From: Mary Holtam
To: City Clerk Group
Subject: Agenda Items C.2. and C.3. Electric Vehicle Reach Code and 100% Renewable Electricity Date: Friday, May 3, 2024 12:15:46 PM
Hello!
My name is Mary Holtam. I am a resident of Goleta and student at UC Santa Barbara. I am writing today to urge the council to adopt an electric vehicle (EV) reach code.
The reason why I care about this issue so much is because I am passionate about the climate change emergency and I believe that the city of Goleta should do everything it can to minimize our collective impact on the environment. As an environmental sciences student, I am very educated about the ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint and electric vehicles are zero-emissions.
Please adopt an EV Reach Code which will increase access to EV chargers at new buildings in Goleta. This supports California’s goals of Carbon Neutrality by 2045.
EV Reach Codes help advance the accessibility and affordability of EVs for all future occupants of apartments and commercial buildings. Greater accessibility for all will mean expanded EV adoption across Goleta in the short term, a necessity both for improving air quality and mitigating climate change.
More charging access at
multifamily complexes and workplaces allows EV drivers to utilize more affordable off- peak Time-of-Use rates, rather than being restricted to using more expensive public fast chargers. To create the most equitable and sustainable future for residents and the communities they will be driving in, we ask that the Goleta City Council require each multi-family residence with parking to have a specific parking space with an EV-Ready receptacle directly wired to that residence’s panel or meter. This should be required whether the parking space is included in the rent or a separate cost.
Thank you so much for your consideration and I hope that you help to move Goleta forward into a climate-friendly future,
Mary Holtam
From: BILL WOODBRIDGE
To: City Clerk Group
Subject: Agenda Items C.2. and C.3. Electric Vehicle Reach Code and 100% Renewable Electricity Date: Friday, May 3, 2024 11:37:27 AM
Dear City Council:
I am strongly in favor of both of these agenda items. I am receiving 100% of my power from 3Ce, and hope that the city will make that mandatory for all. Global warming is increasingly worse and out of control. We need to reduce the amount of methane and CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere immediately. I live in a 16 unit apartment building where some idiot construction repair person left the oven gas turned on without the pilot light ignited. The smell of leaking gas entered into 3 other units over the next 3 hours. The whole building could have exploded. So we need 100% electric buildings. Look how many residential gas explosions are happening around the country.
I lease a Bolt EUV. Unfortunately, I live at a 160+ unit Towbes managed property on Patterson Avenue that does not have ONE EV charging station, even though they promised us that they would install at least one during out horrific 17 month remodeling/upgrading/reconstruction disaster period. That never happened. Don’t ever believe anything Towbes tells you. So as a renter, I have to drive to La Cumber Plaza and wait in line to charge my car at one of only 3 EVgo charging stations located in the entire southern SB county area. Yes, there are other stations at the Via Real market Place, but that is even farther away from me than La Cumbre Plaza. It would not be feasible for them to install direct charging power lines to each unit’s electric meter here as that would mean tearing up the entire driveway/parking lots and the new landscaping just installed. But they could certainly be forced to install at least one charing station for every 16 unit building in the complex (that would be 11 stations). Without your implementation of such an ordinance, renters in this city are completely out of luck for charging their TVs at home and therefore disinclined to buy an EV. 60% of our residents are renters. That’s a lot of people forced to retain their gas fuming vehicles!
Thanks!
Bill Woodbridge
56 S Patterson Ave #207
805-679-5372
From: [email protected]
To: City Clerk Group
Subject: Agenda Items C.2. and C.3. Electric Vehicle Reach Code and 100% Renewable Electricity Date: Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:45:40 PM
Hello,
I hope you're doing well.
I would like to submit a public comment on Agenda Items C.2 and C.3 as they pertain to supporting the much-needed, equitable transition of Goleta toward clean energy.
Transitioning to 100% clean energy is essential for the wellbeing of us, future generations, and our planet, and Goleta is uniquely positioned to rise to the need for this transition because 1) we are being affected by the detrimental climate impacts of the fossil fuel industry, and 2) we have a history of caring for the environment and all its inhabitants.
Agenda items C.2 and C.3 will help us maintain our reputation as an innovative, cutting-edge, and eco-friendly city.
Having EV parking in apartments and condos makes sure that the transition to clean energy is done in an efficient and equitable manner, as it allows for those not able to buy their own homes to still invest in EV and clean energy, which in turn lowers their gas bills and ensure a brighter, cleaner future for their children.
As a student, I did not
have access to EV parking in my apartment, and I had to give up driving and only attend events that I could bike to.
EV charging would have helped me achieve personal, academic, and professional goals.
Similarly, having Goleta's municipal operations "opt-up" to 100% clean energy allows for greater access to clean energy and helps our city achieve our clean energy goals.
Individuals who are required to work in the municipality can have clearer consciences knowing that their work can opt-up to using clean energy.
The City's support of
these innovative and much-needed actions to invest in clean energy will allow a greater number of people to engage in clean energy, helping us all achieve our goals and save our planet.
Thank you,
Joanna Tang
PhD Candidate, UCSB
Goleta, CA 93116
From: Carolyn Chaney
To: City Clerk Group
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Environmental measures
Date: Monday, May 6, 2024 5:42:34 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
I favor the use of Reach Codes in Goleta. I live at Encina Royale, and all electric community, and I love that we are all electric AND that I can opt for 100% clean energy. I recently installed heat pumps and found that electric heat pumps are so very efficient and quiet.
On the subject of electric plug-ins at new apartments and condos, its time has come! In my complex we do not have any accommodation for plugging in electric vehicles, and I am quite sad about that. I drive a plug-in hybrid and have difficulty finding places where I can charge my battery. I would definitely go all-electric if I could charge at home. Let's get the new construction on board and then work harder to get funding for older complexes.
Thank you for all you do to protect beautiful Goleta and our planet.
Carolyn Chaney
"Tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver “Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir From: Jonathan Ullman <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 2:26 PM
To: City Clerk Group <[email protected]>
Subject: Sierra Club support for EV Charging reach code and 100% clean municipal energy
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear City Clerk:
Please accept the attached letter to the Goleta City Council supporting an EV Charging reach code (C.2) and 100% clean municipal energy (C.3), on behalf of the Sierra Club Santa Barbara Group.
Thank you.
--
Jonathan Ullman, Director
Sierra Club Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter
P O Box 31241
Santa Barbara, CA 93130-1241
Phone: (805) 617-3106
Chair
Katie Davis
Vice-Chair
Jim Hines
Secretary
Gerry Ching
Treasurer
Maureen Ellenberger
At Large
David Gold
At Large
Alex Pujo
Council Delegate
Emily Engel
Arguello Group Rep
Rebecca August
SB Group Rep
Jim Taylor
Conejo Group Rep
Rebecca August
Ventura Network Rep
Elizabeth Lamar
PO Box 31241
Santa Barbara CA
93130-1241
Dear Goleta Mayor and Councilmembers:
The Sierra Club Santa Barbara Group supports the electric vehicle reach code and municipal use of 100 percent clean energy whether it comes from rooftops, via power lines or both.
For too long, electric vehicles have not been realistically possible for apartment renters and condo owners.
Nearly all multi-unit residential buildings, old and new, do not allow residents to charge their cars in their own building's parking spots. Unlike single family house owners or renters, these owners and renters cannot charge their vehicles while they sleep. This forces them to pay premium prices for outside charging or do what most of their neighbors do: not drive electric.
But shouldn't everyone have the opportunity to avoid paying an oil company $50 a week? Shouldn't everyone have access to EV Charging at reduced pricing at the place where they sleep?
Most multi-unit residential buildings, not all of course, come with a kitchen sink and bathroom, electric outlets to plug things in and major appliances (most of the time.)
Older buildings don't have electric-charging parking spots largely because there weren't EVs when they were built. But now there are.
Many condo owners, associations and landlords are loath to invest in the high costs of heavy duty-copper wiring and electricians' time needed for on-site charger parking. That's a fair point. It's expensive enough to live here. But it's also discriminatory and byzantine because electric car charging overnight is a legitimate standard -- just like bathrooms, kitchen sinks and electric outlets.
A parking spot is not always necessary, but it's a feature designed to let you sleep on the same property your car is parked and charge it with the same electricity in which you dwell at lower off-peak charging rates.
Infrastructure designed for the past is inhibiting much of the population from living a modern life.
That disconnect hopefully stops today for new residential construction, which is much easier and cheaper than existing buildings, to wire from the start. It means that the modern standard in Goleta will be an electric charging parking spot for residents. Does it solve the problems of older buildings or new ones before the law takes effect? No, but it does set a new bar.
Will the requirement for new buildings to have electric-charging parking spots convince existing building owners to offer this modern feature? Will it create a divide between EV-wired and non-EV building dwellers?
Or will it be as logical and beneficial as switching from 8-track tape to digital music streaming, from Super 8 to YouTube.
Will it be as normal and necessary as eliminating cloth wires, banning 1950's, 60s and 70s cancer-causing asbestos, replacing old circuit breakers with modern ones or requiring the installation of a safe, reliable elevator.
While none of us can predict the future, we can do something now.
We can make it required for new buildings and keep finding methods through the law, building maintenance financing, utility subsidies and grants to bring electricity home wherever that may be.
Jonathan Ullman, Director
Sierra Club Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter