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Agenda Packet - 2024-05-20AGENDA Sustainability Advisory Board 20 May 2024 6:30 – 8:30 pm Willow A Room, Lake Oswego Maintenance Center, 17601 Pilkington Rd Staff Contact: Amanda Watson, awatson@lakeoswego.city 503-635-0291 380 A AVENUE PO BOX 369 LAKE OSWEGO, OR 97034 WWW.LAKEOSWEGO.CITY Virtual Access This meeting will be held in person. To participate remotely, please email the staff contact at least 24 hours before the meeting. ADA Accommodation Requests lakeoswego.city/accommodation 503-635-0282; Relay 711 Please allow four business days to process your request. Translation Services Traducción o interpretación 翻译或传译 통역혹은번역 503-534-5738 Jay Hamachek, Co-Chair ∙ Whitney Street, Co-Chair ∙ Buzz Chandler ∙ Matt Schaeffer ∙ Kara Orvieto Ashley Robin Palao Bastardes ∙ Mark Puhlman ∙ Nathan Chen ∙ Margaux McCloskey 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES April 15, 2024 Meeting Minutes 4. PUBLIC COMMENT The purpose of Public Comment is to allow community members to present information or raise an issue regarding items not on the agenda or regarding agenda items that do not include a public hearing. A time limit of three minutes per individual shall apply. Public Comment will not exceed thirty minutes in total. If you are unable to attend the meeting and prefer to provide public comment in writing, please email the comment to the staff contact listed above at least 24 hours before the meeting. 5. CITY COUNCIL UPDATE (10 mins) (Information) 6. YOUTH MEMBER UPDATES (5 mins) (Information) 7. ELECTRIFY OREGON CAMPAIGN (30 mins) (Information) Presentation from Linda Ganzini, Lake Oswego Sustainability Network 8. EXPANDED RECYCLING SERVICES (45 min) (Information, Discussion) 9. FARMER’S MARKET DEBRIEF (10 min) (Discussion) 10. STAFF & BOARD UPDATES (5 min) (Information) 11. ADJOURNMENT Next Meeting: June 17, 2024, 6:30 – 8:30 pm ATTACHMENTS: April 15 Draft Meeting Minutes City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 1 of 6 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 DRAFT Call to Order / Roll Call Whitney Street called the April 2024 meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board to order at 6:31 pm. Members Present: Jay Hamachek, Kara Orvieto, Robin Palao, Mark Puhlman, Whitney Street, Nathan Chen, Margaux McCloskey Members Excused/Absent: Buzz Chandler, Matt Schaeffer Staff: Councilor Trudy Corrigan, Amanda Watson Public: Duke Castle, Larry Thompson Approval of Minutes Whitney made a motion to approve the minutes from the March 2024 meeting, Robin seconded, motion approved. Public Comment None. Duke Castle from the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network wanted to provide comments after the presentation on the EV Charging Strategy. Regular Business A. City Council Update Councilor Corrigan provided updates on the City Council’s work over the past month. The City Council only had one meeting since SAB’s last meeting. At the April 2 meeting, the Council adopted a Regional Water Providers Consortium revised intergovernmental agreement, annexed two parcels of land on Goodall Road, held a joint study session with the Planning Commission on housing production strategies, and received an annual update from the Police Department. B. Youth Member Updates Nathan provided an update on his research on the utilization of heat in solar panels, which he presented at a fair recently. One of the technologies is a thermoelectric generator, which could potentially harness energy at night by absorbing the heat from the ground. C. Transportation System Plan and Pathways Projects Will Farley, the City’s Traffic Engineer and liaison to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), provided an overview of the City’s transportation plans, what TAB will be focused on, and potential areas for collaboration with SAB. Guiding plans include the Lake Oswego Comprehensive Plan, which will be updated in the near future to comply with housing policy changes and Climate Friendly Equitable Communities (CFEC) rules, Transportation System Plan (TSP), and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). TAB advises City Council and the Budget Committee on which TSP projects to work towards next. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 2 of 6 The TSP was most recently updated in 2014, with an amendment in 2017. The TSP will need to be updated for CFEC rules; staff are planning for a major update in 2029 in cooperation with ODOT, but are looking a possible interim update in the next year or so to add in some projects that have been identified such as the Stafford-McVey Corridor Vision Study. The TSP identified over 200 projects, 132 of which are bicycle or pedestrian focused, 3 transit projects, and 58 roadway or intersections projects. Since 2014 the City has completed 7 pathways projects and has another 5 currently under design for construction. One of the transit projects, installing bus shelters along Boone’s Ferry Road, has been completed. Will noted some people ask why the City isn’t making more progress on the project list; the reason is projects are super expensive. For 2023-2025, the City has budgeted for pavement rehabilitation; the Lakeview Boulevard project; a significant increase in funding from the Street Maintenance Fee to finish the remaining Pathways projects in group one and start the design and construction of the next 5 pathways projects identified by TAB; intersection improvements; the Jean/Pilkington signal project. Will reviewed the sources of funding for the Street Fund for City transportation projects. The Transportation Advisory Board developed a scoring system to prioritize TSP projects, focusing on providing a safe walking/biking route to schools, that is based on the functional classification of the roadway (arterials get highest priority), school type (prioritizing elementary schools), proximity to a school, and completion of gaps. In 2021, City Council goal increased funding for safe routes to school pathways projects; $2.2m reallocated from pavement preservation for design and beginning construction on first four prioritized projects: Douglas Way, Hallinan St, Boca Ratan, Lanewood St/Douglas Circle. All but Lanewood St/Douglas Circle, which is still under design, were completed in the fall of last year. With the increase of the Street Maintenance Fee in 2023, the department got an additional $4m to design the next set of pathways projects recommended by TAB: Pilkington Rd (2 projects), Meadowlark Ln, Tree Trop Ln, Carman Dr. Projects are expected to begin design this summer with public input, with goal to start construction next summer. The next four projects will require a lot of funding and probably a grant from Metro to get them constructed. Will’s goal for TAB’s group three will be to look at segments of these projects that can be completed. Mark noted that Forest Highlands Neighborhood Association has looked at the Goodall Rd pathway quite extensively; there is a development a block away from Knaus that will be required to put in a section of sidewalk and a variance could have them put it in on the other side of the street for connectivity, which the developer is open to; Will will check on this. The future plan for Goodall was to have sidewalks on both sides of the street. TAB’s next steps are to recommend the next group of projects for funding starting in 2025, expected to be discussed starting in July. Will will also be engaging TAB on the City’s bicycle networks, trying to start the same conversation of making whole routes that people can use to ride from work to home, or recreational routes, to build more comfortable connections for bikers. They will also be working on an interim update of the TSP to include McVey/Stafford Corridor Study projects. At this Thursday’s meeting, TAB is going to start looking at the “20 is Plenty” program. Kara asked about the recreational bike routes—in the context of the Parks 2040 Plan project there have been talks about routes connecting parks, does that play into this? Will said it can, he’s working on getting the information together now about what routes do exist and mapping it out with the GIS team. Kara asked about emergent projects that may arise outside of the TSP, and how they can be funded. Will gave the example of the Habitat for Humanity Project on Boone’s Ferry Road, for which a traffic study identified a need for a left turn and signal improvement. This came from the developer, not the TSP. The City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 3 of 6 City does have some flexibility in funding but for development-driven projects, much of the funding comes from the developer. Jay asked about the McVey-Childs intersection—is anything going to be done to relieve the afternoon traffic, and improve pedestrian/bike access? Will recommended Jay tune in to the City Council meeting tomorrow evening when Clackamas County will be presenting. Stafford & Childs is in Clackamas County, not the City’s jurisdiction, and Clackamas County is working on a safety project in that area. They are proposing a roundabout at the Stafford & Childs intersection, which will include bike lanes and sidewalks. Amanda asked how SAB can stay updated or weigh in on the transportation topics they are interested in. TAB has public comment open at their quarterly meetings and SAB can take a look at their agendas. For the July meeting they will be looking at school pathways, wrapping up any next steps on 20 is Plenty. He hopes to schedule the bike routes discussion for October. Whitney asked how SAB can support; Will says it’s hard to say, but one way could be advocating in budgets for more money to spend on pathways projects or bike lane projects. D. Citywide EV Charging Strategy Amanda presented an update on the EV Charging Strategy project, seeking SAB’s input on an initial set of strategies for the City to consider before she brings it to City Council. She reminded the Board of the project objectives, to support the City’s transportation electrification goals and make sure the benefits of transportation electrification are equitably distributed. She noted that most of the EV-related goals in the SCAP involve the City partnering with other groups (e.g. community groups, developers, PGE). There are a lot of supporting transportation electrification policies at the state and federal level that should help us meet our goals. Currently, close to 8% of all light duty vehicles registered in Lake Oswego are EVs. LO is one of the leading communities in terms of EV adoption in Oregon. Publicly available data from Plugshare and Alternative Fuels Data Center shows that there are 45 L2 charging ports (10 of which are City-owned) and 8 DCFC charging ports in Lake Oswego; Amanda is working on ground-truthing this, some of these are restricted to tenants only or may have limited parking hours. The survey SAB and the City put out in October 2023 aligned with national research findings that the majority of EV owners charge at home and charging at home was the number one choice for prospective EV owners. Amanda showed a map of existing EV charging stations and multifamily properties in LO. There are areas of the city like Mountain Park that don’t have any publicly available charging stations. People who are most likely to be public charging users in Lake Oswego are residents who lack access to at-home charging, including residents of multifamily buildings and renters, commuters, visitors to parks and businesses, and transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft (this group was a focus in the State of Oregon’s EV charging needs analysis, but not sure how prominent in LO). The State’s Transportation Electrification Infrastructure Needs Analysis estimated how much charging is needed to meet Oregon’s EV adoption goals. Results of the city-level TEINA tool for Lake Oswego showed that much more charging would be needed by 2035. It is interesting because at the current level of EV adoption in Lake Oswego, around 8%, the analysis shows that we need many more chargers than we currently have supporting that number of vehicles. The analysis also calls for more workplace L2 charging than public L2. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 4 of 6 Amanda presented the initial draft set of strategies for the City to consider to address gaps in EV charging, organized into three types: educate, enable, and install. In the educate category, the City and partners could conduct targeted outreach and education to multifamily building owners and residents and to local businesses about benefits and types of charging, available financial incentives for installation, and strategies for installation. Amanda has discussed with Duke Castle and the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network is potentially interested in doing some of this targeted outreach to multifamily communities. In the enable category, the City could adopt more stringent EV-ready requirements for new developments than what is required by the State; this is something that was allowed by the Climate Friendly Equitable Communities rules, and the City of Portland did this last year. The City could also require developers to provide for EV charging in the right-of-way when a housing project doesn’t provide any parking. The City could also consider providing incentives for businesses and building owners to install public chargers, such as fee waivers for electrical permits. The City can also develop criteria to identify priority locations for charging stations and help direct private investment, or install EV charging way finding signage for public charging. Finally, the City could consider developing a right-of-way charging program that allows businesses to install chargers in the ROW or residents to extend chargers to the curb using a cord cover. There are some safety concerns to take into account there as well as competing uses of the right of way, but some other cities including Seattle have right-of-way charging programs so it’s something to consider. For installation strategies, the City could partner with PGE on an Electric Avenue charging station project and/or pole-mounted charging demonstration project. The City could also install City-owned stations or contract for charging-as-a-service for chargers in the right of way or at City facilities. More charging stations will be installed at City facilities because this is a separate goal and the City will be working on a sustainable buildings policy this year, and we expect that will include charging requirements. Jay commented that after owning a Tesla for 6 months, he has learned that with a L1 charger it would take days to charge his car, with L2 charger it would be 5-8 hours which is good for at home or work, but tying up downtown parking for that long would have an economic effect. He has a concern about L1 or L2 pole-mounted chargers downtown reducing turnover in parking spots for shopping and restaurants. It would be interesting to see an economic multiplier applied to charging strategy. DC fast chargers are more expensive, but do we get more economic activity in the downtown corridor by installing them? Whitney asked about tracking charger usage. Amanda is conducting outreach to multifamily building owners and hoping to get some information on usage from them; currently the City only has data for City- owned chargers, and the most popular is the A Avenue charger followed by chargers at City Hall. Regarding the TEINA charging needs analysis, Whitney pointed out that according to our survey results, currently only around 20% of EV owners charge outside of their home, and the TEINA data is projecting needs for 40% of EV owners to rely on public charging. Kara asked, since the City would have control over expanding EV charging on City-owned properties, if there is government funding for charging infrastructure, is there some easily accessible stuff that the City can do to get the ball rolling? For example, West Lake Park, where people go for a concert or ball game and are there for a couple of hours, or the ACC where people are there for classes. She is also thinking of newer denser neighborhoods where it’s up to the developer to provide off-street parking. Can the City matchmake with them on funding, push them to do it and then tell them about how to get funded? She also suggested partnering with the school district to have EV charging at the schools. At the high schools especially, a lot of kids may be driving EVs in addition to teachers. Amanda reached out to LOSD before the meeting to ask about charging at schools and there is a little bit of hesitancy about owning and City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 5 of 6 maintaining charging, but it’s on their radar. Margot noted that the school district is talking about bus electrification, but many people still drive rather than take the bus so should also think about EV charging for cars. Amanda will continue to talk to school district staff. Mark noted that Lake Oswego has a large population of people who drive in to work; not many people who live here work here. He thinks the best bang for the buck would be for multifamily housing to require 100% EV-ready, not just for new construction but require retrofitting, and that multiple EV charging units be installed in the parking lots of different restaurants and large business buildings where a lot of people commute in to work. He recommends staying away from pole chargers in downtown, like Jay said you don’t want someone staying in a parking spot for 5 hours to charge. Amanda said she is not sure if there is a way that the City could require retrofitting for existing buildings but she will look into it. Robin noted the importance of collaborating with PGE to understand electrical capacity constraints and which locations would be best for chargers based on electrical infrastructure. Kara noted condo associations are going to be tough, but for upscale rental communities, of which there are many in Mountain Park, that are refreshing apartments to attract renters that can pay higher rent, it might be in their financial interest to offer EV charging as a selling point. There may be a way to hook up those management companies with funding to help them put chargers in; that might be a low-hanging fruit more so than condos. Duke Castle from LOSN expressed that he is delighted to see this project moving forward after working on the topic for several years with SAB. If the City can’t get funding from PGE and others right away he hopes the City Council would fund some demonstration projects, doesn’t think they would necessarily be that expensive. As an example, Duke gave pole-mounted charging—a lot of cities are doing this and it can be less expensive. Seattle asked residents where they would like pole-mounted charging stations to be, and conducted outreach to neighbors to ask if they wanted charging stations there. To Jay’s point about charging taking up parking spots for a long time, Duke pointed out that for the A Avenue chargers, drivers start to pay an additional fee after 2 hours of charging, and although it can take hours to fully charge a car most people don’t fully charge. Kara noted that car companies don’t recommend charging above 80%. Mark noted that the affordable housing project on Boone’s Ferry Road is only planning for 75% of their residents having charging, should look into charging in that area to support the 25% of people who won’t have a place to charge. Amanda noted that this is also where transit can come in, that EV charging and electric vehicles are one part of a larger strategy and where possible we want to get people out of cars, but Mark’s point is a good one that we need to look at new affordable developments and make sure there is good access to charging there. Amanda is doing more outreach to building owners and internal City stakeholders, and then will be bringing the draft strategy to City Council, maybe in June (date TBD). E. Farmers’ Market Planning SAB will be tabling at the Farmers’ Market on May 18 and discussed what they would like to focus on at their table. Jay pointed out there are tax credits for EVs and PGE rebates for EV chargers and panel upgrades, we should get that information from PGE to have at SAB’s table, in addition to information on what cars qualify for EV tax credits, and solar incentives. It is one of SAB’s priorities and would be more of a benefit if SAB could provide that kind of information, if someone were interested in getting solar for their house for example. Amanda can pull some handouts together and asked SAB members to share any City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 15, 2024 Page 6 of 6 useful resources they may come across with her. Robin stressed it is important to make sure this information is accurate and up to date to changes since the Inflation Reduction Act passed. Kara suggested SAB be more focused in sharing resources related to SAB’s goals. For example, including something saying “interested in ditching your gas-powered lawn equipment?” and here’s how much it will cost to do so. SAB members recommended including QR codes that link to the City’s website and other good sources of information, like LOSN or Quiet Clean PDX. Jay noted that the Farmer’s Market is a unique opportunity with a lot of people coming by to get the pulse of what the public thinks about gas-powered landscape equipment: it is an issue, what are the drawbacks of going electric (which may not be drawbacks), and understand what the questions are. It’s important to seek out the outside opinions. Kara suggested having a board with a question like, “what’s preventing you from having an EV (or replacing your landscaping equipment)?” to collect feedback. Board members agreed an activity where people could add dots or sticky notes to answer a focused question would be an effective way to engage. F. Staff & Board Updates Amanda reminded the Board about this Saturday’s Sustainability Resource Fair from 10 am – 1 pm and asked which SAB members will be attending: Kara, Whitney, and Jay will be there. Mark will be there with LOSN. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm. Respectfully submitted, Amanda Watson Sustainability Program Manager