Hello!! Good to be back together with everyone again

Hello! Praveen I'll be following your live-tweet, always a treat

if I must…

Welcome everyone! Happy New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year

Thanks Mary. Happy Lunar New Year to all

Dan Medina, Flood Action Program Manager

Josh Sawislak, task force member

Hi everyone. Alyssa Abosompim here

Hello from Javier Bastos

Good evening everyone — Raquel Nicora here

Steve Walz, Task Force Member. Good evening.

Ellen Eggerton, Sustainability Coordinator

Reminder to everyone to change your “To:” to Everyone in chat.

Hi everyone, Sangina Wright here

Rose Stephens-Booker, Task Force Member.

✋

Hello again! Praveen Kathpal here, At-large member of the Task Force

Jessica Lassetter, Stormwater Management here! I'm taking notes so forgive me for not sharing my video at the moment!

Happy Lunar New Year everyone.

Praveen do you have a question?

Mary Harris here

Sorry, had my hand up for too long. Back down now

OK. thanks. Hi Praveen.

Love that Environmental Justice was a part of the City Council Workplan Retreat!

Unfortunately at Council retreat, climate change and EJ was listed last rather than being integrated into consideration when we talk about equity, housing, infrastructure or community engagement/outreach.

Thanks for the note on that, Kathie. That's unfortunate, a missed opportunity.

FYI, I’m still here, just a bandwidth issue.

Hi Josh. Thanks for letting us know.

Worth noting that there are a number of co-benefits for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. This could be a venn diagram!

Jus before this meeting, I attended a Planning Commission Work session on development considerations at the former Mirant Power Plant site - 25 acres in OTN along the Mt Vernon Trail in Old Town North. Commissioners cited climate resilience, mitigation, tree canopy and sustainability - as well as affordable housing- as main issues. Gaining traction.

Mary - Any discussion of the development getting to net-zero energy?

During council retreat the Mayor talked about community discussion about what flooding level should the City build to - 10 year flood, 100 year flood - higher/lower, etc. I was wondering if the City has any risk matrix it uses which has severity on x axis and likelihood on y axis? This might be a good way to have a good discussion on the topic. Given climate crisis, 10 year flood vs. 100 year flood means nothing any longer - better to use some other way to gage rainfall or flooding levels.

Mary, great to hear and thank you for attending. I know it can take a lot of time to go to additional meetings! Also - recommend you set your “To:” in the chat to Everyone instead of just to Host and Panelists so other attendees can see your messages

@Marta - noted and agree on capturing co-benefits

How much is the City spending to reduce the water ending up in the storm water pipes or streams? It seems we are spending all our money on stormwater pipes and little to reduce the quantity of water ending up in the pipes.

Good thing we'll have fewer plastic trash bag litter thanks to the bag tax

Changes to our climate are effectively permanent, as in thousands and thousands of years….effective mitigation is the ultimate capital improvement project

Does it make sense that the longer the wait the more expensive it gets to act on these issues? So this is really an investment in the future of the city, is it enough and timely with current projections (there were so many)?

Excellent presentation Dan. Bottom up design is most relevant for a small city like ALX.Can you address flooding by "overtopping" of the Potomac River as climate changes and sea level rise causes more river flooding and become extreme events become normal tidal ranges? This was noted by Jason Samenow in our ECCTF public session recently. Could it wipe out our waterfront parks regularly in the next 20-30 years?

Question for Daniel - Good to see the existing investments being made. Alexandria was able to obtain funding for two projects (at least) out of the first round of flood management grants using funds from Virginia participation in RGGI. Has the City done any analysis of the delay in flood control projects from any loss of funding?

On Potomac Flooding, there was an extensive presentation to the Waterfront Commission on Jan 6 - See https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/recreation/info/WCFlood6January2022.pdf

Thanks to staff for being ready to apply timely to the grants and receive more funding than any other locality in the first round.

Can the city shade surface parking lots with solar panels?

Just noting that the Arlandria neighborhood and 4 mile Run flooding should be explicitly addressed in ECCAP because its an "endangered" ALX affordable housing and equity area .

On slide 22 (Existing): What are examples of surface parking lots in the city that have been shaded through the development process?

Most new development is undergrounding parking.

As climate changes and temperatures rise does concrete vs asphalt in streets and surface parking are have advantages in cooling? Are there opportunities to incentivize this if so?

On slide 23 in the attachment (Expanding…) - Regarding increased participation in weatherization, cooling assistance, and energy efficiency programs. Whose programs are these? Dominion? Washington Gas? Anyone else?

State programs also

Strong support of Praveen's point

Hey everybody! Sorry I didn't introduce myself. I'm Camille Liebnitzky. I'm from Stormwater Management and specialize in green infrastructure.

My comment was aligned with Praveen and Steve.

Welcome Camille! Thank you for joining!

thank you @Mary Harris

Great point Praveen!👍🏼

ALX gives a tax break to solar plus battery operations.

City support for putting in backflow preventers in sewers as part of larger sewer improvements is another example of how the City can put policy and funds in place to act.

@Praveen - DHCD facilitates Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), Dept of Social Services operates energy assistance programs, Dominion Energy operates EnergyShare and has income-qualifying energy efficiency programs. We are working to get reporting on uptake which has proven to be more difficult than expected. There is an opportunity to coordinate across Housing, Code, Health Dept, DCHS, etc. for coordinate advocacy for program uptake among many who may benefit in the community.

I would suggest that every City property that is a cooling center should also have solar panels and battery in case there is a power outage.

There's a great report from ULI called "Pavement to Parks" that provides examples on how cities are converting former parking lots, roadways, parking garages, spaces underneath highway overpasses to parks and open space https://knowledge.uli.org/en/Reports/Research%20Reports/2020/Pavement%20to%20Parks

"Could that pavement you see be a park instead?"

The more we get people to use public transportation vs. POVs, the less we need parking lots and thus the more parks and trees we can plant.

@Kathie. The City has been working through feasibility and technical analysis for solar+storage microgrids at City critical facilities, including those that may serve as cooling sites. These were presented as part of the first tranche of ARPA funding considerations, but was not advanced after the public input process.

Is it within the ECC Task Force’s purview to make recommendations for the City’s use of the second round of ARPA funding?

@Josh. There may be opportunity to expand the City's EnergyMasters program to provide further awareness and communications. This program has been hindered by the pandemic.

@Bill, I was trying to remember the name of EnergyMasters! Thank you

Eco-City Academy is also an opportunity to have Ambassadors to assist the community

Is there also an opportunity for the Climate Corps here?

@Javier, bravo on the albedo effect.

We would be open to Climate Corps or other similar fellowship programs. Depending on the budget requirements, that would need to be taken into consideration.

One area for the city to promote more implementation of both energy and flood control is to have staff assigned and with time available to use C-PACE (as Ellen notes C-PACE)

Bravo Javier! Marina Towers, a 50 yr old bldg. single meter bldg, installed white roofs for reflective value and T 6 insulation in its 40 year reroofing project. A little help would be great!

Has climate corps been funded or is it still stuck in BBB?

Colorado has a great new program in this space (climate corps). Not sure the state will go there, but maybe the city can do it?

@Kathie, it was in BBB.

Has the free DASH access decreased automobile use or at least increased ridership?

@Stephen and C-PACE! 👍🏼👍🏼

Is there capacity in the City to host AmeriCorps VISTA participants to target the climate actions to our lower-income communities?

In multifamily housing, it's all about $$$. Most condos require 60% of owners to approve expenditures. So any $$ incentives as well as TA is important.

Preliminary analysis suggests increased ridership; I am not aware of a completed analysis on correlation with reduction of vehicle miles traveled. I believe there is analysis underway.

I've done a similar program in Gainesville FL - that has a huge impact for those people!

Thanks @Ellen for talking about it

Free DASH has improved ridership and reduced POV, but not as much as we might have liked due to POVs just driving thru ALX vs. starting or ending within ALX.

DASH metrics

For ridership, I can tell you that our monthly ridership increased by 50% from August to November 2021. We reached 82% of pre-COVID ridership levels in November 2021, which was a major increase from the 40-50% of pre-pandemic service levels that we had seen for the first eight months of 2021

from Martin Barna at DASH

Most generators are placed in basements for security and to naturally keep them cool - however, we should assess if they are to be kept now above the floodplain.

@Ellen re: DASH 👏👏👏👏

One place to look at to implement the resiliency hubs are at the recreation centers that are typically co-located with elementary schools

We partnered with the Library to create a Resiliency Hub resource center

@Mary - I agree wholeheartedly. Amend each SAP!

I like the SAP climate-impact update strategy!

@Elllen, Resiliency Hub resource centers are good, but thee also is the need for the resiliency infrastructure to be put in place, such as the solar/battery/generators discussed

There also is the issue of split incentives that affect payback

agree with @Mary, payback period is big part of the decision making proces

There's a different split incentive for landlords vs renters, as compared to a condo association. For apartment rentals, especially if the individual residents pay their utility bills directly, there's a huge split incentive that makes rooftop solar installation a big challenge.

Being able for renters to buy into community solar is a better idea to reduce electric bills.

Thanks @Marta for adding more info regarding split incentives

Energy efficiency can be more cost effective than solar collectors

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies has some great resources on split incentives (ie. barriers, approaches, case studies, etc). for those looking for a great resource. ACEEE is also a fantastic source

@Rose - yes ACEEE is great resource.

Institute for Market Transformation is another very good resource on how to work around split incentives

Open space can be at ground level or elevated under certain conditions

The Oakville Triangle development has a lot of resilient park/open space and stormwater strategies as part of their "horizontal development" (the land) but does not have as many "vertical development" (the buildings) commitments regarding solar panels https://www.alexandriava.gov/planning/info/default.aspx?id=76672

Bravo Sangina! This is where Small Area Plans matter and Planning considerations rule.

@Stephen also New Building Institute too.

I would second (third, fourth?) the suggestions that the Small Area Plans address flooding, heat and other climate conditions

Thank you Raquel Nicora for inviting and enticing Jason Samenow to the last Community workshop! It was an enlightening presentation.

@Ellen mentioned in the chat that energy efficiency can be more cost effective than solar. I’d like to point out that EE can also NOT be more cost effective than solar. Depends on the EE measure. The team that designed Discovery Elementary in Arlington gave a good talk on this and made the point that the declining cost of solar can essentially set a price cap on which EE measures are cost effective. The ones that are more expensive than solar - just add more solar instead (if you have space)

I’m happy it worked out!

Small area plans should also include district energy planning to facilitate developing zero-energy buildings

+1 on Jason - he was great!

In prior ECCAP TF meetings we had talked about Alx going to these hard-to-reach communities, instead of us inviting them to come to Alx open events. Does the city have any opportunities/bandwidth/budget to target their stakeholder outreach in that direction instead?

I think it would be helpful if we found out from the community what things they have tried to mitigate the effects of climate crisis. Maybe find out if they've noticed anything that works for them or if there are things that definitely do not work for them. That way the city can meet people where they are in the community rather than hoping the public will follow along with city guidance

I recently learned about this park that was "built to flood" which could be neat for Alx to consider https://www.fastcompany.com/90716670/this-16-acre-atlanta-park-was-built-to-flood?

On breakout groups, we should focus on what the city should do, both in the Action Plan and budget decisions and less on leading with individual actions. This is consistent with comments from Praveen and others tonight.

Sorry, this message didn't make it to community members so I'm resending:I think it would be helpful if we found out from the community what things they have tried to mitigate the effects of climate crisis. Maybe find out if they've noticed anything that works for them or if there are things that definitely do not work for them. That way the city can meet people where they are in the community rather than hoping the public will follow along with city guidance

Agreed with Stephen, would prefer breakout discussions focus on City actions, not Individual actions

@Marta, I saw that article too. Super cool.

Maybe TWU could host it

TWU?

@Marta that park looks awesome

TWU - https://www.tenantsandworkers.org/ - "We organize communities, build power, win changes, and advance social justice across Northern Virginia." (they have the building in Arlandria with cool street art)

If the Corps of Engineers is ready, we should see if they are ready to speak about the NoVA coastal flood risk management study. This may not be ready but could ask

Communication suggestion: Get the mayor to post it on his Facebook

I know this is logistically hard. I think it would ideal if the community engagement, particularly in Arlandria, would include a walking or talking tour for folks to be able to point to and show what is going on in their areas.

I would like to take Bill up on that offer for the template

Great idea Rose!

Love the Mayor FB/Twitter post idea - second that! So many folks follow him.

Outreach in Arlandria should be integrated in the current outreach on the Small Area Plan in this area

Instead of saying it is a workshop tell people that it is a new high density multifamily dwelling - you will get lots of engagement! (kidding… )

@Rose, would it make sense to do some outrach at the Four Mile Run Farmers and Artisian market on Sunday morning?

Yes Rose, good ideas for this area

We have @Amanda on this meeting tonight who has been really helping our office with outreach. She did a social media post for the ECCAP meeting tonight with Fiona. She did an excellent job! We had a lot of engagement with the post!

Thank you @Amanda! You complete us!

Yes! Fiona's post was published as a Story on Facebook and Instagram. It received 5X as much engagement (attention) as a typical post we've done in the past to promote meetings. That signals to us that people like the personal video message from ECCAP members as opposed to a text graphic.

Thank you @Fiona!

Would the council briefing be after the workshop?

We will need at least one additional meeting to hear the input from the consultants and then develop final recommendations. This will probably require an extension, to handle these specific tasks, as we;; as provide for coordination with the other Commissions.

Cool, Amanda & Fiona! Do you need additional videos from ECCAP TF members to help promote future meetings? I bet a few of us would volunteer to help with that.

Yes, the workshop will be 3/1 and we anticipate the briefing will be after that.

When would the consultants draft be available?

Agreed that we shouldn't end the Task Force until the consultants provide their analysis and we consider that input

@marta - YES! Shoot me an email: amanda.dolasinski@alexandriava.gov. Thank you!

THe draft from the consultant would not be available until after May 4th

I support task force extension through ECCAP adoption and we understand who will oversee implementation. Council? Eco City Steering Committee? EPC?

For reference, here are the FY23 Supplemental Budget Requests: https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/tes/oeq/info/Copy%20of%20FY23_SupplementalBudgetSubmissions.pdf

@Steve who is the Administration in the letter? Is that code for the mayor? or staff?

🌳 Materials from tonight's meeting available here - https://www.alexandriava.g ov/Eco-City📊 Please give us your feedback on tonight’s Community Engagement Workshop:https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GVLMSL8

Apologies - Materials from tonight's meeting available here: https://www.alexandriava.gov/tes/eco-city/info/default.aspx?id=118548

Huzzah!

The usual language is “staff and council”

No comments from me at this time. Great discussion. Thanks!

No comments from me - keep up the good work! Appreciate the discussion

It’s her actual role on the TF.

Thank you @Krissy and @Matthew for joining us tonight!

Looking at the time! Hoping to come to a conclusion soon.

You can find the EPC/PC/TC "Letter to City Council" from the Jan 24th EPC Meeting attachments on this website: https://www.alexandriava.gov/EnvironmentalPolicyCommission

Thanks/sorry!

Thank you @Scott for helping get the ECCAP update and task force going!