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Approved Minutes - 2024-03-18City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 18, 2024 Page 1 of 4 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 18, 2024 Approved Call to Order / Roll Call Whitney Street called the March 2024 meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board to order at 6:32 pm. Members Present: Buzz Chandler, Jay Hamachek, Kara Orvieto, Mark Puhlman, Matt Schaeffer, Whitney Street, Nathan Chen, Margaux McCloskey, Matthew Coleman (Alternate) Members Excused/Absent: Robin Palao Staff: Councilor Trudy Corrigan, Amanda Watson Public: Edward Conrad Approval of Minutes Whitney made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 2024 meeting with one edit fixing a typographical error, Buzz seconded, motion approved. Whitney also made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 2023 meeting minutes, Mark seconded, motion approved. Public Comment None. Regular Business A. City Council Update Councilor Corrigan provided updates on City Council’s work over the past month: • Proclaimed National Drug and Alcohol Fact Week, Women’s History Month, and Disability Awareness Month. • Applied for an Oregon Parks & Recreation Department grant for phase 2 of Rassekh Park project. • Adopted standards and procedures for hiring a new municipal judge. • Executed a contract for the purchase of advanced water metering infrastructure system for $1.9m. Residents will have an app that they can use to monitor their water consumption. • Issued a $16.5m bond for the wastewater treatment plant project to complete property purchases and pay for design. • Held study sessions on the ADA Annual Progress Report, Arts Council update, Parks & Recreation CAPRA Accreditation. Councilor Corrigan also shared that LOSN has a plan for an “electrify your landscaping” campaign. Mark added that LOSN’s campaign will include writing letters to the editor, expanded electric landscaping presence at October EV fair, and a plan to partner with the City and AGZA on an electric expo for landscapers in 2025. Amanda noted City Council has received a number of comments lately related to landscape equipment, in response to the City of Portland’s passing their ordinance last week, both in favor of and against a ban in Lake Oswego. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 18, 2024 Page 2 of 4 B. Youth Member Updates Margaux shared that her high school Green Team will have a table at the Sustainability Resource Fair this year. They are deciding what they will focus on at their table. C. Parks Plan 2040 Update Kara is the Sustainability Advisory Board liaison on the Parks Plan 2024 Citizen Advisory Council (CAC) and gave an update on the project, which will be updating the 15-year strategic plan for the City’s Parks system. The CAC includes representatives of other City advisory boards and Neighborhood Associations and has been meeting quarterly. So far the Parks project team and consultants have done a lot of information gathering and community engagement, including community kick-off events, small focus groups--including one on sustainability--and a community survey. Initial findings were that people are very satisfied with parks in Lake Oswego and general preference was that the City focus on investing in existing parks and facilities. Other main goals of the plan update are a focus on equitable access to parks, a sustainable and resilient system, and working on connecting parks with trails where applicable. The CAC is going to help “ground truth” the GIS maps developed for the project that show different layers like neighborhood walkability to park facilities. The plan will not focus on specifics of things like funding and invasive species management, but more holistically on supporting a sustainable and resilient parks system, for example the ability to recover from climate impacts and continuing to preserve the urban tree canopy. Other proposed sustainability focused aspects are supporting activities like environmental education and community gardens, using locally adaptive species in landscaping, and reducing wildfire risk in the wildland-urban-interface. D. 2024 Board Priorities Work Planning The Board continued their discussion from the February meeting on work plans for their 2024 priorities. Jay noted that the Board has fallen short in advising City Council, it has been over a year since their joint meeting with City Council. Another goal of SAB should be to ensure we have a carbon inventory that is updated and focused on what is in the direct control of City activities. Amanda shared that the City is hoping to apply for federal block grant funding to support the GHG emissions inventory update. Project/Priority: Sustainable Transportation, in particular improving safety and infrastructure for walking and biking • Engineering Department staff will be coming to SAB’s April meeting to provide an overview of active transportation in the Transportation System Plan and current pathways projects. • Is there opportunity for a joint meeting with the Transportation Advisory Board? • Matt shared that there is a LOSN workgroup working on transportation related to schools, like bus electrification, and traffic and parking concerns; that connection should be made. • Mark suggested looking at land use codes that could assist in creating pathways. • Amanda will present on the EV Charging Strategy at the April SAB meeting. She will be presenting to City Council at a study session in May/June. Project/Priority: Education for residents and homeowners about what they can do to meet community climate action goals, especially on energy efficiency and clean energy. • Buzz: a long-term goal could be for the city to become a virtual power plant; small businesses and residents can convert to solar, more of it is going up around the city already. PGE has a Smart Battery pilot program in place that can draw on rooftop solar and storage systems during peak periods. This can also contribute to resilience during power outages. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 18, 2024 Page 3 of 4 • Matt: With recent rate increases, this is not only a sustainability conversation but now also a financial one. Energy conservation can help people to save money. • Kara: Most of the infrastructure we have in this country is very old, some of the power plants we rely on are over 100 years old. In the PNW and around the country we are seeing a 40- 45% increase in energy bills. The grid infrastructure does need to be upgraded. • Buzz: The US is now facing an energy shortage due to higher demand from electrification, as well as data centers for the cloud and Bitcoin mining. • Jay: PGE already has a smart grid started; it can optimize the time when an EV charges overnight, and a whole-house smart metering system can shift appliance use to off-peak hours for energy savings. It would be great to have PGE staff at the Sustainability Resource Fair who can share information about those programs. Energy Trust of Oregon also has a lot of really great programs, like grants to convert to ductless heat pumps, and it would be great to have them at the resource fair. In Central Oregon, the public utility district shares information via their website and app on your daily energy use and where you spend the most energy; it would be great if PGE could have a similar app for people to take control of their daily energy use. • Kara: there were discussions at the Boards and Commissions summit about people wanting to age in place in Lake Oswego and cost of living being a challenge. Other jurisdictions like Portland have programs to install air conditioning for elderly residents who need it; there may be a way to reach out through other city advisory boards, the ACC to see who might need that kind of support. • Amanda shared that LOSN has new initiatives focused on getting information about electrification resources to residents; she will work with SAB co-chairs to schedule LOSN to present during a future meeting. Project/Priority: Continue to research options to support transition from gas to electric landscaping equipment • Buzz reflected that SAB had been working on this issue for the four years he has been involved with the Board. In the past year, they toned it down because along with City Council they realized they were limited in what Lake Oswego could do, given the size of the city. With City of Portland adopting their ordinance this week the elephant is in the room, and SAB will have to do a lot of work to advise the City and community at large on what Lake Oswego can do. He sees some pitfalls related to Portland’s implementation. Portland, like Seattle, is only addressing leaf blowers, so instead of eliminating a source of power for landscaping tools they are putting in a separate system for only a small portion of those tools. Lake Oswego could, maybe in conjunction with West Linn and Tigard for a multi-city approach, come up with a comprehensive solution that applies to all lawn care equipment. Buzz shared an idea that households who hire a landscaping company could have dedicated batteries for electric equipment that they keep and recharge in between when the landscaper comes to their home. • Mark suggested SAB could be a source of information for landscaping companies from expert sources like AGZA, for example about battery charging technology that is more efficient. Other ideas that SAB has put forth previously are that homeowners could buy the electric equipment for their landscaper to use, e.g. “Adopt a Landscaper”. A rebate program or some kind of monetary compensation for companies to get the electric equipment will be necessary. • Matt asked if City Council adopted a goal related to landscaping equipment; Amanda clarified they had not adopted a goal for 2024 but would be reconsidering for 2025. Matt recommended the Board think of the output of this project a recommendation for a City Council calendar year 2025 goal. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes March 18, 2024 Page 4 of 4 • Matt asked what other communities have done something about this that SAB should be tracking; Amanda recommended Seattle, since they have a similar climate with wet leaves in the fall. Other cities that have adopted ordinances are Washington DC and several California cities. • Noting the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network is addressing landscaping equipment, Matt recommended SAB align with what LOSN is pushing for. E. Sustainability Resource Fair Planning The Fair will be on April 20 from 10 am – 1 pm. SAB will have a table and will need members to staff it; Amanda will send out a sign-up sheet. The Board discussed what information and resources they would like at their table. Amanda will bring the map of EV charging stations, information on EcoHome LO, Boards & Commissions recruitment, posters about recycling. Republic Services is invited and should be there for at least part of the fair, sharing information on battery recycling. Matt suggested a poster board with key highlights from the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan and what has been accomplished, illustrate what the Board is working on. Kara suggested including information on and/or samples of free resources available from the City’s water conservation program. This year’s fair will also include a sporting equipment gear swap and e-waste recycling. Kara encouraged SAB members to help advertise the fair to their networks. Matt suggested SAB members could be more active in using social media, not only to promote events but also to share information about what SAB is working on, and to intake information about what the community is talking about. Amanda clarified that she would have to work with the City’s communications team to post SAB-related content on city social media accounts, but SAB could provide input on the messaging. F. Staff & Board Updates • There is an online open house to provide input on the City’s Housing Production Strategy; Amanda will send out a link to the Board. • Boards and Commissions recruitment is opening on April 1. SAB has a couple members whose first terms are ending and are eligible to reapply. • Matt shared that the schools are doing a lot of really cool things on sustainability, all of the elementary schools will be getting gardens, he’d like to get an update from Larry Zurcher or his successor since he will be retiring. Former SAB member Stephanie Glazer is on the school’s sustainability committee and might be able to come to an SAB meeting to provide an update. Meeting adjourned at 8:21 pm. Respectfully submitted, Amanda Watson Sustainability Program Manager