HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-05-28 CAC MinutesJefferson County/City of Port Townsend
Climate Action Committee
DRAFT Meeting Minutes
May 28, 2014
Cotton Building
Port Townsend, WA
Members Present: John Austin, Stanley Willard, Laura Tucker, Ewan Shortess, Cindy Jayne,
Deborah Stinson, Barney Burke, Brian Goldstein, Scott Walker, Eric Toews, Michael Tweiten,
Valerie Johnstone
Absent: Tammi Rubert
Staff: Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend
Guests: Matt Fast, Matt Stewart, Kevin Clark, Rick Jahnke, Kevin Scott, Ben Bauermeister
Scribe: Brian Goldstein
Topic Recommendation/Action
Call to order 3:35 p.m.
Approval of Agenda
& Minutes
CAC Chair, Cindy Jayne, started the meeting. Brian Goldstein agreed to
take minutes.
Barney moved to approve the agenda. Ewan seconded. The agenda was
approved unanimously.
Deborah moved to approve the 2-26-2014 minutes. John seconded. The
minutes were approved unanimously.
Public Comment The public was greeted and given the opportunity to comment. There
were no public comments at this time.
Students for
Sustainability DC
Trip Report – Ewan
Shortess
Ewan Shortess, Chair of the Students for Sustainability and student
representative on the CAC, gave an overview of the Washington DC
trip. The trip included meetings with Senators and Representatives, a
tour of the Capitol building and White House, and connections with
other climate activists.
Transportation
Follow up –
Samantha Thomas
Samantha Thomas, who is project manager at the Walkable and Livable
Communities (WALC) Institute, as well as the Chair of the L2020
Transportation Lab (T Lab), summarized ideas on promoting civic
engagement and active transportation --walking, bicycling and transit—
as a means of reducing carbon emissions in Jefferson County. Measures
included smart trip applications, Non-motorized transportation plan
implementation, paid parking in business corridors, and a first class
transit system. Over the past 2.5 years, Samantha has worked directly in
over 50 communities throughout the country providing communities
with technical assistance.
- Smart Trips: A meeting was held with Marion Huxtable, Deborah,
John, Brian, Judy and Cindy. Trying to get info from WSDOT and
Coupeville on effort it takes, and on how it fits w/ rural communities.
- T-Lab members would like to strengthen partnership with CAC.
- T-Lab would like to meet with City and County staff to discuss
barriers and opportunities to promote active transportation. Judy
agreed to help facilitate meeting with City engineering staff to
consider which efforts are warranted.
Action Items:
1. A list of questions/topics of discussion is requested of Samantha
and Scott Walker to present to the City engineering staff to
determine who should be present at the meeting.
2. John Austin will investigate what is required on the County
engagement.
CAC Project Review
– Brian Goldstein
Brian reviewed the spreadsheet with the CAC action projects. The
projects are in differing states: some active, others not.
Feedback:
1. Merge project list with Climate Action Plan proposed projects.
2. Note deliverables/outcomes of each project so the City/County
updates can quantify impact of projects.
3. Create a parking list for ideas.
Action Items:
1. Brian to incorporate feedback into next update of projects. Will
present at next meeting.
EV Tourism
Program – Matt Fast
There is a new program just starting in Jefferson County on EV
Tourism, led by Matt Fast. Matt recently spent three years as the
Director of Business Development and Communications at the Clallam
County EDC, where he led the effort to assess the potential of
renewable energy as a key source of economic development on the
Olympic Peninsula.
PT Paper Company, Alaska Power & Telephone, and the Port of PT
have funded an effort to write a grant to get funds to expand EV tourism
in Jefferson County. In addition to electric cars, it includes bikes and
buses as part of the plan.
Discussion feedback:
1. Jefferson Transit interested in integrating w/ park and ride, and
possibly an EV bus, perhaps including line direct to Bainbridge
ferry.
2. EV bikes needs a project leader; Ann Raab and Hank Tucker are
possibilities.
3. Social media engagement needs help. Developing mobile
applications is a key.
4. Deb noted renting EV’s here for around town. Toyota is doing
that in Japan.
CAC Outreach
Subcommittee
Report – Laura
Tucker
Laura presented an update of outreach efforts. There is a plan to sponsor
a booth at the County picnic this year, but not the County Fair, due to
cost and people resources required. Also planned is the high school
presentation and follow up discussion occurring on 5/29/13 as a
community event. The L2020 Climate Outreach Committee is also
planning a speaker event in November, with Bob Bindschadler, a local
retired NASA glaciologist.
Judy mentioned that the NW Straits Community Forum will host 2
speakers in June at the Maritime Center.
CAC Draft
Resolution for
Extension – Judy
Surber
Judy presented a proposed resolution to present to the City and County
to extend the CAC sunset date (currently set for Dec 2014) indefinitely;
requiring a City and County resolution to disband the CAC.
Motion to approve the resolution was approved unanimously.
Cindy showed the current draft of CAC accomplishments. It was noted
that there were some PDN articles about the PTHS trip, and some other
related accomplishments by Jefferson Transit to include.
Action item:
1. Judy will coordinate with County staff and advance the
resolution to BoCC and Council.
2. Cindy to update accomplishments and send to the CAC for
review.
Membership
Changes
We currently have thirteen CAC members, leaving room for two
additional members. Kevin Scott, environmental director at PT Paper,
applied for one of the positions and is awaiting approval. Laura Tucker,
now employed by the County, will be taking Pinky’s position.
We would like to fill the remaining position with a business member
from the community.
Action Item:
If you know of a business owner/leader in the community, suggest they
apply for the CAC. The application form can be found HERE.
Adaptation Planning
– Cindy Jayne
Cindy reviewed a recent grant that was received to develop a climate
adaptation plan:
Joint partnership among many organizations in Clallam and
Jefferson County.
$152,000 in total funding, work completing in October 2015.
Deliverable is a climate adaptation plan for Clallam and Jefferson
County.
A recent article in the PDN summarizes the grant.
Eric asked if the grant would take into account the broader aspects of
climate change, such as peak oil and the broader global economic
impacts. Cindy asked for him to send information on what has been
done in other areas. It was suggested that the Energy Lunch may be a
good vehicle for this type of discussion, and the salient points could be
brought back to the CAC.
Barney noted sewer pump stations and electrical vaults downtown as
vulnerable infrastructure.
Action Item:
Eric to send information on examples of communities including the
broader impacts, and to consider organizing a discussion of this at a
future Energy Lunch.
Next Steps & Agenda
Planning
Next meeting agenda items:
Branding of CAC for outreach, education (Lead??)
Recap of Transportation meeting, adaptation, outreach progress
(Cindy)
Should CAC address broader context (Eric)
Years of living dangerously (Judy)
Update on CAC projects (Brian)
Action Item:
Other suggested topics for next meeting should be emailed to Cindy.
Public Comment Several members of the public made comments, summarized here:
Is climate adaptation grant online?
[The appropriate place would be the NOPRCD.org project site;
Cindy to check]
Kevin Clark presented to interfaith group on how cost of energy
impacts low income people the most energy.
Kevin Clark wanted to know if the Mill’s GHG emissions were
accounted for in the Climate Action Plan
[Yes, they are accounted for in our inventory]
Settling ponds at Mill – vulnerable to sea level rise.
How is transit ridership changing? [This is documented on the
transit web site, under the board meeting minutes]. Land use
planning is key, need disincentive for parking, and transit funding
should be increased.
The majority of the County’s population lives outside of the City
limits. There is a great need for transit in rural areas to transport
people to services.
Eric Toews noted that, in conjunction with a recent grant
application, the Port Commissioners recently made a motion to
formally support the activities of the CAC.
Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
Next Meeting Next meeting is scheduled for August 27th, 2014, 3:30-5:30 pm