CCMIN 11022021 - Laserfiche WebLink

fit so the staff decided "encourage" was a better approach but can go back to "required" should the City Council recommend the change. In response to Councilmember Arkin, Associate Planner Campbell advised staff first looked at state legislation that calls for carbon neutrality by 2045 and noted moving it up would be quite aggressive. She believes there need to be changes in technology in addition to state and federal legislation to help the City get there. She noted that moving up the already aggressive carbon neutrality goal by 2045 would be a challenge if not impossible. Councilmember Arkin expressed support for GHG impact fees and noted she would be interested in exploring it and being more aggressive with requiring versus encouraging incentives. She expressed support for the CAP 2.0 plan. Councilmember Narum believes that 1163 at a minimum should require that new construction be built with wired plug-in solar to accommodate batteries. She believes the plan should require plug-ins for electric vehicles (EVs). She advised it is $4,000 to $5,000 to wire an existing home for a plug-in vehicle and believes it would be easier and less expensive to include it as part of new construction. She noted she does not see the word solar or battery in 1164 and believes that those should be considerations. She expressed support for the Urban Forest Master Plan, increasing the carbon sequestration through trees. She reported there have been conversations at Livermore Amador Transportation Authority (LAVTA) about the use of hydrogen for powering busses and noted Valley Link is discussing the same and wondered if there should at least be a reference to hydrogen. She reported LAVTA is moving to zero emission-based busses and believes it should be in the report. She agreed with the Bicycle and Trails Master Plan. Councilmember Narum believes there needs to be a program to move residents to more water-efficient appliances and toilets and inquired if that should be a primary action since the City Council has asked to have it. She noted there is a used car market for EV vehicles and inquired about charging stations for the economically disadvantaged and would like to see it mentioned in the plan. In response to Councilmember Narum, City Attorney Sodergren reported there has been recently adopted state law that prohibits the sale of gas-powered equipment, but it does not take effect until 2024. Associate Planner Campbell confirmed the ban of gas-powered equipment could be counted towards the GHG reduction. She advised it is listed in the off-road transportation in the inventory and includes all sorts of small engine off-road equipment including construction equipment and lawn equipment. She confirmed a transition to gas-powered leaf blowers would ultimately have some impact on the inventory. Councilmember Narum expressed support to the jobs-housing balance as a way to address the transportation issue. She noted she does not support hiring a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) at this time and would like to leave that decision to the new City Manager. She believes this is a thorough plan and appreciates the inclusion of a Cost Benefit Analysis. She applauded whoever designed the outreach to residents and noted the feedback is reflective of the outreach to the community. She noted the efforts of EBCE and StopWaste on working with the City on this plan. In response to Councilmember Testa, Associate Planner Campbell advised staff has woven in the municipal aspects of the City leading by example through all of the actions in the document. Councilmember Testa recalled a report a few years about what City buildings use the most power. Management Analyst Zack Reda advised the City has explored the possibility of doing some energy efficiency upgrades rather than the solar on City facilities and then once the buildings were more efficient to think about using solar to kind of capture the last emissions there. He explained the project was put on hold until the CAP was completed and was going to be considered a CAP action because it does have a high upfront cost, but it usually will pay for itself over the long term. City Council Minutes Page 16 of 19 November 2,2021