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SC 4-18-20241 Sustainability Commission Regular Meeting April 18, 2024 FINAL MINUTES MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION April 18, 2024 Final Minutes The meeting was called to order at 4:08 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Alexander Fung, Susan Hansen (VC), Sonali Padgaonkar (C), Steve Poon, Conny Yang Absent: None Staff: Victoria Morin, Staff Liaison Others Present: Chad Mosley, Director of Public Works, Ursula Syrova, Environmental Programs and Sustainability Manager, Nick Kibilov, Sustainability Fellow APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1.January 18, 2024 Sustainability Commission minutes MOTION: Commissioner Poon moved, seconded by Commissioner Fung to approve the minutes as presented. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 POSTPONEMENTS No Postponements ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS None STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS Victoria Morin, Sustainability Specialist noted that starting with the next Sustainability Commission, all meetings will be live-streamed and held at Quinlan Community Center. There was not going to be remote participation, but anyone was able to watch the meetings live or 2 Sustainability Commission Regular Meeting April 18, 2024 recorded. Update two, the next Environmental Recycling Day was April 20, De Anza College, parking lot A from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Update three, the City of Cupertino City Council approved the Electrification Study and the Recycled Water Feasibility Study as City Work Program items. Update four, the Environmental Programs Assistant position was open for recruitment. The induction cooking demo happened in coordination with the County of Santa Clara the registration was full. Ursula Syrova, Environmental Programs and Sustainability Manager mentioned that staff was still working on the garbage post-collection management solutions. In preparation for the Advanced Clean Fleet Regulation, the Service Center was working to transition fleet vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EV), including planning for charging stations. Commissioner Poon inquired if the City was required to purchase at least 50% EV’s. Chad Mosley, Director of Public Works said 1/1/2024 was the deadline to have 50% EV fleet, 1/1/2027 was the deadline to have 100% EV fleet. Ms. Syrova said the City recently purchased two Ford Lightening F150 trucks, which were all electric. Ms. Morin mentioned the Beam portable charging units that were just received; they were going to be available for use at the Earth and Arbor Day Festival. Commissioner Fung read in the minutes and there was discussion of a Youth Ad Hoc meeting. Vice Chair Padgaonkar hoped there was discussion about this before school started. OLD BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS 2. Election of the Chair and Vice Chair for the Sustainability Commission Victoria Morin, Sustainability Specialist gave a presentation about the Chair and Vice Chair's responsibilities. Commissioner Poon added that the Mayor’s meeting was at 5 p.m. Attending the Mayor’s Meeting was a duty of the Chair. NOMINATION: Commissioner Fung, seconded by Commissioner Poon nominated Commissioner Padgaonkar as Chair of the Sustainability Commission for 2024. NOMINATION FOR COMMISSIONER PADGAONKAR AS CHAIR OF THE SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION FOR 2024 PASSED: 5-0 NOMINATION: Chair Padgaonkar, seconded by Commissioner Fung, nominated Commissioner Hansen as Vice Chair of the Sustainability Commission for 2024. NOMINATION FOR COMMISSIONER HANSEN AS VICE CHAIR OF THE SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION FOR 2024 PASSED: 5-0 3. Update on Building Decarbonization Efforts and Options 3 Sustainability Commission Regular Meeting April 18, 2024 Ursula Syrova, Environmental Programs and Sustainability Division Manager gave a presentation on building decarbonization efforts and options. Chair Padgaonkar asked if decarbonization standards were required for remodels as well. Ms. Syrova needed to check. Chair Padgaonkar wanted to know the phone number for the concierge service mentioned in the presentation. Ms. Syrova said the program had not started yet but should be available soon. Chair Padgaonkar asked what Bay Area Renewable Energy Network (BayREN) was. Ms. Syrova explained it was a coalition of Bay Area counties, with a local representative from the County of Santa Clara (County). There were a lot of grant opportunities connected with BayREN, and they had a lot of rebates for people. Commissioner Poon recalled BayREN performed a few workshops, but it was still confusing. He preferred the concierge service method. Vice Chair Hansen questioned if there were solar conversion resources offered with the concierge service. Ms. Syrova only heard talk of the heat pump tech as of now. Vice Chair Hansen mentioned that if everyone converted today there would be a power shortage. Victoria Morin, Sustainability Specialist noted that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) was aware of the grid issues. Commissioner Fung wondered if it was possible to place conditions on new developments, such as performance reviews or benchmarking. Ms. Syrova said the current Reach Code noted all new developments had to be all-electric unless someone asked for an exemption, such as for their restaurant. Commissioner Fung inquired if the nine-circuit decision was going to impact Cupertino's Reach Codes. Ms. Syrova said possibly, that was why staff was exploring an air quality focus or a building performance focus, which was at the development stage. Lausen, public speaker and Sunnyvale resident, wanted to know how much electricity was green energy or what came from solar. Ms. Syrova responded Cupertino and the City of Sunnyvale were under the Silicon Valley Clean Energy umbrella. They purchased green energy for residents unless a person opted out. Ms. Morin suggested some discussion prompts for the Sustainability Commission (Commission) on this subject, to help the Commission think about this item a little more in-depth: 1) Was there anything the Commission thought Cupertino needed to focus on specifically as they did the public engagement survey; 2) Was there something the Commission thought the Cupertino community specifically cared about; 3) Regarding the discussion prompts presented on slide 11, were there issues the Commission cared about more than others. Commissioner Fung wanted to know if there were partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) when staff conducted outreach. Ms. Morin asked if Commissioner Fung was asking specifically about the Chamber. The division does not have an agreement with the Chamber. Staff has worked with our Economic Development Manager on outreach, and he works with the Chamber. Commissioner Fung thought it was better to partner with the Economic Development team on the engagement side of things. Ms. Syrova was recently approached by the Economic 4 Sustainability Commission Regular Meeting April 18, 2024 Development Manger regarding hosting a meeting, including inviting businesses, to discuss what rebates were available to them and to help them green their spaces while saving money. Vice Chair Hansen liked the enabling options but promoted solar conversion because then people were likely to convert all their appliances. Ms. Syrova clarified what Vice Chair Hansen was saying, if BayREN and Silicon Valley Clean Energy created these concierge services, they needed to include solar as part of the conversion as well. Vice Chair Hansen said yes. Chad Mosley, Director of Public Works suggested it was the capacity of PG&E to be involved in those projects, there were some long delays right now. Ms. Syrova clarified she was not saying that solar was not able to offset some demand, she was just saying that people were not out of electricity right this minute. Vice Chair Hansen wondered if it could be decreed that people keep their heaters at a certain temperature during the winter. NO ACTION TAKEN 4. 2024 Earth and Arbor Day Festival Nick Kibilov, Sustainability Fellow gave a presentation on the 2024 Earth and Arbor Day Festival. He mentioned a fact sheet that would be provided for people who were going to be working at the booth, and additionally, there was a waste sorting game he debuted. Vice Chair Hansen wanted to know if there was going to be a tree planting on Earth and Arbor Day. Victoria Morin, Sustainability Specialist said the tree planting was at 2 p.m. at Wilson Park. Chair Padgaonkar wondered if there were going to be nametags. Ms. Morin had GreenTeam t- shirts for everyone. NO ACTION TAKEN FUTURE AGENDA SETTING • Youth Engagement Activity • Climate change adult action campaign/hosting a workshop for • Carbon reduction ideas • Opportunities and challenges of recycled water in Cupertino • Discuss zero emission vehicles and chargers. • Municipal plan to electrify fleet • Landfill Agreement/Post-Collection RFP update • Brainstorm funding ideas for the City • Presentation on Recycling: What do we do locally compared to neighboring jurisdictions ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 5:22 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: 5 Sustainability Commission Regular Meeting April 18, 2024 ____________________________ Victoria Morin, Staff Liaison Note: Any attachments can be found on the Cupertino Website https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/agendas-minutes