• Home
  • About
  • Advertising
  • Digital Archives
  • Contact
    • Letter to Editor
  • Find us
Monday, February 18, 2019
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
La Mesa Courier
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
      • La Mesa News Briefs
    • Features
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Dianne Jacob
        • Summer Stephan
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Recipes
      • What’s cooking with Julie
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Gen-X in a Millennial World
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Expert Advice
    • Sponsored links
  • Community
    • Community Updates
      • La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club
      • Navajo Canyon Republican Women
    • Village Voices
    • Best Of La Mesa
  • Education
    • Grossmont High School
    • Helix Charter High School
  • Calendar
La Mesa Courier
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
      • La Mesa News Briefs
    • Features
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
        • Dianne Jacob
        • Summer Stephan
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Recipes
      • What’s cooking with Julie
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Gen-X in a Millennial World
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Expert Advice
    • Sponsored links
  • Community
    • Community Updates
      • La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club
      • Navajo Canyon Republican Women
    • Village Voices
    • Best Of La Mesa
  • Education
    • Grossmont High School
    • Helix Charter High School
  • Calendar
No Result
View All Result
La Mesa Courier
No Result
View All Result
Home News Features

City’s draft climate plan is released

July 28, 2017
in Features, News, Top Stories
3
City’s draft climate plan is released

(Courtesy of City of La Mesa)

0
SHARES
12
VIEWS

By Jeff Clemetson | Editor

La Mesa got one step closer to its goal of passing its Climate Action Plan (CAP) with the release of a draft copy this month.

The new draft of the CAP coincides with state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 40 percent below that by 2035. A previous draft only included the necessary reductions for 2020 goals and was criticized for not being a serious document — a complaint that the city wanted to rectify.

(Courtesy of City of La Mesa)

“We’re taking it seriously,” said Councilmember Kristine Alessio, who is also on the city’s CAP subcommittee. “[The new CAP] is not just going to be in name only — that was the major complaint with the original one.”

David Harris, public policy team vice chair for local environmental advocacy group SanDiego350, agrees that the city is taking the climate plan more seriously now and the new draft plan shows it listened to the public at workshops held to gather citizen input for the CAP. Specifically, he pointed to four new measures that were added to the plan: a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) component; a zero net energy construction component; a solid waste reduction component; and an urban forestry program.

‘We’re really happy to see the CCA program included in this new draft going out to 2035,” Harris said. CCA programs are where a city or a group of cities purchase clean energy direct from suppliers, rather than just relying on whatever power is supplied by local utilities such as SDG&E. This allows cities to choose how much green energy it will consume. La Mesa’s plan is to have a target of a 75 percent renewable energy portfolio by 2035 — a target Harris thinks is too low.

“Climate Action campaign and SanDiego350 are really pushing to have a goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2035,” he said. “The city of San Diego adopted that goal and we think every city should consider it.”

Another criticism Harris had of the draft plan is that the language for implementing a CCA in La Mesa was “pretty light,” even though much of the GHG reductions from 2020 to 2035 relied on one.

“We would have liked to see more information provided in the Climate Action Plan on CCA,” he said. “Really just to work with other cities on a feasibility study.”

Another program added to the CAP is the adoption of zero net energy (ZNE) construction standards for new residential construction starting in 2020 and new commercial construction starting in 2030. ZNE buildings consume only as much energy as can be generated with an onsite renewable energy system, such as solar panels.

“This is something that can be done at the local level with new construction and even with redevelopment to require that certain energy standards be met to zero net energy,” Harris said. “We know the technology is out there to do it. It’s just how much it will add to the cost of development and will that discourage development in La Mesa. I’m sure that’s a concern.”

The 129-page Climate Action Plan is available online at bit.ly/2v0yEAP.

The CAP’s solid waste strategy will mostly be carried out in conjunction with EDCO. The goal is to divert 75 percent or more of all waste from the landfills to recycling and composting.

“That’s a very doable thing,” Harris said. “Overall EDCO has a reputation of working well with cities. I would be optimistic about their ability to work toward that goal.”

The other new program added to the CAP is an urban forestry program that would expand the city’s tree canopy by promoting planting of trees in both new and existing neighborhoods, parks and business areas.

One of the more hot-button issues in the CAP is the transportation and land-use strategy section which, among other items like investing in electric vehicle charging stations and updating the city’s fleet with energy-efficient vehicles, calls for building higher density, mixed-use developments along the trolley line.

“Certainly, transit will be more successful if we can build up housing and retail businesses along our trolley corridor,” Harris said. “The potential is definitely there and it is going to take some political will to move forward on that.”

That could prove to be one of the hardest parts in implementing the CAP considering La Mesa’s historic reluctance to building high-density projects.

Getting the city’s residents and businesses on board and implementing the CAP will also take education and outreach — a determination reached by a cost benefit analysis — and that will involve hiring more staff.

“That’s really important because this is not just the city government of La Mesa becoming more efficient, this is about the businesses and residents and institutions working together to become more energy efficient to reduce greenhouse gasses. They realize that this will take a concerted effort and involve the public,” Harris said.

The next step is for the public to comment on the plan during the 45-day public review period starting Aug. 3. On Oct. 4, the CAP goes before the Planning Commission for review before sending a recommendation to the city council for its vote to be held sometime in November or December — the goal is to have a plan finalized by the end of the year.

“I think we’re further along than a majority of cities,” said Councilmember Bill Baber, who also serves on the CAP subcommittee. There isn’t a long precedent for how to do these. It’s tough to be at the cutting edge of it, but our staff is doing its best. Are we going to stumble? Yes, but we are going to reach our goal and I think that’s good for La Mesa.”

For more information on the La Mesa CAP, visit bit.ly/2v0yEAP.

—Reach Jeff Clemetson at jeff@sdcnn.com.

Next Post
Special education teacher honored

Special education teacher honored

Comments 3

  1. Joan R says:
    2 years ago

    Hopefully that goal will change from 75% to 100% renewable energy. It likely is perfectly doable now and they have till 2035 to achieve it.

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Letters to the Editor: Nov. 24 – Dec. 21, 2017 - La Mesa Courier
  3. Pingback: The top 5 story lines of 2017 - La Mesa Courier

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


More from SDCNN:
Uptown News: Into the Uptown jungle
Downtown News: ‘Thar she blows!’
Mission Times Courier: A holistic approach to fitness
Mission Valley News: Church celebrates 150 years
Gay San Diego: ‘Trans’formation

Like us on Instagram!

  • The 2019 Best of La Mesa ballot is out  Vote for your favorite local restaurants and businesses through March 3  Link in bio
  • Hot off the press  Pick up the latest issue of La Mesa Courier on newsstands or head on over to our updated website to read online  Link in bio            lamesa  lamesacourier  lamesanews  localnews  localnewspaper  hyperlocal
  • La Mesa Friday Farmers Market has been a boon for residents  but a bust for some brick and mortar businesses since it moved to La Mesa Boulevard  Get the full scoop in our latest La Mesa Courier cover story  out in print and up online  Website link in bio
  • Happy new year  Here at the La Mesa Courier were ringing in 2019 by reviewing our Best of La Mesa 2017 winners which were announced this year  Visit our website to check out who readers voted for best barber  best new business and more  Link in bio   LaMesa  LaMesaCourier  BestofLaMesa2017

Like us on Facebook:

La Mesa Courier

14 hours ago

La Mesa Courier

One of the most important things you can do to prevent yourself or a loved one from becoming a victim of a financial scam is to never provide your personal or financial information to anyone you don’t know or trust. ...

Phone scams: Don’t always believe caller ID

lamesacourier.com

This is especially true when it comes to getting cold calls on your phone.
View on Facebook
·Share

La Mesa Courier

© 2019 SDCNN. La Mesa Courier. San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN).

Navigate our site

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Follow us on social media

No Result
View All Result
  • A&E
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theater
  • News & Features
    • News
      • La Mesa News Briefs
    • Features
    • Politics
      • Elected Official Reports
  • Food & Drink
    • Bars & Happy Hours
    • Recipes
      • What’s cooking with Julie
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the editor
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Gen-X in a Millennial World
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Travel
  • Business
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Expert Advice
    • Sponsored links
  • Community
    • Community Updates
      • La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club
      • Navajo Canyon Republican Women
    • Village Voices
  • Education
    • Grossmont High School
    • Helix Charter High School
  • Best Of La Mesa
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives
  • Advertising
  • Calendar

© 2019 SDCNN. La Mesa Courier. San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN).

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In