Climate Action Commission — February 8, 2024
This was a regular meeting of the Climate Action Commission, notable for its length — running from 6:30 p.m. to 10:37 p.m. — due to an extensive working session on Petaluma's Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality. Councilmember John Shribbs sat with the Commission. One member, Dan Ellecamp, was absent.
General Public Comment
Two members of the public, Paul McGavin and Duane Bellinger, offered comments during the general public comment period. McGavin's written comment was posted to the agenda packet. The substance of both comments is not detailed in the minutes.
Cool Petaluma Activities Update
Deb Fox provided a monthly update on Cool Petaluma activities and held a discussion with the Commission. The minutes note that these updates will now be provided on a monthly basis going forward, but do not detail the specific activities discussed.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the January 11, 2024 regular meeting were approved as presented. No vote tally or mover/seconder is recorded in the minutes.
Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality — Recommendations Discussion
This was the central and most time-consuming item of the evening. Staff member Patrick Carter introduced the item and brought in outside consultants Eric Yurkovich of Rami + Associates and Heather Hines of the City's Planning Division to guide the discussion.
Commissioners worked through each "Cornerstone Action" in the Blueprint — a draft climate roadmap — providing detailed editorial and substantive recommendations. Key themes that emerged across multiple cornerstones included:
Urgency and implementation: Commissioners repeatedly called for stronger, more action-oriented language throughout the document, including clearer staffing strategies, defined timelines, and identification of who is responsible for carrying out each action.
Equity: Commissioners asked for equitable strategies around EV charging (recommending fair pricing), transportation demand management, and affordable housing overlays.
County involvement: Multiple cornerstones prompted commissioners to recommend explicitly naming Sonoma County as a named stakeholder and partner.
Transportation: Commissioners recommended specifying mode-shift targets, promoting transit and bus maps, developing a ride-share program, spelling out the TDM (Transportation Demand Management) acronym, adopting a formal TDM policy, and advancing EV charging and ride-share as priorities. They also recommended eliminating subsidies for free parking.
Buildings: For building retrofit goals, commissioners suggested changing a mandatory 85% retrofit target to language like "maximize," reconsidering goal dates for consistency with 2030 climate targets, and reordering bullet points for clarity.
Natural systems: Commissioners asked for language on water holding capacity, groundwater, natural flood control, wildlife corridors, and enhanced habitat listings.
Schools and community resilience: Commissioners recommended adding green schoolyards, resiliency hubs, and community centers, and supporting school system climate campaigns.
Language cleanup: Several changes were flagged throughout — replacing "ban" with "implement and phase out plan," changing "synthetic" to "toxic/polluting," changing "consumption" to a more precise term, and changing "training" to "education."
Two public commenters — McGavin and Bellinger — also spoke during the public comment portion of this item, though their specific remarks are not captured in the minutes.
No formal vote on final recommendations is recorded; this appears to have been a working review session generating direction for staff and the document's authors to incorporate.
Patrick Carter closed the meeting with updates on various City projects and measures.
Key Takeaways
The Blueprint for Carbon Neutrality is still in active development. The Commission provided substantial line-by-line feedback across all cornerstone actions, signaling the document will need meaningful revision before finalization.
Commissioners want stronger implementation muscle in the Blueprint — clearer staffing plans, defined responsibilities, and language that drives action rather than aspirations.
Transportation and buildings drew the most detailed discussion, with specific recommendations on EV charging equity, parking subsidies, mode-shift targets, and building retrofit goal language.
Sonoma County should be named as a partner throughout the document, per repeated commissioner direction.
Cool Petaluma will now give monthly updates to the Commission, increasing ongoing coordination between the grassroots climate organization and the City's advisory body.
AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.