Title:
Title
Update on Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change Recommendations
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FileID
File ID: 2020-01333
Location
Location: Citywide
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Recommendation:
Recommendation
Receive an update and provide direction.
FileName
Contact: Jennifer Venema, Interim Climate Action Lead, (916) 808-1859; Hector Barron, Assistant City Manager, (916) 808-2669, Office of the City Manager
Body
Presenter: Jennifer Venema, Interim Climate Action Lead, (916) 808-1859, Office of the City Manager
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Updates on Priority Commission Actions
3-Status and Preliminary Resource Estimates for Year 1 Commission Projects
4-Slow Streets Options
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: On August 25, 2020, the City Council received a presentation on the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change (Commission) and its recommendations to achieve carbon zero by 2045. The motion included ten actions for the City to advance urgent efforts for climate change. To operationalize several key recommendations, the City Council passed Motion No. 2020-0226, providing direction to the City Manager and staff. In the forty-five days after that discussion, the City Manager and staff completed several key actions prioritized in the motion. During the City Council meeting on October 27, 2020, the Mayor asked the City Manager to provide a status update to the City Council at a Council meeting in November. This report serves as an update on status, approach, and next steps.
The ten actions called for in Motion No. 2020-0226 provide an important starting point for the City to advance urgent climate change efforts. A summary of progress for the ten actions is provided in Attachment 2, including options for the ‘Slow Streets’ initiative in Attachment 4. Staff also continue to evaluate and implement other Commission recommendations, including identification of costs and resources needed. A summary of status and resource estimates for Year 1 Commission recommendations is available in Attachment 3.
To continue advancing these efforts, the City Manager has appointed an interim staff lead to prepare a first-year work plan that will operationalize and continue accelerating City climate-related efforts. Staff intend to present the work plan to City Council for consideration in early December 2020, with attention to priority projects, programs, and services.
Policy Considerations: Accelerating the City’s climate efforts implements Council policies and directives. The City Council adopted carbon neutrality by 2045 as a guiding principle for the 2040 General Plan update on November 12, 2019 (Resolution No. 2019-0433). In addition to advancing recommendations from the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change, this work would also implement the Climate Emergency Declaration that City Council adopted on December 10, 2019 (Resolution No. 2019-0465).
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
Environmental Considerations: Not applicable
Sustainability: Reducing the local contribution to climate change and mitigating climate
change impacts are both critical for the ongoing health and vitality of Sacramento. In addition, achieving the City’s sustainability goals requires an equitable approach that is inclusive of local communities and advances environmental justice.
Commission/Committee Action: While the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change was not a Council-appointed Commission, representatives of the effort provided a presentation to City Council on August 25, 2020. This presentation included recommendations to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.
Rationale for Recommendation: The efforts described in this report advance the recommendations of the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change. City Council feedback and leadership is critical to advance progress towards the City’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2045. Carbon neutrality is defined as achieving net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels that are equal to zero, in which GHG emission offsets exceed any emissions generated.
In order to develop a first-year work plan for the City’s climate efforts, the recommendations from the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change will serve as a foundation and ongoing source of guidance. The work plan will also build on related projects such as recommendations from the City’s Green Efforts Audit (currently underway), and the General Plan and Climate Action Plan (CAP) update.
Financial Considerations: The City has already committed an estimated $920,000 for several priority actions through existing operating or project budgets. Included in these commitments is initial funding to launch the Environmental Justice Collaborative Governance Committee recommended by the Commission. Yet several actions identified in Motion No. 2020-0226 require additional funding. Staff estimate that at least an additional $250,000 is needed to launch the Slow Streets effort. The anticipated cost estimate for all ten actions ranges from $1,695,000 to $2,181,000, with an outstanding gap of $775,000 to $1,261,000 that is unfunded and uncommitted.
The ten actions in Motion No. 2020-0226 overlap with many of the first-year projects prioritized by the Commission, many of which are already underway. Regardless, the Commission’s first-year project list is bigger than Motion No. 2020-0226, and staff estimate that the entire first-year work plan would require more than $14 million in additional funding for full implementation. Preliminary cost estimates are identified in Attachment 3. Staff also continues to review draft recommendations from the City’s Green Efforts Audit (currently underway) and the resources needed to fully implement. Staff will further evaluate costs and prioritize actions in the work plan currently under development, for Council consideration in early December.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.
Background: This item allows for Council feedback and a public update on efforts underway related to the Mayor’s Commission on Climate Change. Additional background follows for two key efforts from Motion 2020-0226. Staff report attachments provide further context.
Community Engagement & Environmental Justice Collaborative Governance Committee
In the near-term, staff are developing a City webpage and a communications strategy for ongoing public input and engagement during implementation. The City’s climate initiatives are highly collaborative and will be driven with an equity focus. To start, the City Manager has identified funding to initiate the Environmental Justice Collaborative Governance Committee called for by the Commission. The City is working with stakeholders to launch the Committee in the coming weeks as a community effort, to engage marginalized communities in identification of environmental solutions and implementation. A scope of work is currently being prepared. In addition, staff are working with IT and the City’s Diversity and Equity Manager to develop tools to show how resources and environmental benefits are allocated, to extend and equip our conversations about equity in order to embed it into the City’s climate work. This process will build upon the equity recommendations and foundational principles of the Commission, advance community engagement, and operationalize equity in City environmental decision making and actions.
Slow Streets
Slow Streets is a network of residential streets that have been closed to through traffic with temporary traffic control such as cones and a-frame barricades. These streets are prioritized for local use of walking and rolling, but those who live on the street can drive there. Staff have explored potential options to proceed and developed cost estimates for implementation, assuming involvement and support by neighborhoods and local communities. Cost scenarios range from approximately $250,000 for a six-month pilot on eight miles of roadway, to $736,000 for a twelve-month pilot on twenty miles of roadway. Options for implementation are further detailed in Attachment 4.
If approved, the City’s approach will be a collaborative partnership with neighborhoods and include support from both the city and the community. Staff also understand that a number of community organizations have been organizing around slow streets. Their work includes conducting community surveys and gathering input of community identified streets for slow street implementation. If approved, staff will meet with those community organizations then develop a framework for:
• Corridor identification
• Resident participation and ensuring support
• Corridor sponsorship and monitoring
• Implementation schedule
In another related effort, staff are also preparing to submit a grant application, pending Council approval, to develop a citywide network of “15-minute Neighborhoods by Slow Active Streets” through mobility investments, to make most daily trips accessible by a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The City of Sacramento will take the best of Slow Streets and the concept of a 15-minute city to realize 15 Minute Neighborhoods by Slow Active Streets. This effort will include working with Sacramento’s broad and diverse communities to identify a citywide network of traffic-calmed, family-friendly mobility neighborhood corridors that connect residents by walking and bicycling to their destinations. Rather than the use of cones and a-frames, staff will use more permanent and attractive tools that last for the long term. The grant will allow for development of transportation improvement plans that include traffic calming measures such as diversions, curb extensions, and more, along with walking infrastructure and biking infrastructure that will be actionable and ready to position for the pursuit of implementation funding.