis (absent) PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 1 16-0512 Draft 2015 Urban Water Management Plan Chair Paton opened the Public Hearing. None. Chair Paton closed the Public Hearing. Commissioner Hafeman moved and Commissioner Zornetzer seconded a motion to support the acceptance of the Draft 2015 Urban Water Management Plan. The motion carried by the folllowing vote: City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final May 23, 2016 Yes: 4 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kisyova Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 3 - Vice Chair Srivastava Commissioner Glaser Commissioner Glazebrook 2 16-0515 Annual Review of the City Manager’s Recommended Budget Full budget available online at: <http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/Finance/BudgetDocuments.asp x> Chair Paton opened the Public Hearing. None. Chair Paton closed the Public Hearing. The Commission discussed elements of the City Manager’s Recommended Budget (hereafter referred to as Recommended Budget). Chair Paton noted that the Climate Action Plan (CAP) program is listed as unfunded in the Recommended Budget. John Stufflebean, Director of Environmental Services, clarified that at the Budget study session in January 2016, the CAP was not prioritized by the Council, and is therefore, not prioritized in the Recommended Budget. However, based on the April 2016 presentation of the CAP Biennial Report 2016, the City Council has requested that the City prioritize CAP implementation and acceleration and has asked the City Manager and staff to put together a more robust strategy for consideration at the January 2017 Budget study session. Commissioner Hafeman noted that it was unclear from the description whether the funded Power Purchase Agreements for Alternative Energy project (Project 830620) would be connected with the community choice energy (CCE) program. John Stufflebean clarified that the two would be connected. Other key observations of the Recommended Budget noted by the Commission included: (1) The City Manager’s Transmittal Memorandum contains no reference to sustainability; (2) The Recommended Budget contains resources to support City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final May 23, 2016 water and solid waste improvements, but does not adequately account for the growing housing and transportation problems faced in the City; (3) Resident ratings of satisfaction with public services and the rating of the City as a good place to live dropped by 4 points and 8 points, respectively, since 2013; (3) Development and construction were noted to be at an all-time high, with no mention of implementation of the green building ordinance; and (4) the Community condition indicators (CCI) report included in the Budget provides meaningful data for the community. Commissioner Kisyova recommended that that the Commission conduct in-depth reviews of Budget sections throughout the year to improve its understanding of Council’s priorities and better inform the development of study issues. The Commission also briefly discussed focusing the Sustainability Speakers Series on topics that were not prioritized in the Budget so as to create public awareness of these issues. Two such topics were: transportation best practices and local-scale climate change vulnerability. Commissioner Zornetzer moved and Commissioner Kisyova seconded a motion to provide the following recommendations on the Recommended Budget to the City Council: (1) Raise the priority of CAP implementation; (2) Prioritize topics that affect resident quality of life, including: (a) implementation of green building codes, which are designed to improve quality of life and (b) investing in research for possible solutions to rising transportation problems; (3) Prominently highlight housing and transportation issues in the Recommended Budget due to their significant impact on the City’s overall sustainability; (4) Assign resources to identify areas of Sunnyvale that are vulnerable to sea-level rise; (5) Direct staff to review and determine possible underlying causes for the drops in the resident satisfaction rating of City-provided services and the rating of the City as a good place to live, as noted in the CCI report; and (6) Present the CCI report as a stand-alone section of the Recommended Budget to make it more user-accessible. The motion passed by the following vote: Yes: 4 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kisyova Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 3 - Vice Chair Srivastava Commissioner Glaser Commissioner Glazebrook City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final May 23, 2016 NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Chair Paton asked if the Commission needs to appoint a representative to the Lawrence Station Area Plan (LSAP) committee, as Barbara Fukumoto, the former Sustainability Commission representative had resigned. Nupur Hiremath, Sustainability Coordinator, clarified that Council would make that appointment and that staff were working on the process for appointing a new representative. Commissioner Hafeman requested staff to include information on the success of the traffic light synchronization pilot project on Mathilda Ave and subsequent funding of the long-term project by Google as part of the June staff presentation on traffic light coordination and synchronization. Commissioner Kisyova requested that longer documents for the Commission’s review, such as the Land Use and Transportation Element (LUTE), be made available to the Commission well-ahead of the meeting when these items are to be discussed. -Staff Comments Nupur Hiremath reviewed the proposed items for the June agenda per the Commission’s Work Plan, which will now also include the Lawrence Station Area Plan (LSAP). ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 pm. City of Sunnyvale Page 4