Sustainability Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Sustainability Commission Monday, April 16, 2018 7:00 PM West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CALL TO ORDER Chair Paton called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. in the West Conference Room. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chair Paton led the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL Present: 6 - Chair Bruce Paton Commissioner Dan Hafeman Commissioner Stephen Joesten Commissioner Kristel Wickham Commissioner Steven Zornetzer Commissioner Douglas Kunz Absent: 1 - Commissioner Adriana Imbre Commissioner Imbre – Absent Council Liaison – Glenn Hendricks (absent) Commissioner Imbre’s absence is unexcused. PRESENTATION 18-0376 PRESENTATION - Recycled Water and Water Pollution Control Plant Master Plan Update Bhavani Yerrapotu, Wastewater Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) Division Manager, presented an update on the City’s wastewater treatment and recycled water operations. The ongoing WPCP Master Plan Rebuild, the largest capital improvement project in the City’s history, builds WPCP’s capacity based on projected population growth and development expansion through year 2030, City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 16, 2018 beyond which, the City will need to re-evaluate its needs. More information on the Master Plan can be found at www.sunnyvalecleanwater.com. Ms. Yerrapotu clarified the Commission’s questions about sea-level rise and longer term recycled water plans. 18-0377 PRESENTATION - Water Conservation Program Update Mansour Nasser, Water and Sewer Division Manager, presented an update on drinking water and water conservation. Mr. Nasser shared that Sunnyvale is far ahead of the state-set targets for reducing per capita water consumption due to aggressive water conservation efforts undertaken in the community. Due to the recent heavy precipitation in March 2018, the previously anticipated drought conditions for year 2018 have been alleviated. Mr. Nasser answered the Commission’s questions about longer term plans for water supply and the effectiveness of treatment processes in safeguarding against emerging contaminants. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. CONSENT CALENDAR 18-0375 Approve the Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes of March 19, 2018 Commissioner Wickham moved, and Commissioner Joesten seconded, a motion to approve the consent calendar. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Joesten Commissioner Wickham Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Imbre Abstain: 1 - Commissioner Kunz Commissioner Kunz abstained as his term commenced in April and he was not present at the March 19, 2018 meeting. City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 16, 2018 STANDING ITEM: CLIMATE ACTION PLAN (CAP 2.0) UPDATE 18-0378 Review of Proposed Ideas for CAP 2.0 Commissioners Joesten, Kunz, Paton, and Wickham each presented their proposed ideas for CAP 2.0. Commissioner Joesten presented his idea for electrifying the City’s vehicle fleet. He shared that clean vehicles were found to be the single biggest contributor to reducing transportation sector emissions, based on the transportation consultant’s presentation at the Climate Action Plan (CAP 2.0) Advisory Committee’s (CAC) April 5, 2018 meeting. Commissioner Joesten made a motion, and Vice Chair Hafeman seconded, to endorse the idea to electrify the City’s vehicle fleet. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Joesten Commissioner Wickham Commissioner Zornetzer Commissioner Kunz No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Imbre Commissioner Kunz presented his idea to eliminate minimum parking requirements to allow conversion of single-family home garages into dwelling space. This technique would help increase housing density, which would ultimately reduce vehicle miles traveled and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Commission discussed how higher density could be balanced with other concerns, including: (1) inadvertent creation of more on-street parking, if minimum parking requirements were removed; and (2) redundancy with existing City policy on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), which are currently permitted and may serve the same purpose as garage conversions. The Commission generally agreed with promoting increased density, although opinions differed on whether removing parking requirements would necessarily increase density while still allowing bicycle City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 16, 2018 network expansion. Commissioner Kunz plans to refine his idea further based on the Commission’s feedback. Chair Paton presented his idea for developing a citywide mobility strategy. Ms. Tovar, Interim Director of Environmental Services, suggested including some more concrete suggestions from Seattle’s New Mobility Plan, which is referenced by the idea. The Commission discussed whether mobility should be treated entirely separate from electrification of transportation (as done by the City of Palo Alto) and identified that better data on commutes in and out of Sunnyvale are needed. Chair Paton moved, and Commissioner Joesten seconded, a motion to endorse the idea for a citywide mobility strategy. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Joesten Commissioner Wickham Commissioner Zornetzer Commissioner Kunz No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Imbre Commissioner Wickham presented her idea to improve data collection and reporting for the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP), with the intention that more rigorous accounting would spur stronger implementation of the CAP. Chair Paton recommended focusing on fewer items that were more strategically chosen. Ms. Tovar recommended specifying which key aspects of CAP reporting would need higher frequency, rather than necessarily delving into what resources (e.g., staffing) should be prioritized. Commissioner Wickham moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to endorse the idea of improving reporting systems and accountability for CAP 2.0. The motion carried by the following vote: City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 16, 2018 Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Joesten Commissioner Wickham Commissioner Zornetzer Commissioner Kunz No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Imbre Commissioner Wickham shared a brief update on the CAP 2.0 Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting held on April 5, 2018 at which the CAC provided input on top strategies in key focus areas (including decarbonization of buildings, transportation). The next CAC meeting on May 3, 2018 would involve a review of ideas submitted by the CAC and Boards and Commissions. STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES 18-0379 Potential Study Issue: Citywide Deployment of Recycling and Food Scraps Collection Bins for Public Spaces Commissioner Wickham reviewed her potential Study Issue idea to establish recycling and food scraps collection bins in public areas across the City. Nupur Hiremath, Sustainability Coordinator, provided feedback on the proposed idea explaining that the City did not have a plan for such a program. Staff has observed that bins placed in public locations (e.g., City parks) tend to have significantly higher levels of contamination (i.e., trash in the recycling bins) as there is less accountability and fewer opportunities for educating the people who use them. Furthermore, all trash bins from City facilities including parks are sorted at the Sunnyvale Materials and Recovery Transfer (SMaRT) Station, which has a nearly 30 percent recovery rate. This makes it more cost-effective, less emissions intensive (fewer truck routes), and more efficient to recover these materials after they are incorrectly disposed of, rather than deploying recycling bins and additional collection routes citywide. Based on staff feedback, Commissioner Wickham decided that this potential Study Issue may not be appropriate to propose at this time. NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 16, 2018 -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Wickham shared some key climate action strategies discussed by Gil Friend, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Palo Alto at a recent lecture series. She noted that Mr. Friend shared Palo Alto’s Scope 3 emissions, which dwarfed all of the City’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions. She also shared that she and Chair Paton attended training for CAP 2.0 to hold mini-workshops to work with community members to encourage ideation. Commissioner Joesten shared that Google’s proposal for Moffett Park includes residential and commercial space and requested that staff share this presentation with the Commission. Chair Paton and Commissioner Joesten shared that they had attended a climate and transportation panel at a recent Silicon Valley Leadership Group meeting, at which housing was identified as a critical issue in the Valley. Commissioner Joesten announced that the SLVG Sustainability Summit will be held on May 24, 2018. Chair Paton also shared that he will be working with Tara Martin-Milius, former Vice Mayor and current leader of Leadership Sunnyvale, to revamp the Environment Day portion of the Leadership Sunnyvale curriculum. -Staff Comments Nupur Hiremath, Sustainability Coordinator, announced upcoming events, including: (1) the Sustainability Speaker Series event, entitled Hidden in Plain Bite, with Katie Cantrell on May 16, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers; and (2) the Living Green Fair on April 22, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Sunnyvale Public Library. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 6