AgdaPkt 2019-09-23 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

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ATTACHMENT City Manager's Office MEMORANDUM Date: 8/27/2019 To: Mayor and Members of the City Council or From: Rebecca L. Lucky, Sustainability Manager MENLO PARK Re: Reach Code high rise residential stakeholder feedback and recommendation On July 16, the City Council directed staff to bring forward an all -electric Reach Code for new nonresidential buildings for adoption on August 27. A high-rise residential building more than three stories is considered nonresidential under the state building codes. Therefore, the proposed Menlo Park Reach Code would require new high-rise residential buildings to be all -electric. All -electric means no gas infrastructure inside the building. Appliances used for space heating, water heating, and cooking must be electric. This is a cutting edge policy that has positioned Menlo Park at the forefront of local Reach Codes in the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. The policy is driven by the amount of potential new development that may be realized in the next three years that would lead to increased community greenhouse gas emissions if allowed to use natural gas. This would create challenges in meeting existing and future Climate Action Plan goals to reduce emissions. Using only electricity in new buildings provides a solid foundation to reducing and curbing local greenhouse gas emissions. Menlo Park's electricity is anticipated to be 100% greenhouse gas free by 2021. The proposed policy has also raised concerns by high rise residential development stakeholders related to electric water heating. The traditional industry practice is to use a central natural gas water heating system (boilers) to provide hot water to a large number of units within a building. Stakeholders identified two main issues in converting to an electric water heating system for high rise residential: 1. At this time, the state codes do not provide a pathway for a large central electric water heating system to be used for compliance. The California Energy Commission is working on updating its model over the next 12-18 months to allow for a large central electric water heating system. 2. Large electric central water heating systems (heat pumps) are not commonly used and can have technical issues. Staff followed up with the cost effectiveness study technical consultants (TRC), the California Energy Commission, and building department to investigate the concerns. Although the state codes do not provide a pathway for larger central electric water heating systems, the state codes do provide two other pathways for compliance, which are to: City of Menlo Park 701 Laurel Sl., Menlo Park. CA 94025 to 650-330-6600 www.menlopark.org