To: Board of Supervisors
From: Planning and Building Department
Agenda Section: Departmental
Vote Requirement: Majority
SUBJECT:
title
Accept Draft Humboldt Regional Climate Action Plan (RCAP) with Modifications Based on Public Comment
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Accept the draft of the Humboldt RCAP as the project for preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
Body
STRATEGIC PLAN:
This action supports the following areas of your Board’s Strategic Plan.
Area of Focus: Sustainable Natural Resources & Infrastructure Stewardship
Strategic Plan Category: 5001 - Enhance climate adaptation landscapes and communities
DISCUSSION:
Executive Summary
Your board is being asked to accept the draft RCAP, with changes made in response to public comment as the project description for preparation of the Environmental Impact Report. Your Board reviewed the draft RCAP on Sept. 10, 2024 and directed the Planning and Building Department to return to present any proposed changes resulting from public comment. The draft RCAP has been modified to address comments. This is shown in Attachment 1 in track changes. The comments added to the RCAP provided clarity and value to the document. Some comments were not addressed in the RCAP because the comments either portrayed values that may not be reflective of the community as a whole or were inconsistent with the rational for certain measures. Some comments identified items already addressed in the RCAP and thus no changes were needed. All written comments are included in Attachment 2. The Board’s action is not to approve the RCAP, but to find that this draft is sufficient to serve as the project description.
Summary of Changes.
The changes are shown in redline stricken text. Changes that add or remove provisions are summarized below. There are also wording and reference changes that do not add to or take away from the direction of the RCAP. Those are not included in the following summary:
a) Page 1 - Definition for Biogenic CO2 emissions.
b) Page 2 - Definition for Non-biogenic CO2 emissions.
c) Page 6 - Added discussion of working lands to description of Humboldt County.
d) Page 16 - Conditions related to wildfire dangers in forest lands.
e) Page 17 - Additional information relative to the importance of Humboldt forests in addressing climate change.
f) Page 25 - Provided added definition to Urban Area. The decision was made to use information from the 2020 Census which also defines “Urban Clusters” within Humboldt County. Figure 6 was added to show the map of where this is located. This addresses several comments on the need to better define what is meant by Urban.
g) Page 31 - Added new structural provision is affirm that Program Manager represents larger staff that will be needed to implement the RCAP.
h) Page 31 - Added sentence to address that public engagement needs to be sensitive to the disbelieve in climate change.
i) Page 32 - Added educational measure to establish school outreach programs to teach children about climate change and the RCAP.
j) Page 37 - Added a structural measure to lobby to ensure that power produced by the offshore wind facilities are mad available to residents and businesses in Humboldt County.
k) Page 50 - Added a structural action to seek funding for nonmotorized transportation routes.
l) Page 50 - Added a structural action to coordinate with local jurisdictions to require installation of multimodal transportation features where feasible.
m) Page 54 - Added an Urban Transit funding action to prioritize spending of transit funds on transit needs.
n) Page 55 - Added a Rural Transit funding action to prioritize spending of transit funds on transit needs.
o) Page 55 - Added a Rural Transit funding action to improve rural roads with the aim of improving public transit.
p) Page 63 - Added a funding action to expand hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
q) Page 67 - Added paragraph recognizing Humboldt County’s potential for developing bio-fuels.
r) Page 72 - Expanded actions relative to increasing cold storage capacity for food rescue programs.
s) Page 73 - Added new structural action to implement single-use packaging bans.
t) Page 78 - Expanded funding action to include researching potential for wetland conservation and mitigation banking.
u) Page 82 - Added whole new section on refrigerants. Acknowledges that refrigerants are regulated by the state and action is to determine if there are areas where local regulation would minimize the release of refrigerants into the atmosphere.
Other Consideration:
Regional Climate Committee. Many comments were received supporting the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) serving as the Regional Climate Committee. The HCAOG board directed staff to begin investigating how this can be accomplished. This is a work in progress. The intention is to have the formation of the RCC (presumably at HCAOG) ready to begin work upon adoption of the RCAP and final EIR.
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Revisions to the RCAP was paid for by Regional Early Action Planning grant funding obtained from Humboldt County Association of Governments. The RCAP EIR and staff time will be paid for by the existing budget allocation for Long-Range Planning.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Implementation of the RCAP will require staff time to implement. Depending on where the Regional Manager is located there may be budget implications but this is not yet a decision point and it is not possible to project potential costs.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
As stated above, the preparation of the Humboldt RCAP has been a collaborative effort that has involved:
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City of Eureka City of Arcata City of Blue Lake City of Trinidad |
City of Ferndale City of Fortuna City of Rio Dell Redwood Coast Energy Authority |
HCAOG Humboldt Waste Management Authority |
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Board Discretion.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 -Humboldt Regional Climate Action Plan with Redline Changes
Attachment 2 - Written Public comment Received
a) Anonymous Comment
b) Gary Hughes
c) Kate Hitt
d) Environmental Groups Consolidated Letter
e) City of Ferndale
f) Harbor District
g) HCAOG
h) Farm Bureau
i) Joyce King
j) Kate McClain
k) Ken Miller
l) Ken Miller
m) Nancy Ibara
n) Meighan O’Brien
o) RCEA
p) Supervisor Arroyo
q) Schatz Energy Center
r) HTA
PREVIOUS ACTION/REFERRAL:
Meeting of: Oct. 17, 2023
File No.: 23-1371
Meeting of: June 7, 2022
File No.: 22-699