Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Packet - 2025-05-19AGENDA Sustainability Advisory Board 19 May 2025 6:30 – 8:30 pm Virtual Meeting via Zoom Staff Contact: Amanda Watson, awatson@lakeoswego.city 503-635-0291 380 A AVENUE PO BOX 369 LAKE OSWEGO, OR 97034 WWW.LAKEOSWEGO.CITY Virtual Access This meeting will be held in person. To participate remotely, please email the staff contact at least 24 hours before the meeting. ADA Accommodation Requests lakeoswego.city/accommodation 503-635-0282; Relay 711 Please allow four business days to process your request. Translation Services Traducción o interpretación 翻译或传译 통역혹은번역 503-534-5738 Buzz Chandler, Co-Chair ∙ Whitney Street, Co-Chair ∙ Kara Orvieto Ashley ∙ Robin Palao Bastardes Jay Hamachek ∙ Lisa Helfer ∙ Mark Puhlman ∙ Luna Flores ∙ Mason Klein 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES April 21, 2025 meeting minutes 4. PUBLIC COMMENT Public comments related to an item on the agenda will be held until after that agenda item. The purpose of Public Comment is to allow community members to present information or raise an issue regarding items not on the agenda or regarding agenda items that do not include a public hearing. A time limit of three minutes per individual shall apply. Public Comment will not exceed thirty minutes in total. If you are unable to attend the meeting and prefer to provide public comment in writing, please email the comment to the staff contact listed above at least 24 hours before the meeting. 5. CITY COUNCIL UPDATE (10 min, Information) 6. 2025 GOALS CHECK-IN (30 minutes, Discussion) Review of SAB’s 2025 priorities and check-in on progress. 7. YOUTH MEMBER UPDATES (10 min, Information) 8. BOARD & STAFF UPDATES (10 min, Information) 9. ADJOURNMENT Next Meeting: Monday, June 16, 6:30 – 8:30 pm City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Page 1 of 5 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Draft Call to Order / Roll Call Whitney Street called the February meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board to order at 6:32 pm. Members Present: Buzz Chandler, Lisa Helfer, Mark Puhlman, Whitney Street, Luna Flores, Mason Klein, Izzy Hollingshead (Alternate) Members Excused/Absent: Jay Hamachek, Kara Orvieto, Robin Palao Council & Staff: Councilor Mboup, Councilor Corrigan, Amanda Watson Public: Kathleen Wiens, Jeff Wiens, Diana Schmidt, Betsy Wosko, Erin Cushing, Nolan Wenker, Paul Glass Approval of Minutes Whitney made a motion to approve the March 17, 2025 meeting minutes, Buzz seconded, minutes approved unanimously. Public Comment None. Regular Business A. City Council Update Councilor Mboup provided an update on the lake litigation. The City Council decided not to continue with the appeal, and is now working on rules and signage about lake access from City property, and coordinating with the Lake Corporation, State and County partners. The State Marine Board and Clackamas County enforce what happens on the lake. Under City Parks and Recreation rules, no boat with any motor can enter the lake from the Lower Millennium Plaza Park access point. The City is encouraging people to call the police non-emergency number, not 911, if there are concerns about people encroaching on private property. In other updates, Councilor Mboup also noted that the City Council authorized an agreement for honeybees at Luscher Farm, supporting pollination, and that staff gave a presentation to Council on the process for updating the tree code, which SAB will be involved with. B. Commercial Battery-Electric Landscaping Equipment Doug Gannon does education and outreach on the transition from gas to electric equipment for STIHL Northwest. He does demos and trainings for landscapers; not involved with sales. He answered members’ questions about commercial battery-electric equipment and the transition away from gas- powered lawn tools. • Buzz asked about terminology used to describe power or output of tools like leaf blowers. Doug explained that they moved from describing mph and cubic feet per minute to using newtons (N) because it is one measurement that is a combination of speed and volume. Power needs City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Page 2 of 5 depend on conditions, e.g. need more speed to move pine needles, and more volume (CFM) to move big piles of leaves. • Amanda asked about the biggest challenges Doug hears from companies about transitioning to electric equipment. Doug responded the biggest barrier is employees who do not want to change; however, when he puts the battery-powered equipment in their hands they like the performance of it. Retraining the entire fleet on battery-powered equipment can be a challenge especially for larger companies. • Izzy asked about battery disposal. Call2Recycle accepts batteries directly for recycling. STIHL will take batteries at any of their dealers and they give it to Call2Recycle for recycling. • Mark asked about the ROI for electric equipment; he has read literature that says break-even point can be from 8 months to 2.5 years. Doug explained there are too many variables to have one answer; it depends on the tool, price of gas, chargers and batteries purchased, etc. STIHL has an ROI calculator on their website for specific tools. • Doug discussed batteries: Battery charge time and run time depends on the type of battery and equipment, and how equipment is being used. Largest battery STIHL makes would run 61 mins in a backpack blower on full throttle and takes 3.5 hours to recharge; smaller batteries might last 15 minutes and take 30 mins to recharge. In a string trimmer, same battery could last 45 min. There are also different types of chargers for different uses: fast chargers, slow chargers, trickle chargers. Overnight charging is better for battery life. Smart circuit will charge 30 batteries in 12 hours without overloading. Important to make sure battery has a Battery Management System (BMS), which keeps batteries from overheating or draining too fast; this system talks to the tool and the charger. • Amanda asked about financing options that might be available for landscaping companies from companies like STIHL. STIHL currently provides 0% financing for 5 years for qualifying companies. • Izzy asked about effects from federal policy and funding. Doug said that there are groups like the Trails Alliance that were getting funding to invest in battery equipment and they now have to look for other funds to replace federal money. STIHL has not had any impacts from tariffs at this time, a lot of their manufacturing is in the US. Members of the public provided questions and comments on this agenda item: • Paul Glass, from the board of the Oswego Lake Country Club, provided public comment: This is a big deal for them. Looking at other municipalities who have switched to electric, like Evanston IL, they have allocated $150,000-280,000 a year to help with purchasing of electric blowers. Has the SAB discussed resources to help with the transition? Amanda explained that the SAB has discussed the need for financial support for the transition, however the City Council has not yet taken up this topic. She offered to meet and discuss the Country Club’s situation further. • Erin Cushing asked about vibration from equipment causing health impacts, is electric better? Doug said yes; there is no vibration with electric equipment because there is no motor. • Betsy Wosko asked if STIHL had commissioned any studies about workplace occupational disease claims related to use of landscaping equipment; Doug did not know. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Page 3 of 5 • Nolan Wenker, Superintendent at Oswego Lake Golf Club, raised several questions about the transition to electric landscaping equipment and encouraged the SAB be cautious about considering sustainability: where do the materials for the equipment come from, where do the materials go after we are done? He assumes they go to the landfill. Doug encouraged the Board to reach out to Call2Recycle to learn more about the recycling process. • Betsy Wosko also encouraged the Board to consider the health of the workers, including hearing loss. C. Lake Oswego Sustainability Network – Community Outreach for Sustainable Landscaping Kathleen Wiens and Mark Puhlman, who is a member of the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network (LOSN) in addition to SAB, gave a presentation on LOSN’s work on sustainable landscaping. Their mission is “to usher in a new era of landscape practices that restore the environment and encourage long-term sustainability, increased biodiversity, and enhanced resilience.” LOSN has done a lot of education and outreach over the last 6 years focused on the transition to electric landscaping equipment. Their community outreach has included a citywide mailer, Gas-Free Landscape yard signs, newsletters, a letter-writing campaign to local news outlets, tabling at community events and presenting to Neighborhood Associations. LOSN has also connected with landscapers and equipment vendors and created a list of residential landscaping companies that offer alternatives to gas equipment, and are expanding it to include commercial landscapers. Mark noted one of the concerns is related to the small landscapers that would have to transition to electric equipment. LOSN is trying to help smaller companies with purchasing equipment, including through outreach to vendors like STIHL about their financing options, and are exploring partnering with Corvallis-based nonprofit Seeds for the Sol that provides financing to remove barriers to residential solar installation for low-income households. The City of Corvallis is doing a pilot program with Seeds for the Sol to provide micro-loans to 5 small landscaping companies to purchase electric equipment. LOSN would like to pursue a similar “Adopt a Landscaper” program in Lake Oswego, starting with identifying eligible landscaping companies, determining the size and scope of the program, identifying partners such as the City and businesses, and fundraising. Kathleen said that LOSN is here to help SAB throughout the process of developing policy recommendations for the City Council goal; they have done research on other ordinances and are connected with Quiet Clean PDX in Portland. Amanda asked if LOSN has a target for how much money they would like to raise for the Adopt a Landscaper program. Kathleen said around $20,000. They are not super excited about doing all the fundraising on their own, and are open to ideas from SAB. Kathleen said they are wondering if the City of Lake Oswego would put any funding in. Amanda answered that City funding conversations would have to come later, after the City Council was engaged. Whitney asked about the Neighborhood Grant Program; Mark explained that LOSN would not be able to apply for a grant on behalf of a third party (Seeds for the Sol). Whitney suggested that a neighborhood association, like Mountain Park, could apply for the grant to purchase equipment for their neighborhood. Amanda noted she plans to develop a resource on frequently asked questions and answers about the landscaping equipment transition, and asked what common questions LOSN heard in their outreach. Kathleen answered that LOSN has resources like that, and that typically they get questions from commercial landscapers; it’s much easier for residential buyers to acquire electric equipment. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Page 4 of 5 Izzy asked what ideas for fundraising activities LOSN had so far. Kathleen said they had thought about an event in April that could have been a fundraiser for Adopt a Landscaper but did not have enough time. Izzy suggested they look into foundations that might have grant opportunities; a grant could be leveraged to attract more donations to reach a goal. She suggested LOSN look into the Lawrence Foundation and other family foundations that focus on environment and health. Kathleen asked about the latest on HB 2067 in the legislature, which would establish rebates for commercial electric leaf blowers; Amanda shared that it made it out of committee and was referred to Ways & Means. Doug shared that he was recently approached by a small landscaping company that had applied for a rebate from Multnomah County and didn’t receive it, so was looking for other options. He was able to refer them to Seeds for the Sol for more information about their program. Jeff Wiens asked Doug about the trend for weight and life of batteries; Doug responded that lithium ion batteries are continually getting lighter and longer lasting. New battery technologies are being developed that are lighter than Li-ion, but they may not be as stable. Mason asked about battery costs; Doug replied that a STIHL battery is about $450, but there are discounts when purchasing 3 or more. For most STIHL tools, one battery will last roughly as long as a tank of gas for an equivalent gas-powered piece of equipment, with the exception of blowers. Doug noted that we need to teach equipment users to not always run equipment full throttle to better manage gas usage or battery life, full power is not always needed. D. Landscaping Equipment Survey The Board discussed updates to the landscaping equipment survey that SAB developed in 2022. Now that the City Council has a goal on landscaping equipment, doing the survey again may result in more participation and will help with policy development. The first time around, the survey received a lot of responses from residents but not a lot from companies. Amanda would like to improve outreach this time to increase participation from landscapers. Amanda walked through the 2022 survey, asking SAB for input on what changes or additions should be made. • Izzy recommended asking companies if they have switched to electric equipment and if they can provide financial information, e.g. cost savings they have achieved, to gather case studies. • Buzz recommended asking residents to help distribute surveys to their landscaper, in hard copy possibly with postage paid envelope to return to the city. • Mark suggested that LOSN could help with distributing the survey. • Izzy asked if companies like STIHL could help distribute the survey to their clients; STIHL does their own surveys and Doug can see if they could share their survey data. • Buzz recommended adding a question to the landscaper survey asking if they work in Lake Oswego, and if they also work in any other cities in the surrounding area. • Mark recommended asking how many employees landscaping companies have. • For the survey for residents and property owners, Amanda will add a new category for people who have their landscaping done by their HOA or property manager. • Luna suggested asking if people haven’t switched to electric equipment, why not. • Mark suggested asking residents to provide the name of their landscaper if they hire one. • Izzy asked about outreach to households who are new to Lake Oswego; they could be more inclined to change their landscaping practices. Could we partner with Republic Services, since City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Advisory Board Minutes April 21, 2025 Page 5 of 5 everyone needs waste management? Mark shared that the Oswego Lake Watershed Council is working on a “welcome wagon” with information for new residents. Amanda suggested the City’s water conservation program as a potential partner. Doug shared the story of a small landscaper who switched from gas to battery-powered equipment. He asked his clients if he could charge their batteries on their property. He is able to charge batteries in the 45 min he is typically at a site and charges 2 – 3 batteries at a site. This helped him transition without having to pay a lot of money to invest in mobile charging. E. Youth Member Updates Mason got LOHS’s All Student Body to add more sustainability language to the hiring for one of their positions. This was a goal for his school’s Sustainability teacher. Luna had a meeting with Catlin Gabel’s Green Team, which includes students and staff advocating for more sustainability at the school. They are interested in adding more climate-specific curriculum and heard from an organization that focuses on integrating climate curriculum into schools. F. Board & Staff Updates Amanda shared a few important upcoming dates: • May 10 – SAB will be tabling at the Farmer’s Market; Amanda will email a sign-up sheet. • Boards & Commissions recruitment is happening through May 11; Amanda will be in touch with members who have expiring terms and encouraged SAB to share the recruitment information with their networks. Izzy shared that there will be an informal networking event for sustainability professionals on May 21, she will send out an invitation by email. Meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm. Submitted, Amanda Watson Sustainability Program Manager