Approved Minutes - 2023-09-18City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes
September 18, 2023
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CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO
Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes
September 18, 2023
Approved
Call to Order / Roll Call
Jay Hamachek called the July 2023 meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board to order at 6:32 pm.
Members Present: Buzz Chandler, Jay Hamachek, Matt Schaeffer, Kara Orvieto,
Robin Palao, Mark Puhlman, Whitney Street, Nathan Chen
Margaux McCloskey, Matthew Coleman
Members Excused/Absent: Jeanne Enders
Staff: Mayor Joe Buck, Quin Brunner, Anthony Hooper
Public: Amanda Schweickert (WSP), Tim LeClair (WSP), Chris West
Approval of Minutes
Buzz made a motion to approve the minutes from the August 28th meeting as written, the minutes were
approved unanimously.
Public Comment
None.
Regular Business
A. City Council Update
Mayor Buck shared updates relating to:
• The City’s implementation of the Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules. He shared
that the City is taking a phased approach to implementation. Phase I removed parking standards
for new downtown developments, allowing the market to determine parking needs. Council’s
focus has now shifted to Phase II, where they are considering a menu of policy actions.
o Jay added that SAB is interested in addressing EV charging deserts, and asked if there are
ways, while considering parking policy, to incentivize EV charging installation. Mayor Buck
shared that EV readiness in new developments was a requirement of Phase I and would
be extended.
• The Rassekh Park groundbreaking on September 28th. This project is also organized into two
phases – Phase I is under construction and includes the skatepark and foundational elements
while Phase II will include the playground and athletic field.
• The successful Cultural Xchange event last Sunday.
• Proclamations celebrating National Recovery Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.
• A Council study session on the proposed Vertical Housing Development Zone pilot at the North
Anchor site. This would be a partial tax abatement, 20% per residential floor for 10 years, aimed
at incentivizing denser residential development.
Buzz asked for an update on the Habitat for Humanity development. Mayor Buck shared that the City
Council approved the vacation of a right-of-way that had been obstructing development.
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September 18, 2023
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Jay asked for an update of the Hacienda development. Mayor Buck shared that the developer had been
selected, that their concept plan had been approved by Clackamas County, and is now going to Metro for
review.
Jay asked for an update on the LOSD bus barn. Mayor Buck shared that the neighborhood had appealed
the proposal to the Land Use Board of Appeals, and, following that decision, could end up in the courts.
Mayor Buck added that the Youth Advisory Board members would be attending a Snow Cone Social next
weekend, along with members of the Youth Leadership Council, Youth Action Council, Library Teen
Advisory Board, and Junior Camp Counselors.
B. Sustainability Considerations for the Wastewater Treatment Facility Project
Deputy City Manager Hooper, along with Tim LeClair and Amanda Schwickert from WSP, presented
updates on the Wastewater Treatment Facility project and solicited recommendations on two specific
aspects of the project. After deliberation, detailed below, SAB unanimously advanced two
recommendations:
• Council should not pursue Envision certification at this time.
• Council should amend the City’s contract with EPCOR to include the cost of design, as well as
necessary structural modifications, to allow for any future reclaimed water connections.
Deputy City Manager Hooper provided background on the Wastewater Treatment Facility project, sharing
that this project has been in the works since December 2018 and that he has presented to Council sixteen
times since project inception. His team determined that building a new facility would be more cost-
effective than renovating the existing facility. The City hired EPCOR to design and operate the plant, they
are now at 90% design and will be going before Council for a go/no-go vote anticipated for late January.
Amanda Schweickert presented an overview of the Envision assessment tool and WSP’s preliminary
evaluation of the Lake Oswego project. Amanda shared that twenty-four Wastewater Treatment projects
in North America have received this certification, and that 42% of projects have received a silver-level
certification (although most use version two of the guidance manual, a less rigorous iteration than the
current version three). Amanda used version three of the Envision guidance manual to conduct her
preliminary assessment and the Lake Oswego project achieved 43% of potential actions, putting the
project in line for gold-level certification. Amanda added that the City’s team would need to compile
substantially more documentation to receive the certification. Deputy City Manager Hooper clarified that
the cost to do so would be approximately $500,000 + 50% financing cost, $750,000 total.
Robin asked about potential benefits of the certification – are there financing pools that open or investors
who use Envision as a screening tool? Anthony shared that he is unaware of any additional dollars that
would be available and offered that the city already was awarded a WIFIA grant, public financing that
reduced the project cost substantially. Envision is not a part of our funding strategy. Anthony shared that
the Full Faith and Credit Bonds + WIFIA, our current funding strategy, could not be beat by the private
market.
Margaux asked if the City would remain eligible for certification post-construction. Amanda shared that
yes, after-the-fact certification remains an option, but it is challenging to receive a higher score as the
project team loses the opportunity to tweak for points as they build. Matt Schaeffer asked what other
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September 18, 2023
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project priorities could be funded if the $750,000 were not spent on Envision and Deputy City Manager
Hooper referred to the reclaimed water project to be discussed.
Deputy City Manager Hooper presented a summary of the Green House Gas Emissions Inventory
conducted by Carollo Engineers. He shared a breakdown of projected emission sources, noting that 75%
comes from purchased electricity. The report from Carollo estimated the total annual CO2 emissions from
the plant to be 1,513 megatons. Deputy City Manger Hooper highlighted that the Lake Oswego
Wastewater Treatment Facility shows better performance relative to other WWTPs and that the
AquaNereda AGS technology used in plant produces approximately 1/10th of the emissions of MBR, the
existing standard technology. Robin asked about purchasing emission offsets and Deputy City Manager
Hooper shared that the City already does this for other large plants and noted that this would be a future
Council decision.
Deputy City Manager Hooper then solicited input on the reclaimed water project add-on, outlining how
this portion of the project emerged from a Sustainability Advisory Board recommendation during his last
visit. He shared that there are only five or six Class A reclaimed water projects of this variety in Oregon.
Deputy City Manager Hooper shared a total project cost of $3.3 million, $1.5M for plant design and
equipment installation with the rest coming from monitoring and testing, noting that this project is not
financially viable when mapped using the limited planned uses over the plant’s thirty-year projected
lifespan.
Matt Schaeffer pointed to Margaux’s earlier question – is this something we can plan for now without
breaking ground? Tim shared that most of the system the City could choose to install later, the design and
select in-plant upgrades and layouts being the only components that have to happen immediately. Tim
shared that the estimated cost to do this work, to plan for future installation, would be around $500,000
+ 50% financing, $750,000 total.
C. Strategies to Increase Public Access to EV Chargers
Jay opened the conversation on strategies to increase access to public charging stations. He shared
reflections from the table at the Farmers’ Market, noting there were lots of survey takers and that
encouraging non-EV owners to take the survey should remain a priority. Kara shared background on PGE
relationship dynamics and put forward the possibility of installing EV charging stations on publicly owned
utility poles.
D. Updates & Announcements from Board and Staff
• Quin shared that the Library Visioning process had concluded and thanked SAB members for their
input.
• Additionally, Quin noted that there have been 290 responses to the EV charging survey and
encouraged members to continue promoting throughout their networks.
• Finally, the group previewed the Electrification Fair on Saturday and Quin shared the list of those
who had signed up to table.
Meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Quin Brunner
Management Analyst