Loading...
Agenda Item - 2010-03-08 Sustainability Advisory Board 3-8-10 Work Session Summary The session started with a recap of the Board's Mission and Duties to refresh our memories of why the Board was formed. We followed with a review of what the board has done to date and our target action areas are for the future. Our goal was to relate the past and future efforts to our Mission and Duties. SAB Mission & Duties The mission of the Sustainability Advisory Board shall be to promote the sustainability of the community as a whole, considering public and private actors and their effects on ecological, economic, and community systems. The Sustainability Advisory Board shall be guided by the Sustainable City Principles embodied in the City's 2007 Sustainability Plan. The Sustainability Advisory Board shall: The following actions, shown in bold, have been either done or are process a. Advise and assist the City Council in efforts to make City operations more sustainable. Provide Council with yearly Goals and Priorities. Review and support distribution of sustainability related Stimulus Money* b. Assist in the development of plans and policies to enhance the sustainability of the City as a whole. Integration of Sustainability into the Comp Plan c. Educate and support other Lake Oswego organizations to become more sustainable. Natural Step Training Board Liaisons to other Boards and Commissions Presentation of OSC and Living Building Challenge* City Staff LEED training* d. Educate and engage the public in efforts to make the community of Lake Oswego, including residents, businesses, and institutions, more sustainable. Sustainability Action Month (includes a wide variety of education activities) Clean Power Sign-ups Water and Energy Audits Encourage letters to the editor by SAB members* *post meeting additions SAB Council Liaison Sallie Moncrieff attended the Work Session and lead off the session with commitment to maintain an active 2-way dialogue between the Council and Board. Councilman Moncrieff will make sure the board is up to date on all issues before the Council (via Susan Millhauser) so the Board can help the Council view all of their issues through a lens of Sustainability. The following action areas were brainstormed by the group and are intended to be the action pool for current and future SAB Work Plans. Some fall under broader headings and some are stand alone broad-scope goals (BHAG = Big Hairy Audacious Goal) BHAGs • Carbon Neutral by 2030...the whole city. • Zero Toxics • Zero Waste Water Conservation Support City's ongoing program to reduce water consumption. It is very efficient to support and grow existing successful programs. It is quite possible that the City will realize significant increased water revenue from the rate hike, particularly for the 1st couple years. Some of that money should be directed to conservation or possibly add a little surcharge to fund water conservation rebates (a variation on the ETO model) • Continued annual funding for low flow toilet rebate program • Start low flow shower head rebate program • Focused, intense marketing campaign to save water • Push connection between water consumption and energy. • Rainwater Harvesting rebate program. Transportation The City should make every effort to help people leave their cars at home. The street car extension is coming (sooner or later) and it is critical that the City start planning to plug into that link with its own comprehensive system. LO is a great walking town and could be great biking town. It could be especially good town for electric bikes to flatten out those hills. • Support adoption and implementation of the Paths and Trails Master Plan. • Support long term planning and funding strategy for LO small bus transit system. This one is critical to turning LO into a transit orient community. • Continued support of the City's electric vehicle power station program. • Work with Tri-met for improved service. • City underwrites incentives to use transit. • City should insist that streetcar extension include an extension of the Willamette bike path to LO. Land Use/Zoning • Move City land use in a direction where our traditionally mono-use neighborhoods (residential) will allow the introduction of some level of commercial activity. Some of this is allowed already in terms of home office uses. Zoning that allows mini/micro retail could eventually see neighborhoods with micro garage markets, café, barber, or seasonal produce stands. This links to reduced car trips and underscores need for better pedestrian and bike paths. • Neighborhood stores with living arrangements above/ defined mixed use. This could be limited to primary arterial roads (often those with double yellow lines). This was brought up by the 50+ Group as an important need. They want to be able to walk to a small store and get milk and eggs. • Consider the West End Building and site as a proto-typical eco-district. • Foothills district also potential eco-district. • Land use density needs to be revisited. Accessory domiciles, conversion of McMansions to McDuplexes or McTriplexes, more micro-zoning to allow multi- family into less dense SFH neighborhoods. • Urban Farming and food security is rapidly coming into the limelight. This could be integrated with micro retail noted above. • Expand the use of schools in neighborhoods. Saturday markets, neighborhood libraries, community centers, eco-district energy centers, community gardens, social service centers, emergency center. Another path to less auto dependency. Neighborhood Action Plans This April, the Council will hopefully approve adoption of the Neighborhood Action Plan program. Neighborhoods are an excellent framework for real sustainability efforts. The scale is workable and helps break the overall effort into digestible pieces. The NAPs will be created by each individual neighborhood (that wants one) and based on a consistent template will be customized for each neighborhood. The NAP's will have to address citywide goals and programs ala the Comp Plan, Clean Streams, Sensitive Lands, etc. It is the intent that these plans have concrete goals/programs such as improved pedestrian and bike pathways, connections to transit, land use issues noted above, preservation/restoration of natural resources, stormwater management (bioswales, permeable paving), etc. The SAB and LO Office of Sustainability should work closely with neighborhoods to integrate sustainable practices into NAP's. City Building/Development Codes • Urge and support City to update Community Development Code with sustainable goals and practices as primary focus. • Continue SAB efforts on Comp Plan. The long term value of a Comp Plan based on sustainable goals and practices is huge. We cannot falter in this effort. This effort may indeed become a relay where the ultimate realization is a multi- generational in terms of the SAB. • City Codes to elevate minimum building performance such as LEED Silver. Provide incentives. • Solar access/easement policies Carbon Footprint Reduction • Benchmark L.O. carbon footprint. This is critical to measuring progress. • Continue Green Power sign-up program with and annual target of an addition 5% of total LO homes and businesses • City weatherization program targeting all buildings in L.O. This program could be linked to weatherization training for both HS kids and through adult ed. • Adopt Clean Diesel Program • Earth Hour: Everyone in LO turns off their lights for 1 hour on March 27th at 8:30 pm. • Green Angel Bond Fund: create a bond pool for energy and weatherization improvements that are paid off with $$ from energy savings. • Create Solar Panel Bulk Purchase Program based on "Solarize Your Neighborhood" program currently in place (?) in Portland. • Tour of Green Homes (early educational effort) The last portion of the session started to look at implementation strategies for the action areas outlined above. The following items were a first blush with continued discussion anticipated for the regular Board meeting on the 15t" • Create an over-arching Sustainability Policy. • The City should lead by example. Improve existing City Facilities and plan for new proposed facilities to be very high performing buildings with the possibility of attaining Living Building status. • Create a sustainability yardstick as a tool for the Board and the City as a whole. • Create a system of metrics to measure performance and improvement (the carbon baseline noted above is critical to this.)