Update underway for Carlsbad's climate action plan - The San ... - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Update underway for Carlsbad's climate action plan - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Update underway for Carlsbad’s climate action plan

Zero-emission city vehicles, improved bicycle and pedestrian routes, and better transportation management systems are among measures proposed for Carlsbad’s updated climate action plan.

Carlsbad’s goal is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 2016 levels by 50 percent in 2035 and 85 percent in 2045, said Senior Program Manager Katie Hentrich in a presentation Tuesday to the City Council.

“Several of the proposed measures will take many years to design and implement,” Hentrich said, though many of the suggestions are expansions or continuations of programs the city already has underway. Bicycle and pedestrian routes, for example have been expanded in recent years.

Carlsbad’s climate action plan is 8 years old, “and in the world of climate change that is pretty outdated,” she said. Evidence is mounting rapidly to show the dramatic effects of human activities on the warming planet.

About a dozen speakers addressed the City Council on the issue; most of them supported the update. The final version is expected to go to the council for approval in mid-2024.

“There is a climate emergency,” said resident Vanessa Forsythe, who encouraged the city to act quickly and equitably. Measures need to be fair to people of all incomes, races and classes, said Forsythe and other speakers.

Not everyone was in support. One resident, Mike Borrello, said, “There is no climate emergency,” adding that the city can’t afford the measures, and that it’s “all nonsense.”

State goals for greenhouse gas reduction are another example of Sacramento’s overreach, said Borrello, who has spoken before on other issues such as affordable housing mandates.

“I’m a taxpayer, and I won’t consent to this stuff,” Borrello said.

Most other residents and City Council members praised Hentrich and the city staff for their work on the issue. Some urged the city to do more.

“Please also consider an anti-idling measure,” said resident Paige DeCino. Idling vehicles are a significant and easily targeted source of greenhouse gas emissions. She also encouraged the city to speed up its transition to electric police cars.

Others asked the city to stop the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers, prohibit synthetic turf on athletic fields and cease the use of leaded aviation fuel at McClellan-Palomar Airport, though some of the suggestions were outside the city’s authority. The airport, for example, is owned by San Diego County and overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Councilmembers Carolyn Luna and Melanie Burkholder asked about the costs of the measures, which are not detailed in the proposal presented Tuesday. Hentrich said a cost analysis is being prepared.

“That’s a concern,” Luna said. “Carlsbad is balancing so many things. I’m looking forward to the fiscal analysis, that’s what I’m going to focus on.”

The timing of the measures’ implementation was another issue raised by the council, and Hentrich said annual progress reports will be presented.

Mayor Keith Blackburn said he’s been a slow convert to the importance of climate issues, but that whenever he talks to high school students it’s one of the first things they bring up.

“I ask only that everything be balanced,” Blackburn said. “Get it done affordably and balanced with the city’s other priorities.”

He also praised Hentrich’s work and said she’s been called the city’s “environmental Clark Kent,” a reference to the comic book hero Superman’s alter ego.

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