Sustainability Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Sustainability Commission Monday, March 18, 2019 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 6:59 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 Vice Chair Kristel Wickham Commissioner Dan Hafeman Commissioner Douglas Kunz Commissioner Shana Padgett Commissioner Steven Zornetzer Absent: 1 - Commissioner Stephen Joesten Council Liaison – Michael S. Goldman Commissioner Joesten’s absence is excused by general consent. Commissioner Padgett departed from the meeting at 9:02 p.m., after informing the Chair. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. CONSENT CALENDAR 19-0408 Approve the Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes of February 19, 2019 Vice Chair Wickham pulled the February 19, 2019 meeting minutes to request they City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 be corrected to reflect that Commissioner Padgett abstained from voting on the January 22, 2019 meeting minutes as she was absent at the January meeting. Staff noted the correction. Vice Chair Wickham moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to approve the minutes on the consent calendar as amended. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 5 - Vice Chair Wickham Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kunz Commissioner Padgett Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Joesten Abstain: 1 - Chair Paton Chair Paton abstained as he was not present at the February 19, 2019 meeting. PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 19-0169 Green Building Program Update: Forward a recommendation to the City Council to Adopt a Resolution to Update the Green Building Program for Residential Projects, Nonresidential Projects, and Public Facilities, and Find that the Action is Exempt from CEQA Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15308, 15061(b)(3), and 15378(b). Kelly Cha, Associate Planner, provided a presentation on the Green Building Program Update, including reviewing the minimum requirements and incentives offered for all building types. She highlighted several requirements or incentives that were added based on community feedback gathered during outreach meetings. The Commission discussed the proposed Green Building Program Update and provided comments. Amber Blizinski, Principal Planner, and Chuck Clark, Chief Building Official answered clarification questions as needed. Clarifications provided included: (1) Single-family and duplex dwellings would be able to achieve an increase in floor-to-area (FAR) ratio without having to go through the Planning Commission’s City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 review; (2) It was challenging for the City to increase the minimum standards to match the equivalent of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum, as LEED-Platinum allocates points to a building for being located in a transit-oriented location, which is challenging in most parts of Sunnyvale; (3) Incentivizing electrification by reducing permitting fees may be challenging as permit fees are essential to the City for recovering the cost of Permit Center staff time; instead, the Climate Action Playbook (CAP) includes an action to create a differential utility use rate to encourage use of electricity over gas while simultaneously creating a funding source for CAP implementation; (4) The Green Building Program would continue to be updated every three years, as per the current frequency. Vice Chair Wickham recommended, and the Commission generally agreed, that the language encouraging specific sustainable measures listed in the multi-family dwellings in the Green Building Program be replicated for single-family dwellings, to encourage owners or developers of single-family homes to take those additional steps. Commissioner Zornetzer commented that the City could take an even more progressive approach that anticipates new technologies and new policies to increase requirements of the proposed Green Building Program to further cement Sunnyvale’s leadership in this area. Chair Paton asked how the Green Building Program is aligned with the Reach Code effort that the City is investigating. Ms. Melody Tovar, Regulatory Programs Division Manager, shared that the City is considering adopting Reach Codes to encourage electrification and is working to assess the viability of this approach in partnership with Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE). Reach Codes would establish new requirements for the City that provide two options for developers to choose from, such that choosing the all-electric option may be more cost-effective than its alternative. Vice Chair Wickham inquired how staff would reconcile the incentivized actions in the Green Building Program if Reach Codes required those same actions. Ramana Chinnakotla, Director of Environmental Services, noted that the Green Building Program, Reach Codes, and Climate Action Playbook were all being worked on in conjunction with each other. The Green Building Program provided incentives, Building Codes mandated actions, and Reach Codes were a pathway between City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 those two options. Chair Paton asked whether including all-electric as mandatory was legally allowed. Mr. Chinnakotla and Mr. Clark noted that the City would need to provide a justification for adding all-electric as a requirement to the Building Code. Ms. Tovar noted that this would not be a viable recommendation by the Commission as a part of the current recommendation on the Green Building Program. Chair Paton opened the public hearing. Mary Brunkhorst, Sunnyvale Urban Forest Advocates, expressed her concerns related to continued protection of trees over installing rooftop solar. The Green Building Program as written, she noted, may incentivize a property to install solar over protecting mature trees. She emphasized that the Program needed to balance the installation of rooftop solar with protecting shade-giving, mature trees. Chair Paton closed the public hearing. Commissioner Kunz moved, and Commissioner Padgett seconded, a motion to recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution to update the Green Building Program for residential projects, nonresidential projects, and public facilities, and find that the action is exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15308, 15061(b)(3), and 15378(b), with the additional comment that the highly encourage sustainable measures should be added to single-family homes. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Vice Chair Wickham Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kunz Commissioner Padgett Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Joesten Commissioner Zornetzer moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to provide a comment to Council that in light of the increasing urgency of addressing climate change, the Commission strongly recommends to Council that we consider City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 requiring all-electric new construction in the City. Vice Chair Wickham offered a friendly amendment to the motion to recommend that all-electric may be considered as a part of the Reach Codes that may be adopted by the City. Commissioner Zornetzer accepted the friendly amendment. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Vice Chair Wickham Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kunz Commissioner Padgett Commissioner Zornetzer No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Joesten 19-0409 Discuss the Draft Climate Action Playbook (CAP) and Appoint a Commission representative to speak at the City Council Study Session on March 26, 2019 The Commission discussed the Draft Climate Action Playbook (CAP) released on March 8, 2019 and discussed selecting a representative to speak at the City Council Study Session on March 26, 2019. Ms. Tovar recommended that the Commission’s nominee clarify at the Council meeting that this represents the initial feedback of the Commission on the Playbook. Commissioner Zornetzer nominated Vice Chair Wickham. Vice Chair Wickham accepted the nomination. Commissioner Hafeman moved, and Commissioner Kunz seconded, a motion to appoint Vice Chair Wickham to represent the Commission’s initial perspective on the Playbook at the City Council Study Session on March 26, 2019. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Paton Vice Chair Wickham Commissioner Hafeman Commissioner Kunz Commissioner Padgett Commissioner Zornetzer City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Joesten In general, the Commission agreed that the document was very well-written and organized. Vice Chair Wickham commented that the target path for emissions reductions, which recommended a more ambitious reduction than the 40% by 2030, was encouraging. However, the state’s Executive Order (B-55-18) sets the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. Nupur Hiremath, Environmental Programs Manager, noted that this Executive Order was passed after the technical analysis of the CAP was completed. Ms. Tovar added that revising the overall target could be evaluated and could be a recommendation that the Commission eventually makes. She also shared that the City of Fremont recently adopted a target of carbon neutral by 2045 and is now beginning development of their Climate Action Plan to meet that goal. Commissioner Zornetzer asked what is meant by a 37 percent reduction by 2030 and 47 percent reduction by 2050 in VMT per service population. Ms. Tovar provided clarification that it means that the number of trips would be reduced by roughly one-third by 2030 and by half by 2050. The Commission’s also discussed the following key points: (1) Measuring progress and communicating data results to the community is critical in influencing behavior change; (2) Implementation of the Playbook will require adequate staffing and resources, which staff clarified will be included in the budget request; (3) The focus on the “Moves” was important in ensuring immediate action; (4) The Draft Playbook was well-written and well-organized; and (5) It would be helpful if the Draft Playbook included accounting of consumption patterns in an inventory. Councilmember Goldman commented that changing land use was critical to addressing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. Chair Paton opened the public hearing. Mary Brunkhorst, Sunnyvale Urban Forest Advocates, shared her concerns related to the implementation of the Playbook. She noted that the Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) has existed for many years, but was lagging in its implementation. She noted that the City is supposed to plant 39,000 trees, but has City of Sunnyvale Page 6 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 currently planted 50 trees each year. The Playbook should consider how to achieve the UFMP goals. Chair Paton closed the public hearing. STANDING ITEM: CLIMATE ACTION PLAN (CAP 2.0) UPDATE None. STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES None. NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Kunz announced that the Cumberland Elementary School is holding a program called ReCycle, which would feature an induction cooktop and a windmill exhibit by SVCE, include on Friday, March 29, 2019. He offered to share brochures on the CAP with the attendees. Commissioner Hafeman shared that Ro Khanna, U.S. Congressman, would be speaking at the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, March 23 at 3 p.m. at the Sankranti Restaurant. Councilmember clarified that the Ro Khanna’s staffers, and not Ro Khanna himself, would be presenting at this meeting. Vice Chair Wickham shared that she will be attending a community meeting in San Mateo on Reach Codes. The meeting would include developers, city staff and planners, and the general public. She also shared that she would be speaking at the Sunnyvale Democratic Club’s meeting on Saturday, March 23, 2019 about local and regional efforts for climate change. Chair Paton shared information on new reports, including a report by McKinsey on technology transition within car companies, whose findings show that the transition to electric vehicles is faster than previously anticipated. -Staff Comments Ms. Hiremath announced that the next regular meeting scheduled for April 15, 2019 would be cancelled and in lieu of it, staff will be presenting the Draft Climate Action Playbook at Joint Info Study Session for three Commissions. The Study Session would be a Special Meeting of the Commission at 6:30 pm at Las Palmas Park City of Sunnyvale Page 7 Sustainability Commission Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2019 Building. Ms. Hiremath also shared with the Commission opportunities that they had to participate in the CAP public review process, by attending public meetings, the Joint Info Study Session, and by filling out a paper copy of the survey. Ms. Hiremath also noted that the Sustainability Speaker Series 2019 staff report was scheduled to be presented to City Council on April 9, 2019. INFORMATION ONLY REPORTS/ITEMS 19-0410 Updated 2019 Annual Master Work Plan ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:52 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 8