Mountain View Council Sustainability Committee Meeting - November 7, 2025

The Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) met on November 7, 2025, to discuss climate-related federal legislation, review the city's decarbonization goal analysis, and hear a presentation on the Extreme Heat Community Preparedness Program. The meeting included public comments, committee discussion, and unanimous approval of staff recommendations for further local climate actions.

Consent Calendar

• The committee unanimously approved the minutes from the June 26, 2025, CSC meeting.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Oral Communications (Non-Agenda): Mary Dadio announced an electric home tour sponsored by Actera, scheduled for Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., encouraging residents to learn about home electrification from homeowners who have completed conversions.
• Decarbonization Goal Analysis (Item 5.2):
  • Andrea Wald, co-founder of Community for Natural Place Surfaces, urged the committee to avoid artificial turf and poured-in-place rubber in decarbonization plans due to loss of carbon capture, increased landfill waste, and heat island effects.
  • Mary Dadio applauded the city's participation in the Local Government Climate Policy Alliance but expressed disappointment that natural gas emissions are still projected in 2045. She questioned the population projections, noting they seemed low compared to expected housing unit growth.
• Extreme Heat Preparedness (Item 5.3):
  • Mary Dadio emphasized the urban heat island effect and the importance of trees for shade and transpiration, urging integration of the biodiversity plan with active transportation infrastructure.

Discussion Items

5.1 Presentation on Climate-Related Federal Legislation

• Chief Sustainability Officer Danielle Lee introduced representatives from MMO Partners (John O'Donnell and Cariakos Pagonis) who outlined recent federal changes:
  • The reconciliation bill ("One Big Beautiful Bill Act") signed July 4, 2025, rescinded certain energy tax credits; key deadlines include December 31, 2025, for heat pump, water heater, insulation, and panel upgrade credits.
  • Executive actions, including an order titled "Unleashing American Energy," terminated over 223 Department of Energy projects totaling $7.5 billion, and the EPA proposed rescinding the 2009 endangerment finding.
  • Despite headwinds, opportunities exist: the city secured $1.145 million in FY26 appropriations for the Charleston SLU project; the FEMA Act (bipartisan, would create a new resilience grant program) and the Energy Independence and Affordability Act (restoring tax credits, 112 co-sponsors) were noted.
• Council members asked about flood insurance and weather monitoring funding; staff agreed to follow up.

5.2 Decarbonization Goal Analysis

• Staff from the Sustainability Division and Cascadia Consulting Group presented updated modeling results:
  • The analysis uses 2022 GHG inventory as baseline, projecting emissions through 2045 under three scenarios: business as usual, adjusted business as usual (including state/regional policies), and local actions.
  • Updated growth factors use county-level data; emissions under the adjusted business-as-usual scenario are projected at ~189,000 metric tons CO2e by 2045 (62% reduction from business as usual).
  • Five local actions modeled (REACH codes, outreach/incentives for building electrification, transportation demand ordinance, active transportation plan, mixed-use zoning) close only ~2-5% of the remaining gap, leaving ~185,000 metric tons gap by 2045.
  • Remaining emissions are 65% from on-road vehicles; state policies (e.g., Advanced Clean Cars) have been reversed.
  • Staff proposed modeling five additional actions: expanding EV charging infrastructure at multifamily properties, outreach/education for EVs, parking management strategies, time-of-sale building requirements, and the city's zero-waste plan.
• Committee discussion included:
  • Councilmember Showalter requested adding marshland carbon sequestration to the model and emphasized the need for public polling on electrification and programming to educate residents on using new infrastructure.
  • Councilmember Clark expressed reservations about time-of-sale requirements, citing potential cost increases for housing and administrative difficulties, but was open to studying it regionally.
  • Chair Hicks stressed the value of evaluating the actual effectiveness of local initiatives and re-evaluating the roadmap every 3-5 years.

5.3 Results of Extreme Heat Community Preparedness Program

• Climate Fellow Grace Kahn presented the pilot program, funded by a $25,000 county grant plus $4,000 from the city:
  • Target populations: residents living in vehicles (879 unhoused, up 56% from 2023) and limited English proficient residents (15% of population).
  • Multilingual flyers and 200 resilience toolkits (valued at ~$140 each) were distributed door-to-door in safe parking lots and community locations.
  • 94% of those offered a kit accepted; 77% of recipients spoke Spanish. Survey respondents found health information, electrolyte packets, water misting fans, and air purifiers most helpful.
  • Staff acknowledged challenges in collecting feedback due to transient populations and will explore alternative methods.

Key Outcomes

• Vote on Decarbonization Actions: The committee unanimously approved staff’s recommendations:
  1. Review emissions reductions from five modeled local measures.
  2. Model the remaining five local actions (EV charging, EV outreach, parking management, time-of-sale, zero-waste plan).
  3. Direct staff to develop a five-year roadmap focused on achieving the city’s adopted 2045 decarbonization goal (rather than accelerating to 2035 or 2040).
• Committee members suggested additional items for consideration in the roadmap, including marshland sequestration, public polling on electrification, expanded community shuttle partnerships, permit streamlining, contractor outreach, and pairing soft-story retrofits with electrification.
• Staff will bring a finalized list of additions to the December 1 CSC meeting, along with the climate vulnerability assessment.
• The Extreme Heat Community Preparedness Program was informational; no action required.