November 25, 2019
Sonoma Group ExCom
All-Electric Reach Code - Santa Rosa: On Nov. 12, the Santa Rosa City Council voted unanimously (6-0, Tibbetts recused) to accept city staff and Climate Action Subcommittee's recommendation to adopt an All-Electric Reach Code for new residential low-rise buildings. The new Reach Code begins when the new Title 24 2019 energy code goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. This marks a major victory for our Santa Rosa allies at the Friends of the Climate Action Plan and makes Santa Rosa the 16th jurisdiction in California to end the dangerous use of natural gas or propane plumbing in new homes (portable appliances such as propane grills or generators are not effected by the new code).
Although all-electric homes are cheaper to build and highly cost-effective for homeowners, ironically a new state law (AB178) exempts anyone who is rebuilding after a wildfire disaster from having to comply with the solar PV requirements of the new code. Santa Rosa officials have interpreted AB178 to also exempt fire victims from this new all-electric requirement.
Climate Emergency Resolution - Sonoma: On Nov. 13, six Sonoma Valley High School students, one new student commissioner, at least one teacher, and several other members of the Sonoma Valley Climate Coalition and the general public were in attendance at the meeting of the City of Sonoma Community Service & Environment Commission (CSEC). Students spoke with passion and the unique authority that arises from having been born in their generation. They told the commissioners: "We want you to panic," and asked them to acknowledge the Climate Emergency they will have to face for the rest of their lives, calling for a Green New Deal in Sonoma Valley. Students also recommended that the city adopt elements of the Los Angeles Green New Deal (pLAn-2109), and consider changing the name of the CSEC to the "Climate Emergency Commission." Reflecting the urgency expressed by these youth and other members of the public, commissioners subsequently voted to authorize the Climate Change Subcommittee to draft "the strongest Climate Emergency Resolution possible, based on the most recent Santa Rosa draft" and bring back to CSEC next month the text of a Sonoma-specific resolution for a formal vote recommending action by the city council.
GHG Impacts of Tourism Events - Sonoma: On a separate item at this same CSEC meeting, Commissioner David Morrell insisted on adding a new condition before he would agree to vote to approve the Plaza Use Application for the "Rose 5K, Wine Country Half Marathon and the Health and Wellness Expo – July 18-19, 2020". He said that he has been forcasting for months that event organizers will be required to begin collecting data and estimating the GHG impacts of their events held in Sonoma Plaza. He provided fellow Commissioners and the event applicant with a simple template which they could use to meet this new information-only requirement (a draft form, prepared by the Climate Change Subcommittee). After a somewhat tense discussion, two sequential competing motions were made: 1) to approve the application with the condition that it include an initial estimate of GHG impacts, and, 2) to approve it without this new condition (which would have deferred the matter to an unspecified future date). After consulting Rosenburg's Rules of Order, it was determined that the latter motion be voted on first. Commissioners voted down the latter motion (Yea = 2), and then voted to approve the event application with the requirement that it include an estimate of GHG emissions (Yea = 5).