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Council hears CPACE briefing; Caldwell moves staff to draft adoption materials
Summary
Councilmember Caldwell introduced a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) financing program to help commercial owners finance energy-efficient upgrades. She moved that staff and the city attorney draft program documents and bring an adoption path back to council; council agreed to return the item for action at the next regular meeting in April.
Councilmember Caldwell introduced the CPACE program as a voluntary tool that would let commercial property owners obtain private financing for energy-efficiency upgrades (solar, efficient HVAC, water-saving systems) and have repayment attached to the property tax bill rather than city debt.
Caldwell described the mechanics: private lenders perform an assessment, the city would authorize applying the assessment to the property tax bill and remit payments to the lender, while explicitly not taking on project debt. She emphasized potential local benefits—longer-term financing, upgrades that otherwise would be omitted, and the potential to attract tenants seeking green buildings.
Caldwell moved that “the city council authorize staff to establish the CPACE program for the City of Eastpointe … and direct the city manager and attorney to prepare any necessary documents and program framework for council to adopt.” Council debated whether to take action in the work session; members agreed to move the item to the April 6 regular meeting for formal action.
Council members pressed procedural and operational questions: which projects qualify (Caldwell said existing structures, not new construction), whether the city must be the collecting jurisdiction (yes, for tax-billing attachment), how marketing and lender selection would be handled, and how defaults would be processed (defaults would follow property-tax enforcement processes). Caldwell and staff proposed further analysis with the city attorney and potential outreach to Invest Atlanta/GMA as examples.
Because CPACE requires local enabling documents consistent with state law, council directed staff to draft the program structure, identify implementation tasks (city billing, administrative fee structure) and return with proposed ordinances or resolutions for consideration.
