Loading...
Approved Minutes - 2024-11-18City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes November 18, 2024 Page 1 of 4 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes November 18, 2024 Approved Call to Order / Roll Call Whitney Street called the November meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board to order at 6:35 pm. Members Present: Lisa Helfer, Kara Orvieto, Robin Palao, Mark Puhlman, Whitney Street, Mason Klein, Luna Flores Members Excused/Absent: Buzz Chandler, Jay Hamachek Staff: Councilor Trudy Corrigan, Amanda Watson Public: Albert Kaufman, Kathleen Wiens, Jeff Wiens, Carrie Vanderwagen, Diana Schmidt, Betsy Wosko and Erin Cushing Approval of Minutes None; October meeting minutes are still being prepared. Public Comment Public comment on gas-powered leaf blowers was held until after that agenda item; no other public comments. Regular Business A. City of Portland Gas Leaf Blower Phase-Out Sonrisa Cooper, Sustainable Economy & Just Transition Analyst from the City of Portland and John Wasiutynski, Director of Multnomah County Office of Sustainability, presented on the City of Portland’s Equitable Gas Leaf Blower Phase-Out ordinance passed by Portland City Council in March 2024. The goal of the policy is to improve public health and quality of life for residents and landscape workers by eliminating the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in the community. It is an equitable, environmental justice-centered policy that minimizes impacts on landscape workers and small businesses in the landscaping industry. Multnomah County and the City of Portland began exploring a policy in 2018, Portland City Council directed Portland bureaus to transition away from gas powered leaf blowers in 2019 and Multnomah County did the same for County departments in 2021. In 2022, Portland and Multnomah County convened a workgroup of public sector staff, landscaping industry representatives, and nonprofit organizations that developed recommendations to phase out the use and sale of gas leaf blowers in Portland. Portland’s adopted policy just focuses on use. Policy was driven by nonprofit organizations and advocates in the environmental space, especially Quiet Clean PDX, focused on health risks from leaf blower exhaust and noise. Feedback from landscaping industry representatives was that electric leaf blowers are not yet ready to replace gas at the commercial scale, especially during the wet leaf season, so a seasonal carve-out (Oct-Dec) was needed until technology improves over the next few years. For City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes November 18, 2024 Page 2 of 4 large property owners, safety was their biggest priority; leaf blowers help them avoid slip and fall incidents; some were on 3-year budget cycles which also had influence on timing of transition. Portland’s policy phases out the use of backpack and hand-held gas-powered leaf blowers over a 2-year period, giving people time to replace gas equipment and time for electric leaf blower technology to improve. After 2028, when gas leaf blowers are prohibited year-round, there are still exceptions allowed for inclement weather as determined by City. Violations under the policy only apply to property owners (using their own equipment or hiring a company), not to contractors or property managers, so small businesses and landscape workers don’t bear brunt of enforcement, and to help with administration (can use tax assessor data to identify property owner). Owners can apply for an extension to make electrical upgrades for charging if they need more time to comply. BPS will recommend any code amendments by September 30, 2028, in case leaf blower technology hasn’t improved by then. Implementation will be managed by Multnomah County—enforcement, incentives, and outreach and education. Enforcement will be complaint based and start with a warning and education before civil penalties. Eligible businesses can apply for an equipment rebate. Hired a Program Manager at the County to lead outreach and education, which has started. John Wasiutynski talked about the politics behind the policy; there was a close collaboration between Commissioner Rubio and County Chair Pederson, who were both on the workgroup last year; getting the policy done was important to both of them. Advocacy from Quiet Clean PDX to educate and garner support was crucial. He thinks that this policy is the central policy of our time – gas-powered leaf blowers have noise and pollution impacts and so do all other fossil fuel powered, internal combustion engines – the challenge for society is how we phase out these technologies to switch to all-electric options. Other benefits of electric leaf blowers, in addition to less noise and pollution, is that they are cheaper to operate and don’t break down as often, producing less toxic waste (batteries can also be recycled). Sonrisa and John took questions from the Board. Kara asked how they would be supporting small landscaping businesses with incentives. John explained the phase out timeline plus outreach happening now will help businesses to plan, as compared with an immediate ban, because the average lifespan for a backpack gas powered leaf blower is about 3 years. 4 year phase in was also based on feedback from Oregon Landscape Contractors Association, when they expect electric technology will have full parity in price and performance with gas-powered equipment. The County also has a grant of $100,000 plus additional budget allocated by the Board which will provide some post-market rebates for businesses to assist with the initial transition. Mark noted that studies from California showed that electric equipment can pay off higher upfront costs with operational savings within 10 months. Sonrisa clarified that feedback they’ve gotten about limitations of electric equipment is not about the power as much as battery life and charging time. California’s statewide ban on gas-powered lawn equipment, and interest from consumers in electric services, will help continue to move the market. Robin asked how the policy is accounting for all of the gas equipment that can no longer be used or sold in the secondary market; who bears the cost of all of the equipment that needs to be disposed of? Kara asked if the County would be coordinating collection events or if companies would be responsible for disposal. John noted that this is the state of the market today, where this equipment wears out; it can be brought to a Metro waste facility and/or scrapped for metal. For the rebate program, Multnomah County is not planning to create a take-back program or ask companies to turn in their equipment for a rebate. Since the policy is limited to Portland, landscaping companies can also still utilize their gas- powered tools in other places like Clackamas County or Lake Oswego. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes November 18, 2024 Page 3 of 4 Kara asked if there is a plan to expand the policy beyond leaf blowers to other gas-powered lawn tools. John shared that feedback from OLCA was that leaf blowers were the hardest equipment to electrify; large, campus-sized lawn mowers maybe also more challenging but smaller handheld tools like hedge trimmers, chainsaws were easier to electrify. Portland doesn’t currently have plans to go beyond leaf blowers; the other types of lawn equipment don’t elicit the same amount of concern from people, they are not used for as long as leaf blowers. Lisa asked if they had seen any collective action from neighborhoods, such as a block collaborating to share the cost of electric tools. Sonrisa hadn’t, but noted there are a lot of behavioral changes for more sustainable lawn care, like leaving the leaves, that the city doesn’t have direct control over, but could be an important part of an educational campaign. The city’s focus has been on the landscaping businesses, since it’s more difficult for them to transition than a property owner who owns their own tools. Luna asked if Portland had received any pushback from the community about buying electric leaf blowers, and if there are specific incentives at the individual level for leaf blowers. John replied the incentives from the County are intended for commercial lawn care providers, in particular smaller companies for whom upfront cost is more of a barrier, but not individuals. It’s a sale on use, not on purchase. They thought about a ban on sales but felt it would disadvantage businesses who might have customers from other areas wanting to buy gas equipment. The ideal solution would be for Oregon to adopt a statewide ban on sales like California. Amanda asked how enforcement would work. Multnomah County has hired 1 FTE and are anticipating enforcement to be an education push at first, and be complaint driven. There will be an online form that someone who witnesses a violation can use; the County will send a letter to the property owner that there was a complaint and explain the policy, and then have enforcement tools for subsequent violations. BPS still needs to write the rules for the ordinance, and the City and County have to get the Intergovernmental Agreement in place to articulate some of the more granular detail of the enforcement processes, like having the City’s Hearing Officer review an appeal. Members of the public who attended the meeting asked their questions and shared comments. Kathleen Wiens has been working on this issue since prior to 2017; she asked if they had made any progress on securing funding from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to support the transition. John said they had discussions with the program and they have talked about putting forward a request in one of their upcoming grant rounds. Sonrisa added that PCEF is supporting the Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau with their transition to electric equipment, including upgrading their maintenance shops across the city. Kathleen recommended Multnomah County’s new program manager check out LOSN’s website which has lots of information on sustainable landscaping. John noted that talking to colleagues at Lake Oswego Parks & Recreation about what has and hasn’t been working for them was really informative and helped get their policy over the finish line. Carrie Vanderwagen asked about how the City and County engaged OLCA. John shared that OLCA was pretty receptive; they primarily represent larger companies and cover a large area of the state, so Portland’s policy maybe didn’t seem like too big of a thing. They are also seeing a lot more requests from customers for all-electric equipment so to some extent see that the transition is going to have to happen. OLCA also has a longstanding relationship with Quiet Clean PDX. Kathleen Wiens shared that LOSN had landscaping companies at their Home Electrification Fair this fall, talking about electric equipment, and are hoping to hold an event in Lake Oswego in the coming year that is focused on engaging landscaping companies. Would like to know if there might be interest from City of Portland and Multnomah County to collaborate on a bigger event. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes November 18, 2024 Page 4 of 4 Betsy Wosko commented that she hoped landscaping workers were not lost in this conversation. They can suffer hearing loss from using the equipment, and many are economically vulnerable, are minorities, and or may not have health insurance. They should be protected in addition to businesses. Albert Kaufman from Quiet Clean PDX commented to suggest that Lake Oswego look at what the City of Oakland did with their ban, which covered all gas-powered tools and only had a 6 month timeline. From what he understands there has not been much trouble with enforcement and he feels the longer timeline of Portland’s policy is unnecessary. B. City Council Update Councilor Corrigan provided an update on the one City Council meeting that took place since the last SAB meeting. The City Council received an update on the Regional Garbage System Facilities Plan from Metro, met the City’s new municipal prosecutor, proclaimed Native American Heritage Month, held a public hearing and adopted amendments related to the Stormwater Management Plan, and adopted the City’s Housing Production Strategy. C. Youth Member Updates Mason is interested in encouraging more walking, biking, and bus riding to his school; most people drive. He would also like to establish a student sustainability representative for the school. He’s been thinking of approaching the school administration. SAB members provided some recommendations; Luna recommended starting with getting support from the sustainability club at school; and Kara suggested that Mason connect with Dorothy Atwood who leads school sustainability efforts for LOSN. Luna has a capstone project for her Climate Action and Sustainability class and is deciding on a topic. Board members provided some suggestions. Luna thought she might focus on getting her school to transition to electric landscaping equipment. E. Staff & Board Updates Amanda shared that at the November 19 City Council meeting she would be presenting on the Solid Waste and Recycling Rates report from the City’s rate consultant, and Director Numanoglu will be leading a study session with the Council on tree code updates. Councilor Corrigan shared an update on the South Shore Fire Station Task Force. The group looked at response time and GIS data under scenarios with and without the South Shore Fire Station and concluded that Lake Oswego does need four fire stations; the next question will be where is the ideal spot for the station in the SW quadrant. Meeting adjourned at 8:02 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Amanda Watson Sustainability Program Manager