Meeting notes from the Palo Alto Council and
Architecture Review Board
Palo Alto’s City Council and AFB met
for one hour to discuss issues related to green building and their
next steps. The council was well represented and Mayor Yoriko
Kishimoto chaired the meeting.
AFB’s plan is to present
recommendations to the City Council at the next meeting to be held on
April 19th at 8:00 a.m. in the Council Conference Room
(250 Hamilton).
The Council is highly motivated to take
action and adopt green building policies. There was sense of urgency
and intention to accomplishing this as soon as possible. Vice Mayor
Larry Klein called the task at hand “planet critical.”
Main Discussion Points:
Threshold Recommendations
AFB’s David Solnick and Heather
Trossman circulated a one page document containing thresholds for
requiring and encouraging sustainability goals in Palo Alto. This
document was briefly discussed (Randy has a copy).
Analysis of 16 Cities
The thresholds in the document were
influenced by established sustainability programs per an analysis of
16 other cities conducted by AFB’s Grace Lee and Clare
Malone-Prichard. The 16 cities profiled include Palo Alto,
Sunnyvale, San Jose, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Pleasanton,
Santa Cruz, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Long Beach, San Diego, Calabasas,
Seattle, Albuquerque NM, and Austin TX. (Randy has a copy of the
analysis).
Make it Simple
There was discussion on the need to
make whatever process they adapt easy for the home owner/developer.
A discussion ensued regarding having a checklist that is easy to
complete.
LEED/Build It Green
There was a perspective voiced that
building to LEED standards is relatively easy but getting a project
LEED approved was a bigger challenge. Note: I have also read about
this issue. City of Palo Alto has a Build It Green (residential)
certified planner who was in attendance.
“Greening” Existing Buildings
Judy Kleinberg, former Mayor, voiced
that she would like to see proactive “greening” of city
buildings. There may be an opportunity to do this with the school
district.
Mandates / Requirements
The City Attorney mentioned that there
is a lack of legal precedent / legal authority with regard to the
mandating of requirements, etc., and that the matter was under
review. Note: this has not stopped other cities from forward
progress.
Incentives
There is a high interest in pursuing
incentives for green building.
