CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCOCOMMISSION ON THE ENVIRONMENTPOLICY COMMITTEE
*SPECIAL RESCHEDULED MEETING APPROVED MINUTES Monday, May 16, 2006, 5:30 P.M.City Hall, Room 408One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett PlaceSan Francisco, CA 94102
*The May 8, 2006, 5:00 p.m. Regular Meeting of the Policy Committee was rescheduled to May 16, 2006 at 5:30 p.m.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Commissioners Johanna Wald (Chair); Arlene Rodriguez and Christina Desser
Commission Secretary: Monica Fish
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Public comment will be taken before the Committee takes action on any item.
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 5:32 p.m. Present: Commissioners Desser and Wald; Excused: Commissioner Rodriguez.
2. ACTION: Adoption of Minutes of the April 10, 2006 Regular Meeting.
Upon motion by Commissioner Desser and second by Commissioner Wald, the April 10, 2006 Regular Meeting Minutes were approved with no objection (Absent: Commissioner Rodriguez). There was no public comment at this time. (Explanatory Document: April 10, 2006 Approved Minutes)
3. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Members of the public may address the Committee on matters that are within the Committee’s jurisdiction and are not on today’s agenda.
Ms. Michelle Sargent, Intern, Department of the Environment announced that she will be working on the United Nations Global Compact initiatives that were signed by the Mayor on World Environment Day. Ms. Sargent advised that she would be focusing specifically on climate change outreach to the residential and commercial sectors and will present a report to the Commission in the next two months.
4. PRESENTATION: Treasure Island Sustainability Goals and Principles (Explanatory Document: Treasure Island Sustainability Goals and Principles). SPONSOR: Commissioner Johanna Wald SPEAKERS: Jared Blumenfeld, Director and David Johnson, William McDonough & Partners
Director Jared Blumenfeld discussed the development of the new City neighborhood at Treasure Island, advising that Treasure Island is presently under Navy control, and the City is working to obtain possession of the Island. It was explained that Treasure Island Community Developers, the master developer, is putting together a term sheet that will go before the Board of Supervisors this year. One of the term sheet elements is a Sustainability Plan that William McDonough & Partners, the developer, SMWM, and others have been engaged in a dialogue on how to make Treasure Island the most sustainable development in global history. It was stated that a community meeting was held recently at the Port to discuss strategies. Next steps will be to reach consensus on three levels of strategies to implement the goals. Director Blumenfeld introduced Mr. David Johnson, head of the San Francisco Office of William McDonough & Partners who had been hired by the Mayor’s Office of Base Reuse to guide the process and set goals and framework on how strategies can be measured.
Director Blumenfeld and Mr. David Johnson discussed the sustainability goals and principles that agreement had been reached on as shown in the explanatory document above. Principles included San Francisco values of community, thriving ecosystems, healthy neighborhoods, affordable solutions, global responsibility, integrated design and lasting beauty, and public participation and transparency.
Commissioner Wald inquired as to the relationship between the original Treasure Island Plan previously heard at a Commission meeting and the current Principles and Goals. Director Blumenfeld advised that the Sustainability Plan would have to be rewritten to include three levels—high level principles, goals, and action items (strategies). Commissioner Wald recommended that the process and work product be employed in other planning efforts in the City.
Commissioner Desser stated that the “Community” principle contains a goal that reads “By achieving equity in access to facilities, services and environmental quality, Treasure Island will foster human potential and self-reliance.” It was recommended to not include this goal in the principles section in a future document. A discussion was held on the EIR process and the need to integrate the principles and goals with other Treasure Island Plans.
Public Comment on Principles:
Mr. John Behanna, Consulting Engineer discussed articles in Time Magazine about global warming and Distributed Energy on “Putting on the Ritz” regarding combined power sources. Document distributed in Committee meeting.
Ms. Ruth Gravanis spoke in support of the process and requested that the City or the Developer present background information on the timeline. An inquiry was made as to whether any of the Treasure Island Plans would be available for review before negotiations continue. Recommendations were made to include a reference as to whether Treasure Island Naval Station refers to both Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island or one island and to acknowledge natural habitats separately from human-built environments.
Ms. Melissa Capria, Climate Action Coordinator, Department of the Environment requested that a reference be made in Principle 6 to take into consideration predicted impacts of sea-level rise and making the island as resistant as possible.
Ms. Nancy Wuerfel inquired as to (1) Mr. Johnson’s affiliation; (2) the timeline before the plan goes into the approval stage; and (3) financing received by the Department of the Environment. Director Blumenfeld advised of (1) Mr. Johnson’s affiliation as described above; (2) that there would be a two-stage timeframe—one for the term sheet/Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) to go to the Board of Supervisors for approval this year, and two years later, the Board approval of a Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) and EIR to the Planning Department; and (3) the Department received $10,000 through the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) budget for their participation last year and may receive the same amount this year through work orders.
Deputy Director Assmann asked for clarity on the purchasing policies stated in Goals 4 and 5. It was recommended to make the purchasing policies stated in either of those goals as a principle.
Public Comment on Goals:
Ms. Ruth Gravanis stated that the Sustainability Plan contains very good strategies, should not be discarded, should be incorporated into the term sheet and become the basis for negotiations. Director Blumenfeld advised that they are in the process of aligning strategies with the goals at this time, and the revised Sustainability Plan that will include strategies, goals and principles will be brought before TIDA at a public meeting. Ms. Gravanis recommended that (1) basic language be used throughout the document for the general public’s understanding; (2) number 6 include that Treasure Island “restores vibrant habitats”, and (3) number 7 correct spelling of “fuelled”to “fueled”and the third to last line change the word “or” to “of.”
Mr. John Behanna discussed the Treasure Island Redevelopment Project Infrastructure Plan of 2004 and recommended that a more accurate figure be established for 1990 usage.
Committee members asked if there is anything the Commission or Committee could do to help support the efforts to achieve the Treasure Island goals. Director Blumenfeld asked for input on how to strengthen the document and how to make the goals achievable once strategies have been defined. Committee Member Desser offered to edit the document and suggested that direct lines between principles and goals be shown. Mr. Johnson advised that a future document is being worked on that organizes information clearly.
Committee Wald stated that the work at Treasure and Yerba Islands could show the world how the urban accords can be applied in a real place and that the process should be documented and shared.
5. ACTION: Development of Impound Account Grant Guidelines (Explanatory Documents: Impound Account Grant Guidelines as approved at this meeting (1) Grantees Operating Procedures Manual (2) Grants Policy Template (3) Grants Score Sheet). SPONSOR/SPEAKER: Jared Blumenfeld, Director
Director Blumenfeld discussed the Controller’s Interim Audit Report that addressed areas of concern relating to the way grants were distributed from the Impound Account. The Department developed Impound Account Grant Guidelines documents to address these concerns as follows:
(1) Impound Grants Policy Matrix that references guidelines and policy rules to be used for distributing impound account grant funds, resource conservation activity or project, target waste stream or audience, actions and restrictions;
(2) San Francisco Environment Recycling Grant Program 2006-07 Application Scoring Sheet that measures the effectiveness of a potential organization/project; and
(3) Grantees’ Operating Procedures Manual.
Director Blumenfeld advised that the Controller’s Office will spend the next three weeks looking into the final element doing a grant and contract procurement audit instead of a full performance audit and will review what the Commission will adopt as corrective action that will be reflected in their final report.
Committee members commended the Impound Account Grant Guidelines. Deputy Director Assmann advised that these guidelines would apply to all grants. Commissioner Wald suggested that more emphasis be given to quantified/measurable results.
Public Comment: Ms. Nancy Wuerfel inquired about the approximate range of money that would be awarded with these particular grants. Mr. Kevin Drew, Residential Recycling Coordinator advised that the total annual amount awarded has been from $500,000 to a million dollars over the course of five years and varies as budget varies. The awards given to organizations vary from $5000 to $200,000, the average being in the $20,000 to $50,000 range.
Ms. Wuerfel discussed the Waste Characterization Study and suggested that the Department be progressive on how grants are awarded to target specific problems. It was recommended that the proposal-scoring sheet should include objective quantification of the ability of the group to do the job by way of letters of recommendation or some other method. Director Blumenfeld advised that the Commission would consider at their next meeting approval of funding recommendations for grant awards to specific organizations. Mr. Drew discussed the cover sheet that requests references and talked about previous solicitation requests. Ms. Wuerfel asked if there are reports available on grants awarded in the past three years and was directed to the Department for further information.
Upon motion by Commissioner Desser and second by Commissioner Wald, the Impound Account Grant Guidelines were approved with recommended edits and forwarded to the full Commission for their consideration at the May 23 meeting (Absent: Commissioner Rodriguez).
Recommended edits approved include:
· Impound Account Grants Policy Matrix Draft—number 2, Restrictions, change the word “interaction” to “intervention.” Pilot Projects should be listed as number 5
· 2006-2007 Application Scoring Sheet—Objective 1 should replace “concisely defined” with “quantified.” Add a number 9 “Promotion to the Community” and increase the proposal scoring to more than 100 points. Add another number that states “objective quantification of the ability of the group to do the job (e.g. letters of recommendation).” 6. INFORMATION: New Business. New business was heard with Future Agenda Items.7. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. Committee Member Wald requested a status report on the bags to be heard at the June 12 Policy Committee meeting.8. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Members of the public may address the Committee on matters that are within the Committee’s jurisdiction and are not on today’s agenda.
Public Comment: Ms. Nancy Wuerfel asked when the Urban Accords would be readdressed. Commissioner Wald advised that Action 17, Promoting public health and environmental benefits by supporting locally grown organic foods would be discussed at the June 12 Policy Committee meeting and that the three accords that would be focused on for this year would be rotated between Policy Committee meetings. Action 12, Urban Nature would be scheduled for a future meeting based on availability of Committee members and presenters. 9. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
The next meeting of the Commission on the Environment’s Policy Committee is scheduled for Monday, June 12, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall, Room 421.
** Copies of explanatory documents are available at (1) the Commission’s office, 11 Grove Street, San Francisco, California between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., (2) on the Commission’s website; (3) upon request to the Commission Secretary, at telephone number 415-355-3709, or (4) via e-mail at [email protected].
Respectfully submitted by,
Monica Fish Commission Secretary TEL: (415) 355-3709 FAX: (415) 554-6393
Adopted: June 13, 2006 |
Policy Committee > 2006 Meetings >
