Commission partners with Building Power Resource Center and readies short renter survey for Earth Day outreach

Siobhan, the sustainability planner, presented housing-sector recommendations from the draft climate action plan and described a proposed partnership with the Building Power Resource Center for a year of technical assistance and a national policy scan focused on a maximum temperature ordinance. “They’re offering us a year of technical assistance. They have a cohort of research fellows who are going to help us conduct a national policy scan,” she said.

Siobhan listed draft ideas for renters: exploring a home energy score ordinance, a portable heat pump pilot, and a maximum temperature ordinance to address heat impacts in rental units. She said the team lacks systematic local temperature data and proposed a short, informal survey to collect resident testimony and basic information about indoor temperatures, lease restrictions on air-conditioning, and energy-bill burden. Commissioners recommended asking about floor level, unit type (single-family, duplex, multiunit), whether tenants or landlords pay utilities, frequency of overheating, and whether rooms go unused due to energy costs.

Staff proposed using Earth Day outreach on the commons (event running 12 p.m.–5 p.m.) to collect survey responses via printed quarter-cards and QR codes linking to an online form, and asked commissioners to sign up for one-hour shifts. Siobhan said staff will prepare a preliminary short survey for the event and iterate based on response: “We will turn this discussion into a preliminary survey that we can use on the commons, and I think that we can adjust based on how that goes.”

Commissioners discussed safeguarding relationships with vulnerable groups, using short survey forms to maximize response, and collecting anecdotal quotes for council outreach. Staff said they will circulate a volunteer sign-up and a short survey in the coming days.