Clean and Green Commission - Regular Meeting

Wild it in a really beautiful way, and the wildlife is coming back. And it's just a really tranquil, open, green space. And I guess my I know we can't have conversation between myself and the committee here, but I I would like to put it to you that it would be really wonderful if we could have some conversation about financial support for exploring the idea of keeping the green space green and having to be trailways for cyclists, having to be habitat for wildlife, and just having to mitigate the pollution from the airport and from the highways that are surrounding it. And that's that's all I needed to say tonight. Thanks thanks for hearing me.

Thank you, Sandra. Good point. Anyone else for public comments? Matt? No? There's nothing. Oh, okay. Well, that, we'll close public comments. I think that's it. Anybody online, Linda?

We have one speaker.

One speaker online? Okay.

Captain DC Anderson, go ahead and unmute yourself.

What's your name?

It's captain DC Anderson.

Okay. Captain, go ahead and

Wait. Are you are you are you mister Pearson?

No. I'm mister Pearson here.

Hello. Eric, forgive me if I can't I can't seem to keep this thing working. Can you hear me now?

Speak a little louder, please.

Can we turn off the volume just here?

That's the first time I ever anybody ever said that to me.

Oh, that's it. Now we can hear you. Thank you. Go ahead and, let us know what's on your mind.

Alright. I I know a little bit about sustainability. In fact, I know a lot about it. And my organization has identified some things about sustainability that, I don't know, the scientific community is just overlooked. So what I did was I reached out with my good friend, mister Google, and I asked him to find me some some organizations within The United States that had a strong sustainability bent.

And your name came up. Hayward came up, and I've been reading about you, and you you guys are trying very hard to be sustainable. What I'd like to do is I'd like to share with your committee, if you'll give me the opportunity someday, a PowerPoint in which I will explain that we got it wrong, all of us. The scientists aren't wrong. Don't get me.

I'm not going up against what they say, but they're not completely right either. And I don't have any trouble saying that because I was just as wrong as everybody else for many years. But something bothered me, and I kept thinking about it and thinking about it. And then suddenly, realized climate change is not about floods and droughts and storms and all the stuff that's, you know, that's bothering us around the country. Those are the symptoms of the problem.

The problem is actually the carbon ratio. It's the ratio of carbon which is still being removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and converted to petroleum compared to the amount of carbon human activity is putting back into the atmosphere. We have to have a carbon ratio of one or our species won't continue. So I'd I'd like to spell this all out for you. And then while I'm there, if I'm lucky enough to get out to see you, then I would come up with a plan of action that that can be funded by private corporations.

So that's what I'm after is to be asked to come out there and make this presentation and then come up with a business plan that would raise some money and tell the public the truth about climate change. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. Make sure you contact our sustainability team. Eric Pearson would be one about possibly agendaizing something on this nature. So thank you very much for your call. Be well. Bye. Close public comments. Anybody else? No. Alright. We now go to approve the minutes of our last meeting.

For the minutes?

Yes. I can. I can second that. Sure. I will third it so they are approved. Duly duly memorized. We now go to our reports and action items. Action number one is ACT 25 dash zero one six. Shape requirements for new development. Development or developments?

Development.

Development. Okay. Alright. Go ahead.

Good evening, CSC council members. This agenda item item is on shade requirements for new development for interest of CSC staff. I wanna say that joining us today, development services as well. Heat vulnerability in Hayward. Hayward has a Mediterranean climate, the city has experienced an increase in extreme heat days.

Heat impacts people differently and those with the highest risk tend to be vulnerable population, such as older adults, children, people with health conditions, and the disabled. In this map to the left, can see a lot of census tracts and hay work are classified as medium to high mobility. One factor that increases temperatures in certain neighborhoods is the built environment. This map on the right shows the maximum temperatures for land services during the heat wave on 09/01/2017. In this case, land surface temperature is used as a measurement for the built environment.

As you can see on the map, Hayward's one of the cities that experiences the highest land surface temperatures in Algeria. Hayward residents have expressed the need to increase shade to provide relief to the public during these evenings. City's 2040 general plan environmental justice element has board policies aimed at increasing shade, prioritizing disadvantaged communities, low income neighborhoods, and bus stops. Note though that most of the policies are on green infrastructure and increasing tree rather than adding artificial shade structures. CSC has also expressed interest in increasing shade.

On 03/13/2023, CSC council members expressed interest in planting more trees in areas of high need. Interest in this topic was again expressed by council members at the 11/11/2023 meeting when staff presented on the hazardous elements of the amended 2040 general plan. Council members raised the concern that trees take years to grow enough to provide adequate shade and suggested increasing shade by adding artificial shade structures as well. Specific locations such as new housing development, walkways, and places where children frequent, like playgrounds, weren't particularly mentioned. Besides keeping people cool, artificial shade structures have other benefits and some drawbacks.

Adding shade structures could increase maintenance and construction costs for developers, and the exact magnitude is unknown at this point. However, cost could decrease in the long run. The equipment and pavement under the shade structures will deteriorate at a slower rate and reduce cost in resurfacing and replacements. If the shade structure is made a material that isn't as resilient, then it runs the risk of being vandalized or being deteriorated by weather conditions. Furthermore, the cooling effect from shade structures will reduce air conditioning costs for buildings with added shade and increase the economy in the urban area because shaded businesses, homes, and parking lots with shade are deemed more valuable to people.

However, unlike green infrastructure like trees, shade structures do not provide ecological benefits like moving air pollutants, storing carbon dioxide, and preventing soil erosion. What is the city currently doing to increase shade? Well, there are a few items. Under the city municipal code, multifamily buildings of more than three units are required to have a minimum of a 150 square feet of open space per dwelling unit. These open spaces are required to have certain amenities that are listed to get to the points they are required to have.

But the developer may choose which types. As you can see on the table to the right, adding a shade structures under the list of amenities and gives the developers 15 points. In terms of parking spaces, the municipal code requires that parking areas have a minimum of one fifteen gallon tree and six parking stalls unless restricted because of design constraints. It's important to note that this is similar to what other cities in the area have for their parking lot requirements. The planning division also has a landscape design checklist that requires a minimum of one twenty four inches street tree for every 20 to 40 linear feet of street frontage.

For for parcels abutting BART tracks, site plans must have a minimum of one fifteen gallon tree for a three twenty linear feet. Additionally, the city is updating its tree preservation ordinance, and the city now maintains existing bus stops, including bus shelters. However, adding new shelters to existing bus stops have gotten more expensive over the years and would be difficult to do because of the limitations on the existing. Adding shade over bus stops may require innovative solutions that little to no cost to maintain them. In terms of other agencies, FARDS staff acknowledges that adding shade in parts they oversee is important.

However, it requires thoughtful design and installation. FARDS installed canvas shaped covers at parts in the past, and unfortunately, many have been vandalized. More recently though, a hard staff added a metal shade structure at the new Ashland Zocalo Park that they anticipate won't be easily vandalized because of its material. The state of California also has shade requirements with new development. Playgrounds and childcare centers are regulated by the California Department of Social Services and are required to have at least 75 square feet of outdoor activity space per child and must have a shaded rest area for them.

What are other cities do have to do? Well, few cities have artificial shade structure requirements. Cities that do are located outside of California in desert regions and considered some of the hottest cities in The United States where shade is a high priority. Some of those cities that staff reviewed are Gilbert, Arizona, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. These cities have shade related master plans, design guidelines, or coded by shade requirements.

Most cities are addressing shade through tree planting and tree preservation, and any artificial shade structure is on a case by case basis and typically at parks and other public use areas. Some neighboring cities that have added shade structures at parks on a case by case basis are Redwood City at their Magical Bridge Playground, which you can see in this picture that the shade structures are above the middle slide. And typically, staff prioritizes keeping mature trees and planting trees next to artificial stray structures. So once the tree reaches full maturity, the shade structure can then potentially be removed. Another city is San Jose where they have added fabric shade sales at the door, Metcalf, and Los Bacilles Park.

Two of those parks are shown here. And in Alamo, Contra Costa County Public Works added a pavilion at the Hemi Station Park, intended for providing shade for pedestrians and accessing the parks through the Iron Horse Trail. Lastly, in Davis, the city added two soft top full area shade structures in the hard top steel pavilion shaped structure with a picnic area underneath at the Arroyo Park. And this came at the request of residents wanting more shade added at this particular park. The project cost for adding these three shade structures was over $300,000.

And furthermore, the city's recently completed a parks and community services needs assessment and has shade structure as a top priority, particularly in six parks. And park staff plans to apply for grants to cover majority of the cost. Considerations for new shade requirements. If new shade requirements are investigated for Hayward, staff would research the following potential considerations such as adding additional shade structures to a site would count towards a total lot coverage allowed by this by the city zoning regulations. This can impact the developer's ability to maximize development potential of a site.

Adding permanent shade structures may add to the potential impervious surface area of the site, which would require additional stormwater treatment areas further increasing the cost of development. Placement of the shade structures near property lines would need to comply with setback requirements, and requiring shade structures can impact the ability to provide additional landscaping areas to shade entries. The recommendation, staff recommends that the committee receive public comments and review comments on this report. Thank you.

Good report. Thank you. Let's go to public comments first, see if there are any public comments on this. Sandy, please. You have three minutes.

I need three minutes.

I I really appreciate your report. I think it's marvelous that I I think maybe I shared last time that I was able to travel to the des desert, and the whole design of the buildings is different to incorporate shade in the the building design, like the way it is positioned according to where the sun is, and and, you know, it's it's marvelous. I mean and it's certainly something to incorporate to cool things down, particularly at schools. There's there's a, I think, a terrific problem with overheating of the schoolyards because all the green spaces have been taken away, basically. And and, again, this goes back to the point that I made before that mature trees, and and there's something about green green living plant life that just naturally cools and absorbs carbon.

And, I'm I'm really fascinated to hear what the gentleman who spoke earlier, the captain, where he was calling from and what he has to share with others. Thanks.

Thank you, Sandy. Anyone else? No? Okay. We'll start with, Julie, please. Is anyone online? Oh, online? Nothing. Okay. Okay, Julie. Questions and comments.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing this. I know we did sort of bring this up a couple of times. I really appreciate it. And thank you for doing the research on what neighboring, you know, like, states and cities are doing on this too. Because, you know, obviously, that first slide was really important on that Hayward does have this real problem with the heat island effect. And and I think we have to take this seriously because I and it sounds to me like trees are definitely the best way to go. Right? I mean, for all the reasons that we talked about, the environmental reasons, the shade reasons, all of that.

But in some areas and I'm so glad I talked to our development here because I think a lot of this some of this isn't practical in a development area where it's already potentially in a in a cement environment if we're not planting, like, a part next to a new development. But what we can do to, you know, create I mean, I'm thinking of there's that new the new Holiday Inn hotel, and they have this large kind of porta cochet thing out front. Is a shame. But maybe that is the kind of stuff that we wanna start requiring so that that helps sort of diffuse the cement, you know, getting so hot all day long.

Mhmm.

So I I would be interested in how we could add a little bit more teeth to the to our development, you know, code or to require a little bit more of this. Like, I mean, to Sandra's point, like, maybe sort of larger shaded areas as people arrive in in new buildings. And then

I know, you know, I'm I'm

I hope hard gets to hear this there because I you know, we don't have purview around most of the parks. So I think a lot of what you said would be really important for them to hear. But where we can do it, where I've seen it be a problem, you know, we'll sometimes add a top lot to a multifamily housing. And they're often in the middle of, like, a courtyard that's getting all of that deflected heat from the building. It's usually on some sort of, like, heated environment, and it it doesn't have any shade.

And I just wonder if that would be an example where we could where a shade structure would be more suitable than a tree because I'm assuming the roots in the trees, we don't wanna be, you know, planting large rooted system trees in the middle of a building like that. So maybe that is an area where we could require a little bit more structure shade structures rather than trees. Because yeah. I mean, just because if this is true that Hayward act like, well, here's the question. Do we have more of a heat island effect than, say, San Leandro or Fremont or Union City? No. No? Okay. They have about the same? About the same. Okay.

I heard this amount.

Okay. Because I I was just thinking, like, what what is everyone else doing in that area? So yeah. I mean, it would and then oh, my other question was about the parking structures. You know, you we require certain trees per number of spaces. Does that still stand if people are doing solar canopies, you know, solar, you know, solar panels over their parking structures?

They have the same number of parking spaces required.

Okay.

But when they have a canopy like that, then they have to provide for disabled parking under the canopies. Okay. Not all are devoted to table bodies.

Okay. For those parking spots. Mhmm. Just wondering, like, where that might balance in, you know, do solar solar panel structures. Is that a shaded structure? Sure. Yeah. I mean, so I would I am interested in us being a little bit more aggressive in our developments to, you know, to say, look, if you're gonna have a child play area or even a gathering area that, you know, maybe, in some of our industrial areas, if it's areas such as a staff area, that that area has, you know, a cover a cover structure. I mean, I don't wanna make this punitive, you know, because I know it adds more to a development. But if we are trying to reduce the amount of cement heat in the city, it seems like we could take away a little

bit all this.

Anyway, just curious. But I really appreciate you, putting this together for us and bringing it back.

Good. Harli Kostein, thank you. Thank you for thank you for the report.

I do sort of worry about what the impact is of adding more regulation to to development. On one hand, of course, like you say, we wanna protect our senior citizens and our young folks and other vulnerable people from the effects of heat. But on the other hand, we also need housing. And anything that we put adding to the body of regulation is just one more feather excuse me. One more arrow in the quiver of of death for some of our developers.

They just resent it. And so rather than coming to Hayward and seeing a list that's maybe this long, they look for a town that has a list maybe that long. So I'm a little worried about that. And I think having some discussion with our developer community is probably warranted. And, you know, having come from a family of developers, I I do understand that sometimes their vision of profit motive, they come across as being kind of ornery and antithetical to what we're trying to accomplish as policy makers.

But the fact is they're generally speaking, they want the same things, but they're a business, and they have to adhere to business principles. And so it's in our best interest to be in a dialogue with them and find a solution that like, I I noticed, for example, it's part of the introduction of this. You talked about the points plan. So it's not necessarily a requirement, but an option for points, and it'll be really important to articulate that that these are the reasons why we're adding this, and it's about the points. Right?

So as long as we're not raising the points so that they now have to adopt more requirements, I think that's gonna be really essential part of that conversation with our developers. So getting them on board with the idea of looking out for our vulnerable folks with ideas that are going to help sustainability, but not raise their you know, not be antagonistic to what they're trying to accomplish. So our system is designed around a profit motive. And until we change that or change the way the profit is made in housing, we have to deal with it. So so there's that.

And but overall, I like the idea. Are other cities implementing any similar strategies about any kind of a requirement for shade at this point, or is it just discussion?

As you saw in the examples, there are cities that implement those shade structures. I personally don't know if they are requirements or not. But to your point, you know, I was going to point out that we have a section in our reports that talk about sustainability features. So if a developer proposes to have something like that, we can encourage them. We can note that for you, the development has gone above and beyond Mhmm.

And has a small shade structure at least on a temporary basis until there are trees and and so on. I have seen examples of one. I don't know if you have the picture here from different city that had a very nice design over a play structure for kids that provide a temporary shade and some color and and and so on.

Yeah. And and I've actually seen it in some of the parks where they have the play structures, and

then there's a canopy That's exactly right. Area. And And then not very elaborate like some of these pictures.

Yes. Yes. Some of those are quite elaborate. And I think that's a, you know, a good idea for play structures, something that is actually fairly economical to replace the the tall metal structures. I think they're attractive, but not everyone agrees with me.

I kinda like metal structure art. The the downside to that though is that a lot of people when they put them in, pretty much consider them to be permanent. So not just there until a tree grows to maturity. And so even if you write that into the conditions of proving, actually enforcing that will be a a complete non error. So unless it says you can put a structure here if you put a tree here, unless it's actually written in that way, those metal structures, you're gonna stay.

So I would just be a little cautious about that. And then, of course, who has responsibility to monitor that? Once the developer is done and they sold the property, the HOA, quite frankly, not very likely to, you know, care carry on even if it's written into the CC and Rs. They they have the responsibility, but they're probably not really gonna follow-up with that. That then becomes a code enforcement issue. They don't think you want that headache. So we'll have to figure out some strategies that are that make that compliance built in and not rely on human nature to follow-up with them.

Thank you. Alright. Thank you. So we have three likes on this particular project, so we agree on that. The the structures are good. The shade structures are good because they could incorporate an art piece to them. As we know, Carl, the colleague, Andrew is always is harping for an art, so am I. So that's that could be important. But and it's a point structure. So they would propose a shade structure with some art, and then you have a number of points.

So it's a win win situation. So in my mind, that's excellent. I I did see the point structures, and that's very good. So that should entice developers to go and say, well, let's let's include these. You know, trees. At the moment, we have, an objective of planting 1,500 trees per year. We should be over that goal this particular year. And I still see Tree Less Streets, C Street, for example. I get notes from C Street residents. Why can't we have why didn't you guys plant trees so we could have a nice canopy like Beast Street?

I said, well, sorry. It's like that's not our doing. That was way back when so if possible, we may need to increase the number of trees that we plant per year in the city of Hayward. I always see photos on social media where out in the desert, there's a tree, and there's some kind of a class or meeting. And all the people are gathered under the shade of the tree, and everybody everything is bare, or the animals are all bare. So it's it's it's something very unique. So trees absolutely I don't know what impervious services are. Excuse my ignorance. What's an impervious?

Asphalt where water cannot seep through the Okay.

We don't want to Okay. Alarm. So we definitely don't want to increase that. Right. Okay. So now, of course, we do have some projects that cannot have shade structures being made. That's a six story structure. That's not gonna be where are we gonna put trees? Unless we tell these folks, plan green up on the roof. Or as I've seen in France where they take part of the wall and they put shrubs on the wall itself. Looks really neat.

They have it inside our library. Right.

I mean, I'm saying so so that's something that can be done. So I garden up on the roof. Let's see. Good efforts on the housing, the art I I mentioned. Yeah. I think the the pre canopy idea, the bus stop safety. How how does the where are we in increasing the number of shaded bus stops? Is are are we in a yeah. So It's it's a lean year. So you know?

We have about over 300 bus stops. Yes.

We do. Mhmm.

63 of them have a Right. Shade structure. And then that's the not are not increasing it because as you know, busy transit is not in a Of course. Rates.

Somehow, there maybe we can put us that is one of our goals, increase the number of shaded bus street shaded bus stops. I know the budget is coming up, but it may be difficult, but it's something that should be in the back of

our mind. So what council has offered to AC Transit is not only pay them what they have requested for the maintenance of some of these bus stops, a little bit more even Mhmm. If AC Transit is going to do a better job Of course. And we can Right. From council.

And we're trying to get some income by putting ads on these bus stops because I've seen where they have actual virtual ads on them.

So their their comment has been that that never paid off. Oh, that's too bad. And Clear Channel was maintaining the Right. The bus stops. They said that the dose that has never been. And

you did mention that some of these structures would then be vandalized. Hey. You know, that's that's a way of life everywhere you go. So it's a matter of just fixing it up or repainting it or whatever the case may be, but we have that's something that we have to deal with. Alright. Is this an action? It's not an action item? No. Just for just to give you mhmm. Yes. Of course. Mhmm. Alright. Alright. So we don't have to vote on it. No emotions necessary. Colleague, Roche, something else?

Yeah. I also wanted to point out. I I appreciate you adding this in that, you know, people are more likely to, like, live and visit business districts with with shade structures and trees. So I think as far as being a little bit aggressive with development might be okay in that, you know, there's a reason people wanna go to, you know, tree lined streets where they can park and where they they go out of their way to find a shade structure to park under. So I think these things become attractive to the city.

Like, not only would it help to reduce our our heat in the in the environment, but it also would go to draw people here. People wanna live where there where there are lots of trees, where there's lots shade structures. So I think, you know, you know, being a little bit aggressive, you know, I hear your point on development, but I think we're trying to create an environment here where people wanna come for that reason. So that's to that for that reason why I am interested in seeing where we could be a little more aggressive. Like, I know we already have the point structure, and I think that's great. But as we move forward, you know, maybe I know Sarah's listening, you know, what we could do to really encourage that.

But as the ASD has mentioned and we have incorporated in the report, we have to be cognizant of the total the lot area coverage. Yep. When we add these shared structures Yep. It's going to subtract from develop.

But, you know, I mean, for me, it also it's not just in adding it on the structure, but in the design. You know, the the the design of the building, I mean, it should, you know, be you know, that you you don't have just a sheer entry into a building, that you provide some, you know, shade before you get into the entry of a building. I mean, that yeah. That's what I mean, I you know, it's funny when you look at old fashioned building, you know, when they didn't have AC, like, in the South. Mean, they designed for this, and I I think we sort of forgot that when we started building our metal and glass boxes. And so Mhmm. I am interested what, you know, what we can do to encourage that in the design part of it.

Yes. Good. Thank you for your comments. Yes.

Yeah. Just to just to add on to that, having, I don't know what they call them, but basically, canopies on the face seems to deflect that effect of the sun hitting it and kinda beaming down directly onto the surface. So maybe we can incorporate some elements of that design into the into the shade.

Good. That's alright. Okay. Anything else? No? Matt, were you gonna say something about this?

I I guess I did have a comment after all. Please. Just a word for the trees.

See?

Okay. Matt? Open. You have three minutes. Oh, I'm a I'll open a public comment again. Alright, Matt?

Thanks, sir.

Just because of you. Otherwise, I would not

open. Thanks for talking about trees. You know, just some quick facts that are very startling. This one's from the roundup.org. 42,000,000 trees are cut down each day. That's 15,300,000,000 trees cut down every year. And we've already destroyed 46% of the trees on Earth, and only 36% of the world's rainforest remain intact. So I just wanna put in a word for every possible tree that could be planted, in my view, is the least possible thing we could ask of any developer. And one idea for financing is what we do with fundraising with bricks at the college. Perhaps put out an opportunity for someone to put a little plaque in front of the tree as a sponsor.

So Albertsons or CVS sponsored this tree, it would be

a it's recognition and some win win business slash tree environment. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. And the leadership in Washington DC says that we need to cut down more trees, so I'm not pleased with that. Alright. Thank you. I'll close public comment, and it's it's not an action item. So we move on to item number three. Item number three of our action items are is RPT25Dash021. City of Richmond's agreement with Chevron. Did they put up the fire? Those are fire glass waste. No? No.

I guess I didn't see it.

That it's put on. Yeah. Okay. So go ahead. Is

that you, miss Vargas, again? I'm I'm gonna take this one if I can just refund the

Okay.

Alright. Good afternoon. So at our, meeting in September, the committee requested the staff provide a report on the recent settlement agreement between the city of Richmond and Chevron. So this report presents a summary of that settlement agreement that's intended to address the impacts of the Chevron oil refinery on the community of Richmond. And we've also included a brief summary of some other efforts to tax fossil fuels as well as an alternative approach.

So in June, the Richmond City Council voted to approve a ballot measure that if approved by voters would have established a new business license tax on oil refining. Tax would have been $1 per barrel of oil feedstock, and it was estimated that it would generate between 60 to $90,000,000 per year. This tax was proposed to mitigate the impacts of the Chevron refinery, including environmental impacts, public health impacts, and emergency services impacts. However, in August, under the threat of a lawsuit, the Richmond City Council pulled the ballot measure after reaching a settlement agreement. And so under this ten year agreement, Chevron is to pay the city of Richmond $50 $50,000,000 a year for the first five years, and then 60,000,000 per year for the following five years.

Very nice. So, another potential tax on the use of fossil fuels that was considered by a Bay Area city last year was measured GG in the city of Berkeley. This would have been a tax on fossil natural gas that would have applied to commercial buildings that are 15,000 square feet or larger. The tax would have been almost $3 per therm. And for comparison, commercial natural gas rates are about $2 per therm, and residential about $2.44 per therm.

So the tax was rejected by the voters out of concern for local businesses as as well as for their their health care institutions. So like many cities, Hayward has a utility users tax. So we already tax all utilities including electricity, natural gas, cable communications, and and cable television. This was approved by voters in 2009, and it was extended as measured d in 2016. The tax rate is 5.5% and is expected to generate about $24,000,000 this year.

So rather than placing an additional tax on the use of fossil fuels, staff is recommending a more direct approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As we've mentioned in some of our previous meetings, staff is exploring a possible building performance standard for Hayward. This would be an ordinance that requires annual reporting on energy use by large commercial and multifamily buildings. It would not require specific technologies or appliance efficiency standards, so it gives some flexibility to building owners. It would also require that greenhouse gas emissions be decreased gradually and decreased to zero by 2045.

So but this long lead time would allow for some planning and and allows for, improvements to coincide with, equipment replacements. So many cities are considering, building performance standards or ordinances. One example of an adopted BPS is the city of San Jose. They have the energy and water building performance ordinance. It was adopted in 2018, and it applies to buildings that are 20,000 square feet or larger.

And they have to report on energy and water consumption. And then starting in 2023, the buildings were subject to, specific efficiency standards, on a five year rolling basis. And then if the building does not meet a specific standard, then improvements would be required. So we are currently working with the the US Green Building Council as well as a lot of other cities and counties throughout California. We're meeting monthly to learn more about BPS requirements or ordinances.

Part of that includes reviewing local building stock characteristics, best practices for outreach, how to best track and enforce an ordinance, and what the requirements would be for staff resources. And, so we intend to come back and present some more information about about a possible BPS, later this year. So with that, we recommend that the committee receive public comments and then review and comment on the report.

K. We'll go public comments first. Any public comments here? No. Matt, please. Wait a minute.

Hi. I'll just say my name again. I don't if you can introduce myself. I'm Matt Critcher, longtime employee of Chabot College. I'm working in Chabotas, Pasidus Community College District on sustainability projects this semester. Just wanna share that, this would be in line with the California Community College system, which is the largest system of higher education in the nation.

Mhmm.

Over 2,000,000 students in a 116 colleges in 72 districts. The board of governors and the chancellor just had a webinar last Friday It really helped us up our game, and so we've been focused on the leadership energy and efficiency design, l e e d, building standards. And as a system, we're trying to move from silver to at least gold. Proud of the student service building. I worked in at Chabot as a platinum rating, the highest rating that you can get. But, unfortunately, we let ourselves slide at Chabot. I don't really know why. Every building, Vincent, 2010 did not achieve platinum. It went down to gold and then down to silver. I'm So glad the state of California system is saying, hey.

We really gotta go we gotta go there. In fact, we gotta move toward, Contra Costa Community College, ZNE, zero net energy, or even PNE, positive net energy. It is possible. And if we don't have a green building council codes, living buildings, CME, PNE on our radar with the least lead gold or hopefully lead platinum ratings, you know, I think we're gonna continue down this path of of increasing GHGs, agriculture, food waste, buildings, and transportation. So our four biggest areas that I've done in my founded my research to contribute to GHGs. So I really support the exploration and, hopefully, acceleration of the building performance standards for the city here. Thanks. Thank

you, Matt. Anyone else? Linda, anybody from online? Okay. Well, we'll start with mister Goldstein. Yeah. Thank you.

So if we adopt building performance standards, the building owners are responsible for implementing them. And what percentage of greenhouse gases are attributable to buildings of the size that are being called out in this report? 20,000 square feet?

Close to half. Maybe a little less than half.

K. Alright. Are there funding sources that identified that will help building owners with their complaints? Or are we expecting them to dip into their own pockets?

I think that the there's there's currently some rebates out there, but, know, we can't count on those being run forever. I'd say what what lot of cities are looking at is is providing technical assistance for building owners to better understanding what is what are the most cost cost effective options, best timing for improvements. But, you know, a lot of these things are are targeting things like water heating systems, space heating systems that eventually need to be upgraded or replaced over time. So

And I would add that these measures over time, there are going to be savings to the buildings that you Mhmm. Like water savings or energy savings, energy efficiency. So it is upfront cost, but we'll be fine if there are some benefits. Sure.

So I'm thinking about the experience I had recently at my home where a vendor of PG and E partner or whatever called me up and scheduled what they said was an efficiency review of the house. And then they came in and they taped the vents and put a new water flow nozzles on the showers and sinks and turned down the thermostat on the water heater, did a few other things. I was actually really appreciative of that. Now I know that we're not talking about just those things when we're talking about a 20,000 square foot building. It's gonna be quite a bit more.

And, of course, they're doing it because it takes load off of PG and E. Right? So they benefit. A little bit less stress off of our water resources. So there is that benefit.

So I'm just wondering how do we communicate this to building owners that it's in their best interest. So it's a sustainability thing. So what I keep going back to is is how do we have the conversation in a way that people feel like it's a good idea, not something that's being thrown on their backs? Because there just seems to be a lot of that in our country, especially right now. But getting people to see the wisdom, right, to benefit on the water system, benefit on electric grid, benefit on gas, benefit on the environment, tendering, and so forth.

So I'm hoping that what we'll come up with is a list of recommendations and maybe a deadline, but a list of recommendations and what we think the costs are and what those offsetting values are. So what can a building owner expect to receive by way of savings if they implement these things? And I think that then will encourage building owners to adopt these measures. And then, of course, we also need to be talking to the contractors and the people that actually do the work so that they're able also to communicate that value to the building owners.

Okay. Thanks. Good points. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. Again, thank you for bringing this. I know we've been asking, you know, to talk about this topic as at a way as a way of getting at how we're working we're gonna help people reduce their reliance on fossil fuels in the city. And, you know, what's their tax opportunity? Was there, you know, some some way to get at this and, know, to create an incentive? So I so I really appreciate you sort of giving us, you know, a, yeah, update on how the Chevron refinery settlement went, what that might look like in Hayward, a similar sort of tax. But I but I hear your point on maybe the way to get at this to for the same you know, to have the same outcome as is this building performance standard. I mean, I'm I'm all for it bringing back because I you know, developers, they're savvy. They know.

I mean, no disrespect to what you're saying, but they know why these things are gonna save the money and why they're not, and they're gonna do what they have to do for their own business model. And a lot of these are getting to state. Right? I mean, are state regulations eventually anyway. Right? I mean, every I mean

Well, the state is considering a building performance standard Okay. Similar to what some of the cities have adopted. Alright?

Yeah. I mean, Hayward has often been the one to set these local standards before the state gets there anyway. Right? So I'm I'm all for us doing this if it helps us get to, you know, our our buildings in Hayward being cleaners as, you know, as long as possible. Mean, I get the you know, if they're having to do retrofitting, you know, maybe we need to talk about assistance or some way to help them get there and give them the incentive a way to get there. But if if we're gonna look at our large possible users in the city, if this is a way to get there, I'm all for us going forward with this and bringing it to council. Thank you.

Another three likes. So I I agree with my colleagues a 100%. Let's keep studying this to where we can approach Chevron about some millions for us. Thank you. So we perform a standard. That's good. Somebody may not like it, but I think that the benefits of the as you mentioned, the the end result benefits are excellent. So that means that we need to start some kind of an education of our residents as to the benefits of these things. And I think that maybe it's time for us to come up with some kind of a anti diesel fuel, No. Fossil fuel sticker.

Something would start distributing. You know? Fossil fuel kills you. I don't know. That's something. You know? Put somebody in marketing each other and come up with a little sticker. Mean, let's be the first in the state to do this. Okay. Not an action item. So no? No action? No? No action. Just the information. Alright. Okay. Alright. Alright. And, Matt, thank you very much. Thank you for the comments, and one last opportunity for public comments. No? Okay. Fine. So now the we'll give a report later. Now before it goes to the council, we'll we'll see another report on this.

Yes. Then With more detail.

Before it goes to council and it's our somehow our approval. So that was item number three. Now we are into future agenda items. Four, h t t 25 dash zero one seven proposed 2025 agenda planning calendar. Reviewing comments. Alright. And you who? Miss Vargas?

Mister Pearson? If you have any comments on the on on the

We love it. Especially especially I love the idea that the leader of on stop waste is going to be here in May. Correct? Alright. Tim Burrows. You all wanna be here to listen to here and meet Tim Burrows, an excellent guy.

Yeah. It must be for real. Enjoying him from him.

Yeah. He's miffed at the moment because a b 54 is being put on hold by the powers that be at Sacramento. That's not good. Anyway Thank you.

But can I Yes, please? Thanks. I you know, I would like to get and, you know, we have one comment from Sandra about open space. I think it would be good if we had an agenda item on our sort of ratio of open space to, you know, our developed land in Hayward and where we are, you know, trying to preserve open space area. What what do you think about that as far as

Good news. Yeah. I I

mean, I think it's a good idea because I know there is, you know, I know there are some concerns about some open space that's, you know, that that we're concerned. But I think there are other areas in the city that we should be talking about.

Forward to do that. Okay.

To doing that and providing also comparison with other cities like Fremont, Union City,

and there's

That would be really yeah. I think I think it's time for us to sort of talk, you know, to look at that ratio. It might be really helpful for all of us to to hear that and where we can do better. Thank you.

Do we wanna agendize a possible increase to the number of trees that we want to plant underneath? Are you guys interested in that?

It's up to you, but we are striving to do that and to plant as many trees. Okay. It's going to At the

moment, the goal is 1,500. I want more.

Yes. And and as you know, maintenance services and also the development community, they have done more. Okay.

So Okay. So let me go. Alright.

Eventually, you're supposed to let us know how many trees we have in Hayward. Or It's good. It's in the future. I know we don't have I know we have more than 33,000 trees. I wanna tell people, we in the city of Hayward have 2,000,000 trees. Come over and count them. At the moment, they're telling us that we only have 33,000 trees.

So are we talking about publicly maintained trees On every tree.

Trees in the backyard? Every tree in the city of Hayward. Alright.

What Don't we have this tree canopy study that is kind of on hold right now? Right? Is that right?

Or

It is it is going on right now. It is the is go go ahead.

Yeah. The the the was that the canopy study that was completed as part of the tree preservation ordinance. Okay. And so that's one thing we can look at. And then also maintenance services is they recently or are they just getting started with a contractor to inventory trees? But that will be an inventory of trees on public property. Okay. But, you know, I think that that's gonna be a good tool for us to use to identify where where

we could plant additional trees. When when you're driving to Madrid, Spain, we have over 3,000,000 trees at Mount Air and Hayward. If you're driving to Portland, Oregon, we have over a million trees in our fine city. I'm very anxious. So let's fix it.

And the the climate is a little bit different And Right. Okay.

Alright. Thank you for listening to me and putting up with that. Alright. I still wanna identify the oldest tree in Hayward,

Alex. I understand. Yes. Okay.

Alright. Any I'm gonna open it up to public comments, see if anybody wants to propose an agenda item. Anyone? No? No? No? Okay. So Matt? Matt is thinking. Matt? Well, I just wanted to

call make one comment. I'm trying to look at the all the different units of measure in this, for example, the categories for community college district, water, waste, transportation, energy, therms, etcetera. Now what I'm finding is the cost is being tracked separately. So I'm trying to put cost in the same reports or using this association with the advancement of sustainability in higher ed platform called the sustainability tracking assessment rating system or STARS program. And so I do think to kinda get at the bridging the the I don't know if there are gaps, but communication opportunities with developers and with businesses and colleges like ours.

Bringing in that cost benefit analysis that you spoke of is, I think, a key component to helping people see the investments are worth not only the the environmental, but the economic and the social outcomes. So that EES or ESG or people profit and planet, right, can all be win win win scenarios. And I think the more that cities and community colleges and counties put these conversations together, people, planet, profits, then I think the better success we'll have in in communicating the imperative. So thanks

for the opportunity. Very good, Matt. Thank you. Thank you for that. Alright. Anyone else? No? Is there anyone online? No. Not at all? No. Oh, okay.

Alright. We have some public You you do? At the study.

The staff has a public comment. Poor old poor old. Sorry. That what I wanted to ask at May 12, Timber was just not in here. Is that are we it's gonna

be That's the that's for that that the SP 54 agenda.

Very good. Alright. Oh, there it is. Okay. Steph has a public comment.

Just a a few announcements for some upcoming events. We're coming up on Earth Day. So Yeah. In fact, this week is our deadline for the Earth Day poster and writing contest. Yeah. We're scheduled to bring the, awards presentation to the council, on Earth Day, April 22. And then that following Saturday, we'll have our Earth Day fair at Weeks Park on the twenty sixth. And then a couple weeks later, we'll have our compost giveaway on May 10. Mhmm. And then Sorry.

Oh, you and, yeah, households can get up to four bags each Wow. Organic compost. That'll be out at the SkyWest former SkyWest Golf Course again. And then the and then we have a bike to work or wherever a day on May 15. So well, and then we've got a couple of events that we're partnering with the the Oregon Unified School District. We have a point day career networking here in a couple of weeks, so we'll be participating with that. Is that a year? Yes. Yep. On the twenty first? Yep. And that's it. You haven't mentioned RV day. Oh, I have that on my list.

I didn't hear it. How could you do that? I don't see that. I Okay. So let's do something for our day too. I don't know

what could be done, but Charlie. So regarding trees, I just wanted to mention because I know that they are important to the sustainability committee. We are working on the last phase of mission Yeah. Going from K Street all the way into the end.

You guys are gonna like this. Hear hear this out. Yeah.

Was It's really nice. So, basically, there there are amazingly, there are zero trees existing. No trees on Mission Boulevard, this major entrance to the city. So as part of the improvements that we are doing, we are adding a 120 trees so that you see, you know, tree canopies at intersections at mid blocks and so on. So Most excellent. A combination of canopy trees and also flowery trees. Okay. So it's going to be nice. The project is gonna be done in the next two months. Sweet.

Yeah. So it's a good project. And then, of course, Main Street is going to have some red trees also. Right now, we're working on Main Street, and that is going to be done by June. So David behind Mission.

You know we like you. Right? How much? Thank you. Do that. Okay. Sorry.

Yeah. The work the work on Mission is outstanding at all. It is. Looks so much better. It just really it's impressive. That's worth that's worth I think please let Absolutely. Please let the folks that have done the construction out there know. They do. Thank It's very much appreciated. The business owners out there have taken note. It's beautiful. Very, very nice.

Thank you. So we're now into committee member and staff announcement. Those were announcements by staff. Yes. Committee member announcements. My name is Roche. Mister.

Just made

Okay. Tomorrow, we celebrate Edward's hundred forty ninth birthday. So if you're not doing anything at 3PM, we're going to have a small celebration of cake, singing happy birthday in a couple of homes right at City Hall Plaza. Provide a piece cake from Max's cakes. And then sorry. Yes. So that's my answer.

Yes. The the mayor's state of address tomorrow. Yes. Yes. Six months. Go ahead. Oh, the mayor the mayor's annual state of the the city address is tomorrow night at the Performing Arts Center at Mount Eden High School. It's a beautiful facility. If you've never been there, that's a great excuse just to go see the building. But also, you know, stay for Mark's comments about the state of the city. Mhmm. It's a it's a good experience. Anyway, at 06:00 tomorrow at the Performing Arts Center.

Excellent. And just one one little quickie. My wife and I were in, England this last Christmas, and I said, where is the oldest tree of London or England? So we went out there and I hugged this tree. Oh, it's just gorgeous. If where we are in any city, look for the oldest tree, hug it, touch it, kiss it, whatever you want. Be one with nature. Okay. And with that, any announcement from you? Nope. No? Anything sober at 06:01. Go out and shop Hayward first, please. Nothing on nothing.

The, youth