HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-02-2019 Climate Action CommissionIowa City Climate Action Commission Agenda
Monday, December 2, 2019, 3:30— 5:00 p.m.
MPOJC Conference Room
Iowa City City Hall
410 E. Washington Street
Meeting Agenda:
1. Call to Order
2. Welcome new members and Roll Call
3. Approval of November 4, 2019 minutes
4. Public Comment of items not on the Agenda
5. Old Business:
a. Request from Council for Commission to research and advise the Council on the carbon
footprint of buildings of varying density and scale
b. Update on By-laws
c. Update on working groups
d. CAAP Annual update and metrics tracking (see attached Dashboard from Vancouver's
Greenest City 2018-2019 Implementation Update)
e. 100-Day report released 11/14/19
f. Big Grove event review
6. New Business:
a. Request from Council for the Commission review and provide feedback of the 100-Day
Report, "Accelerating Iowa City's Climate Actions'
b. Request for Commission to get public input on 100-Day Report
c. Working file storage -Ashley
7. Staff/Commission Announcements
8. Adjourn
NOTE: January 6, 2020 meeting will be held in Iowa City Public Library Meeting Room B due to a
conference room scheduling conflict.
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact
Brenda Nations, Sustainability Coordinator, at 319-356-6161 or at brendo-notions(Oiowa-citv.org. Early
requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
MINUTES PRELIMINARY
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
NOVEMBER 4, 2019 — 3:30 PM —FORMAL MEETING
MPO CONFERNCE ROOM, CITY HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: John Fraser Qoined at 4pm via phone), Stratis Giannakouros,
Grace Holbrook (via phone), GT Karr, Matt Krieger, Jesse
Leckband, Katie Sarsfield, Eric Tate
MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT: Ashley Monroe, Brenda Nations
OTHERS PRESENT: Tina Nedbalek, Nathan Evertsen
RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL:
None
CALL TO ORDER:
Krieger called the meeting to order.
APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 7, 2019 MINUTES:
Tate moved to approve the minutes of October 7, 2019. Karr seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion carried 7-0.
PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
None
REQUEST FROM COUNCIL FOR COMMISSION TO RESEARCH AND ADVISE COUNCIL
ON THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF BUILDINGS OF VARYING DENSITY AND SCALE:
Krieger noted there was a request from Council for the Commission to research and advise
Council carbon footprint buildings of varying density and scale. He noted maybe a month ago,
there was some discussion about as the Council has been reviewing zoning change requests
on whether a building was six stories high versus taller, there was discussion about considering
impact on greenhouse gas emissions as part of density and scale for development projects.
Krieger noted there's a lot of surrounding issues related such as if higher density related to
building materials, the amount of carbon footprint that goes into those buildings that are larger
or the potential for transportation related items, having people closer to more walkability, etc. So
there are different types of emissions that relate to density and scale.
Climate Action Commission
November4, 2019
Page 2 of 11
Krieger recommends assigning this topic to the buildings working group to look at closer and
report back. Karr spoke to Martha Norbeck about this today, who is also a member of the
buildings working group and she thought there is a heavy residential slant and probably beyond
the scope of what the building working group would normally do as it is extremely complex.
Krieger had a conversation with Norbeck as well because they have both worked on the
commercial side and have certain resources that are available, but he feels this is a good
opportunity to be able to grow the working group to bring in other voices such as architects,
planners, EPA, and others who might be able to provide some research on the topic. Then use
the research that exists provide feedback to Council. Krieger noted he did not see a timeline on
the request from Council, but his recommendation at this point would be to have the buildings
working group work on this and bring in others to that group for help.
Tate asked if this research is theoretical or actual, is it for future buildings or current ones.
Krieger noted when Council created this Commission to be able to provide recommendations,
however Council doesn't have to take the recommendations, but if a recommendation is backed
up by evidence and reasoning they can choose to make it in part of their decision making.
Krieger noted their recommendation is a comparative look, is a 6 story better than 10 story.
Norbeck noted in the conversation with Krieger there may be a difference between 50 story and
10 story buildings, but it's probably not a big difference between 8 story and 12 story buildings.
Krieger noted Norbeck has had conversations with different Council members in past and
resources she provided are from 3rd party organizations, not just her opinions, so now is an
opportunity to expand on that information.
Monroe stated Council doesn't have a specific time frame in which this should occur, this topic
was based on their discussion about bonus and density height. She feels Council is more apt to
approach this particular issue once there is a report and then there would be some discussion
about modifying some of the policies. This discussion would be very helpful in establishing what
those policies will look like such as is it better to have dense 3 story building then dense 6 story
buildings. That is the type of answer Council is looking for.
Krieger asked if this discussion is feeding into a revision of other zoning ordinances, regulations
or policies. Monroe replied there is not a specific desire to do that right now, but probably
starting sometime next year. Krieger stated then if they can get some updates from the builders
working group for a plan over the next couple of meetings that would be best and Monroe
confirmed that would be helpful
Giannakouros stated there has been attempts to talk about standards for buildings in general
that City staff would use a set of regulations policies. Krieger noted this request was pretty
specific, but he thinks in the future this group may look at developing or helping recommend
specific actions within action areas that are already identified, especially after the 100-day report
is delivered.
UPDATE ON BY-LAWS:
Krieger stated there were some notes in the attached agenda item that related to this however
the only thing is currently outstanding is the working groups committee's definition on how
they're appointed.
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November4, 2019
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Krieger noted the Commission made a motion and voted last time to accept the by-laws per
staff finalization, but there were some subsequent questions asked for us to identify or provide
input on before the by-laws were finalized.
Nations noted that was correct stating legal went through the by-laws and did make some
changes, mostly just small changes. The remaining question was the working group part and
legal said it doesn't t have to be in there and she looked at all the other commissions and they
don't have anything in there about working groups. However, if this Commission wants it in their
by-laws, she felt it should be a group discussion. Once the by-laws are finalized by the
Commission, they have to sign it and then it goes to the Rules Committee and finally to Council.
Krieger stated he looked at the bylaws of the Recreation Commission and they have one that
defines committees, it's just generic committees, and it says the "committees of this commission
including composition, duties, and terms shall be designated by the chairperson". Krieger
added it could also be worded to say designated by vote of the Commission. It would be very
broad and flexible.
Tate asked about other Commissions in the City. Monroe spoke about other Commissions and
noted just by the nature of what this Commission does, and the fact that it's attached to more
than one City department, makes it cross -cutting. There are ties to transportation, parks and
recreation, engineering and development services so it's very broad in terms of policy and the
City manager's office is a liaison to policy across the organization. Therefore, this Commission
is broader than most commissions.
Leckband states it allows for flexibility and doesn't make us define standing committees in the
by-laws because 15 years from now it might not make sense, and this gives broad flexibility as
priorities may change.
Giannakouros asked if all members must be a liaison or that all subcommittees need a member
liaison. Nations replied they are replacing that language with a broad statement. Krieger stated
when they do appoint or create a subcommittee or working group, they will state who those
members are including members of the Commission and others from the public.
Sarsfield asked about the future, the by-laws are rules and principles. If it is the intention to
have somebody beyond the Commission in the working groups or subcommittees, we can
agree as a group to a principle that it makes most sense to have a working group that includes
somebody from our group as well.
Leckband stated the principal subsequently would be reflected in the composition of each form
at the outset. Sarsfield agreed and stated she is okay with the broad statement.
Krieger moved to revise item J on the by-laws to state "The Subcommittee's
composition, duties and terms can be designated by a majority vote".
Giannakouros seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0.
f4:02pm John Frazier joined the meeting via felephone}
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November4, 2019
Page 4 of 11
DISCUSSION ON WORKING GROUPS:
Krieger noted they should discuss quickly the detailed questions about forming working groups.
How will they be appointed? By the chair, majority vote?
Majority Vote
II. How will they be created? By the chair, majority vote?
Krieger stated they need to make sure they have a member of the Commission on each of
the working groups. They do for the building work group, the equity in education workgroup,
the communications group (now called outreach), and transportation. Krieger asked
everyone to send him the names of people that are on the committee's and then they can
issue a formal appointment to create the committees and name all the members and see if
there is a need to add additional members.
Sarsfield asked when they want to add new members, how will they be added. Krieger
noted the Commission will probably seek out new people as well as others who may request
to be added to a committee.
Giannakouros noted there is interest and expertise and there should be a balance of that on
the committees. The committees shouldn't just be technical experts but also people who are
interested in or being influenced by the impact. Krieger stated as they continue to do their
outreach, they will try to identify who those other individuals are that could participate in
these local groups. The original idea of setting up working groups was to work through and
investigate issues and having those with their lives impacted with potential issues have a
voice in the decision making.
Nations noted they are going to likely need a working group to help with the climate festival
next September. Krieger agreed but noted that may depend on how that's produced. It may
be a separate nonprofit entity that has its own organization that this Commission provides
input to, or a member of the Commission sits on it. He added it needs to be an official
nonprofit so they can get financial donations and be able to run that type of event, unless it
will be purely City ran event.
Nations stated there needs to be reporting from the committees to show metrics and
progress up to the full Commission. To be consistent in the future, they will all be known as
working groups (not committees).
Krieger noted they also talked about having a separate student University working group but
would it be better to just have students integrated into these other areas. It is probably
better to have integration, rather than just a university focused subcommittee. For example,
transportation, there has been discussion on the rollout of the new app that is replacing
Bongo and what the City can do there, so there is crossover. A University committee might
be different than a student committee. Students may be advocating for students. Krieger
noted these discussions were had before the Commission was formed and organized, there
were lots of thoughts and ideas.
Sarsfield noted the idea was there were a lot of students that were interested in meeting and
Climate Action Commission
November4, 2019
Page 5 of 11
perhaps they could start an ambassador program to work with students and get more
information with students and how they could help.
Giannakouros said they currently have an intern, Julia Krist, who wants to be used as a
liaison for the climate stuff and is very interested.
Tate asked what the proportion of students are that live off -campus. Giannakouros is
unsure. Tate noted there is also Kirkwood, and lots of issues with renters and there may be
blind spots for. Krieger agreed and noted that is why they have a student member on the
Commission but also thinks having students within each of those working groups would be
great.
Holbrook stated it would be a good idea to have students and renters on the working groups
because a lot of what they do is geared towards homeowners and there's a lot of things
students can't do so they need to come together and be part of the conversations. She
feels it is also important for them to have a voice in general across the board.
Krieger noted they do have the applications from when they were filling the role
Giannakouros currently has and they asked the question about what kind issues those
people would be interested in. They can now reach back out to those individuals.
Holbrook noted that Julia Krist is setting up a Sustainability Student Roundtable.
Giannakouros is on that committee as well as other students from the University.
Giannakouros stated it was created to be open to all students, not just those in other student
government or organization roles.
Holbrook asked the question of if they want it to be just University of Iowa students or open
to all other students like Kirkwood or high school students. She is not referring to the
roundtable that is already started but if they were to create a committee themselves for
students. Holbrook noted that high schoolers don't really have a space in this conversation
because they cannot be appointed to a commission since most are not 18 years old, but
they could be on a working group. Krieger agreed and noted the working groups are open
to anyone.
Giannakouros noted Holbrook raised a good point, his concern is for all the high schoolers
and Iowa students to be their own working group and detached from other working groups
such as transportation or building. That group would need to be structured so they are not
depriving a student of an opportunity to be on transportation and are just in a general
student malay. This is a huge contingency that is not always addressed.
Krieger agreed and said as they field the interest from high school groups or high school
individuals or any other students they can see if they fit into one of the working groups.
They don't want to assign 20 students to one working group, it needs to be controlled a bit.
Giannakouros noted that high school students and University students may not have the
same set of interests. If there is going to be just a student working group, what is the
function of that group. Krieger agreed which is why they want to keep the students
integrated into the already formed working groups.
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November4, 2019
Page 6 of 11
III. What are duties of the commissioners and working groups?
Krieger stated when they first formed the working groups they had what they called charge
sheets, and were expecting each working group to set goals. This Commission can also
assign issues for the working groups to work on, but the working groups should be
somewhat self -governed. For accountability the working groups should report monthly to
this Commission. Krieger noted the buildings working group does not have a formalized
charge sheet yet, they've been a little bit fluid in their approach. Outreach does have a
formalized charge sheet, a strategic plan.
Tate asked about the student positions and asked if there was an option to reach out to
those that weren't selected to gage interest in working on a working group. Nations stated
they should have names of people that wanted to join that they could reach out to.
IV. How often will they meet?
Krieger asked if the Commission should set expectations on how often the working groups
meet. If the Commission is asking for monthly reports, the working groups should meet a
minimum of once a month. Tate said it will depend on the topic, the need for meeting could
ebb and flow.
V. What working groups are needed and a brief description of what they are tasked to do?
Buildings, Outreach, Equity and Adaptation, Transportation
Krieger suggested each of the existing working groups develop a brief description of the
working group, and what is tasked with, and then bring that to the next meeting.
{Holbrook left the meeting)
CAAP ANNUAL UPDATE:
Nations noted in the packet here was a two -page infographic, it will be posted online. She
asked if everyone was getting the sustainability newsletter because it is full of climate stuff, and
there's a link to it on the website, posted today.
Nations stated it is just a short infographic, it's obviously not all 35 actions or anything real in
depth. When we started to put together the information about what they've done in the first year,
most of what they had was City data. They went through the metrics of everything for all 35
actions, the Commission will receive the 35-action report in their information packet next month,
it's been very time consuming and it's really hard to track what other people are doing. Nations
suggests a reporting and tracking group to think about how they can show success because the
City knows what the City's done but that doesn't capture all of the data. For example they don't
know how many people have like done energy efficiency work on their home or things like that.
Nations reiterated the report is skewed to the City and noted the City is only 5% of the
community emissions. What would help is to have the individual working groups speak to most
of those action items and help contribute to that.
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November4, 2019
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Tate asked why the flyer doesn't say it is just the City's actions, not what the community did. He
feels it needs to be stated specifically as it is such a central point. Nations feels like it does note
it is the City Government's actions.
Nations wants to start a file to keep an update of what they want in the next climate action plan
because there are already suggestions and the list will keep growing.
Tate asked for Nations to let the Commission know what elements she'd like them to focus on in
their review of the action plan. Nations will write a cover memo of the actions when the Excel
file is distributed.
Krieger discussed process, not just for this but also multiple things that may potentially come to
Commission for review, and things that also would get posted to the public, if it is something
City Council or staff are looking for a recommendation or review by the Commission, that it at
least come to the Commission before it's made public. If it is made public and they haven't even
reviewed it yet or receive the document, then becomes challenging to answer questions from
the public during our meetings or to speak about it intelligently if they are doing outreach.
Nations noted some things may not be ready for review of the Commission prior to it going to
Council and then Council asking the Commission for input. However since the Climate Expo is
before the Commission meets again, she is going to send that so if someone is at the Expo and
gets asked about it. Council actually hasn't asked the Commission to review it yet. Nations also
stated when she adds something to their packets, it's instantly public.
Krieger asked if it could just be labeled as a draft document. Additionally, each document may
also go to the working groups, well the working groups are not official meetings because there's
not a quorum, it's fewer than six members of the Commission. They could review it a draft
document without having to make it public. Nations could then divide up the document into
pieces for the specific work groups.
Tate noted the working groups that are both thematic in terms of these dimensions or initiatives,
but then there are also the cross -cutting ones of equity and outreach. How will those concerns
be reflected in edits of this report? Sarsfield said Krieger is suggesting the Commission get a
draft copy so they can look at it another time, especially the equity workgroup. Krieger would
like to be able to see the documents they are working on as a group without everything going
public because a lot of it is ill formed and needs clarification. Monroe noted that the City
Manager will meet with just a couple of Council members about topics that might need some
preparation before they see the final documents in the packet, so that might be one way to go
about it and have a smaller group that's not in any way a quorum to review things and ask
questions and provide feedback before it's public.
Tate said then in this instance the whole document could go to the equity working group
because they need to see it all. Monroe said staff could get more guidance from the City on how
best to proceed with on this subject. Tate thinks it is important because with figures in particular
sometimes in draft the numbers are erroneous, and those numbers can change 10 times before
the final document.
Nations stated this is the 35 actions of the plan, the original plan, not the new plan. She worked
for many weeks trying to get baseline data to show where progress was on these 35 actions
Climate Action Commission
November4, 2019
Page 8 of 11
and then the 100-day report happened, so she got kind of waylaid. So data that was collected is
baseline data for the end of 2018 since the Climate Action Plan was finished in September of
2018. Next year we will collect data for 2019 to see if we can show progress. Tate mentioned
that he remembers in one of the previous iterations there as a column along the lines of
impacted equity with a scale of high, medium and low for each of the actions.
Krieger noted there were a lot of documents provided to help with tracking and reporting.
Monroe has a copy of the equity spreadsheet for each of the actions and will find it and
distribute to the Commission.
Tate stated this is a multi -criteria problem and shouldn't reduce everything to prioritization based
on emissions data alone. Sarsfield agreed, this should be human centered, not number center.
100-DAY REPORT UPDATE
Monroe gave an update, as Krieger and Nations indicated they will send the 100-day report to
the Commission and City Council in the Council packet on November 14, everybody, including
the media, will see it. What they've been doing is trying to develop specific actions that they can
stem from the original Climate Action Plan and all of the five categories within there. Monroe
went through the Table of Contents as it is drafted now and gave a sense of what's coming and
what they're working with. Currently there is a staff review going on right now, fine tuning all the
things, working through it, etc. There is a short introduction, the August 611 climate crisis
resolution, greenhouse gas emissions summary for 2018, key stakeholder initiatives (pinpointing
specific community partners to work with), initial plan actions, City Actions (the five categories
and the components within those categories). They are looking at what kinds of policies to
create, are there regulations that apply beyond the City, are there incentives to be established,
are there educational components, and then what projects are either currently or planned that
could further the goals. Monroe stated for each of those categories they have these aspects
that they are looking at and proposing. Next they talk about equity and how does the Equity
Plan fit into what is proposed and how the Commission deals with that, how staff deals with it,
how it's integrated in all of what they're trying to accomplish.
Monroe said there is a section of the report on City government roles and responsibilities, the
Council's responsibilities, staff's responsibilities, Commission's role and responsibilities. There
is a section on funding, and there is a scenario breakdown, what it would look like if these things
were implemented. Finally, there is a report summary. The Commission will look at the report,
the public will also be able to weigh in on this, as will Council. They are currently going through
staff concerns and questions before it gets made public. This Commission especially is needed
to review it and see what makes sense and provide guidance on how to proceed. The plan is
Council will look at the report, review it, and will talk about it at the work session following the
November meeting.
Krieger stated then the expectation is Council will provide potentially some perspective on what
they want feedback on from this Commission. Monroe confirmed that was correct, noting
Council may right away identify products or issues or ideas that they want to address for sure
and with other things ask the Commission for a recommendation about what we to.
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November4, 2019
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Monroe said the packet will go out on November 14th with the report, and then discuss it at the
November 191" meeting. Krieger asked if there should be some members of the Commission at
that meeting to hear directly from them. They won't be able to speak to anything at the meeting
but they can at least hear Council feedback.
(Monroe left the meeting}
PLANNING FOR BIG GROVE EVENT THURS. NOV. 21ST :
Nations noted the event is planned at Big Grove, she feels that perhaps it was a mistake to call
it an expo because many have been asking if they can have a table there and there's not very
much room. There will be a few organization at the small high tops and there will be a City table
and Big Grove food will be available and it's all plant based. The beer is plant based too, but
while the City is buying the food but they are not buying alcohol for anybody. They've had about
400 people interested on Facebook and are expecting 100 to 200 depending on weather and
other factors. The event is in the one party room and it's going to be shut off from the rest of the
venue, there will not be any PowerPoints, but there will be a stage and a mic. The event will
begin at 5:30pm for people to mingle and talk, and at 6:OOpm, there will be some short talks
from people, no lectures or long speeches, every talk will be five minutes or less, a City's
communications staff will the emcee. Nations will give an overview account, some Council
members may say something, some partners like Big Grove talk about what they've done.
There will be different people in the community talking about what they have done, it will be a
collaborative community event and not heavy city but more about the partnerships.
Krieger asked if it would be open mic where others who were not scheduled to speak could
speak. He noted it could get chaotic if that happens. Nations stated the original idea was to
have one -minute open mic times but the group mentioned maybe it would be better to have
wipe off boards where people can put their thoughts or questions. Overall the event will be
open and flowing and they don't want anybody feel like they were excluded. She is telling
people there will be a climate festival next year in September where more people and more
tables will be available so more people can participate.
Krieger asked if there would be a sign-up table for people who want to get more involved. It is a
good opportunity to bring people in and let people voice concerns.
Tate asked about people attending who are under the age of 21. Nations said Big Grove is
open to all ages and the event will be done way before 10:00pm when the City ordinance takes
effect.
Krieger asked if City staff will be identified as City staff with badges or shirts. And should
Commissioners be identified as well. Nations can make nametags and would also like a
Commissioner to speak at the event. Options due to schedules are Tate, Sarsfield or Holbrook.
There was discussion on the venue of the event and recognizing it is a bar, after work. Nations
remarked hopefully they will reach different people than they usually do at an event similar.
Everyone can come, everybody's welcome, it's a public issue.
{Sarsfield left the meeting at 4:58pm}
Climate Action Commission
November4, 2019
Page 10 of 11
ADMINISTRATIVE:
Working File Storage: Monroe was going to give an update, since she has left this will be tabled
to the next meeting.
Meeting Room Options: Nations did her homework on this issue and checked out all the
different rooms that are in the City. In the library the only room with the computer is meeting
room A with the big screen, all the small ones have no computers, but there are TVs that can be
hooked in like the Halting Conference room. The Rec Center doesn't have any rooms with
computers or anything, plus it's a little chilly because they is no carpet and the chairs aren't as
comfortable, so the Rec Center is probably not a good option. There is the Senior Center, and
there is a commission that meets there, but she hasn't seen the room and hasn't been able to
get that arranged yet. Within City Hall this room has the best kind of computer and table but it's
up to the Commission on wherever they want to meet. She has reserved this room for next six
months, just in case. The Commission agreed they are okay with the current room for now until
they outgrow it. If more members of the public attend the meetings they might need a bigger
space.
Krieger noted the applications for this Commission close this month, Council would appoint the
three new members to begin January 1. Nations and Commission members have been
reaching out to people to get them to apply. Would like to have somebody from the Chamber as
well as somebody from school system and from county public health.
STAFF/COMMISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Nations went to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network meeting in Detroit
ADJOURNMENT:
Krieger made a motion to adjourn.
Giannakouros seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion passed 6-0
Climate Action Commission
November4, 2019
Page 11 of 11
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