The city of Los Altos’ Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) was heralded as a significant accomplishment after city council approval in March 2022. The document laid out specific goals in the fight against climate change.
“Our 2022 CAAP is a comprehensive roadmap guiding Los Altos towards its ambitious goals of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 2005 levels by 2030,” said Tania Katbi, the city’s sustainability analyst. “The plan encompasses over 60 distinct actions across multiple sectors.”
The ultimate goal is carbon neutrality by 2035 – when the net amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is zero.
Since CAAP’s passage, a number of factors have made it increasingly difficult for the city to accomplish CAAP goals.
Most discouraging for supporters was a 2023 federal court ruling against the city of Berkeley that nullified laws requiring all-electric appliances in new construction or major remodels. This undermined efforts to reduce methane from natural gas, a major contributor to greenhouse gases.
“Reach codes (reaching beyond state requirements) implemented in 2022 had required all electric construction for ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and most new construction,” Katbi said. “Further codes would have extended that to all new construction and some major remodels.”
“A huge component of the CAAP was the city’s ability to require electrification in new construction,” Councilmember Jonathan Weinberg said in correspondence with the Town Crier. “Two years ago, the city adopted a statute requiring just that. But, before the statute’s second reading the city of Berkeley case was decided at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals essentially invalidating the proposed ordinance. Therefore, the statute never had a second reading and was not adopted into our municipal code.”
Some hailed the court ruling as a victory for consumers – there are a sizable number of residents who still prefer gas stoves and gas hot water heaters.
With reach code mandates thwarted, the city had to shift gears from requiring to educating and persuading residents to go electric. Local grassroots groups such as the Electrification Collaboration and GreenTown Los Altos have helped with that education.
Changing on their own
Katbi indicated voluntary compliance has been effective.
“There has been a growing acceptance of all electric appliances, especially heat pump water heaters and we are working on other options to reduce the use of methane gas in Los Altos,” she said. “These include awareness campaigns including the Living Electric Fair, held in May. The city also plans on hosting a series of seminars on the topic.
“Another approach is incentivizing electrification – the city has already implemented lower permit fees for electric appliances. We are developing a city funded incentive program to sweeten the rebates being offered for electrification by various state and federal programs. Yet another area of effort is air quality and energy efficiency approaches to ordinances that would encourage switching to electric appliances.”
Katbi added the city can also mandate electric vehicle infrastructure in new construction.
“That portion of the reach codes still stands so we have been steadily adding charging infrastructure with every new development,” she said. “In addition, the current year’s workplan includes the assessment of current EV charging capabilities and needs in preparation for developing an EV infrastructure masterplan.”
Obstacles ahead
One other hurdle for implementing CAAP is the current federal administration’s lack of support.
“Resources including funding for city staff and projects is always a challenge,” said Raashina Humayun, chair of the Los Altos Environmental Commission. “The rollback of federal climate action policies is going to make it even more difficult to fund the actions needed to meet our CAAP goals. The city is working on ways to supplement the funding with a portion of permit fees being earmarked for the CAAP.”
Despite CAAP’s directives and some progress, a few city actions appear to contradict the plan’s intentions. Earlier this year, the council rejected an environmental commission proposal for protecting birds by requiring certain building materials. Plans for a new dog park at Hillview Park have some pointing out the proposed artificial turf is not environmentally friendly.
In June, Weinberg lodged a “protest vote” against purchasing hybrid fleet vehicles for the police department. Weinberg indicated he wanted all-electric vehicles and his expectation last October, when the council approved gas-powered police “interceptor” vehicles, was that this was the last such request.
“A lot of time and energy was spent putting together the CAAP,” he said at the June 24 city council meeting. “The city of Berkeley case hurt a lot of our efforts. With respect to the CAAP, we know that we are not going to meet the goals that we set out for us.”
“We are behind on several actions the CAAP recommended for the city to work on by 2025,” Humayun said. “That is not to say we cannot meet our goal of carbon neutrality by 2035. It will take a sustained commitment from all of us.”
Several aspects of the CAAP have been implemented, Humayun indicated. This includes increased residential awareness, in electric vehicles and energy use.
Humayun said the commission teamed with the city in hosting EV-based events such as the annual Living Electric Fair. The city also has an ordinance on the books banning plastic, disposable foodware and the council last year passed a tree protection ordinance that would ensure more and healthier tree growth.
Weinberg thinks more can be done. He said other cities have found ways to encourage electrification through incentives and otherwise reduce their GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.
He noted that Palo Alto in February 2024 launched Spring Forward, a rebate program to encourage local businesses to participate in the Business Energy Advisor (BEA) Program. As part of the program, the city boosted all efficiency incentives by 20% for BEA customers who completed projects by May 31, 2024. In September, Palo Alto launched an emergency water heater replacement program to help residents replace their gas water heaters with a heat pump water heater during an emergency.
“There are lots of other examples from Palo Alto and our other neighbors of strategies, programs and incentives designed to reduce their carbon footprint,” Weinberg said.
The city continues to add electric vehicle chargers, hosts an annual EV/home electrification show and co-hosts an electric home tour so residents can enter and view what an electric home feels like and ask questions of the owners.
Still, Weinberg fell short of supporting all-electric as soon as possible.
“There are also legitimate questions about the ability of our grid to support electrification, and even though the city is willing to pursue environmentally friendly options, those options are sometimes prohibitively expensive or nonexistent (like police interceptors),” Weinberg said.
“To be fair, I acknowledge that the city has been laser-focused on fulfilling our obligations under the Housing Element we adopted in 2023. That was (and remains) the right thing to do, but it means that staff’s bandwidth for other projects is narrowed.”
Hard look at CAAP
Weinberg said the city adopted the CAAP in part because sustainability is one of the council’s five strategic goals.
“I think it’s time for the city to take a hard look at the CAAP, evaluate where its guidance is still valid and helpful, and amend the document as necessary to make it a more effective statement of policy,” he said. “What I envision is not a simple task – it will require a new GHG inventory, the hiring of a consultant, and the commitment of our residential and business communities to protecting and improving our environment.”
Earlier this month, Weinberg noted: “City staff acknowledged that council members have appropriately pointed out that we have not made as much progress on the council priority of environmental sustainability as we would have liked. This includes how we implement the CAAP and how the principles within the CAAP are applied to the operations of the city. To better support this council priority, the city is creating a new position: CAAP administrator within (the) Development Services (department). This role will help accelerate the city’s sustainability and climate resilience initiatives and work towards CAAP implementation and integration with city policies and practices.”
