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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 24 Environmental Initiatives Committee Regular Meeting Minutes DATE: Thursday, April 24, 2014 TIME: 7:00 PM LOCATION: Parks & Recreation Building, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills 1. Roll Call Present: April Anair, Sheela Veerina (left at 8 pm), Raj Reddy, Peter Evans (chair), John Harpootlian (town council liaison) Not Present: Serena Giori, Aileen Lee The chair called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 7:15 pm 2. Approval of Minutes Tabled 3. Remodel related initiatives The committee discussed a possible recommendation for home energy assessment requirement for remodels and additions as a way to provide information to applicants that may lead to improvements in the performance of existing homes. John Harpootlian noted that the approval process for additions is normally 2-3 months which the committee agreed is long enough to get some useful information from an on-line assessment. The committee wanted to avoid creating what would be perceived as a new burden for applicants and felt these on-line assessments should be provided by the town, given what the committee expects to be a modest cost. The committee agreed the results of the assessment should be informational for the applicant only. At 7:50 pm Sheela Veerina moved and April Anair seconded a motion to recommend that the town require an on-line energy assessment as part of the approval process for additions, but not remodels, with the service provided by the town at no direct cost to the applicant, and that the town conduct a solicitation to engage a provider of such a service. The motion passed unanimously The committee also discussed possible revision to local power drop (service connection) requirements. According to the town’s undergrounding policy, “The costs of individual service connections from private residences to the undergrounded utility lines will be borne by each property owner and are typically not included in the costs that the Mello- 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. Roos district may finance.” At the same time, the town’s regulations for new telephone and electrical service lead-ins require that they be underground between the structure and the line supply with no new utility poles, or effectively, to the nearest existing utility pole. This requirement is, evidently very consistent with the requirements in neighboring cities. In Los Altos Hills due to our large lots this sets up a potential gap where existing utility poles may carry individual service connections or secondary-voltage lines with no primary. Such lines would not be constructed underground as part of a new service lead- in and would also be ineligible for undergrounding under an undergrounding district. The committee acknowledged this potential gap in connection with individual residences but decided not to pursue a revision to the town’s requirements at this time. John Harpootlian and Peter Evans agreed to explore with town staff whether subdivision projects create a different set of issues relating to overhead utilities that are not directly addressed in the town’s regulations. 4. EIC initiatives review The committee reviewed the EIC initiatives but took no formal action. Raj Reddy agreed to continue as the EIC’s representative on the BACC steering committee. April Anair expressed an interest in following the City of Sunnyvale’s Community Choice Aggregation initiative and reporting back to the EIC periodically. Peter Evans agreed to review the status of the EIC’s recommendation for Green Point ratings for remodels and additions. 5. UUT for undergrounding Tabled 6. GHG Reduction Initiatives Tabled 7. Public Comment Raj Reddy described a situation where a resident might miss the notification to comment on a site development project in Fast Track due to travel. The committee noted for possible future discussion the possibility of notification by email, and a resident’s ability to join a service list to receive notification of any application changes and process events for a given application under planning review. The committee also noted for possible future consideration time limits or milestone requirements on projects under construction. 8. Adjournment The chair adjourned the meeting at 8:30 pm.