2019-06-06 Citizens Climate Protectioin Committee MiCitizens Committee on US Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement
Mission:
1. Encourage citizens to be a part of the solution
2. Encourage City staff and citizens to conserve current resources
3. Work with the City Council to implement ideas
4. Effectively address the future impacts of climate change
DRAFT
Climate Protection Committee (CPC)
June 6, 2019 - Meeting Minutes
In Attendance: Cynthia Pruitt, Mark Johnson (Consultant), Steve Fisher, Jenna Nand, Janice
Freeman, Nancy Fleck, Lisa Conley, David Schaefer, Shane Hope
Opening: The regular meeting of the CPC was called to order at 8:45 am on June 6, 2019 in
the Fortner Conference Room of City Hall by Cynthia Pruitt.
Introductions & Minutes: Committee members signed in and stated their two word goal for
attending. A motion was made and seconded to approve the May 3rd minutes. The committee
approved the minutes.
GHG Reduction Tool (the Tool) by Mark Johnson, consultant with ESA
MARK: We want to spend about 5 minutes on each line item metric so we have a chance to
review all the items. The committee recommendations for each metric is listed on the slides
(Hank Landau, Lisa Herb and Cynthia Pruitt all making recommendations and comments.)
SHANE:Our recommendations will be presented to the City Council in July depending upon the
Council's schedule.
MARK: Be sure to get a copy of the background handouts provided. 1) Edmonds 2050
Forecasted Emissions (MT CO2e) AKA "The Donut" shows emissions if we continue on a
path of business as usual. 2) 2050 BAU Emissions (ranked largest to smallest) They should
be helpful in discussing the metrics. Remember by reducing the largest GHG contributors
we will provide the biggest impact. These ten areas should be the easiest to influence and
give us the greatest impact. However there are many other factors out there that will be
address in other ways. For example the new state laws with respect to reducing GHG
caused by electricity.
MARK: As we review these areas consider: How aggressively do we want to try to achieve
results? Our ten areas of focus follow:
TR-1 ADDITIONAL COMMERCIAL AND MULTI -FAMILY UNITS AT CENTERS - Reduce vehicle
miles travelled (VM7) through more sustainable land use patterns. CYNTHIA: I am a skeptic
when it comes to this area because there was so much community push -back with respect
to adding more affordable housing. JENNA: The stigma was with adding low income housing
not simply adding more multi -family housing per -say. MARK: If we set a goal of 2100 units
by 2035 that is less than 2 buildings per year. CYNTHIA: Two buildings a year is a good visual
for carrying this message to the Council. DAVID: Does that square with the GMA population
gain? SHANE: The GMA targets cover single-family and multi -family. We are focuses simply
on growth of multi -family units in just the areas identified as commercial centers in the city.
MARK: We are focused on 4 centers in the City zoned commercial/multi-family. CYNTHIA: It is
the consensus of the committee to recommend a goal of 2100 units by 2035.
TR-2 PERCENT OF COMMUTERS USING TRANSIT - Reduce VMT by improving transit systems.
(i.e., get people to use transit more). MARK: Increasing transit ridership by 20% is an
aggressive goal. SHANE: This goal can be easily reached with a shuttle from Edmonds to the
new light rail station. CTE is committed to making connections easier from Edmonds. Mark:
In the comments section, you see that Hank feels we should be doing better than 20%.
LISA C.: Is there a visual for this item as well? MARK: The light rail is the visual. CYNTHIA: A
goal of having each resident add 1 trip a week via transit seems reachable. It is the
consensus of the committee to recommend a goal of 20% ridership by 2035.
TR-3 PERCENT OF COMMUTERS WALKING OR BIKING TO WORK - Reduce VMT by promoting
active transportation (i.e., bike riding and walking). MARK: The City currently has 5% of the
population riding/walking to work. Our goal is to double it to 10%. CYNTHIA: I believe people
like Hank who do this are passionate about it and will make sacrifices to reach this goal; so
we should push the goal to 12%. JENNA: I think weather and hills play a big factor for
people to actually walk or bike. SHANE: We need to look at this as some or most days,
people would walk or bike. It wouldn't be an everyday goal. DAVID: What employment
growth; how will it affect the goal? SHANE: I feel we can easily meet our employment
growth. We surpassed our last employment growth goals. CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of
the committee to recommend a goal of 12% by 2050.
TR-4 PERCENT OF COMMUTERS CARPOOLING AND/OR USING AN ALTERNATE WORK WEEK
- Reduce VMT by promoting carpooling and vehicle sharing. MARK: Statistically 20% of the
City's population uses flextime and society continues to move in that direction. Millennials
place a hive value on work flexibility. CYNTHIA: It is common practice in my workplace and
my neighborhood. JENNA: I see this as a trend that will continue to rise. STEVE: Even the
Public Works department takes advantage of carpooling with a Van Pool. SHANE: A lot of
folks work longer hours with a 4-10 work week. JENNA: There are a lot of AP's out there for
car -sharing. Plus Uber & Lyft promote car -sharing among it's riders. MARK: While carpooling
is used, currently only 8% of the City's population uses carpooling. To set a goal of 15% is
a big jump. CYNTHIA: Lisa Herbs numbers seem to be slightly more aggressive at 4.4% by
2035 and 6% by 2050. Why don't we use 4.4% for our 2035 goal? MARK: Let's avoid
decimals when creating our calculations-5% would be better. CYNTHIA: Well let's round
down to 4% then. It is the consensus of the committee to recommend a goal of 4% by
2035 and 6% by 2050.
TR-5 PERCENT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES - Reduce GHG by promoting low -carbon vehicles.
MARK: The City currently has just over 1 car per person with a population of 40,000 people.
JENNA: 165 of those cars are electric, because I'm one of them. MARK: So if we set a goal
for 840 cars being electric by 2035 that would be 20% of the cars. The car manufacturers
are already heading this way. In 2025 Volvo will be creating only electric cars and China is
looks to as well. JENNA: As gas prices go higher people will start looking to electric cars
more and there is technology to retrofit your car as well. CYNTHIA: Hank's comments
encourages us to look at a higher target-15,000 electric cars by 2050. JENNA: Although a
lot depends on local infrastructure. We need more and better charging stations. SHANE: The
City is looking at adjusting the code so new multifamily housing would have the rough in's
for charging stations. Infrastructure after -all is the City's main business, so we need to plan
for where the future is leading us when planning for new development. CYNTHIA: It is the
consensus of the committee to recommend a goal of 9% by 2035 and 15% by 2050.
W-1 REDUCTION IN SOLID WASTE GENERATION - Reduce material consumption. MARK: How
much do you think Edmonds can achieve on this goal? CYNTHIA: We've made a lot of
progress on sorting out recyclables. STEVE: With the recycling market drying up the State is
looking at new ways to handle recyclables. It is hard to predict what will happen going
forward. Manufacturers are working toward solutions as consumers continue to ask for
reusable goods. A Loop system where packaging and products return to the manufacturer t
be reused is being discussed. Materials management reduction is a hot topic. MARK:
People continue to make choices JENNA: Solid waste reduction is important to most
people. How can we increase our community composting? Is there more we can do within
in the City to increase composting? USA C.: Food waste is still a big component of trash.
People need more education about putting Food Waste into their yard waste so it can be
composted. We could get some reduction that way. STEVE: The City has been working
toward food waste reduction. And we will be making more changes next year. MARK:
Reducing food waste would help us. CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of the committee to
recommend a goal of 25% by 2035 and 50% by 2050.
EY-1 NUMBER OF NEW RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL SOLAR PV SYSTEMS INSTALLED -
Increase amount of electricity generation by solar power. MARK: The City currently has 164
solar installations with 18 new ones coming online in 2018. If we are able to add 20 new
installations a year we could reach 300 solar installations with just business as usual. SO to
double that to 600 is a moderate increase. STEVE: Is this based on the number of solar
installations or their size? MARK: This would be the number based on single family,
commercial, and multifamily buildings. CYNTHIA: Would all new buildings receive incentives
for going solar? Could we be form aggressive in our 2050 goal with a focus on
commercial? NANCY: We had a free inspection to look at solar, but the cost was still
prohibitive. CYNTHIA: I am optimistic that the technology will get better so more people will
want to go solar as the price goes down. JENNA: What can we do besides use incentives to
get people to choose solar? MARK: The City can facilitate group purchases. STEVE: We
pursued that in Edmonds when South County set a goal fo adding 25 solar buildings.
SHANE: Incentives gave solar a good boost. MARK: In Oregon they have a program where
solar is pays for itself in six years. STEVE: My solar installation just paid for itself and I've
had it maybe four or five years. MARK: Single family home growth will help us reach our goal
easily by 2050. SHANE: We should steer a way from any pie in the sky goals. We need
something achievable. MARK: Solar growth by housing units is more than just adding new
housing, it is also about converting to solar on existing homes. People are motivated not
just by concerns by for the environment, but also they are concerned about reducing their
monthly power bill AND being self -resilient if "the big one" or some natural disaster should
strike our area. CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of the committee to recommend a fairly
aggressive goal of solar panels on 600 on residential units by 2035 and 100 on commercial
units by 2050.
EY 2 PERCENT OF RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL AREA RETROFITTED - Reduce electricity
consumption and energy intensity of existing buildings by sector, improve efficiency of
wastewater treatment plant. MARK: If 1 % of the houses per year are retrofitted that would
equal 150 houses per year. SHANE: Retrofit here kicks into effect when the homeowner
makes changes on 75% or more of the value of the home. CYNTHIA: It would be nice to
have a footnote that this means new construction on an existing home. MARK: This is for
major updates only. CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of the committee to meet the goals as
they are set forth in Mark's presentation.
EY-3 PERCENT OF NEW, LEED-CERTIFIED RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT -
Improve efficiency of new building. CYNTHIA: I feel very pessimistic on our ability to achieve
the goals set here. JENNA: How much more does it cost to meet LEED Gold vs. LEED
Silver? If we offer rebates will more builders want to achieve LEED Gold? SHANE:
Maintenance costs are less with LEED Gold, but there are too many unknowns. It is just
easier to encourage builders to meet LEED Silver. CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of the
committee to recommend the goals as they are in the presentation.
EY-4 NUMBER OF TREES PLANTED - Increase carbon sequestration. MARK: Adding more trees
to a city of this size does not make a significant impact on climate change. However during
this process it has been made clear that citizens place a large value on trees so we have
added it to our metrics. DAVID: Won't adding more trees to our community reduce our ability
to increase our solar power installations? MARK: Yes, adding more trees could have an
impact on the City's ability to increase solar installations. JENNA: It is important to continue
to look for ways to keep our tree cover as developers continue to clearcut lots in their effort
to rapidly build more homes. MARK: How do you expect the City manage to add all those
trees it's limited size? SHANE: The City's Urban Forestry goal is to increase our tree cover by
1 % which would mean adding 13,000 more trees —which is definitely a stretch goal.
CYNTHIA: It is the consensus of the committee to recommend a goal of the existing targets
mentioned in the presentation.
Public Comments: JANICE: Pedestrians need first right of using sidewalks as bikes, scooters,
Segways and others are using sidewalks to the detriment of pedestrians. We need better
sidewalks and pathways for pedestrians which can be more easily shared with others.) want
CPC members to be aware of the impact on seniors and others who have mobility challenges.
Self -driving cars could benefit seniors with respect to giving them greater mobility. Increasing
access to solar power is very important to seniors as a means to be self -resilient during an
emergency such as a major earth quake. Making opportunities to grow your own groceries also
would provide greater self -resilience for our community. I want to be sure CPC members keep
in mind the big picture as they set forth their plans for the future.
Announcements: The
Agenda for July 4, 2019 Meeting: The
Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at am by . The next general meeting
will be on Thursday, July 4, 2019 beginning at 8:45 am in the Fortner Conference Room at City
Hall.