Palo Alto committee reviews 2026–27 sustainability priorities in SCAP work plan

City staff presented the committee with a draft sustainability-focused segment of the 2026–27 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (SCAP) implementation priorities at the Aug. 22 meeting, detailing 16 proposed priorities across water, adaptation (sea level rise and wildfire), natural environment, green stormwater infrastructure and zero waste.

Carla Daley and other utilities staff described three water priorities: continued water-efficiency measures exceeding state requirements, salt removal improvements for recycled water at the regional water quality control plant, and a water-distribution adaptation effort to identify climate-change risks to distribution infrastructure. On the latter topic, Alan (facility director) said the utility is pursuing fire-hardening measures at pump stations, including noncombustible materials, defensible space and on-site backup generation; staff said new diesel backup generation has been installed for several pump stations.

On sea level rise, staff briefed the committee about finalizing a partnership agreement with Santa Clara County under SB 272 for a regional shoreline adaptation plan and seeking grant funding through a county-coordinated grant process; watershed protection manager Julie Weiss said the county’s application team was “cautiously optimistic” and expected notification within weeks. Staff also proposed updates to the city’s sea level rise adaptation policy to reflect new technical guidance and shallow-groundwater changes.

Staff described a planned pilot “horizontal levee” near the Bay in the Harbor Road/Bixby Park area: Karen North (assistant director of public works) said the project is a roughly 500-linear-foot pilot, grant-funded through the San Francisco Estuary Partnership and the EPA, that will create a sloped levee and raised trail to provide habitat and a place for marsh species to retreat during high tides while allowing the hydrologic connection of treated effluent to the Bay. Julie Weiss said construction could begin within a month but that endangered-species and permitting issues will likely extend completion to about two years.

The committee discussed tree-canopy goals and metrics. Committee members raised a discrepancy between a community flyer showing “44%” canopy that explicitly said it included Foothills Park and the city’s urban-canopy baseline. Urban forester Peter Golinger said the city’s neighborhood-focused urban-canopy metric excludes foothill preserves and is in the mid-30s (staff later referenced an urban canopy figure of roughly 37%–40% for planning purposes). Committee members asked staff to reconcile data sources (Google Environmental Insights Explorer was cited as a possible source of the higher figure) and provide neighborhood-level canopy metrics and health assessments.

For green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), staff proposed designing and constructing a GSI project at Buenas Briones Park to treat an estimated 14.8 acres (6.6 acres impervious) and asked to quantify the total city land area currently using GSI as a baseline metric. The proposal included evaluating capital-improvement projects to better integrate GSI into future work.

On zero-waste priorities, staff said the city would continue outreach on food-waste prevention and compliance with Senate Bill 1383 edible-food recovery requirements via county partnerships (RWRC and Joint Venture Silicon Valley) and would assess compliance with the existing foodware ordinance while developing a more comprehensive foodware policy. Mabel (0 Waste program) described city participation in county edible-food recovery programs, inspection and education efforts; staff said the city leverages county services for operations and supplements with local education and committee participation.

Committee members also raised textiles and reuse: staff said curbside recycling does not include textiles but residents may use bulky-item/cleanup collection services for clothing donations (marked separately), Goodwill accepts clothing in good condition, and a repair-café program will include textile repair and is planned for four events per year.

Ending

Staff said a final draft of the 2026–27 SCAP work plan will return to the committee and then to council for approval. Committee members requested clearer baseline metrics (tree canopy by neighborhood; GSI coverage area) and asked staff to reconcile public-facing materials that used different canopy data sources.