Approved Minutes - 2016-01-18
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO
Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes
January 18, 2016
Call to Order / Roll Call
Co-chair Gary Hanifan called the January 18, 2016 meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) to
order at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Main Fire Station, 300 B Avenue, Lake Oswego,
Oregon.
Members Present: Co-Chair Mary Ratcliff, Co-Chair Gary Hanifan, Richard Canaday,
Paul Soper, Sebastian Marin-Quiroz, Eliot Metzger, Lisa Adatto,
Priya Judge, Councilor Jon Gustafson, Councilor Joe Buck
Members Excused/Absent Gabriel Key, Karl Friesen, Sasha Wallinger
Staff: Jenny Slepian, Sustainability and Management Fellow; Anthony
Hooper, Director of Public Works
Public: Duke Castle, Jan Castle, Paul Boundy, Eric Eckfield
Announcements from Board and Staff
Jon Gustafson introduced Joe Buck as the new Council liaison to SAB. Joe stated that Council is working
on improving communications between Council and Boards and Commissions and how time is used.
Jenny informed the Board that residential composting will be discussed at Council’s February 2 meeting
and they should consider attending (NB: this has since changed).
Approval of Minutes
The Board unanimously approved the December 21, 2015 meeting minutes.
Public Comment
None.
Regular Business
A. Review Agenda
Co-Chair Hanifan reviewed the meeting agenda.
B. City Council Update/City Council Goals Update
Joe Buck updated the Board on the Council goal setting retreat. The goals are not yet formally
adopted, but they will be at tomorrow’s Council meeting. Councilors had a long list of goals that
they ranked from 1 to 5, resulting in seven main goals with sub goals underneath. Some of the goals
Joe described included: maintaining and improving infrastructure; improving transportation system
including human powered transportation and granting it a stable source of funding. The Board asked
about the Willamette Shoreline Trail. Joe said that feasibility for that trail is very low as it is a legal
quagmire and may not be possible. The Council will also work with neighborhoods on local
improvement districts for small projects like crosswalks. Other Council goals include streamlining the
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January 18, 2016
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development code, exploring new or upgraded community facilities, a new home for the Arts
Council, and mountain bike trails.
Under Goal 1, the City will move ahead with the Ops Center and a Police/911 facility, as well as
continue to explore a municipal fiber network. Council will also continue with a Lake Grove Urban
Renewal Area and support development of the North Anchor and Boones Ferry areas. Council will
also create a youth advisory council and a tourism task force. Other goals are to identify strategies
to address PERS increase in 2017.
Jon added that he suggested making sustainability coordinator a full time permanent position and
that 4 councilors ranked it as lowest priority. Work to be done in convincing council that this is an
important position. Up to Jenny to show where these sustainability efforts have fiscal benefits. Joe
added that this would be very tough in an election year. Jon added that the community needs to let
the Council know that this is important. Duke Castle explained that the Review is running a story
called the LO Story Project based on sustainability on 1/28. Articles will be on a weekly basis. Duke
encouraged everyone to write a story to try to raise the visibility of climate change in this
community.
Mary asked when Council will vote on the Stormwater Manual as she would like to testify at that
particular meeting. That meeting will be February 2.
Gary indicated that SAB will get back to Council with feedback on their goals.
Jan asked Jon and Joe to look into environmental damage of mountain biking.
Mary asked if anything else was coming up. Joe mentioned the SW Employment Area planning
commission hearing on the 26th and Council hearing in April.
The Board briefly discussed the broadband project.
C. Ops Center Update
The goal for tonight was to get a priority listing of what sustainability features to bring to Council to
ask whether they would like to add these features to the scope of the project. Anthony listed items
that have changed since the last meeting, including:
• Easement that the City is taking takes about 15 feet out of total developable area
• Went from 3 buildings to 2, combined office and shops building
• Design change gave a little more flexibility to the project for future growth
• Went from tilt-up buildings to concrete buildings, which results in less maintenance, a
simpler roof, more flexibility for mechanical systems, and more durability in the buildings.
Jon asked if there were any changes to programming due to building design change. Anthony
answered that programming will not be affected.
Gary asked how the space layout will work with staff numbers. Crew numbers are based on what
they have now. No anticipated increase in staff numbers.
Jan asked if there is a seismic advantage to concrete. Paul Boundy answered that it is easier to make
concrete stronger. Both buildings will be Level 4. Jan also asked if any other buildings in the city are
Level 4. At this stage, only the new water treatment plant will be a Leve 4 building. Fire Stations are
not, though they have been retrofitted. New police station will be.
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Jon asked if any operational sacrifices have been made. Anthony explained that the budget is
approximately $13 million. Anthony feels confident that that amount is what we need. The
sustainability features on the list would be above the $13 million, but Council would need to
approve that amount. But from a functionality perspective, everything should fit within the budget.
Jon asked whether the building will be constructed to the LEED standard as suggested by the HPB
Policy. Anthony said it will be constructed to LEED Silver, we just haven’t opted to go for
certification. Mary asked whether we should look at Earth Advantage certification instead. Paul said
they just haven’t worked with Earth Advantage or Green Globes much.
Mary also asked about putting in an EV station as it is much simpler and cheaper to do in the
construction process. Paul also questioned the proposed cost of $10,000 to install an EV station.
Anthony answered that these are rough costs, have not received any solid bids on any of these
features.
Gary suggested that the best way to approach prioritizing the list is to go through each line item.
1. Charging station- see above. Top priority item.
2. Public education signage- Gary asked what the level of interest is in this. Low visitor building, so
not much need. Low priority item.
3. Rainwater harvesting- would be irrigation from the rooftops. Will be implementing practices
from new stormwater manual. Rainwater harvest cistern would be between the two buildings
and would only collect from the roofs. The collected water would not be used as greywater, but
Ops does have a treatment vehicle. There is a 20% landscape requirement, irrigation could be
used there. Minimal requirement for irrigation. Could be for emergency use as well.
4. Reuse of existing concrete and asphalt services- does cost more to do it. Has not yet been a
detailed analysis of how much could be re-used. Not sure how much could be re-used, based on
the poor condition of the asphalt. Expensive part is bringing equipment out to grind it up.
Overall target is 95% recycling of all construction debris.
5. Solar Heated Domestic water: Best payback. Downside is not much hot water use onsite. Lots of
tax credits available to bring the costs down. Would be a relatively simple system. Eliot
suggested partnering with surrounding neighbors on solar hot water.
6. Skylights/Solatubes: Jon mentioned that previous design had more windows. Paul explained that
new flat roof leaves more room for skylights and solatubes. Eric explained that solatubes would
provide exterior lighting to interior areas
7. Pervious Asphalt Paving: Eric says it rarely works and then it clogs up.
8. Green roof area: Most of the board was more interested in doing this as part of North Anchor or
other more urban project.
9. Increase Roof Insulation Levels: Marginal increase over current building code requirements.
Don’t get much further energy savings above that. 1-2%. Paul asked Paul of the energy model
will still be able to inform the design or if that ship has sailed. Paul said it will be used mostly to
fine tune things.
10. Night Flush: office building will already be capable. The cost comes in in the motor pool system.
Not great value for money.
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11. LEED Silver certification: low priority. Paul S. stated that getting LEED Silver is pretty easy to get
these days. Without the plaque, you can’t really show it off though. Mary asked about the effort
involved to do the earth advantage test- Eric said it actually is quite a rigorous and an expensive
test.
12. Vehicle storage seismic upgrade: low priority.
13. Increase extent of PV system: not totally worth it.
14. Geothermal Loop: for HVAC. Very expensive, doesn’t perform all that great. An investment.
15. Central Boiler Plant: Very expensive system for the amount of cooling that is needed, but it is
incredibly efficient. The scale of this project does not seem appropriate for it. Could be gas or
electric.
16. Variable Refrigerant Flow system: Anthony is in favor of it, good payback period and pays for
itself. Rachael is in favor of doing this, and would like the City to move in this direction. Anthony
is happy letting Rachael and facilities take the lead on that. Can isolate parts of the building that
are not used as frequently. High priority item.
Top choice “A” is an additional $160,000. Including the “B” is another $160,000.
Jon suggested that Anthony make a package recommendation with all the top 4 “A” items, with the
cost. Better than having Council sort through specific line items.
Anthony gave a quick update on LED streetlights.
Adjournment
Co-chair Hanifan adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jenny Slepian
Sustainability and Management
Fellow