Environmental Board · Wednesday, April 10, 2024 · City Council Digest

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of February 26, 2024

packet pp.3–5

Previously discussed: Environmental Board · Mar 13, 2024 Park Board · Mar 26, 2024

Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 02-26-24 Park Board Minutes CITY OF ISSAQUAH Park Board 6:30 PM Tibbetts Manor, 750 17th Ave February 26, 2024 MINUTES NW, Issaquah

Minutes of March 13, 2024

packet pp.7–9

Open packet at p.7 ↗

Staff report:

CITY OF ISSAQUAH Environmental Board 6:00 PM Tibbetts Manor, 750 17th Ave. March 13, 2024 MINUTES NW, Issaquah

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Energy Smart Eastside and Potential Electrification Program Expansion (I, D) [50 mins]

Sarah Phillips, ESE Program Manager Stacy Vynne McKinstry, Sustainability Manager · packet pp.11–24

Topics: Climate

▶ Watch from 1:09:14 Open packet at p.11 ↗

Staff report:

Office of Sustainability 130 E Sunset Way | P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 issaquahwa.gov

Comprehensive Plan: Environment Element Update (I) [20 mins]

Stephen Padua, Long Range Planner David Reedy, Sustainability Coordinator · packet pp.25–35

Topics: Land Use

Previously discussed: Environmental Board · Mar 29, 2024

▶ Watch from 1:17:48 Open packet at p.25 ↗

Staff report:

Community Planning & Development 130 E Sunset Way | P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 issaquahwa.gov

Stormwater Plan Update

Information · [15 mins] Mike Vermeulen, Water Resources Program Specialist · packet pp.37–121

Topics: Water

▶ Watch from 1:26:23 Open packet at p.37 ↗

Staff report:

Public Works P.O. Box 1307 Issaquah, WA 98027 issaquahwa.gov

6. OTHER BUSINESS / ANNOUNCEMENTS

Update on Strategic Plan Taskforce (Jamie Finch)

▶ Watch from 1:34:57

Recognition of Board Members (Jamie Finch and Don McQuilliams)

packet pp.123–127

▶ Watch from 1:39:57 Open packet at p.123 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVED: 3/13/2024 REVISED: 4/3/2024

2024 Workplan

▶ Watch from 1:44:57

2278 segments .txt ↗

0:04 ↗ all right uh welcome to the April 10th

0:07 ↗ meeting of the ISA environmental board

0:09 ↗ I'm Jamie pinch and I'll be your chair

0:10 ↗ tonight um due to the hybrid nature of

0:13 ↗ this meeting we'll have some members

0:14 ↗ attending in person and some remotely

0:16 ↗ for those remotely please uh say your

0:19 ↗ name for speaking uh mute your

0:21 ↗ microphone when you're not speaking and

0:23 ↗ then raise your hand if you'd like to

0:25 ↗ speak for those here please flip your

0:27 ↗ name tag um certain topics will

0:30 ↗ summarize agre around recommendations

0:32 ↗ and please let me know if there's

0:33 ↗ anything that I missed and we know that

0:35 ↗ there's any desent um that uh sty do you

0:41 ↗ mind running us through

0:43 ↗ attendance uh Tom Anderson here Nancy

0:47 ↗ [Music]

0:50 ↗ Davidson

0:52 ↗ here Jamie Finch here of hundy

1:01 ↗ hi P can you hear

1:07 ↗ us we're unable to hear

1:15 ↗ you okay

1:18 ↗ great um Raj is here Joy Lewis has an

1:23 ↗ excused absence ashon

1:26 ↗ Canam

1:27 ↗ here Don McWilliams

1:30 ↗ here an Nukem has an excused absence

1:34 ↗ Janet

1:35 ↗ wall Dixie bear has an excused absence

1:38 ↗ and Alex Lee

1:41 ↗ tigner is planning to join virtually I

1:44 ↗ don't she just popped on the timing Alex

1:47 ↗ we were just calling your

1:50 ↗ name here

1:53 ↗ great all

1:55 ↗ right thank you Stacy um do we have I

1:59 ↗ don't see any members the public did any

2:02 ↗ public comments to know no there was um

2:07 ↗ no public comment there was a email from

2:10 ↗ Connie uh regarding the comprehensive

2:12 ↗ plan and Wildlife she said to um it it

2:16 ↗ wasn't necessarily a comment it was just

2:18 ↗ a inquiry or to take it as

2:22 ↗ information um I think with that then we

2:25 ↗ will move into the minutes um are there

2:30 ↗ any comments on the minutes from

2:32 ↗ February 26

2:36 ↗ 2024 none those are approved by

2:39 ↗ unanimous consent and then are there any

2:41 ↗ comments on the minutes from March 13

2:45 ↗ 2024 hearing none those are approved by

2:47 ↗ unanimous

2:48 ↗ consent um and then with that we'll move

2:51 ↗ into our attend item the first one being

2:53 ↗ Energy Smart east side of potential

2:55 ↗ electrification program expansion

3:07 ↗ okay so um wanted to welcome Sarah

3:10 ↗ Phillips uh here tonight Sarah is a

3:13 ↗ shared staff person um she's shared

3:15 ↗ between five cities but is housed at the

3:18 ↗ city of BW and she manages the Energy

3:20 ↗ Smart East Side heat pump program

3:23 ↗ tonight we wanted to provide a deep dive

3:25 ↗ into that program it has been a pretty

3:27 ↗ substantial investment um

3:30 ↗ in terms of resources funding and staff

3:33 ↗ capacity but it's also helping to

3:35 ↗ address one of our biggest greenhouse

3:36 ↗ gas um emitters which is residential

3:39 ↗ energy use um so after Sarah provides

3:44 ↗ kind of a overview and then um Dives

3:46 ↗ deep into the data from the program at

3:48 ↗ the very end we'll talk very briefly

3:50 ↗ about some of the additional incentives

3:53 ↗ or programming that we might be

3:54 ↗ considering and the approach to further

3:56 ↗ develop that so I will hand it over

4:03 ↗ great thank you so um I appreciate being

4:06 ↗ here having with all of you today I've

4:09 ↗ never been to this particular Park in

4:11 ↗ this venue so that's really fun um and

4:14 ↗ this board of course uh you work on

4:17 ↗ environmental work all the time you're

4:19 ↗ really key to shaping um climate policy

4:22 ↗ at the city of isqua uh and this program

4:25 ↗ is really um at the heart of you know

4:27 ↗ one of our key strategies for trying try

4:29 ↗ to meet our climate goals so we go to

4:32 ↗ the kind of overview of what we hope to

4:33 ↗ do today kind of the next slide I really

4:35 ↗ kind of have a few goals for you today

4:38 ↗ is you walk away with a good

4:39 ↗ understanding of energy smart east side

4:42 ↗ and how it very very concretely relates

4:45 ↗ to achievement of your 2050 um climate

4:49 ↗ goals and specifically trying the path

4:51 ↗ to carbon

4:52 ↗ neutral um we're going to talk about the

4:55 ↗ different program tracks and how we're

4:57 ↗ designing them to really Foster and

4:59 ↗ Equitable energy

5:01 ↗ transition and we'll give you just for

5:03 ↗ an update on where are we at today you

5:06 ↗ know what was the results of what I

5:07 ↗ would call sort of the pilot phase in

5:09 ↗ 2023 what are we really focused on to

5:12 ↗ expand impact in 2024 and how are we

5:14 ↗ thinking about scaling it and we'll kind

5:16 ↗ of then roll into the conversation on

5:19 ↗ what um different expansion

5:21 ↗ opportunities might

5:24 ↗ be uh so Energy Smart east side is

5:27 ↗ fundamentally uh a residential home

5:30 ↗ electrification program we connect

5:32 ↗ residents with uh education resources

5:35 ↗ and in some cases financial assistance

5:37 ↗ so that they can go electric and the

5:40 ↗ program today is really um focused

5:43 ↗ squarely on heat pumps that's kind of

5:45 ↗ where we're starting so sort of from a

5:46 ↗ branding perspective we think about

5:48 ↗ ourselves more broadly than that but

5:50 ↗ from a practical standpoint our

5:51 ↗ programming today is right around heat

5:53 ↗ pumps and as um Stacy mentioned this is

5:57 ↗ a joint initiative of the cities of

5:58 ↗ Belle is a Kirkland Redmond and merer

6:05 ↗ Island so I mentioned that we're

6:08 ↗ starting with heat pumps and I just kind

6:09 ↗ of want to give context or why are we

6:12 ↗ starting there um this is a a slide that

6:15 ↗ kind of represents your most recent

6:17 ↗ greenhouse gas inventories I know Stacy

6:19 ↗ has walked you through this previously

6:22 ↗ um but a quarter of emissions in isqua

6:25 ↗ are from the residential and you know

6:28 ↗ the good news on that is on the

6:29 ↗ electricity front that is going to get

6:32 ↗ cleaner over time so pisone energy has a

6:35 ↗ mandate based on state legislation that

6:37 ↗ they need to be moving off of oil and

6:40 ↗ gas of course and so over time the

6:43 ↗ emissions from just running electricity

6:45 ↗ are going to diminish um uh

6:48 ↗ significantly but at the same time 78%

6:52 ↗ of single family homes in particular in

6:54 ↗ isqua um have gas space Heating and as

6:57 ↗ we know space heating is one of the

6:58 ↗ biggest energy consumers in the home and

7:01 ↗ if you have a gas furnace you probably

7:03 ↗ also have a gas water heater you might

7:06 ↗ have other Gas Appliances as well and so

7:09 ↗ if we're going to hit that Target in

7:10 ↗ 2050 of um achieving uh carbon

7:14 ↗ neutrality we really need to start

7:16 ↗ figuring out how do we move folks off of

7:18 ↗ gas and onto

7:23 ↗ electricity one of the interesting

7:25 ↗ things that I wanted to answer early on

7:27 ↗ is just what is the emission savings if

7:29 ↗ we we install a heat pump and if you

7:31 ↗ just look at it kind of from like year

7:33 ↗ one it's about one ton so if you take a

7:36 ↗ 1500 SQ foot house and you move from a

7:39 ↗ gas furnace to a heat pump it's about

7:42 ↗ one ton of CO2 uh emissions uh averted

7:47 ↗ but if you think about that over time

7:49 ↗ and you think about the compounding fact

7:51 ↗ of um the grid getting cleaner over time

7:54 ↗ it really expands massively and so if

7:57 ↗ you were to go into a home and replace

7:59 ↗ it with a heat pump a gas furnace with a

8:01 ↗ heat pump today you're looking at 62k in

8:05 ↗ emissions um averted over the lifetime

8:09 ↗ of that Appliance and then if you think

8:11 ↗ about that well like what is that in

8:12 ↗ concrete terms look like a a car for the

8:15 ↗ lifetime a gas powered car for the

8:17 ↗ lifetime that you might have it and so

8:19 ↗ it's really really significant and if

8:21 ↗ you think about them stacking like

8:22 ↗ replacing a water heater on top to that

8:24 ↗ you're up to

8:25 ↗ 86k uh in CO2 savings over the lifetimes

8:29 ↗ of those appliances so it really is in

8:31 ↗ terms of kind of like bang for the buck

8:33 ↗ and and and having a major impact um

8:36 ↗ starting to Foster this Behavior change

8:37 ↗ and making it possible and affordable

8:39 ↗ for people is super

8:43 ↗ important um this is a slide I show all

8:47 ↗ day long every day it's from rewiring

8:50 ↗ American some of you may have seen it

8:52 ↗ before um this is showing King County

8:54 ↗ data but what I can tell you is isqua

8:56 ↗ Maps roughly to what we see in King

8:58 ↗ County overall um so heat pumps the good

9:01 ↗ news is heat pumps are increasing as a

9:03 ↗ percentage of residential aax sales but

9:06 ↗ if you see that line on the bottom what

9:08 ↗ that's showing you is sort of a linear

9:10 ↗ projected growth what we call business's

9:12 ↗ usual growth in heat pump sales so it's

9:14 ↗ going to continue to go up but what the

9:17 ↗ orange line on top is trying to give a

9:20 ↗ is what it needs to go up in order to

9:22 ↗ hit your 250 uh goals and that's because

9:25 ↗ the lifespan of a furnace is about 20

9:27 ↗ years so we really want to replace all

9:31 ↗ gas

9:32 ↗ furnaces uh by 2050 and stop combustion

9:35 ↗ in the home you really not need to back

9:37 ↗ up to 2030 and think about um all

9:41 ↗ residential sales um primarily changing

9:44 ↗ to heat pumps and so that's the steeper

9:46 ↗ curve and the Catalyst in the market

9:47 ↗ that we really want to try and

9:52 ↗ Foster and you know the good news is

9:54 ↗ we're starting to see this change which

9:56 ↗ is exciting and we also have some

9:58 ↗ headwinds

10:00 ↗ um this is data from uh Bell's permit

10:02 ↗ data and we're working on getting isqua

10:06 ↗ but I think that this can kind of be

10:07 ↗ representative of the market as a whole

10:09 ↗ and when I talk to hbac contractors this

10:11 ↗ is what they're telling me as well um is

10:14 ↗ we are seeing a really steep increase um

10:17 ↗ year-over-year in heat pump sales the

10:19 ↗ bottom line there is really reflecting

10:21 ↗ that in 2023 for the very first time

10:24 ↗ heat pumps outpaced gas furnaces in

10:27 ↗ bellw in terms of installation we

10:29 ↗ finally kind of just nudged Beyond gas

10:33 ↗ furnaces but at the same time we've got

10:35 ↗ some economic headwinds he pumps

10:37 ↗ continue to rise in price the factors

10:40 ↗ underneath that have a lot to do with um

10:42 ↗ uh labor costs so we've got kind of an

10:44 ↗ inflationary thing going on and on top

10:47 ↗ of that the interest rates going up have

10:49 ↗ really really impacted the ability for

10:53 ↗ people to make these kinds of

10:54 ↗ Investments and so in q1 of 2024 we're

10:57 ↗ actually starting to see the reverse

11:00 ↗ right heat pumps are not on Pace

11:02 ↗ year-over-year relative to where they

11:04 ↗ were in 2023 and you can see that the

11:06 ↗ gas furnaces have started to PCH up a

11:08 ↗ little

11:11 ↗ bit and The Upfront costs are a

11:13 ↗ significant barrier to adoption um these

11:16 ↗ graphs are a little bit hard to read

11:18 ↗ they're a little small but I'll try to

11:19 ↗ kind of walk you through it um a heat

11:22 ↗ pump today uh in the Seattle

11:24 ↗ area you're replacing a gas furnace with

11:27 ↗ a heat pump is usually going to cost

11:28 ↗ somewhere between 20 and

11:31 ↗ $30,000 high efficiency gas furnace is

11:35 ↗ going to cost somewhere between 9 and

11:37 ↗ $12,000 that's a big gap and on the

11:40 ↗ right you can kind of see that how that

11:42 ↗ cost stack is is that dark blue line

11:44 ↗ would be okay if you take the full price

11:46 ↗ of say a

11:48 ↗ $222,000 heat PB the dark blue area on

11:51 ↗ the right is kind of saying okay that's

11:53 ↗ the equivalent cost of a furnus and then

11:55 ↗ you can stack onto that uh tax

11:58 ↗ incentives you can stack onto that

11:59 ↗ utility rebates and then the Orange is

12:02 ↗ really that left is that unfunded amount

12:05 ↗ that's still the Gap that people have to

12:06 ↗ come up

12:07 ↗ with um and you know it's significant a

12:10 ↗ lot of the times when people are making

12:12 ↗ the choice to replace their heating it's

12:15 ↗ in the winter when their furnace has

12:17 ↗ stopped working and they call a

12:19 ↗ contractor and they need to very very

12:21 ↗ quickly get a new system in place and

12:24 ↗ it's an unplanned expense that's a

12:26 ↗ little bit different than what happens

12:27 ↗ we see heat pump sales happen in August

12:29 ↗ that's when they Spike that's no

12:32 ↗ surprise right it's hot I can't stand

12:35 ↗ one more summer without AC uh and that's

12:37 ↗ when we see people suddenly start to

12:39 ↗ want to make that interest uh that

12:44 ↗ investment so when we look at the

12:46 ↗ demographics of isquat and start to kind

12:48 ↗ of break it down and think about okay

12:49 ↗ how are we going to get folks to

12:51 ↗ transition um you know you do have uh

12:55 ↗ just a little bit shy over the majority

12:57 ↗ that probably do have the resource to

12:59 ↗ make the transition and we can do things

13:02 ↗ like do Outreach education uh throwing

13:05 ↗ little goodies like a manufacturer

13:07 ↗ rebate do one-on-one coaching there's a

13:09 ↗ lot of things we can do at a relatively

13:10 ↗ low cost to help get them over the line

13:14 ↗ um fear of missing out also big your

13:16 ↗ neighbors are getting heat pums you

13:17 ↗ might want to get one too uh but 44% of

13:20 ↗ your homeowners are probably going to

13:22 ↗ need some sort of assistance to be able

13:24 ↗ to really consider the investment 60%

13:28 ↗ 16% are um at or below 80% of area

13:32 ↗ median income and I think you have like

13:33 ↗ probably a lot of seniors in that

13:35 ↗ category in particular and then 28% are

13:38 ↗ what we call s a middle income and

13:39 ↗ that's between 80 and

13:41 ↗ 150% um and you know they might be able

13:43 ↗ to make the investment but they're

13:45 ↗ making tradeoffs for sure um and

13:47 ↗ deciding like you know is it the kids

13:49 ↗ braces or a heat pop right you're you're

13:51 ↗ making those kind of

13:54 ↗ tradeoffs so as we think about kind of

13:56 ↗ the structure of the program uh we know

13:59 ↗ that we really want to like focus on

14:00 ↗ heat pumps as just sort of like um a

14:03 ↗ really impactful emission savings

14:06 ↗ strategy it's also a climate two for one

14:09 ↗ I like to say because you're not just

14:11 ↗ doing an emission savings strategy but

14:13 ↗ it's also a climate resilience strategy

14:15 ↗ particularly when you're talking about

14:17 ↗ um vul vulnerable residents uh like

14:20 ↗ seniors um for heat and Wildfire smoke

14:24 ↗ ducted systems actually provide um great

14:26 ↗ air filtration as well so it's kind of a

14:29 ↗ CL at two for one we know we want to

14:30 ↗ focus on heat pumps and so we've

14:32 ↗ designed to try to think about the

14:33 ↗ demographics of um our communities and

14:36 ↗ how can we have programming that reaches

14:38 ↗ all of them we have um a lowincome uh

14:42 ↗ track that's designed to reach those um

14:46 ↗ residents that are at 80% or below of

14:48 ↗ area meeting income and where we provide

14:50 ↗ 100% cost coverage of a heat pump that

14:53 ↗ includes purchase

14:56 ↗ installation um any duct work repair

14:59 ↗ hairs that might need to have happen and

15:01 ↗ for it to operate correctly and any

15:03 ↗ electrical upgrades that might need to

15:04 ↗ happen for it to operate correctly and

15:06 ↗ that's not unusually get into older

15:07 ↗ homes they've got old panels and they

15:09 ↗ need to be

15:10 ↗ upgraded for middle-income residents we

15:13 ↗ offer a specific incentive to um switch

15:16 ↗ from a gas furnace to heat pump um we've

15:19 ↗ started that incentive at a $1,500

15:22 ↗ incentive and we're actually testing

15:23 ↗ next month bumping that up to $2500 and

15:26 ↗ seeing what that does um as we plann for

15:29 ↗ next year we're hoping to make that

15:31 ↗ permanently a $2,500

15:33 ↗ incentive and then kind of like for all

15:35 ↗ incomes for all residents we offer um uh

15:39 ↗ webinars every other month we do

15:40 ↗ in-person

15:41 ↗ workshops um we actually launched a

15:44 ↗ pilot for one-on-one coaching this um

15:47 ↗ just recently this soft launched it

15:49 ↗ literally put it on the website there's

15:51 ↗ a cly link you can sign up to talk to an

15:53 ↗ energy adviser which is basically me and

15:55 ↗ my my um Civic spark uh volunteer

15:59 ↗ and we just make ourselves available six

16:01 ↗ hours a week and with absolutely no

16:02 ↗ promotion those slots completely filled

16:04 ↗ up so and it really told me that

16:08 ↗ residents value this service and I talk

16:10 ↗ to residents of all Stripes they might

16:13 ↗ be um seniors on a fixed income uh I've

16:16 ↗ talked to people with 8,000 foot homes

16:19 ↗ with three furnaces to replace so it's

16:21 ↗ the gamut and uh they love having

16:24 ↗ somebody to call and just say help me

16:25 ↗ get started how do I find a contractor

16:27 ↗ how do I get going

16:29 ↗ uh and then we also have um a a a

16:33 ↗ partnership with jensco actually um

16:35 ↗ brokered through the city of isqua and

16:38 ↗ they offer a $500 rebate on Mitsubishi

16:41 ↗ equipment very similar kind of program

16:43 ↗ operates in Seattle as

16:46 ↗ well so where are we at today you know

16:49 ↗ 2023 was kind of like a bootstrap year

16:52 ↗ um this program actually launched in

16:54 ↗ 2022 but some of the major components of

16:57 ↗ the programming got started in

16:59 ↗ 2023 and um on the left it kind of gives

17:02 ↗ you a sense of the funding each City put

17:05 ↗ in seed money for this isqua contributed

17:09 ↗ just a little shy of $400,000 for two

17:11 ↗ years 2023 and

17:14 ↗ 2024 uh the other cities also put in um

17:18 ↗ similar amounts of money relative to

17:19 ↗ their population and they were really

17:22 ↗ successful in using that seed money to

17:24 ↗ bring in another 1.6 million in grant

17:27 ↗ funding and that has been fantastic what

17:29 ↗ I can tell you is we've actually upped

17:31 ↗ that number since I wrote the slide and

17:33 ↗ we have another 850,000 in grant funding

17:36 ↗ from pet sound energy that's going to be

17:38 ↗ announced here in just a couple weeks

17:40 ↗ they'll be naming us as a delivery

17:42 ↗ partner in their next UTC filing which

17:44 ↗ is great so we've really been successful

17:46 ↗ in taking um the investment from the

17:48 ↗ cities and really leveraging that to

17:50 ↗ bring benefits into the community um I

17:53 ↗ was the first um staff person hired and

17:55 ↗ I started in September so a lot of this

17:57 ↗ work was Stacey and the other

17:59 ↗ sustainability managers kind of gluing

18:01 ↗ this together with some vendors early

18:04 ↗ on um we managed last year to complete

18:07 ↗ our pilot of 22 lowincome installations

18:10 ↗ and we learned a lot from that exercise

18:13 ↗ that really helped us kind of fine-tune

18:15 ↗ the program for this year we put a

18:17 ↗ slightly different structure in place

18:19 ↗ and now we've kicked it off in 2024 and

18:21 ↗ it's going to be much more efficient and

18:22 ↗ also a little bit more cost effective

18:24 ↗ which was great so it was a really

18:25 ↗ really good

18:26 ↗ learnings um in our partnership with

18:28 ↗ King County we managed to um retrofit

18:31 ↗ 137 affordable housing units we launched

18:34 ↗ that middle income fuel switch rebate

18:37 ↗ and I think kind of critically is a lot

18:39 ↗ of this is getting all Partnerships and

18:40 ↗ the structure in place so that you can

18:42 ↗ even operate the program so a lot of

18:43 ↗ last year was just kind of getting those

18:46 ↗ pieces in place um all of we managed to

18:49 ↗ install 205 um heat pumps across the

18:52 ↗ east side and about 28 of those were in

18:55 ↗ is a CLA

18:59 ↗ so as we think about this year there's

19:01 ↗ some specific kind of work plan that's

19:03 ↗ is a qua specific but I also want to

19:05 ↗ talk to you about the opportunities we

19:07 ↗ think are here to deepen impact not

19:09 ↗ opportunities that necessarily need more

19:11 ↗ funding but just

19:13 ↗ exploration um so the work plan for this

19:16 ↗ year is we'll fund another nine

19:18 ↗ low-income installs in isquad that'll be

19:20 ↗ a combination of a little bit of city

19:22 ↗ funding that you still have to spend

19:24 ↗ combined with that new pit Sound Energy

19:27 ↗ funding so they're going to I think do

19:28 ↗ another five installs on what what you

19:30 ↗ on top of what you already have

19:32 ↗ budgeted um really we're hoping to

19:35 ↗ influence at least 50 installs kind of

19:39 ↗ the market rate and middle income

19:40 ↗ installs across the community and we're

19:43 ↗ really excited we um just signed a

19:45 ↗ contract with uh we not signed a

19:47 ↗ contract we're close to signing a

19:49 ↗ contract with a marketing agency that

19:50 ↗ will start helping us in May and helping

19:53 ↗ us really get the word out um really

19:55 ↗ working to increase rebate adoption and

19:58 ↗ um we'll talk a little bit about our

20:00 ↗ strategies for that um scaling up the

20:03 ↗ coaching program that we just started uh

20:05 ↗ and you know continuing our Outreach

20:07 ↗ through

20:08 ↗ webinars and then foundations is a lot

20:11 ↗ of what we're doing is making sure that

20:13 ↗ we're taking advantage and beeting the

20:14 ↗ moment on Grant availability that's out

20:16 ↗ there um we have applied for

20:20 ↗ $6.2 million in funding through um

20:24 ↗ Department of Commerce here Grant um

20:27 ↗ that's an opportunity where we will

20:29 ↗ actually pull Ron is Renton in as a

20:32 ↗ potential partner as well and expand and

20:34 ↗ be able to get these heat pumps for

20:35 ↗ low-income folks out into the city of

20:38 ↗ Brenton as well so we're waiting to hear

20:40 ↗ back on what the award is going to be

20:42 ↗ there um but doing a lot of work to kind

20:44 ↗ of scale up our

20:46 ↗ programs um hbac for those of you that

20:50 ↗ are all kind of connected to that

20:52 ↗ industry at all and I think I saw you

20:54 ↗ had a connection through your company um

20:58 ↗ is is an interesting go to market and um

21:02 ↗ contractors often service a really

21:05 ↗ diverse um area we have 40 contractors

21:08 ↗ in our Network and what we've learned is

21:11 ↗ that having them relying on them to keep

21:14 ↗ straight exactly what incentives apply

21:17 ↗ in what particular scenario with what

21:21 ↗ particular demographic as they're going

21:23 ↗ out and talking to homeowners is tricky

21:26 ↗ and so a lot of what we're doing is

21:28 ↗ double down on our training um thinking

21:31 ↗ about how do we incentivize with leads

21:33 ↗ and get the um uh owners on board and

21:36 ↗ probably what we'll be doing this year

21:38 ↗ is really focus some of the top 10 um uh

21:42 ↗ contractors in the area and really

21:43 ↗ trying to drive traffic to them at the

21:45 ↗ same time we're looking at opportunities

21:47 ↗ to broaden distribution of rebates and

21:49 ↗ so we're doing kind of a little bit of

21:50 ↗ um it's sort of a funny word to talk

21:52 ↗ about in government but Business

21:53 ↗ Development basically to find out other

21:55 ↗ ways to get our rebates in Market um

21:59 ↗ and I think you know one of the things

22:00 ↗ we talked about was the headwinds on

22:02 ↗ financing right now so if you were to go

22:05 ↗ and finance a heat pump even at like uh

22:09 ↗ pesan um Cooperative Credit Union which

22:11 ↗ is a nonprofit it's going to be like

22:13 ↗ seven n seven to n% interest rate it's

22:16 ↗ pretty steep so um we're doing some

22:18 ↗ Exploration with that organization as

22:21 ↗ well as craft 3 and a rewiring America

22:24 ↗ Grant to see if there's any

22:25 ↗ opportunities to get some loan products

22:28 ↗ and work Market in our community that

22:29 ↗ are a little bit more

22:31 ↗ affordable and then um lastly isaka is

22:34 ↗ actually going to spearhead this this

22:35 ↗ summer and Stacy will walk you through

22:37 ↗ it but doing some Outreach to the

22:38 ↗ community to find out okay Beyond heat

22:40 ↗ pumps what are some of the

22:42 ↗ electrification um uh opportunities that

22:44 ↗ people would like us to help with and

22:47 ↗ then doing some um program design around

22:49 ↗ that so we could do a pilot next

22:55 ↗ year so I will I'll stop there

23:01 ↗ go ahead

23:02 ↗ Tom uh thank you Tom Anderson here uh so

23:05 ↗ I put in a heat Pop um February of last

23:09 ↗ year and so one little point of feedback

23:12 ↗ that I would give to the program and it

23:14 ↗ sounds like you're addressing this you

23:15 ↗ talked about how it's important to get

23:19 ↗ the installers on board with the

23:22 ↗ training and communication that is

23:24 ↗ necessary to make all this work and make

23:27 ↗ sure people get the appropriate rebates

23:29 ↗ Etc so the little thing that I was

23:32 ↗ disappointed in was uh I was moving

23:35 ↗ forward in 2022 to do this I had signed

23:40 ↗ a deal to have it installed in December

23:42 ↗ of

23:43 ↗ 2022 my installer gave me no clues

23:47 ↗ whatsoever about hey if you wait a month

23:51 ↗ you could benefit from rebates from the

23:53 ↗ IRA program and all that they were

23:56 ↗ completely silent about all that and

23:58 ↗ well I got into of it and and delayed

24:01 ↗ the install and they cooperated with all

24:05 ↗ that but I was disappointed in their

24:08 ↗ lack of guiding me in that it was it was

24:10 ↗ up to me to figure out that I was about

24:12 ↗ to you know forgo that that rebate that

24:16 ↗ is out there for a purpose and I should

24:19 ↗ be able to benefit from it and and all

24:21 ↗ worked out but I was

24:24 ↗ disappointed in their lack of uh ability

24:28 ↗ or interest you know it's they of course

24:30 ↗ want to keep busy so delaying is an

24:34 ↗ economic cost to them so that's right I

24:37 ↗ understand their their reason but U uh

24:41 ↗ if they're in this program they should

24:43 ↗ be serving the needs of the program yeah

24:46 ↗ and get people educated and aware of

24:49 ↗ what's available and all that so that

24:52 ↗ was one little Nuance process that I ran

24:56 ↗ into um

24:59 ↗ see I had some

25:02 ↗ other comment

25:04 ↗ about well so shifting gears a little

25:07 ↗ bit um I'm wondering

25:09 ↗ about incentives for non-owner occupied

25:13 ↗ single family

25:15 ↗ residences so I happen to be a landlord

25:19 ↗ a couple of single family residences and

25:21 ↗ when I'm is are the rules still the same

25:24 ↗ but I've looked into this last year uh

25:27 ↗ did that of the incentives apply to non

25:30 ↗ occup that's right so although I'm uh in

25:35 ↗ favor of moving forward of this okay I

25:38 ↗ have to make the economics work for my

25:40 ↗ rental properties and the economics are

25:43 ↗ is well if one of my gas furnaces were

25:46 ↗ to fail I would replace them with the

25:47 ↗ heat pump uh for sure but if they're not

25:50 ↗ failing I'm going to you know let them

25:53 ↗ right keep running that's right and I

25:55 ↗ think the other trick there is um

25:59 ↗ you know being cognizant of folks saying

26:01 ↗ well I'll make that investment but I'm

26:02 ↗ gon pass the cost on to the renters and

26:05 ↗ um we end up with um uh rents going up

26:09 ↗ so to answer your question do we don't

26:11 ↗ have any programs specifically around

26:13 ↗ that right now it is something that

26:14 ↗ we're considering um as we think about

26:17 ↗ program expansion one of the

26:19 ↗ opportunities is to really think about

26:21 ↗ rental properties both you know single

26:23 ↗ family housing that's just non-owner

26:25 ↗ occupied as well as um a multif family

26:29 ↗ housing um of various types

26:33 ↗ so it is tricky right you know renters

26:36 ↗ come to us and uh they don't have the

26:38 ↗ authority to put a heat pump in and many

26:43 ↗ uh landlords aren't incentivized to do

26:45 ↗ it you just had the perfect example I'm

26:47 ↗ not going to just proactively do it I'm

26:49 ↗ G to wait till the furnace dies so I

26:51 ↗ think the question is is how do we make

26:53 ↗ sure that okay when the furnace dies we

26:55 ↗ can meet um Property Owners regardless

26:57 ↗ of whether it's owner occupied or not

26:59 ↗ where they're at and help them make that

27:02 ↗ good next choice um so it is something

27:05 ↗ we're looking at I don't have an answer

27:06 ↗ to it just yet but thank you for

27:08 ↗ bringing it up

27:11 ↗ you s I had a couple questions and

27:13 ↗ probably comments um is I'm curious the

27:17 ↗ learnings that you had from the initial

27:19 ↗ 22 low income is that is that coming in

27:23 ↗ the form of any sort of cap on the

27:25 ↗ amount of expenditure could you expand

27:26 ↗ on that a little bit how yeah because

27:28 ↗ like it seems like there's perverse

27:30 ↗ incentives both on the homeowner side to

27:31 ↗ get the best deal and the contractor to

27:33 ↗ provide deal situation so thank you for

27:36 ↗ asking that um first I need to give you

27:38 ↗ a little bit of a background on how that

27:39 ↗ aspect of our program is structured um

27:42 ↗ so the contracts are signed by the

27:45 ↗ homeowner with the contractor and funded

27:48 ↗ through coplink with a little bit of

27:50 ↗ guidance by somebody doing case

27:52 ↗ management so it's kind of like we all

27:53 ↗ agree we're moving forward that's sort

27:55 ↗ how it worked uh last year we opened it

27:58 ↗ up to anyone in our broad Network who

28:02 ↗ was a Mitsubishi Diamond dealer stff

28:04 ↗ like 40 dealers as long as they were

28:07 ↗ able to um and had the capacity to do

28:09 ↗ prevailing weight quotes which kind of

28:11 ↗ did narrow it down that narrowed it down

28:14 ↗ to about 15 different contractors who

28:17 ↗ did some of these installs and where it

28:18 ↗ got complicated was um specifically on

28:21 ↗ the unit economics so you would see

28:23 ↗ three different contractors come into a

28:25 ↗ home and have wildly different quotes

28:28 ↗ it could be $188,000 from one and like

28:31 ↗ $28,000 from another for very very

28:33 ↗ similar systems or even the same

28:35 ↗ equipment uh the second problem we saw

28:38 ↗ was that rebates we rely on rebates

28:41 ↗ because that especially the utility

28:43 ↗ rebates to be applied correctly because

28:44 ↗ that brings down the cost of the

28:46 ↗ installation so we want all of those

28:48 ↗ really assiduously applied and correctly

28:51 ↗ applied so we keep our cost down and it

28:54 ↗ was a lot of going back and forth with

28:55 ↗ the contractors and saying you forgot

28:56 ↗ this rebate you forgot that can you add

28:58 ↗ it um and then we saw um a lack of

29:02 ↗ consistency on um applying load

29:05 ↗ calculations to really properly size the

29:08 ↗ equipment and you could see that

29:09 ↗ reflected in the fact that three

29:10 ↗ contractors would go out out to a home

29:12 ↗ and come up with three different ideas

29:14 ↗ and what size heat pump you needed and

29:16 ↗ then you'd say well how did you

29:17 ↗ calculate that and they like I've been

29:19 ↗ doing this forever I know I know I know

29:22 ↗ so with that information in mind um last

29:25 ↗ year we had a unit cost of the Aver cost

29:28 ↗ was

29:29 ↗ 26,200 now keep in mind that included

29:31 ↗ some electrical upgrades drove that up

29:34 ↗ we wanted to see if we could bring that

29:35 ↗ down uh we did an RFP we have now three

29:39 ↗ dedicated

29:40 ↗ contractors and um they are incentivized

29:42 ↗ to keep the price under

29:44 ↗ $225,000 because if they go out and they

29:47 ↗ do the lead and they're able to convert

29:49 ↗ that lead and it's like a $22,000 heat

29:52 ↗ pump that we don't have to send it out

29:53 ↗ for a second bid so they are

29:55 ↗ incentivized to to try and do that and

29:57 ↗ by only working with three I have

29:59 ↗ quality control they're required to do a

30:02 ↗ loan calculation they're required to

30:03 ↗ send that documentation to us so that we

30:05 ↗ feel confident in how they sized it and

30:08 ↗ because I've worked with them you know

30:10 ↗ they know that I'm going to be checking

30:11 ↗ those rebates and they just apply them

30:12 ↗ correctly up front so that was um a a

30:16 ↗ major Improvement to the program and and

30:19 ↗ those costs are a little high as there I

30:20 ↗ mentioned we are required to do

30:22 ↗ prevailing wage because of our grant

30:23 ↗ funding and City funds about a 10%

30:26 ↗ premium

30:28 ↗ and then you said the 6.2 million that

30:31 ↗ you as it applied for is that all going

30:33 ↗ to go to that program or is that GNA

30:36 ↗ also feed into the middle income project

30:39 ↗ about 80% of it's going to go into the

30:41 ↗ low income program and 20% would be into

30:44 ↗ the middle income

30:46 ↗ program yeah one one of my comments and

30:48 ↗ I have a couple other questions and

30:49 ↗ comments but um I applaud that we're

30:52 ↗ trying to incentivize equity in this

30:55 ↗ transition but when you look at like you

30:58 ↗ look at the graph where it was roughly

30:59 ↗ 20% of a $22,000 install so roughly four

31:02 ↗ or 5,000 is the gap so if you were to

31:06 ↗ look at okay what do I need to do to

31:08 ↗ actually move the needle the most it's

31:09 ↗ how many people can you actually just

31:11 ↗ bridge that Gap and the fact that we're

31:14 ↗ overfunding certain people or at least

31:17 ↗ relative to that graph means that you

31:19 ↗ miss out on four or five with the same

31:21 ↗ amount of grant funding so that's

31:24 ↗ putting so much money into that we're

31:26 ↗ not necessarily prioritizing I think in

31:29 ↗ some ways it's like really drastically

31:31 ↗ not prioritizing carbon output or

31:33 ↗ outcomes so that's just something that

31:36 ↗ I'm sure you guys have all talked about

31:38 ↗ and discussed but that that is one

31:40 ↗ outcome of all the funding going into

31:42 ↗ that is that you're and there's another

31:44 ↗ point that I think is related to this

31:46 ↗ but yeah that that's just reducing with

31:49 ↗ the amount of funds we're not able to

31:51 ↗ drive as many installs no it's it's it's

31:53 ↗ a really good point I think when I first

31:55 ↗ started here I was thinking through a

31:57 ↗ lot of those kind of same math like how

32:00 ↗ do you want to think about this the the

32:02 ↗ the first thing I want to kind of just

32:03 ↗ clarify though is a lot of the grant

32:05 ↗ funding is specifically for low income

32:08 ↗ so we're applying for it and it needs to

32:10 ↗ go there so that's there's a direct tie

32:12 ↗ uh to that funding um the second

32:15 ↗ component is you'll see as as we as um

32:19 ↗ Stacy starts to put together um budgets

32:21 ↗ and so forth for the coming year what

32:22 ↗ we've tried to do is really break down

32:25 ↗ the the total Target and then break it

32:27 ↗ down by your demographics and try to

32:30 ↗ come up with a funding that's a

32:31 ↗ combination of grand city that helps you

32:34 ↗ try to have appropriate programing

32:36 ↗ against all of those numbers so um we're

32:40 ↗ we're g to see if we can try and do

32:43 ↗ all or come close to doing all um but

32:47 ↗ what we recognize is that if you don't

32:49 ↗ actually um prioritize at least as we go

32:53 ↗ trying to get some of these lower income

32:54 ↗ homes they just are never going to be

32:55 ↗ able to move over and there's a real

32:58 ↗ benefit it's not just a um a a carbon

33:02 ↗ reduction you know incentive it's like

33:04 ↗ there's a real benefit to getting

33:06 ↗ Cooling and um uh these benefits into

33:08 ↗ people's homes so we're trying to figure

33:10 ↗ out a way to manage that in aable

33:12 ↗ fashion yeah and I think um there's

33:14 ↗ limitations too on well Sarah mentioned

33:17 ↗ a lot of these grants are specifically

33:18 ↗ for low and mon income there's

33:20 ↗ limitations on who cities can provide

33:23 ↗ incentives and rebates to that was part

33:25 ↗ of our um partnership with jco is

33:28 ↗ they're able to offer a rebate to anyone

33:31 ↗ if we could increase that we would love

33:33 ↗ to see that um happen from the the

33:36 ↗ distributor um so we're a little bit

33:39 ↗ Bound by some of that I think we you

33:40 ↗ know we would love to be able to provide

33:42 ↗ an incentive or rebate to anyone that

33:44 ↗ was interested in the transition we're

33:45 ↗ just limited in terms of what the city

33:48 ↗ can do but what we are trying to do

33:50 ↗ Sarah mentioned is bring on this

33:52 ↗ marketing firm that hopefully can um

33:55 ↗ really help um increase the that we're

33:58 ↗ seeing that transition within our

33:59 ↗ residentials for those that don't

34:01 ↗ qualify for the income qualified reates

34:05 ↗ I think the second component to me

34:07 ↗ that's really important for um market

34:09 ↗ rate transition is the financing

34:11 ↗ component um and trying to get those

34:13 ↗ loans on Market um you know if you're in

34:16 ↗ the city of Seattle there's financing

34:18 ↗ down to

34:20 ↗ 4.5% through a nonprofit and we don't

34:23 ↗ have that on the east side and so really

34:25 ↗ starting to think about how can we make

34:26 ↗ sure that there's financing options I

34:28 ↗ think is a really key component of

34:32 ↗ this and and just clar I'm pretty is it

34:36 ↗ just gen ccoi dealers that are eligible

34:40 ↗ does is that the only time that an inso

34:42 ↗ would be eligible for not just the L

34:44 ↗ like for any of the SM side yeah for our

34:48 ↗ for our two program specific rebates um

34:51 ↗ they are Mitsubishi products through the

34:54 ↗ diamond dealer Network um I think we

34:57 ↗ need to product um Mitsubishi is a

35:00 ↗ top-of-the-line product it's a great

35:01 ↗ product I feel great about offering it

35:03 ↗ to Residents because I know it's going

35:05 ↗ to work well and be an awesome product

35:07 ↗ it's going to be quiet there are other

35:09 ↗ products out there that have good

35:11 ↗ efficiency ratings that are um cold

35:14 ↗ climate heat pumps they do qualify for

35:15 ↗ tax rebates and they're a little less

35:17 ↗ expensive and so one of the things we're

35:19 ↗ looking at this year is how to broaden

35:21 ↗ our distribution of our rebates so that

35:23 ↗ we can hit a bigger part of the market

35:26 ↗ and that's I think important as well

35:29 ↗ yeah I think that ties into my second

35:31 ↗ point which is I think right now we're

35:33 ↗ asking people to proactively go out

35:35 ↗ install teat pumps primarily because

35:37 ↗ we're like relying on Outreach because

35:38 ↗ we don't have a big base of contractors

35:40 ↗ out there that are eligible so if you

35:43 ↗ get more eligible contractors you don't

35:45 ↗ have to like the time to Tom's point the

35:48 ↗ best time to upgrade to a heat pump the

35:50 ↗ most cost ofit and for some background

35:52 ↗ I've spent six months like heavily

35:53 ↗ researching yeah saw so this is this is

35:57 ↗ a topic I'm probably going to go a

35:58 ↗ little B longer than I normally would in

36:00 ↗ the comments but um the best time is

36:03 ↗ getting the people that have to change

36:05 ↗ because it's they they already have the

36:06 ↗ opportunity cost like they're going to

36:08 ↗ have to they're gonna have to pay for

36:09 ↗ something and so it might as well be if

36:12 ↗ you can incentivize at the right time

36:13 ↗ heat pump and so because we're asking

36:16 ↗ people to proactively do it in a lot of

36:18 ↗ cases and we're not getting a lot of the

36:19 ↗ people that are reactively upgrading um

36:23 ↗ we're having to pay more to get those

36:24 ↗ people to do that and so that I I don't

36:27 ↗ know that's relating to why I don't NE

36:29 ↗ think that that it's a problem that it's

36:31 ↗ low income the problem I think is that

36:34 ↗ we're like potentially overfunding a

36:37 ↗ smaller group than we could even if it's

36:39 ↗ within low income because we're covering

36:40 ↗ that full cost if you can incentivize a

36:43 ↗ portion of it to just get it on parody

36:45 ↗ where they're going to have to do

36:46 ↗ something anyways I just it seems like

36:48 ↗ you're going to have a better bang for

36:50 ↗ the buck and I do think looking into how

36:52 ↗ we could expand a network um I love

36:55 ↗ mitsubichi I got a mitsub

37:00 ↗ hyper it's not about it's the fact

37:03 ↗ you're only hitting a certain group

37:04 ↗ contractor and I think the way that you

37:07 ↗ look at some of the programs down in

37:09 ↗ California through Bayon through like I

37:13 ↗ think this whole area I don't know if

37:15 ↗ this progr I think probably psse and

37:17 ↗ other people need to be involved but

37:19 ↗ like the way that you ultimately need to

37:22 ↗ sell these through is through the

37:23 ↗ contractor incentivizing absolutely

37:26 ↗ absolutely and you know one of the

37:28 ↗ things about like Bayon is um you know

37:30 ↗ their rate payer funded so they've had

37:32 ↗ the ability and they've been around for

37:34 ↗ over 10 years they've had the ability to

37:35 ↗ kind of build and expand and really have

37:37 ↗ stable funding for for that program um

37:41 ↗ we're you know we're head of an

37:42 ↗ incubator stage so we started with the

37:44 ↗ relationship with jensco Mitsubishi

37:47 ↗ Diamond dealer neor gave us 40 high

37:49 ↗ quality contractors so I think it was a

37:50 ↗ good place to start but yeah we need to

37:53 ↗ start thinking about how do we get them

37:55 ↗ more effectively through contractors

37:58 ↗ I do have one more thing and then we'll

37:59 ↗ hop other thing I've also heavily

38:02 ↗ researched Keat pump pricing and how

38:04 ↗ quotes are related to certain attributes

38:06 ↗ and one thing just to keep in mind is

38:08 ↗ there's generally a positive

38:10 ↗ relationship between size of the

38:12 ↗ contractor and the cost votes that you

38:15 ↗ see from them

38:16 ↗ so the one the comment you made about we

38:19 ↗ might go to the top 10 contractors you

38:21 ↗ might then get that average price might

38:24 ↗ go up so just something to keep in mind

38:25 ↗ is that and it's often I mean there are

38:27 ↗ there's trade-offs either way but that's

38:29 ↗ just they there I mean my quotes were

38:31 ↗ wildly different and and there was very

38:34 ↗ not just I was basing that comment on a

38:37 ↗ much broader data set but my my direct

38:41 ↗ experience I think I got seven or eight

38:42 ↗ quotes and for that out was like there

38:44 ↗ was a direct relationship between the

38:46 ↗ size of the contractor and the quote

38:50 ↗ there's other other things but just

38:51 ↗ something to keep in mind is that I

38:53 ↗ wouldn't necessarily just go to the

38:54 ↗ biggest contractors like um because

38:57 ↗ they're not necessarily it's going to be

38:58 ↗ the ones that will have best person

39:01 ↗ great feedback thank you Raj go

39:05 ↗ ahead okay thanks Jamie um so first I

39:09 ↗ just wanted to say I agree with Tom my

39:11 ↗ experience was the same when I'm looking

39:13 ↗ at heat pump transition transition to

39:15 ↗ heat pump um couple of contract two out

39:18 ↗ of the three contractors I spoke with

39:21 ↗ had no idea or did not give me any

39:24 ↗ information on the savings through the

39:26 ↗ program or anything um I was really

39:29 ↗ surprised so the contractor training

39:30 ↗ will definitely help um then I have a

39:33 ↗ question for Sarah um so the 22,000 you

39:37 ↗ know around the cost around 22,000 you

39:40 ↗ said for the unit um is it can I ask

39:44 ↗ what size is the house and is it

39:46 ↗ necessarily a high efficiency zero noise

39:50 ↗ type of uh you know unit because the

39:52 ↗ quotes I got that this seems higher than

39:55 ↗ that um so I would just CU is yeah um

40:00 ↗ that was a quote that was about 22,000

40:02 ↗ or 20 to 30,000 is the range um Seattle

40:05 ↗ Times has also been um they did some

40:08 ↗ research and also came up with the same

40:09 ↗ range and that reflected what I saw last

40:11 ↗ year um and that is anywhere from a 1500

40:15 ↗ foot house to a 3,000 square foot house

40:17 ↗ um the pricing when it's on the higher

40:19 ↗ end again often has to do with um uh

40:23 ↗ needing electrical upgrades so a main

40:25 ↗ panel upgrade could be $8,000 of that

40:28 ↗ $68,000 um and some homes do require

40:32 ↗ that and I think the the other component

40:35 ↗ is that's kind of assuming the scenario

40:38 ↗ which is a replacement of a gas furnace

40:42 ↗ with a ducted heat pump um and

40:45 ↗ it's sometimes um you know if you're in

40:48 ↗ a town home a condo a smaller unit

40:50 ↗ you've got maybe electric resistance

40:53 ↗ heating sometimes you don't have to

40:55 ↗ replace the heating alog together to put

40:56 ↗ in a mini split and that's generally a

40:58 ↗ much lower cost right um so just you

41:02 ↗ know just from um homeowner point of

41:06 ↗ view who wants to go to a heat pump and

41:09 ↗ who doesn't necessarily qualify for low

41:11 ↗ income or lot of rebates basically what

41:15 ↗ I had hurdles with was you know if I

41:17 ↗ want to I really would have loved to go

41:20 ↗ to complete electric you know to

41:22 ↗ actually reduce the carbon footprint but

41:24 ↗ when I look at that then I need to have

41:28 ↗ a generator you know so that like they

41:31 ↗ were telling me that I need to have a

41:33 ↗ backup generator for the whole house so

41:35 ↗ that you know in the event in winter

41:38 ↗ when there is no power there needs to be

41:40 ↗ something which will still run the heat

41:43 ↗ pump or something like that so there

41:45 ↗ were a lot of other issues so my

41:47 ↗ question was and I I really appreciate

41:49 ↗ you know how much the program is putting

41:51 ↗ in to increase you know the number of

41:53 ↗ heat pumps used or sold I was just

41:56 ↗ wondering if there there was a way you

41:58 ↗ know to

41:59 ↗ provide um some kind of incentives for

42:02 ↗ everybody as you said is through Jens

42:04 ↗ sco or you know so that other people who

42:07 ↗ don't get necessarily much cost benefit

42:11 ↗ from switching will still be you know

42:13 ↗ motivated just besides the

42:15 ↗ sustainability goals to move in the

42:17 ↗ right direction I was just curious if

42:19 ↗ there is anything which can be done for

42:21 ↗ that yeah well the good news is is

42:23 ↗ there's at the moment there's some

42:25 ↗ really great utility in set up so um

42:28 ↗ just to kind of break your question down

42:30 ↗ into a few different pieces um number

42:33 ↗ one even those folks that don't um

42:35 ↗ qualify for lower middle income can

42:38 ↗ receive up to $5,500 in incentives right

42:41 ↗ now and that's between the $2,000 tax

42:43 ↗ credit the $3,000 go El electric utility

42:46 ↗ rebate and the $500 jensco rebate so

42:49 ↗ there is like a nice um stacking and

42:51 ↗ that's what we really try to help

42:53 ↗ educate folks on and really understand

42:54 ↗ how they can stack these things together

42:57 ↗ efficiently so so that's good I think

43:00 ↗ where we see motivation um for folks to

43:03 ↗ proactively make this move and and where

43:05 ↗ you'll see is doing a lot of marketing

43:07 ↗ is when it's hot out um a lot of folks

43:10 ↗ don't still have central air

43:11 ↗ conditioning and that is a great time to

43:13 ↗ get people motivated um to think

43:16 ↗ proactively about um putting in a heat

43:18 ↗ pump so so that's you know pretty useful

43:22 ↗ as well and then we do hear the um the

43:25 ↗ comment about am I going to need a

43:26 ↗ generator and and all of that um you

43:29 ↗ know gas furnaces actually generally

43:31 ↗ speaking require some electricity to be

43:33 ↗ able to function so even if the power

43:36 ↗ went out today and you didn't have a

43:37 ↗ generator and you had a gas furnace you

43:39 ↗ would still not have heat so it's often

43:42 ↗ kind of a a little bit of a false

43:44 ↗ narrative so a lot of the things we do

43:46 ↗ in our workshops for example is kind of

43:47 ↗ walk people through that's that's one of

43:49 ↗ the questions we always we always take

43:51 ↗ and and

43:54 ↗ discuss and I think a dynamic a dynamic

43:57 ↗ may have experienced um is that

44:00 ↗ contractors will sell what they know and

44:02 ↗ if they're comfortable with gas vertices

44:05 ↗ they'll sell gas

44:08 ↗ pures yeah thank you

44:14 ↗ absolutely go

44:16 ↗ ahead U yes so one other little

44:18 ↗ anecdotal thing that ties in with that

44:21 ↗ the approach different contractors you

44:23 ↗ so one of the bids that I got the

44:25 ↗ contractor was recommending that um I do

44:29 ↗ the install with the heat pump ducted

44:31 ↗ system but also replace my gas f with a

44:34 ↗ little bit scholar gas fir for backup

44:36 ↗ purposes cor and I thought well this is

44:39 ↗ weird I mean he's part of this program

44:41 ↗ that is specifically focused on on

44:44 ↗ electrifying and he's recommending that

44:46 ↗ I'm

44:47 ↗ stilling I I had the exact same

44:49 ↗ experience when I got a keep pump this

44:51 ↗ fall one of the contractors recommended

44:53 ↗ that um that's not uncommon so there's

44:55 ↗ really three configurations for a heat

44:57 ↗ pump there's a cool climate heat

44:59 ↗ pump a standard heat pump with a gas

45:02 ↗ furnace backup basically it'll kick into

45:04 ↗ the gas furnace when it's at 30 or 40

45:06 ↗ degrees or a heat pump with a what they

45:09 ↗ call an electric heat strip backups

45:11 ↗ electric resistance heat um one of the

45:15 ↗ things I do is is when we're talking to

45:17 ↗ Residents I try not to be too judgmental

45:19 ↗ about these kind of things we just sort

45:20 ↗ of talk about

45:22 ↗ them one at a time there are times

45:25 ↗ sometimes when it makes sense for

45:26 ↗ somebody have a gas furnace backup um

45:29 ↗ but most of the time once you kind of

45:30 ↗ explain that a coold climate heat pump

45:32 ↗ is just an all-in-one solution uh

45:34 ↗ they'll look at that as the preferred

45:36 ↗ option but if they don't know it and

45:39 ↗ again this kind of comes back to

45:40 ↗ contractor education and having the

45:42 ↗ folks in your network that are really

45:43 ↗ kind of bought in on the mission um they

45:46 ↗ might not mention that and they'll put

45:48 ↗ that as like the preferred solution so

45:51 ↗ uh that is very much a dynamic and I

45:53 ↗ hear that a lot people will often get

45:57 ↗ like

45:59 ↗ that that ties in I think the education

46:02 ↗ and like the coaching piece like that's

46:04 ↗ cool that you guys are S I know that

46:05 ↗ there's there some town in Connecticut

46:07 ↗ that's like the leader in like coaching

46:09 ↗ their residents and it's been like I was

46:11 ↗ looking at their program was really

46:12 ↗ impressive yeah but the complexity of

46:15 ↗ getting a heat pump versus a furnace is

46:18 ↗ really significant and we interviewed a

46:21 ↗ ton of people that had gotten heat pumps

46:23 ↗ and so many people didn't understand

46:25 ↗ nuances of what they were getting

46:27 ↗ sizing low calculations so I do think

46:30 ↗ the other thing you if you expand me on

46:32 ↗ Mitsubishi Mitsubishi is some of the

46:34 ↗ best cold climate there's a lot of stuff

46:35 ↗ that falls off more at low temps when

46:37 ↗ you get outside of Mitsubishi as the

46:40 ↗ manufacturer so people are going to have

46:41 ↗ to be making harder decisions I think on

46:44 ↗ the on between those configurations so I

46:46 ↗ do think a good investment of the

46:48 ↗ program would be how do we make sure

46:51 ↗ that we have people getting good

46:52 ↗ outcomes as well like being confident

46:54 ↗ through the process and and getting a

46:57 ↗ good outcome because I know that for my

46:59 ↗ house if I didn't already know a lot

47:01 ↗ about heat pumps I probably would not

47:03 ↗ have had a good outcome and I think

47:05 ↗ there I had friends and people that we

47:06 ↗ interviewed that had bad outcomes like

47:09 ↗ under siiz they didn't understand sizing

47:12 ↗ all those types of things that they

47:14 ↗ should questions they could or should

47:16 ↗ have been asking that that there's no

47:17 ↗ guide right now to heat pump so I think

47:20 ↗ what coaching is one thing but also

47:22 ↗ guide the questions you should be asking

47:24 ↗ resources for people in the program

47:26 ↗ would be super helpful because it's not

47:28 ↗ as straightforward as like okay I want a

47:30 ↗ furnace and it needs to be picking up

47:32 ↗ just put the same one I had siid I had

47:34 ↗ in like it's a lot more complicated so

47:38 ↗ definitely would would would encourage

47:40 ↗ efforts to whether static well education

47:43 ↗ as well as resources like you being

47:46 ↗ sounds

47:50 ↗ like great lots of good feedback thank

47:53 ↗ you um I'm just going to take one minute

47:55 ↗ to kind of talk about what's next which

47:57 ↗ Shar Sarah already talked a bit about so

48:00 ↗ we are um planning to continue with the

48:04 ↗ energy smart program our 5c partnership

48:06 ↗ it's now

48:07 ↗ expanding um and uh along with that we a

48:13 ↗ number of the cities are really

48:14 ↗ interested in looking at other

48:16 ↗ electrification incentives as you heard

48:18 ↗ and you know key pumps are very

48:20 ↗ expensive in many cases it's not going

48:22 ↗ to be the first piece of equipment

48:24 ↗ that's on um advances to Electrify their

48:27 ↗ home just because of that cost barrier

48:30 ↗ um so we're interested in seeing what

48:32 ↗ else folks want and what kind of

48:34 ↗ incentive or rebate level would help

48:37 ↗ them make that transition um is it going

48:40 ↗ to be the water heater would it be a

48:42 ↗ induction stove um for all the other

48:44 ↗ benefits that induction stoves offer as

48:47 ↗ well as the

48:48 ↗ electrification um or something else so

48:52 ↗ um with some Commerce funding um and in

48:56 ↗ partnership with a couple other cities

48:57 ↗ we're planning to start doing some

48:59 ↗ community outreach this summer and

49:02 ↗ really hear from the community what

49:04 ↗ they're interested in um and what those

49:06 ↗ programs and get information that would

49:08 ↗ help shape what those programs look like

49:11 ↗ um hoping to put together a very um

49:14 ↗ simple pilot that we could use then to

49:16 ↗ possibly grow the Energy Smart brand and

49:19 ↗ expand um across the multi-city

49:21 ↗ partnership in the future um so more to

49:24 ↗ come on that but that's kind of our next

49:26 ↗ purle step is really to go out and hear

49:28 ↗ what community members want to help them

49:30 ↗ make that next um transition to

49:33 ↗ Electrify their

49:35 ↗ homes one other uh so one other

49:38 ↗ consideration or one like obviously

49:40 ↗ Community feedback will be a great

49:41 ↗ element think the other thing you guys

49:43 ↗ may want to consider looking at is the

49:46 ↗ economic case for because like water

49:49 ↗ heaing to me seems like that that's the

49:52 ↗ one that is borderline already in

49:54 ↗ someone's favor to get a a keep pum

49:56 ↗ water heater so if you can incentivize

49:59 ↗ that it's lower

50:00 ↗ dollars it's like really easy to make

50:03 ↗ the economic case with relatively low

50:05 ↗ incentives so like that one to me seems

50:07 ↗ like so I hope that it's not just

50:09 ↗ Community feedback I think that's

50:10 ↗ probably the feedback you'll get anyways

50:12 ↗ but like the other part of it I think

50:14 ↗ would would be just what is the economic

50:16 ↗ case and how do we make sure that we

50:17 ↗ could move over as many people basically

50:19 ↗ doing the calculation of what your

50:21 ↗ dollars to carbon would be so um no that

50:25 ↗ uh will be interesting see what the is

50:30 ↗ yes right that's it thank you very much

50:34 ↗ thanks Sarah than for having

50:40 ↗ me all right I think with that then we

50:43 ↗ will move on to our next um next item

50:46 ↗ which is the comprehensive plan

50:48 ↗ environmental environment element update

50:52 ↗ um and Stacey are you g to give a

50:54 ↗ preamble or isck preamble um so thank

50:57 ↗ you I sent a bit of a long explanation

51:01 ↗ over email about this but originally we

51:04 ↗ had planned to bring the full

51:06 ↗ environment element with all of the

51:08 ↗ input from the board incorporated into

51:10 ↗ it as well as other elements of the comp

51:13 ↗ plan for review this month that was the

51:15 ↗ original schedule um the environment

51:19 ↗ element as well as the rest of the

51:20 ↗ element are still undergoing staff

51:23 ↗ review um it's also been out to a number

51:25 ↗ of partner organizations s to get

51:28 ↗ feedback and staff are working through

51:30 ↗ all that feedback um and so Stephen will

51:33 ↗ talk in a little bit more depth about

51:34 ↗ the um anticipated schedule but at this

51:38 ↗ point we're looking to bring those um

51:40 ↗ final draft materials to you this summer

51:44 ↗ um but we it's been two three months

51:47 ↗ since we talked to you and took your

51:49 ↗ feedback um on the environment element

51:51 ↗ and so we didn't want to wait another

51:53 ↗ couple months before um updating you on

51:56 ↗ where we are are um so tonight we wanted

51:58 ↗ just to walk through kind of where we

52:00 ↗ are in terms of incorporating the

52:02 ↗ environmental board feedback into the

52:04 ↗ environment element um and then how

52:07 ↗ staff are planning to address uh the the

52:09 ↗ comments and revisions that we

52:13 ↗ received so with that um I think Nancy

52:16 ↗ has a question and then I'll hand it

52:18 ↗ over to Stephen and David to walk

52:20 ↗ through

52:22 ↗ materials so I guess the question that I

52:24 ↗ have is related to since some of us may

52:28 ↗ not be on the environmental board

52:30 ↗ starting next month and provided input

52:32 ↗ because there is a

52:33 ↗ transition

52:35 ↗ and myself I'm very interested in how

52:38 ↗ this all plays out and may not be on the

52:40 ↗ board next month so how do we get our

52:43 ↗ input and find out what's happening and

52:45 ↗ continue to you know effectively

52:48 ↗ communicate our interest in this yeah

52:52 ↗ thanks Nancy that was um One

52:55 ↗ Reason show um yeah we were originally

52:58 ↗ really hoping to bring this content to

53:00 ↗ the board um this month um it's just not

53:05 ↗ ready um so what you will see tonight is

53:09 ↗ a summary of how staff are planning to

53:13 ↗ address um all the comments received

53:16 ↗ from the environmental board and then um

53:20 ↗ and that was sent out in the meeting

53:21 ↗ packet and then we can share also with

53:24 ↗ the board the full schedule so they know

53:27 ↗ how to engage going

53:30 ↗ forward so sharing the full

53:33 ↗ schedule is that happening tonight or is

53:37 ↗ that gonna happen in the future just

53:38 ↗ trying to track

53:40 ↗ timing yeah I think Stephen will be uh

53:43 ↗ talking through maybe that's a good time

53:45 ↗ for me to jump in and and kind of talk

53:47 ↗ through timeline and why the schedule

53:49 ↗ changed um thank you Stacy and thank you

53:53 ↗ board members for having me tonight so

53:55 ↗ just wanted to talk through some of the

53:58 ↗ changes that we had to the project

53:59 ↗ schedule to update the comprehensive

54:00 ↗ plan a big reason why we had to change

54:02 ↗ of schedule is because um our

54:04 ↗ Consultants needed more time to work

54:06 ↗ through the Eis that we were doing for

54:08 ↗ the comence plan many of you probably

54:10 ↗ remember when we had the discussion

54:12 ↗ introducing the comprehensive Plan

54:14 ↗ update um for this periodic update that

54:18 ↗ we were completely redoing our

54:20 ↗ environmental impact statement for the

54:21 ↗ comp plan which was last done in 1995 so

54:25 ↗ we had a lot to cover in terms of

54:27 ↗ reading all previous sea documents and

54:30 ↗ that is what's actually taking a little

54:32 ↗ more time with our consultant and staff

54:33 ↗ in terms of back and forth of covering

54:35 ↗ making sure everything's being covered

54:37 ↗ for this comprehensive Plan update uh

54:39 ↗ the other component of a lot of this is

54:41 ↗ making sure that we're doing a thorough

54:44 ↗ job in reviewing all of the draft

54:46 ↗ elements and going across the board in

54:48 ↗ terms of um with this new element that

54:52 ↗ the language and the new policies and

54:53 ↗ the goals are consistent with what we've

54:55 ↗ introduced in um some of the other

54:58 ↗ elements that are being updated some of

55:00 ↗ the other elements are being updated

55:02 ↗ with new functional plans or updated

55:04 ↗ functional plans and we want to make

55:06 ↗ sure the cons language is consistent

55:08 ↗ across not just the comprehensive plan

55:10 ↗ but also with those new functional plan

55:12 ↗ updates as well and so that is now we're

55:15 ↗ aiming for probably a July release of

55:18 ↗ all the elements to all the boards

55:20 ↗ commissions as well as a broader

55:22 ↗ community outreach of here's draft um

55:25 ↗ here's the process for the periodic

55:27 ↗ update and here's all the draft language

55:29 ↗ for all the elements as well as the

55:31 ↗ draft e which we're hoping to release at

55:33 ↗ the same time we're with this updated

55:36 ↗ schedule we're aiming to um get Council

55:40 ↗ adoption of the of the periodic uptake

55:43 ↗ in

55:44 ↗ December does that help answer your

55:50 ↗ question sorry Stephen I turned my pH my

55:53 ↗ mic off uh it did thank you very much

55:58 ↗ and I will turn it over to David to kind

56:01 ↗ of walk through uh updates and I'm

56:03 ↗ available for

56:05 ↗ questions yeah so um thanks to everyone

56:09 ↗ for first off for for your detailed

56:11 ↗ review um earlier this year um we really

56:15 ↗ wanted to make sure we had this uh this

56:17 ↗ Matrix so that we could really capture

56:20 ↗ all of the board's feedback and

56:22 ↗ suggestions track changes and input um

56:25 ↗ into the environment element and so um

56:28 ↗ recognizing that you do not have a full

56:31 ↗ uh full narrative in front of you with

56:35 ↗ the policies um we wanted to kind of go

56:37 ↗ through and and touch on some of the the

56:40 ↗ um bigger changes and uh highlight just

56:44 ↗ some of the the bigger efforts that uh

56:46 ↗ are kind of happening behind the scenes

56:47 ↗ right now to incorporate um all of your

56:50 ↗ y'all's uh

56:51 ↗ feedback so uh the way this is split up

56:54 ↗ I'm going to start kind of with some

56:56 ↗ General comments that were Incorporated

56:58 ↗ we'll go into some of the new and

57:00 ↗ existing policies uh updates and then uh

57:04 ↗ with Stephen here we can take any

57:06 ↗ questions kind of on our update process

57:10 ↗ so far right now or or any clarifying

57:12 ↗ questions on um efforts that have been

57:14 ↗ done so

57:16 ↗ far so uh just kind of broadly speaking

57:19 ↗ about the environment element one of the

57:21 ↗ the major things that we heard from the

57:22 ↗ board um back in January was uh related

57:26 ↗ to The Narrative the introductory

57:28 ↗ narrative and uh making sure that that

57:31 ↗ um both aligned more with our title

57:33 ↗ making sure that uh that introductory

57:35 ↗ narrative really aligned with everything

57:37 ↗ that was going to be incorporated within

57:39 ↗ the environment element um so we've done

57:42 ↗ some rearranging we've updated uh that

57:45 ↗ introductory narrative so now it begins

57:47 ↗ with um the natural environment uh uh

57:51 ↗ narrative around the natural environment

57:52 ↗ we've Incorporated some quick facts

57:54 ↗ related to the natural environment

57:56 ↗ before going into um climate change

58:00 ↗ aspects mitigation adaptation um and um

58:05 ↗ Exposition around uh climate change and

58:08 ↗ then the uh the policies and goals

58:10 ↗ within the environment element were also

58:12 ↗ switched around to uh match that uh that

58:16 ↗ format so again when when uh you'll see

58:18 ↗ the full uh version of this later this

58:21 ↗ summer it will begin with environment uh

58:23 ↗ natural environment goals before going

58:25 ↗ into climate

58:28 ↗ goals

58:29 ↗ um there was some updates to uh all of

58:33 ↗ the numbers and um some uh some updates

58:37 ↗ to the vision uh vision's statements uh

58:41 ↗ for the the um to make sure that the

58:45 ↗ vision also Incorporated both natural

58:48 ↗ systems natural environment as well as

58:50 ↗ climate goals um as

58:52 ↗ well so there's details uh Within what

58:56 ↗ was attached to the packet there's some

58:58 ↗ detailed um explanations of what some of

59:00 ↗ the changes were made related to

59:03 ↗ different uh specific comments um from

59:06 ↗ board members on the the version

59:08 ↗ provided in

59:11 ↗ January um diving more into um uh One

59:18 ↗ Last Thing Before diving into the The

59:20 ↗ Narrative the policies themselves um

59:22 ↗ there were a few items that we talked

59:25 ↗ about including more in the broad

59:27 ↗ language versus in policies themselves

59:29 ↗ and uh so that included things like um

59:32 ↗ some broad overarching Equity language

59:34 ↗ some broad overarching language related

59:37 ↗ to um Community engagement education

59:40 ↗ incentives things like that and really

59:42 ↗ what we tried to do throughout the the

59:45 ↗ um environment element was continue to

59:49 ↗ infuse uh language related to supporting

59:52 ↗ education supporting um incentives

59:55 ↗ inspir Hing community members um and

59:58 ↗ then also making sure that there was

59:59 ↗ Equity language really embedded within

1:00:02 ↗ uh policies throughout the environment

1:00:04 ↗ element and one of the feedback that

1:00:06 ↗ we've gotten from uh Department of

1:00:08 ↗ Commerce was that that really especially

1:00:10 ↗ related to the equity language um that

1:00:13 ↗ was really in line with the the recent

1:00:15 ↗ uh state law passed uh House Bill 1181

1:00:19 ↗ which was kind of the impetus for uh

1:00:22 ↗ starting or putting together an

1:00:24 ↗ environment element um

1:00:26 ↗ as well and that that house bill really

1:00:29 ↗ or that law was spe is specifically

1:00:31 ↗ asking for some of that Equity language

1:00:32 ↗ infused into the policies

1:00:35 ↗ themselves do you want me to I think my

1:00:38 ↗ computer's back up do you want me to

1:00:40 ↗ show oh um I think I'm good for now um

1:00:45 ↗ we might help help me jump around a

1:00:48 ↗ little bit as well within the uh uh

1:00:51 ↗ document shared as well there are some

1:00:53 ↗ items highlighted in yellow um and

1:00:55 ↗ that's just recognize that um we talked

1:00:58 ↗ about a lot of changes we'd like to see

1:01:00 ↗ and although some of those changes we

1:01:02 ↗ felt like we could incorporate into the

1:01:04 ↗ comprehensive plan um now there are

1:01:07 ↗ definitely some items that we felt like

1:01:10 ↗ we couldn't really address until we did

1:01:12 ↗ the uh climate Action Plan update in

1:01:14 ↗ 2025 and

1:01:16 ↗ 2026 so that's a a little segue into

1:01:19 ↗ kind of the existing policy suggestions

1:01:22 ↗ related to existing policies there was

1:01:24 ↗ definitely interest both uh on the

1:01:26 ↗ environmental board um and then also

1:01:28 ↗ within city council about uh increasing

1:01:31 ↗ our ability to speak to um the uh

1:01:35 ↗ percent of emissions reduction that

1:01:37 ↗ needs to come from our local action um

1:01:40 ↗ and I so and staff generally felt like

1:01:43 ↗ with the the greenhouse gas inventory we

1:01:45 ↗ did in 2022 and with the information we

1:01:48 ↗ have from our previous wedge analyses

1:01:50 ↗ not having been updated since 2019 we

1:01:54 ↗ did not feel like we could really update

1:01:57 ↗ that within um this comprehensive Plan

1:02:00 ↗ update at this point but that um it is

1:02:02 ↗ highlighted to make sure that we do talk

1:02:04 ↗ about that within um the uh climate

1:02:07 ↗ Action Plan update process in 2025 and

1:02:11 ↗ 2026 um that's something that we uh are

1:02:14 ↗ going to make sure that we address at

1:02:15 ↗ that time da a question on that yes um

1:02:20 ↗ is our is our next um our next inventory

1:02:24 ↗ this year is 202 2025 the next carbon

1:02:27 ↗ inventory so the next car the next

1:02:29 ↗ inventory is expected to be for the 2024

1:02:33 ↗ year which means that we won't be able

1:02:35 ↗ to start until 2025 and the hope and

1:02:39 ↗ plan is to really uh be ready and get

1:02:42 ↗ going with that early so that it can we

1:02:44 ↗ can get a wedge analysis and have that

1:02:46 ↗ inform the IAP update process in I don't

1:02:49 ↗ want to drill it just would be curious

1:02:51 ↗ if there is any methodology changes that

1:02:54 ↗ we need to make to that to enable the

1:02:56 ↗ local I'm assuming that that will be

1:02:59 ↗ incorporated into the process if there's

1:03:02 ↗ anything in the methodology for doing

1:03:04 ↗ that

1:03:05 ↗ calculation for the wedge analysis in

1:03:07 ↗ the next greenhouse gas inventory Bas it

1:03:10 ↗ sounds like there was some concerns that

1:03:12 ↗ the way that we've been doing

1:03:14 ↗ our inventories in the past is would

1:03:17 ↗ make it difficult to apply it what's

1:03:19 ↗ local versus not so I'm wondering is

1:03:21 ↗ there anything in method in the

1:03:22 ↗ methodology how we do the next analysis

1:03:24 ↗ that would would make it easier to do

1:03:26 ↗ that and so is that being incorporated

1:03:28 ↗ into how we might run it for this

1:03:31 ↗ year next year gotcha yeah so generally

1:03:35 ↗ the way um and and this is based on my

1:03:38 ↗ understanding of kind of how we've

1:03:39 ↗ Incorporated the wedge analyses in the

1:03:41 ↗ past um it's not

1:03:44 ↗ necessarily that we the methodology

1:03:47 ↗ needs to change too much it's more of an

1:03:50 ↗ additional uh expense and effort on top

1:03:54 ↗ of the what we're already doing with the

1:03:56 ↗ greenhouse gas inventory and generally

1:03:59 ↗ what uh cities uh and others have found

1:04:03 ↗ is that kind of updating that wedge on

1:04:06 ↗ say a yearly basis or something doesn't

1:04:08 ↗ provide much change in in understanding

1:04:13 ↗ um and so it shouldn't require any

1:04:16 ↗ update to the greenhouse gas inventory

1:04:18 ↗ methodology it'll just be kind of an add

1:04:20 ↗ on that we have to pay more for

1:04:22 ↗ essentially next next round thank you

1:04:26 ↗ um so with existing policies I've talked

1:04:29 ↗ about this first one that's kind of that

1:04:30 ↗ that local

1:04:32 ↗ goal uh thinking about what percent of

1:04:34 ↗ our greenhouse gas emissions we can

1:04:36 ↗ address via

1:04:37 ↗ local

1:04:38 ↗ um and then uh a number of the other

1:04:42 ↗ changes made we've really tried to um

1:04:46 ↗ incorporate language where feasible

1:04:50 ↗ either within the the um policies

1:04:52 ↗ recommended or if it didn't fit within

1:04:54 ↗ that policy into other uh into other

1:04:57 ↗ policies as well additionally some of

1:05:00 ↗ the policies recommended we didn't end

1:05:01 ↗ up making changes to because they

1:05:03 ↗ aligned with regional goals and efforts

1:05:06 ↗ such as uh the k4c K County uh cities

1:05:10 ↗ climate collaborative um agreed upon

1:05:13 ↗ goals that that we are a signatory of so

1:05:15 ↗ some of our goals kind of remain the

1:05:17 ↗ same because we wanted to make sure

1:05:18 ↗ we're aligned

1:05:22 ↗ regionally um diving into new goals and

1:05:25 ↗ policies um again I just wanted to

1:05:28 ↗ mention that we did not include any new

1:05:31 ↗ a new goal area around inspiration or

1:05:34 ↗ education but instead what we wanted to

1:05:36 ↗ make sure is that that language was

1:05:38 ↗ incorporated throughout all of the other

1:05:41 ↗ goal areas so you will see um in the

1:05:44 ↗ summer that there is language related to

1:05:46 ↗ education incentives inspiration Etc

1:05:49 ↗ into say the building section into the

1:05:53 ↗ um waste reduction section

1:05:57 ↗ Etc another highlight is that we are

1:05:59 ↗ going to have a new um Wildlife policy

1:06:05 ↗ um a wildlife goal excuse me um and that

1:06:08 ↗ goal area is going to really be uh have

1:06:12 ↗ uh policies pulled out um from the the

1:06:17 ↗ land use policies the land use goals um

1:06:20 ↗ in previous comprehensive plans um and

1:06:23 ↗ Stephen can speak to that a little bit

1:06:25 ↗ more if folks have other

1:06:27 ↗ questions and then there are also there

1:06:29 ↗ were also some goals suggested suggested

1:06:33 ↗ that um we're exploring opportunities to

1:06:35 ↗ incorporate them actually within uh the

1:06:37 ↗ land use uh the existing land use

1:06:40 ↗ elements um so a big part of what kind

1:06:43 ↗ of uh what happened with the uh new

1:06:47 ↗ policy suggestions was a little bit of a

1:06:49 ↗ a jigsaw kind of figuring out um what

1:06:52 ↗ what is is a new policy what can be

1:06:55 ↗ incorporated into an existing policy

1:06:57 ↗ what needs to go to the land use element

1:06:59 ↗ because it doesn't quite fit within the

1:07:01 ↗ environment element um and that's really

1:07:03 ↗ what staff have been working on behind

1:07:05 ↗ the scenes over the last few

1:07:09 ↗ months uh finally jumping down towards

1:07:13 ↗ the end um I want to note that staff

1:07:16 ↗ have were able to agree with or agreed

1:07:19 ↗ with board input around uh uh making

1:07:23 ↗ revisions to language to really

1:07:24 ↗ strengthen that language um and so some

1:07:27 ↗ of those additions and edits were made

1:07:29 ↗ throughout the the

1:07:31 ↗ element um and then um we have been

1:07:37 ↗ reviewing and Steven's team has been

1:07:38 ↗ doing a ton of work on this making sure

1:07:41 ↗ that there is

1:07:42 ↗ consistency um between the environment

1:07:45 ↗ element the land use element the

1:07:46 ↗ transportation element and making sure

1:07:48 ↗ that all of these different elements are

1:07:49 ↗ speaking to each other and in alignment

1:07:52 ↗ with each

1:07:53 ↗ other so I know that's kind of the the

1:07:56 ↗ almost 10,000 foot overview even of this

1:07:59 ↗ document of uh how we've Incorporated

1:08:02 ↗ changes um but we did want to make sure

1:08:04 ↗ that we provided uh that we looped back

1:08:07 ↗ in with the environment board since uh

1:08:09 ↗ yall provided such good uh and thorough

1:08:12 ↗ comments back in January to make sure

1:08:13 ↗ that uh it wasn't too long before you

1:08:15 ↗ heard how we were were dealing with this

1:08:17 ↗ behind the

1:08:18 ↗ scenes at this point are there any

1:08:21 ↗ questions on anything you saw in the

1:08:23 ↗ board packet or anything that I talked

1:08:25 ↗ about to

1:08:38 ↗ well thank you all very much um this is

1:08:41 ↗ not the last time you'll hear about the

1:08:42 ↗ comp plan update um and I'm sure Stephen

1:08:45 ↗ myself and and others will be happy to

1:08:48 ↗ continue to work with yall on this yeah

1:08:51 ↗ we'll be back this summer um on this

1:08:53 ↗ topic and plan on i' say probably a

1:08:56 ↗ minimum of 10day review options with

1:08:59 ↗ some guided um input on

1:09:02 ↗ review um but we'll aim for even greater

1:09:05 ↗ time for review given the amount of

1:09:06 ↗ content we'll be looking

1:09:09 ↗ at okay thank you for joining us Stephen

1:09:11 ↗ and thank you David um I think with that

1:09:14 ↗ we'll move on to our next agenda item

1:09:17 ↗ which is the storm water plan dat thanks

1:09:22 ↗ Stephen great um great we have and Evan

1:09:25 ↗ join us tonight last time I tried to

1:09:27 ↗ share my screen it crashed my computer

1:09:30 ↗ so let me see if I could bring it up my

1:09:32 ↗ just give

1:09:35 ↗ [Music]

1:09:37 ↗ me right it's working it's

1:09:40 ↗ [Music]

1:09:42 ↗ working all right go ahead Mike all

1:09:45 ↗ right well good evening everyone as

1:09:47 ↗ Stacy mentioned my name is Mike um I'm

1:09:50 ↗ the Water Resources program specialist

1:09:52 ↗ for the city of isqua I'm over in public

1:09:54 ↗ works environment mental um and part of

1:09:57 ↗ my position is coordinating the city's

1:09:59 ↗ storm water permit which you'll also

1:10:01 ↗ hear uh referred to as the npds permit

1:10:04 ↗ as well um yeah excited to be here

1:10:07 ↗ tonight it's first time talking to the

1:10:09 ↗ environmental board um always excited to

1:10:11 ↗ get a talk to folks who care about

1:10:12 ↗ sustainability and the environment so

1:10:15 ↗ looking forward to this all right thank

1:10:18 ↗ you all right so just real quick

1:10:21 ↗ overview of what I'll be talking about

1:10:23 ↗ tonight um just giving a quick

1:10:24 ↗ background to the npds permit or the

1:10:26 ↗ storm water permit um going over a few

1:10:30 ↗ updates from our 2023 annual report

1:10:33 ↗ which we just submitted to uh the

1:10:35 ↗ department of ecology and then giving

1:10:38 ↗ some up or uh highlighting some of our

1:10:42 ↗ 2024 storm water management program plan

1:10:44 ↗ as well which is always released around

1:10:47 ↗ the same time and then if there's any

1:10:49 ↗ time um open to questions and um also

1:10:52 ↗ open to questions as we're going through

1:10:54 ↗ this if anyone has them this say come

1:10:56 ↗ up all right so what is the npds permit

1:11:00 ↗ uh it is a long acronym to start that

1:11:03 ↗ not everyone's familiar with so it

1:11:05 ↗ stands with national pollution discharge

1:11:07 ↗ elimination system um this is basically

1:11:13 ↗ it boils down to um it's a permit that

1:11:15 ↗ we get from the Washington State

1:11:17 ↗ Department of ecology uh and it

1:11:20 ↗ regulates storm Waters discharge to our

1:11:22 ↗ surface waters or Waters of the state um

1:11:26 ↗ you can go ahead and go to the next

1:11:30 ↗ slide perfect um all right

1:11:35 ↗ so the storm water permit is uh broken

1:11:39 ↗ down into 10 different sections um but

1:11:43 ↗ overall the overarching goal of the npds

1:11:46 ↗ permit is to reduce pollution from the

1:11:49 ↗ city storm water system to surface

1:11:51 ↗ waters as I mentioned a second ago um

1:11:54 ↗ just to protect water quality right do

1:11:55 ↗ our part um so there's 10 different

1:11:58 ↗ sections in the permit I'll be talking

1:12:00 ↗ about a good number of these tonight but

1:12:02 ↗ not all of them uh each section uh has

1:12:06 ↗ different levels of change over years as

1:12:09 ↗ we provide these updates so I'll be

1:12:11 ↗ highlighting some of the main changes

1:12:12 ↗ that we saw from 2022 to

1:12:15 ↗ 2023 um the 10 different sections are

1:12:17 ↗ storm water planning public education

1:12:20 ↗ and Outreach public involvement and

1:12:22 ↗ participation mapping and documentation

1:12:25 ↗ elicit discharge detection and

1:12:26 ↗ elimination controlling runoff from new

1:12:29 ↗ development Redevelopment and

1:12:30 ↗ construction sites operations and

1:12:32 ↗ maintenance Source control program for

1:12:34 ↗ existing development total maximum daily

1:12:37 ↗ loads or tmdls you may have been uh you

1:12:39 ↗ may have heard them called before and

1:12:40 ↗ then monitoring and

1:12:43 ↗ assessment next

1:12:47 ↗ one all right um as I mentioned I'll be

1:12:50 ↗ covering updates uh from the 2023 annual

1:12:53 ↗ report and briefly touching on the 2024

1:12:56 ↗ storm water plan uh every year we

1:12:58 ↗ required to submit an annual report by

1:13:00 ↗ March 31st um along with our management

1:13:04 ↗ uh program plan as well uh outlining how

1:13:06 ↗ we met permit requirements and then how

1:13:08 ↗ we plan to be meeting those same or

1:13:11 ↗ additional requirements in the upcoming

1:13:13 ↗ year as well um so that's the annual

1:13:16 ↗ reports where you'll be seeing those

1:13:17 ↗ metrics I'm showing tonight um where

1:13:18 ↗ they came

1:13:19 ↗ from uh in

1:13:23 ↗ 2024 thanks uh 2024 let's see here um

1:13:27 ↗ there were no major changes or items

1:13:30 ↗ that had policy implications um really

1:13:34 ↗ this year is the last year for the

1:13:36 ↗ current permit term that we're in right

1:13:37 ↗ now so there were a couple or a few uh

1:13:40 ↗ new requirements but we're really

1:13:42 ↗ looking at most of um future

1:13:46 ↗ requirements coming in a permit that

1:13:47 ↗ we've yet to see the final form of this

1:13:50 ↗ summer um so those will be reflected in

1:13:55 ↗ our upcoming management uh program plan

1:13:57 ↗ for

1:13:59 ↗ 2025 all right and I see a hand raised

1:14:04 ↗ yeah p p go

1:14:05 ↗ ahead yeah hi hi Mike uh this is paj and

1:14:10 ↗ so the question I have is this permit

1:14:13 ↗ I'm guessing it covers only all the city

1:14:17 ↗ projects and basically runoffs and you

1:14:21 ↗ know discharges from the city projects

1:14:23 ↗ and City properties city office acquire

1:14:25 ↗ properties right not

1:14:28 ↗ every residential or other businesses or

1:14:31 ↗ anything in the city of pH equal limits

1:14:35 ↗ so this does include all of like the

1:14:38 ↗ city projects it also includes like

1:14:41 ↗ everything on the right of way and it

1:14:42 ↗ does include um businesses as well so

1:14:47 ↗ I'll be going a little bit more into

1:14:48 ↗ that but this this does cover a large

1:14:51 ↗ Swatch of you know the city of isqua and

1:14:53 ↗ not not just like our cap capit

1:14:55 ↗ Improvement

1:14:56 ↗ projects so um then the next question I

1:14:59 ↗ had was I'm guessing for the city of

1:15:02 ↗ isaka any construction projects or you

1:15:05 ↗ know development projects which are

1:15:06 ↗ coming up I think that will get tied

1:15:10 ↗ into the npds updates but um do the

1:15:14 ↗ businesses if they have any you know um

1:15:18 ↗ reconstruction or any kind of

1:15:20 ↗ Redevelopment projects does that get

1:15:23 ↗ updated in the uh npds permit as well um

1:15:27 ↗ you'll see that we have some numbers

1:15:29 ↗ like highlighting how many different um

1:15:32 ↗ site plans or construction plans that we

1:15:34 ↗ reviewed and how many different

1:15:36 ↗ inspections of construction sites as

1:15:38 ↗ well so um we we update how many of

1:15:41 ↗ these we've been to how many you know

1:15:43 ↗ like formal warnings have been issued

1:15:45 ↗ and that sort of stuff as well okay

1:15:48 ↗ thank you yeah of

1:15:51 ↗ course all right so I'm going to jump

1:15:54 ↗ into the more notable sections uh from

1:15:57 ↗ 2023 and

1:15:58 ↗ 2024

1:16:00 ↗ um and you'll see just this general form

1:16:03 ↗ here where I highlight the year so 2023

1:16:05 ↗ is the annual report 2024 is the

1:16:08 ↗ management uh plan you're going to see a

1:16:10 ↗ lot of the same stuff for the 2024

1:16:12 ↗ section saying where we continue to meet

1:16:14 ↗ our permit

1:16:15 ↗ requirements um but storm water planning

1:16:18 ↗ this program is all about informing and

1:16:20 ↗ assisting in the development of policies

1:16:22 ↗ and strategies as water quality

1:16:23 ↗ management tools to protect receiving

1:16:25 ↗ Waters so this last year the city

1:16:27 ↗ adopted the storm and surface water

1:16:29 ↗ master plan which is a 20-year plan

1:16:31 ↗ focused on managing runoff and flooding

1:16:33 ↗ in the city um in improving surface

1:16:35 ↗ water quality and stream habitat in the

1:16:37 ↗ city as well uh there was a uh npds

1:16:42 ↗ requirement to develop a storm water

1:16:44 ↗ management action plan and this was

1:16:46 ↗ rolled into the storm and surface water

1:16:49 ↗ plan uh seeing as their very similar

1:16:52 ↗ planning documents they were they were

1:16:54 ↗ put out together at the same time in

1:16:56 ↗ 2024 we continue will continue to uh

1:16:59 ↗ coordinate across departments and keep

1:17:01 ↗ on implementing the new uh storm surface

1:17:04 ↗ water

1:17:05 ↗ plant go to the next

1:17:07 ↗ [Music]

1:17:08 ↗ slide great education and Outreach uh

1:17:12 ↗ this program aims to Target residences

1:17:15 ↗ uh or residence businesses so again not

1:17:18 ↗ just like city employees which this uh

1:17:21 ↗ we definitely are educating and doing

1:17:22 ↗ Outreach to city employees as well um

1:17:25 ↗ Industries planning staff in the city

1:17:27 ↗ with the goal to change behaviors and

1:17:30 ↗ practices uh that contribute to adverse

1:17:32 ↗ storm water impacts uh in 2023 we saw

1:17:36 ↗ some really awesome numbers coming

1:17:38 ↗ especially out of green isqua Parks uh

1:17:41 ↗ we there are over 21,000 trees planted

1:17:43 ↗ 73 stewardship events uh over 3,000

1:17:46 ↗ volunteer hours Cascade water Alliance

1:17:49 ↗ doeses a lot of or does outreach to

1:17:52 ↗ students and uh other individuals Within

1:17:54 ↗ theity City and they reached uh over 400

1:17:57 ↗ people uh we joined the adopted drain

1:17:59 ↗ program um which is a great example of

1:18:02 ↗ trying or looking at changing behavior

1:18:05 ↗ um with residents in the city and then

1:18:07 ↗ on the business side of things we uh

1:18:11 ↗ strategically launched the dumpster

1:18:13 ↗ Behavior change program and evaluated

1:18:15 ↗ the effectiveness of that program as

1:18:17 ↗ well in a targeted

1:18:19 ↗ area um and in 2024 we're going to

1:18:22 ↗ continue prioritizing these existing

1:18:24 ↗ programs

1:18:25 ↗ and uh there's a lot of coordination we

1:18:27 ↗ do with other cities other permit

1:18:29 ↗ holding cities as well municipalities so

1:18:31 ↗ we'll continue that go to the next

1:18:37 ↗ slide all right mapping and

1:18:39 ↗ documentation this one is pretty

1:18:41 ↗ straightforward we need to map and

1:18:43 ↗ document our ms4 or our storm water

1:18:45 ↗ system this year we were required to map

1:18:48 ↗ all known ms4 connections or storm water

1:18:51 ↗ uh infrastructure connections to

1:18:53 ↗ privately owned storm water systems we

1:18:55 ↗ completed on time for the permit and

1:18:57 ↗ we'll continue maintaining um this

1:19:01 ↗ system right next slide so idde or

1:19:05 ↗ elicit discharge detection and

1:19:07 ↗ elimination uh this program is designed

1:19:09 ↗ to prevent detect characterize and Trace

1:19:12 ↗ um and then eliminate illicit

1:19:13 ↗ connections and discharges to our storm

1:19:15 ↗ water system so a lot of this is our

1:19:17 ↗ spill response and then also making sure

1:19:19 ↗ that we're screening our storm water

1:19:21 ↗ system to make sure there are no illicit

1:19:23 ↗ connections to it

1:19:25 ↗ uh in 2023 we responded to 85 water

1:19:27 ↗ quality Reports most of these were

1:19:29 ↗ spills within the city uh we had 123

1:19:33 ↗ pollution prevention assistant visits to

1:19:36 ↗ different businesses across the city and

1:19:39 ↗ we screened um just over 12 and a half%

1:19:42 ↗ of our storm water system for illicit

1:19:47 ↗ connections similar we'll keep this keep

1:19:50 ↗ this moving through

1:19:52 ↗ 2024 Mak sure we're responding to all

1:19:54 ↗ our spills in a timely way and looking

1:19:56 ↗ at our system all right and this is what

1:19:59 ↗ we were just discussing a moment before

1:20:02 ↗ so a lot of the controlling runoff from

1:20:05 ↗ Development and Construction sites lives

1:20:07 ↗ in our CPD

1:20:08 ↗ Department

1:20:10 ↗ um so the city implements and enforces a

1:20:13 ↗ program to reduce pollutants in storm

1:20:15 ↗ water from new development Redevelopment

1:20:17 ↗ and construction site activities and

1:20:19 ↗ this applies to private and public

1:20:21 ↗ development so the both uh and includes

1:20:23 ↗ Transportation project projects so in

1:20:26 ↗ 2023 we had 124 sites that um were the

1:20:31 ↗ permits and plans were reviewed for and

1:20:34 ↗ then we had 148 cons uh 48 construction

1:20:37 ↗ inspections as well in 2024 we'll

1:20:40 ↗ continue to review and visit all these

1:20:43 ↗ sites and that includes um erosion and

1:20:46 ↗ sediment control inspections as

1:20:49 ↗ well go to the next

1:20:53 ↗ slide all right operations and

1:20:55 ↗ maintenance is really focused in on the

1:20:58 ↗ city's operations and making sure that

1:21:01 ↗ we're not introducing pollutants into

1:21:02 ↗ storm water um so this is in really

1:21:05 ↗ focus on public works and operations

1:21:08 ↗ parks department and then also

1:21:10 ↗ facilities in 2023 we inspected 99% of

1:21:14 ↗ City Home stormed water facilities so

1:21:16 ↗ this would be things like uh catch

1:21:18 ↗ basins or you know like storm water

1:21:20 ↗ drains that I think of those when I

1:21:22 ↗ think of storm water facilities uh we

1:21:24 ↗ inspected 99% of private storm water

1:21:26 ↗ facilities on permanent sites and M we

1:21:29 ↗ maintained o just about 200,000 square

1:21:32 ↗ feet of perious surfaces so um perious

1:21:35 ↗ asphalt and that type of thing and 2024

1:21:39 ↗ will continue to do that and a large

1:21:40 ↗ component of this program is training

1:21:42 ↗ City uh staff Citywide as

1:21:48 ↗ well all right so Source control for

1:21:51 ↗ existing development is another uh part

1:21:54 ↗ of the PDS permit really focused on

1:21:56 ↗ businesses within the city the focus of

1:21:59 ↗ this though is not responding to spills

1:22:01 ↗ that have happened but it's addressing

1:22:03 ↗ pollutants from daily businesses before

1:22:05 ↗ they become a problem enter the storm

1:22:07 ↗ water system so this was introduced in

1:22:10 ↗ this current permit term so in The Last

1:22:12 ↗ 5 Years um in 2023 we had a number of

1:22:16 ↗ inspections uh equal to 39% of our

1:22:18 ↗ source control inventory which was just

1:22:21 ↗ about double the required 20% of the

1:22:23 ↗ inventory um and we inspected 100% of

1:22:26 ↗ the sites that were identified through

1:22:28 ↗ credible

1:22:29 ↗ complaints um and then in 2024 we're

1:22:32 ↗ going to continue to meet that 20% of

1:22:34 ↗ inventory requirement uh we're going to

1:22:36 ↗ inspect all Sites identified through

1:22:37 ↗ complaints we're going to update our

1:22:39 ↗ inventory as well and provide all of the

1:22:42 ↗ sites within our source control

1:22:43 ↗ inventory with educational information

1:22:45 ↗ on this new program that the city has

1:22:49 ↗ now go to the next

1:22:53 ↗ slide and that's it so if anyone has any

1:22:57 ↗ questions um and if we have any time

1:23:00 ↗ Stacy for it I'm I'm open to field

1:23:04 ↗ some 10

1:23:07 ↗ minutes I'm

1:23:09 ↗ good Tom Anderson here I'm wondering do

1:23:12 ↗ you have any electronic monitoring in

1:23:15 ↗ place at various key junctures in the

1:23:17 ↗ system to detect um illicit things in

1:23:21 ↗ the in the flow

1:23:25 ↗ not that I'm aware of so we do go out

1:23:28 ↗ and Screen the um ms4 system so what

1:23:32 ↗ that looks like is um we'll have staff

1:23:34 ↗ going out typically in a time of year

1:23:36 ↗ where you're able to detect if there's

1:23:38 ↗ any of those illicit connections and run

1:23:41 ↗ you know like uh test to see if there's

1:23:43 ↗ you know FAL coliforms coming through it

1:23:45 ↗ or other pollutants and then if

1:23:46 ↗ anything's identified in those key

1:23:48 ↗ locations by staff you trace up the

1:23:50 ↗ system up the storm water system to see

1:23:53 ↗ where the elicit connection is and

1:23:54 ↗ eliminate it I we have any electron

1:23:58 ↗ manual manual taking of samples Tes yeah

1:24:03 ↗ exactly y thank you of

1:24:06 ↗ course go

1:24:09 ↗ ahead hi Mike Don mcquilliams um on your

1:24:12 ↗ Source control program your education

1:24:15 ↗ Outreach portion of it are you have you

1:24:17 ↗ considered providing spill kits to some

1:24:20 ↗ of the

1:24:20 ↗ businesses um in combination with just

1:24:23 ↗ an educ

1:24:26 ↗ fire I don't know that we've

1:24:27 ↗ specifically thought of it for the

1:24:29 ↗ source control program I know that is a

1:24:31 ↗ large component of our uh pollution

1:24:33 ↗ prevention assistance program and we've

1:24:35 ↗ been pairing the two together so we've

1:24:37 ↗ been going out to a number of businesses

1:24:39 ↗ and providing them information on

1:24:41 ↗ pollution prevention which is really

1:24:43 ↗ focused on the providing folks with

1:24:45 ↗ maybe materials or assistance that they

1:24:47 ↗ need and then talking to them about how

1:24:49 ↗ they can reduce storm water pollution

1:24:51 ↗ which is more of the source control side

1:24:53 ↗ of things so um that's a great idea and

1:24:57 ↗ I will talk to the folks doing that and

1:24:59 ↗ see if that's something we could offer

1:25:00 ↗ up at the same time okay are you guys

1:25:02 ↗ part of the King County pollution

1:25:04 ↗ prevention program yes that where that

1:25:07 ↗ came from okay thank

1:25:17 ↗ you I'm not seeing any other questions

1:25:20 ↗ for you Mike great thank you all so much

1:25:23 ↗ for the time tonight Mike one thing

1:25:26 ↗ before you leave if I could put you on

1:25:28 ↗ the spot to talk a little bit about

1:25:29 ↗ timeline for the next permit I know we

1:25:31 ↗ had talked a bit about probably some

1:25:33 ↗ more engagement with the board um that

1:25:36 ↗ process leading up to next

1:25:40 ↗ spring so what the timeline looks like

1:25:43 ↗ at uh right now

1:25:46 ↗ is uh folks have provided comment on the

1:25:49 ↗ draft storm water permit that came from

1:25:51 ↗ ecology already they are put together

1:25:54 ↗ their response to comments and we'll be

1:25:56 ↗ hearing back on those I I'm a little

1:25:59 ↗ iffy on the timeline for this but I

1:26:00 ↗ believe sometime uh early summer they'll

1:26:04 ↗ be providing us somewhere around July

1:26:07 ↗ 1st with the formal draft of the new

1:26:09 ↗ storm water permit this year and then

1:26:11 ↗ it'll go into effect August 1st so we

1:26:15 ↗ won't know for certain what all of the

1:26:18 ↗ new requirements are until around July

1:26:21 ↗ 1st but if there is interest and

1:26:24 ↗ engaging more around this process I'm

1:26:26 ↗ happy to talk about and explore what

1:26:28 ↗ that could look like at this point in

1:26:30 ↗ time great yeah I was thinking maybe at

1:26:33 ↗ least we could provide a written update

1:26:35 ↗ to the board in the fall and then talk

1:26:37 ↗ about what any engagement might look

1:26:40 ↗ like leading up to the spring in our

1:26:41 ↗ next um report deadline absolutely okay

1:26:45 ↗ more more looking at just giving an

1:26:47 ↗ overview of what's in the new permit and

1:26:49 ↗ what will be coming uh you know our way

1:26:52 ↗ in the next five years not so much as

1:26:54 ↗ trying to influence the course of the

1:26:57 ↗ permit

1:26:59 ↗ yeah unless others have

1:27:05 ↗ thoughts right well thank you Mike thank

1:27:08 ↗ you for joining us I think Evan you're

1:27:09 ↗ on there as well thank you to for

1:27:10 ↗ joining us tonight I think with that

1:27:13 ↗ we'll wrap up unless there's anything

1:27:14 ↗ else that you had for us Mike that's it

1:27:17 ↗ thank you all have a good night awesome

1:27:19 ↗ thank you um uh next up we'll move into

1:27:22 ↗ reports I think Stacy has a couple

1:27:24 ↗ things for us uh sure I can do brief um

1:27:28 ↗ Council

1:27:29 ↗ reports um and then maybe hand it back

1:27:32 ↗ over to you um just really quick some

1:27:35 ↗ things that are upcoming for city

1:27:37 ↗ council uh next week they will be doing

1:27:40 ↗ the board appointments I'll share that

1:27:43 ↗ information once it's made

1:27:45 ↗ public um April 25th there's going to be

1:27:48 ↗ a joint meeting between city council and

1:27:51 ↗ the School District board um as I think

1:27:54 ↗ you all saw the the letter um from Don

1:27:57 ↗ was passed on to city council city

1:27:59 ↗ council um submitted a letter to the

1:28:02 ↗ board uh which also included or sorry

1:28:06 ↗ our our um message to city council was

1:28:09 ↗ to uh continue that engagement around

1:28:12 ↗ sustainability environmental issues

1:28:14 ↗ between the school district board and

1:28:16 ↗ the city um so hoping that that will

1:28:19 ↗ influence uh the agenda um between the

1:28:22 ↗ two on the 25th

1:28:24 ↗ um in May there are a number of other

1:28:27 ↗ potential um topics of Interest coming

1:28:30 ↗ to council they'll be talking about the

1:28:31 ↗ State Building Code local amendments for

1:28:33 ↗ Wildfire and the Wildland Urban

1:28:36 ↗ interface code um one of wash dots

1:28:39 ↗ culbert relocation AG uh projects

1:28:42 ↗ there'll be a discussion around

1:28:44 ↗ agreement for that I can provide more

1:28:47 ↗ information to the board because I know

1:28:48 ↗ there's um some

1:28:50 ↗ interest um the tip will be coming to

1:28:53 ↗ account

1:28:54 ↗ and then also an update on Metroflex so

1:28:56 ↗ happy to report out to the board on any

1:28:59 ↗ of those

1:29:01 ↗ topics um I have a few other just real

1:29:03 ↗ quick updates and then PLS for upcoming

1:29:06 ↗ topics on the board but I can do those

1:29:07 ↗ at the end if you wan to no go ahead

1:29:09 ↗ okay um just some real quick updates uh

1:29:13 ↗ um last Friday we submitted a grant to

1:29:18 ↗ Department of Commerce um about a

1:29:20 ↗ million do million and a half dollar

1:29:23 ↗ request for a solar system and battery

1:29:25 ↗ backup at the senior center um it's one

1:29:29 ↗ of the outputs of the resilience Hub

1:29:32 ↗ project that um David has been running

1:29:35 ↗ so we're hoping to hear from that um on

1:29:37 ↗ that Grant about the next month but

1:29:39 ↗ really excited about the potential for

1:29:41 ↗ that site um and then as Sarah mentioned

1:29:45 ↗ too we're also waiting to hear from

1:29:46 ↗ Commerce on here which is the home

1:29:49 ↗ electrification and Appliance rebates um

1:29:53 ↗ these are are actually um somewhat of a

1:29:56 ↗ alloc in between a grant and an

1:29:58 ↗ allocation um where it's very likely

1:30:00 ↗ we're going to get some portion of the

1:30:03 ↗ six $6 million request for the easts

1:30:06 ↗ side

1:30:06 ↗ cities um for isqua we're looking to

1:30:09 ↗ take not all of um what we are able to

1:30:13 ↗ secure for heat pumps but possibly to

1:30:15 ↗ take a small amount of that to Pilot our

1:30:18 ↗ additional electrification program um so

1:30:21 ↗ we'll keep you updated on those amounts

1:30:23 ↗ and that

1:30:25 ↗ like um and then just coming up for the

1:30:28 ↗ board um next month we will um

1:30:33 ↗ potentially have some new board members

1:30:35 ↗ uh do a bit more of a a kind of

1:30:38 ↗ welcoming um intro for the year meeting

1:30:41 ↗ and then um our big topic for next month

1:30:44 ↗ is we're going to do a deep dive into

1:30:47 ↗ the climate action plan as a preview for

1:30:50 ↗ a presentation that will go to council

1:30:52 ↗ likely in June so we'll be looking for

1:30:55 ↗ feedback from you all um on our report

1:30:58 ↗ out on progress and challenges and um

1:31:02 ↗ success with the IAP we'll also plan to

1:31:05 ↗ bring um kind of a preview of a budget

1:31:08 ↗ presentation to that

1:31:10 ↗ meeting um other thing about next month

1:31:12 ↗ I forgot to mention was uh we'll be

1:31:14 ↗ looking for anyone that's interested in

1:31:17 ↗ the chair or vice chair position so

1:31:19 ↗ please let me know if that's something

1:31:21 ↗ of interest to you

1:31:25 ↗ all right

1:31:26 ↗ Stacey um next up I was going to provide

1:31:29 ↗ a a brief update on strategic plan task

1:31:34 ↗ force which um it's a fairly large group

1:31:37 ↗ that actually meets here um discussing

1:31:40 ↗ the Strategic plan and for those that

1:31:42 ↗ aren't familiar with strategic plan

1:31:45 ↗ that's like where the comp plan is kind

1:31:46 ↗ of at the 20 year time Horizon the

1:31:49 ↗ Strategic plan is is more like a

1:31:51 ↗ fiveyear horizon and I think this might

1:31:54 ↗ was that the last strap plan wasn't that

1:31:57 ↗ our first that we had done is that um

1:32:01 ↗ yeah I think that's correct yeah so it's

1:32:02 ↗ relatively new process within the city

1:32:05 ↗ um and it like I I think the last one

1:32:08 ↗ was in 2019 or 2018 something around

1:32:10 ↗ that so we're going about and updating

1:32:12 ↗ that and that one ties a lot more

1:32:14 ↗ directly with what's going on within um

1:32:17 ↗ the different functional plan so one of

1:32:18 ↗ the things that is new that's that

1:32:21 ↗ wasn't in place at the time that the

1:32:23 ↗ last strap plan was put was put in place

1:32:25 ↗ was the climate action plan so that's

1:32:27 ↗ obviously something that want to make

1:32:29 ↗ sure that going forward that the new

1:32:32 ↗ strategic plan has that incorporated and

1:32:35 ↗ so I think that's something that as that

1:32:38 ↗ process gets further along that that

1:32:39 ↗ might be an opportunity for the board to

1:32:41 ↗ engage because obviously I'm one voice

1:32:44 ↗ on that on that task force but um

1:32:46 ↗ depending on how things turn out that

1:32:48 ↗ might be something that um other board

1:32:50 ↗ members might want to get involved on to

1:32:52 ↗ ensure that that there's kind of a

1:32:53 ↗ strong enough uh kind of support for IAT

1:32:57 ↗ measures within that program as well as

1:32:58 ↗ everything else I mean we've also had a

1:33:00 ↗ land use um update so there's other

1:33:02 ↗ things that have happened in that in

1:33:04 ↗ that thing in that time so um it's still

1:33:07 ↗ ongoing and I actually missed the last

1:33:09 ↗ meeting because I was away but uh that's

1:33:12 ↗ something I'll have more to report on um

1:33:14 ↗ kind of May June that wraps up in in May

1:33:17 ↗ I believe so um we'll have more to to

1:33:20 ↗ more of an update to provide there so um

1:33:23 ↗ please let me any questions on on that

1:33:26 ↗ process Str strategic plan which is

1:33:28 ↗ really hard for me to say um but uh yeah

1:33:33 ↗ that's uh that's a process that uh

1:33:34 ↗ continue to work through so um and then

1:33:37 ↗ I think the the last item was just kind

1:33:41 ↗ of like Chinese New Year and other New

1:33:43 ↗ Years don't always land on January 1 I

1:33:46 ↗ think like board new years's are kind of

1:33:49 ↗ this is like the end of our board cycle

1:33:52 ↗ um this is our last meeting with this

1:33:54 ↗ with this kind of group or this vintage

1:33:57 ↗ of of members so I want to thank

1:33:59 ↗ everyone for all all the service and

1:34:01 ↗ time that that you put in um know that

1:34:04 ↗ there's especially I think the last

1:34:06 ↗ couple months have been

1:34:08 ↗ particularly uh particularly intense and

1:34:10 ↗ had a lot of meetings which kind of

1:34:12 ↗ seems to be often the case in in

1:34:15 ↗ springtime for us but thank you to

1:34:17 ↗ everyone that has taken the time and all

1:34:19 ↗ the impacts that you've made for for the

1:34:21 ↗ city and for uh the environment so Donna

1:34:24 ↗ anything to

1:34:27 ↗ add now I would Echo thank you for your

1:34:30 ↗ efforts thank you for your time um it's

1:34:32 ↗ been a lot of work this last year but

1:34:35 ↗ we've got a lot accomplished

1:34:37 ↗ um and um I look forward to our new

1:34:40 ↗ board coming together and and seeing

1:34:42 ↗ where we go from there yeah definitely I

1:34:45 ↗ think this was a unique year for us

1:34:46 ↗ because we had the retreat and some

1:34:48 ↗ things like us starting to think about

1:34:50 ↗ uh the board growing up so it was this

1:34:53 ↗ was really great year for a lot of

1:34:54 ↗ different reasons so thanks to everyone

1:34:57 ↗ um I think without any other business

1:34:59 ↗ from anyone

1:35:05 ↗ else all right well I think with that

1:35:07 ↗ then we are adjourned thank you

1:35:10 ↗ everyone good night thank

1:35:15 ↗ you thank

1:35:17 ↗ you good night

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Attendance

Council / Members (9)

Jamie Finch

Don McQuilliams

Nancy Davidson

Prajakta Ghatpande

Ashwin Manoharan*, Unexcused Absence

Tom Anderson

Alix Lee-Tigner

Ashwin Kannan

Janet Wall

Staff (7)

Stacy Vynne McKinstry, Sustainability Manager

David Reedy, Sustainability Coordinator

Nick Horn, Civic Spark Fellow

Stephen Padua, Long Range Planning Manager

Sarah Phillips, Energy Smart Eastside Project Manager

Evan Brumfield, Environmental and Regulatory Program Administrator

Mike Vermeulen, Water Resources Program Specialist

Excused

Anne Newcomb

Joy Lewis

Dixie Bair

Recommendations & actions (3)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

The minutes were approved as presented by unanimous consent.
a) Minutes of February 26, 2024 The minutes were approved as presented by unanimous consent.
b) Minutes of March 13, 2024 The minutes were approved as presented by unanimous consent.