Sustainability Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes Sustainability Commission Monday, July 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 7:01 p.m. in the West Conference Room. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chair Paton led the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL Commissioner Hafeman – Absent Commissioner Hafeman’s absence is excused. Council Liaison – Gustav Larsson (present) PRESENTATION PRESENTATION - Update on the Status of Global Recycling Markets Mark Bowers, Solid Waste Division Manager, provided a brief update on the status of global recycling markets. He reviewed the challenges that cities worldwide, including Sunnyvale, are facing due to China’s recent decision to phase out and eventually halt imports of recyclable materials from global markets. Although this change affects the City’s ability to have a steady market for its recyclables, Mr. Bowers noted that eventually the markets will stabilize and alternative markets will develop. Mr. Bowers answered questions asked by the Commission. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. CONSENT CALENDAR Approve the Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes of June 18, City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 2018 Commissioner Kunz pulled the draft June 18, 2018 meeting minutes from the consent calendar noting that Commissioner Zornetzer was incorrectly listed as voting on all agenda items, despite his absence at this meeting. Staff will correct minutes to reflect that Commissioner Zornetzer was absent and did not vote on any items at the June meeting. Commissioner Joesten moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to approve the consent calendar as amended. The motion carried by the following vote: Commissioner Zornetzer abstained as he was not present at the June 18, 2018 meeting. Commissioner Padgett abstained as her term commenced in July 2018 and she was present at the June 18, 2018 as a member of the public only. PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS Selection of Chair and Vice Chair Chair Paton opened nominations for the office of the Chair. Commissioner Wickham nominated Chair Paton to serve another term as Chair. Chair Paton accepted the nomination. With no further nominations, Chair Paton closed nominations for the office of the Chair. The Commission voted to re-elect Chair Paton as follows: Chair Paton was re-elected as the Chair of the Sustainability Commission. Chair Paton opened nominations for the office of the Vice Chair. Commissioner Zornetzer nominated Commissioner Wickham. Commissioner Wickham accepted the nomination. Commissioner Wickham nominated Vice Chair Hafeman. Vice Chair Hafeman was City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 not present to accept the nomination, but his nomination was considered in his absence. With no further nominations, Chair Paton closed nominations for the office of the Vice Chair. The Commission voted as follows: Votes for Commissioner Wickham to serve as Vice Chair: Votes for Commissioner Hafeman to serve as Vice Chair: Commissioner Wickham was elected as the Vice Chair of the Sustainability Commission. New offices are effective immediately. Consideration of Adding a Member to the Sustainability Speaker Series Subcommittee Vice Chair Wickham asked Commissioners if there was any interest in volunteering to serve on the Sustainability Speaker Series Subcommittee, consisting of herself and Commissioner Zornetzer. Commissioner Kunz expressed interest in joining the Subcommittee. Vice Chair Wickham moved, and Commissioner Joesten seconded, a motion to add Commissioner Kunz to the Sustainability Speaker Series Subcommittee. The motion carried by the following vote: STANDING ITEM: CLIMATE ACTION PLAN (CAP 2.0) UPDATE Vice Chair Wickham provided an update on the June 28, 2018 meeting of the CAP 2.0 Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting, at which the CAC reviewed and voted on a subset of the ideas submitted via the IDEO community platform. Nupur Hiremath, Sustainability Coordinator, invited the Sustainability Commission to attend the City’s Innovate Climate Action in Sunnyvale – Pitch Event on July 30, 2018 at LinkedIn at 5:30 p.m. Elaine Marshall, Environmental Programs Manager, added that the intention of this event was to recognize a selected subset of ideas from the IDEO platform and to allow creators to get feedback from a panel of experts on how to make them actionable. All submitted ideas are still under review and being City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 considered for the CAP 2.0 framework. Vice Chair Wickham noted that the next CAC meeting in August 2, 2018. Staff shared that the Draft CAP 2.0 Framework would likely be presented to Boards and Commissions in late October, noting that there may be some revisions to the timeline, with the goal of taking CAP 2.0 information to Council in December 2018. STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES Potential Study Issue: Develop All-Electric and All-Renewable Requirements for Non-Residential New Construction The Commission discussed the value proposition offered by mandating solar installations on commercial buildings given that Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) was providing 100-percent carbon-free electricity. Elaine Marshall clarified that the initial motivation behind the Mayor’s request for this Study Issue was to require solar on all commercial developments, such that Council did not need to discuss the inclusion of solar on a case-by-case basis. The Commission agreed that the City should be laying the path towards driving towards the State’s anticipated policy of mandatory Zero Net Energy (ZNE) residential construction by 2020 and commercial construction by 2030. The Commission reached consensus to develop a Study Issue to Require New Non-Residential Construction to Achieve Significant Improvements in Building Energy Performance that would allow flexibility but emphasize GHG reduction. The Commission agreed to continue the discussion of this Study Issue at the August meeting. The Commission proceeded to identify several ideas for possible Study Issues to discuss at the August meeting. Commissioner Kunz moved, and Commissioner Zornetzer seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda a potential Study Issue for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from all new residential and non-residential construction. Commissioner Joesten proposed a friendly amendment to include existing buildings in the Study Issue. Commissioner Kunz accepted the friendly amendment. City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 The motion, as amended by the friendly amendment, carried by the following vote: Ms. Hiremath shared a list of potential Study Issue topics considered by the Commission since January 2018. Commissioner Zornetzer moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda an item to review the list of existing Study Issue proposals put forward by Commissioners in previous months. The motion carried by the following vote: Vice Chair Wickham moved, and Commissioner Zornetzer seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda a potential Study Issue on developing and adopting an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy. The motion carried by the following vote: Commissioner Kunz moved, and Commissioner Joesten seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda a potential Study Issue to examine policy levers to promote electric vehicle adoption in Sunnyvale. The motion carried by the following vote: Vice Chair Wickham moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda a potential Study Issue to consider creating a Carbon Impact Fee for developers. The motion carried by the following vote: NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Vice Chair Wickham shared that she had met with Bruce Karney, the Chair of the City of Mountain View’s Environmental Sustainability Task Force, to review synergies between the Task Force’s process and findings with that of Sunnyvale’s CAC. She shared notable findings from the Task Force, which included: (a) examining emissions per capita can help residents compare to the city-wide average and motivate them to take action; (b) using a cost per metric ton of carbon dioxide ($/MTCO2e) metric for prioritization was not useful in prioritization because supportive policies with no direct GHG impact were often necessary to create a framework to facilitate related actions with meaningful GHG impact; and (c) Scope 3 emissions, not typically included in a community-wide inventory, can have a City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 significant impact of city-wide emissions. She also shared that she had attended the Precourt Energy Summit at Stanford. Vice Chair Wickham shared there was a petition to Governor Brown in circulation at to phase out fossil fuels in California to phase out fossil fuels in California. Vice Chair Wickham moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to add to the next meeting’s agenda an item to consider asking City Council to sign the petition in question. The motion carried by the following vote: Chair Paton shared that he attended the Sustainable Enterprise Conference in Sonoma, which focused on community resilience, noting that he wanted a better understanding of Sunnyvale’s approaches to resilience. Commissioner Kunz noted that Councilmembers Smith and Griffith would be holding a community meeting at Ponderosa Park regarding the FoodCycle program. -Staff Comments Elaine Marshall shared that the City’s revamped newsletter, Horizon, had a featured event on testing of autonomous vehicles by Waymo in Sunnyvale and encouraged the Commission to attend, given the Commission’s interest in proposing a related Study Issue. Nupur Hiremath responded to the Commission’s inquiry from the June meeting about possibly changing the Commission’s meeting time to 6:30 p.m., noting that the proposed change would trigger a change in Council Policy 7.2.19, which specifies that the Sustainability Commission’s meeting must take place 7:00 p.m. on the third Monday of the month. If the Commission wished to pursue a time change, the Commission could discuss it at the next meeting and contact the Mayor’s office with a proposal. Ms. Hiremath shared that the City was holding its next Suns A Blazin’ Challenge in IGreenSunnyvale, the City’s sustainability-focused smart phone app, starting July 30, 2018. Ms. Hiremath previewed the agenda for the August meeting, which included a presentation by Chip Taylor, Director of Public Works, on transportation-related programs in Sunnyvale and a discussion of Study Issues. City of Sunnyvale Page 6 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes July 16, 2018 Ms. Hiremath also announced that the Commission could now subscribe to agendas of any City meeting body through a new feature on the City’s website. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 7