[00:00:02]
[CALL TO ORDER]
TO ORDER.SORRY, THAT SHOULD KEEP YOU WAITING A COUPLE MINUTES.
YEAH, IT, UM, ALL, ALL OF OUR MEMBERS TURN ON YOUR CAMERA TO BE COUNTED AS PRESENT PLEASE.
NATALIE, WHO ELSE DO WE HAVE? OKAY.
MELISSA, NATALIE, ARE YOU, ARE YOU THERE? DID YOU MAYBE STEP AWAY? WE HAVE MORE.
WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND START AND THEN, HELLO.
UM, DO WE HAVE ANYBODY SIGNED UP TO SPEAK? OKAY.
[1. Approval of minutes from the November 20th, 2024 meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. ]
BE THE MINUTES FROM OUR LAST MEETING.I JUST HAVE A QUICK CORRECTION ON THE MINUTES.
NUMBER NINE A, UM, THE AMOUNT OF THE GRANT OF THE EPA GRANT WAS 31.6 MILLION INSTEAD OF 36.1.
AND THEN GRANT IN THAT FOLLOWING SENTENCE IS MISSING A T.
ROHAN, YOU HAVE THAT CORRECTION.
ANY OTHER EDITS TO THE EDITS? UM, THIS IS HEATHER.
MY NAME WAS MISSPELLED IN THE ATTENDANCE.
AND, UM, NOW THAT I'M LOOKING AT NINE, A SMALL THING, BUT IT SAYS THE GRANT INSTEAD OF THE GRANT.
UM, YOU'RE UNABLE TO HEAR AS FAR AS YOU WERE SPEAKING.
I DON'T KNOW IF FOLKS CAN HEAR ME.
UM, CAN SOMEBODY ELSE WHO'S ONLINE MAYBE TEXT OR, YOU KNOW, DO A CHAT TO LET HER KNOW THAT WE CAN HEAR HER, BUT MAYBE TRY SIGNING OFF AND SIGNING BACK ON? YEAH, THANKS.
UM, NO OTHER EDITS FOR THE MINUTES? IF NOT, WE CAN, I GUESS REALLY WE SHOULD HAVE DONE A MOTION FIRST, BUT THAT'S FINE.
UM, AND I'M SEEING OTHERS CAN HEAR JUST FINE.
SO IT MIGHT HAVE ALREADY, USUALLY IT'S ALREADY ON SECOND.
SO WE'VE GOT A MOTION AND A SECOND TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.
ALL IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND.
I CAN'T SEE EVERYBODY, BUT WE DEFINITELY HAVE ENOUGH TO APPROVE, SO THAT'S GREAT.
SORRY, MY COMPUTER DID A RESTART, SO EVERYTHING THAT I HAD OPEN HAD TO REOPEN.
FIRST UP, WE ARE GONNA HEAR FROM, UH, CARRIE WATERS WITH THE CITY OF PORTLAND.
YOU CAN HEAR US NOW AND I CAN CALL IN ALSO.
DID SHE, DID SHE ALREADY SIGN OFF AND BACK ON? YEAH, I CAN HEAR YOU TOO.
CAN SOMEBODY CHAT HER TO, UM, TRY CALLING? YEAH, CALL, CALL IN.
IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING WITH WEB WEBEX, WE BARELY GET THROUGH WEBEX.
PRESS ONE TO BE CONNECTED TO YOUR MEETING.
CARRIE, CAN YOU HEAR US NOW? WAIT, NOW WE, WE CAN'T HEAR
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YOU.LET'S, I DO THINK YOU MAY, MAYBE YOU NEED TO UNMUTE ON YOUR PHONE.
SORRY CARRIE, UH, GLAD THAT YOU'RE, THAT YOU'RE HEARING AND BEING HEARD NOW.
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US.
UM, LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING WHAT YOU'RE DOING IN THE CITY OF PORTLAND.
'CAUSE WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT LOW CARBON CONCRETE A LOT AND WANNA LEARN FROM YOU.
UM, ARE YOU GONNA SHARE THE PRESENTATION DIRECTLY OR DO YOU WANT US TO SHARE IT? ROHAN, DO YOU HAVE IT? YEAH, I CAN SHARE THE PRESENTATION DIRECTLY.
ARE YOU READY TO START? I WASN'T SURE IF THERE WAS ANYTHING ELSE BEFORE.
UM, YEAH, YOU CAN JUST JUMP RIGHT IN IF YOU WILL.
BEAR WITH ME JUST ONE MORE MOMENT.
ALRIGHT, LET'S GO AHEAD AND SHARE.
AND HOPEFULLY YOU CAN SEE MY SCREEN NOW.
[2. Low Carbon Concrete in Portland, OR – Cary Watters, City of Portland]
YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INVITATION TO BE HERE WITH YOU TO SHARE ABOUT THE CITY OF PORTLAND LOW CARBON CONCRETE PROGRAM.JOANNA ANDERSON FROM THE EPA GAVE A PRESENTATION IN OCTOBER, AND IT'S GREAT TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE EXPLORING A LOW CARBON CONCRETE PROGRAM AND YOU'RE PURSUING FUNDING FROM THE FHWA LOW CARBON TRANSPORTATION MATERIALS PROGRAM.
HOPEFULLY BOTH OF OUR AGENCIES CAN GET FUNDED AND WE CAN CONTINUE TO BUILD ALIGNMENT AND INNOVATION TOGETHER.
UM, SO A BIT ABOUT ME BEFORE I JUMP INTO OUR SLIDES.
I COME BEFORE YOU TODAY AS A MESSENGER WITH THE INTENT TO DO JUSTICE TO THE AMAZING WORK COMPLETED BEFORE I CAME ON BOARD IN MY CURRENT ROLE.
UM, SO FOR THE PAST YEAR AND A HALF, I HAVE BEEN WORKING AS SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM MANAGER AND MY PREDECESSOR, STACY BENNETT, FORMERLY STACY FOREMAN, CHAMPIONED THIS INITIATIVE AND IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT A DEEPLY COLLABORATIVE APPROACH THAT ENGAGED INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS ALIKE.
UM, SO A BIG SHOUT OUT OF THANKS GOES OUT TO LAUREN ZIMMERMAN, JOSH HUBER, AND ANDREW WEIR, WHO ARE ALL HERE, AND THEIR KEY MEMBERS OF OUR CORE TEAM WHO ARE PRESENT AS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS TODAY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS BASED ON THEIR POSITIONING IN THE CITY OF PORTLAND BUREAUS OF PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AND TRANSPORTATION.
I, MYSELF AM HOUSED WITHIN OUR CENTRAL PROCUREMENT SERVICES TEAM.
UM, AND FURTHER I WILL UNDERSCORE THE SHOUT OUT TO LAUREN ZIMMERMAN, WHO TOOK ON MANY PRESENTATION OPPORTUNITIES OVER TIME AND WHO PUTS THE LION'S SHARE OF EFFORT INTO THIS PRESENTATION TODAY.
ALRIGHT, SO HERE'S THE AGENDA FOR OUR TIME TOGETHER.
I WILL START BY SHARING ABOUT THE INITIATIVES, ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT, EARLY APPLICATION OF PILOT PROJECTS, DEVELOPMENT OF AN EMBODIED CARBON THRESHOLD THROUGH GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, OUR EXEMPTION PROCESS AND SOME MYTH BUSTING OF COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED.
I'VE GOT ABOUT 20 SLIDES, SO WE SHOULD HAVE AMPLE TIME FOR OPEN DISCUSSION, BUT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS ALONG THE WAY.
I WILL ASK OUR HOST TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR RAISED HANDS AND QUESTIONS IN THE CHAT.
SO, THE CITY OF PORTLAND SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM HAS BEEN AROUND FOR TWO DECADES, AND THE LORE, AS I UNDERSTAND IT, IS THAT IT BEGAN WITH A FOCUS ON ORDINARY GOODS AND SERVICES LIKE USING RECYCLED PRODUCTS FOR PAPER AND OFFICE SUPPLIES.
BUT IN 2016, WE COMMISSIONED A SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS, WHICH IDENTIFIED CONSTRUCTION SERVICES AS THE TOP SPEND CATEGORY CONTRIBUTING TO THE CITY'S SUPPLY CHAIN, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, AND OVERALL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.
AND THIS DATA INFORMED OUR SHIFT IN DIRECTION TOWARDS INITIATIVE LIKE THE LOW CARBON CONCRETE PROGRAM, OUR SUSTAINABLE WOOD SOURCING CONSULTING PILOT WITH A LOCAL NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION AND OUR CLEAN AIR CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM TO REDUCE DIESEL PARTICULATE MATTER FROM OUR CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT.
SO WITHIN CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, CONCRETE WAS RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE MOST GREENHOUSE GAPS INTENSIVE MATERIALS TYPICALLY USED ON CITY PROJECTS.
AND AS A RESULT IN 2019, AFTER GATHERING BOTH INTERNAL AND
[00:10:01]
EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER INPUT, THE CITY ESTABLISHED OUR LOW CARBON CONCRETE INITIATIVE TO REDUCE THE OVERALL CARBON INTENSITY OF THE CONCRETE MIXES USED ON CITY OF PORTLAND PROJECTS.IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE CITY OF PORTLAND AND THE STATE OF OREGON PARTNERED ON THIS EFFORT BY CLEAN LEGISLATION WAS INTRODUCED IN 2017, BUT IT DIDN'T PASS.
BUT BY THE TIME OF 2022 OREGON LEGISLATION, IT WAS FULLY SUPPORTED BY CONCRETE AND ASPHALT ASSOCIATIONS ALIKE SINCE THEY WERE PARTNERS, UM, IN THE CITY OF PORTLAND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PROCESS.
SO WITH THOSE INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES ALREADY AT THE TABLE, THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, UM, BY CLEAN BILL PASSED, I WAS NOT IN MY CURRENT ROLE DURING THIS PERIOD, WHICH I MENTIONED ALREADY.
SO ONCE AGAIN, I WOULD BE REMISS IF I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THE GREAT WORK OF STACEY BENNETT AND THE SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT PROGRAM MANAGER AT THE TIME.
AND ALSO JORDAN PALMER, WHO WAS AT THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AT THE TIME, WHO NOW CONTINUES TO CHAMPION THIS WORK AT THE CARBON LEADERSHIP FORUM.
A GREAT RESOURCE IF YOU'RE NOT ALREADY CONNECTED TO THAT ORGANIZATION, LIKE OUR OTHER PROGRAMS WITHIN THE SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT REALM.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE CLEAN AIR CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM, THERE WAS A MULTI-YEAR PHASE IN PROCESS FOR COMPLIANCE.
SO THIS STARTED WITH STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, A THREE YEAR PERIOD DURING, UM, DURING WHICH WE REQUIRED DISCLOSURE OF PRODUCT SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS, A KEP DS, WHICH I WILL LIKELY REFER TO THEM AS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS PRESENTATION, FOUR CONCRETE PRODUCTS USED IN PORTLAND, WHICH ALSO ALLOWED TIME FOR DATA COLLECTION.
THAT BASELINE EPD WAS ESTABLISHED BASED ON INDUSTRY AVERAGES AND PILOT, OR SORRY, THE BASELINE GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, I BELIEVE, UM, WAS ESTABLISHED BASED ON INDUSTRY AVERAGES.
THE GWP UM, AND PILOT PROJECTS WERE ESTABLISHED TO TEST THESE DIFFERENT MIXES.
THERE WAS DISCUSSION OF THESE PROPOSED LIMITS WITH THE COMMITTEE, AND ULTIMATELY THEY, THEY, WE ESTABLISHED THOSE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE THRESHOLD.
SO LET'S DELVE INTO THE DETAILS OF THESE STEPS.
STEP ONE WAS THE LOW CARBON CONCRETE COMMITTEE, WHICH WAS CONVENED FROM 2020 TO 2022, AND WAS COMPRISED OF STAKEHOLDERS FROM LEADERS IN OUR PROCUREMENT SERVICES TEAM, THE WATER BUREAU, TRANSPORTATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES BUREAUS.
EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS INCLUDED REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE STATE OF OREGON DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY REPRESENTATIVES FROM OUR FOUR LARGEST CONCRETE PRODUCERS, ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, CONSTRUCTION FIRMS, AND REGIONAL AGGREGATE PRODUCERS.
WE AT THE CITY OF PORTLAND SEEK DEEP COLLABORATION WHENEVER POSSIBLE BY WORKING ACROSS AS MANY INVOLVED BUREAUS AS POSSIBLE TO MAKE AN INITIATIVE LIKE THIS WORKED.
THE COMMITTEE DETERMINED THAT THE FIRST TASK WAS TO UNDERSTAND THE TYPICAL EMISSIONS OF PORTLAND AREA CONCRETE.
SO TO GO ABOUT LOWERING, EXCUSE ME, THE GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, WHICH I WILL REFER TO AS GWP.
UM, LET'S SEE, I JUST GOT AN EMAIL FROM ROHAN, UM, SAYING WE CAN HEAR, OH, I THINK THIS MIGHT BE FROM BEFORE.
IT WAS TRAVELING THROUGH CYBERSPACE.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CONFIRMING.
UM, SO THE FIRST ACTION THAT THE COMMITTEE TOOK WAS TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM OUR LARGEST READY MIX COMPANIES TO DETERMINE THAT PORTLAND AREA AVERAGE GWP.
AND THIS WAS PAIRED WITH REQUIRING AN ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATION OR EPD AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, FOR CONCRETE, SO THAT WE COULD BUILD THAT FAMILIARITY FROM THE READY MIX COMPANIES TO DEVELOP EPDS AND FAMILIARITY IN OUR PROCUREMENT TEAMS TO RECEIVE AND ANALYZE THOSE EPDS.
SO IN JANUARY OF 2020, THE CITY OF PORTLAND BECAME THE FIRST CITY IN NORTH AMERICA TO REQUIRE PRODUCT SPECIFIC TYPE THREE EPDS REQUIRED FOR ALL PRE-APPROVED CONCRETE MIX DESIGNS AND CONCRETE MIXES FOR PROJECTS OVER 50 CUBIC YARDS.
BECAUSE THE NATIONAL READY MIX CONCRETE ASSOCIATION ALREADY HAD THESE TOOLS TO ASSIST THE COMPANIES IN DEVELOPING THE EPDS.
THIS WAS NOT A HEAVY LIST, UH, FOR THESE COMPANIES.
AND THE POLICY WAS INCORPORATED IN OUR STANDARD CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS.
THERE WAS ALSO AN EFFORT TO REVIEW THOSE SPECIFICATIONS FOR BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING LOW CARBON CONCRETE, INCLUDING WATER TO CEMENT RATIOS, SUPPLEMENTARY CEMENTITIOUS MATERIALS OR SCM FLOORS AND OR CEILINGS,
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AND AN AIM FOR PERFORMANCE BASED SPECIFICATIONS.THIS THREE YEAR PERIOD DURING WHICH WE REQUIRED DISCLOSURE OF PRODUCT SPECIFIC EPDS FOR CONCRETE PRODUCTS USED IN PORTLAND, ALSO ALLOWED TIME FOR THAT DATA COLLECTION.
AND OUR MATERIAL TESTING TECHNICIANS LIKE ANDREW AND JOSH WHO ARE PRESENT TODAY, ARE THE ONES TO REVIEW THESE EPS AS THEY COME THROUGH WITH ALL OF THE CONCRETE MIXES SUBJECT TO OUR REQUIREMENTS.
AND I SAW A LITTLE POPUP THAT ANDREW HAD SHARED A COMMENT VIA OUR CHAT.
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SIGN THE CHAT, UM, WITH THE WINDOW, ANDREW, YOU I WAS JUST PROVIDING, I WAS JUST PROVIDING GREATER CLARIFICATION ON GWP, UM, MM-HMM.
SORRY, I DIDN'T WANT TO INTERRUPT, SO THAT'S WHY I PUT IT IN THE CHAT.
WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT? OH, JUST IT, JUST CLARIFYING THAT GWP OR GLOBAL WARM POTENTIAL IS A MEASUREMENT OF THE IMPACT THE MATERIAL HAS ON THE ENVIRONMENT.
UH, PER CUBIC YARD OR PUBIC METER, IT'S USUALLY EXPRESSES KILOGRAMS, UH, PER COT PER EQUIVALENT YARD OR METER.
UH, BUT ESSENTIALLY THE HIGHER THE NUMBER, THE WORSE IT IS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THAT ADDITIONAL INFO AND YEAH, MY, MY WEBEX WINDOW WENT AWAY ENTIRELY, BUT HOPEFULLY YOU CAN STILL SEE THE PRESENTATION AND I CAN JUST KEEP PUSHING FORWARD.
CAN YOU STILL SEE YEAH, WE CAN SEE EVERYTHING? MM-HMM
WE ARE MOVING FORWARD TO SLIDE NINE.
UM, SO THE NEXT ACTION WAS TO ANALYZE THE PRODUCTION DATA BY TAKING A SURVEY OF PRODUCTION VOLUMES AND ANALYZING EXISTING ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS FROM CONCRETE PRODUCTION PLANTS IN THE PORTLAND AREA.
AND THIS GRAPH SHOWS THAT RANGE OF CARBON EMISSIONS PER EACH CONCRETE STRENGTH CLASS WITH THE GRAY BAR COMPARED THEM, COMPARED TO THE GREEN LINE HERE, WHICH REPRESENTS THAT OVERALL PACIFIC NORTHWEST AVERAGE FROM THE NATIONAL READY MIX CONCRETE ASSOCIATION, INCLUDING 49 PLANTS ACROSS OREGON, WASHINGTON, IDAHO, AND MONTANA.
THE Y IS CONCRETE IN PORTLAND, SO HIGH IN EMISSIONS.
IT'S LARGELY DUE TO THE SHIPPING OF PORTLAND CEMENT AND FLAG LONG DISTANCES.
THE DEMAND OF CONCRETE FOR CONCRETE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OUTPACES THE AMOUNT OF SUPPLY THAT WE HAVE FOR FLAG A BYPRODUCT OF STEEL MANUFACTURING.
DO WE HAVE A MIX OF HALF REGIONAL MATERIALS AND HALF THAT ARE SHIPPED FROM ASIA.
SO OUR INITIATIVE ALSO COMPARED THE CITY OF PORTLAND PROCURED MIXES AND THE PRIVATE MARKET AND THE AVERAGE GWP OF EACH WERE FOUND TO BE SIMILAR, JUST A DIFFERENT SAMPLE SIZE OF THE VARIOUS STRENGTH CLASSES.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE CITY USES MORE MID, UM, STRENGTH CLASSES LIKE 3000 TO 4,000 PFI MIXES.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE, CONCRETE AND PORTLAND WAS TYPICALLY HIGHER THAN THAT REGIONAL AVERAGE LEADS.
THE NEXT ACTION WAS TO ANALYZE THE PRODUCTION DATA BY TAKING A SURVEY OF PRODUCTION VOLUMES AND ANALYZE IT.
WAIT A MINUTE, I, I SHARED THAT ALREADY.
UM, SORRY, LET ME PULL UP THESE NOTES OVER HERE.
SO THERE WERE SMALL STEPS TAKEN TO HELP BUILD THAT AWARENESS AND TO NORMALIZE SUSTAINABILITY METRICS.
HOLD ON, I'M STILL NOT ON THE RIGHT SLIDE.
SO THIS PAST CONCRETE CONSUMPTION WAS CAPTURED IN THE 2021 BPE FOR MOBILE MIX CONCRETE.
AND THIS DEFINES THAT BASELINE OR STARTING PLACE FOR SETTING THE CARBON EMISSIONS REDUCTION GOALS.
THE N-R-M-C-A WAS SET TO PUBLISH THE NEXT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LIFECYCLE ASSESSMENT BENCHMARK REPORTS, VERSION 3.2 IN 2022.
SO OUR COMMITTEE WAITED TO SEE THE UPDATED PACIFIC NORTHWEST AVERAGE AND CONTINUED ON TO INTERIM STEPS AND PILOT TESTS, TESTS OF THE LOW CARBON CONCRETE.
UH, CARRIE, SORRY TO INTERRUPT, BUT WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO ZOOM IN AT ALL ON THIS? OR WILL THAT JUST MESS UP YOUR VIEW? MAYBE IT'S NOT.
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YOU CAN ALSO ZOOM IN PERSONALLY BY HOLDING CONTROL AND SPINNING YOUR MOUSE WHEEL, BY THE WAY.THAT ONLY WORKS FOR THOSE ONLINE, WHICH I, I AM GONNA JOIN ONLINE SO THAT I CAN DO THAT.
AND I HAVE THE WEBEX WINDOW BACK UP, I THINK.
UM, ALRIGHT, SO WE ARE MOVING AHEAD TO SLIDE 10.
AT LEAST I HAVE A CHAT WINDOW.
THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME.
SO I ALREADY MENTIONED, LET'S SEE, WE WERE CHATTING ABOUT THE BASELINE.
ADDED GW P TO APPROVED CONCRETE MIX DESIGN LIST.
SO YEAH, WE TOOK THESE SMALL STEPS TO BUILD THAT AWARENESS AND NORMALIZE SUSTAINABILITY METRICS.
AND AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS ADDING A COLUMN FOR GWP OR APPROVED CONCRETE MIX DESIGN LIST FROM OUR MATERIALS TESTING LAB.
SO BEFORE HAVING A GWP REQUIREMENT, THIS NORMALIZED SEEING IT AS A METRIC.
ALRIGHT, SO STEP FOUR, UM, PILOT PROJECTS.
SO SINCE CONCRETE IS A FIELD CURED PRODUCT, IT WAS AGREED THAT SEVERAL ATTRIBUTES SHOULD BE TESTED TO BUILD THAT KNOWLEDGE, TRUST, AND FAMILIARITY.
AND WE KNEW THAT LOW CARBON CONCRETE MIGHT TAKE LONGER TO CURE.
SO WE TESTED IT ACROSS SEVERAL PROJECTS AND STRENGTH CLASSES.
AND THIS ALSO HIGHLIGHTED HOW CRITICAL IT IS TO ENGAGE WITH ENGINEERS, CONTRACTORS, FINISHERS AND CONCRETE PRODUCERS EARLIER IN PROJECT PLANNING.
UNDERSTANDING THESE PROPERTIES CAN HELP CONCRETE FINISHERS TO BETTER ANTICIPATE AND PLAN FOR ANY NEEDED CHANGES FROM THEIR STATUS QUO WHEN MOVING TO THOSE LOWER EMBODIED CARBON MIXES.
SO ALL LOWER CARBON MIXES USED IN THE PILOT PROJECTS MET CITY SPECIFICATION, BOTH IN TERMS OF PRE-APPROVAL AND CONFIRMED BY THE SUBSEQUENT COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST.
THE LOWER CARBON MIXES FEATURED A COMBINATION OF TYPE ONE L CEMENTS AND UP TO 30% FLAG, WHICH MAY HAVE HAD VERY LITTLE IMPACT ON SET TIME AND EARLY STRENGTH.
THE FINISHING CREW FOUND THESE MIXES TO BE VERY EASY TO WORK WITH.
AND WHEN THE 50% SLIDE MIX WAS POURED IN JUNE FOR A DRIVEWAY APPLICATION WITH AN AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AT A, AT A POUR AT THE POOR TIME OF POUR BEING ABOUT 66 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, THE CONCRETE INSTALLATION CREW REPORTED THAT THE DIFFERENCE IN SET TIME FROM THEIR USUAL 100% CEMENT MIX INCREASED FROM ABOUT TWO AND A HALF TO THREE AND A QUARTER HOURS WHEN THE CREW POURED THE SAME 50% SLAG MIX IN DECEMBER FOR ANOTHER DRIVEWAY WITH AN AMBIENT TEMPERATURE OF ABOUT 35 DEGREES AT THE TIME OF POOR.
THEY COMMENTED THAT THE SET TIME WAS EVEN LONGER AT ABOUT FIVE HOURS.
SO THESE STATUS QUO CONVENTIONAL MIXES USED DURING THE PILOT PROJECT WERE SIGNIFICANTLY OVER DESIGNED.
SO THIS MEANS THAT THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF THE MIX FAR EXCEEDED THE SPECIFICATION.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE STATUS QUO 100% CEMENT MIX FOR A 3000 PSI AT DAY 28 SPECIFICATION TESTED AT 4,800 TO 5,900 PSI IN LABORATORY CONDITIONS.
AND THE LOWER CARBON MIXES RANGE FROM 23 TO 50%.
I JUST FAST FORWARDED THROUGH MY SLIDES.
UM, THE LOWER CARBON MIXES RANGED FROM 23 TO 50% LESS THAN THE 100% CEMENT STATUS QUO MIXES.
DID YOU HEAR SOMEONE JUMP IN THERE? I DON'T THINK ANYONE SHOULD DO THIS ONE.
SO STEP FIVE IN 2022, WE PUBLISHED CARBON THRESHOLDS FOR THE DIFFERENT STRENGTH CLASSES AND ALL STUDY PROCURED PROJECTS NEEDED TO MEET THESE LIMITS
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STARTING IN JANUARY OF 2023.AND THERE ARE TWO PATHWAYS OUTLINED HERE ON THIS SLIDE.
SO HOW DID WE DETERMINE WHERE TO SET THAT THRESHOLD? UM, WE KNEW IN 2019 THAT PORTLAND AREA CONCRETE WAS TYPICALLY HIGHER THAN THAT PACIFIC NORTHWEST AVERAGE, AND WE KNEW THAT WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO AT LEAST MEET THE AVERAGE BECAUSE IT MET THE SUPPLIERS WERE ALREADY ABLE TO PRODUCE THESE MIXED DESIGNS.
SO WE SET IT TO MATCH THAT 2022 PACIFIC NORTHWEST AVERAGE OF GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL FROM THE NATIONAL READY MIXED CONCRETE ASSOCIATION WITH A PLAN TO REVISIT THE GWP THRESHOLD ON A REGULAR BASIS TO DRIVE FOR FURTHER CARBON SAVINGS OVER TIME.
AND THANK YOU TO ANDREW FOR SHARING THE LINK TO THE FULL REPORTS ON REPORT ON THE PILOT STUDIES IN THE CHAT.
SO THIS TABLE HERE, WHICH I WILL ZOOM IN ON, HOPEFULLY THIS TABLE HERE, COMPARES OUR 2023 GWP THRESHOLD TO THE 2021 MOBILE MIX EPD, WHICH SHOWS THAT WE ARE SAVING UPWARDS OF 32% OF CARBON EMISSIONS IN OUR CONCRETE.
SO IN OTHER WORDS, UTILIZING THE LOW CARBON MIXES ON LARGE PROJECTS WILL HELP US TO ACHIEVE THAT GWP SAVINGS VERSUS THE SMALL MIXES WHERE IT'S MORE DIFFICULT TO PRODUCE THE PROJECT PRODUCT SPECIFIC EPDS AND TO SUPPLY THAT LOW CARBON CONCRETE.
UM, SO IN TERMS OF EXEMPTIONS, THERE ARE SOME REASONS THAT HAVE BEEN APPROVED, PRE-APPROVED FOR EXEMPTIONS, INCLUDING, UM, IF THE CONCRETE TOTALS OVER 50 CUBIC YARDS ACROSS THE ENTIRE PROJECT RATHER THAN WITHIN ONE SINGLE PORT AREA.
A FEW SPECIFIC COMPANIES PARTICIPATED IN THE ORIGINAL EPD DEVELOPMENT AND ARE SMALLER SUPPLIERS, AND EACH READY MIX PRODUCER HAS A DIFFERENT COMPANY AND SUPPLY CHAIN STRUCTURE.
SO DUE TO THIS, SOME FIND IT EASIER AND OR CHEAPER TO PRODUCE THOSE SUPPLEMENTARY CEMENTITIOUS MATERIALS FCMS REQUIRED TO PRODUCE LOW CARBON CONCRETE.
IF A PRODUCER IS SEEKING THIS EXEMPTION ROUTE, IT'S BEST TO SOLICIT THOSE ADDITIONAL BIDS FROM OTHER COMPANIES THAT WOULD LIKELY BE ABLE TO COMPLY.
SO OF COURSE, WITH ANYTHING NEW, WE HAVE TO MANAGE THE CHANGE AND THOSE EXPECTATIONS AND DO A LITTLE MIS BUSTING ALONG THE WAY.
SO THERE HAVE BEEN MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT OUR GOALS AND WHAT WE REQUIRE WITHIN THIS INITIATIVE.
LIKE THE CITY OF PORTLAND WANTS WEAKER CONCRETE, FOR EXAMPLE.
UH, THE CITY IS NOT MANDATING THAT HIGH FLAG MIXES WERE USED, BUT THAT ALL CONCRETE USED ON OUR PROJECTS ARE BELOW THAT GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL THRESHOLD, WHICH TOOK EFFECT IN THE BEGINNING OF 2023.
AND THIS IS A VALUE THAT WAS DERIVED FROM THE EPD OF THE MIX DESIGN.
UM, AND WELL, WE, WE, WE WENT THROUGH SOME OF THESE DETAILS ALREADY, SO I WILL GO DOWN TO MISCONCEPTION NUMBER TWO.
UM, THAT IT IS TRUE THAT HIGH SLIDE MIXES CAN TAKE LONGER TO ACHIEVE THEIR FINAL STRENGTH, BUT THAT IT'S NOT A HUGE DIFFERENCE.
OTHER TYPES OF LOW CARBON MIXES LIKE TYPE ONE L CEMENT ACHIEVE STRENGTH SIMILARLY TO THOSE TRADITIONAL MIXES.
NUMBER THREE, DOESN'T LOW CARBON CONCRETE TAKE LONGER TO SET UP AND THERE CAN BE AN INCREASE IN THE SET TIME, BUT IT SHOULDN'T BE TOO DRASTIC.
THIS CAN ALSO BE OFFSET WITH THESE OF ACCELERATORS IN THE MIXES.
AND THERE ARE MANY VARIABLES THAT CAN IMPACT SET TIMES, UM, INCLUDING TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, WIND, ADMIXTURES, ET CETERA.
AND THIS WAS EVALUATED DURING MANY OF THOSE PILOT PROJECTS THAT THE CITY PERFORMED.
NUMBER FOUR, WILL THE COST OF LOW CARBON CONCRETE BE HIGHER? AND WHAT WE HAVE HEARD IS THAT THE COST IS COMPARABLE.
TYPE ONE L CEMENT IS ABOUT THE SAME AS CONVENTIONAL TYPE ONE TO TWO CEMENT.
AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES AND OTHER FACTORS CAN CAUSE UNPREDICTABLE PRICES.
CAN I, UM, UM, SO WE'VE, YEAH, SORRY, CARRIE, IT'S ANDREW.
JUST TO JUMP INTO, I WANT TO ADD TO THAT, LIKE, UH, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE, YOU FOLKS MIGHT ALREADY KNOW THIS, BUT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO US WAS TO SPECIFY THE GWP LIMITS AND 'CAUSE IT'S A PERFORMANCE BASED SPEC AND
[00:30:01]
NOT, UH, SAY LIMIT HOW MUCH CEMENT THEY CAN PUT IN THEIR CONCRETE OR EVEN REQUIRE THAT THEY USE TYPE ONE L.WE HAVE NOTHING IN OUR SPECIFICATIONS THAT REQUIRES USE OF TYPE ONE L CEMENT.
IT'S JUST, UM, BECOME REALLY POPULAR.
AND THAT'S A DECISION THAT THE SUPPLIERS ARE MAKING.
SO I THINK THE CITY OF PORTLAND AND OTHER MUNICIPALITIES HAVE HAD A TENDENCY TO WRITE SPECIFICATIONS LIKE, WELL, YOU KNOW, WE, WE WANNA LOWER SLUMP, SO WE'RE GONNA LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF WATER THEY CAN PUT IN.
WELL, WE DON'T WANNA DO THEIR MIX DESIGN FOR THEM, LET'S JUST STICK TO PERFORMANCE BASED SPECIFICATIONS AND LET THEM COME UP WITH HOW THEY'RE GONNA ACHIEVE THAT.
UM, AND THERE MAY BE, UH, THINGS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN INNOVATIVE INNOVATED YET THAT THEY CAN UTILIZE.
SO, UM, BE CAREFUL IF, UM, WHEN WRITING SPECIFICATIONS THAT YOU STICK TO PERFORMANCE-BASED SPECIFICATIONS AND, AND NOT, UH, UH, OTHER THINGS LIKE REQUIRING TYPE ONE L CEMENT OR LIMITING THEIR CEMENT CONTENTS.
SO JUST WANTED TO THROW THAT OUT THERE.
UM, WE'VE, WE'VE GOT JUST A COUPLE SLIDES LEFT, BUT PLEASE JUMP IN.
UM, WE'VE GOT ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR LAUREN, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WEIGH IN.
UM, THERE ARE MORE DETAILS ON COST IMPACTS SHOWN HERE FROM A STUDY COMPLETED BY LAUREN ZIMMERMAN, OUR ANALYSTS WHO'VE BEEN ENGAGED WITHIN THIS EFFORT FROM THE BUREAU OF PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY.
WHO, WHO IS HERE WITH US TODAY? LAUREN, DID YOU WANNA ADD ANY DETAILS HERE? UH, JUST TO SAY THAT WHEN I SURVEYED OUR LARGE COMPANIES, YOU KNOW, FOLKS CAN'T GIVE YOU THE PRICE OF WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE BECAUSE EVERY PROJECT IS UNIQUE.
SO I APPROACHED THAT WITH A LITTLE BIT MORE OF A RANGE METHODOLOGY AND THEY SAID TYPICALLY THEY ARE ABLE TO ACHIEVE OUR GWP REQUIREMENT WITH ANYWHERE FROM A ZERO TO 5% PRICE INCREASE FOR THE PROJECT.
AND SINCE THE, YOU KNOW, CONCRETE IS JUST ONE COMPONENT OF THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, THAT WAS USUALLY PRETTY EASY TO ABSORB INTO THE TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST.
APPRECIATE THOSE ADDITIONAL DETAILS.
SO IN TERMS OF CONSIDERATIONS FOR CONCRETE GWP REDUCTIONS, UM, AS DISCUSSED ALREADY, MANY ENGINEER SPECIFY REQUIREMENTS THAT ARE OVER-ENGINEERED FOR THE PURPOSE, LARGELY DUE TO STANDARD OR BOILERPLATE SPECIFICATIONS.
SO READY MIX SUPPLIERS WOULD LIKE MORE DETAILS ON HOW TO ACHIEVE PERFORMANCE.
SO THEY KNOW WHAT PARAMETERS THEY CAN TOGGLE.
IT'S AIMING FOR A PARTICULAR GWP REDUCTION OR TARGETING AN EPD.
AND BY ALLOWING A PROJECT AVERAGE OPTION IN CONCRETE GWP REQUIREMENTS, YOU CAN BALANCE THOSE HIGH CARBON MIXES AND LOW CARBON MIXES ACROSS DIFFERENT PORES ON A PROJECT.
AND LARGE PRODUCERS CAN TEST NEW MIXES IN AS FEW AS 30 DAYS, UM, OR 60 DAYS FOR AN EARLY STRENGTH MIX DESIGN FOR SMALLER SUPPLIERS, IT'S IMPORTANT TO WORK ON ESTABLISHING THAT COMMON LOW GWP MIX AND THAT PROCESS COULD TAKE SIX MONTHS.
SO IT'S GOOD TO MAP AND INCLUDE YOUR PRODUCERS BY HAVING MULTIPLE NEARBY PRODUCERS.
UM, THAT'S A REALLY GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR COMPETITION AND INNOVATION.
SO THIS SLIDE IS HERE AS A TAKEAWAY FOR YOU ALL TO REVIEW LATER ONCE ALL OF THIS INFORMATION HAS SET IN.
UM, BUT THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS ARE TO START EARLY WITH THE LOW CARBON CONCRETE ADVISORY GROUP THAT INCLUDES LOCAL PRODUCERS TO TAKE THE STEPS OVER TIME SO PRODUCERS AND SPECIFIERS HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP THE AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, AND KNOWLEDGE AND TO ADJUST THEIR PROCESSES AND TO DETERMINE A POINT PERSON WHO CAN TAKE FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND PROCESSES AND INTEGRATE IT INTO THE EVOLUTION OF A POLICY AND PROGRAM OVER TIME.
SO WITH THAT, WE HAVE MADE IT TO THE END OF OUR PRESENTATION.
SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING.
THANKS AGAIN, LAUREN, FOR PROVIDING THIS GREAT PRESENTATION AS A BASE THAT I CAN PICK UP AND HOPEFULLY DO JUSTICE TOO.
UM, SO AT THIS POINT I WILL OPEN THE FLOOR FOR Q AND A AND WELCOME CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION.
SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT VIA MY EMAIL ADDRESS SHOWN ON SCREEN HERE.
UM, AND AS MENTIONED AND AS THEY'VE ALREADY JUMPED IN, WE'VE GOT A FEW KEY PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS HERE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.
SO WITH THAT, I WILL OPEN UP THE FLOOR.
AND TEAM, THIS IS, UH, GREAT TO, TO SEE A, A CITY THAT IS, IS MOVING THROUGH AND HAS DONE THE STEPS THAT, UM, THAT WE NEED TO DO HERE.
WHO HAS QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON THIS?
[00:35:03]
AND I CAN'T SEE EVERYBODY ONLINE, SO FEEL FREE TO JUST COME OFF MUTE IF YOU'RE ONLINE AND WANNA SAY SOMETHING.HEY, KIVA, I'VE, I'VE GOT A FEW QUESTIONS.
UM, WELL FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU, UH, CARRIE.
UM, YEAH, YOU GOT TWO ROUNDS OF APPLAUSE, UM, IN, IN THIS HOUSEHOLD.
UM, I'M CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT THE PILOT TESTING TIMELINE LOOKED LIKE.
I THINK IN YOUR SUMMARY SLIDE, IT MADE IT SEEM LIKE MAYBE SOME OF THESE TEST POURS CAME LATER IN THE PROCESS, BUT COULD YOU SPEAK TO THAT, ANDREW, MAY I DEFER TO YOU ON THIS QUESTION? YOU SHARED THE REPORT LINK IN THE CHAT AND OR JOSH OR LAUREN? YEAH, I'LL, I'LL GO.
UM, I DON'T HAVE EXACT DATES IN FRONT OF ME.
I KNOW THE, SO THE FIRST ONE WE DID WAS IN 2020, UM, AND I THINK COVID MAY HAVE SLOWED THINGS DOWN, BUT, UM, AND THEN, UH, WE DID TWO MORE THE NEXT YEAR IN 2021 AND THEN A COUPLE MORE IN 2022.
SO IT WAS OVER THE COURSE OF TWO AND A HALF YEARS.
UM, AND THAT WAS BE, SOME OF THAT I THINK WAS BECAUSE WE HAD, WE HAD DECIDED, OH, WELL, YOU KNOW, WE DID A LOT OF EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT, 'CAUSE THERE'S SO MANY VARIABLES, YOU KNOW, USING TYPE ONE TWO CEMENT AND TYPE ONE L USING 0% SLAG, 30% SLAG, 50% SLACK USING ACCELERANTS, UM, AT DIFFERENT DOSAGES USING HOT WATER INSTEAD OF COLD WATER, YOU KNOW, DOING IT IN THE WINTER VERSUS THE SUMMER.
SO WE REALLY WANTED TO CAPTURE ALL OF THOSE THINGS.
AND THE LINK I SHARED IN THE CHAT ACTUALLY HAS ALL OF THE RESULTS OF THAT.
AND EVEN LIKE, UM, DOSAGING THAT SUPPLIERS CAN USE AS THE GUIDELINES, LIKE, HEY, WHEN WE ADDED THIS MOST ACCELERANT IT, YOU KNOW, WE HAD INSTANCES FOR EXAMPLE WITH THE 50 TYPE ONE L CEMENT AND THEN 50% SLAG THAT USE BOTH ACCELERATE AND HOT WATER IN DECEMBER.
AND IT ACTUALLY SET UP TOO FAST.
SO IT WAS LIKE, OKAY, YOU CAN REALLY MAKE THIS STUFF, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.
UM, SO THERE'S SOME, EVEN SOME, THE DOSAGES THAT WERE USED IN THOSE PILOT STUDIES ARE JUST A GOOD RESOURCE FOR SUPPLIERS BY THE WAY.
THROWING THAT OUT THERE WHILE IT'S ON MY MIND.
BUT, UM, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, IT WAS REALLY, IT WAS, IT WAS RIGHT AFTER WE STARTED REQUIRING THE EPDS, BUT SET NO LIMITATIONS ON THE GWP.
UH, WE DID OUR FIRST PILOT PROJECT AND THEN, BUT THEN IT WENT ON FOR ANOTHER TWO AND A HALF YEARS DOING A COUPLE OF THEM.
AND, UM, AND IN THOSE PILOT PROJECTS, I KNOW THIS WASN'T PRETTY QUESTION, WE, UM, LOOKED AT, UH, WELL ALL THE FRESH PROPERTY TESTS, YOU KNOW, THAT YOU NORMALLY DO WHEN YOU'RE TESTING CONCRETE SLUMP, AIR UNIT, WEIGHT, TEMPERATURE, UH, COMPRESSION TESTING, BUT ALSO, UM, WE DID VISUAL INSPECTION OF THE CONCRETE STRUCTURES, UM, THREE MONTHS, SIX MONTHS, NINE MONTHS, AND 12 MONTHS AFTER POURING.
UM, I ACTUALLY WAS THE ONE WHO WENT OUT AND DID ALL THAT.
AND THEN, UM, WE ALSO SURVEYED THE CONCRETE FINISHERS AFTERWARDS, LIKE, HOW WAS WORK, HOW WAS IT WORKABILITY? HOW DID IT COMPARE TO THE MIXES YOU USED TO THINGS THAT ARE BETTER, THINGS THAT ARE WORSE.
AND ALL OF THAT'S MOUNTAIN OF DATA IS IN THAT LINK I SHARED.
UM, BUT YEAH, SO ALL THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS, I GUESS TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, THANKS THAT, THAT SOUNDS POTENTIALLY LIKE A LOT OF WORK.
SO COULD YOU JUST TELL ME A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT LIKE YEAH, WHO DECIDED THAT THAT WORK WAS GONNA GET DONE? LIKE WHAT DEPARTMENT DID IT GET HOUSED IN? LIKE, YOU KNOW, WAS THAT EXTRA STAFF TIME, WAS THIS, WERE THEY LIKE, HEY, LIKE JUST POUR SOME CONCRETE AND IT'S OVERTIME, LIKE, CAN YOU TALK ME THROUGH THAT? YEAH.
UM, THAT WAS, UH, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT, UM, CARRIE, UH, BUT THAT WAS ACTUALLY, UH, CARRIE'S PREDECESSOR STACY, WHO'S IN THE PROCUREMENT, UH, UH, SIDE OF THINGS FOR THE, UM, HAD SOME MONEY EARMARKED TO BASICALLY PAY FOR, UH, ALL OF THIS.
AND, AND I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE CITY OF AUSTIN, BUT WE HAVE OUR OWN INTERNAL MATERIALS TESTING LAB.
UM, SO WE DIDN'T HAVE TO USE A PRIVATE COMPANY, SO THAT HELPED TOO.
UM, I'M ACTUALLY IN THE MATERIALS TESTING LAB, THAT'S MY ROLE.
UM, SO THAT HELPED WITH COSTS.
BUT SO THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT YOU WERE GIVEN TO TAKE ON, ON TOP OF OTHER JOB RESPONSIBILITIES OR WAS PART OF A SUITE OF OTHER JOB RESPONSIBILITIES? IS THAT YEAH.
SO, UM, CITY PORTLAND HAS OUR MATERIALS TESTING LAB.
WE PERFORM QUALITY ASSURANCE TESTING ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS THAT ARE FUNDED BY THE CITY ALL OF THE TIME.
IT'S OUR FULL, WE HAVE SEVERAL PEOPLE HERE WORK HERE, IT'S OUR FULL-TIME JOB.
[00:40:02]
LIKE, HEY, WE'RE ALSO GONNA HAVE YOU GO TEST THIS CONCRETE AND DO SOME INSPECTIONS AFTERWARDS.AND IT'S LIKE, OKAY, ADD IT TO THE PILE OF WORK.
SO THIS WAS NOT SOMEBODY'S DEDICATED JOB, IT WAS JUST THROWN INTO OUR REGULAR WORKFLOW.
'CAUSE WE'RE DOING IT EVERY DAY FOR OTHER THINGS.
SO WHEN YOU'RE TALKING SPECIFICALLY ABOUT PROCUREMENT EARMARKING MONEY, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT MONEY TO BUY THE MATERIALS AND, AND DO THE POS? UM, NO, THE PORES ALREADY NEEDED TO HAPPEN.
UM, IT WAS JUST, HEY, LET'S USE THIS LOW CARBON CONCRETE INSTEAD OF THE REGULAR STUFF AND DO SOME INTERVIEWS AFTERWARDS AND SOME INSPECTIONS AFTERWARDS.
SO IT WASN'T LIKE WE, WE, LIKE, IT WAS LIKE SIDEWALKS AND A DA RAMPS AND OTHER THINGS.
UM, SO IT WASN'T LIKE WE WERE JUST BUILDING THINGS THAT DIDN'T NEED TO BE BUILT.
THEY WERE GONNA BE BUILT ANYWAY.
WE JUST, HEY, THAT CORNER RIGHT THERE THAT TOOK A SIDEWALK, WE'RE GONNA DO LOW CARBON CONCRETE INSTEAD OF THE TYPE ONE TWO STUFF.
I, I THINK ON A SIMILAR NOTE, AND MAYBE THIS IS FOR CARRIE OR ANYONE ELSE IS, WHAT WERE THE BARRIERS TO, TO DOING THIS? I WOULD LOVE TO LEAN ON THE INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE THAT WE HAVE FROM FOLKS WHO ARE INVOLVED BEFORE MY SIGN.
UM, JOSH, FEEL FREE TO CHIME IN HERE, BUT, UM, SO MY ROLE WAS THE INSPECTION AND TESTING SIDE OF THINGS.
UM, SO I DON'T KNOW THERE, THERE MAY BE BARRIERS THAT I'M OBLIVIOUS TO, BUT THE BIGGEST BARRIER THAT I SAW WAS, UM, RESISTANCE FROM SOME FOLKS FOR PRIVATE SUPPLIERS.
UM, SOME OF THEM WERE ON BOARD AND EAGERLY WERE HAPPY.
CON CONTRIBUTED QUITE A GREAT DEAL ON THE COMMITTEE.
AND WE HAD OTHER ONES WHO WERE LIKE, GLOBAL, WARM, GLOBAL, WARMINGS A HOAX, AND YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF NUTS AT THE CITY.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, SO IT WAS, YEAH.
UM, SO WE HAD ONE OF OUR BIG SUPPLIERS TOO, THEIR QUALITY PATROL MANAGER WAS REALLY KIND OF DRAGGING HIS FEET AND FIGHTING US EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.
UM, BUT SOME OF THE OTHER ONES WERE ON BOARD, SO THEY WEREN'T ALL LIKE THAT, BUT WE DEFINITELY SAW THAT AND THAT WAS THE BIGGEST BARRIER THAT I RAN INTO.
JOSH, UM, DID YOU YEAH, UM, WELL SAID, UM, ANDREW.
UM, SO BARRIERS, UH, DEFINITELY THERE WAS A LOT OF, UH, KIND OF PUSHBACK AT THE BEGINNING, UH, FROM BASICALLY FROM CONTRACTORS.
YOU KNOW, IF, IF, WELL IF THIS IS GONNA TAKE MORE TIME TO SET UP INITIALLY, THEN YOU KNOW, THAT'S GONNA COST, YOU KNOW, MORE TO, UH, PRODUCE THESE, UH, THESE, UH, YOU KNOW, SIDEWALKS OR A DA RAMPS.
BUT, BUT FORTUNATELY, UH, I THINK AS WE, UH, POINTED OUT EARLIER, ALL OF OUR, UH, BASICALLY ALL OF OUR, UM, SUPPLIERS, CONCRETE SUPPLIERS IN THE METRO AREA ARE ALL ON BOARD.
SO IT'S, IT'S KIND OF HARD FOR OUR CONTRACTORS NOT TO HAVE A LOW CARBON CONCRETE MIX DELIVERED.
IT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL THAT'S AVAILABLE.
UM, SO, UM, BUT UH, I THINK IT, IT'S WORKED OUT REALLY GOOD.
I REALLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO LOOK AT, UH, FOLLOW THAT LINK TO, UH, THE REPORT THAT, UH, ANDREW PUT UP THERE IN THE CHAT.
UM, AND IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, YOU KNOW, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT EITHER ONE OF, UH, LAUREN, CARRIE, ANDREW, MYSELF.
I THINK I PUT MY EMAIL IN THERE SOMEWHERE.
UM, ANNA, DID YOU HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS? IF NOT, I HAVE A, A COUPLE AS WELL.
WHY DON'T YOU TAKE OVER FOR A BIT,
UM, ONE OF THE, THE THINGS I THINK YOU MENTIONED, CARRIE, WAS THAT THERE, OR MAYBE IT WAS ANDREW, UM, THAT THERE WAS BUDGET ALLOCATED FOR THE TESTING KIND OF PHASE OF THIS.
UM, I THINK YOU ALSO MENTIONED THAT THERE WAS SOME INCREASE IN COST.
UM, CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT THE NUMBERS, UH, IN TERMS OF WHAT WAS ALLOCATED FOR TESTING AND WAS THAT, HOW MANY, HOW LONG WAS THAT UNDERWAY? LIKE HOW, HOW MANY YEARS DID YOU NEED BUDGET FOR THAT? THANK YOU, ANDREW.
I THINK YOU SHARED THOSE DETAILS.
SO I'M, I'M CURIOUS IF YOU HAVE INSIGHTS TO SHARE.
OH, I MENTIONED IT, BUT I DON'T HAVE NUMBERS.
I MEAN THE, THE, THE, IT STARTED IN 2019 IN THE PILOT OF PROJECT.
[00:45:01]
LAST PILOT OF PROJECT WE DID WAS 2022.SO THAT WAS A THREE YEAR PERIOD.
UM, I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T HAVE EXACT NUMBERS THOUGH.
EVEN IF WE DID THAT WOULD'VE BEEN PRE COVID, SO THEY WOULDN'T BE, YOU KNOW, I WOULDN'T TAKE THOSE TO THE BANK, BUT I'M SURE IT WAS, IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN VERY MUCH, I MEAN, A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS BECAUSE AGAIN, THESE WERE STRUCTURES THAT WERE ALREADY GOING TO BE BUILT.
SO, UM, THERE WAS JUST SOME EXTRA TESTING INVOLVED, WHICH WAS A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER PO AND SOME INSPECTIONS.
SO, I MEAN, JUST THE TESTING AND INSPECTION, EVERYTHING COULDN'T HAVE COST MORE, YOU KNOW, MORE THAN 10 GRAND.
UM, AND BECAUSE THE CITY'S BUILDING SO MANY A DA RAMPS, UM, 'CAUSE THAT'S A RESOLUTION TO A LAWSUIT FROM A FEW YEARS AGO.
UM, IT, IT WAS ALREADY, THE FUNDING WAS ALREADY THERE FOR THE, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.
IT WAS JUST SOME ADDITIONAL TESTING THAT NEEDED TO BE PAID FOR.
BUT UNFORTUNATELY I DON'T HAVE EXACT NUMBERS BECAUSE I WASN'T PART OF THAT.
JOSH JUST SAID IN THE CHAT TOO THAT HE THINKS STACY GOT A GRANT TO PAY FOR IT, WHICH WOULDN'T SURPRISE ME, BUT I JUST DON'T HAVE THOSE DETAILS.
BUT IT SOUNDS, SOUNDS PRETTY MINIMAL IN, IN TERMS OF COST.
IF, IF YOU'RE GONNA DO PILOT PROJECTS, YOU KNOW, PICK SOMETHING THAT'S ALREADY GONNA BE POURED AND JUST, UH, LET THEM USE SOME LOW CARBON CONCRETE SOMETHING THAT MIGHT NOT NECESSARILY COMPLY WITH YOUR SPECIFICATIONS IN TERMS OF WHATEVER.
I, I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH CITY AUSTIN SPECS, BUT YOU KNOW, WE HAD GIVEN THEM LEGAL, LIKE FOR INSTANCE, WE HAVE A SPEC THAT'S, HEY, DON'T USE MORE THAN 30% SLACK.
IT'S LIKE, WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT, GO AHEAD AND USE 50%.
SO WE HAD TO BASICALLY JUST SWAP OUT THE MIXES THAT THEY WERE ALREADY GONNA USE
YEAH, THAT'S, UH, I GUESS SOMETHING THAT I THINK WE NEED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT.
AND ALSO, I DON'T KNOW IF WE HAVE THAT TESTING LAB OR IF THERE'S MAYBE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE SOME SORT OF PARTNERSHIP WITH UT.
I'M SURE THEY HAVE A TESTING LAB THERE.
UM, YOU, IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU COULD YEAH, GO AHEAD.
OH, I WAS JUST GONNA SAY, YOU COULD HIRE A PRIVATE FIRM, UM, TO PERFORM THAT TESTING IF YOU GUYS DON'T HAVE A LAB INTERNALLY.
UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY THAT'S GONNA MAKE THE COST GO UP.
DO YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW WHAT THAT USUALLY COSTS? UM, IN OUR AREA, UH, PER CONCRETE POUR A PRIVATE COMPANY'S CHARGING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF $400 PER POUR.
SO DON'T, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, I I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S SIMILAR IN AUSTIN OR NOT, BUT IT, IT'S, IT'S NOT TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE IN THE, IN THE TERMS OF THE COST OF CONSTRUCTION.
IT'S A, A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS USUALLY ISN'T A LOT.
UM, I GUESS THE LAST QUESTION I HAD WAS, IT SOUNDED LIKE YOU DID HAVE SOME GOOD SUPPORT FROM THE INDUSTRY.
UM, AND I'M CURIOUS WHO DID THAT CONVENING, UM, IF THAT WAS DONE THROUGH THE PURCHASING, YOU KNOW, WAS THAT YOUR PREDECESSOR, CARRIE, OR WHO, WHO GOT THOSE PEOPLE TOGETHER? WHO, WHO ORGANIZED? THAT'S, THAT'S MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT STACY WAS THE PRIMARY CHAMPION.
UM, BUT LAUREN, I KNOW YOU'VE ENGAGED WITH N-R-M-C-A-A LOT, UM, AND I MEAN ANDREW AND JOSH ALSO, SO I DON'T KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY INSIGHTS AROUND WHETHER OR NOT THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, THOSE KEY CONNECTORS OR, YOU KNOW, IT WOULDN'T SURPRISE ME IF IT WAS STACY
JORDAN LED A LOT OF THE TECHNICAL CONVENING.
HE HAD A LITTLE MORE TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE THAN STACY.
AND IT WAS THOSE TWO IN PARTNERSHIP, I GOT EVERYONE TOGETHER IDENTIFIED WHICH PRODUCERS TO INVOLVE, WHO TO BRING INTO THE COMMITTEE, AND THEN KIND OF BROKE UP THE WORK ON THE EPD REQUIREMENTS VERSUS THE PILOTING AND THAT TYPE OF THING.
SO IT SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS THE TWO OF THEM VARIED PART-TIME IN THEIR ROLES.
AND, AND I, I WANT TO ADD TOO, JORDAN WAS INSTRUMENTAL, UM, IN PROVIDING, UH, KIND OF A COMMUNITY OUTREACH TO THE LOCAL SUPPLIERS AND BEING A RESOURCE FOR THEM.
UH, AGAIN, JORDAN WORKED FOR THE DEQ, UM, AND HE STILL WILLING TO BE A RESOURCE.
[00:50:01]
UH, BUT HE, YOU KNOW, THERE WERE A LOT OF SUPPLIERS WHO WERE LIKE, WHAT THE HECK IS AN EPD? WHEN WE FIRST STARTED THIS, THEY DIDN'T, THEY WERE LIKE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE ON ABOUT.SO HE, HE HAD, YOU KNOW, WE DID OUR OWN TRAINING AND, AND CONVERSATIONS AND MEETINGS SUCH AS THIS, BUT HE WOULD HELP THEM OUT WITH, UM, GETTING EPDS FOR THEIR MIX DESIGNS AND HOW THEY CAN DO THOSE CALCULATIONS AND THEY NEED TO BE THIRD PARTY VERIFIED.
SO THE COST OF THAT, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW HE DID IT, BUT HE ALSO WAS ABLE TO GET THEM SOME FUNDING TO HELP PAY FOR THEIR EPDS SOME VIA GRANT.
UM, 'CAUSE THAT WAS CONCERNED.
THEY'RE LIKE, I DON'T WANNA PAY SOMEBODY TO VERIFY AN EPD THING.
UM, SO JORDAN, JORDAN WAS REALLY A RESOURCE FOR THE SUPPLIERS.
UM, YEAH, HIM AND STACY GOT EVERYONE TOGETHER, BUT, UM, JORDAN WAS JUST ALONG THE PROCESS, UH, WORKED VERY CLOSELY WITH THE SUPPLIERS.
UM, SO I WOULD, AND HE'S STILL WILLING TO, AS FAR AS I KNOW, HE'S STILL WILLING TO, TO DO THAT.
SO, UM, IF YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE HIS INFO, YOU MIGHT WANNA REACH OUT TO HIM WHEN YOU EMBARK ON THIS JOURNEY.
UM, IF, IF YOU'RE NEEDING SUPPORT, THANK YOU FOR THAT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? WE PROBABLY SHOULD.
DO I, YEAH, I HAVE A, GO AHEAD, CHRIS.
UH, WELL, I APPRECIATE THE, THE PRESENTATION AND I THINK, CARRIE, YOU WERE TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THIS FIRST QUESTION THAT I HAVE AT THE BEGINNING IN TERMS OF, UH, LIKE CONCRETE BEING, BEING A HIGH EMITTER FOR IN, IN REGARDS TO CONSTRUCTION EMISSIONS.
I WAS JUST CURIOUS TO, TO GET A LITTLE BIT PERSPECTIVE OF, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE, I GUESS THE CONCRETE EMISSIONS IN TERMS OF LIKE OVERALL CITY EMISSIONS.
UH, DO YOU GUYS HAVE A, A LITTLE BIT OF A SENSE ON THAT? UH, WHAT WAS, WHAT WAS, UH, YEAH, A LITTLE BIT MORE, MORE THE, YOU KNOW, THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THAT IN TERMS OF YEAH, OVERALL EMISSIONS AND HOW, LIKE, HOW MUCH OF A PORTION IS THAT TO OVERALL EMISSIONS? YEAH, THANK YOU.
I'M GONNA SHARE A LINK IN THE CHAT, UM, TO THE STUDY THAT HAPPENED IN 2016.
UM, I AM GUESSING THAT THOSE DETAILS ARE NOT INCLUDED WITHIN THIS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, BUT THIS WAS THE SOURCE THAT SHOWED US ALL OF THAT INFORMATION.
UM, I THINK THEY REVIEWED 160,000 LINES OF SPEND DATA, UM, ACROSS 8,000 SUPPLIERS TOTALING, I THINK $375 MILLION FOR THE SPEND WITHIN THE FISCAL YEAR OF 2014 TO 15.
UM, SO THEY, THEY HAD THEIR, YOU KNOW, METHODOLOGIES TO CALCULATE GLOBAL WARMING IMPACTS, TOXICS EXPOSURE, UM, AND A WHOLE SUITE OF DIFFERENT WAYS TO LOOK AT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.
UM, SO IT WAS THROUGH THIS STUDY THAT WE IDENTIFIED CONCRETE AS ONE OF THE TOP EMITTERS YOUTH DENSITY PROJECT.
I'LL DEFINITELY, UH, TAKE A LOOK AT THAT.
YEAH, AND I'M CURIOUS, I'M NOT TOO FAMILIAR WITH, WITH, UH, THE CONCRETE EMISSIONS, BUT WHENEVER WE'RE TALKING ABOUT LOW, LOW CONCRETE, UH, LIKE WHERE, WHERE ARE THE REDUCTION IN EMISSIONS COMING FROM? I KNOW THERE WAS SOME DISCUSSIONS ABOUT USING, YOU KNOW, SOME SLAG, YOU KNOW, AS PART OF THE MIX.
UH, WOULD THAT BE BECAUSE SLACK IS PART OF A, KIND OF LIKE A BYPRODUCT OF A DIFFERENT PROCESS AND THEREFORE IN SOME WAY YOU'RE KIND OF REUSING IT, UH, AND THAT KIND OF MAKES IT, UH, LESS CARBON INTENSIVE.
IF, IF SOMEBODY CAN ELABORATE ON THAT, THAT'LL BE, THAT'LL BE GREAT.
I, I'LL DEFER TO THE EXPERTS HERE.
UM, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S RELATED TO THAT SHIPPING OF PORTLAND CEMENT AND FLAG PRIMARILY, BUT IS A BYPRODUCT ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS.
YEAH, SL IS A BYPRODUCT FROM, FROM STEEL PRODUCTION, SO IT'S ESSENTIALLY A WASTE MATERIAL THAT'S BEING RECYCLED.
UM, SO IT WISHES WHY IT, IT HAS A LOWER GWP THAN PORTLAND CEMENT.
SO YOU GUYS, SO WE USE MORE OF IT IN YEAH.
SO WHEN USE MORE OF IT CONCRETE, YOU'RE LOWERING YOUR G GWP OF THE OVERALL MIX.
SO YOU'RE KIND OF CONSIDERING THAT THERE'S NO REALLY EMISSIONS FROM PRODUCING THE SLACK JUST BECAUSE IT'S THE VERY BYPRODUCT
[00:55:01]
OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY.IT'S A RECYCLED MATERIAL, ESSENTIALLY.
YEAH, AND I GUESS THE LAST QUESTION THAT I HAVE IS, UH, MAYBE THIS WAS TOUCHED A LITTLE BIT BEFORE, BUT YOU KNOW, FOR CITIES, UH, YOU KNOW, SUCH AS CITY OF AUSTIN, IF, YOU KNOW, LIKE JUST KIND OF BEST PRACTICE OR RECOMMENDATIONS TO SPEED UP, UH, THE PROCESS IN TERMS OF ESTABLISHING A PROGRAM LIKE THAT.
I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S KEY IDEAS OR, OR THINGS THAT YOU GUYS WOULD RECOMMEND.
UH, I'LL GO FIRST, BUT MAYBE SOMEONE ELSE WANTS TO CHIME IN.
UM, IT'S, IT'S, IT REALLY IS, UM, KINDA UP TO YOU GUYS HOW FAST OR SLOW YOU WANT TO GO.
WE MADE A DELIBERATE CHOICE TO GO SLOW BECAUSE, UM, WE WERE KIND OF THE TRAILBLAZERS AND, UM, WE WANTED TO, I MEAN, WE WERE EXCITED TO GET THE PROGRAM OFF, UP AND RUNNING AND LOWER OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, BUT WE HAD TO JUGGLE, LIKE, WE DON'T WANT TO MAKE THESE, PUT THESE REQUIREMENTS OUT SO FAST THAT PEOPLE WON'T BE ABLE TO COMPLY WITH THEM.
AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN NOW THERE'S A SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUE AND NOBODY CAN USE CONCRETE ON OUR PROJECTS.
SO IT WAS KIND OF A BALANCING ACT AND WE DECIDED, LET'S, LET'S ERR ON THE SLOW SIDE, YOU KNOW, AND THE FIRST STEP BEING, OKAY, EVERYONE, HE'S GONNA, HERE'S LOTS OF NOTICE THAT YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO START GETTING EP UH, EPDS FOR YOUR MIXES.
WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE NUMBERS ARE, YOU JUST GOTTA HAVE 'EM AND THEN WORK, GO FROM THERE.
AND SO WE MADE A CHOICE TO MAKE IT, TO TAKE A COUPLE OF YEARS TO IMPLEMENT THIS.
UM, BUT, UH, IT'S REALLY UP TO YOU GUYS HOW EXPEDITIOUSLY YOU WANNA LAUNCH IT.
YEAH, AND I'LL JUST JUMP IN AND SHARE THAT, YOU KNOW, SINCE I'VE COME ON BOARD IN THIS ROLE, I'VE BEEN HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH FOLKS FROM OUR INDUSTRY AND THEY HAVE SHARED ACROSS THE BOARD THAT THEY REALLY APPRECIATED OUR APPROACH.
UM, YOU KNOW, JUST STARTING WITH THAT DISCLOSURE AND THEN IDENTIFYING THAT REGIONAL AVERAGE FOR GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, UM, AND THAT GOING SLOW AND STEADY WAS A KEY ELEMENT FOR THE SUCCESS OF THIS PROGRAM.
UM, I ALSO WANTED TO MENTION SOME OF OUR NEXT STEPS.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN CHATTING WITH INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES ABOUT THE NEED FOR INCREASED CONTRACTOR EDUCATION.
I'VE BEEN RAMPING UP OUR PRESENCE AND SUPPORT OFFERED AT OUR PRE-BID MEETINGS FOR ALL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO THIS REQUIREMENT.
AND WE'RE GONNA CONVENE FOLKS SOMETIME THIS WINTER TO RECONVENE THAT, UM, THAT COMMITTEE AND TO REESTABLISH THE CONVERSATION TO CHAT ABOUT WHAT IT MIGHT LOOK LIKE TO TAKE OUR PROGRAM TO THAT NEXT LEVEL.
BECAUSE THAT INTENT HAD BEEN SET BACK WAY BACK WHEN TO LOWER THAT GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL OVER TIME FOR OUR MIXES.
AND WE DON'T WANNA DO ANYTHING TO DRASTICALLY, YOU KNOW, WE WANNA TAKE THESE STEPS SLOWLY BUT SURELY.
AND WE ALSO WANNA EXPLORE REVISITING THAT 50 CUBIC YARD THRESHOLD, BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE DUE TO THE WAY THAT MOBILE MIXERS ARE USED VERSUS OTHER LARGER CONCRETE MIXERS THAT WE COULD LIKELY GET AWAY WITH A THRESHOLD OF EVEN 20 TO 30 CUBIC YARDS.
SO WE'RE HOPING TO BOTH, YOU KNOW, UM, CONTINUE TO REFINE OUR CONCRETE PROGRAM AND TO ALSO EXPAND INTO OTHER MATERIALS LIKE ASPHALT.
UM, SO I'M, I'M VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE NEXT ERA OF LOW CARBON CONCRETE AND LOW EMBODIED CARBON MATERIALS AT THE CITY OF PORTLAND IN GENERAL.
I, I, I CAN'T SEE EVERYBODY ONLINE, SO IF THERE'S ANYBODY ELSE, I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A FEW SECONDS TO POP ON SCREEN AND ASK A QUESTION.
AND IF NOT, WE'LL UM, SAY THANK YOU AND, AND MOVE ON.
UH, YEAH, JUST, I WANTED TO ASK ADDITIONAL QUESTION REGARDING THE FLAG UTILIZING THE RECYCLED MATERIALS.
UM, HAS THERE BEEN ANY PILOT STUDY FOR UTILIZING CRUSHED GLASS AS A PART OF THE SLACK COMPONENT? MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT PRESCRIPTIVE ABOUT WHAT THOSE SUPPLEMENTARY CEMENTITIOUS MATERIALS ARE, UM, BUT JUST THAT THEY MEET THAT GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, UH, OR THAT THEY'RE UNDER
[01:00:01]
THAT THRESHOLD.SO I'LL ASK JOSH, ANDREW, AND LAUREN TO JUMP IN IF THERE'S ANYTHING SPECIFIC ON THAT FRONT.
BUT, UM, THAT WAS ONE OF THE VERY SPECIFIC PIECES OF FEEDBACK THAT I HEARD FROM OUR INDUSTRY IS THAT WE DIDN'T PRESCRIBE WHICH MATERIALS HAD TO BE INCLUDED, JUST THAT THEY ACHIEVED THE GOALS WITHIN SET WITHIN THAT THRESHOLD.
UH, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, NO, THERE WEREN'T ANY PILOT STUDIES DONE ON GLASS, UM, BECAUSE IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT SUPPLIERS ARE ALREADY STORING IN THEIR SILOS.
AND SO, UM, THEY, YOU KNOW, WE SAID, WE WANT THESE LIMITS, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE THEM.
YOU KNOW, IT'S PROVIDED THE CONCRETE IS OF GOOD QUALITY AND MEETS OTHER SPECIFICATIONS, OF COURSE.
UM, BUT, UH, AND, AND THERE WASN'T, IT WASN'T SOMETHING THEY WANTED TO TRY, SO IT, IT NEVER CAME UP.
UM, I'D BE INTERESTED IN THE DATA FROM A STUDY LIKE THAT, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THESE SUPPLIERS ARE, YOU KNOW, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SWITCHING TO TYPE ONE TWO TO TYPE ONE L CEMENT, UM, WERE, THEY WERE PRETTY MUCH JUST USING STUFF THEY ALREADY HAD IN THEIR CONCRETE, UM, JUST CHANGING PROPORTIONS OUT AND WHATNOT.
UM, AND, AND THAT WAS A, PROBABLY A FINANCIAL DECISION ON THEIR PART.
UM, BUT, UM, WE WOULDN'T BE AGAINST IT IF THEY WANTED TO, BUT NO, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
SO WE DON'T HAVE ANY DATA ON IT.
WELL, THANK YOU FOR SHARING THE ADDITIONAL EMAIL ADDRESSES IN THE CHAT.
UM, FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT TO ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS, AND I WOULD LOVE TO CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION AND LEARN MORE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, YOUR PROCESS THAT YOU'RE EMBARKING UPON TO ROLL THIS OUT WITHIN THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
YEAH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING THIS INFORMATION.
I THINK, UM, WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA BE TAKING THIS UP DEFINITELY AT THE WORKING GROUP LEVEL TO, UM, TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS THAT WE CAN DO TO HELP, HELP THE CITY PROCESS ALONG HERE.
UM, AND THIS, THIS IS REALLY HELPFUL AND, UM, WE MIGHT FOLLOW UP WITH YOU WITH SOME ADDITIONAL, UH, QUESTIONS AS WE MOVE THROUGH THAT.
SO YOU, YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST FROM US, SO THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR, FOR SHARING YOUR TIME AND EXPERTISE.
WELL, THANK YOU FOR THE INVITE.
[3. Austin’s Urban Forest – Emily King, Development Services Department]
DO WE, AND IT LOOKS LIKE EMILY KING, ARE YOU, UH, READY TO PRESENT ON THE URBAN FOREST DATA? UM, YES, I'M HERE.WAIT, I ALMOST FEEL LIKE I NEED TO STAND UP AND STRETCH.
UM, THAT WAS A LOT OF INFORMATION.
SO I'LL STRETCH IN PLACE AND INTRODUCE MYSELF.
I WORK FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
UM, I AM OUR CITY'S URBAN FORESTER.
I'M HOUSED WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT, AND I HAVE A, UM, SMALL UNIT OF STAFF THAT LARGELY, UM, ENGAGES WITH COMMUNITY THROUGH, UM, EDUCATION AND OUTREACH.
WE ALSO SPONSOR A LOT OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY PROJECTS AROUND TOWN.
UM, SO WITH THAT CONTEXT, UM, LET'S SEE.
I HAVE BEEN IN AND AROUND AUSTIN DOING THIS WORK FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS NOW.
SO, UM, I'M DEFINITELY KIND OF A GOOD POINT OF INFORMATION FOR TREE RELATED TOPICS.
I DON'T HAVE ALL OF THE ANSWERS, BUT WHAT I WAS HOPING TO DO TONIGHT WAS, UM, WITHOUT REALLY KNOWING WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS Y'ALL WERE SEEKING ANSWERS TO, I WANTED TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A REALLY BROAD SWAT OF INFORMATION ABOUT OUR TREE CANOPY AND WHERE YOU MIGHT GO TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.
UM, BECAUSE I, I KIND OF FIGURE IT'S ALREADY A LITTLE BIT AFTER SEVEN, I'M JUST GONNA SKIM THE SURFACE.
UM, SO THAT SAID, LET ME GO AHEAD AND SHARE MY SCREEN.
I AM ALSO NOT USED TO WEBEX, UM, SO I WILL DO MY BEST.
[01:05:01]
RIGHT.UM, GOT THE RED BAR AROUND IT.
I'M GONNA THINK THAT THAT'S GOOD.
AND, AND LIKE THE PREVIOUS PRESENTER, UM, MY WEBEX SCREEN IS NOW TINY, SO IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS, Y'ALL JUST, Y'ALL JUST SLOW ME DOWN.
UM, AND, AND SPEAK OUT PLEASE.
UM, SO AGAIN, I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE TREE CANOPY IN AUSTIN.
I'VE GOT KIND OF THREE MAIN AREAS THAT I'M GONNA TOUCH ON.
SOME, UM, HIGH LEVEL STATS ABOUT OUR URBAN FOREST, HOW EQUITY FITS IN, AND A FEW ADDITIONAL TOOLS FOR, UM, MEASURING AND VIEWING DATA ABOUT OUR URBAN FOREST.
SO AGAIN, THIS IS, THIS IS MEANT TO BE BRIEF AND HOPEFULLY IT'SS NOT JUST AN OVERLOAD.
UM, BUT STARTING OUT FIRST I'VE GOT URBAN FOREST STATS.
UM, I HAVE PULLED THIS LOVELY IMAGE FROM TEXAS A AND M FOREST SERVICE.
UM, THE TEXAS A M FOREST SERVICE CONDUCTS, UM, DATA COLLECTION IN SEVERAL CITIES IN TEXAS ON AN ANNUAL BASIS.
AUSTIN IS ONE OF THE CITIES THAT DATA'S COLLECTED ON AND THROUGH THEIR, THE, THE FOREST SERVICES DATA COLLECTION.
THIS IS, THIS IS ON THE GROUNDS PLOT BASED DATA THAT IS COLLECTED.
SO THEY ARE LITERALLY COMING INTO TOWN AND MEASURING TREES ON THE GROUND.
UM, THERE ARE 300, OVER 300 POTS IN AUSTIN.
AND WITH THE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT THEY COLLECT, UM, THEY ARE CONFIDENT TO BE ABLE TO EXTRAPOLATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WHOLE URBAN FOREST.
SO, SO THIS IS VERY GOOD, UM, UH, QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION THAT IS BASED ON, ON THE GROUND DATA COLLECTION, BUT IT'S NOT BASED ON COUNTING ALL OF OUR TREES.
IT IS BASED ON COUNTING A GOOD NUMBER OF THEM AND THEN, UH, TAKING SOME LEAPS.
SO ONE OF THE TOP LEAPS THAT WE HAVE HERE IS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF TREES THAT WE HAVE IN TOWN.
UM, AND WERE WE ALL IN PERSON AND DOING SOMETHING INTERACTIVE? I, I PROBABLY, YOU KNOW, GET Y'ALL A GUESS HOW MANY TREES YOU THOUGHT WE HAD, BUT, UM, SINCE IT'S LATE AND I'M TIRED, AND YOU PROBABLY ARE AT TWO, A LITTLE OVER 40 MILLION TREES IS THE ANSWER.
UM, SO WE DO HAVE A LOT OF TREES IN TOWN.
UM, THOSE TREES OBVIOUSLY PROVIDE US ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT BENEFITS AND THEY ARE VALUABLE.
SO THERE IS, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BENEFITS AND VALUE.
I WON'T DIG INTO IT NOW, BUT TALK TO ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS STUFF LATER.
AND, AND WE CAN ABSOLUTELY NERD OUT ABOUT IT.
BUT SOME OF THE BENEFITS THAT WE ARE SEEING, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY THERE'S POLLUTION REMOVAL, THERE'S NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS AVOIDED, THERE'S REDUCED RESIDENTIAL ENERGY USE, AVOIDED RUNOFF FROM RAINWATER, AND THERE'S Y'ALL, THERE'S A TON MORE BENEFITS THAT, THAT TREES PROVIDE US.
UM, AND AGAIN, GOING BACK TO THAT, THAT IDEA THAT THERE, THERE'S VALUE IN THESE TREES, UM, INTRINSICALLY ALSO, UM, OUR 40 MILLION TREES, UM, HAVE A COMPENSATORY VALUE.
IF WE HAD TO REPLACE THEM, IT, IT'S A, IT'S A LITTLE OVER $12 BILLION.
UM, I'VE INCLUDED A LINK ON EACH SLIDE FOR WHERE I'VE PULLED THIS INFORMATION FROM.
THIS URBAN FOREST STATS IS A BEAUTIFUL TWO PAGE FRONT BACK DOCUMENT THAT HAS A LOT MORE INFORMATION IN IT.
UM, IT WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT TOO, TOO HEAVY FOR A SLIDE DECK.
SO DEFINITELY FEEL FREE TO, TO JUMP IN THERE AND, AND, AND LOOK AT MORE INFORMATION ON JUST OUR TREE STATS THAT ARE COLLECTED FROM THIS PLOT DATA.
THE NEXT WAY I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT OUR, OUR URBAN TREES IN AUSTIN IS, IS A VERY MUCH TOP DOWN.
IT'S THIS BIRD EYE VIEW OF, OF THE CITY.
AND THAT'S WHEN WE START TALKING ABOUT MEASURING TREE CANOPY.
THERE TENDS TO BE A LOT OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT OUR TREE CANOPY COVER.
HOW MUCH TREE CANOPY COVER DO WE HAVE? HOW MUCH DO WE WANT TO GET AT.
UM, THIS IS, THIS IS USEFUL INFORMATION FOR, FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS.
UM, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF HAVING A, A BENCHMARK FOR WHAT IS THE CANOPY COVER IN THIS SNAPSHOT IN TIME.
UM, SO WHILE THE PREVIOUS SLIDE WAS ABOUT, UM, SPECIFIC QUANTITATIVE DATA THAT'S COLLECTED AT THE GROUNDS LEVEL, THIS IS, THIS IS AGAIN, BIRD'S EYE VIEW.
THIS IS, UM, DATA THAT'S CAPTURED AERIALLY, AND IT'S,
[01:10:01]
WITH THIS INFORMATION, I'M NOT ABLE TO TEASE OUT MUCH IN THE WAY OF QUALITY.I CAN'T TELL YOU VERY MUCH ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THIS CANOPY COVER, THE AGE OF THE TREES.
UM, ALL I CAN REALLY TELL YOU IS WHERE DO WE HAVE CANOPY COVER? UM, AND MANY OF Y'ALL ARE LIKELY FAMILIAR WITH OUR CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN.
WE DO HAVE A GOAL ESTABLISHED IN THAT PLAN TO HAVE A 50% CANOPY COVER BY THE YEAR 2050.
SO, UM, AS OF OUR CALCULATIONS IN 2022, WE ARE AT A 41% CANOPY COVER.
UM, SO THIS IS QUITE A MORE THAN DECENT CANOPY COVER FOR A CITY OUR SIZE.
UM, THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT OF OTHER CITIES THAT HAVE QUITE A BIT LESS, UM, IN TERMS OF THEIR URBAN TREE CANOPY COVER.
UM, HERE IN AUSTIN, WE MEASURE THIS, UM, TREE CANOPY COVER EVERY FOUR YEARS.
UM, AND UP UNTIL THIS, THIS, THIS DATA WAS HISTORICALLY, UH, COLLECTED AND ANALYZED IN-HOUSE BY STAFF IN OUR WATERSHED PROTECTION DEPARTMENT.
AND, UM, IN 2022, MY TEAM TOOK THIS OVER AND WE, UM, WE ACTUALLY OUTSOURCED THE LEGWORK, UH, TO A VENDOR.
BUT WE HAVE ALL OF THE DATA TO DO OUR OWN, UM, ANALYSIS OF IT.
UM, AND OUR ANALYST, ALAN HALTER, HAS ALSO DONE THIS ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL, UM, PLANTABLE SPACE FROM THIS SCALE AND LEVEL, THOUGH Y'ALL WITH THIS REALLY INFORMS ME OF IS JUST THAT, UM, WE DO INDEED HAVE PLANTABLE SPACE.
I MEAN, WE, WE KIND OF INTUITIVELY KNOW THAT PROBABLY.
UM, BUT WHAT, WHAT I CANNOT DO WITH DATA THIS, UM, COURSE, IS TO ACTUALLY DEVELOP TREE PLANTING PLANS, RIGHT? THIS, THIS IS JUST GOOD INFORMATION THAT LETS US KNOW APPROXIMATELY GEO GEOGRAPHICALLY, WHERE CAN WE, AND MAYBE WHERE SHOULD WE FOCUS ENERGIES FOR TREE PLANTING ACTIVITIES.
UM, BUT, BUT MUCH MORE INFORMATION WILL BE REQUIRED IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY, UM, HAVE A ROBUST TREE PLANTING PROGRAM ESTABLISHED, I GUESS SOME PAUSE AND WATER DRINK.
UM, WITH ALL OF THAT SAID, WE WITHIN THE CITY HAVE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON THE EQUITY LENS FOR, FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW.
UM, ALAN HALTER AND MY TEAM DEVELOPED THE COMMUNITY TREE PRIORITY MAP SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
AND THIS IS A PROJECT THAT HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME.
IT WAS ORIGINALLY A PLANTING PRIORITIZATION MAP AND, UM, AND IT DID ITERATE INTO MORE OF AN EQUITY MAP WHERE WE WERE NOT JUST LOOKING AT PRESENCE AND ABSENCE OF CANOPY, BUT WE WERE ALSO LOOKING AT, UM, A BUNCH OF OTHER DATA INPUTS CONNECTED TO ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL, SOCIAL VULNERABILITY, COMMUNITY INVESTMENT, AND HEALTH AND WELLBEING.
AND TO SIMPLIFY THIS TOOL, ALAN, UM, CRE CREATED BASICALLY HIGH PRIORITY AREAS MAPPED AND LOW PRIORITY AREAS MAPPED.
AND THE WAY THAT OUR TEAM USES THIS INFORMATION, UM, IS IT IS LARGELY USED TO PRIORITIZE HOW WE INVEST RESOURCES INTO COMMUNITY TREE PROJECTS.
WE WILL BUILD, UM, REQUIREMENTS TO USE THIS TOOL INTO OUR CONTRACTS FOR TREE DISTRIBUTION, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE WE WILL REQUIRE, UM, YOU KNOW, AT LEAST, UM, A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF TREES TO BE OFFERED TO RESIDENTS IN HIGH PRIORITY AREAS.
UM, AND THERE IS, AGAIN, I'VE GOT A, A LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION.
WE DO HAVE A WRITEUP ABOUT THIS, THIS TOOL AND THIS PROJECT, AND THEN A LINK TO IT AS WELL.
UM, WHAT, WHAT WE'VE DONE FURTHER IS REALLY MAKE OUR PROJECT PARTNERS AWARE OF THIS MAP SO THAT WHEN WE WORK WITH, SAY, UM, AUSTIN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, WE HELP THEM UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE THIS TOOL AND OVERLAY THEIR CAMPUSES WITH THIS TOOL.
SO WHEN THERE'S ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR TREE PLANTING, SAY WE CAN HELP
[01:15:01]
FUND TREES THAT ARE PLANTED ON CAMPUSES THAT FALL INTO HIGH PRIORITY AREAS.THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT THERE'S NOT INVESTMENTS IN THE LOW PRIORITY AREAS.
UM, IT'S JUST TO SAY THAT IT'S A TOOL THAT WE USE FOR, UM, FOR DECISION MAKING.
UM, SO I TOLD YOU THAT THERE'S SOME OTHER TOOLS OUT THERE THAT I, I HAVE INTEREST IN THAT I THINK YOU, YOU MAY HAVE INTEREST IN ONCE YOU'RE AWARE OF THEM IF THEY HAVEN'T COME ACROSS YOUR DESK ALREADY.
UM, MY CITY, MY CITY TREES IS A TOOL THAT THE TEXAS A AND M FOREST SERVICE DEVELOPED AND IT'S DEVELOPED IN ORDER TO HELP US VISUALIZE THAT DATA THAT THEY COLLECT, THAT I MENTIONED AT THE TOP OF THE PRESENTATION, THAT PLOT BASED DATA THAT'S COLLECTED.
UM, THERE'S, UM, I GUESS THE, THE MAIN THING ABOUT THIS TOOL THAT I WANTED TO SHOW OFF IS SOME OF THE SUMMARY REPORTS THAT CAN BE GENERATED.
UM, I'M GONNA TOGGLE OVER, AND THIS IS A REPORT THAT I GENERATED THE OTHER DAY WHEN I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHAT I WANTED TO SHOW YOU ALL.
UM, I GENERATED THIS BASED ON LAND CLASSIFICATION DATA.
AND ACTUALLY, I'M GONNA GO BACK HERE 'CAUSE I CAN JUST SHOW YOU HERE.
I CAN HAVE A QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT'S GOING ON IN OUR CANOPY TREE COUNT, WOOD VOLUME, CARBON STORAGE, LEAF BIOMASS, UM, BASICALLY ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD WANNA KNOW GENERALLY SPEAKING ABOUT TREES IN OUR AREA.
AGAIN, THIS IS, THIS IS PLOT BASED DATA.
SO THERE HAS NOT BEEN A TREE BY TREE COUNT THROUGHOUT AUSTIN.
AND I BRING THAT UP BECAUSE THERE IS INTEREST AND A NEED FOR A, A, AT LEAST A PUBLIC TREE INVENTORY THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS.
BUT THIS DOES HAVE A LOT OF INFORMATION THAT HELPS US UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON WITH OUR CANOPY, UM, WITH WHAT TYPE OF TREE SPECIES WE HAVE PRESENT.
AND, UM, HERE WE ARE AND, AND WHO, WHO, WHERE ARE THESE TREES GROWING? SO, UM, OUR TOP THREE SPECIES BASED ON THIS DATA THAT'S COLLECTED, ASH, JUNIPER, CEDAR ELEMENT, AND TEXAS PERSIMMON.
UM, SO THAT, THAT'S FUN AND SURPRISING.
I I WOULD'VE THOUGHT LIVE OAK WOULD'VE BEEN ONE OF THOSE TOP ONES, BUT THAT'S OKAY.
UM, YEAH, SO I'LL TOGGLE BACK OVER AND JUST SAY THAT I WOULD, IF YOU'RE, IF YOU'RE AT ALL ENTRUSTED IN, IF THIS KIND OF STEM COUNT RELATED DATA, THIS MY CITY TREE APPLICATION IS, IS A REALLY GOOD TOOL.
UM, AND I'VE, I'VE PLAYED AROUND IN THIS TOOL ENOUGH THAT I COULD PROBABLY HELP IF ANYBODY GOT SUPER STUMPED.
UM, AS I CLICKED THE NEXT SLIDE, THIS TREE CANOPY APPLICATION IS BRAND NEW.
Y'ALL, THIS JUST CAME OUT ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO AFTER THANKSGIVING.
UM, THIS IS A BRAND NEW PRODUCT AND TOOL THAT ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION, UM, PARTNERED WITH THE US FOREST SERVICE TO DEVELOP.
AND THIS IS A TOOL THAT, UM, IT'S, IT'S BASICALLY, IT'S A NATIONAL TREE CANOPY DATABASE.
SO WHILE HERE WITH THE CITY, I TOLD YOU EARLIER, EVERY FOUR YEARS WE COLLECT TREE CANOPY DATA AND ANALYZE IT.
UM, ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION HAS NOW KIND OF COME IN AND PROVIDED THIS TOOL FOR, FOR EVERYBODY PRACTICALLY.
SO WITH ALL OF THESE NEW TOOLS BEING DEVELOPED AND BEING LAUNCHED, UM, WE, WITHIN, WITHIN THE CITY, WE ARE KIND OF HAVING SOME DISCUSSIONS ABOUT, ABOUT HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD USING THESE VERSUS DEVELOPING THINGS IN HOUSE.
UM, SINCE THIS ONE'S SO NEW, I HAVE LESS EXPERIENCE WITH IT.
I'VE ONLY CLICKED AROUND A LITTLE BIT.
I'M GONNA BE LESS HELPFUL IF YOU'VE GOT QUESTIONS, BUT IT IS REALLY AN INTERESTING TOOL THAT IS OUT THERE THAT, UM, THE, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS INVESTING IN.
SO THIS IS, THIS IS PRETTY COOL.
AND JUST THINKING ABOUT TREE CANOPY IN AUSTIN, I THOUGHT IT'S SO NEW AND HOT OFF THE PRESS THAT I WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH Y'ALL, UM, AND IN MY EFFORT TO KEEP IT BRIEF.
THAT'S, THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR YOU TODAY.
[01:20:01]
GOT MY EMAIL ADDRESS HERE.DEFINITELY I'M AVAILABLE TO TALK TREES AT ANY POINT IN TIME.
UM, AND, UM, I PROVIDED ROHAN A COPY OF THE SLIDE DECK WITH ALL OF THOSE LINKS, SO HOPEFULLY IF THERE'S INTEREST, YOU CAN, YOU CAN FOLLOW UP AND FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT.
UM, AND I'LL PAUSE THERE 'CAUSE I REALLY, I WASN'T SURE EXACTLY WHAT, WHAT Y'ALL MIGHT WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT.
SO I'VE GIVEN YOU A LITTLE BIT OF A LOT OF THINGS.
UM, THE TREES COMES UP FREQUENTLY FOR US.
UM, SO WHO HAS QUESTIONS FOR EMILY CHARLOTTE.
UH, WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW IN BACK IN OCTOBER AT OUR MEETING, WE HAD THE CITY ARBORIST COME AND PRESENT AND TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND WHEN TREES ARE REMOVED, PARTICULARLY HERITAGE TREES OR PROTECTED TREES AND THAT WHOLE PROCESS.
AND, UH, I CAME AWAY UNDERSTANDING THAT, UM, GENERALLY WE, YOU KNOW, WE TRY AS HARD AS WE CAN TO PRESERVE HERITAGE TREES, PROTECTED TREES, UM, IF THOSE ARE REMOVED, THEY MUST BE REPLANTED.
IF THEY CAN'T BE REPLANTED, THEN THERE ARE FEES THAT ARE PAID THAT GO INTO A FUND THAT IS MANAGED BY YOUR TEAM, AND THEN THAT IS USED TO, UM, PLANT IN SOME OF THESE PRIORITY AREAS, I SUPPOSE.
AND SO I GUESS IF YOU COULD JUST TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT KIND OF WHAT THAT PROCESS LOOKS LIKE.
AND I, I KNOW YOU PROVIDED A COUPLE SLIDES AROUND PRIORITY AREAS AND THAT MAP WAS, WAS REALLY HELPFUL.
UM, BUT I, I'M INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING JUST KIND OF A TREND IF WE LOOK OVER THE PAST, YOU KNOW, FIVE YEARS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, THINKING ABOUT THE INCHES OF DIAMETER THAT HAVE BEEN REMOVED, UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE IN TERMS OF REPLACING TREES VERSUS PAYING FEES AND JUST KIND OF WHAT DOES, WHAT DOES THE TREND LOOK LIKE? ARE, ARE WE, YOU MENTIONED WE MEASURE THEM EVERY FOUR YEARS.
ARE WE INCREASING, ARE WE ON A PATH TO INCREASE THAT CANOPY? I KNOW THAT WAS KIND OF A LOT
YOU PACKED LIKE 10 QUESTIONS IN THERE? I KNOW, SORRY.
SO MY BRAIN HOOKED ON THE, THE FIRST ONE THAT SOUNDED LIKE A QUESTION WAS LIKE, WHAT HAPPENS WITH THIS MITIGATION MONEY THAT'S PAID IN? AND, AND YES, MY, MY TEAM DOES OVERSEE, IT'S CALLED THE URBAN FOREST REPLENISHMENT FUND.
SO, UM, NAOMI ROCHE MEL'S TEAM OVERSEES, UM, OUR TREE PRESERVATION ORDINANCES.
AND, AND LIKE YOU STATED, OUR, YOU KNOW, OUR FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS IS PRESERVING TREES ON SITE.
OUR SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS WOULD BE PLANTING MORE TREES BACK ON THAT SITE.
AND WHEN THAT CAN'T HAPPEN OR THERE'S NOT ENOUGH SPACE, THEN UM, THEN MITIGATION PAYMENT IS PAID INTO WITH A REPLENISHMENT FUND.
SO AT THAT STAGE, MY TEAM IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OVERSEEING THAT FUND AND REINVESTING THAT THOSE DOLLARS BACK INTO COMMUNITY FORESTRY.
WE DO THAT IN A NUMBER OF WAYS.
THE MOST HIGH PRO PROFILE WAY IS THROUGH, UM, THE URBAN FOREST GRANT.
THE URBAN FOREST GRANT, UM, IS A KIND OF, UM, OUTWARD FACING GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR NONPROFITS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS IN THE AREA.
UM, WE, WE SPONSOR ANYWHERE BETWEEN MAYBE FIVE TO $600,000 WORTH OF GRANTS TO COMMUNITY PROJECTS EACH YEAR THROUGH THE URBAN FOREST GRANT.
UM, AND SO THAT'S GOING TO BE, UM, AGAIN, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S NONPROFITS, IT'S AUSTIN PARKS FOUNDATION, IT'S PARTNERS FOR EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY.
IT'S FRUITFUL COMMONS, IT'S TREE FOLKS.
UM, BEING HOUSED IN THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT.
MY UNIT DOES NOT HAVE LAND THAT WE MANAGE TO PLANT TREES ON.
SO WE ACTIVELY WORK WITH A LOT OF PARTNERS WHO DO EITHER HAVE LAND OR CAN INFLUENCE OTHER PEOPLE'S LAND.
SO AGAIN, THAT'S WHERE, YOU KNOW, AUSTIN PARKS FOUNDATION WORKS WITH THE PARKS DEPARTMENT AND HELPS MOBILIZE THOUSANDS OF VOLUNTEERS ANNUALLY.
SO WE WILL GET A LOT OF STEWARDSHIP AND, UM, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION THROUGH THESE PARTNERSHIPS.
WE'LL GET A LOT OF TREES PLANTED THROUGH URBAN FOREST GRANTS AS WELL.
[01:25:01]
ALSO FUND OR PROVIDE FUNDING FOR CITY OF AUSTIN, UM, DEPARTMENTS, PROJECTS THAT HAVE, UM, SHORT LANDSCAPE BUDGETS.THE LANDSCAPE BUDGETS TENDS TO BE THE FIRST THING THAT'S CUT.
SO WE CAN PROVIDE SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING TO GET MORE TREES PLANTED WHEN THERE'S GOING TO BE A CITY PROJECT INSTALLED.
WE WILL NOT PROVIDE FUNDING FOR TREES THAT ARE REQUIRED TO BE PLANTING FOR TREES THAT ARE MITIGATION TREES.
UM, THAT'S AN, AN OBVIOUS, UM, KIND OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR THIS FUND.
BUT WE WILL, FOR EXAMPLE, WORK WITH, UM, THE URBAN TRAILS GROUP TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR TREE PLANTING TO GO ALONG TRAILS FOR PARKS DEPARTMENT TO PLANT ADDITIONAL TREES WITH PARK DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
UM, SO THOSE ARE THE TWO REALLY KIND OF KEY WAYS THAT THE REPLENISHMENT FUND IS REINVESTED BACK INTO AUSTIN'S URBAN FOREST.
I GOT, I GOT ON A TANGENT THERE AND YOU ASKED A GAZILLION QUESTIONS.
SO JUST ON THAT NOTE ABOUT, UM, WORKING WITH ALL THE NONPROFITS AND PROVIDING THE GRANTS AND PLANTING, I KNOW WE PLANT LOTS OF TREES DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY, AND I'M ASSUMING THERE IS SOME PLACE WHERE THERE IS DATA COLLECTION AND RECORD KEEPING ABOUT HOW MANY TREES OR HOW MANY INCHES COMPARED TO HOW MANY INCHES WERE WERE LOST AND THAT SORT OF A THING.
IS THERE A A PLACE WE COULD GO TO TO, TO MAYBE DIG INTO TO SOME OF THAT DATA IF WE WERE INTERESTED? I'M TRYING TO THINK OF WHERE THAT, WHERE, WHERE TO POINT YOU ON THAT.
UM, SO THE CITY ARBORIST WILL REPORT I THINK QUARTERLY, I MIGHT BE MISTAKEN ABOUT THAT ON, UM, TREE PRESERVATION STATS.
THEY'LL, THEY'LL REPORT ON AND JUST PRESERVED AND JUST REMOVED AND JUST PLANTED FOR MITIGATION.
UM, AND THEN, UM, AMOUNTS PAID.
SO, SO THAT WOULD BE UNDER, YOU KNOW, NAOMI'S PURVIEW TO, TO HAVE THAT INFORMATION.
AND AGAIN, I'M PRETTY SURE THAT IT MIGHT BE AN ANNUAL REPORT AT THIS POINT, BUT THAT INFORMATION IS, UM, IS KNOWABLE IN TERMS OF HOW MANY TREES END UP PLANTED THROUGH THE REPLENISHMENT FUND.
UM, I'LL DO, CAN I DO A QUICK SHOW AND TELL OR SHOULD I NOT, IT'S, IT'S LATE AND I'LL HAVE OTHER STUFF ON YOUR AGENDA, BUT NO, THE OTHER THINGS ARE, ARE GONNA BE QUICKER, SO PLEASE GO AHEAD.
SO I'VE GOT THIS OTHER PROJECT THAT IT'S UNDER, UM, IT'S UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
SO WHAT I'M GONNA SHOW YOU IS DATED.
SO I, I, THAT'S WHY IT WASN'T ORIGINALLY IN MY, IN MY REPORT OR MY, MY SLIDE DECK.
BUT, UM, YEAH, IT'S, IT IS WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR
IT'S LIKE, AGAIN, CHEWING GUM OR SOMETHING.
I THINK I MIGHT BE, NO, I STILL DID SHARE.
HOPEFULLY YOU'RE SEEING, UM, WE'RE SEEING WHAT YOU'RE SHARING.
YEAH, SO WE'VE, WE HAD THIS COMMUNITY TREE REPORT AND WE WERE DOING IT AS RETROSPECTIVES FOR, FOR LIKE A ROLLING PERIOD OF TIME.
SO THIS IS, THIS IS ABOUT TWO YEARS OLD NOW.
WE WOULD'VE PUBLISHED THIS IN 2022.
AND, UM, WE, IT, IT'S IN A HIATUS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT WAS, WE NEED TO WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER.
THIS WAS TAKING US WAY TOO LONG TO COMPILE ALL THE INFORMATION FOR THIS REPORT.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE UPDATING IT RIGHT NOW, UM, WHICH IS WHY THIS IS OUT OF DATE.
BUT THIS IS ALL, ALL OF THESE DOTS REPRESENTS TREES PLANTED, UM, AND IT'S COLOR CODED BY THE PRIORITY LEVEL.
SO THIS IS TREES PLANTED WITH FUNDING PRIMARILY FROM REPLENISHMENT FUNDS, BUT THERE ARE SOME OTHER FUNDING SOURCES INCLUDED IN THIS REPORTING.
UM, AND HERE WE ARE, THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO SHOW YOU.
[01:30:01]
THESE, THESE ARE JUST GREAT STATS.THIS IS THE KIND OF INFORMATION THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR.
AND WE, WE HAD ALL OF THIS TIED TO, UH, THE CITY'S OPEN DATA PORTAL.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE WERE, WE WERE BA BASICALLY ALSO SHARING THE, THE, THE SPREADSHEET, THE BEHIND THE SCENES DATA THAT WAS SUPPORTING ALL OF THESE NUMBERS.
UM, I DON'T THINK IT'S GONNA BE THAT LONG IN THE, IN THE DOING TO, TO REIMAGINE THIS REPORT AND HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF INFORMATION OUT THERE AND MORE EASILY ACCESSIBLE.
BUT WE, WE ARE IN THAT, UM, INTERIM STAGE RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
SO I DON'T, I DON'T HAVE IT QUITE AS EASILY.
IT'S, IT'S GATHERABLE INFORMATION, BUT IT WOULD TAKE ME A MINUTE IS BASICALLY, YEAH.
YEAH, THAT'S SO I CAN, I CAN SHARE THIS LINK WITH Y'ALL OR YOU CAN GOOGLE, IT'S THE AUSTIN COMMUNITY TREE, UH, REPORTS.
BUT, UM, BUT YEAH, THAT'S, I THINK THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE, WHAT YOU WERE KIND OF BEING CURIOUS ABOUT.
UM, AND THEN MY, MY, MY LAST QUESTION IS THERE, I, I SEE THAT THERE WAS AN URBAN FOREST PLAN IN 2013 THAT ONCE UPON A TIME WAS GONNA GET UPDATED EVERY FIVE YEARS.
AND I JUST WONDERED WHAT BECAME OF THAT.
AND I KNOW THAT THERE'S A PLAN TO DO A TREE INVENTORY, BUT IS, IS THE URBAN FOREST PLAN STILL A THING THAT IS GOING TO BE IMAGINED? UM, SO IT'S, YES, IT STILL EXISTS.
UM, IT'S, THE URBAN FOREST PLAN WAS WRITTEN AND PUT TOGETHER AS KIND OF A HIGH LEVEL STRATEGIC UMBRELLA DOCUMENT.
AND SO MOST OF THE ACTUAL DATA, AND IT'S, IT'S, I DON'T WANNA CALL IT TIMELESS, BUT IT'S NOT OUT OF DATE.
UM, SO WE'VE ELECTED TO NOT INVEST THE TIME INTO DOING AN UPDATE TO THAT, TO THAT, UM,
UM, THERE WAS ALSO THIS, UH, WHEN THAT PLAN, WHEN WE WOULD'VE LIKE BEEN ROLLING OUR SLEEVES UP TO UPDATE THAT PLAN, IT REALLY COINCIDED WITH WORK BEING DONE ON THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN.
AND THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN ACTUALLY KIND OF DID US SOME, I MEAN, IT DID US SOME FAVORS THAT THE URBAN FOREST PLAN WAS SO BIG AND BROAD THAT IT NEVER STATED A A CANOPY GOAL, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO HAVING THE CLIMATE EQUITY COME IN PLAN, COME IN AND PROVIDE A CANOPY GOAL AND PROVIDE SOME, UM, ADDITIONAL, UM, YOU KNOW, JUST GOALS AND NODS TO OUR URBAN FOREST, UM, I'VE BEEN QUITE HAPPY TO LEAN ON IMPLEMENTING CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN AND HAVE THE URBAN FOREST PLAN AS A RESOURCE WHEN NEEDED.
I'M GONNA LET OTHERS ASK QUESTIONS.
WHO ELSE HAS QUESTIONS, DIANA? YES.
SO WHEN WE HAVE, UH, OVER 40 MILLION TREES IN AUSTIN, WOO-HOO.
UM, ARE, ARE THOSE COUNTED? LIKE IS THERE A HEIGHT OR A DBH, UM, BY WHICH YOU, YOU GET COUNTED AS ONE OF THE 40 MILLION TREES? OR LITERALLY IF YOU'RE A LITTLE SAPLING, YOU GET COUNTED TO? OH, THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION.
I DON'T KNOW OFFHAND WHAT THAT DATA COLLECTION PROTOCOL IS.
I KNOW THAT THERE IS ONE THAT'S VERY VIGOROUS.
UM, SINCE THE TEXAS A M FOREST SERVICE IS BEHIND THIS PROJECT, UM, I'M PRETTY SURE YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY BE LIKE A CERTIFIED FORESTER TO EVEN LEAD DATA COLLECTION.
UM, AND I DO KNOW THAT THEY, THEY COLLECT AND COUNT, I MEAN, SMALL, SMALL TREES.
UM, BUT I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW OFFHAND WITH THAT MINIMUM SIZES.
'CAUSE IT MEANS AT LEAST EVEN IF THEY DON'T COUNT THE VERY SMALL ONES, THEN THAT JUST ADDS TO THE NUMBER.
AND YOU KNOW, I THINK ONE OF THE OTHER QUESTIONS I HAD HEARD WAS ABOUT, UM, KIND OF HOW ARE WE DOING, WHAT'S THE DATA TREND? UM, AND I THAT ONE, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE OVERALL TREE CANOPY, UM, AND WE'RE ONLY MEASURING IT EVERY FOUR YEARS AND EVERY FOUR YEARS, THE TECHNOLOGY CHANGES, THE PROCESSES MIGHT NOT CHANGE, BUT THE QUALITY OF THE AERIAL IMAGERY GETS BETTER.
UM, IT'S, THEY'RE, THEY'RE REALLY, THEY'RE REALLY HARD FOR ME TO FEEL REAL CONFIDENT ABOUT COMPARING,
[01:35:01]
SAY, THE 2018 DATA SET WITH THE 2022 DATA SET.I, I, I'M NOT, I DON'T LOVE DOING THAT.
SO THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T, I DIDN'T SHOW IT TO YOU THAT WAY.
UM, AND JUST KIND OF KNOWING THAT THESE ARE ALL, THEY'RE ALL IMPERFECT, RIGHT? Y'ALL, IT'S, IT'S A SNAPSHOT IN TIME AND, UM, AND THERE'S, THERE IS A MARGIN OF ERROR.
SO I HAVE, I DO HAVE A REALLY HARD TIME SAYING LIKE, HOW ARE WE DOING OVER TIME? I WILL SAY AT BEING WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW OR WHERE WE THINK WE ARE AT A 41% CANOPY COVER, UM, I THINK THAT IT'S, THAT, THAT IT'S, THAT'S A ROBUST NUMBER.
I THINK THAT IT'S A NUMBER THAT, UM, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE US NOT BACKSLIDE AT ALL,
SO THAT MEANS IF WE LOSE CANOPY, WE REPLACE CANOPY, UM, AND THAT WE ARE FOCUSED ON ADDING TO THE OVERALL CANOPY AT THE SAME TIME.
I THINK ALL OF THOSE THINGS NEED TO HAPPEN IF WE'RE GOING TO, YOU KNOW, HAVE ANY HOPE OF HITTING A 50% CANOPY COVERED NUMBER.
UM, YEAH, BUT I, I DO SEE A HAND UP.
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PRESENTATION AND FOR STICKING AROUND SO LATE
UM, I'M WONDERING WITH THE, UH, UPCOMING, AS WE THINK ABOUT THE UPCOMING BUDGET CYCLE, HAVE YOU ALL ESTIMATED OR ATTEMPTED TO QUANTIFY THE LEVEL OF INVESTMENT NEEDED TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO REACH THAT, UH, 50% TREE CANOPY COVER GOAL? THAT'S ANOTHER REALLY GOOD QUESTION.
YOU GUYS ARE PAYING ATTENTION.
UM, SO WE, THE, THE TREE INVENTORY WAS MENTIONED EARLIER.
UM, AND, AND LARGELY WHEN I TALK ABOUT ABOUT BUDGETS AND, AND TREE MAINTENANCE AND TREE PLANTING, I AM LARGELY TALKING ABOUT CITY OPERATIONS, WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE CAN DO ON OUR OWN CITY OF AUSTIN PROPERTIES.
UM, AND I'LL SAY THAT THE MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION UNITS THAT, UM, WE HAVE THE TWO MAJOR FORESTRY MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION UNITS, ONE'S HOUSED IN PARKS DEPARTMENT AND TAKES CARE OF PARK TREES AND ONE'S HOUSED IN TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC WORKS, AND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR STREET TREES.
BOTH OF THOSE UNITS, UM, ARE ONLY FUNDED TO BE ABLE TO DO REACTIONARY TREE WORK.
SO WE ARE NOT ON PROACTIVE MAINTENANCE CYCLES FOR OUR PUBLIC TREES.
UM, THE, THE, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT FUNDING GAP THAT HASN'T BEEN ANALYZED IN QUITE SOME TIME.
I DID AN ANALYSIS IN I THINK 2016 AND, UM, THE ANNUAL MAINTENANCE GAP EVEN BACK THEN, RIGHT? IT WAS, IT WAS KIND OF LIKE, YOU KNOW, MAKE YOUR HAIR CURLY.
IT WAS, IT WAS A VERY BIG NUMBER.
UM, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THERE'S INTEREST AND THERE'S A NEED FOR THAT TREE CANOPY NOW, UM, TREE INVENTORY NOW, IS THAT, UM, WE, WE DON'T HAVE A FULL ACCOUNTING FOR WHAT THE CITY HAS ON OUR PARKS ALONG OUR STREETS ON OUR OTHER PUBLIC PROPERTIES.
AND I CAN'T, IT'S, IT'S REALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHAT YOUR BUDGET GAP IS WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU AREN'T EVEN REALLY SURE WHAT, WHAT YOU'RE MAINTAINING.
SO, UM, SO HAVING FUNDING TO CONDUCT A TREE INVENTORY IS ABSOLUTELY THE FIRST STEP IN THAT.
UM, AND, AND I SEE YOU NODDING, I'M SURE IT, IT, IT, IT MIGHT BE INTUITIVE, BUT AN ANALOGY THAT, UM, THAT I'M KICKING AROUND IS, UM, AND I, AND I BOUNCED IT OFF ONE OF MY COWORKERS HEADS THAT THAT WAS FORMALLY WITH AUSTIN PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
SO IF WE PICTURE AUSTIN PUBLIC LIBRARIES, AND I'LL PICK ON THEM BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THIS IS WHERE MY BRAIN'S GOING.
UM, IF I THINK ABOUT ALL OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES THAT WE HAVE IN TOWN, AND I THINK ABOUT, UM, KIND OF COMPARING IT TO THAT URBAN TREE CANOPY PERCENTAGE WHERE WE'RE REALLY GOING BIRD'S EYE VIEW, LOOKING DOWN, I COULD FIND OUT HOW MANY PUBLIC LIBRARIES WE HAD IN TOWN, AND I COULD FIND OUT MAYBE THE SQUARE FOOTAGE OF THE BUILDING AND THE ACREAGE OF THE LOTS, BUT I WOULDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE IF I KNEW KIND OF LIKE THAT PLOT BASED DATA THAT THE FOREST SERVICE COLLECTS FOR US.
IF I KNEW MAYBE HOW MANY BOOKS WERE IN THE WHOLE CATALOG, AND MAYBE EVEN WHAT IF I KNEW ALL THE TITLES IN THE WHOLE CATALOG, THAT WOULD ALL BE REALLY GOOD INFORMATION.
BUT IT WOULDN'T HELP ME WHEN I GO DOWN TO MY BRANCH AND I WANNA FIND A BOOK IF MY BRANCH DOESN'T KNOW WHAT BOOKS ARE INSIDE THE LIBRARY.
SO EACH LIBRARY BEING ABLE TO HAVE AN INVENTORY OF WHAT'S ON THEIR SHELVES IS AN OBVIOUS REQUIREMENT FOR A FUNCTIONAL PUBLIC LIBRARY.
UM, AND SO THAT ON THE GROUND TREE INVENTORY OF THESE PUBLIC PLACES IS,
[01:40:01]
IS REALLY AKIN TO THAT.UM, IS I, I, I CAN IMAGINE AS A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN WOULD IF I DO, AND OF COURSE THEY DO KNOW THE INVENTORY ON THEIR SHELVES.
THEY KNOW HOW MANY TIMES A BOOK IS CHECKED OUT.
THEY KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ON THE WAIT LIST FOR THAT GIVEN BOOK.
IF WE HAD THAT SAME TYPE OF DATA FOR OUR PUBLIC TREES, WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY BE ABLE TO TALK REAL DOLLARS AND CENTS FOR HOW DO WE PROACTIVELY MANAGE THIS? WHAT WOULD A CYCLE PRUNE FOR THESE TREES LOOK LIKE? AND THAT, THAT Y'ALL, THAT'S WHERE WE START GETTING INTO REALLY MAINTAINING OUR CURRENT CANOPY.
UM, IF ALL WE CAN DO IS PICK THINGS UP WHEN THEY FALL DOWN AND PLANT WHERE IT'S EASY TO PLANT, I MEAN, WE'RE DOING BETTER THAN NOTHING, BUT WE'RE NOT, IT'S NOT ROBUST.
IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT SUSTAINABLE.
SO, SO THAT'S WHY THAT THAT TREE INVENTORY REALLY IS IMPORTANT.
UM, AND WOULD BE THAT, THAT, THAT HUGE FIRST STEP.
WE, AND WE DO HAVE SOME TREE INVENTORY DATA.
I DON'T MEAN TO SAY THAT WE DON'T, BUT WE, WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING THAT RESEMBLES A COMPREHENSIVE INVENTORY THAT THOSE MANAGERS WOULD NEED TO BE ABLE TO REALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, ANSWER WITH CONFIDENCE AND, AND, AND INTELLIGENCE.
THAT TYPE OF QUESTION ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF, UM, DEFICIT ARE WE AT WITH OUR BUDGETS.
AND SO, SORRY IF I MISSED THIS, BUT IS THE, ARE YOU ALL LIKE FUNDED TO COMPLETE A TREE INVENTORY? DO YOU HAVE THE RESOURCES YOU NEED TO DO THAT? THERE HAS BEEN NO FUNDING IDENTIFIED FOR THE TREE INVENTORY.
UM, IT, IT WILL NOT SURPRISE ME IF I'M REQUESTED TO USE REPLENISHMENT FUND DOLLARS TO COMPLETE THE TREE INVENTORY.
AND I WOULD DO THAT, IT WOULD, IT WOULD GO A LONG WAY TO HELPING OUR PUBLIC TREES.
UM, BUT IT WOULD NOT BE, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT, THAT IN THAT REPLENISHMENT FUND IS FUNDED BECAUSE TREES WERE REMOVED AND, AND I REALLY, I PERSONALLY FEEL STRONGLY THAT, YOU KNOW, THE HIGHEST USE OF THAT FUNDING IS TREES IN THE GROUND.
UM, AND, AND SO IT IS, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF A, UM, SO THAT THAT ONE'S A LITTLE BIT HARD.
SO, BUT, BUT I CAN SAY THERE'S BEEN NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING IDENTIFIED FOR THAT.
AND I'LL, I'LL JUST SHARE WITH YOU, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS, BUT THE CITY OF PHOENIX, UM, LAST MONTH JUST RECENTLY RELEASED THEIR SHADE PHOENIX PLAN, WHICH COMBINES INVESTMENTS IN TREES WITH, UM, LIKE SHADE STRUCTURES AND THEY'VE SET OUT LIKE VERY SPECIFIC TARGETS FOR AMOUNT OF TREES PLANTED BY CERTAIN MILESTONES FOR CERTAIN KINDS OF PUBLIC PLACES.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE SEEN THAT, BUT I'M, I'M HOPING THAT, YOU KNOW, ONE AT SOME POINT IN THE NEAR FUTURE WE'LL GET TO THAT LEVEL OF DETAIL BECAUSE I'M SURE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT EXTREME HEAT, UM, AND HOW CRITICAL INVESTING IN RESILIENCE INFRASTRUCTURE IS.
I MEAN, TREES ARE NOT THE ONLY THING FOR, FOR COMBATING THE HEAT, BUT YOU, GOD, HELP US
HEATHER, I SEE YOU, UM, EMILY, I JUST HAD A FOLLOW UP THOUGH TO RODRIGO'S QUESTION ABOUT THE, UM, BUDGET FOR THE INVENTORY.
WHAT IS THE, THE NEED THERE IN TERMS OF MONEY, HOW MUCH? UM, I'M IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING WITH OUR PURCHASING GROUP TO HAVE A SOLICITATION OUT TO, TO FIND THAT, TO FIND THE ANSWER TO THAT.
UM, WITH THE INFORMATION I'VE GOT NOW, I'VE BALLPARK IT, HOPEFULLY VERY HIGH AT 10 MILLION FOR A FULL COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC TREE INVENTORY.
UM, THAT IS BASED ON AN ESTIMATE THAT THE PARKS DEPARTMENT GOT FOR ONLY HIGH USE PARKLAND.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, I ASSUME A GREAT INCREASE BASED ON AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF LAND.
SO 10 MILLION IS WHAT I HAVE PUT OUT.
UM, I IT IS AN ESTIMATE, IT IS A GUESS.
IT IS NOT SUPER EDUCATED GUESS TO BE VERY HONEST.
I'M HOPING TO GET FEEDBACK THROUGH, YOU KNOW, SOLICITATIONS WITHIN MAYBE THE NEXT QUARTER.
CHARLOTTE, DID YOU HAVE A FOLLOW UP THERE TOO? OKAY, HEATHER, YOU CAN GO AHEAD.
I ACTUALLY HAD, UM, EVA'S QUESTION, BUT NOW, UM, MAYBE
[01:45:01]
A SUB QUESTION, UM, WHEN YOU JUST SAID FOR HIGH USE PARKLAND, IS THAT WHAT THE 10 MILLION INCLUDES, OR WOULD THE 10 MILLION INCLUDE OTHER LAND USES? SO OUR, IT WOULD INCLUDE OTHER, UM, THERE, THE, THE RESOLUTION THAT'S OUT, UM, WAS, WAS VERY EXPANSIVE.YOU KNOW, COMPREHENSIVE INVENTORY.
'CAUSE I'M THINKING ABOUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN LOGICALLY I'M THINKING, UM, OBVIOUSLY STREETS OR PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAYS, I'M THINKING OF NOT JUST OUR, OUR HIGH USE PARK AREAS, BUT ALSO THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS A LOT OF OTHER LAND THAT'S NOT MANAGED BY EITHER PARKS OR PUBLIC WORKS.
SO WE'VE GOT TREES IN AREAS THAT DON'T HAVE, UM, TREE KEEPERS I'LL SAY.
SO THINK ABOUT ALL OF THE, UM, THE FIRE STATIONS, THE, THE, THE LIBRARIES, ALL OF THESE OTHER TYPES OF SPACES LIKE THAT.
UM, AND WE'RE ALSO INTERESTED IN, I'D SAY THOSE ARE, THOSE ARE THE PRIORITY SPACES, BUT I'M, I AM INTERESTED IN JUST KNOWING WHAT THE PRICE TAG WOULD BE FOR DOING MORE OF A, UM, REMOTE SENSING, UM, EXERCISE FOR NATURAL SPACES.
SO THERE ARE SOME OF THE NATURAL SPACES THAT IT WOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT MAKE SENSE TO DO STEM COUNTS ON, UM, THAT SOME TYPE OF EITHER PLOT BASED DATA OR, UM, REMOTE SENSING DATA COLLECTION WOULD MAKE A WHOLE LOT MORE SENSE.
SO, UM, SO THAT'S HOW, HOW I'M THINKING ABOUT TRYING TO ACQUIRE, UM, YOU KNOW, PROPOSALS TO MEET, TO MEET THIS NEED FOR THE, FOR THE PUBLIC TREE INVENTORY.
AND WHAT'S THE TIMELINE, ONCE FUNDING IS SECURED AND THE INVENTORY IS UNDERWAY, HOW LONG WOULD YOU ANTICIPATE IT WOULD TAKE? UM, THAT VERY MUCH ALL DEPENDS.
THERE'S, UM, 10 YEARS AGO, I WOULD'VE TOLD YOU IT WOULD PROBABLY TAKE 10 YEARS.
UM, THE, THE TRADITIONAL PATH FOR COLLECTING TREE INVENTORY DATA IS LITERALLY HAVING AN INVENTORY ARBORIST GO TREE TO TREE TO TREE MAKING ON THE GROUND OBSERVATIONS AND DOING DATA COLLECTION ON THE GROUND.
I, I MEAN, I REMEMBER BEING FAMILIAR SOMEWHAT WITH HOW HOUSTON WAS MANAGING THEIRS BACK IN THE DAY, AND THEY BASICALLY HAD A FIVE YEAR ROLLING INVENTORY WHERE THEY WERE ALWAYS COLLECTING NEW DATA AND IT WOULD TAKE FIVE YEARS TO COMPLETE A CIRCUIT.
UM, BUT THERE IS NEW TECH OUT THERE THAT I'M NOT SURE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NO BUDGET RIGHT NOW, SO TO SAY.
I'M NOT SURE IF WE CAN AFFORD IT.
BUT I AM REALLY CURIOUS WHAT THE PRICE TAG IS.
UM, BUT THERE IS NEW TECH THAT, UM, USES GROUND-BASED LIDAR TECHNOLOGY AND, UM, DOES WHAT THEY'RE CALLING DIGITAL TWINS.
UM, AND THAT TYPE OF DATA COLLECTION, IT WOULD TAKE AS LONG AS IT WOULD TAKE ONE OF THESE VEHICLES TO DRIVE, UM, THE STREETS.
AND A, THEY USE, UM, LIKE LITTLE, UM, OFF-ROAD FOR SOMETHING MUCH SMALLER TO GO ONTO PARKLAND.
OBVIOUSLY NOT A VEHICLE, BUT THE DATA COLLECTION TAKES AS LONG AS IT WOULD TAKE TO DRIVE, AND THEN THE PROCESSING TAKES MAYBE SIX TO 12 MONTHS.
SO SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE A MUCH SHORTER TURNAROUND.
UM, BUT RIGHT NOW THIS IS ALL VERY MUCH CONJECTURE BECAUSE, UM, WE DON'T HAVE MANY AND WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SOLICITATION OUT YET, BUT THESE ARE, YOU KNOW, IT COULD BE ANYWHERE FROM A YEAR TO, TO FIVE YEARS IS, IS MY REALISTIC THOUGHT.
UM, ANOTHER FOLLOW UP THERE, I'M, I'M CURIOUS THIS GROUND-BASED LIDAR, UM, I MEAN SOME AREAS YOU COULDN'T EVEN DRIVE A SMALL VEHICLE THROUGH.
SO I MEAN, DID THEY PUT THAT ON A DRONE OR DO, WHAT DO I'M CURIOUS ABOUT THAT.
I AM, I'M GONNA GIVE LIKE THE EDUCATED GUESS HERE IN AN AREA THAT'S TOO DENSE FOR THIS, IT, IT WOULDN'T BE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB.
UM, IN AN AREA THAT'S TOO DENSE FOR IT, UM, THAT MIGHT FALL INTO THE AREA WHERE WE'RE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MORE OF LIKE THE NATURAL UNDEVELOPED AREAS WHERE THE DATA COLLECTION MIGHT BE MORE APPROPRIATE TO DO FROM SOME TYPE OF AERIAL, UM, REMOTE SENSING.
YEAH, I WAS, UH, CURIOUS ABOUT, UM, I, I WAS REALLY, REALLY HAPPY TO SEE THAT IN 2022 THE CANOPY COVER WAS AT THE 41%, WHICH IS ONLY 9% LESS THAN
[01:50:01]
THE GOAL FOR 2050.UM, SO THE GREAT FREEZE THAT WE HAD BACK IN 2021, WE LOST A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF BRANCHES, WHICH WOULD'VE REDUCED CANOPY SIZE, OBVIOUSLY.
AND I'M NOT COMPLETELY POSITIVE ABOUT ALL THE, UM, PREDOMINANT SPECIES THAT WE HAD LOST DURING THAT FREEZE.
UM, I'M ASSUMING IT WAS A LOT OF THE NON-NATIVES, BUT REGARDLESS OF NATIVE OR OR NON-NATIVE, IT WOULD'VE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THE CANOPY SIZE.
IS THAT FREAK ANOMALY WEATHER EVENT, IS THAT CONSIDERED AN OUTLIER IN YOUR, IN YOUR, IN YOUR DATA ADJUSTMENTS? OR DO YOU INCLUDE THESE TYPES OF AN ANOMALIES JUST BECAUSE IT'S REAL WORLD DATA AFFECTING THE CANOPY SIZE? UM, SO I'LL GO BACK TO JUST, I GUESS REITERATING, UM, THE IDEA OF THAT CANOPY COVER PERCENTAGE BEING A SNAPSHOT, RIGHT? IT'S, UM, WHAT DID THE CANOPY LOOK LIKE ON THE DAY THAT, UM, AERIAL IMAGE WAS FLOWN? 'CAUSE THEN THOSE, THOSE AERIAL IMAGES ARE THEN, UM, TAKEN AND, UM, THE, THE POLYGONS OF WHERE WE THINK IS CANOPY IS EXTRACTED FROM THAT.
AND WE COME UP WITH THESE NUMBERS AND I'LL SAY LIKE, YOU KNOW, I THINK ABOUT WITH WINTER STORM MARA AND HOW MUCH LIMB BREAKAGE WE HAD WITHIN, YOU KNOW, MANY OF OUR SPECIES AND A LOT OF THE LIVE OAKS.
I THINK ABOUT THE LIVE OAKS THAT WERE IN MY FRONT YARD AT THE TIME AND THE MOUNTAIN OF, OF DEBRIS THAT WE DRAGGED TO THE CURB.
I DON'T THINK THAT IF I WERE TO DRAW AN OUTLINE OF THE EXTENT OF THE DRIP LINE OF THOSE TREES, I DON'T THINK THAT WOULD'VE CHANGED VERY MUCH BECAUSE YOU'VE, YOU'VE LOST, YOU KNOW, IT, IT'S BECAUSE THOSE CANOPIES ARE 3D BUT THEN WHEN WE LOOK AT THAT CANOPY PERCENTAGE, IT JUST, IT REALLY FLATTENS EVERYTHING, RIGHT? SO THE, THE PERCENTAGE IS SHOWING WHAT THE AERIAL IMAGERY IS PICKING UP.
UM, I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE VERY LIKELY TO CONTINUE TO SEE MORE OF THESE TYPES OF, UM, LIKE DESTRUCTIVE WEATHER PATTERNS THAT DO DAMAGE AND, UM, IMPACT THE TREE CANOPY.
AND, UM, I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS WHERE YOUR, WHERE YOUR QUESTION WAS GOING OR NOT, BUT THIS IDEA WHERE WE'RE TRYING REALLY HARD TO HAVE A KNOWN NET LOSS, TRYING TO PLANT TREES WHERE WE LOSE TREES AND THEN TRYING TO ADD TREES ON TOP OF THAT, UM, MAINTAINING THAT 41% COVER AND ENCOURAGING BOTH PEOPLE MANAGING TREES ON PUBLIC PROPERTY, BUT ALSO, UM, YOU KNOW, OUR, OUR NEIGHBORS ON THEIR PRIVATE PROPERTIES TO, TO TAKE CARE OF THE CANOPY THAT WE ALREADY HAVE.
I DON'T, I DON'T THINK WE CAN UNDERSTATE THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT HAVING, UM, YOU KNOW, QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS TAKING CARE OF THESE REALLY BIG OLD TREES, HAVING ROUTINE TREE CARE AT OUR OWN PLACES, UM, PRUNING FOR A REASON, UH, NOT JUST BECAUSE THERE'S GOING TO BE A BRUSH PICKUP.
UM, I, I, ONE OF THE, THE, MY CITY TREES REPORT THAT, THAT I PULLED AND, AND BRIEFLY SHOWED, UM, DID HAVE A, UM, BREAKDOWN OF OWNERSHIP OF, UM, OF OUR TREE CANOPY.
AND IT'S NOT QUITE DOWN THE, THE CENTER, BUT IT'S CLOSE.
UH, ACCORDING TO THE, TO THAT DATA COLLECTION, 52% OF OUR TREES ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY.
UM, SO A A LOT OF WHAT, WHAT MY UNIT DOES IN ADDITION TO, YOU KNOW, PROVIDING GRANT FUNDING IS WE DO A LOT OF EDUCATION AND OUTREACH AND IT'S NOT 'CAUSE IT'S FEEL GOOD STUFF.
IT'S BECAUSE WE REALLY DO WANT PEOPLE TO BE TAKEN CARE OF WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE.
LET'S NOT CLEAR THE LOT BECAUSE IT WASN'T, YOU KNOW, IT LET'S NOT CLEAR THE LOT.
LET'S LET'S ADD TO THE LOT AND SLOWLY REMOVE THE STUFF THAT WE, YOU KNOW, DON'T FIND AS DESIRABLE.
UM, BUT LET'S DO IT ALL INCREMENTALLY BECAUSE AT THE END OF THE DAY THAT THAT 41% CANOPY COVER, THAT'S NOT REALLY, YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT QUALITATIVE.
AND IF I AM, IF I'M, YOU KNOW, WAITING AT THE BUS STOP WITH MY KIDS AND I'VE GOT, UM, A LAG MUSHROOM OR A CHINA BERRY SHADING THE BUS STOP, I'M GONNA GET UNDERNEATH IT.
I DON'T CARE THAT THOSE ARE, YOU KNOW, NOT DESIRABLE SPECIES.
I'M GONNA BE AWFULLY GLAD THEY'RE THERE AT THAT POINT IN TIME, UM, IN THAT POSITION.
SO I, I THINK, YOU KNOW, TAKING, TAKING A STEP BACK AND JUST SAYING, UM, YOU KNOW, WE, WE DO NEED MORE SHADE AND WE, WE MIGHT WANT A SPECIFIC TYPE OF SHADE, BUT LET'S NOT, YOU KNOW, TAKE EVERYTHING OUT THAT'S LIKE THE LESS DESIRABLE
[01:55:01]
SHAMESO THAT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT'S NOT A THING THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF NONSENSE.
BUT ANYWAYS, I'M, I'M RAMBLING.
UM, I THINK I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION THERE.
IT, HARRIS, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION? UH, YEAH.
SO, UM, ON SLIDE FIVE, WHEN IT'S THE, UH, WHERE IT SHOWS THE COMMUNITY TREE PRIORITY AREAS, I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT THE, THE LITTLE WHITE SORT BLUE WHATEVER OFF-WHITE, I'M NOT SURE WHAT EXACTLY COLOR IT IS.
WHERE WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO SIGNIFY? UM, BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE THERE ARE A COUPLE AREAS, THERE'S ONE SORT OF IN THE EASTERN SORT OF SOUTHEASTERN PART OF, OF TOWN, THEN ONE SORT OF LIKE CENTRAL AND THEN ONE SORT OF WEST.
SO I WAS WONDERING WHAT EXACTLY THAT, UH, WAS SUPPOSED TO THAT.
I THINK THE BIG ONE, UM, I THINK THE AIRPORT MIGHT BE ONE OF THE AREAS.
OH, I THINK UT IS ONE OF THE AREAS THAT'S PROBABLY THE CENTRAL ONE, RIGHT? OKAY.
AND THEN THE ONE THAT WAS FURTHER, UM, ON THE WEST SIDE OF TOWN, IS IT LIKE THE AIR FORCE BASE? IT'S LIKE MAYBE ROLLINGWOOD OR SOMETHING? THE ACTIVE GUARD THING? YEAH, I WAS THINKING LIKE, I WAS THINKING IT WAS JUST ONE OF THE OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT, THAT GOT CLIPPED OUT FOR, FOR WHATEVER REASON.
LIKE, LIKE ROLLING WOOD OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
IT COULD BE WEST LAKE FOR SURE.
YEAH, I FIGURED THE, THE FAR WEST ONE WAS WESTLAKE, BUT WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE OTHER TWO, BUT, UH, THAT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.
I GUESS WE LEFT SUNSET VALLEY IN THERE.
I WAS LIKE, YEAH, THAT DOESN'T REALLY TRACK, BUT IT'S, IT'S LEFT IN THERE
UM, YOU, YOU MENTIONED YOU, YOU KNOW, IN THIS, THIS, UH, DISCUSSION OF, OF THE IMPACT OF THE, THE FREEZE AND LOSS OF LIMBS THERE, YOU KNOW, HOW THIS IS, UH, KIND OF TWO ENDS UP BEING TWO DIMENSIONAL.
UM, AND THAT, YOU KNOW, I I WAS ALSO KIND OF THINKING ABOUT HOW THIS DATA DOES AND DOES NOT REFLECT KIND OF MASS OF TREE, WHICH OF COURSE IS IMPORTANT WHEN IT COMES TO SOME OF THE BENEFITS.
YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE BENEFITS ARE, LIKE YOU SAY, JUST FROM THE SHADE.
UM, SO I GUESS, I MEAN, I AM JUST THINKING ABOUT LIKE THE TREE THAT I PLANTED IN OUR FRONT YARD.
YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S GROWN UP TO AN EXTENT.
IT'S PROVIDING SOME, SOME SHADE THERE, BUT YOU KNOW, IT DOESN'T HAVE A LARGE VOLUME OF WOOD IN IT.
THEREFORE IT'S NOT SUCKING UP A HUGE AMOUNT OF WATER.
IT'S NOT STORING A HUGE AMOUNT OF CARBON YET.
UM, I'M, I'M CURIOUS HOW THAT, IF THERE'S ANY WAY THAT, THAT THOSE THINGS ARE ACCOUNTED FOR.
IF THE ANSWER IS, WE'RE NOT AT THAT LEVEL YET WITH THE ANALYSIS.
UM, SO WHERE, WHERE WE ARE FORTUNATE TO BE ABLE TO PULL THAT TYPE OF INFORMATION FROM IS GONNA BE THAT PLOT BASED DATA.
AGAIN, GOING BACK TO THAT, THAT PROJECT THAT THE TEXAS A AND M FOREST SERVICE CONDUCTS, UM, THEY, THEY COLLECT, UM, INFORMATION ON WOODY BIOMASS WITH THAT PROJECT.
AND IT'S, SO AGAIN, I, WE, WE DO HAVE SOME DATA ABOUT IT, BUT IT'S EXTRAPOLATED.
SO I COULDN'T TELL YOU UNLIKE A NEIGHBORHOOD OR A ZIP CODE OR A, YOU KNOW, CITY BLOCK BASIS, WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE.
I I DEFINITELY DON'T HAVE THAT GRANULAR OF DATA, BUT WE, WE HAVE INFORMATION KIND OF AGAIN, AT THAT CITYWIDE LEVEL.
UM, AND WHAT'S, WHAT'S REALLY COOL ABOUT, ABOUT THAT, THAT DATA COLLECTION PROJECT IS THAT IT'S, IT'S ONGOING DATA COLLECTION.
SO I MENTIONED THERE'S A LITTLE OVER 300 DIFFERENT PLOTS WHERE THEY COLLECT DATA.
UM, THEY DON'T COLLECT ALL 300 PLOTS WORTH OF DATA EVERY YEAR.
I THINK THEY COLLECT ABOUT MAYBE 10% OF THOSE PLOTS EVERY YEAR.
SO ONCE ALL THE DATA PLOTS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED AT LEAST ONCE, AND THEN THEY'RE COLLECTED AGAIN, THAT PROJECT WILL BE ABLE TO SHOW US ALL KINDS OF REALLY, REALLY JUICY TREND DATA.
UM, SO WHAT I THINK YOU MIGHT'VE BEEN GETTING AT IS LIKE, HOW ARE THOSE ICE STORMS AFFECTING US AND HOW ARE THE, YOU KNOW, HOW ARE THE DROUGHTS AFFECTING US? UM, WHERE ARE WE GAINING, WHERE ARE WE, ARE WE LOSING? UM, AND MY UNDERSTANDING FROM THE FOREST SERVICE IS THAT BASED ON THEIR DATA COLLECTION CADENCE COMBINED WITH HOW LONG ANALYSIS TAKES, UM, IT WILL PROBABLY BE 2026 BEFORE WE CAN ACTUALLY GET OUR, OUR LITTLE HANDS ON THAT TREND DATA.
[02:00:01]
UM, BUT IT WILL BE REALLY, REALLY RICH DATA ONCE, ONCE IT'S AVAILABLE AND, YOU KNOW, IT'LL BE WORTH THE WAIT.SO THERE'S NOT ANYTHING AVAILABLE NOW THERE, HERE I'M GONNA DO ANOTHER QUICK SCREEN SHARE.
THIS IS AGAIN, THAT, UM, THIS IS A PAGE FROM THE REPORT I GENERATED THE OTHER DAY FROM, UM, LET'S SEE.
IT DOESN'T, ARE YOU SEEING MY CORRECT SCREEN? 'CAUSE IT DIDN'T GIVE ME THE RED BAND AROUND THE SCREENS.
WHAT'S THE WOOD VOLUME? OKAY, COOL.
UM, SO THIS IS THAT MY CITY TREES REPORT, SO I DO HAVE, YOU KNOW, WOOD VOLUME
SO, UM, OUT OF ALL OF THE TREES IN TOWN, WE HAVE OVER 86 MILLION CUBIC FEET OF WOOD.
BUT I, YOU KNOW, HONESTLY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THAT INFORMATION.
THAT'S JUST LIKE, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? UM, THIS REPORT IS INTERESTING IN THAT IT WILL TALK ABOUT IT BY LAND COVER, CLASS BY SPECIES.
AND I DON'T MEAN TO MAKE Y'ALL FEEL DIZZY, BUT ONCE, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THAT BIG NUMBER, BUT CARBON STORAGE ENDS UP BEING MORE PEOPLE WANNA, WANNA TALK ABOUT AND WANNA HAVE AN IDEA OF, AND THEY DO PROVIDE THE, THE MODELING AND CALCULATIONS FOR CARBON STORAGE.
SO AGAIN, THIS IS THIS CITYWIDE KIND OF SNAPSHOT, UM, BASED ON THAT PLOT BASED DATA COLLECTION.
UM, AND, AND I'M JUST, I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF WITH MY EXCITEMENT OVER BEING ABLE TO SEE, UM, COMPARISON DATA.
WE'RE JUST NOT THERE YET, BUT HAVING EVEN JUST THIS AMOUNT OF DATA AVAILABLE TO US IS, IS PRETTY SIGNIFICANT.
UM, AND HAVING IT, YOU KNOW, PROVIDED BY THE STATE IS, IS EVEN BETTER BECAUSE WE, YOU KNOW, WE, WE PARTNER WITH THEM WHENEVER WE CAN, BUT THEY'RE, THEY'RE COLLECTING THIS, THIS REGARDLESS.
UM, I DID, I PULLED THAT UP, SO I'LL LOOK AT THAT MORE LATER.
UM, AND HOW OFTEN DID YOU SAY THEY'RE SURVEYING THOSE 300 PLOTS? THEY'RE OUT HERE EVERY SUMMER, UM, DOING DATA COLLECTION.
BUT YOU SAID THEY'RE NOT DOING EVERY ONE EACH YEAR, RIGHT? SO IS IT, YEAH.
SO IT'S, AGAIN, IT'S, I THINK IT'S ABOUT, UM, A 10TH OF THE, THE PLOTS EVERY YEAR, GIVE OR TAKE.
UM, YEAH, SO, AND AGAIN, IT, IT'LL WHEN THEY, WHEN THIS PROJECT FIRST KICKED OFF, THEY DID COLLECT ALL 300 PLOTS ALL IN ONE YEAR.
SO WE, WE ALREADY, SO THAT'S WHY WE'RE ABLE TO HAVE THIS, UM, THIS REPORT AT ALL BECAUSE ALL OF THE DATA PLOTS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED AND WE'RE VERY, VERY CLOSE TO ALL THE DATA PLOTS BEING RECOLLECTED AT LEAST ONCE.
UM, IT JUST, BETWEEN THE TEXAS FOREST SERVICE AND THE US FOREST SERVICE, IT'LL TAKE AT LEAST A YEAR OF DATA PROCESSING BEFORE THE, THAT, THAT THAT DATA GETS RELEASED AND UPDATED INTO THEIR, THEIR WEBSITE AND SOME, AND SOME OF, ARE THOSE PLOTS, ARE THEY ALL PUBLIC LAND? ARE THEY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE? WHAT'S, CAN YOU IT'S ACROSS THE BOARD.
YEAH, I, I THINK, I DON'T KNOW, I'M PARTIALLY INTERESTED IN THIS, JUST, UM, I LIVE OFF EAST RIVERSIDE, SO, UM, IN ONE OF THOSE AREAS THAT IS, UM, DEFINITELY SEEING A LOT OF TREES CLEARED FOR DEVELOPMENT AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK REGARDLESS OF WHAT'S HAPPENING CITYWIDE, UM, THERE'S AREAS LIKE THAT, UM, PART OF TOWN IS ONE EXAMPLE THAT I THINK, YOU KNOW, THEY ARE CERTAINLY, WE'RE CERTAINLY LOSING TREE MASS AND, AND CANOPY.
I THINK, UM, IT'S, IT'S HARD, HARD TO IMAGINE THAT, THAT WE'RE NOT, 'CAUSE I DON'T SEE SOME MASSIVE TREE PLANTING EFFORT AND FRANKLY, EVEN IF THERE WAS, YOU KNOW, THEY WOULD BE SMALL TREES.
SO I'M, I'LL BE INTERESTED TO SEE THAT, AND I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S CONSIDERATION OF THIS, BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE, UM, MAYBE MORE, MORE GRANULAR GOALS THAN JUST THAT 50%.
AND I REALIZE THERE IS THIS EQUITY, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE, UM, JUST LOOKING AT, YOU KNOW, QUOTE PLANTABLE LAND PERHAPS LEAVES, UM, LEAVES A DEFICIT AS WELL.
'CAUSE IF YOU, IF YOU PAVE SOMETHING OVER AND MAKE IT UN IMPLANTABLE, THEN YEAH.
WHERE, WHERE DO YOU GO WITH THAT? UM, I, I HEAR YOU.
[02:05:01]
CAUTION, THERE ARE SOME CITIES THAT'LL DO, YOU KNOW, ANNOUNCE WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA PLANT A MILLION TREES BY SUCH AND SUCH STATES, UM, FROM, FROM A FORESTER'S PERSPECTIVE, THOSE ARE OFTEN REALLY GOOD INTENTIONS THAT ARE REALLY EXECUTED.UM, SO, SO YEAH, WE DO NEED SOMETHING BETTER THAN JUST, THERE IS A LOT OF PLANTABLE SPACE.
WE, WE DO NEED SOMETHING MUCH MORE TACTICAL.
UM, BUT HAVING SOMETHING TACTICAL THAT'S, UM, YOU KNOW, RIGHT SIZED AND RIGHT BUDGETED FOR WHAT CAN BE MAINTAINED AND CARED FOR IS, IS REALLY IMPORTANT TOO.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ALL RIGHT, EMILY, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
REALLY APPRECIATE THE, THE WORK YOU'RE DOING AND, AND THE TIME YOU'VE SPENT WITH US TONIGHT.
I'M TICKLED YOU'LL LET ME GO ON THIS LONG.
UM, REALLY RE FOLLOW UP AND REACH OUT IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, I, I'D BE, I'D BE REALLY HAPPY TO LIKE SHOW AND TELL OR, YOU KNOW, WALK IN YOUR PARK WITH YOU OR WHAT HAVE YOU.
UM, I APPRECIATE Y'ALL'S WORK TOO.
THANKS FOR BEING HERE ON A, ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT
NO BETTER PLACE TO BE, RIGHT? YEAH.
HAVE A GOOD REST OF YOUR EVENING.
UH, GOING TO THE AGENDA, BUT I THINK CHARLOTTE, I THINK YOU'RE UP NEXT.
[4. Discussion of Joint Sustainability Committee preparation to make recommendations for the FY 25-26 budget ]
BUDGET DISCUSSION.UM, I THINK THIS WAS MY ITEM, BUT ROHAN, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANTED TO SAY ON THIS OR SHOULD I JUST KICK IT OFF? OKAY, SO THIS, THIS I THINK CAN BE A, A SHORT ITEM, BUT I JUST DID WANNA PUT IT ON OUR AGENDA.
UM, SO THAT WE ARE WORKING, UH, WORKING TO OUR DEADLINE AND, UM, YOU KNOW, BEING EFFECTIVE IN OUR WORKING GROUPS.
I DON'T THINK WE'VE RECEIVED OFFICIAL NOTICE FROM THE CITY YET IN TERMS OF THE DEADLINE FOR MAKING BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT I THINK LIKE THE LAST THREE YEARS AT LEAST HAS BEEN, UH, THE END OF MARCH IS THE DEADLINE FOR BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO, UH, I'M GONNA WORK UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT IT IS GONNA BE THE END OF MARCH AGAIN, AND I THINK LAST YEAR AND PERHAPS THE YEAR BEFORE, WE KIND OF SET AN INTERNAL DEADLINE FOR OURSELVES TO HAVE OUR RECOMMENDATIONS, UM, DONE IN FEBRUARY TO ALLOW FOR SOME OF US AT LEAST, YOU KNOW, TO TAKE SOME OR ALL OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THIS COMMISSION BACK TO OUR HOME COMMISSIONS FOR CONSIDERATION.
AND, UH, THAT DOES NOT, YOU KNOW, PRECLUDE US FROM GOING THE OTHER DIRECTION AS WELL AND MAKING ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS IN MARCH IF THERE ARE THINGS THAT, THAT HOME COMMISSIONS, UH, YOU KNOW, RECOMMEND THAT WE WANNA KIND OF MAKE A A SECOND TO.
SO I GUESS I'LL PAUSE THERE AND SAY JUST STICKING WITH THAT GENERAL TIMELINE.
SOUND GOOD TO FOLKS? OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO SOMETHING ELSE? GO AHEAD, HEATHER.
RIGHT? MY OPINION, I HAVE NO OPINION.
I THINK THAT THAT'S IT, THAT'S A REASONABLE APPROACH.
SHOULD I, SHOULD I TAKE SILENCE AS AGREEMENT HERE? I WOULD SAY THEY BROKE.
DON'T FIX IT, BUT IT MIGHT BE BROKE, SO.
I, I THINK IT WORKED WELL FOR US, UM, THE LAST COUPLE TIMES AROUND, I THINK WE DID TAKE SOME OF OUR RECOMMENDATIONS TO AT LEAST SOME OF OUR OTHER COMMISSIONS, WHICH, YOU KNOW, I THINK IT, IT NEVER HURTS TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE GROUP SAYING SOMETHING SIMILAR.
SO LET'S SAY THAT THAT IS OUR, OUR TIMELINE, UM, WHICH WOULD MEAN USUALLY WE TRY TO BRING ITEMS A MONTH IN ADVANCE OF WHEN WE WANT TO ADOPT THEM, WHICH WOULD MEAN AT LEAST A DRAFT VERSION AT OUR NEXT MEETING IN JANUARY.
UM, OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, IF THERE'S DATA YOU'RE STILL WAITING FOR OR WHATEVER, THEN YOU CAN MAKE CHANGES BETWEEN JANUARY MEETING AND FEBRUARY MEETING.
BUT I THINK THIS IS JUST, YOU KNOW, TO KIND OF PUT US ALL COLLECTIVELY ON NOTICE THAT IF THERE ARE THINGS WE'RE THINKING ABOUT, UM, TO START, START PUTTING WORDS DOWN ON PAPER OR YOU KNOW, DIGITAL PAPER AS IT WERE.
AND IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE FOR STAFF, YOU
[02:10:01]
KNOW, WE ASK SOME TONIGHT I THINK AROUND BUDGET FOR THINGS, UM, YOU KNOW, START ASKING THOSE QUESTIONS.'CAUSE SOMETIMES IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET THE ANSWER.
SO SEND THE, SEND THE EMAIL NOW SOME STAFF ARE GONNA BE OFF FOR MAYBE A COUPLE WEEKS TAKING VACATIONS, SOME WON'T.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, LET'S, LET'S MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE, UM, DOING WHAT WE CAN TO BE ON THAT TIMELINE, IF THAT SOUND GOOD TO EVERYBODY.
UM, ALL RIGHT THEN LET'S, LET'S MOVE ON.
[5. Discussion of updated JSC priorities for the Land Acquisition Fund ]
AND I WILL TURN IT OVER TO CHARLOTTE FOR ITEM NUMBER FIVE, DISCUSSION OF, UM, UPDATED PRIORITIES FOR THE LAND ACQUISITION FUND.UH, YES, UH, IT'S PART A WORKING GROUP, INCLUDING MYSELF AND, UM, MARISSA AND RODRIGO MET WITH STAFF AND I'M GONNA LET RODRIGO TALK ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF THAT.
AND PLEASE FEEL FREE CHARLOTTE AND ROHAN TO FILL IN ANY GAPS.
BUT, UH, IN SHORT, WE HAD A MEETING, UM, WITH ROHAN AND ZACH JUST TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LAND ACQUISITION FUND PROCESS IS LOOKING LIKE.
AND WE LEARNED A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT, UM, AN INTERNAL WORKING GROUP THAT THE CITY HAS PUT TOGETHER TO COME UP WITH A PRIORITIZATION FRAMEWORK AND KIND OF TARGET PROPERTIES THAT WOULD THEN BE CONSIDERED IN A HOLISTIC WAY, WHICH IS NOT SOMETHING THAT THE CITY HAS TYPICALLY DONE IN THE PAST.
IT'S, IT'S USUALLY BEEN DONE LIKE DEPARTMENT BY DEPARTMENT.
THEY HAVE THEIR OWN PRIORITIES, BUT THIS IS KIND OF TAKING INTO ACCOUNT CLIMATE BENEFITS AND OTHER CO-BENEFITS THAT WE, UM, HAVE TALKED ABOUT IN THE PAST.
AND SO, JUST GIVEN, UM, THE SHORT TIMELINE THAT THIS WORKING GROUP HAS TO PUT TOGETHER CRITERIA FOR PRIORITIZING LAND FOR ACQUISITION AND ACTUALLY COMING UP WITH RECOMMENDATIONS, UM, WE CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT WOULD MAKE SENSE FOR THE JSC TO PUT TOGETHER A LAND ACQUISITION KIND OF WORKING GROUP.
AND WE COULD LIAISE DIRECTLY WITH, WITH ROHAN AND ZACH, WHO CAN THEN KIND OF TRANSMIT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS AND THOUGHTS TO THIS INTERNAL CITY WORKING GROUP, UM, WITH THE GOAL OF HAVING KIND OF A, A FRAMEWORK THAT INTEGRATES SOME OF THE, UH, PRIORITIES THAT WE HAVE AND ALSO KIND OF BALANCES THAT WITH THE CONSTRAINTS AND LIMITATIONS THAT DEPARTMENTS ARE WORKING WITH.
AND WE'RE ALSO THINKING THIS WOULD HELP LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR, UM, A MORE COMPREHENSIVE LAND ACQUISITION PROCESS THROUGH THE EVENTUAL ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT PLAN, UM, BOND.
UM, AND I THINK THAT'S WHERE WE HAVE THE, THE POTENTIAL TO HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT SINCE THAT WOULD BE A MUCH HIGHER DOLLAR AMOUNT.
UM, AND THIS WOULD BE JUST LIKE A SHORT TERM $50 MILLION EXPENDITURE ON LAND ACQUISITION, WHICH WON'T GET YOU MUCH, BUT IT'S A STARTING POINT AND IT WILL HELP US KIND OF EXPERIMENT WITH A PROCESS THAT IS MORE HOLISTIC AND COMPREHENSIVE, UM, THAN HAS BEEN TRADITIONALLY DONE IN THE PAST.
ANY OTHER, UM, THOUGHTS ON THAT? OH, I THINK THAT'S WELL SAID.
SO DO WE KABA DO WE NEED TO LIKE, MAKE A MOTION OR SOMETHING TO LIKE CREATE THIS WORKING GROUP? WELL, I DON'T THINK WE'RE POSTED TO, WE'RE NOT POSTED FOR ANY ACTION ON THIS, SO WE CAN'T FORMALLY MAKE A WORKING GROUP.
UM, THAT SAID, THERE'S NOTHING THAT PREVENTS ANY SUB QUORUM OF US MEETING SHOULD WORK ON AN ISSUE, SO YOU CAN KEEP WORKING ON IT.
IT, I'M HAPPY TO KEEP, YOU KNOW, PUTTING UPDATES ON THE AGENDA AND FOR THAT MATTER ACTION ITEM WHEN APPROPRIATE ON THE AGENDA.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, EVEN THOUGH IT'S INFORMAL WORKING GROUPS ARE ALREADY PRETTY INFORMAL, SO IF THERE'S OTHER PEOPLE YOU WANNA BRING IN, YOU CAN, YOU CAN STILL DO THAT.
SO THERE'S, YOU KNOW, IF, IF YOU WANNA FORMALIZE IT, WE CAN DO THAT ON THE NEXT AGENDA, BUT YOU DO HAVE TO HAVE IT POSTED FOR AN ACTION ITEM.
YEAH, I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW IF WE'D NEED THAT.
I WAS JUST CHECKING, BUT IF ANYBODY IS INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING, JUST REACH OUT TO ME OR CHARLOTTE.
UM, AND WE'LL PROBABLY END UP BRINGING IN FOLKS FROM OTHER, UM, ENTITIES.
'CAUSE I KNOW FOR EXAMPLE, THE FOOD POLICY BOARD, THEY HAD BEEN THINKING ABOUT LAND ACQUISITION, SO WE MAY WANNA INVITE THEM TO THIS WORKING GROUP.
YEAH, I FEEL LIKE THE, UH, THERE ARE A LOT OF FOLKS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION THAT MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS ISSUE AS WELL SINCE THEY'RE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT, UH, YOU KNOW, BUYING LAND FOR THE BALCONES
[02:15:01]
PRESERVE AND, UH, AND OTHER STUFF.SO I COULD CERTAINLY CIRCULATE AROUND, UH, THAT COMMISSION AS WELL.
APPRECIATE YOU GUYS LEADING THAT WORK.
[6. Update on the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan – Kaiba White, Electric Utility Commission ]
IS NUMBER SIX, UPDATE ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN.UM, I'M GONNA KEEP THIS BRIEF AND I WILL SEND AROUND THE, UH, THE PLAN WHICH HOPEFULLY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH THE AMENDMENTS.
UH, THE PLAN WAS ADOPTED BY CITY COUNCIL ON DECEMBER 12TH, THEIR LAST MEETING.
UM, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT A BUNCH OF AMENDMENTS WERE ADDED TO IT, UM, INCLUDING SOME THAT SET 2027 GOALS FOR LOCAL SOLAR AND BATTERY STORAGE, UM, LOCAL BATTERY STORAGE, AND ALSO DIRECTED AUSTIN ENERGY TO ACTUALLY MOVE FORWARD, YOU KNOW, IMMEDIATELY WITH, UM, THE UTILITY SCALE LOCAL BATTERY PIECE OF THAT.
UM, AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF, YOU KNOW, OTHER AMENDMENTS THAT I THINK WERE GENERALLY HELPFUL, UM, IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, TAKING A LOOK AT, UH, IMPACT ON, ON AIR QUALITY, UH, AND, UH, OZONE NON-ATTAINMENT IN PARTICULAR FROM ANY FOSSIL FUEL ADDITIONS.
UM, HOWEVER, YOU KNOW, I THINK FROM, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE PROBABLY OF THIS COMMISSION, CERTAINLY MINE, UM, THE BIG LOSS IS THAT, YOU KNOW, THE OLD PLAN SAID NO MORE FOSSIL FUEL EXPANSION FOR AUSTIN ENERGY.
AND THE NEW PLAN VERY MUCH, YOU KNOW, SAYS THAT THAT IS ON THE TABLE.
SO I THINK WE CAN EXPECT THAT SOMETIME NEXT YEAR, AUSTIN ENERGY WILL, UM, THEY'LL ISSUE AN ALL SOURCE RFP, WHICH WAS A REQUIREMENT, UH, FROM ONE OF THE, UM, YEAH, JUST THE SECOND CHRIS FROM ONE OF THE, UH, AMENDMENTS THAT THEY CAN'T JUST BRING FORWARD GAS PEAKER PLANTS THAT THEY HAVE TO DO AN ALL SOURCE RFP TO LOOK AT CLEAN ENERGY OPTIONS.
UM, NEVERTHELESS, I I, I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF THEY DON'T BRING FORWARD A, A PROPOSAL, UH, SOMETIME NEXT YEAR.
SO JUST SOMETHING THAT WE WILL PROBABLY WANNA KEEP AN EYE ON.
YEAH, UH, JUST TO CLARIFY, UH, KAVA, SO YOU SAID THAT SOME AMENDMENTS INCLUDING INCLUDED THE INSTALLATION OF THE SOLAR AND THE BAT AND THE BATTERIES.
SO WOULD THAT BE TO TRY TO OFFSET THOSE NATURAL GAS PEAKER PLANTS AND, AND MOMENTS WHENEVER THOSE NEED TO BE USED, UH, POTENTIALLY IN THE FUTURE? OR HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO EACH OTHER? DO YOU KNOW? YEAH, GOOD QUESTION.
UM, I THINK FOR, YOU KNOW, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, AND I THINK YOU KNOW, MANY THAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ALONGSIDE, UM, WE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO SEE, UM, THAT BUILDUP OF UTILITY SCALE, LOCAL UTILITY SCALE, SOLAR, UM, AND BATTERIES FIRST TO SEE IF THAT CAN PERHAPS MITIGATE THESE PRICE ISSUES THAT AUSTIN ENERGY IS EXPERIENCING, UM, WITHOUT BUILDING THE PEAKERS.
UM, AND OF COURSE, THE PEAKERS ARE NOT SOMETHING THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY TAKE TIME, SO DO THE BATTERIES, BUT THE BATTERIES CAN BE DEPLOYED QUICKER.
UM, SO THE HOPE I THINK IS THAT THEY WILL DO THAT AND IT WILL PROVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL, AND WE DON'T END UP WITH THE PEAKERS IN THE END, BUT IT'S ALL ON THE TABLE AT THIS POINT.
UM, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? I KNOW IT'S, YOU KNOW, GETTING LATE, SO I DON'T WANNA TAKE TOO MUCH TIME, BUT IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS I CAN ANSWER.
HE KINDA, I'M DOING AUDIO THROUGH MY PHONE, SO LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN'T HEAR ME.
THIS IS ANNA SCOTT, BY THE WAY.
UM, MY QUESTION IS, LIKE, THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS, IT HASN'T BEEN CLEAR TO ME THAT THE MODELING HAS BEEN DONE IN A VERY RIGOROUS WAY, AND IT STILL SEEMS LIKE THERE'S, LIKE, I HAVEN'T SEEN A CREDIBLE NET ZERO PLAN.
AND SO HAS THERE BEEN ANY DISCUSSION AS LIKE, I KNOW THAT EUC DID SOME MODELING, SO, SO MAYBE YOU GUYS ARE TAKING THE THOUGHT, BUT HAS THERE BEEN ANY CREDIBLE PUSH TO GET TOGETHER AN AN ACTUAL NET ZERO PLAN OR, OR MULTIPLE PATHWAYS? WELL, UM,
[02:20:01]
YOU KNOW, I GUESS I CAN JUST SAY THAT NONE OF THE PORTFOLIOS THAT AUSTIN ENERGY PUT TOGETHER WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED THAT GOAL.UM, SOME OF THEM DID MODEL SHUTTING DOWN THEIR FOSSIL FUEL, UM, EXISTING FOSSIL FUEL PLANTS, BUT NONE OF THEM REPLACED THAT ALL WITH, UM, YOU KNOW, A, A VIABLE MIX OF CLEAN ENERGY, YOU KNOW, INCLUDING SOLAR AND, AND BATTERIES.
SO, YOU KNOW, THE EUCI THINK WE DID WHAT WE COULD, BUT WE DON'T HAVE THE SAME VISIBILITY TO THE DATA AS AUSTIN ENERGY DOES.
UM, I THINK THE PORTFOLIOS WE PUT TOGETHER PERFORMED FAIRLY WELL, ESPECIALLY THE KIND OF SECOND BATCH.
BUT YEAH, I THINK IT'S STILL A GAP.
I THINK THERE'S BEEN SOME SIGNIFICANT, UM, ISSUES WITH SOME OF THE COST ASSUMPTIONS, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK, WE'LL, WE'LL, WE'LL SEE WHAT, HOW THIS PLAYS OUT NEXT YEAR.
UM, WHETHER OR NOT THERE'S ADDITIONAL MODELING, UM, DONE TO KIND OF BACK UP A PROPOSAL COMING FROM AE OR, YEAH, I, I, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT THERE.
I DO KNOW THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, AFTER THEY, YOU KNOW, IF THEY WANNA DO NATURAL GAS PEAKERS, THAT THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO COME TO COUNCIL FOR AT LEAST A DISCUSSION AFTER THEY'VE DONE A FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS, WHICH WOULD IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SITES FOR THOSE UNITS.
SO THAT'LL BE THE, THE NEXT KIND OF PLACE WHERE COMMUNITY COUNCIL AND, YOU KNOW, I THINK THIS BODY COULD REASONABLY WEIGH IN.
SO, SO I, I GET THAT, BUT IT JUST SEEMS LIKE TAKING A STEP BACK, THERE STILL NEEDS TO BE A NET ZERO PLAN, RIGHT? LIKE, EVEN IF I BOUGHT THEIR PREMISE THAT LIKE, OKAY, LIKE LET'S SAY WE NEEDED A GAS PEAKER PLANT.
LIKE THERE STILL NEEDS TO BE THAT NET ZERO PLAN, RIGHT? LIKE, AND, AND SO I GUESS, I DON'T KNOW, IS THERE AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE ADVOCATING FOR THAT? YEAH, THAT'S A FAIR POINT, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THE PLAN DOES ALSO SAY THAT THE, UM, ZERO CARBON OR THE CARBON FREE BY 2035 GOAL IS STILL THERE.
UM, AND THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, DIRECT QUESTIONS ASKED OF AE STAFF BY COUNCIL MEMBERS, LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THESE PEAKERS IN 2035 IF THAT'S YOUR GOAL? AND THEY SAY THEY'D SHUT THEM DOWN.
SO YEAH, YOU'RE MAKING A REALLY GOOD POINT.
UM, THEY STILL NEED TO HAVE A PLAN FOR HOW THEY WOULD ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH THAT.
UM, YEAH, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO KEEP PUSHING ON IT.
BECAUSE I, I DON'T THINK THE PLAN ADOPTED DOESN'T REALLY LAY OUT HOW TO GET THERE.
UM, IT, IT HAS A FEW PIECES, A FEW STEPS ALONG THE WAY.
IT, IT DOES NOT HAVE A FULL ROADMAP.
WELL, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE PART OF OUR BUDGET PROCESS? UM, I, I, I DON'T KNOW.
I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE BUDGET NEED IS THERE.
I'M NOT SAYING THERE'S NOT ONE.
[7. Update on the Congress Avenue Urban Design plans – Diana Wheeler, Urban Transportation Commission ]
MOVE ON TO DIANA'S UPDATE ON THE CONGRESS URBAN DESIGN PLANS, CONGRESS OF URBAN DESIGN PLANS.AT THE UTC LAURA DARFIELD, UM, FROM TPW PRESENTED ON THE CONGRESS AVENUE URBAN DESIGN INITIATIVE.
IT'S ALSO, YOU MIGHT SEE THE ACRONYM C-A-U-D-I CDI.
UM, THEY ARE, UH, THIS IS ONE OF THE, UM, FOUR NAMED PROJECTS THAT IS GETTING, UM, THAT IS, UH, BEEN GIVEN PROJECT CONNECT MONEY TO MOVE FORWARD.
AND IN THE WITHIN BUDGET, WHAT THEY ARE PROPOSING TO DO IS ON CONGRESS INSTEAD OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ENDING AT 11TH, WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENS RIGHT NOW, RIGHT? MOTOR VEHICLES GO UP TO 11TH AND THEN THEY STOP.
UM, THIS PROJECT WOULD PROPOSE THESE NEW PLAZA BLOCKS, AND SO CONGRESS WOULD ONLY GO UP TO SEVENTH.
SO THE EAST WEST TRAFFIC WOULD REMAIN THE SAME, BUT THE NORTH SOUTH TRAFFIC WOULD BE BLOCKED OFF EARLIER AND THERE WOULD BE, UM, PLAZAS BUILT OUT FOR MORE HUMAN INTERACTION INSTEAD OF CAR INTERACTION
[02:25:01]
WITH SHADE AND TREES AND THE POSSIBILITY FOR PROGRAMMING.SO THAT IS, THAT'S PRETTY EXCITING.
AND THEY'RE, THEY'RE WITHIN BUDGET AND THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE, THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE PROPOSING RIGHT NOW.
AND THEY'VE GOT THE DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE WITH THEM, UH, BEHIND THEM, AND THEY'RE MOVING FORWARD.
I'M CURIOUS, WOULD THERE BE BIKES, WOULD BIKES STILL BE ALLOWED, OR WOULD THOSE BE DIVERTED? YES, I FOR SURE.
WELL, BIKES, UM, I, IT, I THINK IF THEY'RE NOT MOTORIZED, I DON'T KNOW THEY, BUT AT LEAST CAR TRAFFIC, UM, I THINK THERE WOULD BE BIKE LANES ADDED.
UM, BIKE LANES WOULD STILL BE THERE BECAUSE, UH, SAFETY TEACH AUSTIN AND BIKE AUSTIN ARE, ARE PART OF THE PLAN TOO.
SO IT WOULDN'T BE BIKES GOING ANYWHERE THEY WANT, BUT THERE WOULD BE BIKE LANES, BUT THEN THERE WOULD BE THESE PLAZAS FOR PEDESTRIANS.
AND, UH, IS YOUR HAND UP FROM BEFORE OR IS THAT NEW? OKAY.
SORRY, THAT WAS BEFORE HARRIS.
DID YOU HAVE A, UH, YEAH, SO MAYBE NOT SO MUCH OF A QUESTION, JUST OF A STATEMENT.
YOU KNOW, I'M DEFINITELY CURIOUS.
YOU, YOU KNOW, THIS IS GOING TO GO, I PERSONALLY SUPPORT, YOU KNOW, UH, MAKING CONGRESS MORE PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY AS SOMEONE THAT RIDES, UH, MY BIKE THERE A LOT WHENEVER I GET A CHANCE TO.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THIS ISN'T NECESSARILY HAPPENING IN A VACUUM, RIGHT? WE'VE GOT, UH, I BELIEVE IT'S STREAM REALTY WHO'S TRYING TO DEVELOP A LOT OF, UH, YOU KNOW, THE TRADITIONAL SORT OF DIRTY SIX, RIGHT? UM, PEOPLE TRYING TO ADVOCATE FOR, FOR OPENING UP THE CAR TRAFFIC THERE, OR, YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE YOU KNOW, TRADITIONALLY IT'S BEEN BLOCKED OFF ON THE WEEKENDS.
THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT TRYING TO OPEN IT BACK UP, UH, ALLOWING VEHICULAR TRAFFIC THROUGH SORT OF, YOU KNOW, UH, OLD SIX AS WE'RE NOW CALLING IT AS PART OF THE REBRAND.
UH, SO I DO KIND OF WONDER, DIANA, FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, ARE WE TRYING TO BASICALLY, I DON'T KNOW IF SHOVE IS THE RIGHT WORD, RIGHT? SHOVE IS A LITTLE SUGGESTIVE, BUT, UH, MOVE ESSENTIALLY THE, THE PEDESTRIAN NIGHTLIFE POPULATION FROM, YOU KNOW, E 6, 36, OLD SIX, WHATEVER, WHATEVER TERM YOU WANNA CALL IT, UH, TO CONGRESS IS LIKE THAT SORT OF THE PLAN.
LIKE WHAT'S, HOW DO YOU, THAT WASN'T MY IMPRESSION, RIGHT? MY IMPRESSION WAS NOT TO REMOVE ANY PEDESTRIAN.
IT WAS TO BE ABLE TO ADD, I MEAN, TPW AND DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE AND SAFE STREETS AUSTIN WANT MORE PLACES FOR PEOPLE, NOT CARS, NOT JUST A MOVE.
THEY WANT TO REDUCE PARKING OVERALL.
LIKE THIS, THE PLAN AS IT IS, UM, YOU KNOW, I'M, 'CAUSE THE DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES, RIGHT? YOU HAVE TO, THEY, THEY HAVE TO FEED, YOU KNOW, FEED INTO THIS TOO AND AGREE WITH IT.
AND THE CURRENT PLAN FOR THE CONGRESS AVENUE URBAN REDESIGN LOSES 94 PARKING SPACES, BUT ONLY 94 PARKING SPACES.
AND THIS IS A PHASE ONE OF, I MEAN, EVENTUALLY WE'D LIKE TO BLOCK THE WHOLE THING OFF, NO CAR TRAFFIC AT ALL, RIGHT? THAT WOULD BE THE DREAM.
BUT RIGHT NOW THEY'RE GETTING BUY-IN FROM THE DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES WHO, WHO COULD SEE THAT MORE OPEN SPACE WOULD LEAD TO MORE EVENTS.
IT'S KINDA LIKE BACK WHAT PORTLAND DID WITH THEIR CONCRETE, RIGHT? IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE, THE BUSINESSES AS PART OF IT, YOU'RE JUST GONNA GET ALL THIS PUSHBACK.
AND SO THE BUSINESSES ON CONGRESS, STREET AVENUE RIGHT NOW WITH THIS CURRENT PLAN, UM, THE MAJORITY OF THEM SEEM TO BE, UH, FOR THIS, BUT THERE IS, I DID NOT IN ANY WAY GET AN IMPRESSION THAT YOU GET THIS, BUT THEN THEY TAKE AWAY THE PEDESTRIAN STUFF ON SIXTH STREET.
I, I I THINK THEY'RE TOTALLY SEPARATE.
THEY ARE DEFINITELY SEPARATE PROGRAMS. IT'S JUST, TO ME, RIGHT, THE TREND SEEMS TO BE THAT PEOPLE ARE SORT OF USING THE, UH, WHAT'S A POLITE WAY TO PUT IT? THE, THE, UH, FREQUENCY OF LATE NIGHT, UH, VIOLENT ACTS, UH, IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA AS, UH, SORT OF A MEANS TO SAY, WELL, LOOK, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE ABOUT THIS AREA.
YOU KNOW, MAYBE IF WE ALLOW VEHICULAR TRAFFIC THROUGH, YOU KNOW, UH, THERE WILL BE LESS CROWDS ON THE STREETS, UH, WHICH I SUPPOSE IMPACTS GUN VIOLENCE SOMEHOW.
UM, YOU KNOW, SO I'M JUST CURIOUS IF, IF YOU SEE THAT AS SORT OF LIKE THE TREND OF LIKE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE GOING TO OPEN UP, UH, YOU KNOW, DIRTY TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC, UM, WITH THE GOAL OF, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO MOVE MORE NIGHTLIFE, UH, ESPECIALLY ON THE WEEKENDS TO LIKE THE CONGRESS AREA.
AND AGAIN, I HADN'T SEEN THAT, BUT NOW THAT YOU POINTED OUT, I WILL BE ASKING THAT BECAUSE I DON'T, I, I DON'T REALLY LIKE THAT TREND.
YOU KNOW, I WOULD HATE IF THE PROJECT CONNECT MONEY WE'RE USED TO BUILD OUT SOMETHING REALLY GOOD, BUT THEN WE GET MORE CAR TRAFFIC ALSO IN THAT DOWNTOWN AREA, YOU KNOW, MORE CARBON, MORE,
[02:30:02]
MORE POLLUTION.YOU KNOW, AS A MUSICIAN OR SCUMBAG, YOU KNOW, HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE TO FRAME IT.
UH, WHO SPENDS WAY TOO MUCH TIME, UH, LATE NIGHT IN DOWNTOWN.
UH, IT WAS JUST SOMETHING THAT, UH, I'VE BEEN NOTICING AND, UH, ALWAYS CURIOUS TO SEE SORT OF WHAT, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE, UH, SERVE IN THE CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS THAT SORT OF GOVERN THAT PROCESS VIEW STUFF.
I WILL MAKE A NOTE TO ASK ABOUT THAT.
THE SOLUTION TO GUN VIOLENCE IS TO DRIVE CARS THROUGH CROWDS.
YEAH, IT'S, UH, IT'S, IT'S INTERESTING.
BUT, YOU KNOW, THE THING IS BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, STREAM WANTS TO AND NOT STREAM, THERE'S A LOT OF PEOPLE INVOLVED, SORT STAKEHOLDERS, RIGHT, THAT WANT TO SEE DIRTY SIX BECOME, UH, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN TO NASHVILLE, SO I DON'T KNOW HOW ACCURATE THE COMPARISON IS, BUT THEY WANT TO TURN IT INTO MORE OF LIKE A NASHVILLE BROADWAY TYPE THING WHERE YOU HAVE LESS SHOT BARS AND MORE, UH, YOU KNOW, BOUTIQUE HOTELS, UH, YOU KNOW, OFFICES, APARTMENTS.
BASICALLY WHAT THEY DID TO EAST SIXTH STREET IS WHAT THEY NOW WANNA DO TO DIRTY, UM, WHICH HAS, WHICH IS POSITIVES AND, AND, AND NEGATIVES, RIGHT? BECAUSE CERTAINLY IT'S JUST LIKE, BRO WHO HANGS OUT IN BUCKSHOT, YOU KNOW, LIKE NOT TO GIVE THEM ANY SHINE, BUT YOU KNOW, LIKE, SO I CERTAINLY SEE WHY, YOU KNOW, UH, AND THEN ALSO TOO, IF YOU HANG OUT LIKE A SKYSCRAPER, RIGHT? THAT'S DOWNTOWN, YOU LOOK DOWN AT 36, IT'S LIKE VERY OBVIOUS TO SEE THAT ALL THESE BUILDINGS ARE REALLY SHORT AND REALLY OLD COMPARED TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT NOW DEVELOPMENT WE SEE IN DOWNTOWN AUSTIN.
UH, WHETHER THAT'S A GOOD OR BAD THING, THAT'S DEFINITELY ABOVE MY PAY GRADE.
SO, YOU KNOW, BUT THESE ARE JUST THE THINGS I HEAR.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR DIANA ON THIS? SHOULD WE MOVE TO OUR FINAL ITEM? ALL RIGHT.
[8. Update on PFAS water testing and the approval of the Water Forward 2024 plan, Water Conservation Plan, and the Drought Contingency Plan – Chris Maxwell-Gaines, Water and Wastewater Commission ]
IS GONNA GIVE US AN UPDATE ON PFAS AND WATER TESTING, UH, AND THE WATER FORWARD PLAN AND SOME OTHER CONSERVATION AND DROUGHT CONTINGENCY ISSUES.THIS IS ACTUALLY FROM THE, ANOTHER HOT TOPIC.
ANOTHER OTHER, ANOTHER HOT TOPIC.
THIS IS ACTUALLY FROM THE LAST TWO, UM, WATER WASTE WATER COMMISSION.
SO, UM, FROM THE LAST MEETING WE HAD A PRESENTATION FROM THE, UH, AUSTIN WATER, UM, FROM THEIR PFAS TESTING, UM, PROCEDURES THAT'S BEEN GOING ON, I GUESS TECHNICALLY SINCE OCTOBER OF 2023.
UM, AND SO THESE ARE QUARTERLY TESTS.
THAT'S ALL THAT THEY HAVE TO DO FROM EPA STANDARD WISE.
UM, SO THERE'S LOTS OF DIFFERENT PFAS AS YOU MIGHT KNOW, RIGHT? LOTS OF DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS.
P-O-A-P-F-A-S-P-F-N-A-P-F-H-O-X-S, LOTS OF THESE DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS.
AND THE MORE, I GUESS, UH, I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONES ARE EXACTLY THE ONES THAT THEY HAVE LISTED AS HAVING A MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT AND, 'CAUSE THERE'S LOTS OF THESE COMPOUNDS.
AND SO, UM, I GUESS IT'S JUST A PREVALENCE OF THEM.
AND SO FOR INSTANCE, UH, THE PFOS, UM, HAS A MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT OF FOUR PARTS PER TRILLION.
OKAY? SO THE AVERAGE PART PER TRILLION TESTED AT THE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS, THE THREE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS HERE IN AUSTIN WAS 0.79, PART PER TRILLION.
SO WHAT IS A PART PER TRILLION? THEY, THE STAFF PUT TOGETHER A REALLY GREAT, UH, MENTAL IMAGE SO THAT EVERYONE CAN PUT TOGETHER WHAT A, WHAT IS A PART PER TRILLION? BASICALLY THAT IS ONE DROP OF WATER IN THREE BARTON SPRING POOLS.
OKAY? SO THAT IS A PART PER TRILLION.
SO THE MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT FOR P-O-P-O-P-F-O-S IS FOUR.
UH, ANOTHER ONE THAT P-F-H-X-S, THE MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT IS 10.
WE WERE HAD THE AVERAGE OF 2.3, SO WELL BELOW ANY MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT.
SO THEREFORE FROM NOW TILL 2 20 27, UM, WE'RE GONNA BE TESTING QUARTERLY.
AND THAT'S GONNA DETERMINE, WELL, HOW DO WE NEED TO MONITOR IT AFTER THAT? AND IF THERE IS GONNA BE ANY TREATMENT PROTOCOLS.
AND THEN IN 2027, THE MONITORING BEGINS.
UM, AND THEN IN 2029, THE EPA HAS SET THE COMPLIANCE DEADLINE FOR PFAS TREATMENT.
BUT AT THIS STAGE, THERE IS GONNA BE NO NEED FOR ANY SORT OF TREATMENT OR ANYTHING UNLESS SOMETHING DRAMATICALLY CHANGES IN OUR WATER SUPPLY.
AND IT MOST LIKELY WON'T JUST BECAUSE OF HOW PRISTINE OUR WATERSHEDS AND, AND WATER SUPPLY IS IN THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
SO IF NOTHING CHANGES IN THE NEXT,
[02:35:01]
YOU KNOW, FOUR YEARS OR SO, THREE YEARS DRAMATICALLY, BECAUSE I MEAN, IF YOU LOOK AT THESE LIMITS AND THEN WHAT THE MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LIMIT NEEDS TO BE ABOVE THEN, SO AGAIN, THIS IS AT THE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS.THIS IS NOT TESTING WASTEWATER, YOU KNOW, GOING OUT.
THIS IS AT THE WATER SOURCE THAT IS THE DRINKING WATER SOURCE FOR CITY OF AUSTIN.
SO THAT'S THE PFAS, JUST, THAT'S GOOD NEWS.
UM, IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE THOUGH, I DO HOPE THEY KEEP TESTING BECAUSE, UM, I, I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S BEING DONE YET, BUT THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE DID AUTHORIZE, UM, RULEMAKING TO ALLOW, UH, FRACKING WASTEWATER TO BE DISPOSED OF IN RIVERS AND AND STREAMS. SO GOD, THOSE TEXAS.
SO THAT COULD POTENTIALLY CHANGE OUR, YOU KNOW, PRISTINE WATER QUALITY.
WE OF FRACKING, THAT'S WATER GOING IN.
'CAUSE WHO KNOWS WHAT CHEMICALS.
BUT I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THERE'S SOME ABSOLUTELY.
AND MONITORING EPA WILL REQUIRE WATER PROVIDERS TO CONTINUALLY MONITOR.
IT'S NOT LIKE, HEY, AT 2027 YOU'RE GOOD.
THERE WILL STILL BE MONITORING, BUT THE FREQUENCY MAY DROP DOWN.
SO LIKE, RATHER THAN WHATEVER IT IS NOW, IT MAY DROP DOWN BECAUSE YOU'VE TESTED WELL ENOUGH, RIGHT? SO THE FREQUENCY MAY CHANGE, BUT IT'S GONNA BE STILL, I WOULD SAY ROBUST.
IT'S NOT LIKE EVERY FIVE YEARS WE'RE GONNA TAKE ONE WATER SAMPLE TYPE OF THING.
SO WOULD YOU EXPECT IT, IT WOULD AT LEAST BE ANNUALLY THAT WHETHER IT'S REQUIRED OR NOT? BECAUSE I THINK RIGHT NOW IT'S QUARTERLY, RIGHT? AND SO I DON'T KNOW IF IT CAN DROP BELOW QUARTERLY.
THIS IS FOR ENTITIES, SO SOME MIGHT NEED TO DO IT MORE FREQUENTLY, MORE.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT IT'S SET UP FOR IS, IS 'CAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO PUT, YOU KNOW, IF YOU'RE CONSTANTLY TESTING YOUR WELL BELOW, THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO HAVE TO LIKE TRANSITION TO SOMETHING THAT'S GONNA BE MORE COSTLY FROM A TESTING STANDPOINT.
'CAUSE YOU MIGHT IMAGINE TESTING FOR ALL OF THESE IS PRETTY EXPENSIVE BECAUSE OF HOW EACH TEST HAS TO BE RUN.
SO THAT'S ANYMORE QUESTIONS ON PFAS BEFORE I MOVE ON TO YEAH.
UM, YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE I, I SAW THIS NEWS ARTICLE WHENEVER IT CAME OUT AND UH, YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY WAS JUST LIKE, OH, AUSTIN WATER ONLY FINDS SIX FAINT TRACES OF PFAS IN OUR DRINKING WATER.
AND I'M LIKE, WELL, YOU COULD ALSO FLIP THE HEADLINE, BE LIKE, WE FOUND SIX PFAS IN OUR DRINKING WATER.
SO, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE WE'RE SO FAR BELOW THE THRESHOLD OF LIKE, UM, YOU KNOW, REQUIRED BEING REQUIRED TO TAKE ACTION, BUT LET'S SAY, YOU KNOW, WHAT WOULD THE TREATMENT METHODS BE? 'CAUSE THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE FOREVER CHEMICALS AND LIKE ALWAYS CIRCULATE, RIGHT? SO LIKE WHAT DO YOU DO TO GET RID OF THEM? THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION.
YOU KNOW, FROM MY JUST GENERAL RESEARCH, UH, I'M CONSTANTLY SEEING MORE ARTICLES, RESEARCH ARTICLES COMING OUT ABOUT, UH, UPCOMING TECHNOLOGIES.
YOU KNOW, THERE'S PLENTY OF UNIVERSITIES AND, AND STUFF TESTING AND DOING STUFF.
SO I'M SEEING, YOU KNOW, NOT TO SAY IT'S GONNA BE LIKE, HEY, THE, THE FUTURE IS ALL ROSY AND EVERYTHING IS FINE, BUT YOU KNOW, THERE IS, THERE WORK THERE, THERE'S, THERE'S LOTS OF WORK BEING DONE.
OBVIOUSLY IT'S A HOT TOPIC, RIGHT? SO THERE'S LOTS OF FUNDING AND STUFF GOING TOWARDS IT.
AND SO THERE'S, THERE'S THINGS THAT ARE OUT THERE THAT CAN TREAT FOR THESE.
IT'S NOT LIKE A DOOM AND GLOOM.
AND OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, HOPEFULLY, UM, TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES WILL THEN ALSO GET BETTER FROM THAT.
BUT IT'S STILL, IT'S NOT IDEAL, RIGHT? I MEAN, IT'S NOT GREAT, BUT IT'S NOT PERFECT.
BUT, YOU KNOW, TECHNOLOGY GOT US INTO THIS AND NOW HOPEFULLY TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP MITIGATE SOME OF THE, THE WORST PARTS OF, YOU KNOW, THE, THE TECHNOLOGY OF NON-STICK PANS AND FIRE RETARDANTS, RIGHT.
AND ALL THAT STUFF THAT HAS BENEFITED TO US.
SO YES, THERE IS, UH, UH, I THINK LOTS OF RESEARCH GOING ON AND, UM, SO YEAH, BUT I, I'M NOT A, A GENERAL PERSON WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING GOING ON ABOUT PFAS.
KIND OF ON THE SUBJECT, HAS THERE BEEN ANY DISCUSSION OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT A THRESHOLD WOULD BE FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN DOING RE YOU KNOW, REMEDIATION, REMOVAL, UH, TREATMENT? IT YEAH.
'CAUSE I MEAN, MY UNDERSTANDING IS THERE'S NOT REALLY ANY SAFE LEVEL.
IT'S JUST DEGREES OF UNSAFE WHEN IT COMES THROUGH THESE THINGS.
EPA, A EPA, A LIMITS SETS IT, YOU KNOW, YOUR REQUIREMENTS ON RIGHT.
BUT I MEAN, OF COURSE THEY COULD TREAT IT WITHOUT BEING REQUIRED, I GUESS IS MY POINT.
AND HAS THERE BEEN DISCUSSION OF NO VOLUNTARY TREATMENT AT SOME OTHER LEVEL THAT WE MIGHT NOT NOT AT THIS POINT, YEAH.
I MEAN, IT'S A LOT FIST PUMPING AND THEY WERE LIKE, ALL WE GOOD FOR RIGHT NOW.
I MEAN THAT'S, YOU KNOW, IT'S,
[02:40:01]
IT'S A GOOD RESULT.I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY, I MEAN, WHEN YOU THINK OF, YOU KNOW, IT COULD BE A LOT WORSE.
I MEAN, 'CAUSE THE MCL L ALSO IS SET, I DON'T WANNA SAY LOW, YOU KNOW, OR HIGH, WHICHEVER WAY YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT IT.
BUT, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, IT'S NOT LIKE THE EPA IS JUST GOING LIKE, WELL, YOU KNOW, OH YEAH, WELL, YOU KNOW, THAT THIS FOUR THAT THEY'VE SET, YOU KNOW, FOR, IT'S A PRETTY, UH, YOU KNOW, HIGH LEVEL TO, YOU KNOW, KEEP THAT OUT OF OUR WATER SUPPLY.
SO, UM, YEAH, PROBABLY VOLUNTARY IS, IS NOT, YOU KNOW, NOT GONNA, YOU KNOW, HOW IT IS WITH, UH, REGULATIONS LIKE THIS.
AND THEN, UM, SO BACK IN NOVEMBER, THE WATER WASTE WATER COMMISSION, UH, PASSED THE WATER CONSERVATION, UM, PLAN, THE DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN AND THE AUSTIN WATER FORWARD PLAN.
SO JUST BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE, WATER CONSERVATION PLAN BASICALLY, UM, GIVES YOUR UTILITIES, UM, KIND OF PROFILE, UM, AND ALSO WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO HELP CONSERVE WATER AND MAKE A BETTER EFFICIENT USE OF WATER.
THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN IS REALLY A GREAT PLAN IF YOU GO INTO IT.
'CAUSE IT GOES INTO HOW MANY CONNECTIONS, HOW MANY RESIDENTIAL CONNECTIONS, COMMERCIAL CONNECTIONS.
I MEAN, IT OUTLINES ALL OF THE, THE, THE PROFILE OF THE UTILITY.
SO IT'S A REALLY GREAT PLAN TO JUST PERUSE REAL FAST AND KIND OF GET A GENERAL SENSE OF, OF WHAT, UH, AUSTIN WATER WORKS WITH.
AND, UM, AND SO ACTUALLY THE WATER, UH, CONSERVATION PLAN WAS PASSED IN MAY BY COUNCIL BY COUNCIL.
UM, BUT, UM, BECAUSE THE WATER FORWARD PLAN WASN'T READY YET TO BE PASSED, AUSTIN WATER AGREED THAT THEY WOULD WORK WITH THE INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE PLANNING COMMISSION BECAUSE OF THE UPCOMING WATER FORWARD PLAN.
UM, SO ANYWAYS, BECAUSE OF THAT, UM, THE MEMBERS OF OF THE INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE PLANNING, UH, COMMUNITY TASK FORCE WANTED TO JIVE THESE PLANS A LITTLE BIT BETTER, UM, BECAUSE THERE WAS DEFINITELY AN UPTICK OF PER CAPITA WATER USE OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS.
AND, UM, A LOT OF THOSE MEMBERS REALLY WANTED AUSTIN WATER TO KIND, YOU KNOW, PUT SOME MORE BOUNDS ON, YOU KNOW, HOW CAN WE STOP THIS PER CAPITA INCREASE.
YOU KNOW, THERE WAS JUST LOTS OF IDEAS OF HOW THAT WATER USE IS GOING UP AND WHY IT'S GOING UP.
UH, YOU KNOW, WITH THE, WITH COVID AND JUST THE PANDEMIC AND MORE PEOPLE AT HOME AND DIFFERENT THINGS, YOU KNOW, UM, BUT IT WASN'T LIKE JUST IDENTIFIED AS ONE REASON WHY PER CAPITA IS GOING UP.
SO BECAUSE OF THAT, THEY WANTED TO, TO, TO SEE THESE PLANS KIND OF JIVE A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
UM, SO THAT'S THE WATER CONSERVATION PLAN.
THE DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN BASICALLY IS A PLAN THAT JUST OUTLINES WHAT YOUR WATER UTILITY IS GONNA DO WHEN THE DROUGHT HITS OR YOUR STAGES.
EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT THE STAGES, DROUGHT CONTINGENCY STAGES.
UM, AND SO BASICALLY IT'S JUST A PLAN THAT SETS THOSE.
UM, SO IN MAY, UM, AGAIN, THAT WAS PASSED AND IT WAS, UM, UH, PASSED BECAUSE EARLIER THIS YEAR, LCRA CHANGED THE TRIGGER LEVELS FOR THEIR STAGES.
SO SINCE OUR WATER SUPPLY COMES FROM LCRA, WE HAD TO JIVE OUR TRIGGERS WITH LCRA.
SO THAT WAS THE, UH, BIG CHANGE FOR THE MAY PLAN THAT WAS PASSED.
AND THEN THERE WAS JUST A FEW LITTLE CHANGES THAT GOT, UH, CHANGED OVER THE PA THE, THE, THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
BUT REALLY THE IMPORTANT, YOU KNOW, THE BIG THING WAS, OH, THE WATER CON CONSERVATION PLAN AND THE DROUGHT CONTINGENCY PLAN, THAT'S AN UPDATED EVERY FIVE YEARS AS REQUIRED BY TCEQ.
OKAY? UM, AND SO IT WAS A NATURAL CYCLE, UH, THERE FOR THE UPDATE.
BUT THE AUSTIN FORWARD PLAN, UH, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY PASSED IN 2018, UM, IT ALSO HAS A FIVE YEAR CYCLE, BUT THAT'S JUST AUSTIN'S OWN, UH, DEMAND ON THAT, NOT TCQ ON THAT.
UM, SO ANYWAY, SO THAT, UH, PLAN WAS, WAS PASSED, UM, AND, UM, VERY IN DEBT PLAN ABOUT LOOKING AT WATER SUPPLY, WATER DEMAND, AND HOW CAN WE LOOK AT THE NEXT 50 TO A HUNDRED YEARS AND PLAN FOR THE GROWTH AND ALL THAT.
SO, UM, THERE WAS A LOT OF, UH, UH, UPDATES TO THE 2024 UM, PLAN VERSUS THE 28, 20 18 IS LATE.
I DON'T WANT TO, YOU KNOW, GET INTO A LOT OF THOSE.
BUT BASICALLY, UM, SOME THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO SOME OF THE DISCUSSIONS THAT WE'VE HAD HERE AT THE JSC, UM, IS, UM, UH, DECREASING LOSSES FROM THE CITY'S WATER SYSTEM BY IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WATER LOSS PROGRAM, REVIEW ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION.
UM, AS DESCRIBED IN THE MEMO TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL ON OCTOBER 2ND, UH, EXPANDING WATER, UH, EXCUSE ME, EXPANDING
[02:45:01]
CONSUMER.CUSTOMER INCENTIVES FOR MORE EFFICIENT WATER USE.
UM, AND THEN USING THE NEAR REALTIME CUSTOMER METER DATA FROM THE MIT A TX WATER.
UM, SO THOSE ARE, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE KIND OF DISCUSSED HERE.
UM, AND THEN OF COURSE WITH NON POTABLE REUSE, CONTINUED EXPANSION OF THE PURPLE PIPE SYSTEM, UM, AND, UH, FROM A POTABLE WATER SUPPLY IMPLEMENT, THE AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY, UM, SYSTEM THAT THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR THE PAST, UH, MANY YEARS.
UM, SO A LOT OF STUFF, UH, GOT CODIFIED INTO THIS NEW VERSION OF THE AUSTIN WATER FORWARD PLAN OF, OF THINGS THAT THEY'VE DONE SINCE THE 2028 IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS.
SO LOTS OF STUFF, LOTS OF, UH, CHANGES IN MY OPINION.
AUSTIN WATER FORWARD PLANT, I MEAN, THIS IS JUST, UH, THERE'S NOT MANY CITIES ANYWHERE THAT'S DOING WHAT AUSTIN WATER IS DOING.
SO, UM, A LOT OF GREAT STUFF IS REALLY HELPING TO TRY TO KEEP US ON TRACK, UM, ESPECIALLY WITH THE MASSIVE POPULATION GROWTH.
WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT LOSS PREVENTION, IS IT MOSTLY JUST LIKE LEAKAGE LIKE IN THE PIPES OR WHAT? THAT'S RIGHT.
AND THAT'S WHAT WE, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT.
I'LL, YOU KNOW, THAT'S A BIG WAY, YOU KNOW, FOR AUSTIN WATER TO SAVE A LOT OF WATER 'CAUSE IT'S A LOW HANGING FRUIT, RIGHT? 'CAUSE THE WATER'S ALREADY TREATED AND INTO THE SYSTEM.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, THEY DO HAVE A ROBUST PROGRAM, BUT WE ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT IT LIKE IN THE EIP WAS, HEY, LET'S PUT MORE FUNDS TO THAT SO WE CAN GET THAT NUMBER DOWN.
'CAUSE WHEN IT'S 5 BILLION GALLONS A YEAR, IT'S A LOT.
BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT, WHEN IT'S 160, 170 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER PER YEAR, IT'S UNDERNEATH 10%, WHICH IS WELL WITHIN RANGE, BUT THAT'S THE LOW HANGING FRUIT.
SO THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE IMPLEMENTED AND OBVIOUSLY ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE FROM A BETTER INVESTMENT, UM, THAT'S THE AREA WHERE WE CAN REALLY MAKE A BIG BANG FOR THE BUCK THERE, YOU KNOW, SO.
AND YOU GET AN ENERGY SAVINGS THERE TOO, ESSENTIALLY.
SO THERE'S CARBON, UH, RELATED TO THAT AS WELL.
OTHER QUESTIONS FOR CHRIS? EVERYONE'S READY TO GO.
[FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS]
ANYBODY HAS AN AGENDA ITEM THAT THEY WANNA RAISE UP NOW, THEN WE WILL ADJOURN.CHARLOTTE, I HAD A QUESTION ABOUT THE BOND ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
UM, IF MAYBE THERE'S TIME FOR AN UPDATE ON THAT NEXT TIME OR THE FOLLOWING TIME? I'M NOT SURE.
YEAH, WE CAN PUT THAT ON OUR AGENDA.
UM, I THINK WE WILL HAVE MET AGAIN BEFORE OUR NEXT MEETING AND HOPEFULLY WE'LL GET THE, UM, NEEDS ASSESSMENT.
SO YEAH, HAPPY TO PUT THAT ON THE AGENDA.
CAN WE LOOK AT, UH, CARBON EMISSIONS FROM SANTA CLAUS AND THE NORTH POLE? IS IT TOO LATE? YEAH, NO, I MEAN, THAT'S GOTTA BE STOPPED AND THOSE REINDEER, YOU KNOW, ALL THE FLATULENCE.
WHERE'S THE ANIMAL COMMISSION?
ALRIGHT, UH, UNLESS THERE'S OBJECTION, THE MEETING IS ADJOURNED.