HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Action Staff Memo - February 2025
City of Palm Springs, Office of Sustainability
To: Sustainability Commission Subcommittee on Climate Action
From: Christian Wheeler, Specialist, Office of Sustainability
Re: February Updates to the Sustainability Commission Subcommittee on Climate Action
Meeting Date: 12 February 2025
The Office of Sustainability would like to provide this update on activities since the last
Subcommittee meeting to help speed discussion at the in-person meeting. The following items
can be discussed in more depth at the meeting, if desired by the Subcommittee.
Upcoming Meetings and Events
• Next Subcommittee meeting dates:
o Climate Action/Transportation: Wednesday, March 12
• Opportunities for Commissioner involvement:
o One-PS Picnic – March 22, 2025
o Community Clean Up – March 29, 2025
o Shredding Event – April 5, 2025
Commission Administrative Matters
• If you are still having trouble with the email address, please email
ithelp@palmspringsca.gov and let them know that you are a Sustainability Commission
member.
• You may have seen an email from a service called Proofpoint in that email. This is the
City’s new spam filtering service. Follow the instructions in the Proofpoint email to check
your “quarantine.” We’ve noticed that we’re getting some overzealous spam filtering at
first, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on it.
Updates on Ongoing Work
EV Charging Stations
Current status of the stations is as follows:
- Museum Station: 5 of 6 Level 2 (medium speed) chargers functioning, all 4
DCFC (fast chargers) functioning after connectors were repaired. 2 stations also
now feature NACS connectors instead of the less-common ChaDEMo connector.
- City Hall Station: Both DCFC fully functioning; both L2 functioning
- Village Green/Belardo stations: both functioning
- Convention Center stations: all 4 functioning due to station replacements.
Transportation
Team is in the process of design and ordering more bike maps.
No update from Caltrans grant. Waiting to schedule kick-off with Caltrans team.
The City was awarded $776,000 for a comprehensive safety action plan via the USDOT’s
Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program. Currently in process of drafting a
grant agreement.
The team also supported Engineering’s work in the South Palm Canyon and Raquet Club
Road reconfiguration outreach sessions.
Urban Environment
The team will begin outreach for turf conversion on San Rafael in the next months,
working alongside public works.
Christian is editing the tree ordinance based on the feedback received from the internal
review process.
Buildings and Energy Efficiency
Juliet and LP will continue engaged with various stakeholders, including the Building
Department, DVBA, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, regarding the
proposed Existing Home Energy Efficiency Ordinance. Juliet has been working on
scenario calculations and developing a how-to guide for ordinance compliance based on
the feedback received.
Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Accounting
No significant updates this month.
Citywide Utility Data has been requested as part of CVAG’s valley wide climate action
plan and greenhouse gas inventory process. CVAG also has initiated a community
survey as part of the climate action plan process.
Fleet Electrification and City Emissions Reductions
We are working with Public Works and our City departments to implement a fleet
electrification strategy and a roadmap for building energy efficiency programs, hitting our
Key Goal of convening our interagency working group on electrification strategy. We
made great progress this month in identifying our top challenges and opportunities, and
we look forward to presenting a broader plan in the next six weeks. We are also working
on a grant submission to the California Energy Commission for supplemental funding.
Air Quality
AQMD will be hosting a Coachella Valley Dust Summit
Team Updates
Job posting for our two (2) Climate Action & Sustainability Specialist is live.
Events and Public Engagement
Shredding Event back will be back April 5, 2025, at the Palm Springs Convention Center
Community Clean Up at James O. Jessie to take place March 29, 2025.
Key Goals for Next Month
We’re hoping to continue on the following:
- Calculate cost scenarios for the proposed energy reach codes
- Apply for grant opportunities for Climate Adaptation Planning and EV charging
- Finalize contract for GHG analysis