HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 28
Environmental Initiatives Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 2013
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Parks & Recreation Building,
26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills
1. Roll Call, New Members, New Council Liason
Attendees: Peter Evans, Serena Giori, Raj Reddy, Aileen Lee, April Anair
Guests: Joe Eyre (Los Altos Environmental Commission), Debbie Pedro
2. EIC Annual Report debrief
3. Joint Committee Meeting re General Plan Circulation Element
This meeting is now scheduled for April 3 at 5 pm. The objective is to gain any input on the
proposed general plan amendment from the EIC, particularly as it relates to the GHG goals.
Debbie Pedro will make sure the draft document is distributed to the committee members.
4. Fast Track Guide
Debbie Pedro provided comments from town staff on the EIC’s proposed sustainability
component for the Fast Track Guide. Town staff will have to re-allocate the points to achieve the
right weighting among the five goals, and the overall revision will have to be approved by the
Planning Commission.
5. LAH PV Ordinance Renewal
The committee reviewed data provided by Debbie Pedro on the adoption of PV installations in
LAH. The data suggest:
1. The adoption of PV is tracking below the expectations incorporated in the GHG
reduction goals, and encouraging PV is still warranted.
2. The vast majority of PV installs are retrofit, rather than part of a new home development
3. About half the new home developments incorporate PV.
4. Essentially all of the new home developments that incorporate PV also take advantage of
the development area bonus.
The committee concluded that given the overwhelming share of PV projects on existing homes
(ie that are not part of a larger building permit process), the town should charge a permit fee to
cover its costs for those projects. The committee does not believe this alone will affect the
homeowner’s decision to install PV. Debbie Pedro said the permit fee today would be $90, but
the town is presently doing a building permit cost study.
NOTICE TO PUBLIC
Any writings or documents provided to a majority of the Environmental Initiatives Committee regarding any
item on this agenda will be made available for public inspection in the City Clerk’s office located at Town
Hall, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, California during normal business hours.
The committee believes the development area bonus should be retained (renewed) but the
committee will consider ways to raise the bar. Based on the data, this element appears to provide
an effective incentive only for projects where development area is very limited; this leaves the
Fast Track Guide as the only other way for the town to encourage PV in new residences.
6. Artificial Turf policy
The committee considered the town’s present policy concerning artificial turf. The committee
believes this is primarily an aesthetic consideration. A 1,000 sf lawn irrigated according to the
Purissima Field schedule represents about 6% of the PWHD Old Single Family Residence profile
annual consumption, and there are many natural alternatives to turf to achieve water savings. The
committee views the esthetics of non-natural landscaping as debatable or mostly negative and did
not see a compelling reason to change the policy.
7. GHG Inventory Update
The agreed to fund the implementation of a variant of the SMCEW city-specific web report for
LAH based on $200 estimate provide by Steve Schmidt from the EIC’s budget. This report would
be included in the sustainability portion of the town’s website.
Portola Valley’s report is at:
http://www.smcenergywatch.com/rc_Portola_Valley.shtml
8. EIC Initiatives
9. Fast Track Guide for Remodels
Remodel projects could effectively extend the life of buildings with substandard environmental
performance. Serena Giori described the process used by Stanford to avoid this. At the point of
sale of a building an audit is performed to determine the measures and cost to bring the building
up to present environmental standards, and the funds are included in the sale escrow. This
effectively internalizes the cost to bring the building up to present environmental standards for the
seller and buyer, and reduces or eliminates the risk to the community of ongoing
underperformance. This also insulates long-time residents performing remodels on their own
homes from the need to do these upgrades.
10. Outreach
11. Public Comment
Joe Eyre is the chair of the Los Altos Environmental Commission and asked to be included on the
EIC communications.
12. Adjournment