|
Will Nelson, lead staff on the General Plan, and Tanya Sundberg, PlaceWorks Project Manager for the General Plan, provided an overview of the draft Environmental Justice (EJ) goals, actions, and policies for the General Plan update.
Sundberg presented how the environmental justice will be woven into the General Plan update as one of its four major themes, according to the Committee’s direction. All of the environmental justice-related materials will be denoted throughout the General Plan and be compiled into an appendix at the end of the General Plan. Additionally, Sundberg discussed the outreach within the six identified disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the unincorporated County, noting that the General Plan itself focuses on county-wide policies, though community-specific policies are available as a result of the outreach to the six identified DACs.
Supervisor Glover asked about the attendance to these meetings with DACs noting that, of the 19 meetings held, many of them were held in his district. Sundberg answered that staff conducted several rounds of meetings early in the process of gathering information for the General Plan update in person. There were higher levels of participation in the earlier rounds. A separate series of meetings focused on countywide collaboration and were specific to environmental justice, health, and sustainability. The first meeting on this topic in person had low participation of around 10 people; a more recent meeting held online drew over 50 participants.
Sundberg gave a summary of the input that the Sustainability Commission gave with a segue into the priority discussion items for the Sustainability Committee to give specific direction for the General Plan update.
The first item on which staff sought guidance on was Goal EJ-G which posits the question over whether expenditures on DACs should be prioritized and if this should be institutionalized in the County’s annual budgeting process. Gioia brought up the term “equitable” found in the land use element and how it did not specifically address race, disparity, or justice. Supervisor Glover added that it was necessary to be clear. Nelson recalled a comment from North Richmond that echoed a similar sentiment, clarifying that when writing the background and contextual material for the General Plan, he envisions an honest discussion on environmental justice which puts into writing the things that have been previously avoided. In 2021, the draft document will be put together for the public to see. Glover added that communities of disparity, the ones we continue to overlook, need to be prioritized and he thinks it needs to be done through budgeting processes. Gioia agreed.
Sundberg went on to the next priority topic: Goal EJ-A on equitable social and economic advantages. The question revolves around if project impacts to DACs should be allowed if there are community benefits. Community members Nick Despota, Jan Warren, and Betty Lobos all commented on allowing environmental impacts as a tradeoff and offered suggestions like looking beyond community benefits toward environmental impacts when thinking about permitting for industrial processes or having an environmentally-focused committee of people to make these sorts of judgements.
Gioia responded by thinking beyond oil refinery projects, reminding people that the goal when thinking about projects is to always mitigate impacts on the community. Community benefit is important, but mitigation is always the number one goal. He gave the example of the two warehouse projects in North Richmond that have opportunities for harm and good. The projects have the opportunity to contribute to air pollution because of diesel truck operation, and also create jobs. Land use conditions were implemented to enforce the use of zero emission trucks and contribute to effective project mitigation. Gioia emphasized that the goal is to ensure that all impacts are properly mitigated. Sundberg agreed and said that she would work on revising the language to make it clear that the aim is on impact mitigation.
Gioia added that he would like land use conditions to mitigate project impacts and asked where this would fit into the General Plan. Nelson asked whether it should be a countywide policy. The Committee discussed the significant impacts of a project. Glover stated that significant impacts should be accounted for in any type of approval. Gioia added that with any impact, there should be community benefit. Nelson asked for clarification on whether projects should provide benefits beyond the inherent benefits associated with projects. Gioia responded that yes, there should be a drive to go above and beyond even for less than significant impacts when it comes to benefits. ioia commented on Policy A-3 asking about early and substantial community engagement being involved in all projects. Nelson said that the current project notification requirements are insufficient and community engagement has untapped potential. Glover said that any discussion around community benefit should be separate because mitigations should be part of the project’s analysis. Nelson said that CEQA cannot be relied on entirely because CEQA only focuses on mitigating direct impacts and there needs to be clear language in the General Plan about mitigation.
Sundberg directed the conversation to the next priority topic, Goal EJ-D on equitable jobs and economic stability, asking for the Commission’s direction on what level of involvement the county should have in the local hiring program and job training for the just transition. Gioia said that we should establish a first source hiring program and that there is no need to explore feasibility. Gioia also commented upon the phrase “best efforts” asking if it could be removed. Sundberg said that the wording could be refined, though there are legal considerations that must be addressed. Glover observed that some companies provide in-house, on-the-job training to create a pool of people with the necessary skill set. Glover added that there is a need to create training centers. Gioia said there should be high schools and community colleges that offer programs to train people for jobs that will be in demand. Gioia clarified that instead of just looking to retrain people working in the fossil fuel industry to take on green jobs, there should be general language around the creation of well-paying jobs in the new energy economy, some of which will be industrial and some will not.
Sundberg led the discussion onto the next priority topic, Goal EJ-A on equitable social and economic advantages, in the context of taking action in the county to look into the feasibility of establishing a public bank. Community member Jan Warren was supportive of exploring the possibility of the public bank, citing other Bay Area areas that were looking further into public banks as well. Jody London noted that she served on the advisory committee for the City of Oakland’s recently adopted Equitable Climate Action Plan, in which process there was considerable interest in establishing a public bank. Glover concluded that with the support heard from public comment that it was fine to move forward in exploring the possibilities of creating a public bank.
Sundberg moved on to the next priority topic, Goal EJ-C on safe and sanitary homes, asking the Commission for guidance on whether or not to continue to support no net loss of affordable housing and rent control. Community members Jan Warren, Charles Davidson, Nick Despota, and Betty Lobos stated that they would like to see no net loss of affordable housing. Despota brought up wildfires and housing displacement in the future and stated that this issue should be taken into consideration. Lobos asked if there were commitments elsewhere to increasing affordable housing rather than maintaining no net loss. Supervisor Gioia noted there are many policies on increasing affordable housing, but this policy is solely discussing affordable housing in the context of environmental justice.
Sundberg added that the housing element was recently updated with policies and programs aimed at affordable housing for a range of incomes and affordability levels. This policy is just about housing within the environmental justice context in response to SB 1000. Sundberg clarified that, in particular, the policy would ensure that there would be no net loss of affordable housing. Gioia questioned if this venue would be the best mechanism to raise the topic of rent control. If this action were moved forward, Gioia suggested the substitution of “explore” instead of “develop and implement” for the phrasing of Action C-1. Sundberg recommended this be removed for now.
Gioia mentioned the food ordinance and the policy to increase access to fresh food in disadvantaged communities, mentioning that there is an interest in exploring a co-op as either an action or policy. Glover added that in both Pittsburg in his district in East County and in Gioia’s district there is interest in exploring this.
Sundberg concluded the item with a summary of the process, which includes additional outreach to the six identified disadvantaged communities and further discussion about county-wide policies which will be given to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors after the outreach effort. Gioia requested that these draft environmental justice policies come back to the Sustainability Committee after community outreach efforts end and the Hazardous Materials Commission has a chance to give its recommendations.
Michael Kent discussed the outreach effort regarding filling the environmental justice seat on the Hazardous Materials Commission.
|