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General Plan Update - Public Forum #3: Protecting the environment, responding to the climate crisis and meeting regional responsibilities
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To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
BACKGROUND
Maintenance of an internally consistent General Plan is a requirement of State Law. The General Plan must be an “integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the adopting agency.” (Government Code section 65300.5.)
The General Plan establishes the local development and conservation policies necessary to guide physical development and protect the general health, safety and welfare of the community and the environment. The last comprehensive update of the current General Plan occurred almost 30 years ago in 1991. The 1991 Plan was designed to serve the City for 20 years or until 2010.
In August, staff completed a draft General Plan 2040 for public review and comment. The draft General Plan is available on the project website <https://www.alameda2040.org/>. On the General Plan website, the public may:
• Review the Draft General Plan as a single PDF or as individual chapters.
• Review the current General Plan for comparative purposes.
• Complete one or more of four surveys about key General Plan policies related to the four main themes that run through the General Plan.
• Participate in four scheduled virtual public forums on each of the four main themes.
• Submit comments and suggested revisions to the General Plan.
• Join the General Plan update email list for notifications on the process and updates.
As described on the website and in a postcard delivered to every Alameda household in August, the City of Alameda is encouraging all Alameda residents and businesses to participate in the General Plan update process. From August through December, the Planning Board and staff will be inviting public comment on the first Draft General Plan. The public is invited to review and comment on the General Plan through on-line surveys, submitting written comments via email from the website, and participating in the Planning Board forums. The comments and direction received over the course of the fall will inform the preparation of the 2nd Draft General Plan to be published in January or February of 2021.
In November, the voters in Alameda will decide whether to retain a citywide prohibition on multifamily housing and residential densities over 21 units per acre in the City Charter. The Planning Board’s review of the General Plan will be further informed by the voter’s November decision regarding Measure Z.
The Planning Board’s final recommendations to the City Council on the draft General Plan will likely occur in the spring of 2021 after conclusion of the forums and consideration of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) that will be published this fall.
Four Main Themes: Similar to the 1991 General Plan, Chapter 1 of the draft General Plan describes the four major themes that run throughout the entire General Plan. The four themes are:
1. Developing a healthy, equitable and inclusive city. This is a new theme for the General Plan. The 1991 General Plan themes did not address health, equity or inclusivity as an overarching goal of the General Plan. This theme is implemented in policies in each element addressing the need to provide for housing, service, open space, safety, and transportation needs of all segments of the community, irrespective of income, race, cultural background, or physical ability. The associated survey related to this theme on the website focuses on a sampling of seven (7) policies in the General Plan that address the implementation of this theme.
2. Preservation and enhancement of Alameda’s unique historic neighborhood character. The draft General Plan continues the 1991 General Plan theme regarding the importance of embracing and supporting Alameda’s island environment and preserving Alameda’s unique architectural and historic neighborhood character. The updated theme acknowledges that these goals must be achieved in a manner that is consistent with the goal of meeting regional and local housing and climate change objectives. The associated survey provides a sample of key policies related to this theme.
3. Protecting the environment, responding to the climate crisis & meeting regional responsibilities. This theme is also new to the Alameda General Plan. The 1991 General Plan themes did not include protection of the environment as an overarching goal and it did not consider the impacts of global climate change as an issue that needed to be addressed. The General Plan policies recognize that to protect the environment, Alameda must not only reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and transform its transportation system (which produces over 70% of the community’s greenhouse gas emissions), but also must do its part to help the region meet its sustainability goals, including providing for the housing, economic, and service needs of all segments of society and future generations. The associated survey provides a sample of the key policies related to this theme.
4. Enhancing mobility, accessibility and life on an island. This theme builds on the 1991 General Plan theme calling for the “de-emphasis on the automobile” as the primary strategy to improve transportation and mobility in Alameda. The General Plan includes the need to address making streets safer, protecting the environment, providing enhanced access to the waterfront and open spaces, and embracing the island setting as essential to improving life on our island. The associated survey provides a sample of the key policies related to this theme.
Four Surveys. The website includes four surveys. The City will keep the surveys open and available to the public throughout the next four months. The information received from the surveys will help inform the Planning Board’s review of the draft General Plan and inform the content and focus of the four public forums as well as the 2nd Draft General Plan. Since launching the website, over 1,614 surveys have been completed.
Based upon the 1,614 surveys completed, it is apparent that the City needs to work harder to engage specific segments of the community in this process. Based upon the first 6 weeks of the survey results, it appears that:
• Lower income residents are significantly underrepresented in the survey results received to date.
• Youth (under 25) are significantly underrepresented.
• The Black, Asian, and Hispanic communities are significantly underrepresented.
Since Forum #1, staff has either held meetings or has meetings scheduled with ACCYF, SSHRB, DABA, Rotary, AAPS, Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Alameda Point Collaborative, CASA, Alameda Renters Coalition, League of Women Voters and Chamber GREDC to increase the diversity of the participation in the General Plan update.
Four Forums. Each forum is an opportunity for the Planning Board to review and discuss the adequacy and appropriateness of each theme and a sampling of key policies that implement and support that theme. At the end of the public forum, staff would like the Planning Board to address four questions:
1. Does the Planning Board endorse the inclusion of the theme in the General Plan?
2. If yes, does the Planning Board wish to modify or expand the theme in any way?
3. Does the Planning Board endorse the policy directions articulated by the draft policies highlighted in the survey and in this staff report?
4. Does the Planning Board wish to modify, clarify or revise the policies in any way?
Based upon the feedback from the community and the Planning Board, staff will be able to revise the draft General Plan to better reflect the policy goals of the Planning Board and community. These revisions will not be limited to the few sample policies highlighted in the survey or at the forum. Instead, staff will use this policy direction to review all of the policies in each element to ensure that all policies reflect the policy direction provided by the Planning Board and that the General Plan is internally consistent, as required by State Law.
DISCUSSION:
Planning Board Forum #3: Protecting the environment, responding to the climate crisis and meeting regional responsibilities
Alameda’s unique island geography and natural setting supports a high quality of life for Alameda residents and a natural habitat for important wildlife, but that unique setting is also uniquely vulnerable to changes in our environment. As worldwide temperatures and sea levels rise, Alameda residents and businesses will be increasingly impacted by flooding, road closures, power outages, hazardous air quality days, and periods of intense heat.
In 2019, the City Council joined a number of other American cities and declared a climate state of emergency in response to the growing threat of climate change. The City Council found that as an island city, Alameda faces an existential crisis from sea-level rise and must act as a global and regional leader by transitioning to an ecologically, socially and economically regenerative economy. In so doing, the City Council established a citywide goal of becoming a net zero emissions community. To achieve these ambitious but necessary goals, Alameda’s reliance on fossil fuels to support our current way of life must change.
The City of Alameda must respond to the climate emergency with policies and specific actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while preparing to protect Alameda from the consequences of global heating, rising sea levels and rising groundwater levels. Specific actions must be taken by all Alameda residents and businesses, if the community of Alameda is to be successful in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change. Action is needed on all fronts.
The Environmental Theme: The Introduction Chapter to the General Plan highlights the four themes that guide and interconnect all of the policies in all seven of the elements of the General Plan. One of the four themes of the General Plan is to ensure the protection of the environment. It reads as follows:
Protecting the environment, responding to the climate crisis and meeting regional responsibilities Alameda’s island geography and unique environmental setting is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Rising sea and groundwater levels and increased and more severe incidents of flooding will significantly impact Alamedans’ quality of life and Alameda’s unique natural resources and natural habitats. General Plan policies support Alameda’s efforts to join the global and regional fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for rising seas and other localized impacts of climate change through strategic infrastructure improvements and expansion and protection of natural conservation areas, marshes, and wetlands.
This theme is new to the Alameda General Plan. The 1991 General Plan themes did not include protection of the environment as an overarching goal and it did not consider the impacts of global climate change on life in Alameda. Alameda General Plan 2040 recognizes that to protect the environment, Alameda must not only reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and transform its transportation system (which produces over 70% of the community’s greenhouse gas emissions), but also must do its part to help the region meet its sustainability goals, including providing for the housing, economic, and service needs of all segments of society and future generations.
Alameda General Plan 2040 includes a policy framework that is designed to preserve Alameda’s high quality of life and unique natural setting for future generations.
To protect our natural environment and preserve a high quality of life in Alameda for future generations, no challenge poses a greater threat to Alameda than the need to address climate change. No city in the Bay Area has more to lose from the impacts of climate change than the City of Alameda as shown in the graphic below illustrating possible effects of sea level rise on Alameda.
Conservation and Climate Action Element policy CC-3 recognizes that Alameda cannot reverse climate change alone and that only through coordinated action by individuals, local governments, regional governments, national governments, and international coordination, will we be able to reverse the threats to our future from climate change. Policy CC-3 reads as follows:
Policy CC- 3 Coordinated Regional and Local Planning. Maintain consistency between local and regional plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions regionally and locally.
Actions:
City Government Leadership. Promote climate friendly policies, standards, practices, technologies and purchasing in all City facilities and operations.
State and Regional Programs. Support and participate in state and regional efforts to address climate change through greenhouse gas emission reduction, transportation system improvements, and increased housing supply near job centers and existing regional transportation infrastructure.
State and Regional Funding. Advocate for and support state and regional efforts to provide funding for greenhouse gas reduction, transportation improvements and climate change adaptation at the local level.
Sustainable Communities Strategy. Maintain consistency between the City’s General Plan and Municipal Code and the regional Sustainable Communities Strategy.
To support and implement the goals of the 2019 City of Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, Conservation and Climate Action Element policy CC-4 reinforces and establishes as a General Plan policy objective to reduce Alameda’s net greenhouse gas emissions to zero. Policy CC-4 reads as follows:
Policy CC-4 Net Zero Green House Gas Emissions. Take actions to make Alameda a net zero GHG community.
Actions:
Partnerships: Continue to partner on greenhouse gas emission reduction and adaptation strategies with other agencies, including, but not limited to, Caltrans, AC Transit, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Water Emergency Transit Agency, East Bay Regional Park District, Port of Oakland, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Pacific Gas & Electric, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan: Implement and update as necessary Alameda’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing and implementing adaptation strategies to address sea level rise, increased flooding, and public health. Annually review programs and projects to evaluate progress on greenhouse gas emission reductions.
100% Renewable. Support powering Alameda with 100% renewable energy by promoting the generation, transmission and use of a range of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind power and waste to meet current and future demand.
AMP 2020. Support Alameda Municipal Power’s efforts to provide power from 100% clean, non-fossil fuel sources to all residential and commercial users in Alameda.
On-Island Generation. Support development of on-island solar power generation and on-island wind power with appropriately sized generation, storage, and microgrid distribution infrastructure to be able to provide power for a range of uses, including essential functions.
Energy Generation Facilities. Subject to Alameda Municipal Power’s regulatory requirements, permit renewable energy generation facilities by right in zones with compatible uses.
Conservation and Climate Action Element Policy CC-20 and Safety and Noise Element Policy SN-15 recognize that Alameda cannot afford to wait for the sea to rise to start planning its defense. Instead, Alameda must start now to tackle the difficult work of determining how to fund and construct our defense against sea level rise.
Policy CC-20 Sea Level Rise. Develop neighborhood shoreline and embankment plan strategies and storm water management improvement plans to address increasing sea level rise and storm events.
Actions:
Funding Strategies. Develop funding strategies for implementing neighborhood sea level rise protection.
Adaptive Management Plan. Implement and as necessary, update the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.
Resilient New Development. Require new development to incorporate design features to mitigate 36 inches of sea level rise in the initial design and funding mechanisms to pay for later adaptation improvements to address future increases in sea levels above 36 inches.
Elevating out of Flood Zones or Flood Proofing. Require elevating land and structures out of flood zones and/or flood-proofing in higher-risk areas when property is improved.
Policy SN-15. Develop sea level rise adaptive strategies for different areas of the City for public discussion and evaluation, including but not limited to: avoidance/planned retreat, enhanced levees, setback levees to accommodate habitat transition zones, buffer zones, beaches, expanded tidal prisms for enhanced natural scouring of channel sediments, raising and flood-proofing structures, and/or provisions for additional floodwater pumping stations, and inland detention basins to reduce peak discharges.
Action:
Develop for public discussion and evaluation potential financing strategies and partnership opportunities with regional and state agencies such as the Municipal Oakland International Airport, and other agencies to fund and build selected adaptive strategies.
Conservation and Climate Change Element policy CC-23 and Open Space and Recreation Element policy OS-12 recognize that our defense against sea level rise must be more than just walls and barriers, but must also include strategies to “retreat” and “retain” water during periods of high tides and storm events.
Policy CC-23 Water Retention. Develop and maintain large and small areas to retain water within the City that may serve as areas of “retreat” during large storm events.
Actions:
Alameda Point Wildlife Refuge. Support use and development of the 550 acre former US Navy airfields and runways as a wildlife refuge and area of wetlands that may serve as flood water retention area during major storm events.
Corica Park. Support the use and development of the 330 acre golf complex as a recreation area and lagoon system that currently serve as a flood water retention areas during major storm events.
New Development: Require new development to incorporate low impact development design strategies and storm water management systems, such as engineered landscapes, vegetated areas, or cisterns that mimic nature by soaking up and storing water, to manage and protect the quantity and quality of storm water runoff.
Public Participation: Encourage the public’s use of small-scale Green Infrastructure design standards, guidance, and typical details, as presented in the City’s Green Infrastructure Plan, for residential and garden projects.
Policy OS-12 Climate Adaptation. Adapt the existing park and open space network to rising sea levels, more severe storm events and wave energy, and rising ground water.
Actions:
Wherever possible, utilize natural, green or ‘soft infrastructure’ like sand dunes and wetlands over ‘hard infrastructure’ like concrete seawalls and levees.
Recognize and utilize the open space network as an expanding asset to sequester greenhouse gases and increase citywide resiliency.
Conservation and Climate Action Element policy CC-25 recognizes that use of lands to retain water can also serve to support the protection and restoration of the natural environment in support of biological resources and biodiversity.
Policy CC-25 Habitat and Biological Resource Protection and Restoration. Protect and restore natural habitat in support of biodiversity, protect sensitive biological resources, and prepare for climate change.
Actions:
Wetlands and Marshlands. Protect wetlands, seasonal and permanent marshland, riparian habitat and vernal pools from direct and indirect impacts of new and existing development and in land planning and community design.
De-Pave Park and New Wetlands. Identify areas, such as the plan for De-Pave Park at Alameda Point to increase the amount of wetlands and habitat areas in Alameda.
Submerged Lands. Protect aquatic habitat areas, including sensitive submerged tidelands areas, mudflats, and eelgrass beds for nurseries and spawning grounds for fish and other aquatic species.
Permanent Protections. Preserve habitat in perpetuity through deed restrictions, conservation easement restrictions, or similar legally enforceable instruments.
Operation and Maintenance. Ensure a secure, ongoing funding source for operation and maintenance.
Eelgrass. Plant eelgrass in shallow waters around Alameda to provide habitat and help absorb wave energy.
Information. Work with local recreation groups to disseminate information regarding the sensitivity of open space habitat areas and the impacts of motorized craft. Post and maintain signs warning boaters and users of motorized craft as they approach wildlife areas.
Consistent with State of California Climate Change legislation, The Plan Bay Area Sustainable Communities Strategy (the Bay Area’s Plan to address Climate Change), and the Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, Alameda General Plan 2040 recognizes that Alameda must transform its transportation system. Over 70% of Alameda’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated by automobiles. If Alameda is going to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, it must reduce its automobile use by investing in and promoting a wide variety of safe and convenient transit and mobility options. Samples of the policies addressing this imperative are located in the Conservation and Climate Change Element, Land Use and City Design Element and Mobility Element.
Policy CC-9 Climate-Friendly Active Modes of Transportation. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Transportation by improving the local roadway network to support all modes and specifically encourage walking and bicycling.
Actions:
Active Transportation Plans. Maintain, regularly update and implement bicycle and pedestrian improvement plans identified in the Mobility Element of the General Plan, the Transportation Choices Plan and the Active Transportation Plan.
Prioritize safety. Create a safe environment for bicycling and walking by establishing a goal of zero annual fatalities and severe injuries for bicyclists and pedestrians using Alameda’s roadway network.
Complete streets. Ensure that all streets are designed to provide a safe and convenient environment for all modes, including bicyclists and pedestrians and adequately maintain sidewalk conditions to avoid tripping hazards.
Safe routes to school. Increase walking and biking to school by developing and improving safe routes to schools and out-of-school programs.
Mobility for all. Prioritize roadway network improvements that increase mobility and equitable access for all residents, especially low-income, youth, seniors, disabled, and other vulnerable residents.
Connectivity and Inclusiveness. Connect neighborhoods and major destinations such as parks, open spaces, civic facilities, employment centers, retail and recreation areas with pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Prohibit sound walls, gates and other barriers that separate neighborhoods and decrease physical and visual connectivity throughout the City.
Access to the shoreline. Expand and improve pedestrian and bicycle access to the waterfront and recreational facilities throughout Alameda.
Access to Oakland. Improve connections for all modes, including bicycle and pedestrian connections to Oakland.
West Alameda to Jack London Square Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge. Continue to work with Oakland, Caltrans, the Alameda County Transportation Commission, the State of California, and the US Coast Guard to design, fund, and construct a bike and pedestrian bridge from West Alameda to Jack London Square in Oakland.
Land Use and City Design Policy LU-2: Provide safe streets that enhance mobility and accessibility for everyone, support bicycling and walking, reduce vehicle miles traveled and automobile congestion, and support Alameda’s goal of becoming a net-zero emissions community.
Actions:
Maintain Historic Street Grid. Maintain and, where possible, extend Alameda’s historic street grid to promote convenient, safe and walkable neighborhoods and districts with inter-connected well-designed streets.
Enhance the Pedestrian-Friendly Environment. Provide pedestrian amenities such as wide sidewalks, street shade trees, pedestrian lighting, bus benches and shelters, and other pedestrian amenities to accommodate pedestrians and promote walking, strolling, window-shopping and sidewalk dining. Promote opportunities for community interaction and encourage a sense of collective ownership of common areas.
Improve Connectivity. Connect neighborhoods and major destinations such as parks, open spaces, civic facilities, employment centers, retail and recreation areas with pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Prohibit sound walls, gates and other barriers that separate neighborhoods and decrease physical and visual connectivity.
Achieve Vision Zero. Promote street designs and landscape enhancements that help to eliminate traffic related fatalities and severe injuries on Alameda streets.
Provide Well-Designed Pedestrian Crosswalks and Crossings. Provide safe and clearly marked crosswalks. Minimize curb cuts and driveways that cross public sidewalks and bicycle facilities.
Enhance Bicycle Safety. Provide protected bicycle lanes wherever feasible.
25 Miles per Hour. Increase public safety and reduce fatalities and serious injuries on-streets by reducing automobile travel speeds to 25 miles per hour or less on all City streets and 15 miles an hour in school zones. To reduce travel speeds, minimize travel lane widths to 10 feet, and on truck routes, major transit routes, commercial districts, to 11 feet wherever possible.
Fire Safety Access. Provide access for fire safety vehicles. When more than 20 feet is necessary for aerial fire apparatus access, provide the additional street width space only where necessary. Minimize unnecessary lane width wherever possible to reduce travel speeds and the severity of traffic related injuries.
Provide Traffic Calming. Utilize sidewalk bulb outs, traffic circles, and other physical features to reduce vehicle speed and the frequency of collisions between automobiles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
Prioritize Pedestrian, Bicycle and Transit Improvements. When space is needed for pedestrian, bicycle, or transit improvements, prioritize safety and transit efficiency over the need for on-street parking.
Mobility Element Policy ME-13: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on single occupancy vehicles, improve public health and safety, and enhance quality of life by making Alameda a city where people of all ages, abilities, income levels and backgrounds can safely, conveniently, and comfortably walk and bike to their destinations.
Actions:
Community. Foster a strong culture of walking and bicycling.
Connectivity and Comfort. Develop a well-connected network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that are comfortable and convenient for people of all ages and abilities.
Equity. Ensure that comfortable bicycle and pedestrian facilities are implemented equitably throughout the city.
Safety. Increase the safety of all people bicycling and walking by improving the design of streets, enforcing traffic laws, and educating the public.
Sidewalks. Provide wider sidewalks in areas with higher pedestrian volumes to accommodate persons with disabilities, sidewalk cafes and other pedestrian friendly activities. Discourage the installation of fixed barriers for sidewalk cafes that permanently narrow effective sidewalk width when alternative methods are feasible.
Bicycle Lanes. Provide separated bicycle lanes instead of unprotected, standard bicycle lanes, unless not feasible.
Street Trees. Add street trees to provide shade, a more pleasant walking and bicycling environment, and to sequester greenhouse gases. Avoid tree species with aggressive roots that may cause sidewalk damage.
Mobility Element Policy ME-12: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing reliance on the single occupancy vehicle and reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Actions:
High Occupancy Transit Vehicles. Support and expand transit options by constructing dedicated bus lanes, bus queue jump lanes, and expanding Easy Pass programs. Consider high occupancy vehicle lanes on major commute routes such as Webster Street, Constitution Avenue, Park Street, Tilden Avenue, and High Street, and at the entrances to the bridges and tubes.
Water Transit Vehicles. Support and expand ferry and water shuttle services from Alameda to San Francisco, Oakland, and other locations throughout the Bay Area. Consider the use of hydrofoil craft for access to locations along the south shore of Alameda.
Active Transportation. Support and expand pedestrian and bicycle facilities such as protected bike lanes, improved estuary crossings, and safety improvements.
Transportation Demand Management. Require on- and offsite transportation improvements and transportation demand management programs in all new development to reduce the impact of additional automobile trips, VMT, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Shared EV charging stations. Increase availability of shared, publicly accessible EV charging stations citywide, including for bicycles. Ensure that all developments with new parking lots include EV charging stations for residents and/or customers.
Permitting EV charging stations. Maintain streamlined permitting processes for existing homeowners and business owners who wish to install charging stations.
City fleet. Convert the City’s vehicle fleet to zero- or low-emission vehicles, including electric bicycles, as technology becomes available, and right-size the fleet.
Consistent with State of California Climate Change legislation, Plan Bay Area Sustainable Communities Strategy (the Bay Area’s Plan to address Climate Change), and the Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, Alameda General Plan 2040 recognizes that how and where we build to accommodate our housing and employment needs impacts our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Alameda.
Policy CC-12 Climate-Friendly, Transit-Oriented Development: Reduce automobile use and vehicle miles traveled by new residents by requiring transit oriented, medium and high density mixed use development on transit and commercial corridors and near ferry terminals in Alameda.
Actions:
Residential Density. When zoning property for residential or residential mixed use, zone for medium and high density housing and prohibit low density housing to reduce vehicle miles travelled and greenhouse gas emissions from new housing in Alameda.
Commercial Intensity. When zoning property for commercial use, allow for higher floor area ratio (FAR) when proximate to transit or planned transit.
Parking Requirements. Revise off-street parking requirements to replace minimum requirements with maximum requirements to limit the amount of onsite parking allowed with each development to reduce automobile trips and automobile ownership in each residential development.
Transportation Demand Management Ordinance. Prepare and adopt a Transportation Demand Management Ordinance requiring new development to actively address the mobility of new residents and employees, including but not limited to contributing to annual operations and capital improvements for supplemental transit, water shuttle, land based shuttle services and improvements to the bicycle and pedestrian network.
Policy CC-16. Electrifying Alameda’s Building Stock. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas combustion and natural gas leaks by preparing and adopting citywide regulations limiting use of natural gas and encouraging the use of clean energy electricity.
Actions:
New Construction. Encourage and incentivize construction of clean energy new buildings and limit the use natural gas infrastructure.
Development on City Land. Limit or prohibit the use and expansion of natural gas infrastructure on city land to the extent feasible and practicable.
Conversions to Clean Energy. Develop regulations and incentives to facilitate the conversion of existing buildings with natural gas infrastructure to clean energy alternatives.
Rebate Programs. Support programs that encourage homeowners/commercial building owners to implement electrification retrofits.
Questions for the Planning Board:
• Does the Planning Board endorse the inclusion of Theme #3 in the General Plan?
• If yes, does the Planning Board wish to modify or expand the theme in any way?
• Does the Planning Board endorse the policy directions articulated by the policies highlighted in the survey and in this staff report?
• Does the Planning Board wish to modify or revise polices in any way?
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Exhibits 1-8: Survey Results Received to date.