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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-2-24 Approved CAC Minutes Jefferson County/City of Port Townsend Climate Action Committee Meeting Minutes February 24, 2016 Cotton Building Port Townsend, WA Members Present: Laura Tucker, Eric Toews, Cindy Jayne, Deborah Stinson, Barney Burke, Absent: Kevin Scott, Scott Walker, Tammi Rubert, Kathleen Kler Staff: Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend Guests: Jeff Gallant, Jim Todd, David Wilkinson, Nina Burokas, Matt Ready Scribe: Barney Burke Topic Recommendation/Action Call to order 3:30 p.m. Approval of Agenda & Minutes, Recap Motion by Deborah Stinson, second by Laura Tucker, to approve the agenda and the minutes of November 30, 2015. Carried unanimously. Chair Cindy Jayne gave a re-cap of the Taming Big Foot project, in which teams from throughout the county compete to reduce their carbon footprint. The culmination of this event is 7 p.m. Friday, April 22 at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave. Public Comment The public was greeted and given the opportunity to comment. There were no public comments at this time. Election of Chair and Vice Chair Motion by Laura Tucker, second by Deborah Stinson, to elect Cindy Jayne as Chair and Barney Burke as Vice Chair. Carried unanimously. 2016 Community Read Update Cindy Jayne summarized the upcoming events related to the Port Townsend Community Read of Naomi Klein's book, This Changes Everything. Deborah will describe the Climate Action Committee in a panel discussion on local climate-related activities at the Port Townsend Library on March 17 City's Revisions to Advisory Board Structure Deborah Stinson reported that the City of Port Townsend has been reviewing its advisory board structure. This includes a review of how updated legislation affects advisory boards. With respect to the Climate Action Committee (CAC), she said that the appointment process and similar actions have been laborious because they require both city and county approval. Also, shared staffing has not worked out; the city has been providing all of the staffing for the CAC. She said she is working with Commissioner Kathleen Kler on these issues and ideas. One suggestion is that the Marine Resources Committee may be a model that would work for the CAC or an Inter-local Agreement. Follow Up: 1. Contact Deborah Stinson or Kathleen Kler if you have ideas. 2. Deb to report at the next quarterly CAC meeting. CAC Update to City and County Cindy Jayne and Judy Surber summarized plans for making another report to the city and county on CAC activities. The Climate Action Plan was adopted in November of 2011, and the last such report was in December of 2013. There was a discussion about the mission of the CAC and the plan, which is based on 2005 data. The CAC is uniquely suited to: grant writing/policy/Resource Conservation Manager/monitoring and leading by example. In addition, it demonstrates political will. There was additional discussion on mitigation as well as adaptation. The adopted work plan was also discussed; it is focused on community outreach, which has involved additional organizations such as Local 20/20, and activities such as the Taming Bigfoot event and the Community Read of Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything, and grant applications to fund electric vehicle chargers. Some of the actions that have been inspired in whole or in part by the Climate Action Plan are the review of transportation and land use policies in the city and county comp plans, the Climate Adaptation Plan completed in 2015 for Jefferson and Clallam Counties, and the 2015 drought forum. It was recognized that updating the Climate Action plan's data is warranted because the current data is from 2005. That data does not reflect the benefits of the replacement of PSE with PUD power in 2013, which is carbon-free. In addition, Port Townsend Paper Corp. has invested in improvements that have also significantly reduced local carbon. Challenges for the CAC were identified as: 1. No direct funding. 2. Work needs to occur between quarterly meetings. 3. Quarterly meetings amount to only eight hours a year. 4. City and county staff reductions make it difficult to support advisory boards such as CAC. It was noted that subcommittees and flexibility – perhaps with a different model – could help with these challenges. Several opportunities for the CAC were identified: 1. Community awareness of climate issues as a result of Taming Big Foot, the community read, and other outreach efforts. 2. The principal of governments leading by example has been helpful. 3. Funding another resource conservation manager position (e.g. Brian Goldstein's work) could lead to additional, immediate improvements. The consensus was to draft these ideas into a proposal for aligning the city and county participation and keeping the CAC moving forward, and not just advising, but potentially taking actions. Action: Motion by Barney Burke, second by Laura Tucker, to prepare such a proposal for next CAC meeting. Carried unanimously. Follow Up: 1. Deborah, Kathleen and Cindy to coordinate on the presentation materials and discuss scheduling, et al to CAC members. 2. CAC members should forward any comments to Judy Surber. Adaptation Planning: Discuss Potential Next Steps Cindy Jayne noted that last year's drought forum, which included presentations from various water purveyors, was helpful, but there is a need to continue this effort in addressing local climate impacts on our water supplies. Judy Surber noted that the CAC can only advise the city and county. Dave Wilkinson suggested the CAC ask the purveyors to convene another forum. Jeff Gallant suggested a member of CAC could serve as a liaison to the water purveyors and assist them. Action: Motion by Cindy Jayne, second by Laura Tucker, as a follow up to the Drought Forum, it is recommended that water purveyors be convened- if such a forum is organized, the CAC recommends the City/County participate. Discussion: Members discussed the role of the CAC as an “action committee” or simply advisory? Both seem important and perhaps it needs to be clarified. The consensus was that CAC can play advisory, coordination, and outreach roles on issues of this type. The motion was carried unanimously. Cindy Jayne reported that George Yount, the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, Team Jefferson and others are planning a workshop for local business and property owners on sea level rise. Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is about release updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps for Jefferson County . Follow Up: Cindy and Judy to help coordinate timing of the SLR and FEMA workshops. [quorum was lost at 4:55 p.m. when Eric Toews left] Monitoring King Tides Judy Surber reported that the Marine Resource Committee and the CAC would like more awareness of "king tides." The goal is to identify iconic, accessible locations where comparable photos can be taken over time. Local king tide season is November/December/January. The "blue line" concept, marking projected high tide edges, could complement this effort. There was general consensus to support participation in the king tide project. Follow Up: Staff will continue to coordinate with MRC, and Washington Sea Grant- Bridget Trosin, 360-428-1003. The Local 20/20 contact is David Wilkinson. Possible Update to GHG inventory Judy Surber contacted the State and ICLEI on software used for carbon emissions inventories. ICLEI, used in the 2005 inventory appears the best option and is still available for $600.. Deborah concurred. There was discussion about using students and other volunteers, as was done in 2005. Status Report: City Comprehensive Plan GMA Update Judy Surber said staff is trying to include many of the points about resiliency in the Comp Plan update. The "speak up" feature on the city website is an easy way to send comments. Currently, staff is working on the housing element of the plan, but additional changes can be added up until its adoption. COP21 Update This item was deferred. Given that the power-point overview is of interest to the general public, members suggested it may be a good public outreach event. Public Comment Jeff Gallant talked about work he is doing on beachfront properties and the need to raise awareness. He hopes the city and county can take responsibility for a changing environment and help people prepare for coming changes (e.g., critical areas maps/notice to title). He also suggested that the City/County reaffirm their political will. Next Steps & Agenda Planning Next meeting agenda items:  Updating GHG inventory  Restructuring of CAC update  King tides update  FEMA maps  Water Purveyors forum update  COP 21  Taming Big Foot It was suggested that a presentation be made to the Hospital Board. Follow Up: Other suggested topics for next meeting should be emailed to Cindy Jayne. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. Next Meeting Next meeting is scheduled for May 25, 2016, 3:30-5:30 pm, at the Pope Marine Building, 100 Madison St.