Highlights from the CAP Update Spring General Update Workshop

06/14/23

As part of the public involvement process for the Climate Action Plan Update (CAP Update), the County is conducting outreach and engagement to keep stakeholders aware of progress made on the CAP Update and continue to provide opportunities to receive feedback.

On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, County staff held a virtual public workshop to discuss CAP Update measures, implementation components, and timeline. In advance of the meeting, staff promoted the event through e-blasts and social media posts.

During the event, 26 participants joined representing residents of the unincorporated area, environmental and industry groups, and staff from other local jurisdictions or consultant firms.

If you were unable to attend the meeting, the summary below provides an overview of the meeting objectives and format, how input was solicited, and what we learned from the meeting participants. A video recording (English and Spanish) and presentation slides (English and Spanish) are also available. Find information on all of our past CAP Update public workshops here.

Objectives

The meeting was organized and conducted to accomplish the following objectives: 

  • Create a comfortable, engaging environment where all participants have an opportunity to provide meaningful input and share concerns.  
  • Explain how the CAP Update will be organized and what will be included.
  • Share information on the potential measures to be included in the CAP Update.
  • Begin conversations and solicit feedback around implementation of the CAP.

Format

At the virtual meeting, community members participated in a staff-led presentation and polling questions along with staff facilitated breakout rooms. Throughout the workshop, participants were invited to share their perspectives through the chat, polls, Q&A feature, and an open discussion.

Simultaneous interpretation was available for attendees whose primary language is Spanish. Registrants could also request the presentation be interpreted in the other seven threshold languages prior to the workshop. The meeting materials were offered in Spanish and a breakout room for Spanish speakers was also made available.

Major Themes

Major themes common to all the input received from participants are listed below. The ordering does not reflect importance or frequency.

  • It’s important to coordinate with and leverage other efforts happening around the region.
  • The County needs to take swift action to address climate change and be compliant with existing State laws and regulations.

Breakout Rooms

Staff facilitated two rounds of five breakout rooms, one for each emissions reduction sector, to give participants an opportunity to provide input on two sectors since many individuals have multiple interests or areas of expertise. After a presentation on the draft CAP Update measures, the main prompt for the breakout rooms was, “What would these measures look like in your community?” Themes from the breakout rooms are highlighted below.

Energy

  • A regional analyses of natural gas infrastructure is needed.
  • Make sure labor organizations are involved.
  • Consider energy as a just and equitable resource/transition.

Built Environment and Transportation

  • Expand access to safe active transportation opportunities in village centers, e.g., sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways.
  • Since most emissions come from transportation, the County should do all it can to reduce emissions from this sector.

Agriculture and Conservation

  • Transition away from a focus on planting trees to instead maintaining trees and making sure they are supported, especially in the first three years of life.
  • Expand existing residential tree requirement to include multi-family residential developments.

Water and Wastewater

  • How the County CAP connects to water issues associated with the border.
  • Emphasized the delicate topic of water in the region.

Solid Waste

  • Interested in learning more about partnerships with private industries.
  • Interested in learning more about how the County’s CAP can relate to other CAPs in the region.

Poll Responses

Staff asked five questions throughout the workshop, and a total of 14 workshop participants responded.

For the first question, staff asked participants to identify themselves.

I am a…
Total responses  9
Unique participants  9
Responses: Count:              
Resident of the unincorporated county 2
Representative of an environmental group 1
Representative of an industry group (e.g., labor, building, etc.) 2
Representative of a community-based organization 0
County employee 0
Other (e.g., local jurisdiction staff, consultant staff, etc.) 4

For the second question, staff asked participants to identify which of the shared measures components was most important to them.

Which of the measure components is most important to you?
Total responses  6
Unique participants  6
Responses: Count:
Timeline 1
GHG Emissions Reductions 3
Cost 0
Implementing Department 0
Equity-Based Outcomes 2
Co-Benefits 0

For the third question, staff asked participants to select two of the five measure sectors that are of most interest to them.

Which of the following sectors MOST interest you? Choose two
Total responses  18
Unique participants  9
Responses: Count:                 Percent:              
Solid Waste 1 5.56%
Energy 7 38.89%
Agriculture and Conservation 3 16.67%
Water and Wastewater 0 0%
Built Environment and Transportation 7 38.89%

The fourth and fifth questions were tied to the previous workshop staff hosted on co-benefits. During that workshop, participants were asked to collaboratively create a definition of co-benefits. During this Spring Overview workshop, the final draft definition was presented to get additional input and suggestions for any needed edits.

"Holistic benefits for our region and people that create healthy, resilient, and equitable communities and economies through climate action." Do you think this definition accurately describes co-benefits?
Total responses  6
Unique participants  6
Responses: Count:    Percent:
Completely accurate 0 0%
Mostly accurate 5 83.33%
Somewhat accurate 0 0%
Slightly accurate 1 16.67%
Not accurate at all 0 0%
What elements of the definition do you really like or think we need to change?
Responses:
The definition covers up the extreme danger we face.
Since we are probably going to end most life, it is foolish to talk about co-benefits. Extinction is overwhelming. Nothing is worse than starving to death
If I could suggest to include calling out the intersectionality of these elements, so that we aren't looking at them linear, and instead intersecting one another. You kind of get there with the world "holistic" but for better integration of equity, I would add the word intersectionality.
Add in: anti-racist communities
Equitable distribution is very important
Use more common language
"and economies" feels a bit awkward - why is this included?

What's next?

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