Important Updates to the Proposed Green Building Retrofit Program: Sonoma County takes lead
UPDATE:
The following Status Updates explain changes to this evolving program from the period May 2009 through January 2010. Please read through this important material.
STATUS UPDATE: May 2009
Delivering on the request by Santa Rosa City Council, city staff presents an implementation plan and budget for the recommended greenhouse gas reduction measures. On May 19th, the Council approved the $1.1 million startup costs and $200-300,000 ongoing costs to implement the Green Building Committee recommendations. The retrofit program is expected to last ten to fifteen years with the aforementioned ongoing costs. These are only city staff costs. Remember that the cost of solar array alone is estimated at up to $500 MILLION dollars.
STATUS UPDATE: Late-Summer 2009
After aggressive flyering by the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition generated thousands of negative phone calls to the mayor, City Staff acknowledges that the city will be setting aside the creation of their own residential upgrade standards. The County had recently put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) for firms to develop a county-wide standard for the retrofit program. The City intends to adopt the county plan developed and will likely add additional requirements to “raise the bar.” The City will proceed with the other recommendations of the December 2008 report in the meantime.
STATUS UPDATE: December 2009
The County has awarded the Countywide Retrofit/Renewables Program development contract to BKI, a Dutch firm with an office in the East Bay. Outreach to the community is required by the contract. In it’s response to the RFP, BKI proposed two tiers of community input in developing the plan. The proposed upper tier is populated by environmental activist organizations. The second tier is populated by additional environmental activist groups, unions, contractors, transportation groups, realtors and (grudgingly?) property owners. Historic preservation is never mentioned in the lengthy document, and no preservation groups are listed as stakeholders. The county states that the program will be voluntary, but that the intention is to generate a wave of enthusiasm for the program and stigmatize those who do not participate. The inspection program is intended to produce a simple “Miles Per Gallon”-type figure for each tested property that will become a permanent disclosure item attached to each property title. Here is an interesting quote from the successful bidder’s proposal:
“• Why should I retrofit my home, business facility, or rental?
Short answer: To save money on utility bills, make it safer and healthier for its occupants, more valuable, less costly to keep up and manage, and a positive force in local community and global environmental improvement. This is particularly important here, since the deep energy retrofits required to meet the stated goals will often NOT be “cost-effective” in the limited sense of justifying the expenditure solely through utility bill savings. A broader value proposition, as well as affordable financing, will be essential. The County’s program must not rely on the unreasonable expectations about cost-effectiveness often put forward by inexperienced implementers.” (Emphasis added)
STATUS UPDATE: January 2010
The State finalizes its first Green Building Code on January 12th. Despite the inclusion of the Build It Green (BIG) and USGBC (LEED) organizations in the development of the plan, and despite heavy lobbying by these groups and their proponents, the State repudiates these 3rd party standards and delivers a two-tier system called CalGreen. This is done specifically to marginalize these for-profit systems. Santa Rosa has required the application of Build It Green standards to new residential work and LEED for new commercial construction for several years now.
Both the original city plan and preliminary county retrofit plans require home inspections/testing and application of Build It Green standards to EXISTING residential upgrades, to which it is particularly ill-suited.
The following Status Updates explain changes to this evolving program from the period May 2009 through January 2010. Please read through this important material.
STATUS UPDATE: May 2009
Delivering on the request by Santa Rosa City Council, city staff presents an implementation plan and budget for the recommended greenhouse gas reduction measures. On May 19th, the Council approved the $1.1 million startup costs and $200-300,000 ongoing costs to implement the Green Building Committee recommendations. The retrofit program is expected to last ten to fifteen years with the aforementioned ongoing costs. These are only city staff costs. Remember that the cost of solar array alone is estimated at up to $500 MILLION dollars.
STATUS UPDATE: Late-Summer 2009
After aggressive flyering by the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition generated thousands of negative phone calls to the mayor, City Staff acknowledges that the city will be setting aside the creation of their own residential upgrade standards. The County had recently put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) for firms to develop a county-wide standard for the retrofit program. The City intends to adopt the county plan developed and will likely add additional requirements to “raise the bar.” The City will proceed with the other recommendations of the December 2008 report in the meantime.
STATUS UPDATE: December 2009
The County has awarded the Countywide Retrofit/Renewables Program development contract to BKI, a Dutch firm with an office in the East Bay. Outreach to the community is required by the contract. In it’s response to the RFP, BKI proposed two tiers of community input in developing the plan. The proposed upper tier is populated by environmental activist organizations. The second tier is populated by additional environmental activist groups, unions, contractors, transportation groups, realtors and (grudgingly?) property owners. Historic preservation is never mentioned in the lengthy document, and no preservation groups are listed as stakeholders. The county states that the program will be voluntary, but that the intention is to generate a wave of enthusiasm for the program and stigmatize those who do not participate. The inspection program is intended to produce a simple “Miles Per Gallon”-type figure for each tested property that will become a permanent disclosure item attached to each property title. Here is an interesting quote from the successful bidder’s proposal:
“• Why should I retrofit my home, business facility, or rental?
Short answer: To save money on utility bills, make it safer and healthier for its occupants, more valuable, less costly to keep up and manage, and a positive force in local community and global environmental improvement. This is particularly important here, since the deep energy retrofits required to meet the stated goals will often NOT be “cost-effective” in the limited sense of justifying the expenditure solely through utility bill savings. A broader value proposition, as well as affordable financing, will be essential. The County’s program must not rely on the unreasonable expectations about cost-effectiveness often put forward by inexperienced implementers.” (Emphasis added)
STATUS UPDATE: January 2010
The State finalizes its first Green Building Code on January 12th. Despite the inclusion of the Build It Green (BIG) and USGBC (LEED) organizations in the development of the plan, and despite heavy lobbying by these groups and their proponents, the State repudiates these 3rd party standards and delivers a two-tier system called CalGreen. This is done specifically to marginalize these for-profit systems. Santa Rosa has required the application of Build It Green standards to new residential work and LEED for new commercial construction for several years now.
Both the original city plan and preliminary county retrofit plans require home inspections/testing and application of Build It Green standards to EXISTING residential upgrades, to which it is particularly ill-suited.
