Approved Minutes - 2010-11-03 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes
SPECIAL MEETING November 3, 2010
CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Co-chair Bruce Brown called the special meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) to
order at 6:30 p.m. on November 3, 2010 in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 380 A Avenue,
Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Members present: Co-chair Bruce Brown, Gary Bachofner, Matt Briggs, Daniel
Gottlieb, Vidya Kale, and Gregory Monahan
Members excused/absent: Co-chair Grant Watkinson, Sarah Asby, and Dorothy Atwood
Council Liaison: None
Staff present: Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Coordinator; Alex Deley,
Sustainability Outreach Specialist/AmeriCorps
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The City Council had approved a resolution lowering commercial garbage rates for businesses
participating in the pilot program for commercial food waste collection.
PUBLIC COMMENT (None)
REGULAR BUSINESS
Goal Setting
Millhauser distributed the October 15, 2010 Staff Memorandum, “Progress on Goals.” The
members examined the seven topic categories that were to be addressed during the
Comprehensive Plan update process. They discussed what approach the SAB should take and
generally agreed to start with four big overarching goals: Zero Waste, Zero Carbon Emissions,
Net Zero Water, and Zero Toxins. Then they brainstormed shorter-term sub-goals and actions
necessary to accomplish each of the overarching goals and related them to the Comprehensive
Plan topics so sustainability would be integrated into each topic area. They saw a need to
establish the carbon baseline for the community to start with. They looked forward to
decarbonizing transportation and buildings. They wanted to see more healthy biomass, such as
urban forest, edible landscaping, and vegetable gardens, in the community. They talked about
finding what a sustainable population density in the City was. They talked about making the
community more self-sufficient in terms of food and energy production. They discussed the
concepts of the “20-minute neighborhood,” (mixed use with walkable neighborhood
commercial/retail); having a resilient community (one prepared to deal with catastrophes and
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Minutes of November 3, 2010
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changes in population, environment, and the economy); food security (locally grown food);
social equity through more affordable housing; ensuring diverse demographics; and an
economy that encouraged small business growth. They stressed the link between energy use
and water consumption. They looked forward to having a residential household food waste
collection program and a local composting facility. Millhauser reported the City was using
Energy Block Grant funds to hire a consultant to establish the greenhouse gas emissions
baseline. She anticipated it would be done by next June.
Board members saw a need to do a better job of selling sustainability if they wanted to change
the culture. People had to believe they could actually achieve the overarching goals in their
own lives. The City could help demonstrate that by making all city-sponsored functions zero
waste events. There could be regular sustainable home demonstration projects. The SAB could
maintain a booth at the Farmers’ Market and continue to add to Sustainability Action Month
events, if the Board wanted to continue with it. They could support the “Train the Trainer”
program. The Board members saw a need to establish a funding program to help people make
their homes more energy efficient. Millhauser reported the City would allocate $20,000 in
Energy Block Grant money to Clean Energy Works Oregon to help fixed-income seniors with
that. The funds would be used for loans for energy efficiency improvements to eight to ten
houses over the next two years. The owners would pay it back on their utility bills, ideally with
savings on energy. The program administrators planned to expand the program by bundling
and selling the loans on the secondary market to generate more funds for loans.
The group discussed suggestions to hold an annual neighborhood sustainability summit and
ensure that one or two volunteers in each neighborhood received the Train-the-Trainer training
and were trained and part of the Community Emergency Response Team. They considered a
goal that the City would adopt a policy that new City buildings were to meet the Living Building
Challenge. Monahan planned to follow up with the staff about a deconstruction/demolition
ordinance, as requested by the Mayor. The group talked about influencing the Parks planning
staff to make the Parks Master Plan as sustainable as possible and influencing the City to make
the water conservation program more aggressive. They noted the community would be more
resilient if the Clackamas River water level went down if every resident retrofitted their home
with water saving toilets and other water efficiency improvements. The City might have
hundreds of thousands of dollars more revenue to use for conservation if it raised water rates a
nickel. They equated City investment in water conservation with electric utility investment in
conservation, helping people to reduce electricity use to avoid building a new plant. Millhauser
advised the City was supporting water quality protection planning of the Clackamas watershed.
Millhauser recalled at their last meeting the Board seemed to be inclined to fold the Climate
Acton Plan initiative into the Comprehensive Plan update process. She advised that if they
wanted to do that they should specifically ask for it. There had to be a citizen involvement
process that supported it. Monahan cautioned that residents might not be ready for that.
Brown suggested Uplands might be a good candidate neighborhood for planning a “20-minute
neighborhood.” Monahan suggested the City and the School District could negotiate an
agreement to use closed school sites for neighborhood commercial development. Brown
suggested the initiative could start with encouraging people working at home or in their
garages. The City could establish a task force to determine how to integrate commercial use
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Minutes of November 3, 2010
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into residential neighborhoods. Millhauser clarified that there likely would be no major
rezoning during the Comprehensive Plan update process. The SAB planned to continue to work
on setting goals at their next meeting on November 15th.
ADJOURNMENT
The next regular meeting was scheduled on Monday, November 15, 2010. There being no
further business Co-chair Brown adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Millhauser
Sustainability Coordinator
L:\Boards & Commissions\SAB\Minutes\2010\LO SAB2010 11-03 special meeting APPROVED.doc