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 All right everyone, welcome to the Sustainability Framework Advisory

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 Committee. It is Friday, August 26th and it's 1 of 02 and we are in the City

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 Council Work Session Room. We do have a quorum. Mr. Stevens may make it today but

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 I'm looking to be maybe absent as well if you want to document that. And we do have a full agenda today

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 so I just ask that maybe we take our questions down and then at the end of

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 the presentation we can go through and ask them and we can get started with our

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 first item for individual consideration. Consider approval of the June 29, 2022

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 minutes. Anybody have any comments on this? Oh it's no good to approve. Okay. Second.

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 All right. All in favor? Aye. All right. We'll move on to item B. Receive a report and hold a

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 discussion regarding the current tree code requirements and the development

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 impacts to trees.

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 Can we have Colleen Fitzgerald? It's Patrick, sorry. I knew I was going to do that.

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 From Development Services to Landscape Planner. We're going to talk to us about tree code today.

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 Welcome. Come on in. And just a friendly reminder to everyone, we are using the

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 mics that are hanging from the ceiling, so speak loudly.

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 Good afternoon everyone. Colleen Fitzpatrick, Landscape Planner with the

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 Planning Department and Development Services. Today we will be going over the

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 current tree code which is the 2019 EDC and go over tree preservation requirements. So

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 we had a request from the committee to go over the current tree code

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 requirements and I'm guessing part of that was probably fueled by the large

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 amount of construction going on throughout Denton. Pretty much anywhere you

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 turn you can see dirt turning, things happening. So I just wanted to go over

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 the 2019 tree code today. Some of the projects that you're probably seeing

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 constructed today are under older code, so the 2002 code, but all the ones that

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 are being reviewed today that will be built will be going into the 2019 code.

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 So today we will be going over what those tree code requirements are, how

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 we're reviewing them, and how they're enforced. So what are those requirements?

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 We're going to start with preservation. We're going to break it up into two

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 spots. Preservation and then mitigation. The overall standard preservation

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 requirement is a minimum of 30% preservation of the total DVH of

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 heritage and quality trees. On the next slide I'm going to go over definitions,

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 but there's several definitions that categorize trees different way. As far

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 as DVH, what that means is diameter at breast height. So you're measuring the

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 diameter of the trunk of the tree at four and a half feet from the ground up.

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 So basically arms length and then you measure that diameter of the tree, not

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 the circumference, but the diameter. So standard preservation is 30% of the

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 inches of quality heritage trees. It's not a tree-per-tree basis, it's a

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 percentage of the total inches on the site. There is an option for a lower

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 preservation amount that goes to 20%, but the mitigation rate will be higher if

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 you go below that 30% minimum. I wanted to address ESAs, environmentally

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 sensitive areas. Tree code requirements and ESAs are separate requirements. They

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 do not double dip like they did previously in the 2002 code. So when

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 we're looking at tree preservation we do not count ESA tree canopy as part of

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 those calculations. So they have their separate requirements. ESAs are

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 undeveloped areas, they're to be preserved in perpetuity. Tree code are

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 tree preservation requirements in the development impact area or DIA. So on the

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 table we have just a generic example. Anything that would be considered green,

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 the trees in the green spot, you can see the removals of the X and the green,

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 those would go towards tree code. The trees in blue would be a riparian buffer,

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 so those would be ESA category trees and those would go towards your ESA

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 preservation requirements. We're not going to go into ESAs, but this is just

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 showing the relationship, how we're reviewing them with the new code. The red

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 area where it says encroachment into ESA includes EIA. If there's an alternative

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 ESA proposed to go into an ESA for drainage or into a riparian area, they

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 have to file for an alternative ESA. Any area where they're developing to do

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 those stormwater encroachments ends up in the DIA, so then that gets kicked to

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 tree preservation. So then we add those calculations of canopy into tree

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 preservation and they get moved out of the ESA to preservation. So into those

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 tree definitions, secondary trees are four different types of trees. So

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 secondary are considered healthy ash, healthy boat arc, which is also known as

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 Osage orange. If you see those big brain-like apples throughout town, that's

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 part of the Osage orange or boat arc tree, packberry trees, and codwood trees.

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 And those are trees that are six inches wide in diameter and above. Those

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 species, six inches and above, are secondary trees. Quality trees are all

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 non-secondary trees that are between 16 inches and 18 inches. So one thing to

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 keep in mind is that all protected trees, when you get into these categories,

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 anything that's six inches wide and larger are going to be protected for

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 the DDC. So secondary trees, you got your ash, boat arc, packberry, and codwood, six

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 inches and larger. Quality, non-secondary trees that are between six and 18 inches.

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 Heritage trees are all quality trees that are 18 inches and larger, and all

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 post oaks are considered heritage trees even if they're below that 18 inch

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 requirement. So all post oaks, no matter how big they are, six inches and above,

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 will be heritage trees. Non-protected trees are dead or unhealthy trees, trees

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 that pose an imminent or immediate threat to persons or property,

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 crape myrtles, ornamental pears, mesquite, honey locust, and noxious and invasive

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 trees on the Texas Department of Agriculture. Landmark trees are a special

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 category. We actually do not have many in the City of Denton because they have to

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 be registered. So we only actually have six trees that are marked as landmark,

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 and those are either with the Texas Big Tree Registry, the property owner has to

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 designate them or request to be designated to be on that registry, or

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 there have been some private property of relationships with the City of Denton,

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 where they've usually been a private owner that designates a tree, and then

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 the city will accept that designation as landmark. The only one on

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 public property that we have is at the new DPS site over on McKinney and Mayhill.

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 There is a large landmark tree there. The others that we have a record of are on

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 private property. So how do we review this? The City of Denton has created a

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 resource to help make the tree preservation process easier for us to

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 review and the development community to submit their applications.

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 What the Planning Department has done is they've created an inventory list, so an

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 Excel file, where you can see the different categories of information that

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 we need per DDC requirements, and then it out calculates in the table on the far, I

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 guess, right side for you looking at that. That's where all the information in the

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 tree inventory data ends up in the tree mitigation worksheet. The trees that are

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 marked on the tree inventory data are the ones that are being preserved, and as

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 you can see in the box over there, 30% preservation has been achieved because

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 they're meeting the inches. It's not a tree-for-tree removal basis, it's per the

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 inches. So they're preserving, looks like they need to preserve 49 inches, but

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 they're actually preserving 69 inches, so they're above that 30% preservation

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 requirement, and they're only keeping five trees. As far as mitigation goes, so

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 the mitigation table on the right is where we can see that. I'm going to go

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 back and let you see what a 30% mitigation will look like if they

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 follow that standard requirement. You can see on the very bottom, it says

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 negative 74.5 inches. When we see that on a final plat, when we're looking at

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 landscape plantings and trying to figure out if they owe tree mitigation into the

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 tree bun, if that's negative, they're not going to owe a feed. There are standard

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 landscape requirements that will make them, or they have to follow certain

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 landscape requirements that they're required to put trees on site, so this

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 doesn't mean they don't have a site with no trees. They still have to meet those

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 landscape requirements, but those requirements do not go towards

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 mitigation because they don't have to pay that. However, on this sheet, if we

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 look at it, any tree that's removed has to be replaced. So, sorry I'm going to go

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 backtrack here. When we look at the 20% mitigation, I wanted to show you at the

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 bottom here, if they're at 20% so they go below 30, now they're in a total where

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 they have to pay mitigation. So, we compare those landscape plans. If they

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 go below the 30, they're going to have to pay into the tree bun or plant more

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 trees to make up for that. So, they're at positive 71.65. So, as far as

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 mitigation goes, that's kind of the difference between 30% and 20%. When

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 you remove a protected tree, you have to replace it. Where can you replace it?

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 Either on the property, and they have to be at least two inches in caliber inch, so

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 that's the measurement diameter, when they're planted and above. So, they can

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 either be on the site paying to the tree fund or on a location mutually agreed

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 upon by the city and property owner. Sometimes developers don't necessarily

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 want to see their tree fund go into a place where they don't know where their

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 money's going. They'll coordinate with Parks Department and see if they can put

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 those trees and see them actually get planted within their project timeline and

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 see that actually go to use. So, that's an example of if they choose not to go

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 into the tree fund, they want to coordinate with the city to put the

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 trees elsewhere, that's where the trees are going. They want to put that money

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 towards immediate action in plantings. So, this is the overview. We kind of went

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 over the charts. 30% preservation, there's a different replacement ratio

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 rate. 20% preservation, there's a higher mitigation rate. So, when we're looking

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 at these on review, STAB is going to look at it in a three-year period, and then on

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 the mitigation table, if they owe mitigation, you multiply the 71 inches at

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 the bottom by $200, and that's how much they owe. Here are some examples of how

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 we're reviewing the 2019 DDC. On the early stages of development, we're

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 looking at construction impacts in 7.7.4 D. There are distances that you need to

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 be away from the drip line, construction activity to help preserve the life of a

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 tree. You can see on this side, on the before picture, they had a smaller area,

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 the yellow area was the only area where they're preserving the heritage and

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 quality trees. After discussing this with their engineers and landscape

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 architects, we were able to encourage them to preserve more trees based on

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 their construction implications. You can see on the after photo, they have

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 extended that area in the center, and they've added an additional landscape

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 area along the frontage there, so they've increased their preservation with the

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 with the way that we've been reviewing this, and to increase preservation. So

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 this is just one example. Here's another one. The original submittal, the trees in

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 yellow on the before, were going to be impacted by either grading or the septic

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 being put in on the other side of the grading area. So after conversations, we

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 bring up the concerns. What you're showing in the plans is going to impact

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 the critical root zone of these trees, and they're not actually going to receive

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 preservation credit. So we were able, they didn't, their intent was not to

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 remove any trees, so we brought up the concerns, and then they revised their

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 site layout to reduce the impact and reduce the loss of trees. Okay, so

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 enforcement, how do we enforce this, or how do we enforce this. Mitification fees

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 are due at the time of the filing of the final flat. Staff will surveillance the

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 area from construction up to three years. If we do see a violation, we issue a

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 stop work order. We have building permit go out there, stop the work on the site,

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 tell them to put the fence back up, or they cannot work until they have fixed

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 the situation. Ways that they can fix the situation is through additional

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 plantings in the available open space on the site, or they pay just a

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 straight fee into the mitigation fund. It was requested that we add some of the

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 tree fund data in the last five years, so you can see at least on the right side

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 there, those are some of the statistics that we've had, and we gathered the data

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 for at least this year. It's still definitely in progress, but you can see

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 that total there, and then we also have the tree fund balance, which is around

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 half a million dollars that's currently existing in that account. Here's some

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 examples of violations that we've seen on site, and we're trying to avoid in the

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 development review stage. So you can probably see what's going on here, and

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 how it's not good. The tree is already seeing signs of decline. The imagery here,

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 the construction crews have totally decimated half of the critical root zone.

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 We've already seen root damage, so we contacted the developer and let them

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 know that this tree needs to have a mitigation fee paid, or they need to

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 remedy the situation by planting trees on the site. So these are the type of

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 examples that go on as far as violation goes. Here's another one that's similar.

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 There's excavation, which is a violation in our DDC under section D. They have

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 removed the tree fencing after we had inspected and approved the site to begin,

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 and they excavated under the critical root zone. We actually had a call from a

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 resident that notified us of the situation, and we acted on it immediately.

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 We had building inspections go out and stop the situation, and then they paid

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 it to the tree fund. You can see the same situation happening on the right side.

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 Here's another one as far as compaction goes. This is the last slide, at least for

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 enforcement's go. Where we have compaction issues, first of all, there's no tree

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 fencing. There's supposed to be tree fencing around these. That's a violation.

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 And then they're storing heavy equipment, which is a specific category under the

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 DDC that you were not supposed to do. And then on the far right side, you can see

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 the trees that are next to the home. We want to avoid long-term conflicts with

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 trees. This happened probably after the developer was long gone. There was

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 compaction during the construction of the retaining wall. You can see the

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 canopy is going over that section, so the root zones were impacted, and we have

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 increased drainage, which may have also left the depth of the tree. But these are

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 just examples of what we're trying to avoid and address as far as tree code

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 and new construction. And with that, I'll take any questions. Anybody have questions?

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 I do. Go ahead, Ed. Thanks for the presentation. Do we have any idea how

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 much carbon is sequestered by the current canopy that we have? I do not have that

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 information. For a tree code review, we're specifically looking at DBH that is

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 preserved, so we do not have that data collected at the time of the development

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 review. Okay, what do you think? I don't know, maybe it's... I think it would be

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 interesting to know if we could get that information. And is the canopy increasing?

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 For development? I mean... Just deaden's tree canopy, or is this a question that's

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 really not related to what you presented? I think it's a combination. Yeah, I don't

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 think it really relates, but with our landscape requirements being as strict

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 as they are, and we do encourage... well, we don't encourage... we make developers

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 replace what they're planting, and they have to meet that mitigation ratio and

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 replacement. So the landscape plans definitely have lots of trees that are

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 replacing what is removed. Some instances, they're replacing what species that are

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 better than what is on the site. Some sites have disease or secondary trees

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 that aren't as valued, and they're putting in quality and heritage trees, or I

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 guess quality species in. So we are also making up for that, but the carbon

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 sequestration, that's a really good question, that unfortunately we can't

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 enforce in development services to collect that data, but I think that's

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 really interesting to look into. Yeah, I think especially with the climate action

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 plan coming up. Are newly planted trees irrigated? Did they put irrigation

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 systems in? Yes. And how long do they usually stay irrigated? They should be in

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 perpetuity unless they're planning to do zero escaping. I would work

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 with them on a maintenance plan to make sure that those are established before

216
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 they start pulling back on that water supply. And that leads me to my final

217
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,760
 question, which you just mentioned. Are we seeing more, or are we seeing any

218
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 developers who are coming in and zero escaping? Yes, we've seen at least three

219
00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,160
 requests. I think there's only one that I've seen move forward with

220
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 implementation. It's one of the data centers. They aren't zero escaping

221
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:27,560
 everything, but they're doing permanent irrigation on their landscape beds and

222
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 irrigating their trees. But turf, they're putting in native seed, and then they're

223
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 going to temporarily irrigate that to establishment. And then after

224
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,920
 that's established, there will be no turf irrigation at that point. Great, thanks

225
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:48,080
 pretty much. So the initial site inventory, those are

226
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:53,280
 self-reported numbers, right? Whenever a developer's looking at a plat and it's

227
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:58,880
 reported to... They have to be verified or collected by the

228
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:05,520
 DDC professional. So if I don't have a verification on their profession that's

229
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:10,560
 related to the DDC, I will kick the plans back and not accept them. So it either

230
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,960
 has to be a certified arborist, an urban forester, a landscape architect, or a land

231
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,400
 surveyor with tree identification. And each of those positions, are they all

232
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 under say like a standardized certification? Because I know for some

233
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 you could be under ISA, but for an urban forester, I didn't know that that was a

234
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:34,320
 criteria we had. I don't see them submitted or reviewed by an urban

235
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 forester. It's an option in the DDC, but if let's say there's a violation and

236
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 they're contesting what I'm telling them is a violation, I say please hire an ISA

237
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,400
 certified arborist to verify what you're telling me is correct. And if they

238
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:53,680
 provide that, I'll look into it professionally and get their response.

239
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:59,520
 But yes we have professionals, ISA, they have to verify it. It has to be on the

240
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,920
 plan saying I'm responsible for identifying the accurate information on

241
00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:08,560
 this site. So if there's incongruencies with what you might inspect on site and

242
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,080
 what they've reported, are those rectified in the development process or is

243
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:21,480
 there like a keep that happens immediately? Yes, that's actually happened before. So if I see a site and I am concerned the

244
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:26,240
 data is not accurate, I will ask them about that during the review process and

245
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:33,840
 ask for clarification on the methods that were used to collect the data.

246
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:41,960
 So then during the development process you said is it standard for three times

247
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,880
 for your office to inspect the site or is that the average that you shoot for?

248
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:52,400
 Usually they're off-site inspections, so I look at aerial photography because

249
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,280
 there's just so much development coming in. We have to be delicate with our

250
00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:02,040
 time and where it's being used. Usually I get on site. Sometimes during the

251
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,160
 development review they'll invite you on site and ask you whatever questions

252
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,380
 that they have, but typically inspections happen whenever things

253
00:22:10,380 --> 00:22:15,680
 approved and we're doing tree fencing inspections, but what I think your

254
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,560
 concern is coming from is is the data accurate and are we approving things

255
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:30,800
 that should be approved, right? So we have to trust the professionals that are

256
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,080
 submitting the plans. If they're not providing that professional certification

257
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:39,760
 then we can kick it back and not accept the plans, but we can't contest every

258
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:45,160
 single project because it's not possible and then you're also overriding their

259
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:51,160
 professional certification. So you can you can't contest everything. You have to

260
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:57,000
 trust the system and their professionalism with their license, but if

261
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,560
 there's a concern that maybe there was some misinterpretation, you can question

262
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:07,560
 it and then you can try to clarify the issue. What would you see as a proper

263
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,320
 process given you're working with limited staff and limited time when a

264
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 site violation does exist? Is it encouraged for residents to report or

265
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:21,600
 is it better for you to engage from the office in that process? Oh I love

266
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:27,160
 when citizens tell me what's going on. It's helpful. It's our community. I

267
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:32,560
 appreciate their involvement. Like the one example that you saw, they understood

268
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:37,680
 that something strange was happening and they notified staff and that caused a

269
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,760
 chain of reaction for us to take action. Because we can't be everywhere at once.

270
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,960
 If there's something happening we definitely welcome. Sorry rolling

271
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:52,680
 through. Post-project violations like the last example that you showed where you

272
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,800
 often expect up to three years outright or at least they're supposed to ensure

273
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 that their mitigation survives up till then. When you have an issue like the

274
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,180
 image on the right where it's years after potentially development, how are

275
00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:09,380
 those situations rectified where it was, I'm going to use the word, the fault of the

276
00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:14,560
 developer that a mitigate or a preserve tree ended up dying. How is that

277
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,280
 situation resolved in the long run so far as it relates to mitigation of the tree?

278
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,520
 Yes that's a good question. We look at the code, which code was it adopted under

279
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 and what we can enforce. Because it is 2019 we might not have that enforcement

280
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:33,640
 with the older code. So we look at all aspects of the project, what was reviewed,

281
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:39,080
 what code it falls under. So if this had happened, let's say under the 2019 code,

282
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:46,240
 we would reach out to the property owner and try to rectify the situation. Final question.

283
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:51,880
 When it's a city project and we're working on city lands or city easement

284
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:59,560
 and the city contractor has a violation, we're already paying them. Do they pay us

285
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:04,580
 back in the tree fund for say mortality that they didn't anticipate or an issue

286
00:25:04,580 --> 00:25:09,320
 like the image on the left where the contractor may have not fully understood

287
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:13,600
 what our criteria was for preservation. How are those issues when it's our own

288
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:18,920
 people in a sense? The code still applies to them. We do have provisions in the code

289
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:24,380
 that if it's for public improvements or enhancements of roadway infrastructure

290
00:25:24,380 --> 00:25:29,960
 they can be exempt from the tree code for that sort of use. So it just depends

291
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,960
 on the situation. If it's going in for sewer line that has to happen, it's sort of

292
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:38,240
 multiple communities. There's not much we can do about it. They're protected in our

293
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:43,600
 code. But if there are solutions where we can avoid the removal of the tree, we're

294
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:53,240
 going to try to pursue that. Thank you so much. One question. What the heck happened in 2020 that there was almost a million others?

295
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:58,400
 I wish I could tell you that but I wasn't here when that happened. Nobody talks

296
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:04,960
 about that. That's such an outlier relative to everything else. Yes I cannot

297
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:13,520
 speak to that. I started in October of last year, so 2021. I'm seeing some head

298
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:19,200
 shakes. I'm not sure. A bunch of violations. I mean is that what that's telling us?

299
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:23,240
 I think it might be telling us there was more development because as more of

300
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,320
 these projects get approved and start going, it's a combination. It's not

301
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:31,120
 always violations. It's the final flat and the projects coming through. So some

302
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:37,440
 of these projects, I've seen people $1,000. I've seen people owe $200,000.

303
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,920
 So it just depends on the type of projects that are moving forward and

304
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,560
 going through construction at that time. That may have been a year where there

305
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:50,960
 was way more construction than we saw in the previous years. It may also have been old

306
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:57,360
 growth forest just cut like you know like a lot of bigger trees.

307
00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:08,800
 Sorry. I just have just one too. Why why the 30% number? I guess I'm asking

308
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:14,080
 because this is so the city's developing rapidly. You can imagine someday where

309
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:19,720
 we're built out as it were. Does the city have a goal to have a

310
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,720
 certain, like if you can count all the DBH and all the trees now, do we want to

311
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:30,280
 stay at that same number? Do we want to have an acceptable percentage less than

312
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:35,040
 that in the future? Do we want to grow that? Like what is the goal and is the 30%

313
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:40,400
 number designed to get us there? Or is that just what's legally we can get away

314
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:46,440
 with? I believe legally that could be something you guys appear to. It could be

315
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:55,360
 legally or it's what council put before us in the code. Haley can speak to that.

316
00:27:55,360 --> 00:28:01,120
 Yeah when we were updating the tree code, that's right on the microphone, when we

317
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:06,200
 went through the tree code update in 2019 we were looking at trying to balance all

318
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,040
 the factors. So obviously we have our landscaping requirements that are higher

319
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,320
 than a lot of other cities. Our tree preservation was already significantly

320
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:16,080
 more than other cities so we didn't we couldn't make a drastic jump from where

321
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,560
 we were in our 02 code which averaged from like 10 to 20 percent depending on

322
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,840
 the site. But we did want to increase that amount that was council's desire. So

323
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,280
 we looked at what the recommended amount of tree coverage for our area is which

324
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:32,080
 based on our ecosystem was anywhere from 20 to 40 percent depending on what part

325
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,840
 of the city you were in and what ecoregion that was within. So the 30%

326
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,440
 was a good balance where we felt like we were we were marginally increasing our

327
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:44,240
 requirements that are to be quite honest already much higher than other cities in

328
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,680
 the area and tend to get questioned and challenged a lot more because of that. So

329
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,560
 we wanted to to get to a number that was an increase but not a drastic increase.

330
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,680
 So 30% was that balance that council ended on at that time.

331
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,680
 Interesting. Thank you.

332
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:03,000
 Yeah I was gonna it used to be 20% it could go down to 10% and so when we

333
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,640
 approved the new code we got it to 30% down to 20%. So it's a little bit of

334
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,640
 increase but I believe the overall canopy goal for the city is 30%. So I

335
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,120
 don't know with all the development if we're further away from that goal I

336
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:25,720
 think we were like 20% 40% so I don't know where we are on that goal.

337
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,320
 And I would have to look to Heywood and Michael for that answer but I know just

338
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,440
 based on as Colleen spoke to our landscape requirements combined with our

339
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,600
 tree code canopies increasing on all of these properties that we're seeing

340
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,520
 developing. So the trees might be small today but over time we will definitely

341
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:44,620
 get to a much higher tree canopy overall for the city. And if those die they need to be

342
00:29:44,620 --> 00:29:50,320
 replaced. So if they just go through and kill a bunch of them they have to be to

343
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:55,600
 be in compliance with code. You have a follow up? No I'm glad you said that because I there

344
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,800
 was a presentation a while back by our urban forester that showed actually the

345
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:05,520
 city is a tree maker like like the forest has grown as we've developed it

346
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,120
 seems like and it seems like that's what you're saying is going to happen. Yes

347
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,960
 if you think of an industrial site on the west side of town when they come in

348
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,760
 there may be just a handful of mosquitoes or something on the property

349
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,800
 because it's mostly been cattle land. We're requiring them to plant back at

350
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,680
 least enough trees to someday have at least 20% tree canopy coverage on that

351
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,840
 side at a minimum just based on their zoning district. So over time we'll see

352
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:34,600
 that increase but Heywood probably has that. So we do have an overall goal of 40%

353
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:40,960
 tree canopy and we did some some numbers looking at coal hunter development

354
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,920
 based on you know the tree canopy that's there now versus once the site is built

355
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:50,560
 out and the data showed out remember the numbers specifically that there would be

356
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:55,840
 an increase but it's also site dependent. Some sites you may go in and

357
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:00,800
 have 100% or near 100% tree canopy cover where you're never going to get 100% if

358
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,200
 you build something there because you at least have that building footprint and

359
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:10,560
 the area that you're developing. The other thing to keep in mind is the coal

360
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:16,160
 preserves based on diameter of the wrench which there isn't a direct link or

361
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:23,080
 correspondence to canopy size. It's not a linear progression. In some cases once

362
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:27,160
 the tree gets a certain size the canopy will actually start to shrink a little as

363
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:35,080
 the tree gets you know towards the downside of this life cycle. So

364
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:40,400
 hope that helps to answer and clarify a little bit. While you're here I have a

365
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:44,040
 question for you. So on the landmark trees we heard that there's not a lot

366
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:49,400
 but I know that as development is increasing there's a lot more old growth

367
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:54,920
 forests that are going to be developed. Have you or anybody do they recommend to

368
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,240
 the developers like this should be a landmark tree and like give them

369
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:05,920
 information on the process or is that like out of our? So for example the DPS

370
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,480
 site calling reference I was the one that reviewed those plans when it came

371
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:12,280
 in and they were struggling to meet tree code so we sat down and reviewed the

372
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,000
 plans in detail with them and saw I can't remember the inches of the tree it's like

373
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:22,440
 27 or it was a significantly size poster so I was like hey looking at the state

374
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,480
 database you probably qualify for landmark tree if you do this you're

375
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,400
 going to get a little more credit and it can help offset because they were having

376
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:32,800
 to plant a forest of trees back on site to meet our landscape requirements. So we

377
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:35,840
 have those negotiations with them where possible when we see those trees that it

378
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,800
 looks like could be a good candidate for that but ultimately it is the property

379
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,400
 owner who has to agree to designate and in that case they were amenable to doing

380
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:50,600
 that. Okay well that's good to know. And my last question is as far as dead trees is

381
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:59,200
 that up to the citizens or is there a a way for the city to go out and like

382
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,280
 within that three years if there's a lot of trees that are dead on a new

383
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:08,560
 development how is that enforced and who finds those I mean I know that with the

384
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,760
 drought I've seen lots of little trees that are dead so like how does that

385
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:20,360
 process work? Are these new plantings or preserved plantings? New plantings. Okay

386
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:26,280
 I think we could have code enforcement go out and I would wait till it's a good

387
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,440
 time of year to plant at least but you can give them the notification and we

388
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,560
 would work with them on replacing that but I think that's something we can get

389
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:40,520
 building inspections on our code enforcement into. So that's recorded? Yeah so I think there are

390
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,480
 ways that we can enforce that to make sure that's get replaced. All right awesome

391
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:51,040
 thank you. Anybody else have any questions? I appreciate the presentation. Thank you

392
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,840
 all for coming today.

393
00:33:53,840 --> 00:34:12,800
 We will move on to our next item. Item C. Receive a report, hold a discussion and

394
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:17,020
 give staff feedback on sustainability framework metrics and implementation

395
00:34:17,020 --> 00:34:19,920
 tracking dashboards.

396
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:27,640
 Good afternoon committee members. I'm James Subliss the conservation programs

397
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:33,080
 coordinator. So today we wanted to review with you an internal dashboard that we

398
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:38,320
 have been using to make sure that the sustainability framework is on track and

399
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:43,880
 that we are working in progress all of those goals strategies and metrics that

400
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:48,560
 are included. So today we'll go through a quick background of the sustainability

401
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:53,200
 framework and also how the dashboard functions. Some of the details related to

402
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:57,160
 that. We'll do a quick demonstration with the dashboard and then we will take some

403
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:04,080
 next steps some feedback and we will go through that. So again the purpose of the

404
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,360
 framework so this is a guiding document that allows the city to be a sustainable

405
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,960
 community that improves the environment and utilizes resources in ways that are

406
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:15,080
 fiscally and socially responsible and its implementation is also the charge of

407
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:21,000
 this committee. So kind of an important document there. It's got eight key focus

408
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,960
 areas, 66 goals and strategies which are the general principles and methods that

409
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,800
 showcase progress for the framework itself and then we have 36 metrics and

410
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:35,440
 those metrics help to track whether those goals and strategies are making

411
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:40,240
 good progress. Again as the sustainability framework advisory

412
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:45,480
 committee progress and metrics tracking will ensure that we are staying on the

413
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,200
 path with the implementation of the framework. Areas of improvement can be

414
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:53,800
 easily identified internally as we review this and areas of success can be

415
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:59,160
 highlighted and replicated. So some things to note during the dashboard

416
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,040
 demonstration for the goals and strategies you'll see four different

417
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:08,920
 categories those are ongoing, incomplete, in progress and complete and so ongoing

418
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,760
 that just means that the language surrounding that goal or strategy

419
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:16,860
 implies that there's not necessarily a completion something like continue to

420
00:36:16,860 --> 00:36:20,760
 improve the efficiency of city buildings or energy efficiency so that's something

421
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,560
 that's always going to be an ongoing goal as a part of that framework. The

422
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,840
 ones that are a little bit more binary have that set completion threshold

423
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:33,160
 associated with them will be designated as either incomplete or complete if

424
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:37,480
 steps have been taken on those items they will be noted as in progress but

425
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:41,800
 maybe they haven't reached quite the goal that was set out. With the metrics

426
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:47,880
 the metrics are a year-over-year metric so when we look at 2019 it is in

427
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:52,480
 relationship to the year before so those metrics are either designated as

428
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:58,280
 improved or declined if it is the same and there's no change and then it's

429
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,520
 possible that with some of the more recent years the data is not available

430
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:07,160
 and so that designation is in there as well. With that I will pull up the

431
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:14,600
 dashboard real quick. Again this is just for our internal review so far so you

432
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,160
 can see all of the different key focus areas there on the left-hand side one

433
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:23,360
 through eight and all of the different years so we'll start here with some of

434
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:27,960
 the goals and strategies. As you can see a good portion of the goals and

435
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:36,260
 strategies are ongoing and so the 25% of goals and strategies here you can see

436
00:37:36,260 --> 00:37:41,440
 are really going to be the ones that change over time so as we move from 2019

437
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,680
 to 2020 you can see some of those movements in progress and as we go here

438
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,600
 in 2021 we're moving more of those items into the complete in progress

439
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:56,200
 categories. We can also if we have questions about where we're at on

440
00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:02,780
 certain items we can go ahead and sort by whatever key focus area that is and

441
00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:07,240
 we can get a quick glimpse so if we are talking to other departments or

442
00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:12,920
 anything like that we can get a quick sense of where everything is at. Very

443
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,140
 similar here with the metrics so just to give you kind of an example here so

444
00:38:17,140 --> 00:38:22,840
 we'll go into the energy and energy conservation and efficiency. So for 2020

445
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,840
 we saw year-over-year improvement in every single one of those metrics which

446
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:32,480
 was great to see and so once again that's a comparison to 2019. As we move

447
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,680
 into 2020 we had a slight decline or 2021 we had a slight decline in the

448
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,120
 number of participants in the rebate program and we had a slight decline in

449
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:46,040
 our internal energy consumption numbers. So once again just a really good way to

450
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:50,960
 kind of if we have an internal question about something go and give a check on

451
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,480
 that here in our dashboard.

452
00:38:56,040 --> 00:39:10,040
 So for our next steps we want to continue to update the dashboard in

453
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,960
 terms of our 2022 numbers which will be going in here in the fall and as we

454
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:18,680
 move through January and complete the 2022 calendar year. We're also going to

455
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:22,120
 consider options to utilize this dashboard as a virtual counterpart to

456
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,400
 the written document itself. It sort of functions that way for us internally.

457
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,080
 One thing that we do want to make sure that we're doing for some of those

458
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:33,400
 ongoing goals and strategies is that each year we're keeping track of what

459
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:39,440
 items what achievements have gone into those ongoing activities and basically

460
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,560
 what action items are we taking to improve those and typically they will

461
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,160
 be reflected in the metrics so we can attribute some of those action items as

462
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:52,440
 we see those change as well. So pretty quick overview but with that I will take

463
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:59,560
 any questions that you might have. So I'm just curious if we there would be any

464
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:04,120
 value in adding absolute numbers where it's possible say like change in

465
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:09,200
 renewable energy for D&E would be like an absolute value once right knowing not just a

466
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:14,280
 percentage of change but what value we started and where we went to. Sure and we

467
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:18,240
 do have that information I think this is a quick look of did it increase or did

468
00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:21,880
 it decline so that we can sort in that way so we can identify okay this year

469
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:26,600
 maybe this is what our priorities are at a glance. So all of the absolute

470
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,720
 values are in there and that's something that if we build it out a little bit

471
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:33,240
 more we could include as a part of that rather than just the relative change in

472
00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:38,560
 the percentage. Just one other one it seems like we're making some good

473
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:43,440
 progress in a lot of these key areas I'm just curious I know obviously this would

474
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,840
 be for internal use but if we're proud of our progress is there some way to

475
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:51,200
 highlight what we do have ongoing where we have progressed in some areas and in

476
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:55,840
 other words publicizing some of the elements of this that would be a tool

477
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:59,640
 online perhaps for residents to look at. Yeah absolutely so I think this one

478
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,920
 functions really well for our internal uses I think that we'll probably design

479
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,560
 something very similar or even if it's just a posting you know what I mean of

480
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,440
 the 2022 2022 highlights for example we could do something like an annual report

481
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,560
 that would be a little bit more publicly digestible and I think that's really the

482
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:20,840
 next step with us. Thank you. Anybody else? Adam? Just a quick question that was one of my questions so

483
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:26,600
 thank you. The data you're capturing is going to be really broad because it

484
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,240
 applies to a whole bunch of things the cities have going on so for example the

485
00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:35,320
 40% tree canopy cover we just talked about is something that would be tracked

486
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:39,400
 here. Yes correct. I just want to get a sense of the scope of this. Yeah and for the

487
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,800
 metrics it really helps us kind of put everything under one roof so that we you

488
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:46,760
 know every year we're making sure that we're going out to those departments

489
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,520
 that may be the the holders of that data and we're centralizing you know what's

490
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:55,760
 important to the framework. Does council have access to this or

491
00:41:55,760 --> 00:42:00,800
 or people who advise council on decisions so that like does this feed

492
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:06,600
 into informing decision-making? So right now this is our essentially our internal

493
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,720
 tracking of the framework and the results can be exported in any number of

494
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:15,120
 ways as we just reported to committee on the environment earlier this week and so

495
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,320
 they got a snapshot of some of the results of and I think that will be the

496
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:25,120
 process that that continues in. So what you're saying is that this dashboard as

497
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:31,120
 it is with the information it now contains will not be accessible through

498
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:37,320
 the sustainability website? In its current format correct. Yeah what do you

499
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:45,000
 envision how do you envision putting it on the website? I imagine that like I

500
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:49,920
 said I think that an annual report is going to be in the works and a next step

501
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,360
 that comes out of this especially now that it is easily housed. Is there a

502
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:58,600
 reason for keeping it internal like this? I think it's purely a functionality item.

503
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:03,120
 What are you meaning what? So just if there's a bit of a learning curve with

504
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,920
 sorting through some of this and so we would want something that would be a

505
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,800
 little bit more a little bit more friendly and public-facing. Okay then I

506
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:19,920
 would really be happy if a public a dashboard for public consumption, current

507
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:25,640
 not just a year end, but I think something that could be posted that the

508
00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:30,040
 public could access so that and you could put in there check out these

509
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:36,000
 highlights here's what we're doing because it's a it's amazing it's an

510
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:41,400
 amazing organizational tool and I think people need to know about it because if

511
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:48,400
 they do they'll take advantage of it and know what you guys are all about.

512
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:54,240
 I actually agree with that because a lot of people are seeing a lot of

513
00:43:54,240 --> 00:44:01,640
 development change. A lot of development is clearing initially and the trees will come up and it's depressing.

514
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:07,360
 And so if you see things like this it tells us that we're doing something in

515
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:15,960
 the city other than just stripping off the surface and putting out a track housing thing, it tells us we're doing something else.

516
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:25,440
 So I think the more people can access this type of information for our city the better.

517
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:33,440
 I also had on my notes that I think this would be great information to share on

518
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:38,440
 the sustainability web page and then hearing you talk about how it might not

519
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:46,080
 be in our usual usable interface. I do think don't we have an open data page or

520
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:50,480
 we used to a long time ago where something like this might be implemented

521
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:58,160
 a little bit easier in that. I know that several years ago we did and it was

522
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,400
 maintained and it was it was user friendly like we could go to it. It was

523
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:06,680
 something separate from the city of Denton but it was an open data.

524
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:14,680
 There was a metrics database that was very simple with the arrows and the yellow and the red.

525
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:19,200
 I'd like to be able to build this in a way where we can share most of the data

526
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:25,680
 but maybe not have as many clicks to get to each of the important pieces right so

527
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:32,640
 well I I think it would be fantastic to see the goals that we're moving towards

528
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:38,200
 and how you know how we're progressing but I did have a question on say like

529
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:43,920
 here's an example the sustainability metrics greenhouse gas emissions for

530
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:49,040
 municipal government operations. Our target is just to reduce greenhouse

531
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:54,920
 gas emissions. There's no like number target or you know so how how do we see

532
00:45:54,920 --> 00:46:01,280
 or we just kind of like oh well they were reduced by like 0.5 percent yeah you

533
00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:06,680
 know what I mean like do we get to come through and kind of add to this a little

534
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:11,320
 bit more or? Well we've adopted the science-based target now which we didn't

535
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:17,240
 have when we adopted the 2020 plan so we can put more targets on that. We have the

536
00:46:17,240 --> 00:46:26,040
 community-wide reduction okay so we can tie back to those now so that okay so

537
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:31,760
 that is in your those community-based goals are in in your document they're

538
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:37,040
 not in this hard paper copy but we do have a goal now like a number goal. Right

539
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:42,000
 yeah for for example for the greenhouse gas emissions and as things update we

540
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:46,320
 can and really this I mean this is meant to pair with the document itself but we

541
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:51,520
 can certainly make those changes as they become more more relevant like that. Okay

542
00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:54,720
 I just want to make sure that that was overlapping you know that was

543
00:46:54,720 --> 00:47:01,600
 coordinating and then I just want to say this is great it shows that this just

544
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:06,920
 isn't an empty document you know like which a lot of things are so this is

545
00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:12,180
 really fantastic thank you and then maybe we could do an insert or in the

546
00:47:12,180 --> 00:47:18,760
 newsletter or something just to kind of overall highlight as you know while we're

547
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:27,520
 waiting for kind of just a snapshot of our annual update. Yeah it goes on this it gets me

548
00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:32,040
 thinking do we know how people receive information about the cities to

549
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:38,040
 standardize? Where are they getting this information? Where do we get this information?

550
00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:44,160
 You're on live TV. Yeah no I know that but it's like it's it's not in the DRC is it

551
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:49,200
 it's the city's web page is nice but it's hard to kind of navigate through

552
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:56,360
 that so you really got to look and I just I don't know maybe I'm just thinking

553
00:47:56,360 --> 00:48:01,200
 out loud it's a little bit off topic but it's like I I want to know this stuff

554
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:05,600
 right and I'm on this committee and I'm seeing this here but I want to know this

555
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,280
 as a citizen how these things are going on how do we how do we get that message

556
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:15,160
 out there? I think that's actually in another item coming up. Oh really? Okay good yes.

557
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:24,680
 Yeah yeah all right. Anybody have any questions about this one? Thank you JT.

558
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:31,640
 Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay we will move on to item D. Receive a report. Oh

559
00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:37,960
 that's what we just did isn't it? No.

560
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:43,760
 See okay so we see report hold the discussion and give staff feedback on

561
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:48,000
 action items and implementation strategies using current and future

562
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:55,120
 sustainability framework fund. We're going to jump up for this one, Catherine Barnett

563
00:48:55,120 --> 00:49:00,480
 sustainability manager and then JT is going to help take notes as we work through this one.

564
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:09,080
 Okay. I think everyone will help take notes as we work through this one. So just a little bit of background talk about the

565
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,800
 framework fund work plan and the progress then we'll go into some

566
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:18,080
 brainstorming and suggestions and if we need to we can pull up some of our staff

567
00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:24,880
 brainstorming to help us up with that discussion and feedback in next steps. So

568
00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:29,200
 just a little bit of background we know the framework was adopted in 2020 then

569
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:35,040
 we had this committee come on for their first meeting in May of 21. The work plan

570
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:41,040
 was approved March 22nd of 22. We've been working on that since it was adopted

571
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:48,320
 or approved by council and we have additional funding coming to 2022-2023

572
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:54,640
 of the year that we need to talk about. So here are the items from the framework

573
00:49:54,640 --> 00:49:59,840
 fund work plan that was approved by council. So the climate action plan is in

574
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:04,960
 process. We've had our kickoff meeting with that. Our air quality monitors are in

575
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:11,280
 procurement right now. It's open for proposals. Low-income weatherization. We

576
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:15,600
 are trying to get some other plans that we can compare to so we're not

577
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:21,800
 reinventing the wheel and trying to find data sources for some of our low-income

578
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:26,760
 programs where there's already verification process there that we don't

579
00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:32,520
 have to just completely start over. So I have some staff time on that and then the

580
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:38,360
 food fellows program is going to kick off in September with a compost class and

581
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:44,600
 then move into planting, gardening, herb gardening, just trying gardening for

582
00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:49,160
 everyone. So we'll work on that one and then we have started some alternative

583
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:53,280
 transportation education and we will work on that when it's not a hundred and

584
00:50:53,280 --> 00:51:00,840
 five degrees and people want to walk in. City fluid electrification. We have some

585
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:07,200
 hurdles there just due to supply issues. Rainwater capture and then the solar

586
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:11,160
 structures and efficiency upgrades are just taking a little bit longer to get

587
00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:18,840
 off the ground. So the climate action plan RFP was awarded July 19th. We had

588
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:25,120
 the kickoff on July 22nd and we had our engagement data and planning kickoff on

589
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:29,480
 the 11th of August. So moving pretty quickly right now we're still on target

590
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:37,240
 for a May/June deliverable. As I said the air quality monitors are in purchasing

591
00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:43,240
 and we're moving through the other two programs. So now we get to the fun part.

592
00:51:43,240 --> 00:51:51,960
 Brainstorming, where to spend up to four million dollars on sustainability projects next year.

593
00:51:51,960 --> 00:52:12,960
 We gave you the focus areas. We gave you the copy of the plan so you can refer to the focus areas and we want to open it up for discussion, ideas for projects that we could work on, anything that might fit under one of the eight focus areas.

594
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:24,800
 My initial thought is that once we get the climate action plan back, this would

595
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:34,240
 probably help us direct more specifics. So this is just kind of

596
00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:38,880
 brainstorming and eventually it might change when we get those. I think we

597
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:51,400
 can keep narrowing down because we get projects there that are more defined, maybe, for the climate action.

598
00:52:51,400 --> 00:53:03,400
 Sorry, the delivery on the climate action plan is for 2023. What month? May/June. So that's almost a year and a half.

599
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:09,400
 So lots of time to think about that. And Michael is edging over this way.

600
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:14,400
 I was going to say, yes. Come on up here, he's supposed to be.

601
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:22,400
 Michael Gotti, Director of Environmental Services and Sustainability. Just want to remind you, we're going to have the funds. They'll accrue next year as the funds come into the fund.

602
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:29,400
 So it's projected we might get to four million. We would like input from y'all on what we could do during next year with those funds.

603
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:39,400
 Knowing the climate action plan is coming, which will then refine some of that and the climate action plan should be timed excellent for the following year's work plan as well.

604
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:45,400
 So we're going to continue to have the fund. So there's things that y'all recommended this year that we didn't have funds for.

605
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:51,400
 You want to continue those and move those into next year or you want to go a different direction. We just want to hear your input.

606
00:53:51,400 --> 00:54:00,400
 The money could roll in kind of month by month. It could be larger slugs. It just kind of depends how it comes in. But it's projected to be up to four million next year.

607
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:14,400
 Can I ask you a question? Is there any possibility of any funds coming in from this recent bill that was passed, the IRA, with all the incentives in it that the city could take advantage of?

608
00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:25,400
 There are potentials there, yes, and we are looking at that. I don't have any perfect details on that. This would be a separate, in a sense, separate pot of money to do other things with that we're here watching.

609
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:29,400
 Great. You could keep us updated on that. That would be great. Thanks.

610
00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:31,400
 Thank you all.

611
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:41,400
 I would like to add more to transportation, biking infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, put some more money towards that for sure.

612
00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:52,400
 I know sidewalks, I think that supplemental to the city budget would be helpful.

613
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:53,400
 Any ideas?

614
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:56,400
 I also had some ideas on transportation.

615
00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:57,400
 Go ahead.

616
00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:06,400
 Some of it related to, kind of on the same strand as our alternative education program, but like an adult cycling training course.

617
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:21,400
 Just because I know there's a lot of barriers that that was never part of your childhood when you have the flexibility to make mistakes and mess up, but as an adult in reality, if you're not already educated on how to operate a bike, it can be a really intimidating burden.

618
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:41,400
 So I'm just curious if there is perhaps a local partnership maybe with the folks at Bike Denton, where we could partner some of those fundings to have a class specifically for that, as well as like fund things like if you are in early childhood development courses for younger children as well that we could go through the city, I think would be really fun.

619
00:55:41,400 --> 00:55:53,400
 And then second, also under transportation, perhaps also greenhouse gas management, since our number one emissions factors, those vehicle miles traveled, looking at alternative transportation.

620
00:55:53,400 --> 00:56:07,400
 Having been in Denver all summer, they have a really, really interesting bike rental program that's offered through the city that has qualifications and verifications to just ensure that their city resources are being allocated responsibly.

621
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:19,400
 But if you don't have the means to independently purchase your own bicycle, it was a really cool program where they give you one effectively, you rent it from them, almost like a library book.

622
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:29,400
 But kind of in the same vein, if that wasn't the direction we wanted to go, similar to how we do the solar rebate program, I'm curious if we could explore a bike rebate program.

623
00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:33,400
 I don't know if that would happen pre or post purchase, but just a couple ideas.

624
00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:43,400
 So just a question on the Denver program. So it wasn't one where there were the bikes around town, you had to go and apply and rent the bike from the city?

625
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:52,400
 It would not be another lying situation for Denton. Yeah, it was a, call it a city fleet that you would apply towards, and I can email you this link if that's great.

626
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:53,400
 That would be amazing.

627
00:56:53,400 --> 00:57:08,400
 And so you would rent effectively as the same you would from a public library of book, you would rent from the city, from their city bike fleet for an appropriate amount of time after you presented them some qualification documents like actually proving residency in the city, and they would loan you this bike.

628
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:20,400
 And I've seen that implemented in New York as well. So that was the program we could create, or again, the voucher rebate idea if you were to purchase a bike.

629
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:25,400
 We did a little bit of learning.

630
00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:28,400
 We have a loaner program.

631
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:31,400
 Years ago.

632
00:57:31,400 --> 00:57:41,400
 Wait, wait, sorry, I had a long flashback, but it was a city staff loaner program. And we have a bike shop over at the service center where we could work on.

633
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:54,400
 The PD helped us with bike maintenance. So, one of the things we're talking about is getting with the sustainable schools program bringing back, is it bike rodeo? Am I making that up? No, we get bike rodeo.

634
00:57:54,400 --> 00:58:04,400
 So, we could do an adult bike rodeo and a kids, you know, we used to set up at Collins and do the bike rodeo.

635
00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:23,400
 On this bike talk, if you set back up that center, people could bring their bikes that were broken or donated them and then they could, you know, be refurbished and keep them out of the landfills and, you know, give kids or adults bikes that can't afford them.

636
00:58:23,400 --> 00:58:34,400
 It's kind of like the bike repair clinic or even a bike repair room.

637
00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:44,400
 Similar to this education course is the how to actually repair and fix up your bike so it would be less of a cost burden if say it busted or the wheel fell off or whatever and you knew how to do that yourself.

638
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:48,400
 I would love that. I have a broken bike right now.

639
00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:50,400
 Anybody else?

640
00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:58,400
 Yeah, this isn't about bikes.

641
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:02,400
 Something like, I'd like to say brainstorming.

642
00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:08,400
 I don't know if DME wants to go into the battery charging business.

643
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:23,400
 But I could see city-sponsored or city-owned charging stations at city facilities.

644
00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:35,400
 And especially with the projection of EV ownership, as we're all aware of, how that is going to become the norm.

645
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:49,400
 And this ties in also with municipal projects like solar structures actually having parking lots, city parking lots that have solar screens that feed into battery chargers.

646
00:59:49,400 --> 00:59:59,400
 So, I mean, just looking down the road a little bit but we know what's coming and I think this should certainly be part of the discussion.

647
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:03,400
 It also ties in with city fleet electrification too.

648
01:00:03,400 --> 01:00:13,400
 City is going to have to have battery chargers for its own vehicles so perhaps that program could be expanded to the public as well.

649
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:27,400
 Yeah, I think if you look into the structures like in the city hall parking lot or the operations parking lot that has the solar on top, maybe we could help purchase some of those around.

650
01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:33,400
 Or even put a couple of fast chargers, you know, like one at the library or one, I don't even know.

651
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:39,400
 I guess it would have to be a partnership with DME but we could look into that.

652
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:45,400
 And there are a couple of chargers going in this week at the development services building.

653
01:00:45,400 --> 01:00:53,400
 And then I know that there's a grant out for a fast charger and I think a level two.

654
01:00:53,400 --> 01:01:00,400
 This could be another IRA component too.

655
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:21,400
 And I mean, as far as reducing waste and food waste, there was a program, I forget what city it is, that they handed out food processors, like free to homeowners to help reduce the food waste.

656
01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:32,400
 So I know we want to encourage composting but maybe not everybody wants to do it or they don't have a place to do it.

657
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:39,400
 But they could, you know, have a food processor to help the waste go instead of.

658
01:01:39,400 --> 01:01:41,400
 Oh, the garbage disposal?

659
01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:42,400
 Yeah.

660
01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:43,400
 Okay.

661
01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:45,400
 Yeah, I'm saying food processing, sorry.

662
01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:47,400
 What are we making?

663
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:48,400
 Sorry.

664
01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:49,400
 Garbage disposal.

665
01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:50,400
 That's right.

666
01:01:50,400 --> 01:01:52,400
 I read down that and I just kept reading it.

667
01:01:52,400 --> 01:01:54,400
 No, no, no, that's good, that's good.

668
01:01:54,400 --> 01:01:57,400
 You're like, she's gone insane.

669
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:01,400
 There's a lot that goes in my salsa, but I don't know.

670
01:02:01,400 --> 01:02:02,400
 Sorry, garbage disposal.

671
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:03,400
 No, no, no, no, that's a great idea.

672
01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:04,400
 I like that.

673
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:05,400
 Yeah.

674
01:02:05,400 --> 01:02:06,400
 I'm trying to look at the topics up here.

675
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:12,400
 So water, water conservation, obviously needs to be in the forefront.

676
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:15,400
 Any, any suggestions for water conservation?

677
01:02:15,400 --> 01:02:21,400
 I had water down because we kind of left it out of the older goals.

678
01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:33,400
 Water conservation, something about aren't there gadgets you can put on your sprinklers to control how much?

679
01:02:33,400 --> 01:02:40,400
 Rain sensors and moisture meters for irrigation for lawns.

680
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:42,400
 Yeah.

681
01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:48,400
 I would like to look into having incentives for people to zero escape.

682
01:02:48,400 --> 01:03:00,400
 I mean, I'm already looking at tearing our lawn out and changing it up because it's, I don't want to even see my water bill.

683
01:03:00,400 --> 01:03:16,400
 And on Keep It Beautiful, you know how they hand out trees, maybe we could partner with them and hand out native plants instead of just trees that take a lot of water to establish.

684
01:03:16,400 --> 01:03:22,400
 Like just a native plant giveaway or something, drought tolerant.

685
01:03:22,400 --> 01:03:25,400
 Yeah, that would be a great, great campaign.

686
01:03:25,400 --> 01:03:35,400
 A lot of places look at doing that strip of land between the street and the sidewalk and incentivizing people to pull the lawn out of that area.

687
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:39,400
 Plant, butterfly nards and other things.

688
01:03:39,400 --> 01:03:46,400
 But we don't have enough sidewalks to do something about that sadly.

689
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:51,400
 But that's like another option.

690
01:03:51,400 --> 01:04:12,400
 Well, and to go along with our National Wildlife Community Certification, if we incentivized kind of your habitat, plants, a box similar to what AgriLife used to do with their butterfly garden box with all the plants you need to create your habitat.

691
01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:17,400
 Then it gives people a step ahead on that certification process as well.

692
01:04:17,400 --> 01:04:22,400
 Okay, native low water use.

693
01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:27,400
 I don't know how this would connect and it needs a lot more rainstorming, but kind of underwater, kind of our way of use.

694
01:04:27,400 --> 01:04:41,400
 I know in our development code we allow in stormwater swales for those to be vegetated with native vegetation and that those don't have to be managed in the same way that we would manage a lawn.

695
01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:49,400
 So I'm just wondering if there's, I don't know how often that gets adopted in someone's plan.

696
01:04:49,400 --> 01:04:51,400
 I've only seen it crop up in a handful of times.

697
01:04:51,400 --> 01:04:59,400
 Ryan High School did a project recently where they were redoing one of their drainages and decided to vegetate it with native vegetation.

698
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:12,400
 But only a handful of examples come to mind. I wonder if there's a way that we could encourage that route of water management a little bit more over just your turfed grass bio soils.

699
01:05:12,400 --> 01:05:20,400
 I'm not sure exactly how that relationship would look like because we can't require it without changing the code.

700
01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:32,400
 I think that's something that Colleen, it sounds like she would be in favor, so I think we made a new ally with Colleen.

701
01:05:32,400 --> 01:05:33,400
 She's nice.

702
01:05:33,400 --> 01:05:44,400
 She is, she is. So I think that that's something that we can talk to development services about and see what would it take for more developments to choose something like that.

703
01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:52,400
 If it's a cost burden or just an education burden that it's an option for them or what to do with it after you've installed it and how to manage it.

704
01:05:52,400 --> 01:06:00,400
 I'm not sure what the hurdles are. It's just strange to me that it's not taken up as much as it could be.

705
01:06:00,400 --> 01:06:20,400
 And have we, and we may do this, each department in the city, maybe if they have a copy of our goals and strategies and then they can kind of get back to us on what they think. Maybe they have an idea that they've wanted to do for a long time and haven't been able to because of restrictions.

706
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:37,400
 I think that would be helpful for us too if there's a list. They might think of something that we might not.

707
01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:55,400
 Also, you may, you're probably aware of this, but North Texas, a gentleman named Patel is their energy manager now. And they are, they have their own carbon inventory.

708
01:06:55,400 --> 01:07:06,400
 I'm working on the new one now, but they have two years passed, but they're starting their own discussion for a university climate action plan.

709
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:20,400
 So I think it would be good if we could include them in our dialogs in some cases as well because they seem to be on the same track.

710
01:07:20,400 --> 01:07:23,400
 Okay. And he's the energy manager?

711
01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:24,400
 Yeah, I'll send you his information.

712
01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:25,400
 Okay, that'd be great.

713
01:07:25,400 --> 01:07:27,400
 Yeah.

714
01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:42,400
 And so on water, too, we can talk to the other departments, talk to water and wastewater, and is there expanding plants and growing, what could we help them do to be more energy efficient?

715
01:07:42,400 --> 01:07:46,400
 And then at the same time, water conservation?

716
01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:58,400
 I'm kind of quiet because I don't know enough about what the other departments need, you know, or where money already exists to do some of this stuff.

717
01:07:58,400 --> 01:08:22,400
 Kind of like we were talking about with some of our first year projects where maybe we're paying an incremental cost. So maybe if drainage is going in and working on something, but then they weren't going to expand and take it outside of that drainage footprint. Maybe we do something to work on the areas along the drainage channel and improve that or restore that.

718
01:08:22,400 --> 01:08:47,400
 Definitely like that idea. If there's a chance to do restoration in some areas. And I'm looking at, depending on how well some of the things go that we had earlier, I mean, if they are very successful, like the low income weatherization, maybe adding more money to that.

719
01:08:52,400 --> 01:09:02,400
 And I think fleet, as more vehicles become available, that pot of money can grow.

720
01:09:02,400 --> 01:09:14,400
 And on fleet, I don't remember, does that include, because I know at one point, like, parks got an electric lawnmower. I mean, does that include all of those things that we can electrify?

721
01:09:14,400 --> 01:09:16,400
 Anything that would run through fleet.

722
01:09:16,400 --> 01:09:22,400
 Yes. And so they're all aware of that.

723
01:09:22,400 --> 01:09:42,400
 I think it's just the supply right now on the vehicles. What's out there doesn't necessarily match up with what was due for replacement right now. So conversation is happening with fleet to see how we can mesh things together to work a little better.

724
01:09:42,400 --> 01:09:58,400
 So energy, even when we're at 100% renewable, of course we want energy efficiency, because these summer bills this year, everybody was hurrying.

725
01:09:58,400 --> 01:10:01,400
 So the weatherization is going to be key to that.

726
01:10:01,400 --> 01:10:19,400
 Our audit and rebate program, which is funded separately, still is something that we're working towards. The rebates, you'll hear about a little bit about next week, but trying to keep up with inflation, too, with our rebates.

727
01:10:19,400 --> 01:10:28,400
 So talking about that, talking about how we can rethink our audit program in the future.

728
01:10:28,400 --> 01:10:39,400
 Did the rebates, speaking of rebates, did that money run out really quickly again for like windows and solar?

729
01:10:39,400 --> 01:10:42,400
 No, we still have funding in that program.

730
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:53,400
 The solar funds were deleted, but I think there's 110,000 left in the other part. That's what Tony told me.

731
01:10:53,400 --> 01:10:59,400
 Do we rebate for electric lawn equipment?

732
01:10:59,400 --> 01:11:01,400
 We do not yet.

733
01:11:01,400 --> 01:11:09,400
 That might be something we can add.

734
01:11:09,400 --> 01:11:11,400
 Anybody else?

735
01:11:11,400 --> 01:11:29,400
 On energy, does DME do anything with smart grid technology, for example, are there some places where people can have their thermostat effectively controlled, they can opt into it to modulate when there's high demand?

736
01:11:29,400 --> 01:11:31,400
 Do we have stuff like that?

737
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:44,400
 We do not currently have the demand management program for smart thermostats through DME. That is something that they've talked about with demand response in past conversations.

738
01:11:44,400 --> 01:11:49,400
 I don't know where we are with that right now. We can get DME. We can ask that question next week.

739
01:11:49,400 --> 01:12:03,400
 I'm wondering, because you're right, we have 100% renewable, at least kind of. We want to electrify more things so then we want to have a way to also decrease the demand on the grid, right?

740
01:12:03,400 --> 01:12:05,400
 Yes.

741
01:12:05,400 --> 01:12:10,400
 If we could play a role there, a small role.

742
01:12:10,400 --> 01:12:16,400
 On that note, do we give out or rebate for smart thermometers?

743
01:12:16,400 --> 01:12:17,400
 We do.

744
01:12:17,400 --> 01:12:45,400
 Okay. That is one of our rebates. We do electric vehicle rebate, HVAC, windows, insulation, ductwork. I don't know if there's a rebate for duct repairs. I'm forgetting something. I'm looking at JT. Which rebate did I forget?

745
01:12:45,400 --> 01:12:47,400
 Duct tape.

746
01:12:47,400 --> 01:13:15,400
 Maybe just as we increase the programs or add to it, just on that education and outreach, make sure that there's some funding that stays in there for that so that people know what's available to them.

747
01:13:15,400 --> 01:13:34,400
 And putting native plants back in and trying to make that area more of a natural habitat. So those could be some projects that could be tackled more quickly than some others that require all of our ramp up to build a program.

748
01:13:34,400 --> 01:13:37,400
 Would that be something you're interested in?

749
01:13:37,400 --> 01:14:03,400
 I know for our last round of recommendations we talked about participating in our public land acquisition fund that parks overseas. I just wonder, and I vocalize a little opposition there because it's just way beyond the scale of our budget, but I wonder if the energies and resources we're thinking about for that space could be directed into these more very limited timeline projects like the smaller restoration thing.

750
01:14:03,400 --> 01:14:13,400
 Kind of like the strip along the railroad off Colorado and Shady Oaks that parks just did that GOAT project on. Be an excellent candidate for something like a restoration project.

751
01:14:13,400 --> 01:14:17,400
 Okay. I'm trying to think about exactly where that is.

752
01:14:17,400 --> 01:14:19,400
 It's right across from Spencer Generating Plant.

753
01:14:19,400 --> 01:14:23,400
 Oh, okay. I was thinking about the goats on my heels, right?

754
01:14:23,400 --> 01:14:25,400
 That's right, yeah.

755
01:14:25,400 --> 01:14:27,400
 Different GOAT project.

756
01:14:27,400 --> 01:14:37,400
 And I mean, I think having a little sign like, you know, this restoration project was, you know, paid for by these funds so that people can see them being used.

757
01:14:37,400 --> 01:14:38,400
 Start making the connection.

758
01:14:38,400 --> 01:14:48,400
 In our community, yeah. And then it might trigger something in their head like, oh, I need to go find out what's going on.

759
01:14:48,400 --> 01:14:53,400
 I can look up all the stuff we're doing.

760
01:14:53,400 --> 01:15:01,400
 So anything else so far have been some of what we brainstormed on.

761
01:15:01,400 --> 01:15:04,400
 Go ahead.

762
01:15:04,400 --> 01:15:10,400
 Okay. So when we were talking about water, we were talking about irrigation classes and incentives.

763
01:15:10,400 --> 01:15:16,400
 One of the things we learned is a lot of folks move into a new home and they don't know how to control their sprinkler system.

764
01:15:16,400 --> 01:15:17,400
 They don't know how that controller works.

765
01:15:17,400 --> 01:15:34,400
 So some classes about that, increased natural habitat stormwater controls at city facilities, previous paving, reclaimed water reuse, and then the ice swim support and stormwater impact reduction projects.

766
01:15:34,400 --> 01:15:36,400
 So I think we kind of touched on most of that.

767
01:15:36,400 --> 01:15:40,400
 This is just a little more fleshed out maybe.

768
01:15:40,400 --> 01:15:49,400
 But if these are things that kind of build in with what we were talking about with water, then we can build, mesh that all together with the notes.

769
01:15:49,400 --> 01:15:59,400
 Yeah. On the previous paving, how would, where would that be implemented and how? Would that like the development services department or?

770
01:15:59,400 --> 01:16:03,400
 It could be the development services. It could be on city projects.

771
01:16:03,400 --> 01:16:05,400
 Okay.

772
01:16:05,400 --> 01:16:10,400
 You know, we've seen some really great purviews paving and some not so great.

773
01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:11,400
 Right. Yeah. Yeah.

774
01:16:11,400 --> 01:16:18,400
 So some best practices maybe that we can demonstrate on city projects to try to get the development community to buy in.

775
01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:20,400
 Okay.

776
01:16:20,400 --> 01:16:24,400
 What are some of the like irrigation classes and incentives?

777
01:16:24,400 --> 01:16:29,400
 I mean, incentives go to people to change their habits.

778
01:16:29,400 --> 01:16:36,400
 Classes require people to, I guess they could do it. You could do everything online. It requires them kind of buying into that.

779
01:16:36,400 --> 01:16:41,400
 Unless there's more outreach with irrigation.

780
01:16:41,400 --> 01:16:46,400
 So I believe we did two irrigation classes this year so far.

781
01:16:46,400 --> 01:16:57,400
 You know, and maybe it's encouraging folks to learn how to install drip irrigation instead of the sprinkler heads and moving more to that type of system.

782
01:16:57,400 --> 01:17:04,400
 And then just learning about their controller and then how to water their yard where rather than soaking it, you know,

783
01:17:04,400 --> 01:17:12,400
 and everything running off after doing a 10 minute zone, you know, do it a couple of times and not as frequently throughout the week.

784
01:17:12,400 --> 01:17:16,400
 So there's just different methods depending on your soil.

785
01:17:16,400 --> 01:17:28,400
 And we provide for engaging other tools in those classes. But it could be a virtual class, it could be an in-person class.

786
01:17:28,400 --> 01:17:35,400
 And then maybe work with someone in town that have a rebate for some of the supplies.

787
01:17:35,400 --> 01:17:40,400
 Have we ever done virtual classes for irrigation?

788
01:17:40,400 --> 01:17:42,400
 I believe one.

789
01:17:42,400 --> 01:17:49,400
 Okay. I just wonder if that's something that maybe we partner with DTV and we record it once.

790
01:17:49,400 --> 01:17:54,400
 And you know, it's something that could be available online for people because I know obviously with class attendance as if anything,

791
01:17:54,400 --> 01:18:00,400
 it's very scheduled and lifestyle driven that it's difficult to get people to come out to participate.

792
01:18:00,400 --> 01:18:06,400
 But I just wonder having something as like a resource posted would be really easily accessible when, okay, I'm at my house.

793
01:18:06,400 --> 01:18:10,400
 I'm looking at my controller right now. I could pull up something.

794
01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:15,400
 It would just be if we're already doing classes in person, it might be worth the time to build it.

795
01:18:15,400 --> 01:18:22,400
 That would be like the composting. If there was like a bunch of things available.

796
01:18:22,400 --> 01:18:29,400
 I meet so many people who are like, I live in a new house, I know nothing about landscaping or growing plants.

797
01:18:29,400 --> 01:18:38,400
 So they just resort to whatever else, which is mow grass and water grass. That's it. That's it.

798
01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:49,400
 So I think that's a great idea for us or for the department to partnership with DTV on some of these

799
01:18:49,400 --> 01:18:58,400
 main issues that somebody may want to look up on their own in their own time for information.

800
01:18:58,400 --> 01:19:05,400
 If somebody wants to volunteer their house and their sprinkler system.

801
01:19:05,400 --> 01:19:15,400
 I'm willing. So we did have the electric landscape equipment incentives as an idea.

802
01:19:15,400 --> 01:19:23,400
 Would that just apply to homeowners? Because a lot of that equipment is being used by landscapers.

803
01:19:23,400 --> 01:19:29,400
 So that's where you make the difference is that you get those guys to go electric.

804
01:19:29,400 --> 01:19:36,400
 One of the ones who are doing 90 percent of the mowing, blowing, edging and weeding in the city.

805
01:19:36,400 --> 01:19:41,400
 That's a total gap. That's why I see it.

806
01:19:41,400 --> 01:19:49,400
 There is a lot of that. I think we would just have to find a way to make sure that equipment

807
01:19:49,400 --> 01:19:55,400
 was being used in the city of Denton primarily. So if we could have some type of verification.

808
01:19:55,400 --> 01:20:00,400
 If it's a local company. If it's a local company. Right.

809
01:20:00,400 --> 01:20:04,400
 I mean, we know a lot of the landscapers in town, but they're always changing.

810
01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:13,400
 So we can ask about that and then make it something that we work with our contractors to ask that they use electric equipment.

811
01:20:13,400 --> 01:20:20,400
 I think it might be a higher priority to just ensure at first city departments or contractors

812
01:20:20,400 --> 01:20:26,400
 who are doing landscaping that we can replace or as things come up for replacement.

813
01:20:26,400 --> 01:20:31,400
 Encourage them to adopt an electric vehicle or equipment.

814
01:20:31,400 --> 01:20:38,400
 And that might be almost more of a demonstration and that might also encourage more uptake from businesses.

815
01:20:38,400 --> 01:20:45,400
 I just think it might get messy if we're trying to, might look weird if we're giving money to businesses.

816
01:20:45,400 --> 01:20:49,400
 Versus incentivizing residents to purchase equipment. I think it's a whole different category.

817
01:20:49,400 --> 01:20:56,400
 But I would love to see all city vehicles and equipment first being electrified before we start talking about something else.

818
01:20:56,400 --> 01:21:00,400
 We're in Texas giving money to businesses.

819
01:21:00,400 --> 01:21:06,400
 I just added that one way you can do that with the businesses is you can incentivize the person hiring the company

820
01:21:06,400 --> 01:21:11,400
 to where we offset the cost of that service if they can verify and confirm they're using electric.

821
01:21:11,400 --> 01:21:16,400
 That way we're actually giving it back to the folks in Denton instead of directly to the business.

822
01:21:16,400 --> 01:21:23,400
 Sounds good.

823
01:21:23,400 --> 01:21:30,400
 Alright. And I love my electric lawnmower. It is awesome.

824
01:21:30,400 --> 01:21:34,400
 I recommend that.

825
01:21:34,400 --> 01:21:39,400
 So facility fund support for energy, water conservation and management.

826
01:21:39,400 --> 01:21:50,400
 Internal facilities still bring improvement on our internal facilities. We know that through our tracking and management.

827
01:21:50,400 --> 01:21:57,400
 So land use. I mentioned this a little bit with restoration, walking trails.

828
01:21:57,400 --> 01:22:02,400
 A little bit more of a scenic stroll type of environment where you've got some shade.

829
01:22:02,400 --> 01:22:06,400
 We've talked about that before where nobody wants to walk on the sidewalk.

830
01:22:06,400 --> 01:22:13,400
 It's 105 degrees right next to the street so we can get them off into the green space with some trees.

831
01:22:13,400 --> 01:22:20,400
 Maybe a surface that isn't concrete.

832
01:22:20,400 --> 01:22:28,400
 I think that would be something that we would all like to see including the green infrastructure with drainage.

833
01:22:28,400 --> 01:22:37,400
 NWF community support. I mentioned the boxes for PAPTAP, pollinator way station, pocket prairies, tree rescue.

834
01:22:37,400 --> 01:22:44,400
 Anything that we can do along those lines I think fits in with what we've talked about today.

835
01:22:44,400 --> 01:22:51,400
 Is there anything else that jogs something for you in land use?

836
01:22:51,400 --> 01:22:55,400
 Anybody?

837
01:22:55,400 --> 01:23:08,400
 I guess the only thing I can think of and I think it's already being addressed is that Parks was talking about plantings to stop the erosion.

838
01:23:08,400 --> 01:23:18,400
 Like in Avondale where the banks have just collapsed and there's actually hazard fence up.

839
01:23:18,400 --> 01:23:28,400
 Keep people from going over the precipice. But that might go in with the green infrastructure in terms of the drainage.

840
01:23:28,400 --> 01:23:34,400
 They restore some of the riparian habitat.

841
01:23:34,400 --> 01:23:36,400
 Is that all the drainage area there?

842
01:23:36,400 --> 01:23:38,400
 Yeah.

843
01:23:38,400 --> 01:23:49,400
 Like after this rain storm when the level goes up it just rips it up because there's no trees in that particular part. There's no root systems to hold the soil in.

844
01:23:49,400 --> 01:23:52,400
 Okay. So it sounds like some grasses.

845
01:23:52,400 --> 01:23:58,400
 What I'm afraid of is they're going to say the only thing we can do now is channel this and put concrete in.

846
01:23:58,400 --> 01:23:59,400
 No.

847
01:23:59,400 --> 01:24:02,400
 I don't want that.

848
01:24:02,400 --> 01:24:08,400
 All right. And we've seen some other technologies on some other channels that have challenges.

849
01:24:08,400 --> 01:24:17,400
 I'll chain myself too. I'll lay down.

850
01:24:17,400 --> 01:24:25,400
 All right. So there are alternative transportation incentives, city facility, EV charging, bike infrastructure, bike repair, education clinics.

851
01:24:25,400 --> 01:24:28,400
 I love the bike rental idea.

852
01:24:28,400 --> 01:24:46,400
 Definitely got that. And then anything that we might be able to do to help encourage bike infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, I think will fit with the transportation sector.

853
01:24:46,400 --> 01:24:48,400
 I think we covered it.

854
01:24:48,400 --> 01:24:49,400
 Okay.

855
01:24:49,400 --> 01:24:58,400
 I mean just adding that the bike repair and education and what did you say it used to be?

856
01:24:58,400 --> 01:25:10,400
 We did our training. It was a bike rodeo and there was like a skills contest at the half day out at Collins Stadium.

857
01:25:10,400 --> 01:25:16,400
 We were going to talk to the PD and see if they were still willing to do any of that in sustainable schools.

858
01:25:16,400 --> 01:25:23,400
 So we can visit with them and if they don't have the resources, I'm sure they can point us to some resources that can help with some adult clinics.

859
01:25:23,400 --> 01:25:28,400
 And I was going to say there may be some bike shops around that may want to partner.

860
01:25:28,400 --> 01:25:31,400
 Yeah. I think we'd open it up to all the bike shops in town.

861
01:25:31,400 --> 01:25:43,400
 Yes, ma'am.

862
01:25:43,400 --> 01:25:49,400
 So we talked a little bit about bringing businesses into education and outreach.

863
01:25:49,400 --> 01:25:54,400
 I have reductions in education materials for businesses.

864
01:25:54,400 --> 01:25:57,400
 Privat removal, just education to the community.

865
01:25:57,400 --> 01:26:10,400
 But if we remove Privat, what we can put back in its place that may be a better food source, better habitat, materials resource management,

866
01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:18,400
 the locking bars and chute lids have done amazing things with our recycling contamination.

867
01:26:18,400 --> 01:26:23,400
 So maybe supporting some of the there is a cost associated with it.

868
01:26:23,400 --> 01:26:32,400
 So maybe supporting that cost for some businesses that may not want to invest in it, but it's going to be the best practice going forward.

869
01:26:32,400 --> 01:26:36,400
 So maybe a little bit of support for that.

870
01:26:36,400 --> 01:26:42,400
 New downtown recycling containers that are appropriately sized.

871
01:26:42,400 --> 01:26:49,400
 You know, the big bellies were there long before we had as much restaurant activity on the square.

872
01:26:49,400 --> 01:26:52,400
 So the waste stream has changed since we talked about that before.

873
01:26:52,400 --> 01:27:02,400
 So I think that looking at some different alternatives for recycling to make sure that we're actually capturing recycling instead of all the trash would be great.

874
01:27:02,400 --> 01:27:06,400
 How do those recycling containers work downtown?

875
01:27:06,400 --> 01:27:10,400
 Does the city, does the recycling, do they come in?

876
01:27:10,400 --> 01:27:15,400
 How do we know that that all goes to recycling and is it contaminated?

877
01:27:15,400 --> 01:27:17,400
 So our valet team picks those up.

878
01:27:17,400 --> 01:27:18,400
 Okay.

879
01:27:18,400 --> 01:27:20,400
 Yes, valet.

880
01:27:20,400 --> 01:27:21,400
 Yeah, valet.

881
01:27:21,400 --> 01:27:24,400
 So the valet that does the big bellies.

882
01:27:24,400 --> 01:27:28,400
 Well, they're emptying the big bellies, too, since they're in the area.

883
01:27:28,400 --> 01:27:29,400
 Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

884
01:27:29,400 --> 01:27:34,400
 Yeah, they're almost always contaminated.

885
01:27:34,400 --> 01:27:35,400
 Okay.

886
01:27:35,400 --> 01:27:40,400
 Yeah, yeah, I would think so.

887
01:27:40,400 --> 01:27:47,400
 So yeah, maybe when we do that, just something that would be a little more restrictive lid.

888
01:27:47,400 --> 01:27:53,400
 Probably maybe focus on bottles and canes, not wet waste.

889
01:27:53,400 --> 01:27:56,400
 That's what the primary contaminants are.

890
01:27:56,400 --> 01:27:57,400
 Yeah.

891
01:27:57,400 --> 01:28:01,400
 I'd like just a second idling reduction efforts.

892
01:28:01,400 --> 01:28:02,400
 Okay.

893
01:28:02,400 --> 01:28:13,400
 There's been work done over in my neighborhood where they bring those huge trucks come in.

894
01:28:13,400 --> 01:28:15,400
 I don't know what the correct name is.

895
01:28:15,400 --> 01:28:20,400
 They're like a dump truck on steroids, really long.

896
01:28:20,400 --> 01:28:28,400
 And they just sit there in the street with their engines on, waiting to be told to come and do whatever they need to do.

897
01:28:28,400 --> 01:28:32,400
 They're gone now, fortunately, but I see a lot of that.

898
01:28:32,400 --> 01:28:45,400
 And even certain businesses, when they deliver their services and are out of their vehicle for a while, keep the engines running.

899
01:28:45,400 --> 01:28:54,400
 I think a lot of people don't know about the restrictions on that.

900
01:28:54,400 --> 01:29:01,400
 Well, then the idling restrictions, aren't they just for the City of Denton vehicles right now, the ordinance?

901
01:29:01,400 --> 01:29:07,400
 There have been some changes with COG on the state's idling.

902
01:29:07,400 --> 01:29:08,400
 Okay.

903
01:29:08,400 --> 01:29:11,400
 So there's some updates coming on that.

904
01:29:11,400 --> 01:29:14,400
 Good.

905
01:29:14,400 --> 01:29:16,400
 Brandon, did you have something else?

906
01:29:16,400 --> 01:29:17,400
 No.

907
01:29:17,400 --> 01:29:21,400
 I was wondering if you could go into the organics program expansion.

908
01:29:21,400 --> 01:29:28,400
 So we're going to want to have a pilot organics on the square.

909
01:29:28,400 --> 01:29:30,400
 It's a co-grant.

910
01:29:30,400 --> 01:29:38,400
 So we put a placeholder in there if that's accessible to maybe expand that to other areas of town.

911
01:29:38,400 --> 01:29:45,400
 It will work nastily with the ballet, since we already have the individual touches of the restaurants downtown.

912
01:29:45,400 --> 01:29:51,400
 We talked about this on our agenda item when we discussed the downtown ballet service, right?

913
01:29:51,400 --> 01:29:54,400
 Yes.

914
01:29:54,400 --> 01:30:05,400
 And on the star foam, I know that we don't recycle star foam, but another city, we recommend that people take it to Dallas or some place has?

915
01:30:05,400 --> 01:30:07,400
 There's a place in Dallas and then Frisco.

916
01:30:07,400 --> 01:30:09,400
 That also has a densifier.

917
01:30:09,400 --> 01:30:16,400
 So we have been talking about doing some collection events where people can bring it and drop it off and we can take one large load.

918
01:30:16,400 --> 01:30:19,400
 Yeah, I would like that.

919
01:30:19,400 --> 01:30:36,400
 And then also with some of the larger plastics like the rubber made containers that don't go through our recycling facility well, but still could be compacted and recycled, special collections or drop-offs for this.

920
01:30:36,400 --> 01:30:39,400
 And then, of course, sustainable purchasing support.

921
01:30:39,400 --> 01:30:50,400
 We work with our purchasing team to make sure that folks are thinking about what they're purchasing and could there be a different fit for that.

922
01:30:50,400 --> 01:31:00,400
 If we come to anything where there may be a cost incentive or a cost differential, maybe we need to incentivize it a little bit to get it over the hump to a better choice.

923
01:31:00,400 --> 01:31:13,400
 Has there been any specific attention given to plastic reduction, as in plastic water bottles and vending machines and stuff like that?

924
01:31:13,400 --> 01:31:21,400
 We were making some strides with that before COVID and then single use became the norm again.

925
01:31:21,400 --> 01:31:31,400
 So I think we'll start moving in that direction again.

926
01:31:31,400 --> 01:31:36,400
 So local food and community gardens for funding.

927
01:31:36,400 --> 01:31:43,400
 Maybe we can partner with organizations to establish more community gardens that are closer to where people live.

928
01:31:43,400 --> 01:31:58,400
 The Shiloh model is working really well with the raised beds, so if we can have someone from Shiloh come in and help teach classes about how to get the most production out of those raised beds, I think that would be a great community benefit.

929
01:31:58,400 --> 01:32:10,400
 And then eco-friendly playgrounds, wellness workout stations, something that I see whenever I travel around places and you see more of that active lifestyle type of equipment for adults as well as children.

930
01:32:10,400 --> 01:32:17,400
 So we talked about that and then we mentioned the curvy trails.

931
01:32:17,400 --> 01:32:23,400
 And on the community garden, I know that we just have one now at Bowling Green Park near North Lakes.

932
01:32:23,400 --> 01:32:31,400
 I think having one over on the southern town maybe by MLK, just a small community garden would be great. It would balance it out.

933
01:32:31,400 --> 01:32:39,400
 Yeah, I agree with that. And then maybe even one at Dania.

934
01:32:39,400 --> 01:32:48,400
 I woke up in when Drew Huston was working on this. He was really thinking about a project that was like edible landscaping out at MLK.

935
01:32:48,400 --> 01:33:02,400
 So I wondered too, perhaps that idea could be exported to just other city facilities if there's a specific space, especially if it's a high traffic space where more edible landscaping could be installed.

936
01:33:02,400 --> 01:33:14,400
 I would have distributed a little bit more, but I like intentional urban gardens as well. It would be cool to have more than just the one town by North Lakes.

937
01:33:14,400 --> 01:33:23,400
 Don't we do foraging classes? We haven't done a foraging class in a while, but yes we have in the past.

938
01:33:23,400 --> 01:33:32,400
 I need to find a new instructor. So we'll provide some feedback on the brainstorming at our next meeting.

939
01:33:32,400 --> 01:33:41,400
 We'll reach out to departments and see what projects they might have on that back burner, if they need a little bit more of an incentive or some funding to help them get that started.

940
01:33:41,400 --> 01:33:50,400
 And we will come back with some flushed out ideas, more ideas at our next meeting.

941
01:33:50,400 --> 01:33:53,400
 We'll come up with anything in the meantime, feel free.

942
01:33:53,400 --> 01:34:03,400
 Yeah, those are really great. Thanks everybody.

943
01:34:03,400 --> 01:34:15,400
 Alright, we will move on to our next item. E, Receiver Report and Public Discussion on an Update Regarding Climate Action Adaptation Planning.

944
01:34:15,400 --> 01:34:25,400
 That would be me again. I'll just say it. So just a little bit of background, progress update and next steps.

945
01:34:25,400 --> 01:34:36,400
 So the framework referenced the development of a climate action plan, so we did move forward with that with the council recommendation in March.

946
01:34:36,400 --> 01:34:41,400
 We used the sustainability framework on dollars to secure the consulting contract.

947
01:34:41,400 --> 01:34:48,400
 Sustainable Solutions Group was selected as the consultant. As I said earlier, we had our pick off at the end of July.

948
01:34:48,400 --> 01:34:59,400
 We started working on the data transfer, started working on the pre-engagement strategies, and the pre-engagement is going to be very important.

949
01:34:59,400 --> 01:35:04,400
 And I hope you all saw the email with the request for a couple of names.

950
01:35:04,400 --> 01:35:13,400
 What they're asking for with the pre-engagement is to get folks who are very engaged in the community to talk to them about how best to engage dentally

951
01:35:13,400 --> 01:35:20,400
 so that we get as much support, not as much support, but as much feedback as we developed the climate action plan.

952
01:35:20,400 --> 01:35:24,400
 We want people who are for and against it, so it doesn't have to be just supporters.

953
01:35:24,400 --> 01:35:30,400
 And a lot of times with our public engagement, it's the same small crowd that comes out.

954
01:35:30,400 --> 01:35:36,400
 We would like to develop a larger audience for the development of the climate plan.

955
01:35:36,400 --> 01:35:40,400
 So that's what the pre-engagement request was.

956
01:35:40,400 --> 01:35:48,400
 Just if you know anybody that's engaged in the community, that would be a great person for them to talk to about denting and how to engage with folks.

957
01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:58,400
 We're always looking for more ideas. We try as many avenues as we can, and it still feels like that one-on-one conversation is the best way, which is good.

958
01:35:58,400 --> 01:36:03,400
 Now we're back out in the community and we're having this.

959
01:36:03,400 --> 01:36:15,400
 So just to clarify, you would like names of individuals who not necessarily are environmental and climate-focused, but are like marketing outreach-focused?

960
01:36:15,400 --> 01:36:19,400
 Marketing outreach-focused or community that are really engaged in the community.

961
01:36:19,400 --> 01:36:21,400
 Okay.

962
01:36:21,400 --> 01:36:28,400
 Yeah, we all know people that touch different segments of the community that maybe weren't involved in.

963
01:36:28,400 --> 01:36:33,400
 So just a wide range of folks for them to choose from.

964
01:36:33,400 --> 01:36:41,400
 And then they'll only take about six of the 20 and 24 names that we get, and then they'll compile all those results.

965
01:36:41,400 --> 01:36:48,400
 So I'll just verify that someone's willing to be interviewed, and then they'll choose who they're going to interview.

966
01:36:48,400 --> 01:36:54,400
 Are you going to help the interviewees kind of understand the expectations that this meeting is going to have?

967
01:36:54,400 --> 01:36:55,400
 Yes.

968
01:36:55,400 --> 01:36:58,400
 Okay, excellent.

969
01:36:58,400 --> 01:37:04,400
 We will have to reach out to everyone before their names are given to our SSG.

970
01:37:04,400 --> 01:37:17,400
 So they are scheduled for a presentation with ESMAC in September, and we should be pretty well along with the data collection and about ready to kick off the full engagement plan by then.

971
01:37:17,400 --> 01:37:28,400
 I think it would be nice to hear from them how they work through the process of developing a plan and their engagement strategies.

972
01:37:28,400 --> 01:37:34,400
 It's been interesting so far in our meetings with them, just the different approaches they take.

973
01:37:34,400 --> 01:37:39,400
 Any questions on that?

974
01:37:39,400 --> 01:37:47,400
 Can you tell me what other cities they've worked with, if any?

975
01:37:47,400 --> 01:37:55,400
 Not off the top of my head.

976
01:37:55,400 --> 01:37:57,400
 I can give you a list.

977
01:37:57,400 --> 01:37:59,400
 This isn't their first?

978
01:37:59,400 --> 01:38:12,400
 No, it will be their first one in Texas, but they do have one of the team, and she's been with Tina I think for about five years, and she does live in Austin.

979
01:38:12,400 --> 01:38:18,400
 So she's familiar with Texas, but they have not done a plan in Texas before.

980
01:38:18,400 --> 01:38:25,400
 They've got a really interesting website that has a lot of, they've done a lot of stuff.

981
01:38:25,400 --> 01:38:26,400
 A lot in Canada?

982
01:38:26,400 --> 01:38:30,400
 Yeah, they're in Vancouver.

983
01:38:30,400 --> 01:38:34,400
 And they just opened an Albany office recently.

984
01:38:34,400 --> 01:38:39,400
 So in my mind, I have kind of like the 2030 plan process.

985
01:38:39,400 --> 01:38:46,400
 Do you think it will look something kind of like that in terms of the community engagement type activities?

986
01:38:46,400 --> 01:38:56,400
 So there will be focus groups, there will be one-on-one meeting in a box kind of things, or we can go out to neighborhood meetings.

987
01:38:56,400 --> 01:38:59,400
 Similar to 2030?

988
01:38:59,400 --> 01:39:01,400
 2040?

989
01:39:01,400 --> 01:39:03,400
 Yeah, no, 2040.

990
01:39:03,400 --> 01:39:08,400
 Yeah, similar.

991
01:39:08,400 --> 01:39:11,400
 Okay, thank you.

992
01:39:11,400 --> 01:39:16,400
 I guess if you want to, we're on staff reports, so if you want to stay on out there.

993
01:39:16,400 --> 01:39:17,400
 Sure.

994
01:39:17,400 --> 01:39:18,400
 Comfortable.

995
01:39:18,400 --> 01:39:22,400
 I may go grab the matrix, though.

996
01:39:22,400 --> 01:39:30,400
 Dan, kind of wave at everyone, we have the Bird City, Texas update, and Dan is our new sustainability coordinator.

997
01:39:30,400 --> 01:39:32,400
 Hello, welcome.

998
01:39:32,400 --> 01:39:44,400
 Dan is already working on our Bird City re-application, and he's been great working with NWF and all things wildlife.

999
01:39:44,400 --> 01:39:51,400
 As well as the mom action plan and everything else, but he's getting us caught up on all things wildlife.

1000
01:39:51,400 --> 01:39:54,400
 Alright, now I read the update, it was pretty good, it's good.

1001
01:39:54,400 --> 01:40:00,400
 Do you have any questions for him about that?

1002
01:40:00,400 --> 01:40:06,400
 Okay, I'll grab the matrix.

1003
01:40:06,400 --> 01:40:10,400
 Any questions on the matrix?

1004
01:40:10,400 --> 01:40:15,400
 Matrix questions?

1005
01:40:15,400 --> 01:40:20,400
 Do you have any questions about the matrix for us?

1006
01:40:20,400 --> 01:40:23,400
 I don't have any about the matrix for you?

1007
01:40:23,400 --> 01:40:26,400
 Okay.

1008
01:40:26,400 --> 01:40:31,400
 Alright, well, it looks like we're good on the matrix.

1009
01:40:31,400 --> 01:40:37,400
 So we can move on to our last concluding items.

1010
01:40:37,400 --> 01:40:48,400
 Does anybody have anything they want to add to the matrix, any new business items you would like to discuss?

1011
01:40:48,400 --> 01:40:49,400
 Adam?

1012
01:40:49,400 --> 01:41:01,400
 This was raised by Ed already, the IRA, which I think is going to have maybe a lot of funding for cities seeking climate goals.

1013
01:41:01,400 --> 01:41:06,400
 It'd be nice, I don't know if this is necessarily a matrix item, but something to just keep on our radar.

1014
01:41:06,400 --> 01:41:14,400
 And I'm really curious about does the city have, do we feel like we have the staff and the infrastructure in place to identify those funds

1015
01:41:14,400 --> 01:41:20,400
 and feed them into the projects that we want to have going, you know?

1016
01:41:20,400 --> 01:41:27,400
 So maybe if it's not a whole presentation, maybe just an update in the staff report for next meeting on that?

1017
01:41:27,400 --> 01:41:33,400
 Because I think I did hear we were looking into it.

1018
01:41:33,400 --> 01:41:36,400
 So that's good.

1019
01:41:36,400 --> 01:41:38,400
 That'd be good information for us to have.

1020
01:41:38,400 --> 01:41:49,400
 Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, I'd like to see if we can find out how much carbon is sequestered by our current tree canopy.

1021
01:41:49,400 --> 01:42:06,400
 And also at some point, discussion of perhaps future incentives with developers for zero escape.

1022
01:42:06,400 --> 01:42:09,400
 I think everybody good?

1023
01:42:09,400 --> 01:42:11,400
 Thank you, everyone, for your time today.

1024
01:42:11,400 --> 01:42:17,400
 I believe we are done and we will close the meeting at 2.44.

1025
01:42:17,400 --> 01:42:18,400
 Thank you.