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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEQCB Min 2007-07-25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 1CITY OF SEAL BEACH Environmental Quality Control Board Minutes of July 25, 2007 Chairperson Voce called the meeting of the Environmental Quality Control Board (EQCB) to order at 6:32 p.m. on Wednesday, July 25, 2007. The meeting was held in City Council Chambers and began with the Salute to the Flag. Roll Call Present: Chairperson Voce, Members Barton, Hurley, Neal, and Vineyard Also Present: Department of Development Services Jerry Olivera, Senior Planner Absent: None II Approval of Agenda Member Hurley requested that Item No.2 be removed for further discussion. MOTION by Hurley; SECOND by Barton to approve the Agenda as amended. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5-0 Voce, Barton, Hurley, Neal, and Vineyard None None III Oral Communications None. IV Consent Calendar 1. Receive and File - "Final Third Annual Groundwater Monitoring Report - IR Sites 5 & 7 - Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach." 1 These Minutes were transcribed from an audiotape of the meeting 1of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 3. Receive and File - "Notice of Preparation of A Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) For the 2008 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and 2008 Regional Comprehensive Plan (RCP)." 4. Receive and File Presentation Re: "At Berth Vessel (Shore Power) Regulation." 5. Receive and File Presentation Re: "Update On the Implementation of the 2005 ARB/Railroad Statewide Agreement." MOTION by Hurley; SECOND by Vineyard to approve the Consent Calendar as amended. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5-0 Voce, Barton, Hurley, Neal, and Vineyard None None V Scheduled Matters 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - May 30,2007. Recommendation: Approve Minutes subject to any corrections determined appropriate. Members Hurley and Vineyard abstained from voting on this item as they were not in attendance at the meeting of May 30,2007. MOTION by Barton; SECOND by Neal to approve the Meeting Minutes of May 30, 2007, as presented. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: 3-0-0-2 Voce, Barton, and Neal None None Hurley and Vineyard 7. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - June 27,2007. Recommendation: Approve Minutes subject to any corrections determined appropriate. Member Hurley noted the following corrections to the minutes: Page 1, Line 20 - Page 2, Line 18 - Should be noted that Barton and Vineyard were both excused. Should read "might be improved in the future. . . " 2of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Page 2, Line 27 - Should add the following text: "Mr. Olivera stated that he would provide answers for Member Hurley." Page 3, Line 17 - Add the following: ". . . elections that the Board voted on March 28, 2007, to take place at the May 2007 meeting, and asked. . ." Members Barton and Vineyard abstained from voting on this item as they were not in attendance at the meeting of June 27, 2007. MOTION by Barton; SECOND by Neal to approve the Meeting Minutes of June 27, 2007, as amended. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: 3-0-0-2 Voce, Hurley, and Neal None None Barton and Vineyard 8. Consideration of Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman Recommendation: Provide Direction to Staff. Receive and File Staff Report. Mr. Olivera noted that City Council had recommended that all committee and board elections be deferred until after the General Election in November 2007, as there would probably be changes to the board or committee members based upon election results. Member Hurley referred to Paragraph 2 of the Staff Report and noted that the Board exercised this authority at the March 28, 2007 meeting. Staff failed to schedule elections as voted by the Board, and the board deserves to be told why this occurred, as to date no explanation has been given. He indicated that when elections are held, he will decline any nomination. He then referred to Paragraph 1 of the Staff Report and stated that at another time the explanation was given that City Council had asked the boards and commissions to defer elections until after November 2007. He said that he believes the reasoning behind the delay until December 2007 is faulty for this Board's elections, as a maximum of only two members on the EQCB could change, permitting a reasonable expectation of continuity on the Board's operation. He noted that if new members join the Board in December, there would be a strong temptation to delay elections while the new members are broken in, which could delay elections until March or April of 2008, completing three years without elections, which he believes to be absurd. Member Hurley stated that elections should be held at the regular meeting of August 29, 2007. 3of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Member Neal asked how the Council members were associated with the EQCB. Member Barton explained that the newly elected Council members will be deciding upon their appointees to the EQCB. Chairperson Voce asked if Council had actually voted on deferring elections until after the General Elections. Mr. Olivera stated that Council had recommended this, but had not voted on it. Chairperson Voce confirmed that this had been the consensus of Council, and Mr. Olivera stated that this was the case. Chairperson Voce stated that elections could be conducted at the August 29, 2007, EQCB meeting, as requested by Member Hurley; however, he believes that the Board should honor City Council's request. Chairperson Voce called for a brief recess to allow for review of the bylaws to determine what the procedure should be. The meeting reconvened and, as no definitive information was found, Chairperson Voce asked if the Board wished to table this item until the August 29,2007 meeting. Member Hurley noted that an election could not be held if the item was placed on the agenda as only a discussion. Chairperson Voce recommended presenting two agenda items: one for discussion and one to conduct the elections on August 29,2007. Member Hurley noted that his statement that he would decline any nomination had nothing to do with his being unhappy with any treatment received while serving as Vice- Chairperson. Chairperson Voce asked for a motion to table this item and requested that Staff review the City Council minutes to reference any discussion on the issue of elections and also to review the EQCB bylaws and report to the Board as to what the procedure for elections should be. He then requested that both a discussion item and an election item be placed on the next meeting agenda. MOTION by Hurley; SECOND by Barton to table consideration of election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman until the next scheduled meeting of August 29,2007. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5-0 Voce, Hurley, and Neal None None 9. Discussion Re: Sustainable Development and Receive and File Documents: "How Should California Grow," "Designing Sustainable Buildings," "Green Cohousing," "Oregon Green," "Leed Versus Green Globes," "Green Firsts," and "Addressing Climate Change: Think Globally, Act Locally." Recommendation: Report. Provide direction to Staff. Receive and file Staff 4of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 Staff Report 2 3 Mr. Olivera stated that the Director of Development Services had compiled several 4 articles related to building "green." 5 6 Chairperson Voce indicated that these articles have been provided in response to his 7 request that the City begin to incorporate more environmentally friendly standards into 8 its development requirements. He noted that in response the Director of Development 9 Services has provided these articles on an information basis. He stated that the EQCB 10 may elect to act on some of this information by making recommendations to City 11 Council on the future of new development. 12 13 Mr. Olivera added that this has been a growing trend with a number of cities throughout 14 the state of California. He explained that cities have begun providing incentives to 15 builders to incorporate green elements into new developments. Chairperson Voce 16 asked if the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has made any 17 statements related to building green. Mr. Olivera stated that he is not aware of SCAG 18 getting involved in this issue. 19 20 Member Barton asked how much weight any recommendations by the EQCB would 21 carry. Chairperson Voce noted that the EQCB could bring this issue to the attention of 22 City Council and the Planning Commission. Member Barton commented that some of 23 these standards could be incorporated into the Zoning Code (ZC) revisions. 24 Chairperson Voce recommended that, in the interim until the next scheduled meeting, 25 Board members compile a list of proposed standards to be presented to Staff for 26 discussion, and this would help the Board formulate its recommendations to the 27 Planning Commission. He also suggested notifying the Planning Commission that the 28 EQCB is in the process of compiling its proposals for incorporating environmental 29 standards/incentives into the ZC revisions. 30 31 Member Hurley requested a definition of "sustainable," noting that his definition means 32 that something has the capacity of existing comfortably for an indefinite period of time 33 into the future. He also asked what the consensus was for the term "green." He then 34 noted that the author of "Designing Sustainable Buildings" advocates building up to 35 accommodate more people on less land. Member Hurley asked why the City's ZC 36 could not allow structures greater than 35 feet on properties north of the Hellman Ranch 37 property. Chairperson Voce explained that people in Seal Beach oppose tall structures 38 that would obstruct their view, sunlight, and the breeze, and that would take away from 39 their civil rights as members of the community. He indicated that the Board must decide 40 what would be best for Seal Beach in proposing future new development and provided 41 suggestions such as solar panels to provide energy for homes and electric vehicles, 42 water quality enhancement features, and prevention of air pollution. 43 44 Member Barton asked if there were any information on "greening" that would be more 45 appropriate to small towns. Chairperson Voce suggested finding out what the City of 46 Long Beach is doing. Mr. Olivera commented that the reason there may not be as 5of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 much information available for smaller towns is that larger cities like Chicago and Los Angeles get the biggest benefit from building green, while smaller cities usually do not have the resources to implement many of these recommendations, and with a smaller population, the impacts from building green may not be as visible as they would be in a city of 2-3 million people. He said that Staff would research information available for smaller communities. MOTION by Barton; SECOND by Hurley to Receive and file Staff Report and table this discussion until the next scheduled meeting of August 29,2007. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5-0 Voce, Barton, Hurley, Neal, and Vineyard None None 2. Receive and File - Final Recommendations By The Association Of Environmental Professionals (AEP) Re: "Alternative Approaches To Analyzing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Global Climate Change In CEQA Documents." Member Hurley referred to Paragraph 1, Line 3 of Page 1 of the Report and asked if the City is subject to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. Mr. Olivera responded that NEPA requirements apply only to projects initiated by the federal government or that receive federal funds. Member Hurley then asked when the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) includes global climate change requirements and would these apply to any of the projects within Seal Beach. Mr. Olivera stated that currently there are no projects that are subject to these requirements, and\, as he understands, jurisdictions throughout the state are still in the process of studying this issue. MOTION by Hurley; SECOND by Neal to Receive and File Final Recommendations by The Association Of Environmental Professionals (AEP) Re: "Alternative Approaches To Analyzing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Global Climate Change in CEQA Documents." MOTION CARRIED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 4-1 Voce, Barton, Hurley, and Neal Vineyard None VI Staff Concerns None. 6of7 City of Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board Meeting Minutes of July 25, 2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 VII Board Concerns Member Barton inquired about the char broiler emissions from Hennessey's Grill. Mr. Olivera stated that he has not yet heard from the Air Quality Management District (AQMD), and is uncertain as to how to proceed until he hears from them. Chairperson Voce noted that this could be included as one of the recommendations to be made to Staff at the next meeting. Member Hurley reiterated his concerns to Staff regarding the delay in conducting Board elections for Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Mr. Olivera stated that he would review the minutes of March 28, 2007, to determine why this item was not placed on the May 2007 agenda. VIII Adjournment There being no objections, Chairperson Voce adjourned the meeting at 7:39 p.m. to the next scheduled August 29,2007, meeting date. Respectfully Submitted, C'~f'-~~ Carmen Alvarez, Executive Secretary Department of Development Services The Board on August 29, 2007, approved the Minutes of the Environmental Quality Control Board of Wednesday, July 25,2007. ~ . - 7of7