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Farmers Branch sustainability panel readies council presentations, SolSmart resubmission
Summary
The Farmers Branch Sustainability Committee reviewed plans to present its annual update to City Council, discussed the Active Transportation Plan’s path to the council, and outlined next steps for a SolSmart certification resubmission after preliminary scoring issues.
The Farmers Branch Sustainability Committee on an evening meeting discussed upcoming council presentations and a resubmission for SolSmart certification, and staff described timing and documentation steps needed to reach a final score.
Committee members were told the committee’s annual update will be presented to the City Council in coming weeks; Alex, a city staff member, said a committee presentation is expected during a council meeting in early November and that the Active Transportation Plan and Complete Streets policy will go to council for formal adoption. Price, a committee member, said he will deliver the committee’s annual update to council as part of that agenda period. The two speakers referenced what sounded like different target dates during the meeting: Alex referenced November 4 as the council study-session date for some items and Price later referred to presenting on the twelfth. The committee did not reach a single confirmed council date in the meeting record.
Why it matters: the council presentation and formal adoption steps determine whether the Active Transportation Plan and Complete Streets policy move from committee work into city policy and funding discussions.
On SolSmart, Alex said the city received preliminary results that did not score some prerequisites correctly because of how population and tourist-per-capita figures were applied. "If they score us with what we were submitted, we should be right at that gold level threshold," Alex said, adding staff will meet with the reviewers to correct the population/prerequisite calculations before a planned resubmission. Alex told the committee staff will resubmit in November and that a final decision is expected either before Christmas or shortly after the new year.
Committee members discussed metrics staff already track — such as annual solar installations and electric-vehicle registrations — and asked staff to clarify whether data can differentiate solar-only installations from systems that include batteries. Alex said battery ownership data would likely require cross-checking with city permit records while Encore provides the bulk solar installation counts.
The meeting closed with a reminder that committee members will finalize a short presentation slide deck for council and that staff will follow up with reviewers on the SolSmart prerequisites and scoring.
Next steps: staff will meet with SolSmart reviewers, resubmit corrected materials in November, and circulate the final slide deck to committee members before the council presentation.
