JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE HYBRID MEETING FORMAT May 22nd, 2024 at 6pm Council Chambers, Austin City Hall 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701 Some members of the Committee may be participating by videoconference Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely via telephone. Speakers may only register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely and will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. Registration no later than noon the day before the meeting is required for remote participation by telephone. To register to speak remotely, call or email Rohan Lilauwala at (Rohan.lilauwala@austintexas.gov or 512-974-9394). CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS: Kaiba White, Chair (Electric Utility Commission) Diana Wheeler, Vice Chair (Urban Transportation Commission) Charlotte Davis (Resource Mgmt. Commission) Haris Qureshi (Environmental Commission) Melissa Rothrock (Zero Waste Advisory Commission) Bertha Delgado (Community Development Commission) Larry Franklin (Austin Travis County Food Policy Board) Chris Maxwell-Gaines (Water & Wastewater Commission) Amy Noel (Economic Prosperity Commission) Stephanie Bazan (Parks & Recreation Board) Jon Salinas (Design Commission) Vacant (City Council) Alice Woods (Planning Commission) Rodrigo Leal (Mayor’s Representative) Anna Scott (Mayor’s Representative) Heather Houser (Mayor’s Representative) Yureisly Suarez (Mayor’s Representative) Christopher Campbell (Mayor’s Representative) For more information, please visit: www.austintexas.gov/jsc AGENDA CALL TO ORDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first 10 speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approval of minutes from the April 30, 2024 special called meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 2. Recommendation in support of staff response to council resolution 20240215-025 ‘Environmental Investment Plan’. DISCUSSION 3. Staff update to the response to the council resolution 20240215-025 ‘Environmental Investment Plan’ – Rohan Lilauwala, Office of Sustainability 4. Update from the Electric Utility Commission on the Austin Energy Resource Planning Process – Kaiba White timelines – Jon Salinas 5. Update from the Design Commission on the status of updated design guidelines and 6. Update from the Water and Wastewater Commission on the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion contracts – Chris Maxwell-Gaines 7. Update from Planning Commission on recent Land Development Code changes including HOME and ETOD – Alice Woods FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ADJOURNMENT The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting …
JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING MEETING MINUTES April 30, 2024 The Joint Sustainability Committee convened in a hybrid meeting via videoconferencing and City Hall. Chair Kaiba White called the Board Meeting to order at 6:06 pm. Board Members in Attendance in Person: Chris Maxwell-Gaines, Haris Qureshi, Kaiba White, Anna Scott Board Members in Attendance Remotely: Diana Wheeler, Jon Salinas, Melissa Rothrock, Charlotte Davis, Lane Becker, Heather Houser, Rodrigo Leal, Yure Suarez, Chris Campbell, Amy Noel Board Members Absent: Bertha Delgado, Alice Woods, Larry Franklin City Staff in Attendance: Rohan Lilauwala CALL TO ORDER Chair Kaiba White called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION 1. Craig Nazor – speaking in support of LIDAR for tree inventory and support for native 2. Zenobia Joseph – speaking in favor of improved transit and shelters near low-income 1. Approval of minutes from the April 24th meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. Qureshi motions to approve, Maxwell-Gaines seconds, passes on 13-0 vote (Noel off nurseries communities dais) 2. Joint Sustainability Committee discussion and approval of recommendations for the Environmental Investment Plan, in the areas of Buildings and Energy, Transportation, Natural Systems, and Consumption. Discussion of details of individual recommendations at length Commissioners suggest including social cost of carbon (and air pollutants, if possible) amount for Fayette closure Tweaks suggested to sustainable buildings recommendation #10 Tweaks to ACCC recommendation – change language to purchasing a truck Suggested $400,000 budget for Sustainable Buildings Recommendation 10 Public comment - Zenobia Joseph – Speaks in favor of improved fixed-route transit, better survey methods, equity Scott motions to approve all recommendations minus five pulled items ; Qureshi second 1. Pro-climate, pro health foods 2. Downtown High-Frequency Circulator 3. Neighborhood E-Circulators 4. Establish a city-owned all-electric carshare service 5. E-mobility solutions pilot program Passes 13-0 (Suarez off dais) White motions to approve Pro-climate, pro health recommendation, Qureshi seconds, passes 12-0 (Davis recuses, Suarez off dais) Davis motions to approve neighborhood e-circulators as amended, Noel seconds, passes 13-0 Davis motions to approve downtown high frequency circulator, Qureshi seconds, passes 13-0 (Suarez off dais). (Suarez off dais). Campbell motions carshare service to approve, Becker seconds, passes 13-0 (Suarez off Leal motions to approve e-mobility solutions pilot program, Qureshi seconds, passes 10-2 (White abstains, Davis and Houser no) dais). TBD FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS White adjourns meeting …
M E M O R A N D U M TO: Mayor and Council Members THROUGH: Susana Carbajal, Chief of Staff FROM: Zach Baumer, Chief Sustainability Officer DATE: May 21, 2024 SUBJECT: Response to Environmental Investment Plan (Resolution No. 20240215-025) On February 15, 2024, the Austin City Council passed Resolution No. 20240215-025, directing the City Manager to “solicit community input and prepare options and associated costs of capital improvements or programs that would reduce carbon emissions, decrease water usage, improve water quality and water detention, advance the sustainability of City operations, and improve community resilience.” The resolution also called for a public hearing of the Joint Sustainability Committee to gather public input and recommendations. Over the past three months, staff from the Office of Sustainability convened numerous City departments and facilitated meetings and discussions across the organization on this response. Staff began by analyzing 13 existing City of Austin plans across multiple departments to catalog all the goals and strategies within each plan. Department representatives reviewed their plans and goals to identify gaps and potential new projects. The Office of Sustainability then convened the departments to discuss their findings and facilitated workshops to consolidate and refine all department proposals. Summary Attachment A includes the full list of potential new projects and investments and is summarized below. The list is a result of cross-departmental collaboration, deepening connections and alignment across City-wide work areas, and offers a snapshot of major initiatives that would fill gaps and advance areas in climate sustainability and community resilience. A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of these potential environmental investments in comparison with other City priorities has not yet been completed and is necessary. Staff has also not yet evaluated the long-term approach to addressing funding gaps and implementation. The potential new projects have been categorized into 4 topic areas Page 1 of 4 summarized below. Items marked “JSC” indicate alignment with Joint Sustainability Committee recommendations. Carbon Emissions Potential projects would reduce emissions from energy and transportation and reduce waste. Total summarized needs: $455 million Project Department ARR Transfer Station + EV Charging Network CE12 CE13 CE14 Recycling and Reuse Drop Off Facility (could be combined with Transfer Station) Weatherization and EV Charging Programs for Low and Moderate-income Customers Facilities to Process Compost, Reuse Materials, and Recycle Construction Debris CE6 CE10 CE15 CE16 CE17 CE7 Matching Funds for Federal Clean Energy/Resiliency Grants ARR ARR AE ARR Transportation Demand Management …
JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING MEETING MINUTES May 22, 2024 The Joint Sustainability Committee convened in a hybrid meeting via videoconferencing and City Hall. Board Members in Attendance in Person: Chris Maxwell-Gaines, Charlotte Davis, Alice Woods, Christopher Campbell, Haris Qureshi Board Members in Attendance Remotely: Melissa Rothrock, Diana Wheeler, Kaiba White, Yure Suarez, Rodrigo Leal, Anna Scott, Jon Salinas, Amy Noel Board Members Absent: Larry Franklin, Heather Houser, Stephanie Bazan City Staff in Attendance: Rohan Lilauwala and Zach Baumer CALL TO ORDER Vice-Chair Charlotte Davis called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION 1. Kayla Reese – speaking in support of parks being added to Environmental Investment 2. Mike Cannatti – speaking in support of parks being added to Environmental Investment Plan recommendations. Plan recommendations. 3. Scott Johnson – speaking in support of battery electric technology. 1. Approval of minutes from the April 30th special called meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. • Maxwell-Gaines motions to approve, Campbell seconds, passes 12-0 with Woods abstaining. 3. Staff update to the response to the council resolution 20240215-025 ‘Environmental Investment Plan’ – Zach Baumer and Rohan Lilauwala, Office of Sustainability • Qureshi asks how to disseminate info to the public? o Share memo. • What could be funding mechanism for climate fee? o Need council support to even have direction, then come up with options • White: Questioning Decker infrastructure as setting stage for new thermal generation • Leal: Question around why “other” category o A gap now, but TPW will seek funding in the future. • Campbell: Is there going to be discussion around priorities? o Next steps from council • Noel: What did we learn? o Hard to compare projects that meet different goals. i.e. water vs carbon o Most funding comes down in silos. In this case – we did things a different way. E.g. land acquisition, city facilities; would require departmental collaborations + thinking beyond budget cycles. • White: Where is ARR fleet electrification. Should take advantage of if funding is available. o Charging network needed first, not enough time to assess fleet cost. • Davis: Estimates – did they line up with JSC? o Not really. Very rough estimates. More work needed to be refined. 2. Recommendation in support of staff response to council resolution 20240215-025 ‘Environmental Investment Plan’. • No action was taken. 4. Update from the Electric Utility Commission on the Austin Energy Resource …
