body. This is the November 12th
environmental board meeting. My name is
Don McWills. I'll be chairing the
meeting tonight. We'll be starting the
meeting off. Um just some uh things to
go over. If you're joining by computer,
please leave your sound off and if you
have a question on the computer, either
just raise your hand and we'll keep an
eye out for you and watch for you. If
the board members have questions, the
typical tip sign up and I'll call you
out in the order that I see them.
You want to call us to order?
>> All right, roll call. Uh, Tommy Anderson
>> here.
>> Nancy Davidson
>> here. Tommy Dvau
>> here.
>> Rajandi
>> here.
>> Uh, Kieran Penn.
Uh, Mina June.
Don Mc Williams
>> here.
>> Alex Tbury
>> here.
>> And Nickham here. Keith Gonzalez
>> here
>> and John Smith
>> here.
Next up we have the approval of minutes.
Is there any changes to the minutes that
we want to see?
Hearing none. The minutes are approved.
And next we have public comment. So I
understand we have three members here of
public comment tonight. So it'll be five
minutes each. Please if we could have
you come up, introduce yourself, where
you're from. Um and then we'll we'll
keep a drop off. [clears throat]
>> Where's the best place to stand?
>> Right here.
>> Sure.
>> Great. Good. It's great to be here. Um
I'm Anne Fletcher. I'm a resident and a
member of People for Climate Action is
the Qua chapter. Um and PCA is the
acronym. So you'll hear that throughout.
And our mission is to help our local
cities to reach their greenhouse
reduction goals.
And so, first of all, we want to bring
appreciation to all of you on the
environmental board for your service and
to the city staff and to the other
consulting boards and commissions
because climate is a big thing. It
infiltrates many departments. Um, and
everyone has made tremendous efforts to
implement the climate action plan and um
and now they update. So, thank you. Uh
in September I commented briefly about a
tool that PCA developed this past year
to assist cities uh in their climate
plans and their updates and it's called
12 critical city actions to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and earlier we
shared this with sustainability folks
and today I'd like to just share a
little bit more about the actions and
how their use could be a roadmap uh for
making the IAP update be impactful and
get results.
Uh slowing climate change and global
warming requires government action at
every level and the state legislation
and the recent King County climate
update that was just approved if fully
implemented big um provides 85% of what
is needed to reach our goals and cities
have a unique opportunity and obligation
to do our share in this collective
effort. So while continuing to lead uh
by enhancing natural systems
[laughter]
and our land use efforts which is been
working on for a long time and is noted
for um in in besides continuing that
isqua needs to do more to make our
already built environment compatible
with our natural systems. That's a tough
one. So special efforts to overcome our
own structural and resource barriers are
needed.
According to our greenhouse gas
inventories, you all know we must cut
emissions in transportation and existing
buildings. Consequently, you'll see that
10 of the actions uh in this uh uh
document that was sent to you um address
those two categories. The other two
actions I am going to share with you
right now and they're equally important
because they support the other ones. So
number one is resources. [clears throat]
A dedicated steady and sufficient
funding stream is needed to support the
long-term efforts necessary for
greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Currently, Esiqua is fortunate to have a
recology fee that provides a substantial
fund for sustainability, but it is not
an ordinance and it could be taken away
when budgets are tight. So, we recommend
protecting sustainability and with a
permanent necessary funding to implement
the IAP.
So, questions to guide the the uh
resource question for for IAP. How can
our current staff, hired consultants,
and interns have enough time and funding
to successfully manage these challenging
crucial priorities?
Where might new ordinances and policies
from the council be necessary for
success?
What structures would strengthen our
interdep departmental and uh uh our
interdep departmental collaboration and
our regional work? And when do we need
to start these cumulative efforts that
will help us reach decades away goals?
When critical actions require more
resources than we think we have or will
have,
our updated plan should make that clear.
just as the King County uh strategic
climate update does,
we need to go beyond the current, you
know, $1 sign, $2 signs, $3 signs, um
the symbols that are used in the plan,
um to be more realistic and accountable.
So, that's number one, resources. Number
two is community engagement. People
respond well to offerings of
interesting, fun, useful,
cost-effective, and creative actions
that they can take. There's no doubt
about it. This school's responded so
well to the sustainability fair, the
mayor's climate uh action town halls, um
energy smart outreach workshops, and of
course, these should be continued. What
else can we do? Um there are ideas in
the plan that you can look at and um uh
I am also aware that there is a a
community newspaper that is in the works
really excited about we need a climate
corner in that newspaper. We need a
environmental corner to help us get
critical mass and communications out. So
finally in my conclusion, Esiqua is uh
PCA Esiqua is committed to in energizing
our involvement in these actions and
other strong climate actions. [snorts]
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks Aaron.
[laughter]
>> So nice takes charge.
I'm Julie Carr. I hope you're in this.
I've met some of you. I hope to get to
know more of you. Um so I wanted to talk
about uh from the critical actions
report for cities the 12 actions I have
um just five
around um existing building reducing
emissions in existing buildings. So the
large majority of urban emissions come
from the two sectors of transportation
and existing buildings. So this report
uh focuses on what cities can do to
undertake cutting those emissions in
those two sectors. So critical actions
regarding existing buildings. Number one
is expand the energy smart east side
program. I hope we're all super fans of
that. What a success. really a dynamic
um program that's just really blossomed
in our community and it just uh
showcases the regional collaboration
that can happen and the success that
that can yield. So building on that
expanding that program it's really only
reaching a small percentage of our
homeowners and our buildings. So what
can we do to do um expansion in that?
And one of the ideas in the report which
I hope you'll read is um a regional
lending arm, a green bank. So looking at
that might be exciting. Number two um of
the critical actions for existing
buildings is to create a multifamily
buildings decarbonization program. Um
the report talks a little bit about
Tacoma because Tacoma has somewhat of a
correlation to a lot of east side
cities. doesn't have ton of highrises
like Belleview or Seattle, more
analogous to what we see in our area.
And so there are mid to low lowrise
multif family buildings in Tacoma. And a
study of those showed that they're
responsible for a quarter of the total
Tacoma residential sector sector
greenhouse gas emissions. So maybe we
have something like that going on here
in Isiqua. Maybe we need to find out.
Maybe some of you already know. So, how
do we navigate energy transition with
owners of small to midsize multifamily
apartment building types of things,
renters, too, pooling resources across
jurisdictions, again, it's going to be
really critical with that, mirroring the
energy smart east side program. The
report outlines an interesting
initiative that several cities have
undertaken called building
decarbonization in a box. Sounds easy,
probably isn't, but it's an interesting
idea. you'll read up on that. [snorts]
Number three is to create a small
commercial buildings decarbonization
program. So we have small apartment
buildings, we have small commercial
buildings. Again, looking at Tacoma, the
study, a study showed that over 50% of
all the emissions in the Tacoma
commercial sector come from buildings up
to 20,000 square feet.
So, um, that could be a space, uh, here
in Esqua that's, uh, maybe a bigger
slice of the pie around our emissions
than we're actually recognizing. Maybe
we have recognized it. I'm sorry, I'm
not an expert, but I would love to know
more about that. So, um, in Bellingham,
there's a partnership there with
sustainable connections nonprofit
[clears throat] for a program called
Community Energy Challenge. Interesting
to read about that program. So, I note
that for you all. Number four, adopt um
not only a small commercial buildings
decarbonization program, but adopt a
large buildings electrification
ordinance.
So um we know about the clean buildings
performance standards from Washington
state um [clears throat]
for Washington state which is for
buildings over 20,000 square feet. And
so this advocates for cities adopting
tougher building performances standards
requiring um more than just the small
percentage of buildings that are in the
20,000 K feet. So improving the energy
efficiency. Um the report outlines some
of the ordinance um modeled in Denver.
Could be interesting to look at that.
[clears throat] And number five is the
adopt a home energy score posting
ordinance. Perhaps you're familiar with
this. this. I know it's been percolating
in our area for a while. Similar to an
energy star rating sticker you have on
an appliance, this would be a profile of
the energy efficiency for homes or
apartments. Um, and it can really
motivate individual homeowners as well
as uh renters uh in their decision-
making for homeowners that making for
home performance enhancements to their
home for cost savings for um especially
when they're about to sell their home
can uh can be a really attractive piece.
So, I understand three thirsten county
cities have created a model home energy
store ordinance uh and are on the cusp
of rolling that out. Might be worth
looking at that. It's happening in
Thirstston County. And the past three
legislative sessions, a bill to create a
statewide home energy uh standard report
form has passed the House but not the
Senate. wondering perhaps if that is
something that ISPOT could put on their
advocacy
um priority list. So, thanks so much.
Those are the five actions for existing
buildings.
>> Thank you.
>> Great work. Julie
Good evening, David Kappler, 255
Southeast Andrew Street. Um, I'm here uh
as a I'm a resident and a member of um
the PCA, but um I cannot claim most of
the work that's been happening uh there.
Certainly been supporting it. Um just
like to make my comments to the
transportation advisory board. Um the
target we're after develop additional
metrics that can capture changes in the
system such as no parking minimums,
increased bike networks, data to
evaluate relevant transportation changes
will make for more effective
implementation to reach our targets. Um,
new action consider requirements for
biking multimodal networks with new
developments that prioritize safety. An
example of this is the recent
proliferation of electric motorcycles in
areas meant for walking and biking. If
we want to encourage people to use clean
multimodal travel, uh, these uh,
networks need to be safe.
Mr. Anderson here is very good good
example of riding a bike appropriately.
Thank you. So um an electric bike too.
Okay. New action require new multifamily
developments to install resident ebike
and scooter charging access and secure
storage.
uh develop incentives for existing
multifamily properties fully so that
they can be do good job of providing
those amenities that we would expect in
in our newer newer buildings.
A new action evaluate the feasibility
and impacts of removing parking minimums
to encourage multimold transportation.
Parking minimums should be evaluated for
various neighborhoods. For example, PCA
recommends parking minimums for new
buildings in more density closer to
public transit centers.
Um, new action, build a bike culture in
Isiqua that has a focus on safety and
education. BCA fields support this. See
if it's good way to approach building
that culture.
New actions consider requirements for EV
charging readiness in new multifamily
buildings that exceed the state
requirements. Critical action recommend
100% EV capable in new buildings.
Advocate for statewide requirements, but
don't wait for it. Isa was one of the
first cities to require any EV charging
infrastructure and new construction
before the state did. This encouraged
other cities in the state to make this a
requirement. Isiziqua should continue
its leadership on these kinds of
environment and quality of life issues.
Along those same lines, some cities have
program helped existing multif family
buildings install EV charging. The PCA
report has several examples that is
could look at. Additional critical
transportation actions recommended by
PCA include promoting public transit
before we get light rail, encourage
increased writership on current bus
routes through community education,
promote additional routes of metro,
especially kind of the north north south
routing. We're good east west but uh
north south. I encourage high school
students to use metro to get to and from
school. Assist with orchid cards,
financially support local alternatives
for surrounding neighborhoods to transit
options. For example, is aqua
continuation of financial support for
Metrolex
employer programs that encourage driving
to work alternatives. Currently, the
city follows state law to require
companies with 100 employees to have
those programs. How about looking at say
50 instead of a 100. Conclusion. I hope
that we PCA members have shared will
stim what shared with you will stimulate
curiosity. The use of this document as
you assess IAP updates. The table of
contents layout examples will help you
compare and identify crucial initiatives
that would add value to ISUA's efforts.
Please keep in mind ways to collaborate,
work regionally, and directly
prioritize.
scale up and accelerate action that will
get results. Thank you. You got a big
job, but you can do it.
>> Thanks, David.
>> But really, nobody in the room is
probably gonna like me after this. So,
all good.
>> Well, still like you, maybe just not
what you're saying. [laughter]
Well, you march I live on Squad and what
I try to say is what I perceive to be as
true and I have gone to city meetings
for n on 30 years now. I am not stuck in
one department. I see all departments. I
see how they interface with each other
and they don't or do sometimes and I
talk to people and most people have no
idea what anybody in the city is talking
about. So
you in order to have success in any of
these environmental things that we want
to do,
people have to want to. and they have to
want it from here. And that is your city
staff. Beyond [clears throat] that, your
city leadership. Wall-ally said the
other day at a meeting, you know, this
city, they they value trees more than
people. And he said this in front of
everyone in the camp. And that to me is
an example of what not to say because
what we want is people to want. We want
them to like the trees. We have people
in this very room who don't want trees
and they're very green. Okay. Why? And
what do we do about that? Well, nobody
wants to create a system in town where
we actually have a place for the trees
and we know where to put them and some
people can live one way and some people
can live in the in the sun. Not
everybody has to be moldy, but the city
does not want to create a system to make
that effective. They just there is not
the wana. So when you talk about want to
reduce greenhouse gases, well
I want people to even know what you're
saying and they don't. Greenhouse gases
is like I have a dog, you know. Um, so
you have to use language that people
even know what you're talking about
because I'm getting a resiliency swear
jar for the entire city because every
time I hear the word resilience and
resiliency,
it's got to go in the jar for most of
your world has no idea what you're
talking about. Yet, you depend upon this
concept like it means something.
So make it understandable and give
people actions that are easy and
everybody says this is the right thing
to do and this is our isiqua to protect
and to hold in their hearts is this
special place that I sort of feel like
most people used to think it is and
that's been diluted. It's been diluted
by, wow, now we need affordable housing.
Now we have all these other needs and we
don't feel the need to fund the
environment as much because, you know,
we're valuing trees more than people.
And so we cannot expect to make progress
unless we start talking to the people
who live in the houses, the big houses
who have the money to change the things,
who can make their bills cheaper because
they're using solar panels and they can
afford to buy their own, right? Why are
we paying people to want it? That means
they don't want it. We're bribing them
and that is the wrong way to go. You
cannot embribe an entire state to wana.
So I think we're doing it the wrong way.
I think you have to work on the wana
part and that's for climate action. That
is again for natural environment
protection. that is for wanting to keep
our tree canopy at 55 because that is
the right freaking thing to do for this
town and not everybody nodding like a
bobblehead doll saying
that that doesn't really make sense. How
can we reduce that? How can we make it
so people don't have to have the trees
because they don't want to? Right? And
this is what I see to be the core
problem with how we are looking at isqua
at this point in time. Now, wanna and
whining are sounding oddly similar in my
tone of voice right now, and I'm feeling
a little awkward with that. But, um,
this is what I see as true in all of the
meetings that I go to. Now, we are we
are not engaging
people to be the solution.
I would love conversation on how to do
that instead of how to bribe them to do
the right. And that means that that
means our mayor that means our city
administrator, you know, John Mortonson
though is doing a hell of a job, I got
to tell you. Anyway, he is in public
works for goodness sake. He's a bright
star and he's in public works because he
wants to. He really does. How do we get
more John? Thanks,
>> Connie.
>> Thanks, Donnie.
have anybody online, Stacy?
>> No members of the public. Just
acknowledge me and join as well.
[snorts]
>> Okay. Um, not hearing any other public
comments, we'll move on to our agenda
items tonight. So, we're going to hear
three things tonight. L's going to give
us an update on the urban forestry
program. Um, Stacy's going to talk to us
about some considerations for the IAP
update. And we're also going to hear
about our annual report self analysis
that I surveyed the recent
and there's a card coming around folks.
Um this is for Dixie. Dixie's has to
resign from the board. So it's a thank
you card if you could stand as it comes.
>> Hey Dan, it's all yours.
>> Thanks Don.
Thanks Stacy. Well, I think I know
everyone in here, but I guess uh just
for uh due diligence here, uh Dan Hints,
I'm the urban forest supervisor within
our parks and community services
department at the city. Um
most folks, at least this first few
slides is going to be review since you
all were involved in the development of
the city's first forest urban forest
management plan over the course of late
2023, 2024 and adopted in February of
2025. So, we're about nine or 10 months
into having this uh plan adopted by
council and starting to implement. Um,
so I'll give just really quick review of
kind of what the structure of that plan
looks like, go into a few implementation
items, and then as as Don said, you
know, this is kind of a look at the
urban forestry program, not specifically
just the plan. So, I want to kind of
touch on uh our green physical program
and park ranger programs and obviously
tree work kind of ties more into the
UFMP as well. So, those are kind of the
three topic areas. Have about 10 slides
for you all. So, I'll try to move
through this pretty quick, but if you
have questions during or at the end,
please just go ahead and raise your hand
or or flip your sign, whatever works
best. I'm happy to pause during the
presentation. Um, so there you go.
That's the cover of our plan. Uh,
adopted February 2025.
And just going to quickly go through the
three sections. We have the current
conditions essentially. What do we have?
So, that's looking at our urban forest
composition. uh this plan succeeded our
green is aqua implementation plan. So
that is a little bit more of an open
space uh management plan that we've had
since 2020. Um so looking at those
existing management programs alignment
with like IAP which I'll stick around
for that next agenda item too if there's
anything that might potentially overlap
natural systems and urban forestry which
I know there's definitely items there.
um you know how we engage the community
around these conversations uh
vulnerabilities you know obviously
climate's a big one of those pests um
and then you know coming around to these
evaluations of the plan which we're
hoping to do every two years with some
of the um audit systems that were uh put
in the forest management plan using a
forest service protocol. So, that's
really kind of like the what we have,
which includes the updated tree canopy
assessment, uh, which, you know, Connie
talked about briefly, but, you know,
currently being at 51% with the 55%
goal, and I'll talk about that in a
little bit more detail on a on a future
slide.
Um, Stacey, thank you. Um, and so then
getting into visit and recommendations
essentially, what do we want? Um, so we
have our kind of overarching vision
statement that's on there. I won't read
it out loud, but you all can read it if
you'd like to. Um and having these kind
of five uh main areas that we're
focusing on for implementation. There's
you know the the canopy cover and the
trees themselves and looking at that
distribution. We have a high tree canopy
cover in Isiqua. That doesn't mean that
the distribution throughout the city is
as um effective as we'd like it to be.
Uh you know so that's talking about
things like heat islands and uh you know
storm water management issues and things
like that. Uh obviously getting to the
operations I'm in our parks operations
team. So we are probably you know one of
the two teams that are touching trees
the most day-to-day and a lot of that is
often dealing with conflicts too with uh
you know the built environment. So you
know that's parks operations and then
public works operations as well. So
really trying to figure out how we can
strengthen those uh programs and in
coordination there tree preservation and
protections kind of getting to tree code
which you all are pretty familiar with
um but you know how do we actually set
policies and and goals around uh tree
preservation in Isiqua. uh funding as
levels of service. That's certainly a
challenge area in terms of how we
actually build and expand to, you know,
kind of get to where we want. Uh and
then that community education,
engagement, stewardship. How do we how
do we really involve the community both
both in these conversations and in this
kind of hands-on uh stewardship of our
um public trees and public lands in
Isiqua. Uh so then lastly is getting
into implementation and monitoring. So,
you know, this is the section that has,
you know, kind of a lot of those uh five
areas. summarized with you know uh
strategies, action items and you know
some cost evaluations as well. You know
who what departments or what
collaboration between departments is uh
you know most likely responsible for
implementing that and then you know some
tracking worksheets as well. So, um, you
know, really looking at that, you know,
evaluation, monitoring, and revising.
You know, we're we're probably not
looking at doing an update to this, um,
you know, as early as would be five
years, more likely. A lot of urban
forest management plans are updated
every 10 years, but still making sure
we're kind of evaluating every two years
and tracking progress and making uh, you
know, essentially revisions to the
priority actions kind of throughout the
throughout the life of the plan.
So that is the real quick uh overview of
urban forest management plan. Um Stacy
if you wanted to go to the next one. Um
so the next couple slides will be a few
items that were identified in the plan
that we are working on this year. Uh
this one's actually been a really great
partnership with David and
sustainability on our first uh tree
giveaway to residents and and small
organizations within Isukatu. So it's
not purely residential. We've actually
had some condo associations and and
groups reach out. I guess that's
residential, but some some uh you know
just not purely single family I should
say. Um so trying to you know really try
to incentivize uh tree canopy
enhancements on private property because
we have I mean we're fortunate to have
about 20% public land city managed lands
in the city of Isqua but that's still
80% where we don't maybe have as much um
direct ability to to do canopy work you
know whether that's maintaining existing
canopy or growing new canopies. So
that's where this program is really
trying to at least start one uh
opportunity to to do that within city
limits here. So it's been a great
partnership like I said with
sustainability team here. 300 trees is a
regional partner that has been working
to develop tree giveaways. They started
in Belleview. They've been working with
Redmond and now with Isiqua and they
really handle a lot of the back end. And
then it's been really neat to have a
partnership with friends of physical
salmon hatchery fish there. Um they've
kind of coined it canopy to curb. So
they're helping promote this. They're
also supporting public works with
adopted drain programs and kind of
education around storm water. Uh and you
know obviously the ways that trees in
our urban canopy uh provides or in areas
is lacking in terms of the the benefits
around storm water management and and
rainfall interception from our tree
canopy. So this year we have 275 trees
that we're giving away. We sold out on
those within about three weeks uh after
the program launched. Uh we really
focused on priority neighborhoods. Some
of you have probably heard me talk about
this before. It's part of the uh urban
forest management plan, but there is a
tree equity score and a tree equity
evaluation tool by American Forest,
which is a national nonprofit for urban
forestry, urban and community forestry.
Um, so we did try to identify about
eight census blocks. They use census
blocks for all this stuff. So, not
neighborhoods or anything like that, but
essentially it's a lot of areas in the
highlands, areas in Oldtown, areas in
central Isiqua, um, where they have
lower canopy and probably more negative
impacts as a result of that lower
canopy. And the one metric David and I
kind of picked up for this is the heat
urban heat island effect. So, they
actually have measurements that are
pretty cool that will show discrepancies
in temperatures on a, you know, kind of
hotter summer day. So the eight census
blocks we selected all had plus4 degree
or more Fahrenheit difference from Urban
Heat Island. And our goal was pretty
modest to have 20% of our trees going to
those census blocks. And David, we ended
up with about Thank you. 20 I was going
to say 30%. David wrote down 29.2% for
me. Um so that that's something that
we'll really try to kind of grow. So,
Friends Vis salmon hatchery really
focused on yard signs and targeted
outreach in those neighborhoods first
before we did kind of more citywide
promotion for the program. Um, and then
this Saturday actually is our pickup
event where we'll have fish 300 trees.
David and I, uh, Recology is going to be
there. So, we'll have some tableabling
and outreach, some education around, uh,
urban forestry and other city
initiatives around sustainability. Um,
and then have people grabbing their
trees, too. So, um, yeah, that is our
tree giveaway, which we're hoping to
host annually in the fall.
is the plan to keep this going. Um, we
just started working with a great um,
uh, community forestry group called
Northwest Natural Resource Group, NRG.
They do forestry kind of throughout the
Northwest. They're based in Olympia and
Seattle. Um, but hopefully a lot of you
know I I mentioned about 20% of our city
land in uh public land ownership and
about probably about a third or maybe a
little closer to a quarter of that is
within the Tradition Plateau um natural
resource conservation area, the NRCA. So
all those areas you see kind of
highlighted in light green up on
Tradition Plateau are city managed. And
really quick aside, I actually learned a
lot of this from David, but you know, a
lot of the David Kappler, a lot of the
early acquisitions the city had in the
20s30s was to secure some of the initial
water rights and uh water down to the
valley from the springs that feed from
Tradition Lakes. So, a lot of that stuff
on the north side kind of along I90
there is was Isiqua's early waterworks
in the early 1900s. So, uh but now a lot
of people don't know that the city is
responsible for managing a lot of this
land. It has a 91% tree canopy which
yeah that sounds awesome right and a lot
of the places the forest is in really
really healthy shape but then there's a
lot of third even fourth growth
monocultures of Douglas fur where you
don't have the structural complexity or
um you know essentially the you know the
holistic ecological health I've heard a
lot from the environmental board
understory invasive species those are
the type of things we're trying to look
at and focus on how wildlife interacts
with the forest uh and not just purely
you know essentially the tree canopy
measurement as metric of success. Um, so
we just started working on this
consulting effort with NNRG. We should
have some recommendations. I will say
this for this item and other ones. I'm
planning to come back to the
environmental board in May, but if
there's items that people want to see
between them,
>> we talk to Stacy or or something I can
focus on more at the May meeting as
well. So, we're hoping to have this
wrapped up within the first couple
months of the new year. So, if the
environmental board did want to weigh
in, u you know, it would probably be a
little sooner than the May meeting. But,
um, so yeah, just saying high tree
canopy, not necessarily high quality due
to logging history, um, and focusing on,
uh, forest health recommendations over a
30-year timeline is is the goal for this
plan. And that's our Douglas fur old
growth big tree, uh, photo on the bottom
there.
I think this next slide is the last one
I have that's kind of specific to uh,
implementation items identified in the
forest management plan. And this is
where hopefully most of you are familiar
with this but want to kind of
distinguish between tree canopy
assessments which we have our goals in
IAP uh at 55% by 2035 um and then tree
inventories. Both of these are
considered pretty foundational pieces of
any urban forest management plan. Uh of
course with a forest management plan I
should say they're foundational pieces
of a forest pro urban forestry program.
Um, so we have tree canopy assessments
done and and we are actually updating
that um with King Conservation District.
They are offering to do that with all of
their member jurisdictions, essentially
the cities within King County. So, we're
getting a pretty good deal to get this
done um with 2023 data. So, it's going
to be two years more recent than what
was in the forest management plan that
had 2021 data still measured at 51%. Um
this is also going to complement some of
the efforts with the tree code where we
really just didn't have apples to apples
data on land use um across the city. So
we are paying a little bit for what they
consider custom geographies and that's
going to include tree cover by uh land
use to match as close as possible with
the different categories that were um
included in the tree code updates. I'll
say the one caveat is that teasing out
the different square footage of single
family is a little difficult. So single
family will be lumped together. But this
is something that King Conservation
District plans to measure every 3 to 5
years. That's also what we have
identified in our forest management
plan. So this is something that we want
to keep measuring to make sure that
we're not going too far backwards and
hopefully are still uh incrementally
gaining tree canopy and we can start to
judge that based on the different kind
of land uses we have throughout the
city. Um we're also going to get some
measurements for neighborhoods and for
uh some storm water requirements that's
coming from Department of Ecology. So
looking at storm basins across the city
um which is something that our public
works team will be responsible for in
the next couple years here. So updating
at least every five years. We're hoping
to do a little more frequently. Uh
versus a public tree inventory is really
getting a lot more data information down
to individual trees. Um that is
something that we do not have but it's a
great educational tool. It's a great
data management tool and it's a great
kind of um operational tool in terms of
you know pruning cycles and tree health
and putting together planting plans. Uh
we probably have pushing
75,000 trees on public land. Obviously a
lot of those we wouldn't inventory
because they're part of open spaces
where maybe there isn't as much concern
around hazards conflicts and there's
kind of just more natural forest
succession going on there. But we really
want to develop this inventory as much
as we can uh in maintain park areas,
rightways, edges of open spaces so we
can really track uh the work we're doing
on trees and you know there could be
other things tracked in there like
off-site tree requirements or trees that
are tied to permits or you know whether
they're voluntary planting. So really
having it as a data management tool and
asset management tool uh and really help
inform some of the operational work
around tree care and tree planting. So,
I am hopeful to be picking this up next
year, and that's something I might talk
to you all about more. Um, but, you
know, really trying to figure out the
the funding gap for this. The the state
uh grants that generally support this
type of work have been have been put on
hold for a couple years now. Um, so
we're trying to get kind of creative how
we could possibly phase this, too. So,
um,
uh, so the last couple slides are just
going to talk real quick about green
isqua, uh, tree work more broadly, and
then our park ranger program. But if you
haven't met, that's Taylor Nichols, our
green volunteer coordinator, uh, pouring
the bucket of wood chips and our park
ranger, Alex Anderson. This was a
volunteer group with Costco along the
Pickering Reach of Visical Creek. Um, so
just want to kind of give you a real
quick kind of idea on the scope of the
greenle program. We've had 67 volunteer
events to date. Uh, over 2200 volunteer
hours and a third of that is youth,
which has been really, I think, an
improvement for our program over the
almost three years that the three of us
have been running this together. Uh, 15
forest stewards. So we have Ann here
who's one of them, but these are
dedicated forest stewards that are kind
of adopting sites and really donating a
lot of their time to care for and
restore uh you know forest health across
our city system. Uh we've really focused
on educational events too. So some of
these are guided hikes. We just did a
workshop on tree planting and pruning
101. Uh so we've engaged 438 people
there. Uh some of our signature events
we had green day at three sites on
October 18th. We'll celebrate Arbor Day
again in April. Um and we really hope to
make this tree giveaway a big kind of
annual event loosely tied to greenqua as
well. So just some of the big partners,
Mountain Sound Greenway as well, Strat
Unlimited, Gibson, Costco, REI, Semens
have been three businesses that have
been pretty invested with us in the last
couple years.
>> Oh, okay. Sorry. Yeah, my bad. I was
>> in
a couple more slides.
>> So, should we go ahead and just Yeah, it
should hopefully just be it's really
just two more. Um, this is kind of just
more broadly tree work that we planted
2,900 trees. I I want to kind of call
out though, you know, only 61 of those
are caliper. We're talking about two to
three inch diameter larger trees. Often
those would be the type of trees that be
planted in rightways or maintained areas
of parks. Um, our forest management plan
gave a rough estimate to get to our 55%
goal of planting 1600 trees a year for
the next 10 years. So, we exceeded that,
but I I I want to make a really clear
caveat that a large number of those are
bare root trees. So small trees we plant
as kind of forest succession in open
spaces. One or two gallon potted trees.
This is our Miwoki forest on northwest
dogwood near is a creek there which
probably had 100 125 trees, but they're
smaller trees. Um there's higher
mortality rate with that. That that's
just inherently part of it. They're
they're cheaper to plant. They're
cheaper to purchase. They go in the
ground faster, but they're likely not
going to be maintained as much in open
spaces. Uh and you're going to see
higher mortality. So it's not out of the
question for bare root trees to have you
know 40 50% mortality there too. So not
something that we really have the
mechanisms to track accurately but I do
think it's important to call out versus
the larger caliber trees are the ones
that uh take more maintenance too but
are likely going to you know they're
bigger so they're establishing faster.
Uh but to scale up to get to several
hundred of the larger caliber trees a
year would take a lot of watering, take
a lot of you know just just you know
maintenance, pruning stuff that we we
just be quite honest don't have fully
systemized yet at this point. So it's
you know how do we both get the trees in
the ground and and care for them for
those first five or 10 years when
they're most uh likely to to to die. Um
>> which is what's happening here
>> which walking forest that's getting
>> Oh thank you Ann. Yes. Yes. Anna is
making a good example of where we've had
a lot of investment in maintenance on
this little site and have had probably
90% survival versus some other areas of
the city where maybe we can't for one
reason or another provide quite as much
there. So, um so that's really kind of
getting at tree planting to date. Um and
I'll say those caliper trees, a good
portion of that voluntary stuff that
we've done out of the tree fund. Some of
them are off-site trees for other
projects where require trees to be
planted. So, it's kind of a combination
of of stuff there. Um we've pruned 233
trees. That's mainly been in-house, but
some of that's with contractors. 40
trees removed. That is uh I would say
about half of those were lingering
hazard trees from the bomb cyclone, and
that is certainly not counting the trees
that just straight up came down from the
bomb cyclone. And obviously that number
is much higher, probably in several
hundred in the in the built environment
and quite a bit more in open spaces. Um
but that's, you know, what we're
tracking in terms of removals in our
kind of maintained areas of parks, uh
rideaways, and edges of open spaces. And
then I made a quick call out to this
too, but we're really trying to do two
annual tree care 101 events where we're
really talking about basic tree care,
pruning, watering. So hopefully people
can take some of those uh some of that
information uh to to their properties
and and you know, make sure that their
canopy is being cared for as well. So um
stuff we had identified in the forest
management plan, but we're really trying
to systemize that. I'm working with my
colleague Christy Bishop, who was our
other arborist on our parks operations
team. And then lastly, to just touch on
the park ranger program. Hopefully most
of you familiar. We have a city park
ranger, Alex Anderson there. Um really
focuses on enforcement through
education. So he's not a commissioned
officer, meaning he can't write tickets.
Uh doesn't carry a weapon. Um but he's
go out there to really reinforce um you
know why it's important to be good
stewards and good users of our of our
park system. Um and we have a seasonal
ranger during the spring and summer
months, too. So we have coverage seven
days a week. Uh he really supports human
services on homeless outreach and
especially folks that are, you know,
living unhoused in our parks at times.
Uh so that has a lot of clean up around
camps and illegal dumping. Um this one's
a little out of date, but that's 230
contacts around camps, illegal dumping,
off leash dogs, graffiti. I mean, these
are the type of things that he's often
out there kind of being the first person
to document and then making sure we're
kind of doing the necessary steps to
address those issues. Uh, one of the big
things I've been really proud working
with Alex and our team is around
wildlife coexistence education. So, we
had our first annual wildlife
coexistence day, which we're going to do
again in June and had about 15 partners
out uh in partnership with farmers
market and really talking about how, you
know, kind of started with carnivore
specifically, but we're looking at this
much more broadly across all sorts of
wildlife in Isiqua. Um, so yeah,
supporting that type of work, supporting
green is aqua. And then something that
he just got his pesticide applicator
license and has been really honestly the
last three months. Um, stuff that does a
lot here too is doing holly mapping and
control and our forest and open spaces
too. So um, something that he's really
jumping into as part of his role. So um,
I think that is it.
Have a little questions page here. This
is an REI group we had to do some work
around our tree wells uh, for some tree
replacements at Confluence Park this
summer.
Thank you. Um, first up I believe I had
Tom.
>> Uh, so I wanted to go back to the forest
health initiative for the tradition
plateau
and uh, you're stand you're looking
forward 30 years on that. Will any of
the uh, principles used for achieving
that forest health be directed towards
reducing fire risk? That is that is one
thing they they're addressing to an
extent in there but a lot of that is
kind of talking forest perimeter
management which obviously some of
tradition plateau actually not much
that's more part point so we don't have
as much of the interface directly with
you know buildings and structures on
tradition plateau so I guess I guess the
answer is they're talking about at a
high level but not like specific
prescriptions I wouldn't anticipate um I
think a lot of that more we are working
with King County on their community
wildfire preparedness plan um and east
side fire with some of their um I guess
firewise type work that they're doing
for property owners.
>> Yeah. But they're they're focusing on
private property. That is what do what
do homeowners do to make their place
more fire resistant? I'm talking about
our public lands. Are we going to do
anything analogous to in some
communities they have a ladder fuel
reduction plans for example? I I like to
vacation in Bend, Oregon area. It's a
big thing there. Of course, the fire
risk is much greater there.
>> Yeah,
>> the ladder fuel reduction in in
communities is a serious thing and if
you don't take care of it, you can be
fined. I mean, this is this is a
requirement for the land owners, both
public and private in some communities.
Um, do you do you see us getting to that
point? You know, the one thing I hear in
kind of these larger contiguous open
spaces, you know, there there's a lot of
talk about ecological thinning. So, I
kind of mentioned these really dent
stands, the Douglas fur, red alder. So,
often that is looked at as a fire
mitigation approach to where essentially
you're thinning out the canopy. And
you'll see some of these firewise
recommendations. This is more for areas
around structures, but not having trees
touching within 10 feet of each other.
And I want to say I hear you Tom, but I
also something that's really tricky and
I think a lot of people don't
necessarily understand or think about is
a lot of the work you're doing on the
east side of the Cascades or Colorado
and California, the fire risk mitigation
is also forest restoration. you're
essentially, you know, trying to um get
get forest back to conditions that
probably existed when fires more
routinely burned through there on, you
know, multiple decade returns versus our
westside forest that have fire return
intervals of 100 to 500 to a thousand
years. There's not necessarily a
comparison of, you know, fire
mitigation, fuel reduction, and how the
impacts that has on the ecology of our
forest. So, that's something where I
just want to kind of like caution people
a little bit. And I'm not the most
intelligent speaking onto this, but
there's some great resources with DNR
that I've been trying to kind of read
that have some great interviews with
some of their foresters talking about
this and how whether that is truly the
right approach and how effective an
approach that is too. So I I I guess
yeah, I'm saying I I don't anticipate
there being a ton of us going and
limming up mature I mean Douglas for
trees kind of limb up themselves already
or you know removing a lot of understory
vegetation. I I I just don't know if
that's
my personal opinion worth the resources
all the time either, but I'd be happy to
share you kind of where I'm getting some
of my opinions from from some DNR
resources here who are managing
obviously much more large scale forest
but also along the WOI. Um yeah, but if
that's something we want to see or hear
more of, I mean, I think that's
something we can work with at NRG on.
>> Well, I hear you. as a practicality
certainly couldn't go and clean up all
of Tiger Mountain or or just the city
portion of it tradition plateau that
would be huge but uh I have seen this uh
being put into practice in uh the
Bandair organ well Sun River is
specifically the community that I go to
regularly the last 20 years and the
change in forest areas that have been
cleaned versus the the
the preceding state of that force is
remarkable and for sure is going to
reduce the risk but at great cost over a
long period of time and it employed
prison labor and various things like
that to accomplish it as well. So um
>> I yeah
>> up on that let's see there was another
fire related thing. So, I'm I'm
wondering uh there will be times when
our canopy goals will butt against uh
the fire risk mitigation practices
recommended for uh fire risk mitigation
in our private areas. I have a big case
study of this going on in my little
neighborhood right now where 20 years
ago some cypress trees are planted as a
row between two two houses and and there
are great trees, beautiful trees, but
they are now reaching out and touching
the houses and it's not a very fire
tolerant tree and it is in the wrong
place. It's it's too big for the
students that it's in and it's not a
very fire tolerant tree. they need to be
removed and replaced with something that
is more fire tolerant and more
appropriate for the space, but that's
going to result in a reduction in
canopy. Uh so how will that balancing
act be performed?
>> Yeah, that's a good I don't have a great
answer for you there other than I guess
a little bit of a
slight work around that but still
something that I think is important
develing. A lot of people don't know
that when you talk about arborites or
you talk about you know plants that are
more resonous or going to have more
flammability essentially. So, we don't
have a resource that, you know,
recommends plants that are going to be
more, like I said, wildfire resistance
versus ones that might be more high
risk. You're starting to see them come
out at the state level at the county.
Bainbridge Island just published a
really good one. So, one of my goals,
speaking of working across departments
with community planning and in 2026, is
we we have a lot of work to do on our
preferred tree list and really talking
about vegetation. That that list really
focuses on trees and the space they need
and a little bit of the growing
conditions they need. It doesn't really
look at climate adaptability. It doesn't
really look at fire risk. I think
there's things that we can be viewing
through different kind of prisms to try
to educate people about the right
vegetation and the right spaces, the
right distances from structures and
stuff like that. To that point, I don't
know. I mean, I think ultimately that's
a a tree code thing that needs to be
pushed or see if there's community
consensus around, you know, allowing for
the removals based on certain
recommendations. But we've had some
tricky ones where we had a retirement
home up on Providence Point that wanted
to clear 150 ft, which goes into
critical area buffers, goes into stream
buffers, and this is kind of talking
about trade-offs. And a lot of what I've
heard, you know, coming from planners
is, you know, this conflict of fire risk
reduction and then, you know, impacts
that has on critical areas where you,
for good reason, have stronger
protections for trees. So, I don't think
those answers anywhere, Isqua or in our
region, have really been figured out
yet.
Well, um, kind of in keeping with
Conniey's comments about education of,
uh, people people need to be educated
about things. This is one of them that,
uh, many want to be educated or or maybe
some don't know that they want to be
educated yet, but uh, they could be. So,
East Side Fire and Rescue has this
program where they do a fire wildfire
risk assessment that you're you're aware
of and we've had that done recently in
our place.
>> Um the um tying that in with this little
case study I'm I'm talking about. What
what is needed as the next step is well,
okay, now I need a recommendation for
what to put here. Um maybe uh maybe the
city could have a program to help guide
people and more than just handing a
piece of paper that says here's a
recommended plant list.
>> Yeah. I mean, my neighbor came to me uh
asking my recommendation because he
thought I might know everything, I
guess. But uh uh and I will give him a
recommendation, but um it would be
helpful, I think, for the city to have
more guidance.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh to people than here's a plant list.
>> I think that's a great when we're
talking about these education events or
talking about Yeah. tree care, tree
canopy. You know, I think that's a
perfect topic that likely would need to
lean on a partner like Cat Robinson with
East Side Fire who's leading that
program. Um, King Conservation District
also has some staff that's dedicated to
that type of work. Um, yeah, I think
that's a great great suggestion for
something that we could work on. I I I
know King County is really close to
publishing their community wildfire
preparedness plan and a lot of that
stuff we'll look at adopting it is aqua
but um yeah there just there aren't
quite BMPPS you know firewise is a
national program but it's not exactly
one sizefit all and I mean that's even
something that you know I've literally
heard cat say that or heard Mike Laki
who's you know king county forester
working on the fire mitigation stuff so
I think we're still kind of learning
what are the appropriate
uh yeah best management practices for
fire risk mitigation and what cost that
comes at both financially and then also
other ecological trade-offs or losses
that might come with that. So it's
complex.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah.
[clears throat]
>> And you come here. Um great conversation
with you guys.
Um and so it kind of answers some of my
questions. And I also still have some
more questions about like with all of
the trees and plants that you've been
handing out, do you have the um King
Conservation District and do you have
the um the instructions about like where
to plant and when where not to plant as
far as firewise?
>> Cat's provided some resources that we'll
have as handouts and then it's in the
FAQ. Obviously, not everyone's going to
look at that, but we do have the links
in in the FAQ for the program, too.
>> Okay, good job. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was great to
connect with Kat on that. Awesome.
[snorts]
>> Yeah. And we're just finishing up our
cost share and so we got rid of within
five feet. We got rid of everything
that's flammable and putting, you know,
gravel.
>> Yeah. It seems like there's Yeah. more
of the zone definitions. Yeah.
>> Just had to focus on that.
>> Yeah.
>> Um but so so that's good that you're
doing the education. Um,
so you I think you had figured out going
from 51 to 55% tree canopy in the city
of Isipa. Um, and I think it's so cool
that this tree giveaway is hopefully
it'll help eventually.
>> Um, with that, um, do you remember how
many acres that is?
>> Oh, it's Yeah, I know. We've done these
calculations before. I mean, it's it's a
couple hundred acres.
>> Couple hundred. Yeah. Yeah. I want to
say I I would have to do it again, but I
want to say it's in the neighborhood of
like 200 acres.
>> And you've planted almost 3,000 trees
just this year.
>> But that's what's tricky. A lot of those
are, you know, kind of successional tree
planting, so they are underexisting
canopy, so they won't necessarily
contribute new canopy, but they will
hopefully be gaining canopy as some of
those older maple trees and stuff like
that in our forest open space die back.
And then obviously, yes, like so the
caveat with mortality rate too there. So
>> yeah,
>> but yeah, we don't necessarily have a
projected acreage of what those trees
even at say a 40% or whatever mortality
rate would achieve. And then also like I
said, yeah, a lot of them are
technically understory plantings.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So we move we're moving
forward and then with the bomb cycle
move backwards. So
>> balancing out.
>> Yeah.
>> Cool. Um I think those were my main
questions. So maybe if we could so if we
could get that firm number how many
because I think I know we don't want to
reduce I know this is going to make
Connie upset reduce our goal but Jamie's
been talking about this and I was saying
oh no we got to reach the 55% but if it
doesn't turn out to be safe um and then
maybe
we do think about as we're redoing the
more reasonable. Do you think it's Do
you think it's a possible to go for for
more percent like a couple hundred acres
by that?
>> I think it's possible like that's some
of the trade-offs and yeah, I mean to me
I think I don't think it's been
discussed as much but is does the does
the target need to change or is possibly
change of the time frame slightly
change? You know, I think there's a few
different ways to look at it too that
can continue to be discussed too. Yes. I
mean it's a pretty aggressive time frame
quite honestly you know 9 10 years.
Yeah. I think most people know tree
canopies measured pretty standardly at
14 feet. So the little trees we're
planting are counting towards that for
often five or 10 years at least.
>> So yeah, I yeah, it's tricky.
>> And will you be helping us with those
numbers as we're going over?
>> Yes. And I've been with the kind of
working group. I haven't been as
involved on this since summer as a lot
of the initial recommendations came
together, but I know we're grouping up
with Stacy again in January, February.
Um and then like I said hanging around
for the conversation tonight. So yes,
one of many things that you know
overlaps with the forest management
plan, urban forester to stay involved
with as it relates to ICAP. So
>> nice and I think it's really cool
acres.
>> It's about 300 acres is 4% of our
>> So 300 309 acres to go 4%.
>> Thanks David.
>> Um yeah and
I think it's really cool that we're
really looking at the firewise stuff. um
and working together. Um
and I I know I've said this before, but
my I have relatives in Paradise whose
place they've grown down had been down
there and um they were very aggressive
with their uh tree canopy rules and um
they weren't able to cut tree stand. You
know, it was just very similar to Isqua.
They love their trees and so do we. And
so like how do we live together? Like
paradise is a very different place
because you know because of it location
but um
um
[snorts] the our goals our mission goals
are really good here but worldwide right
now it's not looking very good. And so I
just I'm glad we're thinking about being
confident.
>> Yeah.
>> Awesome. Thanks.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Nancy. And then we're
gonna call this topic back. We got a
little bit.
>> So I have two general comments for you.
The first one is you talked about the
tree inventory and how important that is
to manage these trees. And you handed
out about 3,000 trees roughly this year.
And you have an inventory, particularly
with the ones you're giving to
homeowners of where they're going and
what size they are. Are you starting
your inventory based on what you've
planted this year and what you're
handing out this year so that you don't
start from scratch or you got data. I
>> I think you bring up a really good point
that we we could there's there's no
legitimate excuse not to be building out
a little bit. um
>> start
>> yes the the the benefit of being a
consultant is getting tree conditions
kind of tree needs ages stuff like that
that volunteers or honestly even to some
extent myself hasn't quite experience or
certainly there's time capacity issues
there but but but yes and it wouldn't be
probably thousands of those but of that
certainly those 61 larger trees and
things like that so yes
>> you're planting 3,000 trees this year
you have homeowners that are taking down
trees less than any kind of
>> I mean you have an opportunity to get
that data from community planning to
build that into a spreadsheet or
something. you know those you know what
types they are often you know what size
they are particularly if the hormones
you're replacing I'm just offering a
suggestion that you can do what you want
with it but it's just a way to start
>> the tree giveaway we do have mapped we
have all the addresses we have that on a
map but obviously there's not much more
information than that but David and I
plan on trying to follow up annually to
get at least some representative kind of
samples of
>> yeah you can just send an email
>> survival that's not how you communicate
with them say
>> that's exactly that's exact and we'll
see how many responses we get but at
least if we get you know 10 20% % that
will give us obviously probably people
who respond are a little more skewed to
the people who are going to care more
but um but yes yes yes
>> right you talked a little bit about your
tree 101
and as I look around this room and I
think in my my own volunteering efforts
many of us are leaders in organizations
and I think putting the responsibility
for telling people how to or informing
people how to take care of their trees
and to plant them falling just on city
stat is really are and many of us serve
in other areas and train people like how
to take care of trees or whatever it is.
My suggestion to you is to build an army
of people to do this. So it's not always
following on city staff and those of us
that care about trees like you know
these Alps trails club fish others of us
know John here does a lot of trash I
mean there's all of us that do it and I
think you would have an army that
doesn't that reduces so if you can train
some trainers you might save yourself
some headaches and there's opportunities
in my opinion to go further than what
you're talking about which is twice a
year which is REI has got things if you
have 10 minutes at the start of their
class to talk about trees because
everybody at REI loves trees. If you go
to some place like Squawk, they bring in
an arborist, which I've gone to their
classes. They're incredible. Good lawn
care, how to take care of trees. Squawk
is a great resource in town. Let's bring
one of these trainers and I'm suggesting
to you, I'm trying to help you get the
job and lit up because Tanya mentioned
we need to get more of us talking and we
talk. If we don't get more of his talk
of the talk and ju not just having Dan
trying to say all the words that get
this is just a suggestion. I think you
look in this room we're passionate about
this.
>> Yeah.
>> And I think you could look at both these
folks back here and all of us we would
all be willing to step up and go to an
event and I think them same thing could
be true about sustainability and other I
know you have time. None of us want to
sit at a table, but if you take us to an
REI event and you get to talk about it
for 10 minutes about trees and
sustainability, it's a different message
than saying, "Come sit at a table for
four hours and talk to them."
>> Yeah.
>> And you generally got the people that
are
somewhat interested in that topic at the
meeting at the at the summit.
>> Yeah.
>> So that's just a suggestion for
consideration.
>> Great. And I would say the one thing
that we've had, you know, success with
is the Forest Stewart model with Green
Aqua. That's people who are training on
plant identification, some basic
planting invasive species removal and
that's something we would love to keep
growing too. That's an example I think
that yeah certainly can translate to
more traditional tree
>> care one take care of the trees in your
own yard.
>> Yeah.
>> Like it
>> take it.
>> Thank you. Appreciate you coming. Thanks
to us that update today. All right.
We're going to move right into our
considerations for the IAP update.
All right. Well, I know anytime Dan is
here, we probably NEED A FULL OUT
passionate about it. So, [laughter]
we will make sure to do that going
forward. All right.
Okay. So, tonight we are picking up a
bit of a conversation that we had at the
last meeting. Um but also digging in a
bit deeper into a couple sections of the
climate action plan. Um we are each
meeting going forward over the next
several months really going to be
digging into aspects of the climate
action plan update. So this is a bit of
a a warmup um for that process going
forward. Um today we have four topics.
Um we're going to uh try and get through
them in about 45 minutes. we can always
come back to them if we run short on
time. Um, but two of those topics is
discussing feedback from other boards
where we presented some preliminary
recommendations.
And then the other two topics are
revisiting those that we discussed in
October that we wanted to dig in a
little bit deeper and um I'll call get a
little a little D decision. So not a
final decision but at least get
direction for us to move forward with um
as we are working through updates to the
IAP. Um so the first topic we'll talk
about is the feedback we got from the
transportation advisory board on
transportation related actions. Um
second one is the park board feedback.
Um then we'll revisit that discussion on
redundancy or actions that exist in
multiple city plans and revisit that
discussion on a proposed
um length of the plan. Um, one thing I
realized I don't have in this slide deck
that I presented to TAB and part board
is the members of the committees uh that
u engaged over April and June to provide
feedback on aspects of the plan. Um,
Tom, John, Nancy, Keith, I think I got
everyone. We had staff there too, but I
believe those were the four uh board
members that engaged um in the
discussion. And so you'll hear some of
that uh conversation reflected back here
tonight as we go through the board back.
Um before we dig into the summary of the
transportation advisory board meeting,
just wanted to provide another reminder
on our process. Um, we are taking input
that we heard from those committees back
in April and June, sharing that with the
relevant boards and commissions,
taking their feedback and presenting
that to you. Um, also in the background,
David and I are reviewing other plans,
getting ideas for potential policies to
incorporate into the IAP.
We are looking at a few opportunities to
reorganize the IAP so the actions really
align in the the right focus area.
Um and then there will be a couple
bigger decisions or revisions around
targets that we'll have conversations
with you all about. Um particularly
around a target for municipal operations
which we don't currently have. um kind
of a reddraft of the community
resilience [laughter]
section and then um as Dan and others
have mentioned tonight potentially uh
revisiting that tree canopy target. So
those will be deeper dive conversations
coming in the next few months.
Um so the next topic I'm going to dig
into is uh talk through specific
feedback we got from the transportation
advisory board. Um actually Dave Kepler
gave a really nice summary of that
earlier. We're going to pause, reflect
on that um feedback and the priorities
we heard from TAB and get your all's
feedback and then we'll move into the
next topic. So we're going to go kind of
subject by subject over the next few
weeks.
Um so back in October we met with the
transportation advisory board. We shared
with them a summary of the committee
meetings that we had back in the spring
and then we heard from them their
priorities um specific recommendations
around actions and um other input that
they wanted to provide for the
transportation related actions in the
climate action plan update.
Um this is this slide presents a summary
of their feedback. There's a bit more
detail in the memo and really tonight we
want to hear the environmental board's
reflection on um the input we got from
from TAB. Um so the main priorities and
input that uh really resonated
throughout that meeting uh was reducing
parking minimums to really encourage
multimodal transportation. Um so
multimodal being uh nonpar
uh transportation biking um
[clears throat]
scooters etc. Um expanding our biking
and multimodel networks um as you heard
uh from public comment to do. They also
talked around safety associated with
those networks. Um and then new
requirements for multifamily that would
uh require up to 100% of um EV
infrastructure making sure that all the
parking spaces are ready for electric
vehicle infrastructure as well as there
is interest in um charging access and
storage for um electric bikes and
scooters for instance. Um so those are
some of the big takeaways from the TAB
meeting. A little bit more detail is
available in the memo. Um, but just want
to pause there and hear comments from
the board if if this resonates with you
all on some of the priorities for the
transportation section update of the IA.
>> So, I guess I'm trying to understand the
no parking minimums. Were they talking
about like for single family houses or
for apartment building you know the
redevelopment areas like the central is
for do you know what
>> yeah mostly focus on multif family
>> multif family so trying to reduce the
amount of parking that's required at
multifamily essentially to
>> they specifically look at different
areas are they talking about I mean so
people that if there's a development
going in where lakeside is where there's
no real bus service currently and may
not be with funding from the county. Um,
are we still talking about reducing
parking? So, it' be broad across the
cities what they're looking at.
>> They did not get into that level of
detail. So, I think that's something we
could raise to make sure it was included
in the action.
>> We'll look at on more specific or case
by case basis within my concern
>> because there's some places that still
have development in the city that may
not have it. Um, the other thing is I
really I would just generally comment
and say that the
details they have in your presentation.
Um, I appreciate it more than your
summary. Just to be honest, I like the
details and the direction they went with
all of that. So, I'm very supportive of
that. But the last piece I had on this
is did you I know you had a couple of
community meetings on the climate action
plan and did you hear anything on
transportation at any of those comp and
I'll ask this about the other part if
you would present what the public had to
say and the community had to say about
transportation as well because I didn't
see that anywhere.
>> Yeah. So our community meetings so far
have been um the mayor's event um and we
had students that collected data or
input during that event. We did hear
about um ebikes and improved access to
transit. So, we're still writing up some
of those results from that that I was a
fairly small um attendance due to the
Mariners playoff game happening that
night, but we did get some very engaged
community members. Um and so, yes, we'll
include that in in some of the next
updates. And then we are working with
the students to do um surveys uh a youth
survey that'll be going out this winter
too. But yeah, transit um improved uh uh
networks kind of really echoing
>> question. So, [snorts] um, when you're
looking at building these multip
folks taking into consideration
distance from
grocery stores, shopping centers, places
where you have to go get your day-to-day
stuff.
[snorts and clears throat]
It's great to do it on a bike when it's
a nice day
>> and you got the room in your backpack
and stuff, but days walking over to get
your groceries, it's kind of lousy.
Maybe one idea to think of is and I
don't know if it already exists having
just a local buser that runs the city.
>> So uh for the multimotal you talking
about ensuring that the network is
providing access to amenities that
>> yeah access to year round access to
amenities.
>> Great. And then um a local
shuttle
or like a like Bel has the Bellhawk or
something.
>> I think it's more touristy. But
>> yeah. Okay.
>> But something different than a metro
flex like an on demand maybe. That's
>> I mean it could be a metro just most
metros are going from Isiqua to
somewhere else. They're not
>> to
[laughter]
cargo bike.
Um, I see Keith has a question.
>> Keith,
>> yeah, I just wanted to clarify the the
Metro Flex seems like a pretty good
option for just getting around Diqua and
I think uh and Ive I've I've heard talk
of that potentially getting pulled and
uh I think it serves a really important
u you know function along the lines of
what we're talking about you know people
getting groceries and whatnot getting
around town. So I'd love to see you know
if even if Metroflex has to go away
something something like that. Yeah,
like a like an Isqua uh centric but bus
router or whatever that would be.
>> Great. Um, great. So, this sounds like a
new priority. I mean, with some kind of
local shuttle service or at least
retaining something in the
[clears throat]
that provides the same service as
Metroflelex, but also maybe kind of a
circulation.
>> No, not the same as Metrlex. So there
used to be a shuttle that went around
town and it was terminated and Metroflex
is specifically trying to serve people
who are too far away from a metro stop.
So for example, I looked into it and I
don't qualify because I can I'm within
walking distance of a regular bus stop.
It it's not going where I want to go
maybe to go get my groceries and take
anyway. Metroflex is not at all
a solution for all the problems. It's We
need something else.
A regular [clears throat] shuttle that
loops around through town sort of thing,
which we used to have.
>> Yeah. Do you know why they took it away?
>> Oh, I don't I'm sure it was a budget
issue, but I do not recall.
>> Yeah, that was nice.
>> Was it is it funded?
>> No, it was Metro
contributed to it as well.
I mean,
>> I personally think that this is
something that would be a good um CCA
grant application
that and um
maybe a certain amount of free rides for
everybody. Like I think that one was
free, but just in general, it'd be nice
that if people could ride the bus for
free and this has been talked a lot
about and going out camping for
Victoria, people were thinking about it
out in Maple Valley. So I know that that
this is very Isiqua specific and that
goes beyond that. But um maybe we could
have it for just Isiqua and it could
spread out.
Maybe every I mean it'd be neat if
everybody could just get an Orca pass,
but maybe that is too much. Maybe
everybody just gets maybe 10 rides a
year or something like that for free.
>> And your reflections on um requirements
for multifamily charging. Um this came
up. So Redmond's passed 100%
uh of stalls in new multifamily have to
be EV ready. Um [clears throat]
they that went into effect in July
believe so they did not have much push
back from development. We discussed it
with TAB. There was some interest from
members but also a concern about going
above city or state code and whether
we'd get push back from developers. So
that's something we'd want to look into.
Curious if there's thoughts, reactions
that are doing.
>> When you say EV ready, that is me having
the conduit in place to pull the cable
through, not actually building the
correct,
>> but yeah, it's ready to put the charger
there.
>> Actually scares me more about that quote
is having a storage area for electric
vehicles, i.e. bikes. One lights on
fire, the whole place lights on fire.
And good luck getting it.
for the electric bike.
>> They're electric electric batteries.
They're near impossible to put out once
they start burning.
>> Really?
>> You can dump water on it all you want.
>> And [clears throat]
you lithium ion.
>> The fire departments, is the one I work
with, um, we [clears throat] don't try
to put them out. We try to
snuff them, put a big blanket over them,
and then haul them off and let them
burn.
>> So, you've experienced it before?
>> We we had a few of them, not a lot.
>> And were they bikes or cars?
>> I mean, just a concept. [laughter] It's
not something to take by any means, but
I'm just picturing this concept of a
room full of electric bikes. Yeah. One
like
>> that. That'll be your experate
[clears throat]
batteries very soon.
>> I see you got a hand up there.
>> Yeah. Hi. Um, hi Stacy. So, I had a
comment or a question on the EV
infrastructure.
Um if I understand correctly what you're
saying is um they want all parking spots
for the multi-family
mult um basically any new developments
to be ready all parking spots to be
ready for the EVs. Is that correct?
>> That yeah that wasn't necessarily 100%
agreement amongst TAB. That was a
suggestion that came out of the
transportation committee last spring.
tab discussed it in October. There was a
lot of interest. There was some concern
about going above the state code but
something to explore.
>> Right. So, so I I agree with the idea of
increasing the EV infrastructure but you
know having all spots um I think that
may that could be a problem because that
will exaggerate the electricity
requirements and as you mentioned you
know I think that may be a problem for
the code
>> [snorts]
>> um I don't know the details on that but
I'm not sure how you can do all of them
but I do certainly agree with increasing
the EV infrastructure. I just wanted to
add that comment.
>> Thank you.
[snorts]
>> Other comments?
>> No,
>> sorry, that's it.
>> No problem.
>> And this is just um getting those
initial reactions to the feedback we
heard from TAB. We will go out and we
will go and build out the transportation
action section and bring those to you.
This is helpful. Early feedback makes
really good sense that people living in
apartments and are able and condos are
able to plug their babies at home.
All right, I will move on to the
parkboard discussion.
>> Okay.
All right. Um so very similar uh we met
with the park board in October. We
shared a summary of the committee
discussion on natural system the
priorities that came out of that
discussion and some proposed actions. Um
again this is a highle summary of the
feedback received from the park board.
More details in the memo. Um there was
there was some potential interest in
revising the tree canopy target. We do
not need to discuss that tonight. That's
something we need to go back and
workshop as staff. Um, and we'll be
bringing back proposals and likely
having a joint meeting with the park
board to discuss that. There's a lot of
interest in invasive species management,
water conservation. Um, looking to
expand community gardens and native
plant gardens, all with a resilience
angle to those. They would be written in
the way that they support our climate
resilience. Um and then one topic that
did come up was just the need
um to consider any impacts to recreation
um when advancing envir uh climate
actions um or any environmental
considerations. So for example, we
talked a bit about the dark sky
initiative. Um there was some current
concerns about that limiting ball field
use of the lights where right now our
ball field lights stay on till say 11 so
we can really maximize use of those ball
fields. There's concern that if we had
to shut lights off at some of our fields
at say 8:00 9:00 that would um lead to
the need to build more fields um to meet
the demand of the community. Um, and
that would have a greater impact than
leaving the lights on longer, for
example. So, I think the park board was
just interested in as we think about the
actions um under our natural system
section of the plan that we think about
the other needs of our community and
maybe there's a a good opportunity for
discussion between the two boards
together.
Um so wanted to uh primarily that middle
section see um if these items resonate
with the board. Again these would all
have be written in a way where the
actions really focused on the climate
resilience aspect um of that topic.
18.
>> I guess my general comments are that I
support all of these things at the park
board except for the conversation about
the dark sky ordinance. And I think when
we had our conversation, we were
focusing on um commercial and business
type building more than the public
fields. Um particularly thinking about
the Costco campus and all the lights
they leave on every night and was a
thought reduce energy use. I know LED
lights don't use that much energy. I get
it. But it's still the right concept.
And I think when we were talking about
dying ordinance, we were focusing on the
REI and the Costco and the other.
>> Yeah, I'm definitely in agreement with
it. And um and as far as invasives go,
like I see a lot of um ivy, you know,
growing up the trees. And then from my
understanding, and dad, maybe you could
check me on this. I I've heard that that
makes it the trees more vulnerable to
blowing over in a windstorm because it
makes them heavier. And so that's a lot
of carbon to get lost, you know, and
maybe a car crash or somebody's house.
Um so yeah the so that I think that
would be a really great place to start
just
>> yeah and that was what we talked about
there is a lot around invasives in the
urban forest management plan but what
the climate action plan could talk about
was management of those invasive
invasive species to support both the
resilience of um trees as well as
progress towards our tree canopy targets
for example. So we would have more of
that climate lens on the actions in
mind.
>> Do you mind if I add? I mean we don't
have a lot of specific strategies on how
to do that on private property too. Like
Black Mountain has some really bad ivy
infestations and certainly we could do
more education but we can't tangibly go
touch that without permission and
obviously
>> funding too. So how do we work on
campaigns like that? I think would be be
great.
>> I love the garden ideas. [clears throat]
>> Yeah, that's cool.
>> Gardens are great. Was there a on the
predators around the invasives, was this
focused on any type of land area? So,
was this developed park? Was this open
spaces? Was it streetscapes? Was it all
the above
>> there? Yeah, there was um kind of
general comment, but as Dan was saying,
there was a lot of interest from the
park board about the um public or excuse
me, the private property and a lot of
outreach and education needed to ensure
that we're protecting our tree canopy on
private property. But in general, I
think there was a need or interest in um
tackling invasives for the Brazilian.
>> Rush, I see your hand.
>> Oh yeah. Hi. Uh thanks Dan. Um, so Stacy
or Dan, I just was looking to see um,
you know, and I apologize if this was
discussed at some point and I just
missed it, but um, does the city or the
parks department or county has any
programs which you know do any um,
community education or outreach
regarding the invasive species or native
plant gardens? um because these are
great ideas and I think that community
outreach or education will definitely
help take it further. So I was just
curious.
>> Yeah, there there's lots more
opportunities. I think this I'm
immediately thinking of NY's feedback.
How do we better engage people versus
just hearing staff come talk about these
things which is still part of the
equation but certainly can't be the only
part. Um so yeah, things that
immediately come to mind. I mean, King
County Noxious Weeds, but that is a very
technical program that really goes to
government employees, but it's open to
the public and there could be
opportunities to attend more of their
trainings and workshops. Master
Gardeners is at every Isqua Farmers
Market. They often talk about native
plants, pollinator habitat, uh,
Washington Native Plant Society would be
another really good resource. So, yeah,
there are there are groups out there.
It's, you know, how do we more connect
them directly here in Isiqua and and get
people involved? Um,
so yeah, hopefully that answers your
question a little bit, but yeah, there
there there's certainly a lot more
opportunities there that we could be
leveraging with community partners.
>> Okay. And so, um, here, can you
elaborate? I didn't get quite the what
was the what was the last point where
you say consider recreational impacts
with environmental consideration. What
was the uh what was the exact point
here?
Yeah, the example there was if we're
looking at um a dark sky, expanding our
dark sky. Yeah.
>> Okay. But I think from the board there
was a stronger the real interest was
around the commercial requirements
versus um recreational.
>> Right.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thanks, DC.
>> And did you have another? Thank you. Um
Jonathan,
>> um I've just seen um recently a lot of
artificial turf being introduced in
public spaces and in private
properties. I'm wondering if we should
provide some guidance or regulations on
I tend to think that's bad for our
environment and I don't know if it is
but um you know we you know for ball
fields
like to try to prevent our ball fields
from getting converted to artificial
turf and I'd like to prevent
um I public spaces and parks be using um
art mission to so some sort of
regulation on that
strong guidance against it
>> that yeah I think that'd be a great
conversation to have with park board and
Jeff Watling I think I believe they've
been testing out some cork
maybe up in the highlands
>> yeah central park is obviously our
biggest area for artificial and looking
at some alternativeities I think I think
Julie Wortis is doing some water quality
kind of testing around there too. OB
there's a lot of stuff with POS but
there's some you know stuff around yeah
turf and the chrome rubber and impacts
that has too. So
>> I think that'd be a good one to explore
and discuss here, understand what the
alternatives are and the tradeoffs with
any of those alternatives, how it might
align with the city sustainable
purchasing guidance, things like that.
But yeah,
>> in order of the cork artificial turf
yet, but the the the crumb rubber
official turf, there's a lot of studies
going on around the 6 PPD quino effect
that's getting into the stream and
killing the salmon. So, there's a lot of
concerns there, but they're doing
there's a lot of testing going on right
now. See if that's true or not true.
>> Oh, are they are they rubber rather than
plastic that
>> the rubber the rubber on your tire just
breaks down,
>> right? Yeah. Yeah.
>> And it becomes a poison to the salmon as
it enters into the waterways, but they
don't know if that's the that if the
same thing happens on like a crown
rubber artificial.
>> Okay. Yeah. Maybe it's the same
preservative that they're using on the
turf. It's the same preservative, but
how it how it breaks down
>> is the question.
>> It would be logical that it would have
the same effect.
>> Yeah.
>> Cool. That's good. They're researching
it. Um, so I just had an idea. So, would
it be appropriate for the city to write
a like if they see somebody who has a
private property with a bunch of ivy
growing up their trees, could the city
um write a letter to them and ask them,
you know, and even ask if they could
come help them? Would you come help
them?
>> I would love that. [laughter]
>> And yeah, how do I be thoughtful about
this? excited. Yeah. I mean,
>> they don't want their trees to fall
down.
>> No, no. I I I think the want going back
to Connie here for a lot of people would
be there. It's just Yeah. That's the
resources.
I hate always making this excuse, but
some of the liability issues of having
public staff or even contracted public
staff working at there's waiverss.
There's things to work around that, but
I mean that there are some
insurmountable hoops, but things to kind
of jump through. And then there's also
the how do we do it in a, you know,
positive, engaging, educational way
versus a, you know, kind of wagging
finger at people. Um, so there'll be
people that jump on that program right
away and then there'd be people that
might be a little more resistant to the
>> absolutely
>> city sort of getting involved on that
sort of stuff. But yeah, I mean I I I
yeah, I would dream of having a
Washington Conservation Corps crew for a
couple weeks a year that we could
dedicate towards private property
restoration like that. That would be a
really cool resource.
And we could include language that's
around education outreach and technical
support maybe so that we can explore
those ideas action.
All right. Um I will move on. We have
two other topics we want to try and
touch base on tonight. Um so one we had
a great discussion at the last meeting
about uh what we're referring to
redundancy. This is essentially an
action exists in the IAP. it also exists
in another city plan maybe with slightly
different wording. Um so how do we want
to address that? And so we um have that
conversation also with TAB and the park
board because we have a lot of overlap
with actions between the mobility action
plan um the park strategic plan and
urban forest management plan. Um and so
wanted to share the feedback we got from
them with you all and then uh just
reflect on that a little bit and
[clears throat] uh so that we know how
to approach those actions as we're
working through the plan. Um in general
we ended up actually hearing back from
them that they really want to see
redundancy in the plans. They thought
that's really essential for um city
service and planning processes.
um they um thought we as we talked
through the topic with them that the
actions in the climate action plan could
really take on that climate mitigation
or resilience aspect of the action. or
um example, as we talked tonight, if we
um have actions around invasive species
removal or education or outreach in the
climate action plan, that would speak to
the climate resilience component of that
action where it might have a different
lens in the urban forest management
plan, for example.
Um the boards also felt that they wanted
to make sure there were actions in the
IAP that spoke to implementing the other
plans. So having a motion that talks
about implementing the mobility action
plan and the important climate elements
of that um plan um and ensuring that
climate remains a um lens and integrated
throughout that plan. Um they thought
there could potentially be some actions
that that redundancy isn't necessary.
So, they really recommended that we do
kind of a action byaction review um and
that it would be okay to remove them if
there [clears throat] really was not any
kind of climate connection.
Um so, that was the general feedback we
got on um redundancy of actions. wanted
to see if there further reflection from
this board following our October
discussion
um or if this based on this feedback if
that feels like a good approach for us
as we start to work through the actions.
And I believe
>> they
did they like the idea of having like
the higher level
idea and then or whichever category is
like for this transportation or
you know urban forest then um like then
dad would go come up with the details
like the IAP would have the higher level
of the goal and then um you know river
forest would come with the details or
transportation would come up with the
details or parks would come up with the
details. Is that is that what is that
okay?
>> I think they wanted more of the IAP to
have that climate lens on the action. Um
so we may have sort of similar
[clears throat] actions in the different
plans but the IAP is really speaking to
the importance of that action for its
mitigation or resilience benefit
[clears throat]
and we'll we can come back with some
more examples besid the basic one but
we'll come back with some more examples
um especially around transportation for
example we would speak to why expanding
a multimodal network is beneficial for
the climate um
and then would also come up with the um
how to implement it and or would we look
to them for implementation?
>> Yeah. So, I think um we will probably
end up with a mix of actions where some
of ours are very specific and there's a
specific program or project in mind. Um
where others might be a little more
general like outreach, education,
technical support so that we can then go
over the years as we implement the plan
figure out really what is the best way
to do that. What specific project or
program do we launch? Do we want to
knock on every single door and offer to
[laughter] pull out their Ivy and Holly
or um is there another program is best?
So, I think that's something the board
can look at as we um develop out these
actions where is that specifically
needed versus kind of a more general
action to allow staff then to be a
little more flexible.
um if we're going to allow um redundant
actions in the different plans, we
really need to have a review of the of
the wording. Make sure we have
consistent wording cross actions and
then we need to make sure that they're
not the actions are not conflicting each
other, that they support each other
rather than just we just have to have
that review.
>> Yeah, that's great. And what we could
maybe do is we propose bring those
actions to you all is we'll um include
the action from the other the language
from the other plan um so you can see
how those two would intended to be
complimentary of each other.
Um Stacy, so just um I wonder I I'm just
a little bit curious to see why they
felt that the redency is good. Um is it
because you know so that as long as it's
listed in that report or the plan um the
site is not lost that this area is still
a part of that plan or what was you know
uh the reason that they felt it was
important to still include it. Um, and
the other question I had was, are they
not worried that redundancy takes more
time and effort, you know, or the budget
on part of the city staff when they're
writing and rewriting these reports?
>> Yeah, great. The second piece we didn't
really get to, but I think two takeaways
I heard from the group was one um having
the redundancy shows the value that
those actions really help the city
achieve um multiple purposes. So one
action is helping us achieve our climate
mitigation goals as well as our park
goals as well as our forestry goals. And
so they like being able to show these
kind of multibenefit actions.
>> Um I think the other pieces we shared as
um with the boards as we shared with you
all is that the Snowqualami tribe had
expressed some concern about not having
redundancy because they were worried
that um if that action was removed from
one plan, its intent, its value might be
lost in other plans if they're updated.
Um and so I think some of those boards
really heard that and wanted to honor
the feedback we heard from the tribe,
>> right? Um but there was no discussion
you said on the you know the budget
implications or the time implications of
redundancy and I could be wrong here it
may not be much but seems to me that
since we review and update especially
IAP so many times um I don't know after
every IAP update if the um redundancy
part needs to be updated in other
reports as well. No, I think that's a
good question on that administrative
piece and it'd probably be a little bit
more of a lift this first time as we
were doing it for the IAP, but hopefully
then we could cite the actions in the
other plans and ensure that the folks
responsible for those plans knew how to
refer back to the the IAP. But yeah,
it's a good question. It's definitely
not nothing. I appreciate you thinking
about that piece.
>> Okay,
that would be all. Thank you.
to your comment, Praj, I think if you do
it correctly and you have good
communication across the plans, you can
get a stronger case for a budget request
um because you have multiple
departments, multiple
>> right
>> folks going after the same budget
request to support it. Um to Jonathan's
comment, um I I would be careful that
you don't have the same actions in two
different plans with them both working
on the same thing. Somebody has to own
it,
>> right? Otherwise, if it changes in one,
you can get
>> cross
done,
>> right? [clears throat]
>> Yeah, I think we'll continue looking at
those. Um, and we'll definitely need to
be looking at each action. So there
could be some where it makes sense to
remove but we'll as we bring back um the
sections of the plan going forward we
can identify where a complimentary
action lives in another plan and how
ours will work with it and as well as
[clears throat]
all right
why don't I introduce this because we do
want to get to the report really quickly
um for the last probably 10 minutes of
tonight. Um so I will introduce this and
then uh we can revisit it in December.
Um so at our last meeting we proposed
the idea of extending this plan to a
longer longer than five years. Um, we
heard from the board that there was a
general sense that that might be okay as
long as we had some good check-in points
as well as um, and for lack of a better
word, like a trigger if uh, something
massive changed where we might want to
update it more regularly. Um there's a
lot of text on this slide, but David and
I have been talking about this a little
bit more and put it together um a
proposal back to the board that we are
considering a 10-year plan that would
have a pretty in-depth check-in at year
five where we could remove or add
actions and that would be something we
do in partnership with the environmental
board and then to council for approval.
Um, this would line up well with uh
greenhouse gas inventory.
Um, we would actually be past one of our
major uh targets or uh years in the plan
for which we have targets, the 2030
target. So, we would know whether or not
we've met those. Um, and then we would
also present detailed implementation
work plans coinciding with the budget
which is on a two-year cycle.
Um, so why don't we consider this for a
proposal tonight? Um, and then if folks
want to think on that, we can uh get
some uh input before the next meeting
and and revisit it next meeting, but I'm
short on time.
>> I like it.
>> So, you're saying you're not going to
comment on that?
>> Let's not comment because we have 12
minutes left and we need to quickly go
through the report. So, if that's okay
with you, folks can think about it. I
mean, if we could provide a comment in a
couple of minutes, then we'll ask
everybody to stick around for a few
minutes later.
>> Okay. All right. Just didn't want to
keep people too late.
>> Do you have a comment? [laughter]
>> Well, I guess I would I would say that I
I kind of had an ascending view on this
10-year thing. This this is a field that
is is still very new and we're learning
so much and five years from now that
things will have changed
measurably. So, uh, so I, okay, we'll
have a check in in five years. Uh, I for
sure there will be things we all need to
tune. Uh, so I I think it's it's a
pretend game to say that we're going to
pretend it's a 10-year plan, [snorts]
but sure, we can give it a try.
>> Sure.
>> Yeah.
>> Would there be an opportunity for
substantial revision five years if it's
not going correctly?
Yeah,
>> and we have a lot. So, yeah,
>> there's a lot of accompl accomplishments
and um success stories along the way
hopefully
>> and celebrations.
>> I wouldn't have any heartbrain on a
10ear plan if we had opportunities to
self adjust as we do.
>> I don't want to get 10 years down the
road and have you guys come. Oh boy,
what happened?
>> But there's targets along the way.
Correct. So,
>> um, yeah, there's a lot of accomplished
targets along the way. So, it's not like
there'd be any chance everything would
get left until the last the 10th year.
>> Yeah, we'd be continue to do our
greenhouse [laughter] gas inventories
and seeing progress. We'd be reporting
out on progress as we do now. that
worked on.
>> Think we do
>> uh I I believe we have the will to make
adjustments when needed regardless of
whether we claim it's a 10ear plan or
not. So again, it's a pretend 10-year
plan and we will adjust as needed.
[snorts]
>> I have confidence in that. So yeah,
sure.
>> Okay.
>> I think that'd be good. we can include
in the implementation plan that we do
kind of maybe it's um the adding
removing or adding actions unless the
board calls for like a review and
revision
>> or could you add the words to preamp
could you put there we need to pretend
you're glad
>> I require that 2030
[laughter]
all Okay, thank you. Um, great. So, uh,
next steps, um, we are
we will take the feedback we got
tonight, we're going to be, um,
continuing to work on reshaping those
focus areas and the actions associated
with that. And then each of our
subsequent meetings, the thought is
we'll bring one or two focus areas to
you all for review. um probably a
heavier focus on any of the actions that
are policy related, but we will be open
to discuss any that folks want to bring
up. Um we will also be going back to
park board, transportation board and um
PPC with any policy related actions to
make sure that those boards and
commissions can get one more touch if
especially around the action. So, um
much much more to come, but the feedback
tonight I think just gives us that next
step so that we can uh continue moving
forward with that dates.
>> What's your target date for adoption?
>> June 26 to get ahead of the budget.
>> Yes.
Um and we are meeting with the clerks in
December to talk through schedule and
then of course with the new leadership
um be meeting with them early in 26 to
make sure that the path we are on meets
their expectations.
Thank you for getting through that.
Sorry that was fast.
Um,
one more
main topic.
>> Okay, great. Um next topic we move into
um is
[snorts]
um next topic we wanted to move into for
the last couple of minutes is just
presenting on the draft report um annual
report that we're required to submit to
council as well as the results of the
self analysis. Um we shared with you all
um last month
the um outline for the report
as well as the questions for the
selfanalysis.
Um thank you all that maybe one took the
um the self analysis. So we'll share
those results. Um, first one note, we
wanted to get any feedback that folks
had on the draft report. There was um
that was included in your packet.
Basically, I've just filled in the
sections of the report with the work
that the board um completed it this
year. I can pull that up if we need to
scroll through it. Um, tonight is just
the draft. We will do a formal vote to
approve it in December.
any other
there are two sections at the end that
we added in last year. One is around um
kind of what we want to work on and
engagement with council in 26 and then
there was another section really
encouraging
the city to work more with the school
district and um on environmental
considerations. Those were big concerns
at the end of last year we wanted to
highlight for council. So, I've left
those in. I've priced them slightly for
this year. Um, we can take those out or
folks want to continue to convey that
message to council.
Great. Yeah. If you have any feedback,
revisions you'd like to the draft
report, please send those to me ahead of
meeting and then we will do a vote to
approve the report.
Any other comments on the report?
Okay.
And then David's gonna do a quick report
out on the self analysis.
>> Yeah. And if it's um okay with folks,
I'll I'll try and fly through this. So
uh there's uh very detailed um comments
in the draft report that included all
comments submitted through this self
assessment. Um so for a real complete uh
look at what the environmental board
what you all said about uh this year's
work uh definitely check out that
report. But we had 92% uh% uh
participation rate all but one
environmental board member. Overall the
board felt uh good about your
contributions. You appreciated the the
topics that came to the board. Um and
there were definitely some suggestions
that we'll go into in a minute. Five.
Um, overall, uh, most of the topics
brought to the board were valuable and
relevant to, uh, the work of, uh, the
environmental board and what y'all, uh,
thought is the focus. Um, overall, the
environmental board was happy with
staff, um, uh, staff management of the
board as well as staff presentations uh
to the environmental board. Um and
environmental board members generally
have expressed uh uh that they've
enjoyed their time on the board. Um, one
note uh that was really interesting is
that uh uh or members have expressed
that the longer you're on the board uh
the more comfortable you can get with
actually participating in the advisory
process and that staff should consider
continue to think about ways to onboard
new members and uh make sure that those
board members feel comfortable uh
participating in uh advising the city.
So, some opportunities for improvement.
Um, the big one is to continue to
improve feedback loops between the
environmental board uh and city
leadership, specifically uh
administrative leadership as well as uh
city council. Um, additionally, there
are a lot of topics we cover as the
environmental board. Um, and so, uh,
some board members expressed
appreciation for the breadth of the work
that we cover, but also, um, wanted to
think about ways that we can continue to
prioritize topics and make sure that
meetings don't run too long. Um, next
slide.
Uh, one thing that was uh, actually
quite different from last year are the
top priorities that the board uh,
expressed an interest in uh, thinking
about for this coming year. So, uh,
roughly the top five topics that the
board, uh, expressed interest in working
on are sustainable building requirements
specifically within title 18,
sustainable transportation policies and
projects, um, urban forest management
plan implementation and oversight,
communitywide policies and efforts to
decarbonize, and then the IAP update
process. So these were the top five
priorities um that the board identified.
Um sustainable building requirements and
sustainable transportation were the uh
top two
and that's it.
>> What were the top five? Do you remember
the top two?
>> I have to look back. Um there was more
focus on wildlife and coexisting with
wildlife was a big and some other
natural system once uh or last year.
>> Oh, one thing I was outraged by was when
I started into it, it said that it would
only take seven minutes to do.
[laughter]
>> Wanted more. make a note that it uh
never will increase the suggested
timeline.
>> Well, I'm I am slow. I am slow.
[laughter]
>> It took me way more than seven minutes.
[laughter]
>> Well, thank you.
>> I'm always slow to
>> after seven minutes. You're already into
it. So, you can't
>> you can put that in your comment next
self assessment.
>> Thomas.
>> Yeah. I have to um I want to comment
that I'm the one person who didn't do
that
>> but but well a little busy but it is
recognized that board members get more
confident participating in the advisory
process no longer so it's a bit of a
catch22 um you know you said that
there's opportunity for revisions to the
report before it's submitted. Does that
mean I could still do it or is it
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Yeah. I can send it to you.
>> Yeah.
>> If it's not if it's no trouble because
>> it's totally fine. Bluntly, I do agree
with the feedback in general. So, I
still have, you know, not much to
>> I'm trying to get us to 100%.
>> Exactly.
>> I mean, that's right.
>> I will explicitly say once we've hit
100%, we can never go below 100%.
[laughter]
>> So, you're setting a bar.
>> I will get it to you.
>> Okay.
>> I thought it was going to be Dixie.
[laughter]
>> Oh, she did. She did take it.
You need to set aside a whole day.
[laughter]
>> Okay, that's all.
[clears throat]
>> I just have real quick updates already.
Um actually, I will hand it back over to
David really quick um for a report out
on the the written report that you all
saw.
>> Yes. So, um you'll have seen kind of a a
reworked uh sustainable building and
infrastructure
um policy memo that um includes some
information about the mobility and
infrastructure committee presentation
that we did uh earlier in uh October. Um
and uh Deputy Council President uh DM
Michelle specifically wanted to make
sure that before uh that policy goes to
council next Monday on uh November 17th
that we loop back in with the
environmental board. Um
uh explicitly uh expressed council's
appreciation for the environmental
board's participation in that process
and feedback um on that policy.
uh board um committee members
specifically uh were looking for that
environmental board feedback on the
sustainable building and infrastructure
policy. Um through that committee uh
presentation and feedback session, a
couple of changes were made um
specifically related to um how staff
would implement the envision framework
for infrastructure projects. Um
specifically uh committee members asked
that um we uh seek to do more than one
um pilot project with the envision
framework and um trial that framework
with multiple types of infrastructure
projects. So for instance a park project
and a transportation project or
different types of transportation
projects so that we can see how that
framework would be applied in different
infrastructure uh project scenarios. So
we are going to uh following if if
adopted we would look to um do more than
one in the range of probably two to
three up to five pilot projects
depending on um on capacity. Um and then
the other uh big focus of the uh
mobility and infrastructure committee
was to ensure that staff um develop the
pilot project in a way that sets goals
uh for those projects. Um sets a target
and vision framework uh certification
level that we are working towards um so
that we can um really see what it would
take uh to really incorporate the
sustainability principles into all
aspects of an infrastructure project. um
and understand what those budgetary
implications would be, understand uh
what those management practice
implications would be. And so um we will
be working to incorporate that into the
design of pilot projects uh with the
envision framework. Um the sustainable
building and infrastructure policy
update is on the uh next council agenda
next Monday uh on the consent agenda at
this point.
any update anything else? Okay, that's
that. Thank you all very much for your
feedback on that. [snorts]
>> Um, other uh quick updates. I did want
to just uh acknowledge Dixie service to
the environmental board. Um, as many of
you know Dixie is a very very very busy
small business owner. Um, it was just
hard to balance uh the board. So, really
appreciate the service she's given over
the last couple of years. she will be
missed. Um she's interested in engaging
any way possible advisory role or um
another way that we can engage with her
when she has capacity. So I think we'll
talk a little bit more about that in
December and how we can work with some
of our real committed community members
um outside of a formal board position.
Um and then just a couple other
acknowledgements. Uh we have a mayor
elect. Um there is already work underway
at city hall on that transition. They'll
that will be picking up quite a bit more
um in uh mid December um to talk through
kind of priorities uh for that next for
our next mayor and our city council
leadership. Um we have a very busy week
coming up. Uh tomorrow we'll be
presenting to um PPC on the climate
action plan. Kind of similar discussion
that we've done with the other boards
sharing the feedback we heard on land
use actions and receiving their initial
feedback. Um we heard about the tree
giveaways happening this Saturday. Um
next week with the sustainable business
infrastructure policy going to council.
Next Tuesday we have a heat pump
workshop at Gibson Hall which is right
across from the fish hatchery. Wednesday
there is a student event at the high
school at Isakqua High School. Um a town
hall on climate really being led by the
students there. There'll be city
leadership there. We'll be there um and
school district leadership to talk
through um youth priorities and actions.
Um and then something else we haven't
mentioned previously is we are working
on an endofear report on the IAP. We've
provided pretty plain kind of boring
reports to council that's kind of runs
through all of our actions and where
they are. We are making a much more
communityf facing report, more pictures,
storytelling. Um so that is fingers
crossed going to make it into the
council packet for their December 1st
meeting, but we will send it to you all
um as soon as it is ready. So you can
see that great council. Um and then
December meeting will be a packed one.
Um we will have a report from Sam on
updates for um the waste initiatives
underway as well. She has some great
data on the wildlife coexistence and the
outreach we did through bear takes or
excuse me through the um cantes around
wildlife. Um, we'll be diving into a
section of the climate action plan. Um,
and then report approval. And I'm sure
there's a couple other things on the
agenda I forgetting, but it will be a
full December meeting. Um, I think we'll
touch base more if we want to consider
doing a a short potluck uh like we did
last year, but also recognizing
more to come on that meeting.
Okay.
>> Yeah. Thank you everybody and thank you
for sticking around a few minutes late
to get through six.
>> Maybe there's no other lights outside.
I get blocked by the clouds and walking
down the neighborhood
>> place I thought I might be able to see