San Diego Environment Committee Meeting - February 13, 2025: Waste Fees, Tenant Protections, SDG&E Agreement
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San Diego City Council Environment Committee Meeting - February 13, 2025
The Environment Committee of the San Diego City Council convened on February 13, 2025, with Chair Councilmember Ilo Rivera presiding and Council President Sean Lakaba as the only other voting member present. The committee approved four consent items, debated a proposed ordinance protecting tenants from utility overcharges, initiated the Proposition 218 process for a new solid waste management fee, approved a revised Energy Cooperation Agreement with SDG&E, received the 2025 committee work plan, and heard non-agenda public comment. All action items passed unanimously. The next regular meeting was scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 1 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Approved the committee minutes of November 14, 2024.
- Item 2: Authorized an agreement with Allied Waste Systems (Republic Services) for trash, recycling, green waste, and organics collection at city facilities (contract value referenced as $14.5 million).
- Item 3: Awarded a lease and maintenance contract to Hawthorne Machinery for heavy-duty equipment at the Miramar landfill. Staff explained that leasing (rather than owning) provides cost savings, shifts regulatory compliance and specialized maintenance to the contractor, and ensures backup equipment availability. Council President Lakaba questioned whether leasing was a deliberate preference; staff confirmed it was based on cost-effectiveness analysis.
- Item 4: Authorized a potable water emergency interconnection agreement with the City of Poway.
Public comments on the consent calendar included: Blair Beekman expressing hope for accountability at the Miramar landfill and raising concerns about Navy flight patterns over San Diego Bay; a caller urging short-term vacation rental operators be charged commercial rates for waste service; a caller supporting clean-technology incentives in city contracts; and Judy String urging a public policy banning smoking and vaping in public places. All consent items passed unanimously 3-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Tenant utility protections (Item 5): Strong support came from the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council (representing ~35,000 members), San Diego Municipal Employees Association (MEA), San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council (135 unions, 200,000 workers), Lived Experience Advisors, Big Voices, Climate Action Campaign, Alliance San Diego, and the Center on Policy Initiatives. Housing provider groups (Southern California Rental Housing Association, California Apartment Association) supported the concept but urged robust stakeholder engagement and cautioned against over-broad definitions of overcharging or junk fees. A renter testified about being billed through third-party service Conservice, paying administration and submeter fees, and being charged a $50 late rent fee when utility payment was late.
- Solid waste fee (Item 6): MEA supported fee cost recovery. Dr. Hoskins (Alvarado Park) urged caution not to push homeowners out; John Royal called the fee a "tax increase hidden underneath a trash fee"; Paul Kruger urged waiting for the IBA report and criticized the outreach process as not clearly communicating additional costs; Rachel Hayes questioned the $53/month figure; Marty Graham, a senior on fixed income, opposed doubling recycling and requested release of the cost-of-service survey; AFSCME Local 127 expressed support while asking that frontline employees be prioritized.
- SDG&E agreement (Item 7): Multiple speakers (Lori Saldania, Serena Pelka of Climate Action Campaign, Blair Beekman, Saad Asad, Danny Avicia) raised concerns about closed-door negotiation summits, rate affordability, lack of community input, and urged transparency and community representation in future summits.
- Non-agenda comment: Speakers raised smoke-free/vape-free multi-unit housing policy, pesticide contamination in legal marijuana products, digital divide issues, and solar access for low-income neighborhoods.
Discussion Items
Item 5: Proposed ordinance to protect customers from unfair costs and fees for city-provided utility services Chair Rivera introduced the item as a response to concerns that property owners could overcharge tenants for city-provided water, wastewater, and (future) waste management services under Measure B tax-roll billing. The proposed ordinance aims to: protect residential and commercial tenants, prohibit property owners from overcharging for city-provided utilities, prohibit junk fees, and establish tenants' right to request itemized charge breakdowns. Chair Rivera characterized this as preventing private interests from profiting off essential public services. Eight in-person and numerous virtual speakers testified in support. Council President Lakaba initially expressed hesitancy but after briefing stated full support, noting that the commercial portion would only apply to water/wastewater. He asked that staff circle back with stakeholders not yet engaged. The motion passed unanimously.
Item 6: Authorization to set a public hearing date pursuant to Proposition 218 for a new solid waste management fee Staff (Kirby Brady, Interim Director, and Jeremy Bauer, Assistant Director) delivered a 25-minute presentation. Key facts: Measure B passed in November 2022; the city provides weekly trash and organics, biweekly recycling to ~250,000 customers, with 200+ drivers, 175+ trucks, 35 million container lifts per year, and 300,000+ tons of trash collected annually (150,000 tons diverted). Outreach reached ~5,000 people in person and ~5,000 virtually, with ~250,000 exposure via TV/social media. Proposed fee schedule: ~$53/month for the standard 95-gallon trash container, with smaller containers at reduced rates and additional container fees; payment via tax roll. Proposed service enhancements: dedicated missed-collection crews, spare trucks, free container replacement from day one, new gray RFID-enabled containers, a customer portal, and (in year three, July 1, 2027) weekly recycling and curbside bulky-item pickup (two vouchers per year). Proposed financial assistance program: $3 million/year from the general fund, with scenarios covering 1.5% to 10% of customers depending on subsidy level. The city would realize ~$60 million in general fund savings in FY26. Comparison rates: Long Beach $67.63/month, Sacramento $57.79/month. IBA Charles Matica noted proposed rates are higher than his office estimated 2.5 years ago due to a smaller customer base (250,000 vs. 285,000 assumed), expanded services, and inflation; full review to be delivered in March. The City Attorney noted legal review is ongoing. Public testimony was mixed—MEA and climate groups supported; several residents raised concerns about costs and transparency. Committee approved the staff recommendation unanimously, moving the item to full council in late March and setting the Prop 218 hearing for early June.
Item 7: Revised Energy Cooperation Agreement with SDG&E Megan (Sustainability & Mobility Department program manager) presented a seven-minute update. The ECA, signed in March 2021 as a corollary to the electric and gas franchises, was renegotiated through a cooperation summit from September 2024 to January 2025. Continuing commitments include: $1 million annually of SDG&E shareholder funds (first 10 years) for a solar equity program for income-qualifying residents, support for the city's benchmarking ordinance, planting 2,500 trees, wildfire safety coordination, and coordination with San Diego Community Power. Revisions align the ECA with the 2022 Climate Action Plan, add measurable goals and timelines (response to the first franchise audit), reflect the current energy landscape, increase coordination on affordable housing energization, and improve council/public reporting. An implementation plan is due within 120 days of final approval. Oversight includes an independent auditor every two years and a Franchise Compliance Review Committee. Council President Lakaba engaged SDG&E's Brittany on energization data (SDG&E committed to sharing semi-annual CPUC reports with the city) and discussed brush management protocols. Staff also addressed SB 1221 and bidirectional EV charging. Chair Rivera offered four amendments accepted by staff: (1) Section 6B — remove obsolete White House references; (2) Section 7A — require SDG&E to account for inflation in its solar equity program commitment; (3) Section 11C — focus on SDG&E actions addressing costs, not just affordability; (4) Section 11D — committee chairs, not SDG&E, determine how and when updates are presented. The motion passed unanimously; the item will go to the Climate Advisory Committee and then full council.
Item 8: 2025 Environment Committee Work Plan (Information) Chair Rivera presented the draft work plan incorporating priorities from Council President Lakaba and Vice Chair Campbell. Public commenters requested prioritization weighting, consideration of federal funding uncertainties, and specific attention to clean air enforcement and smoke-free policies.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar (4 items) passed unanimously 3-0.
- Item 5 (tenant utility billing protections) passed unanimously; staff directed to draft ordinance language with stakeholder engagement.
- Item 6 (Prop 218 solid waste fee) passed unanimously; public hearing process initiated; IBA review due in March; full council consideration scheduled for late March.
- Item 7 (revised SDG&E Energy Cooperation Agreement) passed unanimously with four amendments.
- Item 8 (2025 work plan) received as information.
- Next Environment Committee meeting: Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 1 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Uh good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Environment Committee meeting of February 13th, 2025. Our committee liaison, Sarah Jordan will that's not right. Nah. We'll put we'll provide information and instruction for the public to participate in today's meeting. Natalie, please proceed. Thank you, Chair. Well, members of the public are able to attend the meetings in person. This meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and the council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform. Members of the public who wish to provide testimony via a call-in or an internet based service option must enter the virtual speaking queue within five minutes after the conclusion of in-person public testimony or before the virtual speaking queue is exhausted, whichever occurs first. This will allow for better meeting management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct city business. We appreciate the public's cooperation. Chair. Thank you, Natalie. With that, we'll call the environment committee meeting of February 13th, 2025 to order. If you would please call the role. And Chair Ilo Rivera. Present. Also attending the meeting today is City Attorney Rep City Attorney Representative Nicole Dinao, Mayor Representative Randy Wilde, and our independent budget analyst, Charles Matica. If you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of the committee room and place it in the speaker slip box at the table at the front of the room. Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper meeting management. Members of the public can join the webinar by computer, tablet, or smartphone by accessing the accessing the link listed on the preamble language of the agenda on the city's website. To join the Zoom webinar by telephone, please dial 1669-2545252. When prompted, the webinar ID is 161-907-2156 pound. This information is also available on the agenda and will appear on the screen during the public comment period for each agenda item. Please note that if you are watching via City TV 24 or online, there may be a delay. Please participate via the audio on your phone and mute your TV or computer when it is your turn to speak. If you wish to speak in our on a particular item, please wait for that item to be called. And then raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon, or if you're a call-in participant, press star nine on your phone. If you raise your hand during a non-comment period, your hand will be lowered. Chair. The newly adopted rates provide an average 2.8% decrease from last year for the community power portion of customer electricity bills, which is great news. San Diego Community Power and Partners San Diego Foundation and Calpine Energy are also offering $600,000 in grants to support local nonprofits pursuing clean energy projects. Proposed projects or programs must serve community power customers and support energy literacy, energy education, electrification, green for green workforce development or energy resiliency. Applications are being accepted now through March 14th and interested parties can apply through San Diego Foundation at SD foundation.org slash apply. Thank you. Thank you for that Randy. Not seeing any additional requests for uh for comments we'll see if there's any requests for continuance on today's agenda. Hearing none, let's move to our agenda and begin with the approval of our consent items any requests to pull items from consent agenda. All right hearing none Sarah if you would please Natalie if you'd please proceed thank you the public comment period for the consent agenda is now open and the consent agenda includes item one approval of the committee minutes of November 14th 2024. Item two authorize an agreement with Allied waste systems incorporated, otherwise known as Republic Services for Trash and Recycling Collection Services at City Facilities. And item three award of Hawthorne machinery contract for the lease and maintenance of heavy duty equipment for the Miramar landfill and item number four is potable water emergency interconnection agreement with the city of Poway. Please note that each speaker will have one minute per item please as a reminder please indicate which item or items you are speaking to and each speaker will have a maximum of three minutes. We have received one speaker slip from an individual in the committee room Blair Beekman please approach the lectern you've indicated that you wish to speak to all four items so you'll have three minutes hi hello mics are the mics working I guess they're working hi Blair Beekman I will only be needing uh about one minute uh I only wanted to really speak on item one. Um to quickly comment on item three good luck on uh the the Miramar landfill uh heavy duty equipment item thank you that you're offering accountability I guess I'll need two minutes because I'm speaking on this item item three here uh you are speaking to um uh Miramar landfill heavy duty equipment issues and um I I hope this can be part of a good accountability process for the Miramar landfill I've seen some items I've questioned some of the practices of the landfill but uh items that you have but it's hopeful if it's open and accountable that's the best we can do so thank you that uh this sort of item is on your agenda today. Um to now we go to item one approval of committee minutes one of the items was about the future of uh climate issues for the uh future of the port of San Diego what their committee can be working towards towards better climate issues with the Navy plane accident yesterday in the happening in the bay um I used to live over like around the third and market uh old Chinatown area um the planes when I first were there were not really uh flying around the bay very much and then the more I was living there the more they're flying around um I I is that an issue that needs to be addressed uh here or someplace that uh there's been a little bit too much of Navy flying possibly over the bay and then they can possibly develop different routes to go straight out to the ocean people are working in the bay I mean people really could have got hurt yesterday and thankfully nobody did um I hope that's something we can talk about here and can be worked on and discussed I guess that's the main issue it can be discussed. Thank you thank you this concludes in-person public testimony on the consent agenda so we will now move to the virtual queue I've started the five minute timer for all those in the virtual queue to indicate that they wish to speak to the consent agenda please indicate which item or items you are speaking to we will begin with iPhone iPhone if you can please indicate which items yes go ahead and just say each of them for for now I don't think I'll take the full three minutes but okay please begin. Thank you. And I realize you'll be discussing similar issues in uh at other times, but since it was brought up last month, I wanted to just give a preview of concerns as someone who lives near several of these, they're in neighborhoods, and even when there are people not staying there, they're filling their recycling bins and trash, presumably from other uh residences that they are renting out as well.
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