Climate Action Plan Standing Committee

AGENDA Climate Action Plan Standing Committee Regular Meeting October 19, 2022 The regular meeting of the Climate Action Plan Standing Committee will be held on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers Conference Room at City Hall, 415 East 2nd Street. A. Call to Order 5:34pm In attendance Robin Paone, Karin Hilding, Lydia Fahrenkrug, Liz Records, Nathan Dugan, and Ben Davis. Not attending Kate McMahon, Melissa Hartman. Guests in attendance Alyssa Stenberg, Nelson Loring, Alan Tiefenbach B. Approval of Minutes from August 17, 2022 Meeting- The minutes were approved unanimously. C. Communications/Outreach/Education – • Planning and Building Department - new representative for department- Alan working on growth policy, would like to be involved in committee. • Kate will not renew CAP committee (2-year term). Recruiting a new member, November interviews- Karin has a few people in mind, but would like committee to spread the word. • Consider a future joint meeting with the Explore Whitefish/POW/Whitefish Mountain Resort partnership to discuss potential projects. Committee is keeping this item on agenda for future projects specifically solar projects. Karin will contact them to see if POW wants to attend CAP meeting. • Paul Tschida (DEQ) in-person presentation at the Nov. 16th meeting on new 2021 Building Code in relation to energy efficiency. Invite our Building Department. Karin also interested in DEQ hosting a lunch meeting for Building Department to attend. D. Coordination with Climate Action Plan • Transportation Plan update (Karin) Include Baker Viaduct work session update. After two years, the plan presented by KLJ was adopted by City Council- final version will be updated to City website soon. • Transit update – Mountain Climber meeting – discussion of electric buses (invite Mountain Line representative) Karin would like to see how Mountain Line in Missoula is working- they have electric busses. CAP would like to know what is working well for them, is it feasible for us to implement in Whitefish. Possibly have Mountain Line present at December or January CAP meeting. • Budget FY23 – type and cost of vehicles in budget? (request info, new finance director)-Type of car, milage, comparing to gas cars, maintenance costs, etc. Liz mentioned that all departments should be tracking fleets and use fuel PINs to fill vehicles with gas. If we can find a department that has recently purchased a hybrid or electric car, we should be able to gather this information. E. Project Updates • Existing Projects o Community Solar Project (Karin) With Inflation Reduction Program, Co-op is offering discount on energy bill from panel production. In addition,  Rural Energy of America Program Grant offers discount on panel purchases. Flathead Electric is having Board meeting on October 25th. Bonneville Grant. • Landscaping Standards – Planning Department update – Alan stated this project is mostly complete. This new code addresses drought tolerant plants, invasive species, tree density, qualifying trees. This plan will be provided to all departments for review. Alan continued to discuss more requirements such as internal landscaping, perimeter landscaping. Meeting to be held tomorrow to finalize this plan. • EPA Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Risk Assessment Application for Water Utilities. Helping prepare for climate change- mostly coastal towns. The City of Whitefish is undergoing this assessment, and we will receive feedback from them on how climate change is affecting our utilities including watershed and wildfire season. • Proposed Projects o Pamphlet for Zero Waste events at Depot Park (Liz) contact Robin Kelson- Climate Smart- Kate mentioned that a tent could be set up at events to provide a place to drop zero waste items. o Proposed Electrification Strategy (Robin) Lydia spoke about making sure that municipal cities are setting the standard for the public to follow. F. Other Committee Status Updates • Any CAP feedback from Planning Dept - Mountain Towns Aspen conference? Parking maximums instead of minimums • Outreach from Nikki Reed – WFH – Recycling- Would like to partner with us to help with recycling. G. Public Comment - None H. Adjournment 6:48