SUSTAINOVATION IN DEPTH DIALOGUE - 6/27"GREENING SILICON VALLEY: SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, & OPPORTUNITIES"
What do you imagine a sustainable city will look like in the future? Where are the opportunities to collaborate and innovate? How might cross sector partnerships play a role? What are the challenges? How do counties and cities collaborate to accelerate positive change? Please join us for an exciting evening together. The panelists will provide an overview of recent sustainability efforts in Santa Clara County, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Palo Alto including accomplishments, proposed programs, challenges, and opportunities. Attendees will have time to ask questions, discuss what’s needed now, and how we can work together to create sustainable communities. An In-depth Dialogue with: • Steve Attinger, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, City of Mountain View • Erin Cooke, Sustainability Manager, City of Cupertino • Phil Bobel, Assistant Director, Environmental Services &Public Works, City of Palo Alto • Demetra J. McBride, Director, Office of Sustainability and Climate Action, Santa Clara County Office of the County Executive • Guest moderator Peter Drekmeier, Former Mayor, City of Palo Alto 6:30 - 7:00 pm Networking 7:00 - 8:00 pm Presentation 8:00 - 9:00 pm Dialogue Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Location: World Centric 2121 Staunton Court Palo Alto, CA 94306 Registration $15 advance online registration (plus processing fees), $20 at the door (Cash only) For online registration go to: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=231270 For more information: www.sustainovation.org Sustainovation is dedicated to inspiring environmentally and socially sustainable business practices. Our mission is to promote sustainability as the driver of business innovation in Silicon Valley and beyond. We envision a new industrial revolution led by the principles of sustainable design and development. Through educational events, we form and inspire networks of innovators who share the belief that sustainable practices are essential to business success and the future of the world we share. - Heritage Trees: In Shani's view, Mountain View has good policies, but there need to be better guidelines for tree removals due to nesting seasons for birds; we must seek a diversity of tree types and ages.
- If you see birds in trees to be cut: Call CalTIP or contact Shani/Audubon Society, take a photo of the tree/nest, and make an anonymous call. Contact info: > Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Cavity Nesters Recovery Program: http://www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=cbrp > CalTIP (Californians Turn in Poachers), which takes calls from anyone concerned about impacts on wildlife, including reporting tree trimmers disturbing or destroying nests. CalTIP (Dept. of Fish and Game): 1-888-DFG-CALTIP (888-334-2258) > Good resource for tree/shrub removal procedures that minimize impacts to birds: Los Angeles Audubon Society Guide to Bird-Friendly Tree and Shrub Trimming and Removal http://losangelesaudubon.org/images/stories/pdf/TTGMay2011/ttg-may-2011-english-read-online.pdf - San Francisco has a website recommending what to buy (or not) for environmental reasons; they took a strong stand against poison pellets, which impact wildlife and children. - Birds can collide with windows; issues with glass (in particular where windows face each other across building spaces). The Facebook project required implementation of bird friendly windows as mitigation via CEQA and EIR. - MV Voice has considered documenting when heritage trees are cut down. - The 2-for-1 requirement to replace heritage trees shouldn't apply to some areas. For example, the North Bayshore area historically has few trees; new trees attract raptors, which damage shorebird populations. San Francisco is exceptional when it comes to bird-friendly green building design. - Shoreline Shell carwash and expansion status and update (Guests: Ann McLaughlin and Joyce England, Shoreline West Association of Neighbors)
- Mountain View heritage trees policy (guest: Shani Kleinhaus, Audubon Society, Palo Alto) - San Antonio Center status and update - Bus Rapid Transit status and update - Mountain View Citizen's Guide status and update - Drive Through policy status and update - Castro Street bike racks status and update - Round-the-table closing comments = Pearson House status = Need new venue for meetings, as Vox is moving to Palo Alto At the end of a six hour meeting, the EPC decided in a 4-3 straw vote to go against Council's direction and revisit the idea of allowing housing in the North Bayshore neighborhood, through the policies in the General Plan. This was not a decision to be taken lightly; allowing housing in North Bayshore brings up a lot of unknowns and even potential drawbacks for things like wildlife. But MVCSP firmly believes that last night's decision was a sounds one for environmental, economic and community creating reasons. We look forward to navigating the complex but exciting challenges that this decision will open up.
The members of the EPC deserve a huge thank you for considering this matter long and hard. That thanks is extended to all members of the EPC regardless of where they fell on the decision. An extra special thanks to the four EPC members who decided in the end to express support for mixed use development in North Bayshore: Rachel Grossman, Chris Clark, Eric Anderson and EPC Chair Todd Fernandez. An extra special thanks goes to Rachel Grossman for leading the charge on this topic (we admire your boldness and conviction!), Todd Fernandez, for being brave enough to publically change his mind on a heated topic (that really does take humility, intelligence and confidence) and Chris Clark for making a hard decision with an election ahead of him (that's brave too!). Eric don't feel left out; thanks for being you. :) Finally, a huge thanks to all of the advocates who turned out last night, especially the crazies that stuck around until almost 1:00am to make a public comment. Thanks to those who wrote letters to your representatives. We've said it before but big milestones call for sappy repetition; it's people like you all who put the time in and speak up that make change happen. Thank you! You are our heroes! - The Core Team Overall Comments on the General Plan
Talking Points on North Bayshore
Members of City Council:
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Environmental Planning Commissioners: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] It's always a good idea to cc relevant City staff on your emails. If you don't know the specific staff person working on your project, send it to the City Manager and City Clerk. If the project is related to land use/planning include Randy Tsuda and Martin Alkire. You may also want to include Ellis Berns, the Economic Development Director. Their emails are also below: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Tomorrow night, May 10th, MVCSP will be holding its monthly meeting at Vox Design Group's office at 421 Castro Street in Mountain View. We will be discussing the following items:
Please join us! Feel free to bring snack. :) Below are notes taken from a few different MVCSP members at the MAy 2nd MVCSP meetings. Please note that while the account below has been assembled with the best of intentions, these are not official minutes of any kind and may have some mistakes. These notes focus on the two areas that are of primary interest to MVCSP; North Bayshore and the concept of increased flexibility in the General Plan. For more comprehensive minutes please refer to the City's minutes of the May 2nd meeting, which will be released on Friday, May 11.
No voting took place at the 5/2 EPC meeting. The meeting was primarily spent discussing the Council’s recent direction on the General Plan. Council’s decision to allow greater flexibility in the focus areas when developers provided community benefits, and council’s decision to nix mixed use development in the North Bayshore neighborhood were the two main topics of conversation. Eric Anderson was not there. North Bayshore Rachel Grossman was very expressed great disappointment over Council’s decision about no residential development at North Bayshore. She made the point that Council has concerns about traffic on Shoreline and yet is unwilling or interested in one of the things that could present a solution to this problem; putting homes close to jobs. Chris Clark - also expressed disappointment about North Bayshore. Kathy Trontell – Kathy felt that there had been general, city-wide support for a vision of North Bayshore with housing. Everyone, including the Council seemed to be willing to work toward this vision but then somewhere along the way, something broke down and the Council lost the will to realize this vision. Kathy seemed to see this as a missed opportunity and failure to make something happen. She seemed disappointed but also resigned to the finality of the decision. Todd Fernandez – Todd also seemed resigned to the finality of the decision. He expressed some disappointment over the decision but he also indicated that he shared some of Council’s reservations. Lisa M. & John M. were very vocally opposed to housing in N. Bayshore. Flexibility in the Focus Areas of the General Plan The flexibility concept had general support from the majority of the EPC. There was no vote on the topic but multiple members of the EPC expressed support for the idea, especially as applied to the the San Antonio Center and El Camino Real. They asked staff to clarify exactly what this would mean for the zoning code. To state the flexibility concept in another way; the direction that the EPC received from Council regarded flexibility on El Camino Real said that any proposed projects with a FAR between 1.85 FAR – 3 FAR is eligible for density bonuses, if the project is in a key location and the developer offers the community significant amenities (i.e. open space, affordable housing). This basically puts a policy in the General Plan that says future, conscientious variances are acceptable. |
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