3. Staff update to the Environmental Investment Plan — original pdf

Backup

“Environmental Investment Plan” 20240215-025 STATUS UPDATE April 24, 2024 1 Resolution 20240215-025 Reaffirm commitment to net-zero by 2040, act with urgency required to achieve this goal. Solicit community input and prepare options and associated costs of capital improvements or programs that would: 1. Reduce carbon emissions 2. Decrease water usage and improve water quality and detention 3. Advance the sustainability of City Operations, and 4. Improve Community Resilience Post a public hearing of the JSC in March (27) / April (24) to gather input from the public and the Committee is requested to submit any recommendations for investments to Council by May 1 Review whether recommendations can be funded through: - Utility rates - General Fund Expenditures - Grants - General Obligation Bonds (may include Nov 2024) 2 Resolution 20240215-025 In addition to proposals put forth by the JSC, analyze investments needed to fulfill the following adopted plans: - Climate Equity Plan - Water Forward - Watershed Protection Strategic Plan - One Austin: Climate Resilience Action Plan - Austin Strategic Mobility Plan - ARR Comprehensive Plan - AE Resource Generation Plan - PARD Land Management Plan and Long Range Plan - Austin Travis County Wildfire Preparedness Plan - Central Texas Regional Air Quality Plan - Urban Forest Plan - Austin Travis County Food Plan - Green Infrastructure Strengths and Gaps Assessment Analysis should also identify options for fulfilling either all or specific elements of these plans before their current target date. 3 Final Product A list of projects and programs that: 1. Reduce carbon emissions 2. Decrease water usage and improve water quality and detention 3. Advance the sustainability of City Operations 4. Improve Community Resilience For each project or program - General Scope / Description - Aligned with which Plan and Goal - - Approximate Cost - Potential Funding Mechanism Timeline (Short, Medium, Long term) - Utility base rates - General Fund Expenditures - Grants - General Obligation Bonds A Memo with attached Report / Spreadsheet Attachments - JSC and Community Recommendations A Presentation to Council on May 28 4 Process Scoping and Screening Initial review JSC and Public Input Finalization OOS has created a catalog of all goals / strategies in all plans called out in the Resolution Teams + Departments worked on a shared assignment spreadsheet to populate projects and information Departments reviewed their own Plans & Goals - Identified gaps Teams convened to share their findings and proposals First draft projects submitted on April 10, a discussed as a group on April 12 March 27 - JSC meeting for Public Input / Idea generation Recommendations are prioritized, organized and categorized April 24 - JSC Meeting staff shares initial summary for feedback April 30 - Special Called JSC Meeting to approve final recommendation by May 1 due date Final spreadsheet / report / presentation Everything goes through Budget & Finance review Summary presentation to CMO on May 15 5 Who has been involved? - Office of Sustainability - FSD - Fleet Services - Building Services - Capital Delivery Services - FSD Procurement - Austin Water - Watershed Protection - Austin Energy - Transportation and Public Works - Austin Resource Recovery - Planning Dept & Housing Dept - Development Services Dept - Parks and Recreation - Austin Fire - HSEM - Austin Public Health 6 Breakdown of what we’ve received from Departments ● Office of Sustainability has Received over 100 projects from 15 departments/offices ● Many projects cut across the four priorities Short-term (2024-25) Mid-term (2026-27) Long-term (2027+) Community GHG Water Quality / Quantity / Land City Operations Resilience 26 7 15 25 24 24 23 29 10 5 8 6 7 Example Project Ideas we’ve received from Staff Land Acquisition - East, West, and Agriculture - - Land Management Activities / Programs - Tree Assessment, inventory and management - Active Transportation and Safety Infrastructure - Waste Transfer, Recycling, Reuse, and Compost Facilities - Unified COA Facilities Operation, Maintenance, and Improvement Roadmap - Fleet electrification support, vehicles and infrastructure - Full Community Climate Resilience Assessment and Plan - Enhanced Resilience Network - Expanded weatherization programs 8 Discussion around a Bond The City already has Millions in unspent programmed bond capacity, but current bonds don’t always align with climate / environment goals Capital Delivery Services is going to Council with an Integrated Bond Program Development and Delivery Plan Lays out a very clear timeline and process, looking to 2026 - - One City - One Team - One Approach Capital Delivery Services needs at least 18 months to develop a Bond Program not 5 months - Project ideas from this effort will feed into their process - We won’t be developing sufficient detail or community involvement for a Bond anyway 9 Prioritization Will prioritize within categories, to avoid comparing apples to oranges Criteria - Magnitude of Quantified Impact - Cost Efficiency - Combined Co-benefit Impacts (ex. GHG + water + resilience) - Equity - Alignment with JSC / Public ideas 10 April 30 / May 1 - Special Called JSC Meeting - Recommendation due to Council Next Steps April 24 - JSC Meeting May 15 - CMO Review May 24 - Report / Spreadsheet / Memo due to Council May 28 - Council Work Session May 30 - Public Hearing at City Council 11 Thank you! 12