Honolulu Reporter

Honolulu City Council issued the following announcement on Dec. 23.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell took action on a broad  package of climate change and economic recovery related bills today,  signing Bill 2 (2020), Bill 58 (2020), and Bill 65 (2020) into law while  simultaneously releasing the City’s 2020 Sustainability Report.

All three bills earned unanimous support at the  Honolulu City Council at their final vote, and their passage cements a  strong legacy of environmental progress over the Mayor’s second term.

“These bills, together, help streamline the  permitting process and cut carbon emissions at the same time,” said  Mayor Caldwell. “We are setting up O’ahu to take full advantage of a  wave of expected new federal policies that will put people back to work  installing solar, building electric vehicle infrastructure, and building  greener more affordable housing in our community. President-Elect Biden  has stated he’s going to focus on economic recovery and climate change,  and these bills ensure we’re ready to partner on day one.”

Bill 2 (2020) represents the first update to  parking regulations in the City’s Land Use Ordinance (LUO) in over 30  years, making the planning documents more user-friendly and reduces—and  in some places eliminates—mandatory parking requirements for future  development. 

“The Bill supports the ongoing city commitment  to more mobility choices for people.  No longer should zoning be the  final, and perhaps only decision-maker on how much parking should be  provided; the private sector can, wants to, and should take a larger  role in decision on this significant land use investment,” said Kathy  Sokugawa, DPP acting director. “In addition, the bill provides more  options to our businesses by updating loading requirements, while at the  same time recognizing the emerging market demand for frequent,  individualized quick deliveries. While the final version of the bill  does not reflect all of the new proposals the department introduced, we  are glad that the city council had the courage and patience to adopt a  bill that will take us to a friendlier, more efficient city.”

Bill 58 (2020) streamlines the permitting  procedures for residential clean energy projects and electric vehicle  charging equipment, reducing the time and costs associated with  installing solar systems in multi-family housing units and bringing  battery systems into the on-line permitting process.

“Accelerating residential renewable energy and  electric vehicles is a must-have for our economic diversification and a  must-have for our planet,” said Mayor Caldwell.  “Expedited permitting  for clean energy projects like solar helps us reach our renewable energy  goals, but also lowers the monthly cost of utility bills in townhouses  and multi-family units which have seen limited solar projects to date.”

Bill 65 (2020) puts in ordinance for the first  time aggressive City standards for climate change and sustainability. By  law the City will now transition to a 100% renewable energy fleet by  2035, and achieve a carbon-neutral economy for Oahu by 2045. These  standards are among the most aggressive in the nation and will guide  important City infrastructure and budget decisions over the next decade.

“Bill 65 takes the City’s pledge to stay in the  Paris climate agreement and turns it into tangible deliverables,  concrete actions, and clear expected outcomes,” said Josh Stanbro, the  City’s Chief Resilience Officer. “This lays the groundwork for a  generation of green jobs, resilient infrastructure, and keeping money  on-island and in our economy instead of importing expensive fossil  fuel.”

Bill 65 will also result in cost savings for  City taxpayers. It requires an energy and water use “benchmarking”  initiative for City facilities over 10,000 square feet that is projected  to result in up to $7,000,000 in savings for the City over the next  decade while cutting energy use and emissions. Bill 65 also establishes a  new framework at the City for departments and agencies to collaborate  on climate adaptation projects like relocating or raising streets,  rather than working in siloes with redundant costs and contracts.

“The City Council endorsed the O‘ahu Resilience  Strategy and the passage of these three bills shows we’re committed to  ensuring action and not just leaving the community vision on a shelf,”  said Councilmember Tommy Waters. “We look forward to working with the  incoming administration to continue to enact additional elements of the  Strategy and make our island more sustainable and more economically  resilient.” 

The Oahu Resilience Strategy was released in  May, 2019 and featured 44 specific actions to increase island  resilience. Bill 2, Bill 58, and Bill 65 substantially advanced 5 of the  44 recommended actions (Resilience Actions 6, 8, 13, 21, and 27).

In coordination with the signing of the package  of climate bills, the City also released the City’s Annual  Sustainability Report for 2020. The yearly report provides transparency  on sustainability indicators for City operations, including on-site  renewable energy generation, fuel use, number of trees planted, waste  diversion, transportation affordability, and other metrics.  The 2020  report includes an update on the City’s progress towards implementing  the Oʻahu Resilience Strategy.

The City has made improvements in key areas, but  also reported worrying trends in others.  Highlights included  Honolulu’s jump from a “C” grade to a “B” over the past year in national  rankings by the Carbon Disclosure Project, the most trusted national  metric measuring peer cities on their environmental and climate policies  and performance.

However, the 2020 Annual Sustainability Report  also shows that Oahu’s overall greenhouse gas emissions—the prime driver  of the climate crisis—increased 1.8 percent in 2018 island-wide  compared to 2017, mainly due to emission increases in the transportation  sector.

“I’m proud of the hard-earned gains we’ve made  as an island community adding renewable energy and bringing our first  electric bus into our fleet,” said Mayor Caldwell.  “However, the 2020  Annual Sustainability Report shows that we need to do more—we can’t  afford to get complacent as a community on COVID or on climate change.  There’s just too much at stake.”

Bill 65 now requires the Resilience Office to  track the City’s fuel, energy and water usage on a quarterly basis  instead of the prior annual report.  To promote increased transparency,  the Resilience Office has already published the quarterly data on a  publically-accessible dashboard, which can be viewed at: https://resilientoahu.org/municipal-operations-energy-dashboard

The full 2020 Annual Sustainability Report is available to read at: www.resilientoahu.org/sustainability-report. 

Original soruce can be found here.