HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-2023 Climate Action CommissionIowa City Climate Action Commission Agenda
Monday, May 5, 2023, 3:30 p.m.
Emma J. Harvat Hall
Iowa City City Hall
410 E. Washington St.
Meeting Agenda:
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of April 3, 2023 minutes
4. Public Comment on items not on the Agenda
-Commentators shall address the Commission for no more than 3 minutes. Commissioners shall
not engage in discussion with the public concerning said items.
5. Announcements —informational updates
a. Action items from last meeting
b. Upcoming events
i. Spot the Hot community event (June 10)
ii. Compost bin sale (June 17)
c. Working group updates
i. Resilience hub prioritization (Grimm, Hutchinson, Eynon -Lynch, Walter)
ii. Energy benchmarking (Krieger, Fraser, Shetty)
iii. Audience mapping (Sillmon, Sturdevant, Fitzsimmons)
d. EECBG update
6. Unfinished/Ongoing Business
a. ARPA Climate Action spending recommendation (update, discussion, and
recommendation)
7. New Business
a. Strategic Plan update (Councilor Dunn)
8. Recap
a. Confirmation of next meeting time and location
i. Monday, June 5, 3:30-5 p.m., Emma J. Harvat Hall
b. Actionable items for commission, working groups, and staff
9. Adjourn
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact
Sarah Gardner, Climate Action Coordinator, at 319-887-6162 or at Sarah-aardner@iowo-city.org. Early
requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
MINUTES
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
A P R I L 3, 2 0 2 3 — 3:30 PM — FORMAL MEETING
EMMA J. HARVART HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT:
MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT:
OTHERS PRESENT:
CALL TO ORDER:
PRELIMINARY
Michal Eynon -Lynch (via zoom), Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, John
Fraser, Jamie Gade, Ben Grimm, Matt Krieger, Jesse Leckband
(via zoom), Brinda Shetty, Gabriel Sturdevant
Michelle Sillman, Matt Walter
Daniel Bissell, Sarah Gardner, Megan Hill, Andrew Parr
Sturdevant called the meeting to order.
APPROVAL OF MARCH 6, 2023 MINUTES:
Gade moved to approve the minutes from March 6, 2023.
Shetty seconded the motion, a vote was taken and the motion passed 9-0
PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
None.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Action Items from last meeting (Staff):
• Staff sent the link for resilience hub resources to the Commissioners.
• Bissell will set a meeting for the committee to review the climate action grant
applications once all the applications are received.
Upcoming events (Staff):
• Earth Expo (April 2), additional AmeriCorps events: icgov.org/GreenIowa
• Neighborhood Energy Blitz (April 22)
• Speaking of... Live! Let's Talk Plastics (April 27)
• Earth Month event hub: sustainability.uiowa.edu/earth-month
Intercultural Development Inventory Opportunity
Stephanie Bowers, the City's Human Rights Director, included a memo in the agenda packet
about an Intercultural Development Inventory opportunity. The Human Rights Commission
recommends this opportunity to other boards and commissions. Stephanie will add names to the
list until April 12 and then send the list to the consultant.
Recruitment for AmeriCorps members (Staff):
Climate Action Commission
April 3 2023
Page 2 of 6
Hill reported on recruitment for AmeriCorps summer members and full time members. Summer
members will start in May/June for a 300-hour commitment. Four full-time positions are
available for 11 months at 30 hours a week. Summer members must be 17 years old and full-
time members must be 18. Flyer is in the agenda packet.
Working Group Updates (Staff):
Resilience Hub Prioritization (Grimm, Eynon -Lynch, Walter) — Gardner noted the importance of
emergency management plans for businesses, nonprofits, resilience hub sites alike.
UNFINISHED/ONGOING BUSINESS:
IRA energy efficiency incentives (Staff update):
• Gardner referenced the checklist of available tax credits and rebates. This checklist
appears in the agenda packet, in a booklet distributed for the Energy Blitz, and in a
slide deck for community presentations.
• Krieger noted the checklist is residential -focused and asked about incentives for
businesses as well. Gardner confirmed that the only parts of the checklist applicable to
businesses would be the solar and battery storage credits.
• Gardner also noted that the rebates and tax credits are not available to landlords, but
they are available to renters. If a renter wanted to purchase a heat pump water heater
for their home, they could possibly talk to their landlord about an equalizing rent
reduction in return for making that purchase on behalf of the property.
Revisit ARPA climate action spending recommendation (update, discussion, and
recommendation):
Gardner summarized history: two years ago, when the City learned it would receive
America Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, the Commission was asked to make
recommendations on possible spending related to climate action projects. Having
invested in other areas, there is some possibility the City will be able to set aside as
much as $500,000 of remaining ARPA funds for a climate action project. Since the
initial recommendations, some conditions have changed. For example, energy
efficiency interventions were the focus for the first set of recommendations, but by now
a fairly robust energy efficiency grant program is up and running. With the addition of
the IRA funding, some new incentives also apply to the previous recommendations. For
this reason, so Council has asked the Commission to provide updated
recommendations. Some Council members are interested in an a -bike voucher. A
resilience hub pilot could also be a candidate project to receive dollars.
Fraser started the discussion with an observation that ideal projects would be
sustainable, meaning long-term.
Sturdevant suggested supporting or supplementing projects that are already underway
from the Climate Action Plan.
Eynon -Lynch suggested the possibility of piloting something new that might be taken
over in private sector
o Waste — commercial composting system or business
o Neighborhood Resilience — urban farm to produce food and utilize compost
Climate Action Commission
April 3 2023
Page 3 of 6
Grimm asked for clarification about the buildings working group recommendations in the
agenda packet. Those were the recommendations originally passed on to Council.
Gardner reported that these recommendations have not received ARPA funds yet.
Krieger noted that ARPA is public -health focused, so resilience hubs and adaptation are
natural fits. Gade agreed and asked about the timeline. Gardner said recommendations
should be forwarded by next meeting.
The Commission discussed an a -bike voucher program
Fitzsimmons commented a -bike voucher seems too narrow in scope. A project
like reducing impervious surfaces, for example, offers benefits on multiple fronts.
Fraser noted a -bikes are so expensive, a partial -payment voucher would not help
enough and a full -cost voucher seems out -of -touch when there are households
that cannot afford winter coats
Gardner summarized equity considerations staff have considered in relation to a
possible a -bike program:
• Prioritize transit -dependent households (they would get a full voucher).
• Full vouchers would go to riders 65 and older, to encourage continued
active transportation. Half -off vouchers would go to the general public, on
lottery system.
• With $500k, 200+ a -bikes in the community might make a visible impact
Fraser suggested people would not ride a -bikes during the winter
Gade suggested determining eligibility might be burdensome. Safety and upkeep
concerns.
o Sturdevant expressed concern over availability of e-bikes. Also, make sure e-
bikes come with supports such as transit and trails information.
• Eynon -Lynch asked if a working group would be appropriate to continue the discussion.
Gardner replied that recommendation needs to come quickly, so continuing the
discussion in the next meeting might better serve that timeline.
• Sturdevant suggested for continuation of this discussion, a list of ideas from this meeting
could be generated, to think about ahead of the next meeting
• Krieger asked if live polling is possible for next commission meeting
• Staff will collect recommendations from Commissioners, look at options for polling, and
add this item to the agenda for next month for further discussion.
NEW BUSINESS:
Energy benchmarking
• Gardner introduced Andrew Parr (City Manager's Office) who has been helping
research the energy benchmarking items from the Climate Action Plan
• To have a benchmarking program, City Council would need to pass an ordinance
requiring all buildings above a certain square footage to start reporting their energy
usage data to the City on an annual basis.
• Gardner noted that the State Legislature recently took up a potential preemption bill,
which now becomes part of the discussion: energy benchmarking may be disallowed by
the State, so a City program would need to meet certain requirements.
• Following Parr's presentation, staff would like to form a working group that would meet
for about three months then come back to the Commission with their best
Climate Action Commission
April 3 2023
Page 4 of 6
recommendation and a broader discussion.
• Parr began his report by explaining that "energy benchmarking" is a legal requirement,
most often an ordinance given by a city, that the largest buildings in the city report their
energy usage data to the city.
• They use ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. About 50% of all building area in the US
is already benchmarked in Portfolio Manager.
• Usage, depending on what the city wants to know, can include electricity, water, natural
gas, and/or propane tanks.
• The language in the bill that passed the Iowa House (HF605) does not accurately
define benchmarking; it's more of a description of Building Performance Standards,
which require improved energy performance and not simply reporting energy usage.
• The main goal of benchmarking is to raise awareness among building owners or
managers. By looking at the energy data of what their buildings are using, they will be
inclined to act on that data, save money, and help the climate by addressing issues.
• In Iowa City, the most recent update showed 78% of total emissions in Iowa City were
found to come from buildings. Emissions from buildings are a big issue and no existing
laws regulate them.
• 51 jurisdictions have passed benchmarking ordinances, including a few states
(Washington and Maryland) and 44 cities.
• Benchmarking, a less regulatory option, is a start, and from there the cities generally
add requirements for an energy assessment, such as an audit, a tune up, or retro
commissioning. A newer movement is to designate a target for Building Performance
Standards. The target metric could be emissions, electricity, water usage, etc. for
buildings.
• Iowa City staff met with sustainability offices in Des Moines and Kansas City to talk
about their existing benchmarking programs and gather some best practices.
• The essential components of any benchmarking program are outlined in Appendix B of
the agenda packet: threshold (size), exemptions, and compliance. Also important are
tune-ups, outreach, and data management (someone in city staff has to go into
Portfolio Manager and actually look at all the data).
• Parr referenced a compilation study that found a 3% to 8% average reduction in gross
energy consumption or energy use intensity over two to four years of any implemented
benchmarking program.
• Parr stated the Iowa Economic Development Authority currently funds a private
contracting company called B3 Benchmarking to do benchmarking for public buildings
for free in Iowa, but that program is ending in June. B3 Benchmarking is willing to
continue doing these benchmarking for cities, but they would have to pay a fee.
• Parr noted compliance is the biggest challenge. Kansas City said their compliance rate
was about 60% which is average. The other challenge is the potential for inaccurate
data due to reliance on building owners or managers to input data. Another challenge is
the State Legislative environment. Finally, there's the administrative burden: outreach,
data management, and setting up the program all adds to workload for city staff.
• Krieger said as a member of the building industry, he is in favor of energy
benchmarking and is familiar with the B3 program, having worked with those
consultants. He is an advocate for that.
• Sturdevant asked about potential federal requirements or federal funding for
benchmarking or Building Performance Standards. Parr noted that Building
Performance Standards are already receiving more attention than benchmarking.
• Grimm asked if benchmarking primarily affects older buildings. Parr confirmed that
4
Climate Action Commission
April 3 2023
Page 5 of 6
older buildings are going to be the ones that have problems with efficiency.
Fraser asked for clarification on the state legislature's bill. Parr replied the preemption
bill bans the practice of benchmarking, but it fails to accurately define benchmarking.
Gardner offered that a program could go by a name like energy transparency, to help
clarify that it is a reporting program rather than a requirement to cut energy usage.
Gardner noted there are four paths forward that the working group could take.
o Recommend enacting benchmarking and describe what it should entail (building
sizes to look at, kinds of exemptions to recommend and incentives that might be
paired with it to make it viable) and then bring that back to the Commission and
pass it on to City Council.
o Recommend to wait and see what happens with the legislature or with the Des
Moines program, or see where energy usage is next year, and let staff use that
time to figure out how better to configure such a program. Rather than
implementing benchmarking in 2023, make it a Phase 3 project to implement it
in 2024 or 2025.
o Recommend against pursuing energy benchmarking at this time and then
articulate the reasons why we are not pursuing it
o Finally, the working group could suggest pursuing an alternative pathway that
may achieve the desired goals better than energy benchmarking can such as
working with the industrial assessment centers
Working group formation
o Energy benchmarking — Krieger, Fraser and Shetty volunteer.
o Audience mapping for future Goldie campaigns — Sillman, Sturdevant and
Fitzsimmons volunteer.
RECAP:
Confirmation of next meeting time and location:
o Monday May 1, 3:30-5 p.m., Emma J. Harvat Hall
Actionable items for commission, working groups, and staff:
o Staff will compile a list based on the minutes from this meeting about the
possible ARPA usage funds and email that out to the Commission in advance
the next meeting.
o Bissell will follow up with the climate action grant committee for a date to meet
and review applications.
ADJOURNMENT:
Krieger moved to adjourn, Grimm seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion
passed 9-0.
Climate Action Commission
April 3 2023
Page 6 of 6
CLIMATE ACTION
COMMISSIONATTENDANCE
RECORD
2023
0
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(o
N
W
A
NAME
TERM EXP.
o
o
N
N
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IQ
N
N
N
N
N
N
0
o
W
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
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W
W
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Michel Eynon -Lynch
12/31/2024
X
X
NM
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Elizabeth Fitzsimmons
12/31/2025
X
X
X
X
John Fraser
12/31/2024
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Jamie Gade
12/31/2025
X
X
X
X
Ben Grimm
10/31/2023
X
X
NM
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
Clarity Guerra
12/31/2022
O/E
X
NM
X
X
X
X
X
Megan Hill
12/31/2022
X
X
NM
Kasey Hutchinson
12/31/22
X
X
NM
X
X
X
X
X
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Matt Krieger
12/31/2023
O/E
X
NM
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Jesse Leckband
MidAmericanRep
X
X
NM
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Michelle Sillman
12/31/20025
X
X
X
O/E
Brinda Shetty
UI Rep
X
O/E
NM
X
X
X
X
X
X
O/E
X
X
Gabe Sturdevant
12/31/2024
O/E
X
NM
X
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
X
X
Matt Walter
12/31/2023
NM
X
O/E
X
X
X
X
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KEY: X = Present
0 = Absent
0/E = Absent/Excused
NM= No
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