HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 2
ENVIRONMENTAL
INITIATIVES
COMMITTEE
Regular
Meeting
Agenda
Date:
July
2,
2020
at
6:30pm
Location:
TELECONFERENCE
SPECIAL
NOTICE
Pursuant
to
Executive
Order
N-‐29-‐20:
1. Call
to
Order
(roll
call)
Attended:
Srini
Srinivasan
(SrS),
Jolie
Wu
(JW),
Peter
Evans
(PE),
Pat
Lang
(PL),
Steve
Schmidt
(StS),
Sasha
Zbrozek
(SZ),
Michelle
Wu
(MW)
2. Approval
of
Minutes
Committee
voted
unanimously
to
approve
Minutes
of
June
Meeting
of
EIC
Committee
voted
unanimously
to
approve
Minutes
of
May
Meeting
of
EIC
StS
clarified
that
George
Tyson
is
the
primary
representative
for
LAH
in
SVCE.
Courtenay
is
secondary.
3. Unfinished
Business
a. Home
demolition
fixture
salvaging
program
proposal
(April)
April
Anair
had
initiated
the
agenda
item
was
not
in
attendance.
Nevertheless,
the
Committee
proceeded
to
discuss
the
issue
and
possible
solutions.
Problem
statement:
Residents’
ability
to
recycle
materials
has
diminished
at
a
time
when
the
need
for
recycling
capabilities
has
increased.
Causes:
Greenwaste
has
restricted
the
use
of
bins
for
recycling;
more
restrictive
than
Greenwaste
is
with
Portola
Valley,
Woodside
Goodwill
is
closed
due
to
the
Pandemic
Residents
may
not
be
aware
of
solution
alternatives
Solutions
proposed:
1. Encourage
the
use
of
Garage
Sale
and
Nextdoor
2. Develop
a
page
in
EIC
Website
:
“
Resources
for
getting
rid
of
stuff
“
3. Develop
a
section
on
EIC
website
for
best
practices
in
disposing
material
from
homes
4. Consider
a
‘City
Handyman’
who
can
drive
around
offering
to
pick
up
and
dispose
of
stuff
5. Promote
Greenwaste
program
of
twice
a
year
Bulk
Item
pickup
program
6. Talk
to
Greenwaste
about
additional
resources
for
disposing
recyclable
material
7. PE
to
consider
serving
on
City
Manager’s
committee
for
review
of
Greenwaste
contract
b. LAH’s
Climate
Action
Plan
-‐
Greenhouse
Gas
inventory
responsibility:
Update:
Subsequent
to
the
June
2020
meeting,
the
sub-‐committee
of
StS,
SrS
and
JW
discussed
the
matter
of
resourcing
the
GHG
inventory
tracking
with
the
City
Manager
and
then
with
the
staff
member.
Neither
meeting
resulted
in
a
commitment
by
City
staff
to
take
on
the
responsibility
for
resuming
GHG
tracking.
Questions
were
raised
about
the
relative
importance
of
GHG
tracking
versus
other
priorities
tracked
by
the
City
staff.
City
staff
pushed
back
on
EIC
to
assign
volunteer
resources
to
conduct
ongoing
tracking
of
GHG.
Discussion:
MW
wanted
to
know
if
the
minutes
from
the
meeting
where
the
City
Council
had
adopted
the
Climate
Action
Plan
had
been
tracked
down,
reviewed
by
the
EIC;
EIC
confirmed
that
this
was
not
successfully
done.
In
principle,
EIC
agreed
that
City
Manager
and
Staff
are
responsible
only
for
execution
of
the
decisions
made
by
City
Council.
In
the
matter
of
GHG
tracking
and
reporting,
City
Manager
and
Staff
will
not
be
deciding
whether
it
needs
to
be
done.
Action:
MW
will
represent
EIC’s
understanding
to
the
City
Manager
and
get
everyone
to
a
shared
understanding
of
roles
and
responsibilities
for
GHG
tracking.
SS
to
send
request
to
include
the
topic
for
discussion
at
the
upcoming
Council
Meeting
as
needed.
4.
Old
Business
a.
Undergrounding
:
Next
steps
for
EIC
Background:
Council
member,
George
Tyson
(GT)
was
appointed
last
year
to
lead
the
Undergrounding
study.
Motivation
has
changed
now
from
aesthetics
to
safety
because
of
fires.
Initially
GT
considered
a
small
project
(focused
around
El
Monte
fire
station
due
to
high
density
of
power
lines
in
this
area),
but
is
now
encouraged
and
convinced
to
explore
full-‐scale
investment
and
implementation.
George
currently
has
informal
advisory
help
from
StS
and
PE,
but
would
like
to
have
more
people
to
help
him
with
the
study
and
project
development.
Understanding
costs
and
financing
options:
The
smaller,
IceBreaker
project
involves
500'
undergrounding
at
El
Monte
Rd.
GT
will
start
design
study.
Longer
term,
big
vision
is
currently
being
planned,
involving
aspects
such
as:
Engineering
design,
Utility
Tax
to
fund
part
(many
surrounding
cities
have
it),
and
Public
support.
GT
revealed
that
there
are
Matching
funds
from
PG&E
of
$2M/year
to
tap
into.
PG&E
is
coming
up
with
an
alternate
proposal.
If
UT
is
the
source
of
funding,
the
undergrounding
project
will
pass
the
2/3rd
vote
requirement.
As
of
today,
newer
residential
areas
are
undergrounded.
Discussion:
GT
has
championed
the
project
successfully
and
has
won
budget
approval
for
(1)
Initial
funding
for
the
Ice-‐breaker
project
and
(2)
“35%
design”
of
town-‐wide
project
by
professional
engineers.
In
addition,
GT
has
developed
a
timeline
for
the
Undergrounding
project.
LAH
has
established
a
committee
for
Undergrounding
project
but
formal
meeting
notes
have
not
yet
been
published.
EIC
members
PE
and
StS
have
been
informally
helping
GT
on
this
project.
The
most
effective
way
for
EIC
to
play
a
role
in
this
project
would
be
to
formally
be
inducted
into
the
project
by
GT
with
an
advisory
role.
Estimated
costs
have
ranged
from
$50
/
foot
to
$1200
/ft
;
given
the
broad
range,
an
ice-‐breaker
project
has
been
proposed
to
determine
the
right
budgetary
costs.
If
Undergrounding
is
essential
business,
it
can
be
funded
from
LAH’s
operating
budget
as
well.
PE
is
collaborating
with
GT
to
review
Rule
20
/
Rue
28
and
the
implications
for
funding.
MW
advised
caution
during
the
collaboration
to
ensure
compliance
with
Brown
Act.
Timeline
for
completion
of
Undergrounding
could
be
as
long
as
7-‐14
years.
Out
of
the
box
ideas
brought
up
to
be
explored:
Can
LAH
have
its
own
utility?
Can
LAH
buy
and
operate
PG&E’s
system?
Action:
1. GT
to
be
included
as
optional
attendee
for
future
EIC
meetings
2. EIC
to
be
formally
inducted
into
advisory
role
on
the
project
b.
EIC
Educational
Series
Background:
JW
has
initiated
an
education
series
to
be
offered
virtually
in
the
beginning
and
then
potentially
using
the
city’s
conference
room
facilities.
Target
audience
is
the
city’s
residents
of
all
ages
and
topics
will
be
related
to
EIC’s
charter.
JW
presented
the
proposal
to
EIC
and
won
their
approval.
Since
then
JW
has
presented
the
proposal
to
the
Council
and
has
received
some
feedback.
Discussion:
MW
recommended
that
EIC
should
attempt
one
instance
of
the
seminar
at
first
and
then
do
a
checkback.
Youth
Commission’s
participation
has
been
invited.
After
consulting
Sarah
and
PE’s
wife,
it
appears
unlikely
that
the
Youth
Commission
will
participate
given
that
the
children
are
likely
to
have
little
time
available.
Los
Altos
appears
to
have
suffered
the
unintended
consequence
of
public
pushback
on
Reach
Codes
based
on
interpretations
of
what
was
presented
in
an
education
seminar.
EIC
has
been
cautioned
to
consider
the
impact
while
offering
seminar
topics.
Action:
Discuss
potential
topics
to
add
to
series
JW
will
create
a
topic
specific
proposal
Next
EIC
meeting:
August
6,
2020
Thursday
Adjournment