Council Sustainability Committee - Regular Meeting

So I'll this meeting to order. This is the council sustainability committee meeting on 04/30/2026, and it's a little late to accommodate some scheduling of other committee meetings, and I just wanna express my thanks to the staff for making that work. It it definitely is better for me. And oh, I know you had to stay a little longer, but I I appreciate it. So our call to order, this meeting is being conducted with a virtual component.

Anyone wishing to address the council sustainability committee virtually may join the meeting on Zoom using the link or phone number and web ID shown on the screen or by dialing (669) 910-9128, and entering webinar ID 83818466283. When the chair announces the item on which you wish to speak, click on the raise hand feature on Zoom or dial 9 on your phone 9 on your phone. When the chair calls your name to provide public comment, if you are participating via phone, please press 6 to unmute yourself. For for in person attendees, please fill out a speaker part when you can find which you can find on the table right over there with the water, the left of the door. So that's item number one.

And I wonder if there are any speaker parts to be turned in. Okay. Alright. So thank you. Winfrey, would you like to take roll call? Certainly. Chair Showalter? Here. Member Clark? Here. Member Hague? Here. Okay. Item three is, approve the minutes. We had a CSE meeting, from December 1, and we have minutes from that to approve. Does anyone have any comments or questions about the meeting minutes?

No.

Okay. Well, if not, then a motion is in order.

Motion to accept. Okay.

If there's no public comment, I'll second that.

Okay. Alright. Do we have any public comment on the minutes? You're right. We got we're supposed have public comment on. Any public comment on Zoom? Nope. Okay. Good. So, yes, we'll take your, second. Thank you very much. And, all in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. That passes unanimously. The next, part of this meeting is all communications. That is, from the public. This portion of the meeting is reserved to persons wishing to address the committee on any matter that is not on tonight's agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic for up to three minutes during this section.

State law prohibits the CSD from acting on nonagendized items. Would any member of the public like to provide comment on an item that is not on tonight's agenda? Is there anybody on

Hello, Mary. Do you want to comment on something on

that agenda?

Yes. Sopina.

There is a comment. Okay. So please tell us your name and and Hi. Can you hear me? Talking. Yeah. Oh,

hi. My name is Sofia Yamada, and I'm currently a student at Monte Vista High School. And I'm here to address the community education on how we can prevent plastic solution from the source before it ever reaches the creek, and I'll share a few amendments after sharing my story. A few weeks ago, I was along Calabasas Park near my neighborhood, and I noticed plastic bottles, food wrappers, and single use bags caught in the weeds on the bank. And I've also seen the same thing collecting in drains along Stevens Lake Boulevard and in Mountain View.

And I feel like these plastic have nowhere except straight into our local waterways and eventually the San Francisco Bay. And this is not a distant problem because every piece of plastic that enters into our storm drain goes untreated into the creeks and then into the bay. And once it gets there, it does not just float on the surface, but it breaks down into microplastics so small you cannot see them. And then they affect the fish and the water supply and into us eventually. And because the bay is so important for the ecosystem, for millions of people and thousands of species it depends on, I feel like right now, the waste is flowing into it every time it rains, and we have a responsibility to do something.

And I'd like to suggest three things in, like, our program that we could maybe implement. First, like, adding signs near storm drain explaining where the actual water goes so people understand the direct connection to the bay. And second, to organize community creek cleanups. And third, partner with local schools so student can bring this education to their home and to their families. I understand this is a difficult problem, but I think

You still have a minute to go. Keep talking. No?

I think it's

that's it. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much for your comment. And do we have any other comments? Okay. And at the end of the meeting, I can make a comment about the response to that, or it okay for me to make a comment now?

Yes. You may. Yeah.

I'm sorry. I would just like to share that we do some organizations stencil on near storm drains a sign that says flows to bay, and they don't last forever. So that would be a great project for a high school group to work on. And another thing is that we have two really statewide cleanups every year, one in the fall and one in the spring. And I hope that you will take part in that, but they are in our area, it's usually overseen by Valley Water.

If you look on their website, you'll find out about the cleanups. And if you would like to organize your community or a group to do an extra cleanup, they can help you to do that. So I just wanted to share that information with you. Okay. So now we have we closed the oral communications and moved to number five, new business. And we're here to talk about a five year decarbonization plan and approach and action. So, Steph, Ms. Lucky is going to give us a presentation.

Ms. Lucky and I will both

Oh, okay.

On that. Apologies. Good evening, chair and committee members. Thank you for your time this evening. Tonight, we're presenting the proposed approach and priority actions for the city's five year decarbonization plan.

This work builds and incorporate builds on and incorporates on the on the information from the sustainability action plan, recent analysis, major policy shifts that we've observed in the last year and a half, and extensive feedback both from this this committee, public comments made over the course of the last year, as well as feedback from partners such as Silicon Valley Clean Energy and our colleagues in various departments across the city. Our goal is to present a focused and actionable strategy that positions the city to make meaningful progress towards decarbonization while allowing us the ability to continuously adapt to what we've seen as a rapidly changing. So the purpose of tonight's discussion is really threefold. First, we'd love your feedback on the overall approach that we will be laying out this evening. Second, we'd like some confirmation of the proposed priority actions for the five year plan.

And then finally, we'd like some feedback in for the, in ahead of the May 26 city council study session on decarbonization. Just to review some of the prior direction that has fed into where we are this evening, What's before you tonight builds on multiple sustainability action plans as well as direction from the council in approving a scope of work with Cascadia Consulting to develop to both analyze our carbon neutrality goal year and to develop a five year decarbonization plan.

Next slide.

We've had a lot of accomplishments to date. We haven't only been focused on planning. I won't read all of these to you. They were also included in the memo, but I just wanted to underscore how much we've been trying to balance both thinking ahead and implementing programs on the ground throughout. Next slide.

So over the last year, we've been in discussion with this committee and with partners. You know, we we we started with this goal analysis, you know, when will should we accelerate our carbon neutrality goal? And, of course, the period under which we were undertaking this discussion was very volatile. You know, we we saw a lot of changes at the federal level in a very short amount of time. So over the course of that discussion, we were watching federal programs and policies shift, even changes at the state level, sometimes driven by federal action, potential impacts at the regional level.

We saw that some of our biggest reductions really depend on an integration of or coordination of action at all of these different levels. And we saw that local actions alone are not sufficient to get us to our decarbonization goals. However, they're essential. They help us kind of build on policy success, show local implementation, working on the ground, fill gaps. So as certain policies were folded, you know, then we would have a local response.

Like, what is the way that we can try to fill some of those gaps? And then finally, local actions help us pilot solutions that can be scaled ultimately. So local action will not get us there alone, but we also find that it's essential. Next slide. We have spent a few meetings now talking about this shift.

It felt like every meeting we came to, it was like we have a new update. Just to remind you of a few things, the EPA revoked California's authority to implement the Clean Cars Act. That was a significant driver of emissions reductions in our projections. It led to quite an increase of the residual emissions that would be dealt with at the local level. Just the single act alone left our local level response to be 40% of the emissions as opposed to 7% when the Clean Cars Act was modeled and expected to be in place.

Next slide. So taking all of this context into consideration, the direction that we got from CSC was to emphasize now, you know, what should we do now in the next five years because the farther out future is much less certain. You know, we've just seen so much shifting. We also got direction to maintain our existing carbon neutrality goal. The city had already adopted a 2045 goal, and staff did not recommend accelerating it given the context last year.

And then this creation of a five year plan so that, you know, we we maintain this long term goal, but we really focus on what we should do next. What is the highest, best use of our time, you know, for the next five years? Next slide. And, you know, we can't bring to this committee a plan that shows a 25% reduction in our emissions over the next five years, getting us to 100% reduction in twenty years. There have been significant changes at the federal level.

And, also, it's been our experience that emissions reductions aren't linear. You know, some are, but we have these major achievements that will spike our reduction. So, for example, COVID, not something that was an achievement, but it had a significant quick impact on emissions. Things like the development of Silicon Valley Clean Energy and CCAs across the state just really rapidly shifting our electricity portfolio. That led to a rapid decline in emissions all at once.

So what we're trying to do is keep a focus on this end goal and recognize that we won't have a linear path to it and really emphasize the short term. Okay. And with this, I'd like to hand it over to Ms. Lucky. So this is really the context in which we're developing this five year plan, and now she's going to walk you through some of the specifics that are included.

So just looking at where our current emissions come from, about 90% largely come from building emissions by the use of natural gas in building, primarily water heaters and space heating equipment. And then we've got 58% coming from the use of vehicles, gasoline, and diesel in our community. And looking at this information, this is kind of a good data point in addition to what we're already seeing in terms of policies that are underway or where there are gaps. For example, like, Bay Area Air District rules. So starting in 2027 in the Bay Area, the air district's gonna restrict the sale of gas fired water heaters, and then that's going to ramp up over the next few years to furnaces and then large commercial water heaters.

And we see an opportunity for local action in this area to really complement and kind of drive the success that does really hinge on the ability for local government to make those broader policies a success through outreach, education, incentives, of filling in those gaps as well. So for building electric electrification, what we're seeing is that there's a lot of good news in this area. And the broader landscape, there's still a lot of positive actions going on in this area. I mentioned the Bay Area. Air district rules.

And we also have California's clean energy regulations, so we can expect to see zero emissions by 2045 in electricity just because of the state regulations regarding clean energy. And as I mentioned, it does really depend on local action as well in ensuring that these policies can be implemented on a local level. So it really does represent a large opportunity for us to, again, just continue the momentum and ensure a smooth and equitable transition from natural gas to electricity. So the proposed actions or the key actions, there's there's quite a few in the attachment, to the staff report, but the key actions that we see are electrification readiness. So ensuring that people have prewiring already done before their appliance reaches the end of life.

So they're not kind of out of having hot water or anything like that. They have a a spot chosen. There's already a plug. So that would enable compliance with the air district rules. And we continue to enhance our permitting process.

We've done a lot over the years, and we're gonna continue to enhance the process as much as possible to, again, ensure effectiveness. And then, of course, targeted education and outreach. We're currently working on the year of the water heater campaign, which, you know, is raising awareness and getting that buy in from the community that this is where the future is going. And incentives for small business and low income households. We see this as a key area over the next five years.

So right now, we have a $2,000 rebate for all residents in Mountain View, and, you know, that's really helping to catapult and kind of, again, have these community discussions around electrification. But then kind of looking at, you know, where can we support the gaps potentially where it might be hard to electrify or, again, small businesses or low income households. And then looking at piloting programs as well. So, you know, excitingly, we've been accepted into this state program where we're we're a high candidate. Won't wanna say accepted quite yet.

But Mountain View is one of three cities in Santa Clara County to be accepted, and we've got the most census tracts right now to look at where instead of investing in upgrading gas infrastructure in neighborhoods, PG and E would instead use that money to electrify the neighborhood itself and then, therefore, you know, turn off the gas in certain neighborhoods. It's kind of known as natural gas pruning was a term that's been used. So that's a very exciting development that we're hoping to pursue in the next five years. And then the plan also builds in, redundancies as well. So with the air district rules, what we're seeing, as you noticed in the previous slide, is that, you know, we're gonna see a reduction of 92% in this sector by 2045 because clean energy, because of the air district rules.

But let's say that the air district rules get delayed or modified and and things don't work out as as planned, there is a bit of redundancy built into our actions, like time of sale that we can pick up to kinda continue the momentum at a local level. And then we've got innovative options, like the phase out of natural gas by a certain year, building performance standards, and, of course, policy, advocacy at the state and federal levels. Because, again, as we noticed, Ms. Lee talked about all of these actions together really drive the deepest emission reductions.

Slide. Thank you.

So in looking at transportation, it's still one of the most persistent emission sources since I've started my career, and it still will be by 2045. Vehicles are expected to account for approximately 63% of our emissions in 2045, even though we'll see a 50 an over 50% reduction over time. And that's just because, you know, as these other sectors like building decline rapidly, then that'll take up more of our emission pie chart in twenty four to five. And our analysis only captured a portion of the changes at the federal level. So when we were looking at the 54% reduction, we were looking at it without the Clean Card Act, but it didn't account for the discontinued, inflation reduction act incentives that ended for EVs in the fall of last year.

That's really too soon to know the impact of, the removal of the IRA inflation reduction act. But as we observed last year, the transportation emissions landscape is really volatile. And absent of this broader framework, and financial incentives to spur adoption, changes in the transportation sector, we see them as largely driven by fuel prices right now, so that's a big motivator for people. You know, trading policy, emerging technologies, I mean, all those factors are kind of what we're seeing happening, but it's still uncertain to see what's going to play out in the future. So our focus over the strategic focus over the next five years will be on addressing barriers to EV adoption and also tracking emerging technologies.

And all of that's really to help figure out how to sustain the momentum should, you know, these broader policy frameworks come back into play in the future that we're set up for success, then we're not having to start at zero and trying to complement these other policies that come online again.

So a

challenging barrier for EV adoption tends to be access to charging, particularly for multifamily residents. Right now, there isn't enough charging for EV owners currently in Mountain View. And, you know, the adoption curve, if it continues to go, that's gonna be more problematic. Or we have the reverse that happens where multifamily residents don't adopt EV as a way to, you know, get around. And what we're kind of seeking is well, what we're seeking is convenient and affordable charging.

So we wanna really address this barrier and make sure that there is access to some level of charging, and we recognize that technology is emerging in this area very rapidly. And we're working to understand the future of charging. It can take time to scale these new solutions. So it's a balance of, you know, what can we do today? Maybe not every unit is gonna need charging, but some level of on-site charging for existing multifamily properties is is going to be very useful.

And in the fall, we plan on discussing this further with the committee about where we stand with multifamily charging, what you know, how much of the properties multifamily properties in Mountain if you don't have charging, and kind of where can we go from there. So the next slide. What we're hoping to really look into over the next five years, how can we get charging to at least 25% of multifamily units in Mountain View. So it's about 5,000 units. And looking at the use of incentives, public more public charging that's near multifamily, or even looking at highlighting curbside charging as a solution, also looking into partnerships with utilities and private sector partners.

And we've done private sector partners in the past, and that's been beneficial. And, also, pilot programs, figuring out where the highest need of charging is and what what could we potentially pilot to give them the the charging that they need, whether it's, you know, fast chargers nearby at city parking lots or parks themselves to support their efforts to keeping their EV. And then we have additional transportation actions.

You

know, are are a large part of ensuring that we reach our 2045 goal. However, there are still other ways that complement how to get there, and we wanna support those as well. And the attachment to the staff report includes expanded shuttle services, affordable access to public transit, mobility hubs, outreach, and education about EVs, and learning more about if there are more barriers that we don't understand to incorporate those and expanding e bikes and e scooters and also talking about safety. We've heard a lot of information about the safety of e bikes and how they're charged as well. So making sure our community is safe and zero emission delivery services as well and rideshare strategy.

So this approach is what we're, looking towards in moving our community toward decarbonization goal by 2045. It focuses on the highest impact actions. It enables fast implementation, and it complements or fills gaps in broader policy and helps us to not go too far. There may be technology advances so that we don't put all our eggs in one basket. We allow for some changes, and we can respond, more nimbly to that.

And we strengthen the regional impact as well. So whether we're complementing, like, the air district rules or whether we're piloting or scaling something that could be scaled up. There's a lot of great examples of that happening, and reach codes have been kind of paused for the next few years, but they were crucial in getting California building codes to consider encouraging electrification or EV charging. So those things can't be discounted if that that started at the local level and eventually scaled up as well. And with that, I will hand it back to Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lucky. For the next steps, just for the decarbonization plan, we we'd like feedback from the committee and, ideally, approval of the proposed actions that were included in in the attachment. We will be discussing the proposed action at the city council study session on May 26, and, ultimately, we'll return to the council with a formal plan for for consideration. Next slide.

So maybe we can actually pause, if that's okay with the chair, and just discuss the your feedback on the proposed plan action items.

Since we do need to have public comments, that's Oh, yeah. Typical process would be questions from the committee first, then public comment, and then discussion.

So I

think this is just Sure. This is where we're gonna end up is is getting your guidance around how to bring this back to the council around the approach to the goal and the decarbonization efforts.

Okay. So with that, I think let's start with the main questions. The question is to.

I just want

to start. The, recharging, do you envision and maybe we just haven't gotten this far. Do you do you envision just partnering with an organization that would handle that or doing some of it in house? Or I'm just curious how you think about it. Obviously, SVCE can be full there. I just

Absolutely. We have been in discussions with SVCE. We have actually partnered with private entities. We've sold our carbon credits to them or traded our carbon credits for installation of chargers in our parking garages. And then we are also considering directly installing them ourselves.

I think kind of analogous to the overall climate solution, there's no silver bullet for EV charging. We're gonna end up with, like, this more buckshot approach of, like, many solutions to build a network of charging. We'll probably have to pursue all of the options. So, you know, even things as farfetched as looking at rideshare companies and if they wanna support their drivers who live in Mountain View, seeing if they would be willing to partner and install chargers in our community. So just any range of any any number of opportunities to get more charging infrastructure. We'd like to pursue all of it.

I'll save the rest for comments.

Okay. Yeah. I have a

bunch of questions about UV charging as well, but I'm thinking because you said that's gonna be a later there's gonna be a later session just on that, that maybe I'll I'll save much of it for that for that time. And I will say, though, that my my questions were around, like, what's the what gives you the biggest bang for the buck with with EV charging? But I I think because I I charge my own car, I just plug it into a regular plug. It's not a fast charger, and I'm just wondering how fancy we have to get for apartment charging, for example? So I guess I'll just ask that question in an abbreviated form.

You know, are are you weighing different off you know, are you is it, like, give everybody a fast charger, which my personal observation is not many people need that. Is it more chargers or is it fewer but more fast ones? Do you have how are you weighing those various?

Yeah. And I think we try to think of this in kind of two ways. The biggest bang for your buck, you know, what will spur the most EV adoption, and then where are the barriers that are the kind of the hardest to solve that won't happen, like, naturally as the market evolves. So, you know, for homeowners, maybe that's fine already. And the the the availability of at home charging will kind of keep pace as they purchase more vehicles electric vehicles.

But, for example, what miss Lucky was talking about, you know, charging at multifamily properties, like, it's particularly hard to solve that. This morning, we met with SPCE, and they said, yes. Multifamily is is just we don't know what to do yet. And so kind of looking for those toughest nuts to crack too to see if we bring additional resources to bear. Could we could we remove one of those most difficult barriers? So it's kind of this blending of, like, what's the hardest problem or barrier to remove and then what is the biggest bang for

your

buck And trying to find the, know,

the most overlap between them.

We don't have a single solution yet posed. So we we want to be focusing on EV charging in the next five years. And then at this lengthier discussion in this fall, we'll talk more about EV charging option.

Thank you. That's a good start. That too. It would be, you know, it makes up level one to Yeah. Fast charging. We we've seen some interesting technologies even at the level one charging and maybe not getting every unit, but, you know, at the meter, you are able to unplug one unit and get another unit if they're they have an EV. You know, there's that restricted capacity that issue to properties.

Right.

They have to navigate as well or other solutions like solar battery. And council did approve the SPCE grant, to use for multifamily EV charging. About $300,000 is not a lot, but it's a good opportunity for us to learn more about what's going on, where we can share information, have information about the projects, particularly for existing multifamily. So that's something that we're gonna be rolling out in the fall too.

Thank you. That's a good introduction. I look forward to that meeting because there's a lot I could ask. I have, like, 10 more questions

on that, but I'll Okay. That's what we're

But I like your you know, what the market can't solve because I think that's what there's no reason for us to do what the market can solve unless we're speeding it up. Then my other question another question is okay. So our meetings are have been constantly over the past how long has it been since we've gotten our new president? Year and a half, whatever. You know, about changing conditions nationally and then statewide.

And I feel like another one has just rolled out recently, which is not the repeal of all sorts of programs that I liked, but it's the, you know, the the changing gas prices. And and that's so all the others have been kind of disincentives for people to decarbonize. And this wherever you are on the map politically, all of a sudden, you don't want it to burn a lot of fossil fuel. Right. So do you so I imagine you even wrote the staff or made much of this plan before this latest iteration and that we'll have other iterations as well.

I mean, I hope seen our last iteration. But so do you do you have have additional things come to mind because of the rising fuel prices? So some of the things that this is, like, a question that's all over the place, but rising fuel plate prices also, you know, I go to various groups, no kings, etcetera. There are some very motivated people to do that. And whether there's anything you could do to interface with those people.

And then there's also there's sort of, call it what you will, an affordability movement. There's more talk about bread and butter issues, and I think that may be the best way to talk about some of the things that are in this policy sort of because that's what they are in a lot of ways, particularly because of the war in Iran and the rising oil prices. And there's also a will for energy independence. I feel like a lot of people in California even wanna be independent from not just national independence from but, you know, they wanna be more independent of this whole, you know, this whole whirlwind that's happening out there. So with with all those things, that's a lot of things, but it's four big things.

You know, do they and they're relatively recent. Do they affect at all the way you're thinking about the, you know, the items here in the plan, whether it's reframing razeology or who you reach out to or emphasizing one of these items that maybe you wouldn't have emphasized before the fuel prices. Fair enough.

I would say we broadly are trying to talk about this plan as allowing us to be nimble and to continuously monitor what's happening. I don't think we're gonna just talk about it and then come back in five years and update it. So our goal is to have these broad areas that we think as of now are highest and best use of our efforts. But it doesn't mean that we're going to stop monitoring the context. And if there are significant changes, we would come back with proposals to shift course because, you know, we want to always be working on the highest and best use of activities.

And then in terms of the more specifics, affordability certainly has been at the forefront of our mind. I think in the memo, we discussed the launch of the local government climate alliance and our some of our legislative advocacy efforts. The alliance has adopted a broad platform of climate goals. But this year, we're focused specifically on energy affordability or electricity affordability to be even more specific. So we had our first lobby day in Sacramento day before birthday, and we met with legislators that serve on the energy committee of both the senate and the assembly.

And we talked with about affordability with all the members, so both, you know, both parties, political parties, and it's an issue that resonates with people. You know, we can't just push decarbonization and have everyone electrify everything without any thought to electricity prices. And so we're trying to approach the issue from both sides. So certainly, affordability is is woven throughout and in terms of our programmatic thinking and then also the advocacy. In terms of gas prices, I I think it's hard to predict how long they will stay high. Right?

Like, I

if I could predict energy markets, I probably wouldn't have a day job. I would just volunteer to do this work and would be just fine. So we're not developing specific programmatic responses to the high gas prices. We have been certainly promoting electrification of vehicles, and this is just a further motivation. It's kind of an accelerant right now, but we are not counting on it to last.

I hope for many reasons that energy prices go down just because it's difficult for people in terms of affording daily cost. And then we haven't given thought specifically to interacting with the no kings groups. We have tended to work more on issue related advocacy or interaction than specifically political. But when there are areas of overlap, that group had a specific interest in decarbonization or sustainability more broadly, certainly we would be happy to engage. Yeah. Should I touch on I think so.

I think the the

the thing about the oil prices, you know, maybe if that lasts, it will affect policies. Maybe that's more a long term question. And then I wanted to check-in on the CoolBlock program, how that's going. Are there any lessons learned? Would you recommend any changes as it's you know, been ongoing for some time?

Yeah. Thank you for the question. We completed our most recent cohort, and this last cycle, we have actually been evolving the program over time. So the cool block kind of experience for the first cohort is not the same as what this most recent cohort went through. We really tried to focus in on electrification in particular, knowing that I believe it's is it Assembly Bill twelve twenty one Yeah.

Was going into place, which is this requirement for the utilities to fund zonal decarbonization or neighborhood decarbonization. So we thought, okay. We'll use the CoolBlock model, talk at the neighborhood scale about electrification. And then if we're selected, which we have we haven't been cut from the program, I guess, is the best way to say it. If we are ultimately selected, then we have these pockets of neighborhoods that are have learned how to talk to each other

about decarbonization. You're specifically talking to the ones that are candidates for that?

We we we were trying to have that level of overlap, but it turns out you also need just motivated individuals. And we weren't excluding people from participating just because they weren't in a zonal decarbonization priority area. But just the model of, like, how do we create conversation amongst neighbors and community and these connections with each other so that they can then talk about decarbonization. So we reworked our whole curriculum for the program, and so that would be available to any neighborhood that was selected for it. So the the CoolBlock was really we tried to evolve it to help set us up to be able to do more neighborhood style decarbonization because we recognize that, you know, one house at a time is very possible if we could get the utility to participate in electrification because they save money on the natural gas system, it's just a lot more efficient.

So but that that requires a level of community building. So we're using the CoolBot program to kind of build some muscle in that area. It's not a direct overlap, but but we have a sense of how to do it now.

And we're working to post kind of the toolkit. That's what this last school where we were building out. Like, how would you, you know, instead of if someone in a neighborhood all of sudden wanted to run a cool block, we have all the materials that they could go ahead and do it. So there's that in, you know, in endure this program to keep going for if people are interested. But I will say it made us a very strong app, candidate for this pilot program over other cities.

Oh.

I think the fact that we have the ability to rally neighborhoods, made us a very interesting partner for PG and E and wanting to continue to explore opportunities with us in that many census tracts.

Oh, well, that's interesting.

Yeah. We heard from SVCE that they they thought that the worry might be that they couldn't find enough jurisdictions that could have capacity to mobilize neighborhoods to participate. And so we we hope that this position does well.

Okay. Well, that's I could ask a lot more, but I won't. I'll I'll ask one last question. So one of the things that I think you do especially well is kind of paradigm shifts within

I've talked to

you about this, Danielle. Paradigm shifts within city staff who are doing, you know, have been doing things in certain ways. And I'm wondering what role you see I'm seeing that that implementing our biodiversity strategy could and and also some of the other things we're doing, the related things on biodiversity and urban forestry, but also the ATP. Do you what role do you see yourself, like minimum of maximum? I'm interested in making a maximum and, you know, helping with that those paradigm shifts in those areas. Yeah. I mean,

I think in the best case scenario, we all work together. You know, we'd love for all of our colleagues to see themselves as sustainability staff because they really are all together helping the city achieve its goals because biodiversity is part of sustainability in the broadest sense. So all of the active transportation items, those all help us achieve a more sustainable community. So we've been participant in the development of the biodiversity strategy. We think that the vulnerability assessment, some of the data that we have could really help to inform, you know, we want more tree cover.

You know, we have some criteria. We like, let's also look at where the heat spots are so that we can just have as much information as possible to make those good decisions. So we like more in terms of working together with our colleagues. Today, I met with the Department of Housing Director, Mr. Chen, and we were talking you meet. Yeah. We were talking about housing preservation and decarbonization because you're doing all of this rehabilitation anyways. You have to bring the units up to code. And if you're gonna rip them open, like, why not put in a heat pump or whatever it is? If and so we're we're just trying to surface these opportunities.

So as much as possible, we like to champion the work of all of our colleagues in the departments and help them achieve their goals and really integrate sustainability into what they're doing. And I would say they've been very receptive. You know, Mountain View is incredibly collaborative. You know, many of us have worked in multiple jurisdictions, and I've certainly been struck by how well everyone works together, just how open folks are. So it's been a really fulfilling part.

May I provide some additional examples? Because I think this is kind of the behind the scenes role of sustainability that might not be as well known. And a couple other examples are around EV adoption within our own fleet. And, really, I won't say handholding because our, you know, our police department doesn't need a handheld, but but it's it's a newer concept to move towards electric vehicles for some of their types of vehicle needs. And so, I mean, I'm actually signing the purchase orders for electric police vehicles because we've taken on that role to help them identify what's gonna meet their needs.

Like, really meeting with them where they are. What do you need? You know? And and then helping them see the benefits of electric and helping remove the barriers to what they might have as concerns. So that's another example.

Solar is another example, where it's not yet kind of the the the common practice, you know, the design standard, if you will, since that's a, you know, a much talked about idea right now to to to build in the solar. And so sustainability team can be the much more informed staff around what are the options, what's the process, and to shoulder some of that network and getting into the contracting and and finding ways to make it more more feasible. And it's not because the public works department doesn't want solar or, you know, any of these departments don't want to do these things. It's just they have very full plates doing things in the ways that they're already doing things. And so that's where paradigms paradigm shift comes from.

Right. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. Those are all.

Okay. I I have some questions too. We will get to public comment, though, in the discussion. One is can you talk a little bit more about what is a mobility hub? I've never heard that term before.

Yes. It's something the transportation staff, we've been talking to them about, and it's been a concept that they've been wanting to pilot and looking for different types of funding to do that as well. But it's essentially, like, for example, the Caltrain station. You know, how can we put in electric bike scooters or kind of other ways to be able to get around to that last mile. Other ideas include, like, say that you live in a neighborhood that has an HOA and it has, like, a community park or something like that.

That's could be a mobility hub. Got a bike repair. I mean, those things are kind of already included, but it's, like, another step to really enable some of those alternative transportation modes, for those first and last miles rather than choosing to get into your vehicle or even shared vehicles. It could be a shared EV in in some of these neighborhoods. No. But that's really the concept. It's it's new. That's definitely an innovative aspect that I think cities are trying to figure out what that looks like.

It could be a number

of things, it sounds like. Yeah. Depending on the situation. Okay. Alright. Thank you. And the other thing, following up on your comment about the breach codes, we had to change the breach code because of the law. But we got quite a bit of statistical reporting as we were working through that process. And I'm wondering if we are finding that in the permits going forward are people choosing who who have the choice, choosing to put in natural gas appliances where where previously they wouldn't have been allowed to. What's happening with that? Do we know?

We have some anecdotal information from community development, and we'd be happy to coordinate with them to see if they could give a more robust analysis of it. We they were observing some instances of natural gas appliances being put into projects where previously they would have been excluded. But I don't have you know, they were just seeing it come across Yeah. The desk sometimes. And so, know, you which is Silicon

Valley Clean Energy has done some market research that where so that that shift, like, is for single family, it's still not quite like, they're still maybe choosing gas appliances. But for multifamily, these larger developments, they are seeing that the that the bottom line, they do save. And, you know, they're using it as a selling point. So I I wanted you know, it was a it was more than half. Well, more than half, like, just alone without the regulation now. But developers are choosing electric.

But only more than that?

I think it's pretty I don't wanna quote you.

But Well, anyway, I would love to know because because what we really care about is is, you know, how how much electrification happens. Mhmm. Not and if if if the policies are appropriate. And we we did get very, very upset about the reach codes, and I think that was appropriate under the circumstances, But it it it it just it's also would be appropriate time to see how our fix is working.

I will say that the local government climate alliance was born of the pause on reach codes. So there were all of these cities last summer. We were all at this energy conference, and people were really wringing their hands about it. And it was like, we're just not gonna get hot flat footed again with a legislative blindside. And so how can we be more proactive legislatively?

And that's where the concept before, and we didn't end up focusing on reach codes. It's electricity affordability, but this broader idea of, like, maybe we need to work together in a different way so that these kinds of things don't happen, or maybe we need to change the playing field ourselves. So it's a nice silver lining to Okay. An an unfortunate policy thing. Yeah.

And then talking about charging and how the charging technology is changing. I remember we had public comment at the last meeting about the concept that there may be instead of having gasoline stations, they'll be like charging stations that have super fast chargers. Is there any do you have any information or idea about has anybody built one of those, or is there are there companies that are just providing that, or is is that something we expect to see on the horizon in five years or ten years or, you know, maybe never. Who knows? I mean, I just wondered if you had any

I think it's sooner than ten years. I think that there is a lot of excitement. We haven't heard of super fast chargers being installed on the peninsula or like that, but it's closer than ten years. This I think this morning, actually, we're in a meeting, it would be three to five years was kind of thrown out. So in the relatively near term, we have a charging shortage now, though.

You know, this today, I tried to charge my car, actually, and there were two cars in front of me in line for the fast charger. So we have a charging shortage now. There is room to grow our charging infrastructure, but not so much that we think we've solved the problem for the city and then in five years have to rip all of that out and install brand new forms of charging. So we want to increase the capacity we have now, but not go all the way recognizing that the technology is evolving really quickly.

Okay. And I think the nuance to that too is the EVs themselves. So maybe the newer EVs can can take that much. That's true. That's true. Whereas if you still are buying used or older EVs, right, you you know, it only has so much capacity to draw for a charger, and then it you know, we're looking at the difference between, like, electric Porsche versus a Nissan Leaf, you know, and how much it can really draw at a time from a charger. It's quite different. Right.

And then another thing with the this eating fudging infrastructure stuff is I really think an important part of what we're doing is We're supposed to be asking questions about everything on this list right now. Okay. So the blue stuff. I don't understand what regional time of sale energy upgrade partnership is. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

It's on the page four. Yeah.

The time of sale is an idea to require and fund electrification at the time of sale. So Berkeley is the most commonly cited example of what they you know, the program that they've established recently. We think we spoke about it briefly at a prior

CST meeting.

Yes. So our our thinking is that the air district rules will drive a lot of electrification. But if there are so many carve outs or delays in the rule implementation, then we could look at time of sale as being a way to backstop some of the slowdown that that could create.

That that brings that reminds you of that. And I also the building performance standards, I I wonder how that are are there existing building performance standards, or would we do working on developing them or kind of where where does that stand on the process of development?

Sure. At the state level, there are kind of building performance reporting requirements for buildings over a certain size. So just reporting about the energy usage. There are not requirements to bring down that consumption, the kind of, like, piece of what would make a fully integrated building performance standard program. We have been in purchase we have been in discussion with cities across Santa Clara County spearheaded by Silicon Valley Clean Energy, looking at could we could we consider a building performance standard program that is implemented countywide?

But the discussions are fairly early. We don't know kind of what role SVCE might play. The administrative burden on building performance standards programs can be quite high because staff have to check each building and make sure that they've been reporting. And then if there are performance standards that are instituted, then you have to go back and make sure that those standards are met. So if we had a regional partner that would just would help implement the program, then it seems like an interesting opportunity.

If we had to stand up a program entirely on our own that was separate and distinct from other cities, our neighbors, it could be confusing for developers and then also administratively challenging. So we're we're exploring the concept. We don't know where it will land. Ideally, regionally and implemented by SVCE, that would be wonderful.

Okay. At a several years ago, there was a presentation given about a town in Iowa that had set these up, and they were particularly related to efficiency and and, you know, putting in What's the word? Stuff you put in your attic so it does insulation?

Insulation. Insulation.

Building a room. Sure. Insulation. Insulation.

You know, there was a lot of I mean, in their in their climate, insulation was a really big thing, but it was all driven by reducing the amount of increasing affordability by reducing the amount of electricity that people needed. And they had set standards in their community that they were gonna meet. And, anyway, it was a very interesting thing. And Lucas was at it too, and so we could probably figure out what that was.

Thank you. San Jose also has a building performance standards program. They've been part of this work group kind of helping give their advice and share their experience with it.

Yeah. But I think that has a lot of it brings together a lot of things because people are very interested in affordability. One of the ways that they make things more affordable is to use electricity. Yes. So thank you. That's it. So that's questions. I think lots of questions. And this is really the meaty topic. And so now we come to public comment. So if anyone in the room would like to make a comment, we would love to hear it. And then we'll go to virtual speakers after that. Mr. Cardi. Hi.

I'm Mr. Cardi. I'd like to spend my three minutes talking about natural gas cost in the future. Could you please show slide 20? I'd appreciate

it. So

let's say in 2026 oops. Just Eugenie says that about 20% of your natural gas bill is for the actual gas that comes from the oil fields, and the rest is overhead. So that's up to a 100, and that's what you pay. This I'm sorry. Slide 20? Was that not the one with the 8% on it?

Sorry. This says 18. No.

We only had 18 slides, but we'll go up the natural gas.

They in 2045 that we would have 8% as much gas usage as we have now.

This one?

Change the next one.

Yes. 92% reduction. Sorry. I don't know why I thought this. Okay. So that means we would see 1.6, 92% reduction. And PG and E still has all that overhead, and they need to get paid. And so they're gonna charge 98.4. K. Well, that's all gonna be paid $20.45 by this very small number of gas users, which means the price of gas that's experienced by the customer goes up by an enormous factor.

Totally unaffordable. You have to not be the last person to be on gas. Now if every city is doing things at the same rate that Mountain View is doing things, we'll all suffer equally. But if Mountain View customers get off gas before the rest of California, then the rest of California will suffer, last gas users, and Mountain View will be in the clear. This is why carbon free Mountain View is pushing for end of flow by 2045.

It's to the economic and environmental benefit of Mountain View residents. I don't have more than three minutes, so I can't go into depth or answer questions, but that's the basic math of running gas system down while the overhead is essentially fixed. In fact, the overhead might go up if people's salaries go over for two years.

Okay. Thank you. Any other comments? Ms. Dadeo, welcome.

Thank you.

Hi, Mary Dadeo. I'm a resident. First of all, CoolBlock. Thank you for the CoolBlock program. Half the CoolBlock program is emergency preparedness. And as a result, when our water went out last week, we had quite a few five gallon containers already in the house full of water that we've been able to we're able to use to flush toilets. And at least one of my, full block group other full block group members said the same thing to me, so they're. So, it's a great program. I hope the program continues also because of the obviously, because of the sustainability part portion. I thought I heard the grant ended, but I hope it's you find another way to keep moving it forward.

But I think it's the emergency preparedness part. It's showing its worth this week. ATP. So the active transportation plan. So one of the most efficient ways to incorporate best safety practices is to stop, adopt standard details, such as for lane widths and for the design of safe intersections.

And I think council just approved the CIP to update road standards. So I hope that CIP results in the adoption of safety best practices for active transportation people. So, for example, NACTO standards or there's something called DIV 94. I don't know the standards myself, but I'm sure some of you've seen emails from April Webster, and I I can send one too. So as an example, I've heard repeatedly in recent meetings that 11 feet is the narrowest we can be for our roads.

11 feet, 11 feet. But every project can be, there 's gonna be public input. And so the public is welcome to come to every meeting and ask for 10 and a half foot wide lanes as the second lane on the street. For example, El Camino Real reduced. One lane's 11 feet wide for the fire trucks and everything else that's big and wide, and the other lanes are 10 and a half feet wide.

So if it could be done on El Camino Real, my question is, why can't we do it on Middlefield Road? Why can't we do it everywhere else? And so that's what ATP, NACTO standards would bring. If we have best practices in our and if the active transportation plan says we are gonna adapt adopt best practices for our road design standards, then we aren't gonna have it's that's gonna be the default. And if it makes sense to have a wider lane in some particular application, then as part of that design process, that could happen.

Bay Area Air District meeting on May 6. So, I've heard repeatedly how important that is to, city of Mountain View and I'm sure many other cities in the Bay Area meeting their their goals for reduction and for sustainability. So there is obviously been pushback. And, I don't know if you saw the articles saying that they're in Southern California, a similar measure didn't pass because of a lot of suspected AI generated feedback, that the council received that council received and that they didn't realize was AI generated till later. So, we're trying to get a lot of people to, including everybody that's listening, if anybody is online, to, send feedback to the Bay Area Air District well before the May 2 meeting, so in the next day or two, and just say that you're in favor of this rule to, it's rule nine six to get rid of gas powered, basically, to say that new water heaters for, generally have to be electric and not gas.

And so, I believe two city council members from the city of Mountain View have also sent letters in support of this rule to the Bay Area District air district, and I'm hoping more city council members from the city Of View will send a letter in support. And I'm hoping maybe Danielle, if she hasn't sent one recently, because I know you sent one a while ago, would also send one. And then the last thing I'm gonna say

oh, zero.

Thank you so much.

Okay. Do we have any Of course. Well, please let us know your name.

My name is Anne. I'm very interested in I belong to a local group called Electrification Collaboration, and we're just working with people trying to tell them, you know, how what they can do to electrify the phones. And it's it requires a lot of persuasion, and it's hard to do. And I know I'm sure you're aware of that. But that makes me wanna ask the question to the city of Mountain View. I mean, I'm not up to this. Maybe you're doing it. But the thing you can control is electrification of your own buildings, and I didn't see any mention of that or a plan for making that happen.

So that's all I want to say.

Chair, if I may provide a quick comment. The committee will be receiving we'll be having a discussion in the fall about our municipal decarbonization efforts. So this plan is more focused community scale, and then, this fall, we'll be discussing that.

But there is a process.

Yes. And we have underway.

Good point. Good point. Yes. Okay. So you mentioned there was someone online. Yes. I'm Bruce Nagel. K. Bruce? What's your comment? Love to hear from you.

Okay. I'm sorry. I just unmuted. Two comments. First off, I I did what you guys have already asked for is to send a letter to the Bay Area Quality Management District. I got back a response with people's names on it. If it'd be important, I'd be happy to send that, you know, copy of letter that I got that I sent and got received. It makes it easier for people to to make a comment in regards to that. It's really well received. Second thing is, generally, when you have a plan, you have some goals that are numeric that you have a way to measure things.

I don't know whether that's gonna be part of the plan that you're gonna review in May, but I think it's gonna be difficult for people to understand how far you're getting and and from the people involved in. Unless there's some bubble message that says, here's what we plan to do. And you all kind of also hinted at the fact of having regular, reviews of things. And I would suggest that that be part of the plan that says every year or something, you take a pulse of it where you are, figure out what has worked, what hasn't worked, or something because, I don't see that in the plan. And so my concern is how how far we'll be able to do with concrete things if we don't have those kind of benchmarks. Thanks.

Thank you. K. Is that the last one? Alright. So with that, I will bring it back to committee members for discussion. So we have some specific questions. I thought we did.

We have questions about the study session, but we're currently seeking feedback on the proposed approach. Right. Right. So that's the question. Yes.

Exactly. Can you put those up? Thank you. Alright.

And how would you like us to address one and then two or both at the same time?

Or do you want me to

I think we're starting

further back with

the CSC. Either you had it.

There you go. The top one. Just feedback and if so voted on approval of the proposed

actions. Okay.

So with I suppose that basically feedback on packet one and the list in that. So who would like to start? Oh,

okay. So this is feedback on the, the list of actions here. So so I, you know, I generally like the direction this is going. This is what I had hoped for. I like action items.

I do think the the question on goals and metrics might may perhaps that's more my comment for what bring back to council. I don't know which part of this and some of these comments are fitting into. But this is what I I also feel that this shows flexibility for, you know, as current events have rolled out sort of response to that, and I wanna continue seeing that. In terms of I like the focus on, you know, buildings and transportation and on equity and streamlining, permitting, particularly because I know people have had problems with that one electrifying. I think that's something you could really hold out on.

In terms of some comments on specific ones and additions, so a few additions. One is that balcony solar was listed under an action solving equity, and I'm not on the right page, but somewhere in here. I'm just hearing plug in solar is something that I don't know enough about it, but as something that everyone in general can do whether you're low enough or not, if you just wanna add something quick. So I'm hoping that that can be added as well, that it you know, maybe whether it's part of pool block or a part of when you go to council neighborhood committee or whatever. I'm just hoping that people can don't have to necessarily make electrifying or make solar a giant project.

It's something that's doable for them.

I will add that the local government climate alliance has both a priority list of legislation that we're actively supporting and then a watch list, and there is a balcony solar item on the watch list. So we're we're expressing our support for it. We're sort of watching how it proceeds through committees.

Cannot call the number. Balcony and plug in sort of is the same thing. I don't have to put it on my balcony.

Right. You could put it on your porch.

Yeah. Okay. That's just a name.

Right. So we're we're watching it as it proceeds, and we can certainly forget about it.

Does that mean you can't do it right now?

I thought

I think individual sure. May be local quotes that govern less consistency. It's not consistent statewide.

Okay. Well, anything that you can do locally or or lobby wise to point that forward, I would be interested in adding that. And it was only under equity, and so I thought maybe making sure that everyone knows everyone can do it. And the another thing, when you talk about supporting electric vehicles, I'm thinking more and more that we also need to support, and maybe you you're already doing this, but hybrid vehicles. I know so many people, so many of my neighbors say they can't buy an electric vehicle, and I because of strange anxiety and and, you know, the charging availability.

My neighbors live in single family homes. But so I think when I ask them what about a hybrid, then they're like, oh, yeah. I could do that as if they had a good thinking. So I think particularly in the political situation we're in, I think stressing hybrids along with electric cars could be really useful, and I didn't see them named here. Another and I'm glad our public speaker mentioned this, making sure that the CERT program includes climate resiliency.

I think it's a good way to do outreach for certain things. And I know that we've had not only this current water problem, but also with really intense storms. A while ago, we had a lot of power outages, and so it was it was a topic for some people, and people residents approached me and said this needs to be updated. And then it's kind of an incentive to build some resilience like battery backup and so forth, if possible. Another thing, this is small, but but I've learned as I've become a senior that it's it's not that easy to get a senior flipper car.

Oh. Or maybe Really? Is. Am I right?

It's really hard.

Oh my god. You have to go to the ferry building. Or Yes. It's ridiculous. Oh, they never got a youth pass too. What? To get a

youth pass? I had same thing too. Like, it it was hard. It was an easy I

had children late enough that the transition from not being able to get my kids on mass transit to not being able to put my senior cell phone. It's only been several years. There there must be some way of getting more localities to do that because it's really prohibitive. So if you could do anything around that, you know, I mean, I love going to the Perry Building, but I should not have to to get

Yeah. No. Seriously, it's it's a nightmare. I I tried to get one for my husband for a Christmas present, and that would be a Christmas present. Wrong. I mean, you know, literally, he had to do it in person. You have to see that you're an old person. You know, he can't

pay for You can't go on Zoom.

Yeah. It couldn't be.

I mean And funny as it is, you don't know how many people are using cars rather than mass transit because they can't get their Clipper car. Oh. And so on both ends, the U-turn and the theater.

It's not.

I mean, it's not just the peridola. But there's very few. I mean, like, you can go to Walgreens and buy a regular. Mhmm. But they don't have the senior or

the youth. Yeah. So And and That should not be impossible to change. So those were my additions, think. And then and then so in term the one thing I'm concerned about among the actions that I would like to think about more, that I'd like us all to think about more, is that there's the action around exploring zero emission delivery and rideshare services.

When I was mayor a couple years ago, I did a panel with the Chamber of Commerce with all the AV companies, and I became interested very interested in this. Our regional bodies are talking about, like, for Plan Bay Area 2050, how AVs we could see a sea change in how, you know, just like a hundred years ago was when we went from horses to cars. We could go through a similar change, really change land use, and I would like to bring that more land use and congestion, parking, all sorts of things. And the things I've been reading that are studies put out both regionally and globally say that they sort of divide it into two separate paths, the good path and the bad path. I'm sure it's on that.

Medium path. But the the good path is when we do proactive policy and planning to link it to mass transit so that mass it doesn't make mass transit shrivel up and die. And, you know, first and last mile and so forth. And the bad route is if we do privatized AVs, and then we all buy one and go out and move to the excerpts and build our big villas and etcetera because it's so cheap out there. So I think we do have to do proactive planning and build that into some of what we're talking about in that particular item.

And I kinda think we need to start now thinking about that. And we have the companies here who are who we could do pilot programs with. And in Contra Costa County, they are doing first and last mile pilot programs. So I think we should start thinking about that. And the others the oh, do you have a

I was just going to let you know that I have had some preliminary discussions with rideshare companies around the AV portion of it. And just this morning, mentioned to Silicon Valley Clean Energy that's kind of an interesting opportunity because of the provision of electricity that that represents for that new business. Right. So we're we're

starting to explore

it, but I don't have enough to, like, put it in the plan very specifically

yet. Yes, that's being flexible. Yes. And my other concern in this same line item is when we talk about robot delivery, they so everything's phrased here as if the rollout of all this technology will decarbonize. And but I think that if if we have too many rope I don't want our sidewalks to be taken over by robots and robot delivery vehicles, which frankly are vehicles.

And we've already it used to be when if you've seen photographs of Mountain View seventy five years ago, you could walk down the street because there were not many or maybe a 100. I don't know. They or San Francisco. Everybody's out on the streets. Streets were for everyone.

Now the streets are for cars, and we're confined to the sidewalks. And I don't want new vehicles taken over the sidewalks, and we need to stay home and have, and. So so I really want sidewalks just for people, and I've said this in CTC too. And I'm and we have companies in town like Neuro that do delivery on the roadway or in the bike lanes. If our bike lanes aren't used, they're highly used, then I don't know we do that. But but I'm just I just want to register here my objections to having sidewalks taken over by the office. Thank you. And those are all my comments.

Okay.

I'll just try

to I'm gonna work from the bottom of the document up. But first, there was a public comment about lane widths. I just wanted to point out that I just saw the agenda for the council transportation committee meeting. They're doing middle field next week.

I'm aware of

how Okay.

I'm sure.

I think you were. For

anyone listening, that's that's actually fresh on going to be fresh on some books minds. So that the it sounds like we'll probably separately get into charges. So I'll only say a couple things there. One is I think what everyone knows is in addition to the now the the cost of charging being less than in gas, especially if you're super commuting, the price of electricity is far more stable than the price of gas. Yes.

It's much more predictable. And so that that's, I think, somewhat helpful just to keep in mind. The on I think for midstream lining is is a is a really significant thing that we can do, and I've been encouraged that we have a lot of now that we had a lot of, one of the supercharging stations that companies like Tesla were doing were originally kind of lost to Teslas, but now they're being opened up to the newer EVs are actually quite compatible with those, and those rates are also quite stable even though they're still somewhat expensive. But they're also much more compatible with, you know, vehicles that don't charge as fast as some others. And so I've been very encouraged to see many of those pop up in Mountain View over the last five years.

So there's one at the El Monte Shopping Center is the newest one. It has very fast chargers if your vehicle supports it, but it also supports slower charging ones behind Knob Hill. That a really significant charging station that just opened. And the biggest I don't I'm not sure that permitting has been the biggest hurdle in Mountain View. It's PG and E because I remember that the one behind Nob Hill was ready for the longest time with, you know, tarps over it because it was waiting for PG and E to activate it for I don't know how many times.

But but to the extent that we can know, that it's easy to put those types of things in because at the end of the day, it's not that we shouldn't make some efforts ourselves in curbside and some city facilities, but I think the you know, if there's a market for it, the private sector is going to move a lot quicker than we will, and they're going to upgrade their technology a lot faster than we'll be able to. And so I think I think just ensuring that they have the streamlined processes that they need to do that, and that will also benefit the the city for its efforts too. So we have to follow around rules. The and then what was the, yeah, the so I'll leave that with the EV chargers, the streamlining. And then time of sale.

I mean, we discussed that before. I I'm overall I I don't really have

a I mean, you've heard

my views on it. I'm still kind of fueling my my foot, and it's one of those things where, yeah, there are some things I'm willing to be on the bleeding edge of, and there are others I'd like to see how it pans out. And I'm happy to let others be on the bleeding edge for a few years and get the data and see if it works the way that it's advertised. And I think because this is a five year plan, you know, if it goes well at Berkeley, then, you know, I'm not gonna fight facts and proper incentive structures. But, but, you know, it's one of those things where in the five year period, it's something I'd look more in, like, year three, five than year one or two.

Because then we get the feedback from Berkeley. Maybe we already have some data. I don't know. But if it's but if it's working well, then fine. And if it's if there are tweaks that could be made or different structures that work better, then we can do that too.

But, we talked about reach codes. You have ebikes and scooters. The, you know, micromobility, I think, is especially for that last mile or so from our because we have an express stop on the Caltrain is is important. You've highlighted that. I have slightly differing views on zero emission delivery vehicles.

I'd much rather navigate the sidewalk with a Starship robot than random person on, you know, biking down the sidewalk, but but but I'm not I mean, that's just a value judgment. So the but I do think that you know, I I do I do think you've highlighted some of the things that that, between bicycles, scooters, EVs, and and being open to being a trial location for, for drone deliveries where it if where and when it makes sense. I mean, the more vehicles we check off the road, even if they're, the better. Because right now, with all of the delivery companies, especially food deliveries, you know, that is, in my opinion, not the highest and best use of a vehicle on a road even if it is an electric vehicle. And so if there are other ways that don't necessarily utilize as much of the physical environment, Yep.

That but that's just my my personal opinion on that. I think just to share, I'm on the airport land use commission. Electric vertical takeoff is is it's happening. They just did the the big test runs in New York, and we are already planning for vertiports at San Jose Airport. We've identified sites.

We have an electric vertical takeoff, company in Mountain View. Mhmm. And so I think some of the the larger spaces will be where all that happens, but I think there will be additional sites probably identified in years three through five here as as those the the air taxis start to but I I think that's less relevant here. Sorry for that distraction. No.

But but it is it's it's happening. It's gonna be LA is emphasizing it halfway for the the Olympics that are coming up. So the the neighborhood programs that were highlighted, I think in terms of, you know, there's a lot of bang for your buck in multifamily, you know, because that's where we can have the biggest impact. But I think as we saw with composting and other things, you know, we have single family neighborhoods that are very motivated to, to decarbonize. And so the, you know, the more that we can support those efforts and identify, and you have this in here.

But I just wanted to voice my support back because I think a lot of especially single family neighborhoods, just as we saw the composting, be more than willing to kinda work together and incentivize each other to to do that on their own. We talked about EVs, and I think that's yeah. Those are all my all my major comments.

Okay. Share, do you want me to make a comment on a comment? Or Sure. So I just wanted to make a comment on the robots on the sidewalk, which is that I, you know, I don't care about navigating around a robot on the sidewalk. And then during the pandemic, Avis had robot delivery at the know, around here. That I don't care about at all. It was just that when I was on the council transportation committee, which I'm still on, when we talked about them, they talked about the expected volume of them.

That's

And it was it was a lot. And I wanna get ahead of the game. I I don't care about one rig about on the sidewalk, but really a lot of robots. And we have a lot of food delivery here. And in particular, you know, if you're using if our downtown is supposed to be pedestrian oriented, but a lot of the downtown a lot of the restaurants are located here. So they're just coming out by the dozens down the you know, that's not a look. And when I brought it up on the council transportation committee, nobody would need into this. And the other people on the committee who hadn't observed this situation were like, well, they don't use that street. They use the alley. No.

They don't. They're and they're what they use the middle of the street. And so and and, also, we do have companies here who specialize in road delivery, like neuro. So I just want a a higher awareness of that, and I don't want us to wait until it's too late, you know, permit it when it's one or two, and then we get hundreds of them out on the street and know, you know, it's difficult to go back. So I still have to think for you.

No. That that I'm completely aligned with you on. I think what I was thinking about during the pandemic, you know, there were a handful of

Oh, yeah. One or two.

I actually kinda had fun with it even though I had to cross, you know, and go to Eagle Park to get it.

But if would go out and poke it down the street.

The but the I think the the much more, like, neuro I mean, the those are much more efficient use because they can do multiple deliveries in a single at least one off, you know, the Starship robot where it's just a single delivery. I don't think that's going to well, I hope it doesn't. I hope they don't take over the sidewalks because that's highly inefficient, you know, just for a single delivery. But

And and I act on the other things, I actually think the time of sale could be super important, but I'm willing to not be on the. But I think it could be a really important program. And in terms of chargers, I think chargers near stores actually have a dual you don't know how many places I've shopped just because there's a charger there. So I think for making stores more viable, I think it's the tool purpose.

Yeah. The the supercharging stations, because they're near shopping centers, it's the perfect use of twenty minutes. So you're not gonna get to a 100%, but, know, you just adding 20 or 30% to your vehicle is a great use of that downtime.

Right. And so if the people at the stores can help pay for it instead of the or whatever because it it doesn't help our business to

have it in, a garage. Not only this and it's the parking lot is there. You know? We don't have to donate any land to it.

And it supports retail.

All of your fun. It's great. Yeah. It's great. Okay. Well, I have a comment about the sidewalks too. I was gonna say that I think we have to develop a just like we do for trails, we have to keep up the discussion of the community culture of what's the etiquette on sidewalks. And what is the etiquette? Well, the etiquette is pedestrians first. Or if you're a disabled pedestrian, even more so.

I mean, like a wheelchair. So we you know, I I think it's perfectly fine for somebody to be on a deserted sidewalk on their bicycle. But as soon as a pedestrian shows up, they need to yield to the pedestrian. So I think we need to teach etiquette about how to use these so that everybody can share. Just like on the Stevens Creek Trail, we have these little signs about who's supposed to merge with what.

But I do think that our sidewalks are an incredibly valuable. And we want to make them really pleasant for everyone to use as well as efficient. And so kind of having that, you know, that culture about what's the etiquette is is something that we should include in our, you know, discussion about, you know, when we're teaching kids to bike, teaching kids to bike safely. You know, it's all about the etiquette on the road. Right? It's it's a similar thing with sidewalks. Okay. So my you guys for me to take a turn? Yeah. Yep.

Okay. Alright. Yeah. I I was generally quite pleased with it, Cliff. It seems pretty comprehensive and I really appreciated the explanations.

There are a couple of things I wanted to highlight. One, because we you know, transportation is such a big part of our GHGs, I think concentrating on the transportation is is really important. And there's a whole bunch of them, and I think pretty much they're they're they're all important. In particular, I think that collaboration is really valuable. If you have a group of agencies working together, you that that brings down costs, and it makes a more of a level playing field.

It makes it simpler to to communicate the rules, etcetera, etcetera. So I think the partnerships and the collaborations are are just really vital. And so I I put checks on things that I kind of read and were fine with, and I put stars on things I really liked. I really like the regional transit partnerships, the equity and affordability and transit access. I think your point about the Clipper cards was really excellent. Getting getting a hold of a senior Clipper card is is a You can

get so many seniors to borrow. Cars if they can It's a

pain. It's just really a pain. It seems be a pain. I also think employer transportation demand management, that is something we haven't talked about a lot in the last few years, but over the course of the time I've been on council, it has come up many times. I do think that it's in the interest of employers to have their employees arrive at work not frazzled by the transportation system.

So so it's in their interest to help us support this, and we should not forget that and and and, you know, involve them as much as possible. Another thing I I would really like talking about the parking management strategies. That seems to have not been as prominent in the last few years as it was maybe maybe eight, eight or nine years ago, we did a series of things. I I do think we probably should revisit paying for parking now and also shared parking with our our large buildings that, you know, they aren't utilizing it at all. Like like, for instance, the plan for the new hotel to use valet service.

I mean, things like that are, I think, a really good idea. The equity focused electrification for hard to electrify buildings and neighborhoods. I think that in our neighborhoods, I look around and in my neighborhood, are two big groups and they're extremes in each of them. There's the young couples who move in, and they're often multigenerational couples, multigenerational families. And then there are the people who have lived there forever, some of them forever and forever.

And they're really kind of land poor. They bought their houses when they're in the seventies or the eighties, and they're living there. Some of them are in fixed incomes, not all of them, but they there are a lot of single fam people living in houses alone. And I think those people do not have the the wherewithal for the most part or the money to electrify. And yet, the removal of the barriers that we have instituted by the changes in our permit system and by our rebate system still applies to them.

So I sort of see them as a group we could target to do the electrification of single family homes that you were talking about, especially with the assistance of Silicon Valley Clean Energy's concierge service, that kind of stuff. So I think of them as a hard to elect you know, as a sort of an equity as sort of a super senior equity Yeah.

I could ask questions about that Senior program, but these are people with a lot of money, but it's trapped in the house. I don't know how much money we wanna give them, but you could do, like, a group of equity program or something.

You could. Even even just some souped up program to get the information out to them. Yeah. Even if that wasn't about money. Yes. It was about

The information appropriate. Yes.

And then I liked the stuff on the last page a lot. I really believe that the advocacy that we do, it rears rewards. It really does reap rewards. And we wanna continue doing that. And that's particularly true because our senator Josh Becker is such a prominent place in the senate with respect to sustainability issues.

So we have a really good connection there that we should take advantage of as much as possible. And then the other thing I wanted to mention, oh, two more things I wanted mention. One is that with our ED program, we want to, of course, improve EDs, but we also really want to identify issues associated with And we wanna bring those up on a regional level, particularly Silicon Valley Clean Energy Plan. The last we we were having a discussion or maybe it was the last meeting where you mentioned that there was a problem of not having enough power in the garage here in City Hall to do all the charging at once at the level we wanted to do it. I think that ID I identify that sort of issue and kind of working on how do we deal with that?

Is something that we want to work on moving forward. And then the other thing I want to talk about is sort of the psychology side of it. I think that it's very important to celebrate our successes, particularly in this time of foment, political foment. We want to bring to people's attention things that have worked, things that are working, things that we should be proud of. And I do I don't think we do a bad job of that.

I don't mean to say that, but I I just think that it's it's actually a really big deal. And so having all of you show up at community events in your silly

Pump water heater costume.

I mean, that makes an impact. And I I just wanna thank you for doing that and and say it's we should continue. And if if you don't wanna do it, it's possible. We could get some kids from the local theater group to help us out. I thought you were gonna volunteer. Yeah. Thought you were

gonna volunteer at the mayor. But

then the other thing I wanted to say is that along with that celebration, really wanna we we need to keep reporting back as as Bruce Nagel said. We need to keep reporting back. That's just they need to get monitored done. And and people really appreciate, particularly in sort of tech focused community that we live in. People really appreciate seeing numerical reports of of of how things have gone or happened.

And so I will I think that we want to continue to share those facts with people so that they can kind of make personal fact based decisions. So that's what I wanted to say. And so I guess now that brings us you don't need a you don't need a motion, do you? I mean No. No.

Would pick in your feedback.

Then we get the council session. Next. Three things listed there. So that's just Right. Answer these questions?

The the first question, yes. And then the I wouldn't think

May I help?

So with your feedback, we will bring the actions to the city council, and it's a study session. And the reason for this is that when we bring back the plan for actual adoption with your feedback, with the, you know, metrics and the other things that we've discussed, we wanna make sure that it's gonna reflect the council as a whole and and their direction, especially given the things that have changed so much since the last time the council really kind of weighed in on this. You know? So so one of their last items was to say, hey. Can we accelerate the 2045 goal?

And and now we're in a pretty different place. And, what basically staff has presented is not taking away the 2045 goal, but acknowledging we're developing a five year plan to move us forward in high impact areas, and we're acknowledging that five year plan will not get us 25% of the way to carbon neutrality in 2045, but we still feel like that is the right approach. And so we want to give counsel the opportunity both to weigh in on the actions just as you've done tonight, but also to confirm the overall direction. Right? Because this was a this has been a big topic of conversation for this committee for a couple of different meetings, and this will be the first time for the council as a whole.

So if you think that that those are the two questions you want council to focus on at the study session, then you could tell us that. If you think they should be tweaked, then let us know.

So I have a couple of questions.

Will the plan, I mean, we've made some comments. Are you going to make, like, incorporate our comments a little bit? Okay. And I guess the one thing that so I agree with all that. I agree with those.

And I think it is the right thing to do that the last time council talked about, like, we've made changes, but they do have to be brought back to council, I think, because it was a pretty different discussion at that a pretty different world at that time. And the one thing that's not there that I don't know whether we just punt it or what we do is we also talked about carbon offsets if we don't get there by a certain time. And on now, my personal opinion on that is that if we're saying that because, you know, basically, the Trump administration derailed what we were working on, which then derailed something statewide as well. And we don't meet the goals because of that. Then we do once we get there, we we pay for hugely expensive apartment offsets because almost nobody in in Mountain View even voted for that particular administration.

It's it doesn't seem appropriate anymore to me. So but maybe other council members still think department offsets are appropriate, maybe community members can weigh in, but I'm finding them not appropriate anymore. Or maybe we just punt and, like, the year before they they like, future counsel, the year before they're about to be assessed for something. But I think they're not

appropriate. I

I think because we are looking at five year of act five years of action, and we're not setting that in those five years, we will reach target of 25%. I I I don't think offsets is really a question at this point for where we are in the planning process.

But I think we we committed to them as a council. But maybe I'm I don't know that we did. You don't think I don't think we did. Okay.

We should

have discussed them.

Yeah. Yeah. Council hasn't Has nobody provided it. Right. Then I guess we don't have to wait. Yeah.

Well, that reminds me of one thing that, seems to be much further along scientifically than I was aware this was before. That is an understanding of carbon sequestration. We are doing things as a community that are promoting carbon sequestration. The restoration of the salt pond is a big one. We're going to be planting a lot of trees.

I guess I would add, and I think this was part of the biodiversity plan that we talked about on Tuesday night, that we also fold in as we move forward a little bit more discussion of of the carbon sequestration kind of activities that we're doing. And and and and I think we've probably gotten to the time where we can assign some valuable some values that are fairly reasonable, which is that wasn't the case twenty years ago, but we didn't know enough. So that would be something I would kinda like to see.

We have included carbon sequestration associated with wetland restoration in as one of our 10 local measures that we modeled. So when the full analysis is released, that will be included in that form.

Oh, great.

Yeah. Perhaps not by the council study session in May, but before final adoption. So we're incorporating that. These

are fine. There's one other thing that I forgot to mention earlier that I think has changed. Timelines are all blurred in my head at this point. So I think it's changed since the last review, but I can't and this is more transportation related. But, you know, one big thing that happened was in the recent past, at least, Caltrain's been electrified, and the payment system has been unified mostly.

And that is a that is a really big technical hurdle that's been overcome. And I'm on the local policymaker groups for Caltrain, and they are now they've revamped the employer programs for these transit passes, and they are very excited about how how much they have allegedly simplified everything. And so that might be worth another push, not just for employers, but for multifamily complexes. You know, ten years ago, I remember when we could require things, we were requiring multifamily apartments that were eager to give us anything they wanted, anything we wanted to be able to build something. They would, you know, in both offices and and residential.

So that might be worth taking another look at because they just kind of pumped it up on a on a call recently. They were really excited about how integrated that was and that now you can use a single payment system. You don't even have to have the physical credit card anymore because it's all integrated with both iPhone, Android, and everything. And then my I was really struck by it. I had no idea how hard it was to get a senior quicker card, and that that struck me.

And I have these hair brained ideas, but, you know, if if I were on a transportation agency like m p MTC or VTA, and this is probably a hair brained idea. It's probably way too expensive or whatever. But during this period of astronomical increases in or astronomical. Big increases in gasoline prices. I mean, having things like, you know, a monthly transit holiday where everything is just free.

That's a great idea.

Just you know? Right. Try it out. Or, you know, we we know through driver's licenses and and and voter registration and and this, and I realized this creates equity issues. But, like, we know when you turn a certain age, it would be really nice if you just mailed you a senior clipper card. If you live within x miles of a transit station, here's here's here's enough for a round trip on Caltrain or whatever.

Happy birthday.

Yeah. Happy birthday. Here's a $10 card that works on the entire transit system. You know? But but that's that's hard. But that's I mean, if you're the state legislature or a transit agency that has enough funds to do that, that's kind of a thing. But also the I mean, this is the perfect three to four month window to do a transit holiday. You know, pick the day that you really want. Right. You have low ridership that you wanna increase, or maybe it's a peak view day in terms of vehicle vehicular traffic. But sorry. That's not your problem. It's just me thinking aloud. Mhmm. If I were on a transit agency, really wanted to increase ridership because we don't have cost recovery.

Or I guess that doesn't help cost recovery, but it on that on that day, but it might help it longer. But and increase

AirBrain things are kind of, like, our favorite things. So even if it doesn't feel like it's directly related, yeah, we we kind of search those out.

So I'm not sure they call them GoPasses anymore, but that that has been a recent development. It's the integration of the unification of the payment system and the revamp of that entire employer and residential system.

Here's my here brand idea. How about when you update your driver's license and you're a senior, they hand you a flipper card because they're they're verifying that you are that age. Right.

And you have to show up to do that. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. If they can register you to vote. If they can make you a card too. If you happen to be in a region with mass screens. Right.

Alright. So I think that brings us to the end. Did you get one from me? Yes. We did. We did. Yeah.

Alright. Thank you.

I thought it was great.

I thought it was fun. Yeah. Alright. So now we come to item six, which is committee staff comments, questions, and community reports. The next, no action will be taken by the CSEA. It's good to hear what people have to say. Are the waiting CSD members or staff have comments or questions? Alright. Well, thanks everyone for your attendance, and this meeting is adjourned at 09:27.