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Tualatin staff propose criteria to prioritize five‑year climate action work plan
Summary
City climate action manager Amanda Watson presented draft prioritization criteria—climate impact, co‑benefits, alignment, feasibility, cost, and opportunistic timeliness—for a five‑year (2026–2031) work plan. Councilors asked to emphasize preparedness, cost‑savings and phasing; staff will apply the criteria and return late summer or early fall.
Amanda Watson, the city’s climate action program manager, presented draft prioritization criteria and next steps for a five‑year climate action work plan that will guide implementation of the council‑adopted community climate action plan.
Watson told the council the community plan, adopted in May 2024, sets city goals including reaching net‑zero emissions by 2050 and increasing community resilience to climate hazards. Staff are developing a 2026–2031 work plan covering roughly 28 strategies and more than 100 individual actions and proposed a scoring framework to choose which actions to pursue first.
The draft criteria Watson described are: climate impact (mitigation and adaptation), co‑benefits (economic opportunity, health, ecosystem benefits, equity), alignment with council goals and other adopted plans, feasibility (staff capacity, funding, community support), implementation cost (high/medium/low), and an “opportunistic/timeliness” factor to capture leveraging of partnerships or sequencing advantages.
“Net zero emissions by 2050, and preparing for an increasing community resilience to the impacts of climate change,” Watson said, summarizing the plan’s twin goals and why the work plan matters for budgeting and program durability.
Councilor Brooks asked how measurable cost savings from efficiency projects would be tracked and whether savings could be used to sustain the climate program. Watson said staff can track savings and follow up with Brooks on specific opportunities, and she used the city’s in‑pipe/recycled‑water example to show how co‑benefits and feasibility are scored.
Council President Pratt urged a stronger emphasis on preparedness and resilience and suggested separating or explicitly weighting adaptation actions alongside mitigation. Multiple councilors recommended phasing large projects into manageable five‑year segments rather than excluding them from the plan.
Watson said staff are finalizing scoring details and will apply the criteria to produce a short list of actions for council review; she expects to return in late summer or early fall with results and proposed metrics to inform the next budget cycle.
Next steps: staff will refine scoring, apply the criteria to the plan’s actions, return to council with a short list and proposed performance metrics, and use the adopted work plan to guide budgeting and implementation.
