Providence City Council Sustainability Committee Meeting - April 20, 2026
Providence City Council Sustainability Committee Meeting - April 20, 2026
This meeting of the Providence City Council's Sustainability Committee, held on April 20, 2026, focused on two resolutions and a detailed presentation from the Department of Sustainability. The committee discussed sustainable stormwater funding, state-level building benchmarking legislation, and the city's progress on building energy reporting and decarbonization. Council members and staff highlighted significant achievements in energy efficiency, electrification, and renewable energy, while also addressing challenges such as utility rate structures and the need for dedicated funding mechanisms.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were identified. All agenda items were discussed and voted on individually.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jason Cashtan, a resident of Ward 3, spoke during public comment. He offered to help connect the city with a community-based organization working on stormwater and green infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of direct community engagement. The Department of Sustainability expressed interest in collaborating with him.
Discussion Items
- Item 1: Resolution to Promote Sustainable Funding for Stormwater and Single Management – Councilman Davidson and Councilman… (the resolution's co-sponsor) introduced the resolution, recognizing the city’s work under Director Jalen Cruz on stormwater issues. They noted increased flooding, sinkholes (e.g., along Bobton Boulevard), and sewage backups in two homes. The resolution calls for working with the sustainability department to explore funding options, including green infrastructure and underground pipe replacement. Councilman Davidson highlighted that the city’s engineer, Frank Hoffman, mapped all underground stormwater, sewage, and combined pipes for the first time. The committee discussed the need for a dedicated ordinance to fund stormwater management, potentially making Providence the first municipality in Rhode Island to do so, and noted ongoing conversations with other cities (e.g., important and meriting) about a coordinated approach. The resolution was approved by a unanimous vote.
- Item 2: Resolution Relating to the Building Benchmarking and Reporting Act of 2026 – A council member (likely Sanchez) sponsored this resolution in support of a state-level bill based on Providence’s own Building Energy Reporting Ordinance (BERO). The resolution aims to extend energy benchmarking requirements to all large buildings across the state, including state-owned buildings. The council member noted that Providence was the first city in Rhode Island to pass BERO and that the state bill would build on that success. Questions were raised about whether the state bill would apply to municipalities other than Providence, and it was clarified that it would apply to all large buildings statewide. The resolution passed unanimously.
- Item 3: Presentation from the Department of Sustainability on Implementation of BERO and Carbon Neutral Municipal Buildings Ordinance – Priscilla Delacruz (Director of Sustainability) and David Rugerio (Energy Resilient Administrator) presented an update. Key points included:
- BERO Compliance: The city achieved 42.5% compliance in its first year for buildings over 50,000 sq. ft., far exceeding the national average of 20% for similar programs. The program now covers buildings over 20,000 sq. ft. The city worked with Rhode Island Energy (PPL) to create a seamless data-sharing portal, enabling property owners to report energy usage in 15–30 minutes.
- Decarbonization Progress: Since the Carbon Neutral Municipal Buildings Ordinance passed in 2024, the city has completed energy efficiency projects in 60 buildings (out of 130), resulting in a 7% reduction in energy use and a 6.6% reduction in emissions. Electrification projects (22% of the portfolio, 1.2 million sq. ft.) are underway, with all projects to be completed by 2030. The city has 29,000 MWh of off-site renewable energy under contract, saving about $1 million per year on electric bills.
- Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality: The presented roadmap projects an 82% reduction in emissions and 64% reduction in energy expenditure by 2040, through a combination of energy efficiency, electrification, on-site solar (20% of building energy use by 2040), and off-site renewables. The city is exploring thermal energy networks (ground-source heat pumps) with potential for district heating/cooling, and has identified four locations for such systems.
- Green Revolving Fund: The city secured a $250,000 grant from the Policier Capital Group to establish a municipal investment fund. The fund will reinvest energy savings and incentives (e.g., federal ITC credits up to 40%) into future projects. David Rugerio estimated that if pursued, the city could recover over $4 million from incentives and rebates. The initial seed funding is $3 million, and the fund will be used for capital improvement projects tied to decarbonization.
- Utility and Rate Concerns: Council members raised questions about Rhode Island Energy’s delivery and transmission charges, which have increased significantly. The council discussed the utility’s monopoly status and the need for the city to advocate before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Councilman Sanchez noted that the city’s community electricity program has helped stabilize supply costs, but delivery charges remain high. The committee agreed that sending a letter or testimony to the PUC on rate increases would be beneficial.
- Battery Storage: The city is planning battery storage projects at DPW headquarters and the Jocelyn (likely Johnson) Rec Center, with construction expected to start by the end of 2026. Solar arrays at schools and other buildings will be integrated with battery storage to reduce peak demand and generate revenue through demand response programs.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 1 (Stormwater Funding): Approved unanimously. The council will work with the administration to develop an ordinance for sustainable stormwater funding, with a presentation expected in the future.
- Resolution 2 (State Building Benchmarking): Approved unanimously. The council will transmit the resolution to the General Assembly to support the Building Benchmarking and Reporting Act of 2026.
- Presentation on BERO and Decarbonization: Received and discussed. The committee expressed strong support for the progress made and the roadmap. Next steps include:
- Expanding solar projects under investment tax credits and signing agreements for half of the megawatts under development.
- Exploring decarbonization-as-a-service (performance contracting) to fund projects through savings.
- Enrolling buildings in demand response programs, which could generate over $1 million over five years.
- Continuing public-private partnerships for thermal energy networks, with a focus on school sites and other municipal properties.
- The Green Revolving Fund ordinance will be voted on in a future meeting (likely in two weeks).
- The committee acknowledged the need for additional staffing in the sustainability department to expand outreach and program implementation, tied to the budget process.
Meeting Transcript
So can you please read item one into the um record? I don't know one resolution to promote sustainable and effort funding for stormwater and single management. Awesome. So we um I think Councilman Davidson and I both put this uh resolution forward earlier this year. Um, recognizing the great work that uh city um under the leadership of uh director Jalen Cruz has been doing on stormwater, knowing that there is um an increasing issue with stormwater in our city, increased flooding, increasing access to climate change. Um this is saying that we want to work together with the city's sustainability department uh options available to address uh storm or issues and best practices from similar size similarly size cities and potentially and most likely to use it for translator this session um to address those challenges. So this just is a resolution. Um cross the community presentation on that in her court or supportive of it and work with it later, please forward on this steps. I uh I just would like to add as a newcomer to this process. It was just incredible to come into such great work having already been done. Absolutely responsible to work. Quite a bit. We've seen sick holes, like if you want to take it since we're sick holes that happened. There were there, yeah, and along Bobton Boulevard, there were sinkholes and there are um at least two houses in two sewage entered as a result of the top same. I know the uh scrolls come up with both and non-works in one proximity of what replacement. Yeah, so in the report that the task force put out, there are some wall park um numbers, but I know the department of sustainability is working with the consultant called Raf Tell us to like look through different options for how we would fund that and talking about different school because some of them will be you know that the agent infrastructure replacement, some of it would be all kind of green infrastructure to like better absorb the water because they go and want to be consultations on the spotlight. Or there's an area that's like really overpaved, right where all these houses and sewage issues there's not she potentially might take waste that paything as infrastructure's worth it's not so this is for people who may or may not be familiar. This is where Butler and Blackstone intersect, or like in black still becomes like a one-way on each side on the south or the end of it, and that whole area is at the end of a watershed, all of the water in the area comes literally one, but everyone could one house, you know, in that neighborhood. And they have had repeated floods, they've got erosion in their backyard, it's been a very big deal. So the initial plan that the city developed in conjunction with the Blackstone uh park services to as well mentioned to establish a large area of read infrastructure using plants and so we can reuse to divert and absorb the stormwater. However, and then in a moment where I've really planning, um, the department of public work pointed out that many of the pipes underneath that area compromised hold the wrong size. There's one place remember this is the place where we need stormwater diversity votes, and right there there's a place I believe where pipes go from 60 inches to 40 inches and back to six, they just like all kinds of like poor, like just you know, poor planning or just patchwork sort of work being done over the years. So what's happening now actually is the city is first replacing the underground infrastructure that is happening now on our board, and I really want to bring a lot of attention and energy to it. We're going to be setting up a tour for anybody who wants to participate, and all council members will be invited to be able to sort of take a look at this area to see the great work that DPW is doing to replace those pipes, and then demonstrating what it's like for different parts of the city, DPW and clerks in this case to work together with an independent nonprofit to coordinate and get all this work done. Very excited about it. But I think the real important thing to note is before we do anything above the ground, and we can it's important to look underneath the ground. It's really why we to be able to find a way to above that part. In this case, it's small enough. I'm able to find the bug board, but that's not sustainable. Yeah. Also on a show note we have as part of the task force process leading up to it. The city's achievement of engineer Frank Hoffman did a map of all the underground infrastructure across the city, which we hadn't had before, and so we can see all the like stormwater pipes, all the sewage pipes, all the combined pipes, and actually know where things are because we reports this you have no idea what's in the ground. So he mapped all that out, and that's all I think that's all online now. But yes, it's all online, yeah. You can type in your address and see like what it's like. Um so that was also a really black problem because city's still old here. Cool. Good job. Other questions. Yeah, so first we'll prove the transmission, but then um Priscilla and her team are working with the consultant um and we'll work together collectively across the capsule and the administration to develop an ordinance that would figure out how we can start the house as well. So that would be presented to the council. Uh just a question. So we would be the first um municipality in World Island to do something. We're potentially gonna be the first municipality, but I think we're also talking with important and meriting with the at the same time. So there was a question like oh, should we raise to me first? And then um it was also like maybe we could all pull hands to do it together. So we've been in conversation with the director of uh resiliency and DPW for your work about that. She's like a resiliency director, and then also they're CW director. Yeah, they like combined. So we're also in conversation with our C if there's like a holding hands version.
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