HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011/03/14 BOAA Mins MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS
CITY OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA
March 14, 2011 Conference Room #137 5:15 PM
276 Fourth Ave. Chula Vista, CA 91910
MEMBERS PRESENT: Sanfilippo, Lopez
MEMBERS ABSENT: Sides, Jones, Meservy
CITY STAFF PRESENT: Lou EI-Khazen, Building Offcial; Brendan Reed, Environmental Resource
Manager, Public Works Department
OTHERS PRESENT: William Granger, Otay Water District
CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Chairperson Sanfilippo called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. The secretary
called the roll and Committee Members Sides, Jones and Meservy were marked absent. Staff indicated they I
had not received any notification from the absent members concerning today's attendance.. Even though
there weren't enough members to constitute a quorum, Lou EI-Khazen, Building Official stated the members
present could still provide staff with their recommendations to council because they are not recommending
approval of an ordinance yet.
1 ROLL CALL: Members present did not constitute a quorum
2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of October 11, 2010 were continued to the next meeting,
April 11, 2011, because there wasn't a quorum to vote on them..
3 NEW BUSINESS:
A Review of Climate Adaptation Strategies Draft Implementation Plan
Brendan Reed, Environmental Resource Manager gave a brief overview of the material outlined in
the staff report stating the plan focuses on climate adaptation, Some of climate change impacts j
affecting us include hotter weather, changes in precipitation and sea level rise. The implication of i
climate impacts includes infrastructure investments that could be at risk (due to sea level rise) or
public health concerns (from extreme heat), Overall, there are eleven recommended. Climate
Adaptation Strategies that were created by the City's Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), but
staff will be focusing more on Strategies: (#1) Cool Paving; (#3) Cool Roofs, and (#4) Local Water
Supply and Reuse because these strategies will have direct impact on the design and construction of
buildings.
Mr Reed reviewed Strategy #1: Ccol Paving, Due to the urban heat island effect (a phenomena in j
which the air in urban areas can be 6-8°F hotter than in surrounding undeveloped areas) as natural
landscapes are replaced with buildings, rooftops, and pavement that absorbs, store, and then
radiates heat, the amount of energy used for cooling purposes, the concentration of smog, and the
general discomfort of residents and visitors within the community increases. As a result the CCWG
recommended that the City develop an ordinance incorporating reflective paving or ("cool paving")
into all municipal projects (parking lots and streets) and new private parking lot projects over a
specific size, Cool pavements refer to a range of established and emerging paving materials, which
store less heat and have lower surface temperatures compared with conventional products
Lou EI-Khazen, Building Official reviewed Strategy (#3) Cool Roofs. The material used for this
product consists of a highly reflective and emissive material that can remain approximately 50 to 60°
F cooler than traditional materials, and can help address the problem of heat islands by lowering the
surrounding temperature inside and outside of buildings, thus, reducing energy use for air
conditioning, Therefore, the CCWG recommended that the City start requiring cool roofs on new
Board of Appeals & Advisors Page 2 March 14, 2011
Meeting Minutes
residential development with air-conditioning systems to install Energy Star cool roof technology and
come up with incentives for developers that install them
Mr EI-Khazen said the Building Division would look at amending the CA Green Building Standard
Codes. Currently in that code is a voluntary requirement for cool roofs which are categorized into two
tiers: Tiers 1 & Tier 2 Based on the cost benefit analysis the building division would be looking at
making one of those two tiers mandatory The cost analysis should be completed by May 2011 and
the proposed ordinance will be presented to City Council in August 2011 It is anticipated that it
would go to the CEC for approval in November 2011 and then back to City Council for final approval
in December 2011 with the new requirements taking effect in January 2012,
Brendan Reed handed out a copy of the letter from Otay Water District concerning their comments on
Strategies #4 and #5, to the committee members, and reviewed Strategy (#4) Local Water Supply
and Reuse, He explained that drier climate conditions and growing population causes a higher
demand for water and local water supplies due to situations happening in the Delta and Colorado
River.. The CCWG recommended that the City look at ways to educate residents and businesses
about the benefits and the appropriate uses of local water supplies and further integrate recycled
water and onsite water reuse to new development and redevelopment plants, The four main
components under this strategy are: 1) Revising Building Code and Standards (incorporate gray
water plumbing "stub-outs" to new SFR associated with clothes washers, this water can drain from
the washer to a landscape area, and dual plumbing for indoor recycled water use); 2) Single-Source
Gray Water Best Practices; 3) Onsite Water Reuse Incentive, and 4) Landscape Manual & Water
Conservation Plan Guidelines Updates. I
The committee members made the following comments and observations following the presentation:
• Concurred with the responses made by Otay Water' District concerning strategies #4 and #5
• Questioned how solar panels and cool roofs would co-exist on the same project, and if one
product out weighs the other in cost and benefit? Mr. EI-Khazen stated the main benefit of
cool roofs is the heat island effect, which the solar panels help but not in a significant way
• Would the cost of $2,041,879 for implementation of the eleven strategies impact the fiscal
budget and cause repercussions to the city in terms of more staff layoffs Mr Reed replied
there would be no new impacts to the general fund. ii
• Determined that cool paving would be beneficial and asked how the city would determine
which streets would go first. Chair Sanfilippo mentioned a method that he had seen for
detecting erosion in pavement and streets that used infrared lasers to bore below the surface.
Mr, Reed said that Public Works has a pavement priority system that ranks street by similar
information, which is how they would determine which street gets paved first
• Discussed Shade Tree Strategy (#2) (Solar Carports) that the financial return (20 years) from
a third party energy company is too far off to be of any benefit to the consumer. Mr. Reed
explained that solar carports are another alternative source of shade, if someone cannot
provide enough shade trees to meet the standard, '
• Did the city's arborist designate a specific shade tree? Staff said the city arborist has a list of
approved shade trees; however, while native trees are encouraged they do not always have
robust canopies because of the species and water conditions,
• Questioned the water supply reuse (gray water) and the treatment safeguards.. Building
Official EI-Khazen stated at this point the City is only looking at water from clothes washing
machines and not recommending the full system.. Currently the plumbing code allows you to
connect your washer to an outlet that you can water your landscaping from without a building
permit The concern the building division has is that many times you have to do alterations to
be able to have that stub out which will require a permit. The new ordinance would require
new homes to be pre-plumbed with this connection. Mr Reed commented that item #2
(Single-Source Gray Water Best Practices) from Strategy #4 addresses treatment
safeguards
• Will the water conservation plan guidelines that will be included in HOA CC&R's potentially
trigger higher association fees to the homeowner? Mr. Reed said they didn't expect any fee
increases because an onsite water use plan is already incorporated into the model
landscaped ordinance,
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Meeting Minutes
• Will strategy timelines be an issue as they are different for each strategy? Mr Reed replied
there were estimated timelines and some of them are funding dependent, so if they don't get
funded they won't be implemented However, what they try and do is parallel these efforts
into existing efforts (like current climate mitigation measures).
4 MEMBERS COMMENTSICHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS/REPORTS:
Chair Sanfilippo commented about the absenteeism and thought staff should also include in future
emails, that they send to the committee, a request that they reply in a timely manner whether they will
be attending the meeting or not, This would prevent a situation like what occurred today (no quorum)
5 BUILDING OFFICIAL'S COMMENTS/REPORTS:
Mr. EI-Khazen said the updated fee study is scheduled for the April 11, 2011 meeting, and he hoped
there would be a quorum so the committee can make the recommendation to City Council. After
today's meeting, he would follow up with an email to remind the members the importance of coming
to the meetings. He thanked Members Lopez and Sanfilippo for attending..
6 COMMUNICATIONS (PUBLIC REMARKSI WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCEI: None
7 ADJOURNMENT:
Chair Sanfilippo adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p m. to a regular meeting on April 11, 2011 at 5:15
p m. in Planning and Building Conference Room #137.
t
MINUTES TAKEN BY:
ROSEMARIE RICE, SECRETARY
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT -BUILDING DIVISION