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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-08-05 Utilities Advisory Commission Summary MinutesUtilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 1 of 6 UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING FINAL MINUTES OF AUGUST 5, 2015 CALL TO ORDER Chair Foster called to order at 7:04 p.m. the meeting of the Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC). Present: Commissioners Danaher, Eglash, Chair Foster, and Schwartz Absent: Vice Chair Cook, Commissioner Hall and Council Liaison Scharff ORAL COMMUNICATIONS David Carnahan, Deputy City Clerk, announced that the City is currently recruiting for three 3-year terms on the Architectural Review Board, three 3-year terms on the Parks and Recreation Commission and one 4-year term on the Planning and Transportation Commission. He listed the membership requirements for each Board and Commission. The application deadline is August 26, 2015 at 5:30 P.M. Applications are available in the Council Chambers and online at cityofpaloalto.org/clerk APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Commissioner Eglash moved to approve the minutes from the July 1, 2015 UAC meeting as presented and Chair Foster seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously (4-0 with Commissioners Danaher, Eglash, Foster and Schwartz voting yes and Commissioners Cook and Hall absent). AGENDA REVIEW AND REVISIONS Chair Foster announced that Item IX (Commissioner Comments) will move to before Item VIII (New Business). REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEETING/EVENTS None. UTILITIES DIRECTOR REPORT 1. Solar Project Updates  The City’s first utility-scale solar project—the 20 MW EE Kettleman Land project near Kettleman City—began producing power on July 22nd, and is expected to officially mark its Commercial Operations Date any day now. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark this occasion is expected to be held sometime in September.  The City’s second utility-scale solar project—the 26 MW Hayworth Solar project near Bakersfield—is expected to begin operating in September. Once they’re fully operational, these two resources together are expected to bring the City’s RPS level up to around 36%.  The City’s three other solar projects under contract—the Frontier Solar, Elevation Solar C, and Western Antelope Blue Sky Ranch B projects—are all expected to begin operating around the middle of 2016. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 2 of 6 2. Community Outreach Events and Workshops  July 9 – CPAU Assistant Director Jane Ratchye spoke at the Vi retirement facility about the California Water Plan Update and other general water issues.  August 12 – Public Informational Meeting on the Drought, 7:00 p.m., Mitchell Park Community Center, El Palo Alto Room West  August 13 – Water Conservation 101 workshops  September 17 – Maintaining Existing Landscape Design During a Drought workshop  September 19 – Hands-On Water-Efficient Irrigation & Re-landscaping Workshop  September 26 – Rainwater Harvesting and Graywater Reuse workshop Speaking about the now-closed Peninsula SunShares program, Chair Foster stated that he would support participation in similar group-buy programs in the future, including potentially for EV chargers. 3. Drought Communication Update The City continues its drought response efforts, including enforcement of potable water use restrictions and enhanced community outreach. Since the beginning of 2015 through July 22, Palo Alto has reduced water consumption by more than 24%. In June, water savings were 35%. The entire community will need to work hard to maintain these water savings during the hot summer months. We ask people to help us identify leaks or other areas of water waste through the PaloAlto311 app or by reporting at drought@cityofpaloalto.org The City is looking for additional opportunities to improve water use efficiency at City facilities, including developing detailed plans for reducing irrigation in park areas that are not used for active play. City staff worked closely with the Palo Alto Unified School District to assist with their plans to keep recreational playing fields alive while reducing irrigation in other non-essential areas. Alternative Irrigation Plans have now been approved for the City Parks, School District and Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club. Recycled water and groundwater that is pumped from construction sites is being required for use in non-potable construction activities and whenever available for irrigation. For frequently asked questions and drought resources, please visit cityofpaloalto.org/water or call (650) 329-2161. We invite people to share their water-saving tips with us. We’ll post them online and in social media! 4. Marketing Services Update  Peninsula SunShares Solar Group-Buy: Close to 300 Palo Alto residents registered to participate in the Peninsula SunShares solar group-buy program. This is the highest enrollment number of any City participating in the program, capturing about 40% of the total enrollment in the Bay Area. Solar installations will begin immediately with the two solar contractors selected for the program, SunRun and Skytech Solar.  PaloAltoGreen Gas: This program that allows customers to offset the carbon emissions associated with their natural gas use now has close to 900 participants. All City accounts are joining the PaloAltoGreen Gas program this summer, so sales volumes will climb considerably.  Home Efficiency Genie: In July, the City launched a new home energy and water efficiency audit program. The Home Efficiency Genie program provides residents with customized advice and comprehensive in-home assessments for efficiency improvements. Basic energy advising services are free and customers can pay a nominal co-pay for an in-depth home performance assessment. Details can be found at efficiencygenie.com UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 3 of 6 COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Eglash explained that this section was moved up in the agenda since some of the comments would relate to the first item on the agenda (recycled water Environmental Impact Report), or may be directed to Public Works staff, who are at the meeting on that item. He stated that the topic of rising sea levels hasn't been discussed at the UAC in his memory. He noted that rising sea levels could compromise the sewage treatment plant, road undercrossings, electric substations, or other valuable infrastructure. He asked if high tides combined with heavy winds and rains could have some impact and he would like to know that the City has considered these impacts. He would like to know if this topic should come before the Commission. Assistant Director Jane Ratchye added that the Sustainability/Climate Action Plan will have a section on climate adaptation and that a list of all critical City assets and the risks sea level rise will pose are being assessed. Commissioner Schwartz mentioned that there was an extensive power outage, which was interesting in the context of last month's discussion on electrification. She was surprised to know that the UAC was not informed of outages. Director Fong stated that the Utilities Communications Manager updates social media with all significant outages. Chair Foster asked if the UAC could be directly informed of all extensive outages. Director Fong stated that this is not an unreasonable request, but that she reserved the right to use her judgement on this as in other operational issues and offered to have the Utilities Communications Manager send to the UAC members the social media linkage. Commissioner Danaher complimented staff on all the outreach the City has done on the water and drought issue. As an additional suggestion, he believes that a competition for the use of drought tolerant plantings would be a way to demonstrate different types of plantings that would work for different home architectural styles. Commissioner Danaher asked if the groundwater pumped from construction sites is significant and whether we can do anything about it. Chair Foster asked if a quorum of commissioners will be able to attend the September 2 UAC meeting. The four commissioners present indicated that they are planning to attend. Chair Foster acknowledged the informational report on Emerging Technology in the packet and was glad to hear about the progress on these projects. Chair Foster stated that the topic of whether to establish technology diversity goals when procuring renewable energy came up at last month’s UAC meeting. He said that the City may want to enter into agreements with more risky technologies since the City would not pay until and unless energy was actually delivered so the risk and cost is actually low. He recommended that the topic be discussed in advance of releasing any future RFPs. Commissioner Eglash stated that it could be very difficult and impractical to add a technology diversity goal since the overriding goal is to get green energy projects installed. He said that he did not support adding these special requirements to the solicitations. Commissioner Eglash added that unless the City adopted a plan of trying to meet greater than 100% of needs so if some projects fail in development, we still meet needs, that plan is very risky since there are many complex financial issues if the City over-procures renewable energy. NEW BUSINESS ITEM 1: ACTION: Staff Recommendation that the Utilities Advisory Commission Recommend that the City Council Certify the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Proposed Recycled Water Distribution Project, Approve the Recycled Water Distribution Project, and Direct Staff to Seek Funding for the Project Karin North, Public Works Watershed Protection Manager, delivered a presentation summarizing the written report. She stated that project to extend the recycled water system was examined many years Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 4 of 6 ago, but more recently it was determined that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was necessary due to the water quality concerns and the impacts on certain salt-sensitive species. North explained that the EIR contains mitigations for the salinity issue including exempting sensitive species, blending with higher quality water supplies to reduce the salinity levels, or treating the water to reduce salinity levels. North said that the action requested tonight is for the UAC to recommend that the Council certify the Final EIR, approve the project, and direct staff to proceed with seeking outside funding. She explained that the EIR must be certified before funding can be sought and that staff would return to the UAC and Council with a recommendation on whether to proceed with design and construction on the project. Commissioner Danaher asked whether recycled water use would be required, or simply offered to end users. Phil Bobel, Assistant Director for Environmental Protection, stated that the Regional Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP) has an obligation under its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to have a recycled water program. In addition, if a building of a certain size is located near a recycled water pipeline, the use of recycled water would be required for certain nonpotable uses. Commissioner Schwartz stated that the time is now to invest in recycled water. She asked if there are other areas with even worse drought conditions that we can learn from. She said that there is support for innovation in this area. Bobel stated that there are innovative ideas in the county. There are three types of recycled water projects: the first is using nonpotable recycled water for uses such as irrigation. Then, there is indirect potable reuse, which is where the treated wastewater is conveyed to recharge ponds or injected into groundwater to be extracted as drinking water elsewhere. Also, direct potable reuse projects are envisioned to directly connect purified wastewater to the drinking water distribution system. San Jose is contemplating a hybrid system where the purified wastewater would then be run through a drinking water treatment plant before being introduced into the drinking water distribution system. This project is the first type—building a pipeline for nonpotable uses such as irrigation and toilet flushing. The pipeline could be built for that use, but could be used in the future for the other two types of projects. The City must plan for an uncertain future and get infrastructure in place for future uses. Public Comment Mark Harris stated that he was in a meeting with the Palo Alto City Manager 23 years ago on this same project when he was the Director of Utilities for the City of Mountain View. At this point, with the focus of the current drought, he hopes that the project can finally go forward. He remarked that the project should be slightly oversized to accommodate capacity for the future. He added that this is a good time for project financing as the municipal bond market rates are attractive. He advised that staff make sure that Palo Alto does not get punished for good behavior – he said he hoped that the City's contract with San Francisco would not include a minimum take provision that would be a problem for the use of recycled water. He said that in a future drought, the use of recycled water should not be counted against the City if water restrictions are imposed based on past usage. Herb Borock noted that the project essentially serves the Stanford Research Park so anyone with income from Stanford University should not participate in the discussion as they have a conflict of interest. He said he thought that Commissioner Eglash worked for Stanford University and that, therefore, he should not participate in the discussion. In addition, if he does not participate, then the UAC will not have a quorum and will not be able to discuss the item at all. He mentioned that the recent San Juan Capistrano legal case around Proposition 218 discussed whether it was legal to allow the costs of recycled water to be included in the cost of potable water. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 5 of 6 Commissioner Eglash noted that he does work for Stanford University. However, in his opinion he is not associated with any part of the organization that decides on the use of water at Stanford or the Stanford Research Park. He made his own assessment that the conflict is trifling, but now is reconsidering this decision since at least one citizen believes that there is at least the appearance of a conflict. He said that he would like to hear from the representative from the City Attorney’s Office Senior Assistant City Attorney Cara Silver recommended that Commissioner Eglash recuse himself from this item since it has an economic impact on the university. In addition, the UAC can have no further discussion on the item if Commissioner Eglash chooses to recuse himself. Commissioner Danaher stated that he was very opposed to the attorney's advice as too conservative. Chair Foster agreed that the decision was not correct. Commissioner Eglash decided to recuse himself from the discussion on this item, returning to participate in the rest of the meeting after four minutes of elapsed time. Since the remaining three commissioners did not constitute a quorum, discussion and action on this item ceased. ACTION: None. Chair Foster announced that he was returning to Section II (Oral Communications) on the agenda. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Joseph Rahn from Purple Pipe Water Services said that he had a business to deliver recycled water to individual customers, which is preferable to ripping up the streets for the proposed project. ITEM 2: ACTION: Selection of Potential topic(s) for Discussion at Future UAC Meeting Commissioner Danaher said that he would like to discuss changing the PaloAltoGreen Gas Program to an opt-out program. He also supports a discussion on whether to account for newer, more risky renewable energy technologies. Chair Foster asked about the second transmission interconnection issue. Director Fong stated that an informational update is planned in the next several months. ACTION: None. ITEM 3. DISCUSSION: Update and Discussion on Impacts of Statewide Drought on Water and Hydroelectric Supplies Senior Resource Planner Karla Dailey provided an update on the usage of water in San Francisco's water system. She noted that the water in storage is falling, but not to critical levels. However, continuation of the drought would be a problem. Dailey stated that the City has saved 24.3% overall since the beginning of 2015. Dailey noted that the savings have been high so far in the period that the State has mandated a 24% water use reduction, but that water savings are more difficult to achieve in the winter. Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: September 2, 2015 Page 6 of 6 Commissioner Danaher stated that the City's trees are being negatively impacted and asked what the City is doing about it. Dailey stated that it has done extensive outreach with the intent to educate residents on the importance of sustaining the health of trees in the City and that the Urban Forester… Commissioner Schwartz asked for full-size color copies for the charts so that they are more readable. Commissioner Eglash complemented staff on the information provided in these updates and the timeliness of the information provided. Commissioner Eglash agreed that the communication challenge around achieving the required water use reduction is complicated by the fact that winter use is primarily restricted to indoor use (cooking and washing), and a seasonal correction that encourages significant water reduction in the summer is necessary. Commissioner Schwartz said that there is a good story to tell and that the public can be educated about the need to continue saving water. Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Marites Ward City of Palo Alto Utilities