On the eve of San Carlos’ 75^th Anniversary year, the Mayor and City Council initiated a series of public outreach activities called the Quality of Life Community Forum process. A ten-person Steering Committee was appointed in May 1999 to recruit and involve a broad cross-section of the community in that endeavor. The goal was to develop community consensus on a new set of issues, policies, and programs for the City of San Carlos (the City) for the near- and long-term.

In fall 1999, the Quality of Life Steering Committee made the following general summary of the community’s goals as they pertain to the environment:

• Promote environmental stewardship;
• Encourage residents, businesses, and local government to pursue cleaner alternatives for energy use and transportation;
• Preserve open space;
• Increase the use of native plantings by the City, residents, and local businesses; and
• Establish community and school gardens.

While the latter three goals provide a relatively straightforward policy or programmatic direction, the first two goals can be interpreted in any number of ways depending on how narrowly or broadly those goals are defined. Thus, defining the breadth and scope of the term environmental stewardship was a key goal in the drafting of this Work Plan. The task, then, was to both define the vision that our community wants to achieve in the area of environmental quality, as well as to plan for activities designed to realize that vision.

We recommend that, as a first step, the City Council incorporate the goal of sustainable development into the City’s Work Program. In so doing, the City Council will establish an important philosophical basis for the activities ultimately agreed upon in this Work Plan. It also will provide a basis for future activities to be added, whether at the suggestion of the Steering Committee, or through some other process.

The activities that we recommend for implementation are a mix of volunteer activities and ideas that would require the involvement of either the City Council or City departments. We have developed a five-year implementation plan. The Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee (Subcommittee) will prepare an annual report at the conclusion of each one-year period. That report will detail the accomplishments of the past year and the timeline and implementation plan for the year to come. We also are considering development of a "score card" system of some kind to help us track our progress. As currently envisioned, we plan to take a three-pronged approach to implementing the activities recommended in this Work Plan:

• Enlisting the talents and skills of local volunteers drafted to participate in the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee;

• Working with the City Council and designated City departments to make changes, as appropriate, to existing City programs, policies, and/or documents; and

• Partnering with the City on activities that would require outreach and education to San Carlos residents and businesses (e.g., using the Parks and Recreation Department Recreation Activity Guide to educate residents about their options for signing up with "green" energy providers).

It was important to us that the recommended activities provide substantive solutions to the environmental concerns expressed by the community. This Program primarily addresses the linkage between two of the three traditional indicators of a community’s health: the economy and the environment. If there is interest and support, issues of social equity can be incorporated at a future date.

We have drawn on the work of two Peninsula organizations whose charters include some aspect of sustainability planning: Sustainable San Mateo County and Joint Venture Silicon Valley. These organizations collect, analyze, and report sustainability data on a county and regional basis, respectively. Their reports have provided much of the informational basis of the San Carlos Sustainable Community Program.

Given the limitations of volunteer time and our community’s capacity to implement such an ambitious number of recommendations, we know that not all of the proposed activities will be realized in the coming few years. Nonetheless, we provide a range of options as a starting point for discussion and reaction.

One of the overarching themes to come out of the 1999 Community Forum process is that many residents want San Carlos to be a town that explicitly considers environmental stewardship in its daily operations and planning processes. It is helpful to see how other communities have done this. Over the course of the past year, our Subcommittee researched other community approaches to environmental stewardship.

Some communities, such as San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas, set up elaborate public participation processes that resulted in 100 + page documents and the institution of Environmental Departments within their municipal structures. Others, led by city council advocates, have incorporated terms such as "sustainable development" and "energy efficiency" into their General Plans and city Mission Statements. Palo Alto, for example, is currently involved in just such a process. In general, it is probably fair to say that smaller communities in the Bay Area have taken a more piecemeal approach, by simply implementing individual activities or components of environmental stewardship.

Larger jurisdictions, such as San Jose, Oakland, and Berkeley, have implemented "green building" programs that encourage energy efficiency and resource conservation for all new and retrofitted building projects within their boundaries. Palo Alto has an extensive network of bike lanes. The San Mateo City Council endorsed the Earth Day 2000 Clean Energy agenda, and several cities in San Mateo County require that construction and demolition debris be recycled. Belmont, Menlo Park, and San Jose are currently taking advantage of grant money from the California Air Resources Board to experiment with electric vehicles for local government use. Redwood City and South San Francisco are using energy efficient lighting in certain municipal operations.

Our own City has shown leadership in three key areas of sustainable development: contracting through the Association of Bay Area Governments’s POWER Pool (with the Calpine Corporation ,a geothermal power producer) for municipal electric power needs; establishing a municipal energy efficiency program; and encouraging more "transit oriented development" in our Downtown area. Given our City’s involvement in the California Healthy Cities Project, the quote below provides a nice linkage between the current vision of San Carlos and the direction we would like to see our community continue to move by adopting the recommended goals and activities of this Work Plan:

– The President’s Council on Sustainable Development

In a 1987 report issued by the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development, the term "sustainability" was first defined in a policy context. According to that document, "Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In practical terms, sustainable development connotes the idea of balancing economic growth, environmental preservation, and social equity. Efforts to strike such a balance are known as sustainability planning. Sustainability is being used increasingly as the new model of development for businesses, governments, and communities – both here in the United States and abroad.

If it is a goal of our community to effect significant and lasting changes in the quality of our environment, we believe that environmental stewardship leads to sustainable development. This entails evaluating new proposals according to all three indicators of a community’s health (i.e., the economy, the environment, and social equity). Sustainability planning takes a multi-disciplinary approach to local decision-making.

The following seven Program Areas are proposed for implementation over the course of the next several years:

1. Landscaping, Gardens, and Agriculture

2. Energy

3. Transportation

4. Parks, Open Space, and Land Use

5. Solid Waste

6. Water Consumption, Wastewater, and Water Quality

7. Public Information and Education

Within each Program Area, there is a Problem Statement followed by a proposed Action Plan. Each Problem Statement is based on current, local data. The Action Plans detail the range of activities that we propose to begin addressing these key problem areas over the course of the next five years. The activities are organized according to whether they will be undertaken in the current fiscal year (FY2000 – 2001), the next fiscal year (FY 2001 – 2002), or in subsequent years (FY2002 – 2006). The City’s fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. Activities scheduled to begin in FY2002 will be addressed and prioritized as part of the annual review process for this Program.

Following each Action, we have noted in brackets [ ] which sector(s) of the San Carlos community would be involved in carrying out that Action (e.g., a City department, the San Carlos School District, or the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee). The lead sector is listed first. If a particular Action was expressly recommended during the 1999 Quality of Life Community Forum process, that fact is also noted in parentheses ( ). Our recommended Program is as follows:

Silicon Valley was once called the Valley of Hearts Delight due to the abundance of orchards and small farms. Today, these once productive agricultural lands have been converted into pavement and buildings. This shift has transformed our landscaping from one of native trees and shrubs to non-native grasses and ornamental trees. Transportation of food over long distances entails higher energy costs, as well as causes our fruits and vegetables to lose their freshness and nutritional value.

The Action Plan, below, promotes the planting of local food gardens. This would help to increase the nutritional value of our food. It also would help to conserve energy, because less fuel would be required to bring the food to people’s plates. The use of organic gardening techniques is encouraged, in keeping with a growing movement on the part of California residents to buy California certified organic food. San Carlos is certainly no different from other areas of the State, with a Baby Boom population increasingly concerned about "eating healthy." Also, by encouraging organic gardening, fewer pesticides will be consumed, and storm water runoff will be less polluted.

Another problem that has arisen from the tremendous growth of the San Francisco Bay Area is that wild lands and open spaces have been significantly reduced, resulting in tremendous deforestation. By reducing the number of trees, we have taken away a major source for cooling the earth (green spaces are cooler than pavement, roads, and concrete buildings). We also have removed a major source for cleaning the air (plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen through photosynthesis). One way to reverse this trend of deforestation is to encourage tree plantings in our neighborhoods. This community activity is not only beneficial to the earth, but it also has the added benefit of bringing together neighbors for a team-oriented activity. Also, community and school gardens can bring together the generations within our community to work on a project of environmental significance. (Creating opportunities for more intergenerational contact was a key finding of the 1999 Community Forum process.)

• Encourage local nurseries to carry native plants and native plant seeds. Explore ways to obtain favorable pricing on the purchase of native plants, shrubs and trees – perhaps in conjunction with an annual arbor/cleanup day. (Quality of Life Process Finding)

In the five-year period reviewed by the 1999 Indicators Report for San Mateo County (1993 – 1997), approximately 33 percent of the electricity generated by PG&E was from fossil fuel, 31 percent was from nuclear power, 26 percent was from hydroelectric, and 10 percent was from geothermal power sources. The amount of wind and solar power generated by PG&E was negligible – less than one-hundredth of one percent. In addition, the report found that the overall trend in energy usage from all sources is on the rise.

For most San Carlos residents and businesses, PG&E is the primary energy provider. The notable exception to this trend is the City, itself. San Carlos is a member of a Joint Powers Authority, through the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), which buys 100% renewable power for use in all its members’ municipal operations. Calpine Corporation, a San Jose-based geothermal company, is the current energy provider for our ABAG Power Purchasing Pool.

A community that embraces the principle of sustainability puts its efforts into energy efficiency and conservation to meet growing needs, instead of investing in non-renewable sources of energy. Of all the elements of a sustainable development agenda, energy efficiency and conservation are considered to be the most important at this point in time. Indeed, the theme for the Earth Day 2000 educational events was energy conservation. Many experts believe that, if communities undertake just one action related to sustainable development, choosing an activity in the realm of energy conservation has the greatest potential for producing long-lasting and substantive effects. Working toward policies that encourage more energy efficient building designs is considered to provide the biggest "bang for the buck."

The City of San Carlos has taken significant leadership in one area of energy sustainability by its decision to purchase renewable energy through the ABAG Power Purchasing Pool. The City also is developing a municipal energy conservation program. As a first step, it is installing two high-efficiency boilers for its heating and ventilation systems.

• Consider requiring that energy audits be conducted as a permit requirement for residential and commercial remodeling projects.

• Work with PG&E (or the appropriate energy provider) to help promote the utility’s residential audit and weatherization program.

• Conduct a formal study to determine the energy efficiency potential of the residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors of the City.

• Consider joining the California Energy Coalition, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting cities and businesses with implementation of energy efficiency solutions. Among other things, the coalition can assist in developing a "Total Energy Services" approach for the integration of energy demand management and energy procurement. (See the City of Santa Monica’s Sustainable Energy Plan for details.)

If there is any one quality of life problem upon which most people can agree, it is transportation. Effects stemming from past and present transportation choices are thought to be the single greatest contributor to a range of problems along the Peninsula. Exhaust from our cars, trucks, and buses affects our air quality -- a particular problem for our seniors and young children. Vehicle crankcase drippings (along with exhaust) are affecting the San Francisco Bay fish and wildlife. Hazardous waste is entering area rivers and the Bay via runoff from vehicle brake pads. The gasoline additive MTBE has seeped into area water sources and is now being detected at low concentrations throughout Silicon Valley’s water supply. (To date, however, San Carlos water sources remain unaffected by MTBE.) Work commutes are becoming longer and more arduous, particularly for those of us traveling along Interstate Highway 101. Even non-peak hour travel is beginning to slow.

From a larger perspective, the carbon emissions from our automobiles contribute to the problem of global climate change. Since our per-capita carbon emissions have, in recent years, been approximately equivalent to a decade ago, the increase in total carbon emissions is likely due to population growth and an increase in vehicle miles traveled.

Although reaching a consensus on the problem is fairly easy, agreeing on workable solutions is not so easy. The activities below detail some of the "easier" steps that our community can undertake in the short-run to address some of these transportation-generated problems. Additional Actions might be recommended once we gauge community response to these initial steps.

• Study options for increasing the number of walking corridors that are in proximity to our local schools. (Quality of Life Process Finding)

A healthy and sustainable city seeks to use its land wisely, combining the needs of people with the needs of the natural habitat for a balanced use of land for food, shelter, and recreation. With the continued growth of the San Francisco Bay Area, habitat loss is on the increase. Urbanization has forced out many species -- both animal and plant -- from their local habitat. This forced migration adds stress to native species, making them vulnerable to non-native competition. A sustainable society has a healthy ecosystem, rich in diversity of species and number.

In order to help preserve biodiversity, open space needs to be protected and the use of watershed-specific native plants should be encouraged. Exotic plants, animals, and fish (e.g., ferrets and the Chinese mitten crabs) should be discouraged and pesticide use should be minimized. An excellent local example of species preservation through the designation of open space is the Edgewood County Park Preserve. Vista Park, along Crestview Avenue, is also a great example of landscape design that uses native grasses and plants in addition to select low-maintenance plantings.

The Actions that follow provide additional ways for San Carlos to promote the twin goals of habitat preservation and enriched biodiversity.

San Carlos has two main incentives for stepping up its efforts in the area of solid waste reduction. The first incentive is monetary: unless we achieve by year-end a full 50% reduction in the amount of solid waste sent to county landfills (using 1990 as the base year), the City possibly faces State-imposed fines of up to $10,000 per day until that diversion rate is achieved. State Assembly Bill (AB) 939 is the enabling legislation in this regard. Our City’s current diversion rate is 39%, which leaves an 11% gap that must be closed by December 31, 2000. All but two communities in San Mateo County face a similar challenge. The South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), comprised of a number of San Mateo County cities and County unincorporated areas, has initiated actions to help member jurisdictions reach their compliance goals. In San Carlos, the primary assistance from SBWMA is in the form of waste assessment services. The County has hired two commercial recycling coordinators who are actively working with area businesses and apartment building owner/operators.

The second incentive relates to capacity issues. The majority of solid waste generated by San Carlos residents and businesses is sent to landfills for disposal. The two largest landfill sites in San Mateo County – Ox Mountain and Hillside – will be filled in less than twenty years. The process of locating new disposal sites is increasingly difficult. When a site is so designated, other problems arise. Landfills reduce the amount of open space available to the public, as well as impact nearby property values and threaten water quality. Thus, rather than increasing the number of sites available for solid waste disposal, a sustainable community aims to reduce the amount of waste it generates. It also initiates programs to reuse and recycle as much of its waste as possible.

• Publicizing the availability of the SBWMA waste assessment services at Chamber of Commerce and other business-related functions;
• Working with Downtown merchants to establish joint recycling bin locations; and
• Including information about these services in City- and Chamber-sponsored mailings, including the quarterly mailing put out by the Redevelopment Agency.

1. Continue to distribute the C&D waste recycling guidebook to building contractors licensed to work in the City. [Action for the Planning Department]
2. Work with BFI to install recycling bins in City parks and facilities. [Action for the Planning Department] (Quality of Life Process Finding)
3. Encourage involvement in community-based composting projects such as community gardens. (See Program Area 7 of this portion of the Work Plan for a more complete discussion of community gardens.) [Action for the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee, in coordination with San Mateo County] (Quality of Life Process Finding)
4. Increase the use of hands-on environmental education in our local schools to promote the value of natural resources and the need for waste prevention and recycling. [Action for the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee, in coordination with the San Carlos School District and San Mateo County] (Quality of Life Process Finding)

• Work with local supermarkets and businesses such as MailBoxes Etc. and Long’s to designate bins for recycling plastic bags. (Quality of Life Process Finding)

• Encourage new businesses within City limits to have recycling plans that identify the types of waste that will be generated and how the waste will be disposed of.

• During the permitting process for additions and new developments within the City, encourage developers to allot adequate space for garbage AND recycling enclosures. (Currently only the garbage enclosures must have space so designated.) The State of California passed a model ordinance in 1992; the City of San Mateo recently passed a similar ordinance.

• Encourage suppliers to ship goods in returnable packaging; working with manufacturers to incorporate "design for recycling" into product development (one such Bay Area-based company that does so is the dotcom grocer Webvan).

• Consider requiring newspaper and magazine distributors with public boxes to recycle over-issue publications.

• Work with local fast food establishments to incorporate recyclable packaging into their food products and work with local stores to reduce or eliminate excess packaging.

The majority of our water comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which is fed by snow pack from the headwaters of the Tuolumne River in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A small percentage is supplied by a fresh water aquifer, which is fed by rainwater that percolates down through the soil. The San Carlos water supplier is Cal Water. Our wastewater is treated at a plant that is jointly owned by several Peninsula cities, including Menlo Park, Belmont, Redwood City, and San Carlos. The governing body we work through regarding wastewater issues is called the South Bayside System Authority (SBSA). Our storm water pollution prevention (STOPP) plan is part of our NPDES permit, to which we are signatories as a member of C/CAG. As is the case throughout California, our STOPP plan is non-regulatory in nature; instead, it is based on an "best management system" approach (as opposed to a system that assigns numerical limits and tracks compliance via a monitoring program).

The amount of water available to area residents depends on several factors. These factors include water and snow levels in the Sierra Nevada and the county, as well as the extent to which the county is paved. The latter is a factor because surface pavement prohibits rainwater from percolating into the soil, and thus replenishing the area’s aquifer. Instead, the pavement collects the rain and directs it into the Bay, thus breaking the chain of aquifer replenishment.

The good news for San Mateo County in general is that public education and incentive programs have helped to keep total per capita water consumption levels to an average of 135 gallons per day. This figure is lower than the Bay Area average of 152 gallons per day. Also, water consumption levels have not returned to their pre-drought highs of 1985-1987. Equally encouraging is the fact that San Carlos drinking water is essentially pollutant free. Water quality over the last nine years has varied little and remains excellent. Thus, the current outlook for San Carlos water consumption and water quality are very positive.

The immediate challenge, then, is to continue our current water conservation efforts. However, if our long-term goal is to incorporate more broad-based sustainability principles into our City’s water policies, additional actions will be needed. For example, if we recognize that the health of the San Francisco Bay Estuary is directly related to the amount of water that must be diverted from the Tuolumne River for drinking and other uses, then we will want to place even greater controls on our local water use. Similarly, the wildlife and plants that are part of the Bay ecosystem are directly affected by the success of our efforts in the area of storm water runoff management. More careful water management also serves to reduce the need for new dams or water projects, and reduces current demand on overburdened smaller streams and creeks.

Concern for the broader ecosystem might lead us to draft and implement more stringent policies regarding the use, treatment, and reuse of San Carlos’ water and wastewater. The activities below are a starting point for implementing a more sustainable water policy in our community.

• Public education efforts aimed at increasing water conservation efforts on the part of City government, residents and businesses; and
• Water conservation audits targeted to City businesses, industries, and parks.

• Consider formulating an urban runoff pollution control ordinance that would apply to residents, the City, and commercial enterprises alike. One goal of such an ordinance would be to set numerical limits to the amount of hazardous materials and sediments going into the storm drain system. A second goal would be to reduce the volume of runoff from existing developments, new developments, and projects under construction. Residents and small contractors would be particularly targeted.

• Consider instituting a water demand mitigation fee on residential and commercial development, including remodels. The fee would mitigate some multiple of (e.g., 1.5 or 2x) the estimated daily water consumption rate. Collected revenues would be used to fund the City’s water conservation programs.

• Consider changing the building code to require water conservation upon change of building ownership.

The best way to have a sustainable community is through community involvement and action. The Quality of Life Community Forum process encouraged San Carlos citizens to become involved in their community by having their voices heard and by interviewing their neighbors. One thing we heard through that process is that some residents are unsure of how to obtain information about such things as the SamTrans RediWheels program or how to have their voices heard through City representatives.

Thus, a concerted effort will need to be made to inform the public about how they can become involved in helping San Carlos become a more "sustainable" city. The public consists of children, for whom teachers, parents, and mentors are the best educators; residents, who own homes and rent apartments, walk the community, and drive on the streets; businesses, who thrive on the continued support of their patrons; and those employed by businesses and organizations in San Carlos. By using our existing communication tools, such as the schools, Chamber of Commerce, the San Carlos Parks & Recreation Department bulletin and block parties, citizens can become more informed about their options and make their decisions based on informed choices.

• Participating in and/or make literature available at City-sponsored events (e.g., Hometown Days, the Art and Wine Fair, etc.);
• Preparing literature that can be available for distribution at block parties (perhaps develop a checklist to accompany block party information packets, which refers to resources the City can make available at the parties, including Sustainable Community Program literature and/or a speaker);

• Writing articles for inclusion in the City’s Parks and Recreation Department Recreation Activity Guide and other printed material, such as the Chamber of Commerce mailings;
• Providing information and relevant links on the San Carlos Web site;

• Making presentations to local community groups about the San Carlos Sustainable Community Program; and

• Coordinating our communication efforts with other local and national campaigns such as Earth Day events and Spare-the-Air Days.

1. Create a San Carlos Green Team based on Bay Area Action’s "Green Team" model. The Teams’ purpose would be to educate people about the range of things they can do at home and at work to support the goals of the Sustainable Community Program. Neighborhood block parties would be one venue at which Team participants could make presentations. [Action for the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee in coordination with Bay Area Action] (Quality of Life Process Finding)
2. Facilitate bringing environmental education into the schools, such as the Environmental Action curriculum, by partnering with the Sustainable San Mateo County Education Task Force, San Carlos teachers and administration, and San Mateo County. Other resources include RAFT and SCRAP. [Action for the Sustainable Community Program Subcommittee in coordination with the San Carlos School District] (Quality of Life Process Finding)
3. Recruit a local businessperson, City staff member, or City Council member to serve on the Sustainable San Mateo County (SSMC) Steering Committee. [Action for Sustainable San Mateo County]