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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2022-04-06 @6:00MINUTES okooc1i sfNJOINT SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL AND q�tF°RSP PLANNING COMMISSION CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022 6:00 p.m. Hybrid In-PersonNirtual via Zoom The City Council may meet by teleconference, consistent with the Brown Act as amended by AB 361 (2021. Under the amended rules, the City will not provide a physical location for members of the public to participate in the teleconference meeting. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Nagales called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Councilmembers Addiego, Coleman and Flores (Zoom), Vice Mayor Nicolas, and Mayor Nagales. Present: Chair Shihadeh, Vice Chair Tzang (Zoom), Planning Commissioners Faria, Murphy, Evans, Funes (Zoom), and De Paz Fernandez (Zoom) — arrived at 6:10 p.m. AGENDA REVIEW None. PUBLIC COMMENTS — comments are limited to items on the Special Meeting Agenda. None. ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Report on General Plan Update Study Session - Climate Action Plan (Lisa Costa Sanders, Project Administrator and Billy Gross, Principal Planner) Principal Planner Gross, Eric Yurkovich and Sami Taylor, Raimi + Associates presented the report on the Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan outlined how the City created policies, programs, and services that would support the community in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Councilmember Coleman discussed the analysis of the disadvantaged community (east side) most prone to flooding. He suggested shifting focus to old town and areas around Colma Creek - especially since air quality near Highway 101 was worse due to proximity to the highway. He recommended addressing Climate Change especially due to cost and providing rebates, cost should never be a hindrance. Councilmember Addiego asked for clarification on the Green House Gases (GHG) emissions pie chart that breaks down residential and transportation, it gave the total metric tons from 2005 — 2007, and was wondering whether it was a 12 -year spread, not a 2 -year. Chief Planner Rozzi confirmed it was a 12 -year spread. Councilmember Addiego requested the breakdown of tons in each category and noted that residential appeared to be going down. He advised that transportation was key and continued to impact the ability to end reduction. Mayor Nagales stated that it was a great opportunity to promote alternative use of transportation due to the increased cost of fuel. He met with a prospective biotech company that stated 40% of their employees will use alternative modes of transportation. He suggested that the city revisit its own policy to increase the current 28%. Mayor Nagales discussed how Colma Creek was planning on being an ecological habitat. He suggested making a push to make the city bike -friendly by building protected bike lanes and encouraging residents to use bikes. Chair Shihadeh inquired whether companies that come to South San Francisco required a permit for their fleet vehicles. Senior Planner Gross stated it depended on what the previous use of the facility was. If the facility did not previously facilitate that type of use, then a permit would be required. Commissioner Funes stated the public could be discouraged to use Caltrain if the residents still had to use a vehicle to get to the station. She advised the city's shuttle bus service was very limited in services. The ferry is convenient and should be promoted more often. Her top three policies were transportation, education and outreach, and rebates; suggested partnering with private companies to make cost-effective programs. Mayor Nagales recommended connecting transportation services so visitors can get around the city without the use of shared ride services such as Uber. Councilmember Flores requested clarification on low and supportive recommended strategies to reduce GHGs. Ms. Taylor provided an overview of the greenhouse reductions and advised that when added together, they added up to a robust reduction program. He inquired about the type of certification the new LPR building, and the new Police Station received, and whether the new buildings qualified under CAPS recommendation. City Manager Futrell stated the new buildings were not LEAD certified as Council deemed them as a high cost with not a great return, but the buildings were built to green code effectively -being green -certified but without the official certification. Councilmember Flores spoke about the equitable program and recommended the definition of equity versus equality be further highlighted in the report and executive summary. He emphasized the importance of outreach to Spanish-speaking and multilingual communities regarding sea -level rise and climate change and how it affects them due to their priority concerns. He had concerns about asking the Spanish-speaking community to attend a town hall meeting to provide feedback on a document that was only provided in English. Commissioner Murphy stated it was helpful for the Climate Action tables to have the cost of implementation by the city or participants. She advised that one of the things that might be helpful for the General Plan there was a prioritization list for policies tied to goals and suggested including those in the CAP for annual review if necessary. Senior Planner Gross indicated that staff was requesting for each member to list their top three policy priorities to ensure all efforts were clearly identified. JOINT SPECIAL CITY OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 6, 2022 MINUTES PAGE 2 Commissioner Faria inquired whether staff had the GHG total metric tons data for 2019 and 2020. Mr. Yurkovich discouraged using 2020 data because the profile was probably an aberration and would not necessarily track correct data and suggested looking at 2019 emissions. He encouraged transparency to show the residents how the city operates and make sure residents had enough information to make decisions. Vice Mayor Nicolas stated the importance of having an equitable disadvantaged community program which was not cheap so funding would be an issue. Her top priorities were educating the public on sustainability and making it reasonable for everyone to make the change to electric. Vice Chair Tzang was delighted to see the cost-effectiveness resulting in more housing and accessory dwelling units (ADU). He mentioned his clients being discouraged to make the switch to fully electric appliances due to the high costs associated with the rebate program. He recommended doing a better job at promoting the benefits of making the switch to electric appliances and educating the public about the disadvantages of gas appliances. His top priority was the new mode of transportation would be effective and needed to be educated and incentivized. Commissioner De Paz Hernandez asked to be mindful of the financial impact and increase in rental costs. He suggested educating the public on biking transportation and recommended outreach on the rules and regulations for the safety of bikers. He advised that the link to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan that was recently released to the public, but the link did not contain the plan. His top three priorities were 1) transportation — low -hanging fruit goals. Recommended connecting various public transportation, 2) education and 3) infrastructure around biking. Councilmember Coleman advised that the three most important policies were 1) outreach for commercial reach codes, 2) adoption of a burn -out ordinance similar to Menlo Park and Half Moon Bay to transition existing buildings to all -electric, and 3) the need for last mile transit and figure out ways to add additional bus stops and expand the frequency of bus routes. Commercial Evans stated her top priority was public transportation before removing parking spaces. She was concerned that the city was not doing enough education for the public. Chair Shihadeh stated the biggest challenge was educating the community and outreach to the various communities. He believed that transportation was key and recommended being realistic about ridership needs. Chair Shihadeh's third policy was building and residents and believed the city had done a great job with biotech development with city standards. Councilmember Flores prioritized education and stated it was key to ensure longevity and how the city would implement and apply the programs. He stated that the rebate program was also key and suggested collaborating with regional agencies and working together collaboratively. Mayor Nagales stated some short-term accomplishments included increasing TDM's and bike and pedestrian master plan having dedicated and protected bike lanes. Long-term accomplishments were rebates and last mile. He stated to fully convert from gas to electric appliances, there needed to be a financial ability for renters or homeowners. ADJOURNMENT Being no further business Mayor Nagales adjourned the meeting at 7:47 p.m. JOINT SPECIAL CITY OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 6, 2022 MINUTES PAGE 3 Respectfully submitt by: Gabriel Rodriguez Deputy City Clerk Approved by the City Council: K 2"1 / zoz 2 - Approved Approved by: JP Mark Nagales Mayor JOINT SPECIAL CITY OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 6, 2022 MINUTES PAGE 4