Seattle City Council Transportation & Utilities Committee 2/3/21

I'm Alex Peterson chair of this committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Chair Peterson.

Present.

Five, present.

Thank you.

If there is no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Next item is the chair's report.

briefly, we've got three items on today's agenda.

First, we have the appointment of Dennis Gathard to fill the bridge engineering position on the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.

Then we're accepting an easement from the Seattle School District to our Seattle Department of Transportation for street safety improvements outside Hazel Wolf The last item is a presentation from Seattle City Light about their integrated resource plan progress report.

We'll actually have a public hearing on that item, the integrated resource plan progress report, but we'll vote on it at the next committee meeting.

Today's meeting is relatively light, but we do expect that in future committee meetings we will start to have longer meetings and with heavier items.

So at this time, we'll open the remote general public comment period.

I'm noting that there are no speakers signed up for the general public comment period.

Folks can still sign up later as we get to the public hearing item on the agenda.

If we could just have our information technology folks confirm they also do not see anybody signed up.

That is affirmative.

There are no public comment or signed up

So in that case, we will go ahead and close the general public comment period, and we'll go right to item one.

Will the clerk please read the first agenda item into the record?

Agenda item one, appointment 01788, the appointment of Dennis Gafford as member, move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee for a term to December 31st, 2023. for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

So we're going to turn it over to Rachel McCaffrey, who's strategic advisor at SDOT.

And we're going to enable our new appointee the chance to speak as well.

Just to set the table quickly, the Oversight Committee for the Move Seattle Levy operates according to Ordinance 124796. And there's 16 members.

There's a variety of This is a special position for a licensed engineer with bridge and structures experience.

And so Mr. Gather would be fulfilling that requirement.

Rachel, good morning.

Thank you for being here this morning.

We were at the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee last night.

So thank you for getting up early this morning to be here as well.

Please tell us, remind the viewing audience a little bit about the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee, and then we can hear from Mr. Gathard.

Yeah, thanks.

My name is Rachel McCaffrey.

I am the SDOT staff liaison to the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.

As you mentioned a bit, the Levy Oversight Committee was established along with the voter-approved Move Seattle Levy.

It is an advisory body that monitors revenues, expenditures, and program and project implementation.

The committee reviews SDOT program and project priorities and financial plans and makes recommendations to the mayor and city council regarding the spending of levy proceeds.

And as you mentioned, it's 16 members, including five appointed by the mayor, and counsel in this seat is the one unique one that's required to be a licensed engineer with bridge and structure experience.

Thank you, Rachel.

And I should have mentioned, we do have our central staff on the line as well.

Calvin Chow is with us.

Feel free to jump in, Calvin, if you've got any comments.

And then we'll hear from Mr. Gathard, who's the appointee.

I don't have anything to add, Council Member.

Thanks, Calvin.

OK, so Mr. Gathard, go ahead and turn on your video and audio and tell us a little bit about yourself and why you'd like to serve on the Oversight Committee.

And thank you in advance for your willingness to serve.

Well, thank you for considering me.

I'm a licensed and civil, a licensed civil and structural engineer, and I have been licensed for well over 40 years.

My experience includes probably 30 years of design of bridges and structures, but it also includes a lot of diversity of design and construction, including dams, waterfront structures, and streets.

I've worked for the federal government for the city of Salem.

as a direct employee and the state of Illinois as a direct employee in the bridge department.

I've also worked as a consultant for probably 40 years, primarily in the Pacific Northwest, but all around the world.

For the last 25 years, I've worked primarily for federal city and state agencies as an independent consultant.

basically providing oversight, design and construction management, cost estimating, etc. for big construction projects.

So, you know, basically what I think I bring to this is a wealth of diversity and experience that will, I hope, help provide insight into some of the problems you have.

Thank you very much.

Council members, I know you probably looked at the application packet, but if you have any questions for the new appointee, please let me know.

Yes, I'll look at the participants.

You can raise your hand there or just I can see you all.

So Vice Chair Strauss, please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

Thank you, Dennis, for joining us today in your work on the Levee Oversight Committee.

Reading your resume, I have a lot of questions about all of your dam removal projects, including the Elwha Dam, but that's not exactly why you're here today.

I was wondering, these types of projects require a vast amount of capital from a number of different sources and needing to ensure that public expectations are met to deliver the projects within your budget.

Do you have any suggestions for us at this moment on what insights you'll be bringing or what insight you have for us that we need to be considering right now regarding the Move Seattle levy?

You know, I don't because I haven't seen, I don't have a lot of information on the background of these projects, but I will say this.

That was one of the things I think I brought to a great number of projects was The ability to come up with creative approaches, because cost was always an issue for dam removal.

You could never do a dam removal project without the cost being the primary and perhaps the central issue to everything that was done.

So I was brought in as a consultant because I had that diversity of construction background and design background.

A lot of times it would be from agencies like Trout Unlimited or a tribe or something like that that didn't have a lot of money.

So that was the primary focus.

But I can't say a whole lot about this particular set of projects because I don't have a lot of background on what's going on.

Thank you.

And as you continue your work I my request to use please reach out to me in particular if as you are.

learning about the different projects that Move Seattle Levy is doing.

And if there's any connection that we can, as we rebuild and build projects in our city, if there are ways that we can protect our salmon population and better the environment for our salmon population here, I think that we have missed a lot of opportunities as we build new construction to, at the same time, implement protections for our salmon population.

So please, I welcome that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Council President Gonzalez.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

And I want to echo the thanks to you, Dennis, for being with us this morning and more importantly, for your willingness to serve on the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.

It's a it's a it's a big it's a big job.

It's one of the One of the committees that is really critically important to making sure that the spirit of the levy as passed by the taxpayers as proposed to and passed by the taxpayers is being met.

I have a question for you about just how you envision, as the individual who is being slated into the licensed engineer with bridge and structures experience, how are you envisioning balancing those interests and that expertise around bridge and structure infrastructure with the other components of the Move Seattle levy that are related to pedestrian infrastructure, bicycle infrastructure, transit infrastructure, and freight mobility throughout the city.

A lot of different interests in one levy oversight committee, and everybody brings their own perspective, which I think leads to a more robust conversation and oversight of all of the levy dollars.

But just thought it would be helpful for us to hear from you sort of your philosophy around how you navigate those different perspectives as a member of this oversight committee.

Yeah, I attended last night as a guest in the committee meeting.

And I can see there's a lot of diversity of opinion, especially around streets and bicycle paths.

I'm an avid bicyclist.

But, you know, as an engineer, my primary function is just to do the job and to be creative and coming up with solutions, construction solutions that I know have worked in other places.

I don't know how I'll balance things because I haven't really been involved in it.

But objectivity is my main asset, I believe.

I don't have a preordained objective as part of the bicycle committee or as part of some other group of people.

So I mean, I think that's an asset that you can rely on me to be objective in terms of actual construction projects and how I evaluate but I think should happen.

Great.

Thank you for that.

And I have one more question if I can chair.

Yes.

Um, I, I noticed just like a council member stress notice or vice chair stress notice that you have in quite a bit of experience in the dams and hydroelectric facilities area.

Um, and, um, you know, one of the, one of the projects in the city that I've been most impressed by in terms of restoration work, is up in Thornton Creek.

in the Northgate neighborhood that did actually uncover a culvert there that has had really great benefits for the environment and the wildlife environment that was natural to that particular area.

I was just wondering how you view the work on this levee oversight committee in connection with some of the city's goals around climate justice and sustainability and and the environment in general, in terms of the work that the Move Seattle levy is intended to fund?

I must admit some bias in that direction, that I'm biased towards the environment.

So that's why I went into independent consulting, because I thought I could actually provide something nobody else could Big companies especially don't provide the kind of objectivity you need sometimes.

So that's about all I can say about it.

I have been for many, many years an advocate of the environment.

But I'm objective about it.

I don't know.

I mean, I don't know how to answer.

that question because I don't have all the background necessary.

Yeah.

And I'm not, and I don't, I don't intend to sort of, um, put you in a situation where you're, you're having sort of a, uh, preordained or predetermined outcome on something.

I just think that on these positions, it's really important for us as council members is we're considering folks who are, are being nominated to get an understanding of the set of values that people bring to this important work.

And for me, one of the things that's important about, um, all of our, transportation investments and our mobility efforts around the city is that it is.

It is rooted both in the spirit of making sure that people can get around the city with as much ease as possible.

But for me, it's also values driven from the perspective of wanting to make sure that we are meeting our climate justice goals because we know that transportation, if it's single occupancy vehicle only, is one of the main drivers of carbon emissions throughout our city.

And so I think it's important to bring a commitment to sustainability and the environment, in addition to the mobility of people throughout the city and freight, to the work at the Levy Oversight Committee, I think that would serve the city well and would serve the taxpayers well who voted in favor of the levy.

Well, I assure you that I bring those values.

I just put 11 kilowatts of solar panels on my roof.

It is one of my primary objectives.

The environment, I think we can't go forward without having it as a primary objective.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me an opportunity to ask some questions.

And thank you, Dennis.

Congratulations on your nomination.

Looking forward to supporting your appointment.

Thank you, council members, and thank you, Mr. Gathard.

Council members, if there are no further questions for the I'll go ahead and move that the committee recommend approval of appointment 01788, item one on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the appointment onto the full council.

Are there any final comments?

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation as the appointment be approved for forwarding to the full city council?

Gonzales?

Aye.

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Five in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries, and the committee recommendation is that the appointment be sent for approval to the February 8th Seattle City Council meeting.

Thank you, Rachel and Dennis.

Item two, will the clerk please read the short title of the next agenda item into the record?

Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 119989, an ordinance relating to the Your Voice, Your Choice program authorizing the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation to acquire, accept, and record on behalf of the city of Seattle an easement for street purposes from Seattle School District No. 1, a municipal corporation of the state of Washington situated in a portion of the tract described as reserve in the plot of S.P.

Dixon's Green Lake Acre Tract.

for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

Council members, this is a small piece of property located at Pinehurst Way Northeast and Northeast 117th Street.

It's an intersection in City Council District 5 and impacts the school there.

It's a complicated area.

I think we're going to get a presentation here.

So Calvin and Gretchen and Joel, go ahead and show yourselves and your presentation.

And Calvin, if you want to provide any, as our city council central staffer, if you want to provide any introductory comments, Calvin, go ahead.

If not, we can.

Sure.

Just as an introduction, this is a, I think the presentation will speak for itself.

So perhaps I'll just let Estad go into it.

Okay.

Welcome Estad.

Gretchen and Joel.

OK.

Next slide.

This slide.

This proposed legislation accepts an easement for street purposes from the Seattle School District to construct and maintain the Pinehurst Northeast and Northeast 117th Street Intersection Improvement Project.

Next slide.

Hazel Wolf K-8 STEM school and neighborhood residents applied for and was chosen for the Your Voice, Your Choice program to implement and expedite their proposed neighborhood project.

The project goals centered on upgrading the intersection of Pinehurst Way Northeast and Northeast 117th Street to enhance safety and mobility and improve school access.

Upon accepting the application, the city subsequently conducted a traffic study that uncovered a collision pattern.

A redesign of the intersection was determined by the city to be an appropriate resolution, along with adding new sidewalks to connect to the school.

This project has received federal grant funding through WSDOT.

I now turn over the presentation to Joe Darnell, the project manager.

to talk more about the project.

Thanks, Gretchen.

The graphic here in front of us is a map of the collision patterns that we gleaned from approximately two years of collisions at this intersection of 117 15th Avenue Northeast and Pinehurst Way.

It's a confusing graphic and that kind of represents the confusing nature of this intersection.

There are many different ways to cross Pinehurst Way, 15th Avenue Northeast from Northeast 17th.

All of this is happening kind of to the northeast of Hazel Wolf School, which is down in the left-hand corner of the graphic.

The red stars indicate a location of a collision.

The number inside indicates how many collisions have occurred at that location.

And we even had a pedestrian collision here a number of years ago.

crossing the street.

And so our goal as part of this project is basically to reconfigure this intersection to make it more safe for drivers, but also more importantly for students at K-8 who would like to cross the street here and currently cannot do so safely.

We also want to address the biking community's needs to cross here safely as well.

And so that's a big part of our project.

Next slide.

To do this, we need a very small 102-square-foot easement from Seattle Public Schools.

We will be reconfiguring one corner of one curb bulb.

And in order to provide an adequately wide sidewalk for the students and for the general public, we need just a few feet along the edge of the school's property to do that.

And so this is the purpose of obtaining the easement, the permanent easement.

We'll also get a small construction easement from the school which is now part of the legislation in order to construct this small sidewalk area on the school, what is currently school's property.

Here's a snapshot of this curb bulb in the distance.

We're facing west towards the school.

You can see there are no crosswalks here.

There's no safe way for pedestrians to currently cross the street.

You can see the green markings indicating a bike crossing of the intersection.

Both of those methods of crossing here will be improved in fact, We will have dedicated pedestrian crossings and bike crossings as part of the new signals, intentionally to provide safety for students and the general public crossing on foot and bikes.

Next slide.

I touched on this already, but essentially we'll reconfigure the intersection, add new traffic signals with dedicated crossings for bikes and pedestrians with marked crosswalks and medians to stop in the middle of the intersection safely and cross for those who are a little slower.

We are restricting turning movements through the intersection to just basically prevent people from having the collisions that they're having now.

We'll install physical barriers to prevent some of the movements that we see as dangerous and causing collisions.

And of course, we will improve the sidewalks and the curb ramps on all legs of this intersection to meet ADA standards and serve the needs of the traffic public and the students.

There's another part of this project which is a new sidewalk.

one block away from the intersection that is also being constructed at the same time as the intersection will be constructed.

This is just a snapshot of kind of the reconfigured intersection.

We've talked about these things, but turning movements will be restricted to make the flow better and improve safety.

We'll have dedicated crossings for bikes and peds and new signals on all legs of the intersection to safely meter these different movements and avoid conflicts.

Also, there'll be bicycle improvements as well.

In addition to the direct benefits of those walking and biking to school and reducing collisions, this intersection also serves the Pinehurst Neighborhood Greenway on Northeast 117th.

So not just locally, but at a bigger picture, that greenway also will be improved as part of this project and ultimately help folks get to the North Lake Link light rail station via bike as well.

So multiple benefits to the project.

That's all we had, but I'm happy to take any questions that you have for us.

Thank you, Gretchen and Joel.

I do see one question from a council member.

Calvin, did you want to jump in and explain something to us?

I just wanted to reiterate for folks that this was a very extensive project summary.

The legislation in front of us is really just the acceptance of the property behind the sidewalk.

So it's a very, very small piece of this much more interesting, larger project, but the legislation is very, very targeted.

Thank you, Calvin.

Council Member Morales.

Thank you, Calvin.

I'm interested in the bigger project.

So I appreciate the reminder.

But I do have a question about the actual improvements planned at the intersection, if I might.

Chair?

Yes, please.

First, I want to say that this is a great example of participatory budgeting.

This was a Your Voice, Your Choice project and so the community decided this was a priority and this is what happens.

Now we are working on making some improvements so that the students in the area can get to school safely.

So thank you for that.

I'm curious about the bike improvements that are being planned here.

It does look like there's several lanes here.

There's some paint obviously.

I wonder if the white hash marks here are bollards or is that going to be a raised barrier?

Can you talk a little bit about what the bike improvements are here?

There's two improvements for the bike users.

One would be re-striping and re-channelizing parts of the bike lanes that exist now to to fit within the reconfigured intersection.

Most of those improvements are, most of the separation between the bike lane and the traveling lane are these kind of white plastic markers that are epoxied to the asphalt.

There is quite a bit of separation here.

There's two or three feet of separation between the traveling and the bike lane here.

Which is nice for for cyclists and one of the reasons why we didn't we do need to get the easement as we didn't want to have to push the sidewalk further into the street, which would encroach upon the bike lanes and then push those cyclists closer to the traveling lane.

So it's one of the reasons why we want to have this easement is to keep as much space between these different modes as possible.

The biggest change and benefit to the biking community here, Council Member, is that we will have a dedicated bike signal for bicyclists crossing from east to west.

So they'll be on their own phase.

They'll have a little bicycle signal.

You've probably seen these downtown.

They're relatively small signals.

And that will be a dedicated movement, so they will have to compete with other traffic, making movements in the intersection while the bicyclists and pedestrians cross at the same time.

So it's a fairly big improvement, which will serve the students, but also cyclists using the Greenway on Northeast 117th as they cross.

Thank you.

And then just one more question.

It looks like the intention here is for any pedestrian crossing to be on the south side of this intersection and none on the north side.

That's correct.

Intentionally, it's very difficult to get a safe crossing on the north leg of this intersection and maintain flows of traffic and people and bikes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Council Member Strauss, I see your hand up.

And just real quick, I did want to let folks know that while we're not able to always do this, we did check in with the district council member who's not on the committee, Council Member Juarez.

She's familiar with the project, supportive of the project.

Just wanted to put that out there as a point of information.

Vice Chair Strauss.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

Thank you, Joel and Gretchen.

This is a great project and presentation.

Having been a student of the Seattle Drum School just a couple blocks north of there at a time where I relied entirely on a bicycle, I can tell you that this was a very dangerous intersection for a very long time.

And the improvements that have been made over time, and these improvements in particular, are going to make it a lot safer for folks, as well as then being a person that drives a car in the same intersection.

I can tell you that having these dedicated and clear lanes of where I can and cannot drive will also help me ensure that I'm a safe driver.

So this is really great because it helps me be a safer, you know, have more safety as I'm riding my bike.

And it helps me as a driver knowing where and where not to drive.

So thank you very much for all your great work on this.

All right.

Council members, any more questions before we move on this item?

Okay, council members, I now move that the committee recommend approval of Council Bill 119989, item two on our agenda.

Is there a second?

I second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.

Any final comments?

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation that Council Bill 119989 be approved for forwarding to the full city council?

Gonzales?

Aye.

Herbold?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Five in favor, none opposed.

OK.

Thank you.

It's been approved for the motion carries.

Committee recommendation is that the bill be sent for approval to the February 8 City Council meeting.

Now we're going to move to our third and final agenda item.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item three into the record?

Agenda item three, resolution 31986, a resolution relating to the City Light Department acknowledging and approving the 2020 integrated resource plan progress report as conforming with the public policy objectives of the city of Seattle and the requirements of the state of Washington.

for public hearing, briefing, and discussion.

Thank you.

State law requires City Light to produce and update an integrated resource plan, or IRP, every two years, which is then approved by the City Council and submitted to the State Department of Commerce.

In the off years, City Light submits a progress report.

So the last City Light IRP was approved in 2018. for the years 2019 and 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stresses, City Light has asked for and received from the State Department of Commerce an extension to finalize preparation of the updated 2021-2022 IRP, and also for the ability to submit this progress report in place of the updated IRP.

Today we'll be holding a public hearing on the progress report proposed to be approved by City Council in this resolution 31986. And we're going to receive a presentation from our utility, followed by an opportunity to discuss and ask questions.

We're then going to vote on the resolution at our next committee meeting Wednesday, February 17. So today it's a public hearing and presentation.

I do note that I'm gonna go ahead and open and close the public hearing to make it official, but I'm seeing that there are no speakers for that.

So the public hearing on resolution 31986 is now open and seeing no speakers signed up, I'll confirm with our information technology folks and clerk, do you also see nobody signed up?

Affirmative, there are no public hearing sign ups.

Okay.

Since there is not a member of the public remotely present for this public hearing on Resolution 31986, this public hearing is now closed.

So we'll go ahead and pass it on to our presenters.

We'll start, as usual, with our City Council Central staff, in this case, Eric McConaghy, if you have any comments to introduce this item.

Other than just to say good morning, all the items that you covered, Chair Peterson, were the things that I had put on my notes to tick off.

And so you did it very well, and I have nothing to add.

I just look forward to the presentation to follow.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

And so now we'll turn it over to our CEO and general manager, Seattle City Light, Debra Smith.

I'm going with the alternate unmute because the button wasn't working.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to present to you all today.

So I'm Deborah Smith and I don't really have a role except to say hello, good morning, and introduce the team that's going to be presenting to you today.

We have Emeka Anyanwu.

We have Eliza Selig, we have Joy Lichty, and of course, Maura Brugger will be manning the presentation.

So thank you again.

And yeah, this is kind of bread and butter of what we do.

So we appreciated the opportunity to brief council members Peterson and Strauss offline and look forward to bringing this back to you in a couple of weeks, hopefully for approval.

So thank you very much.

And I'll turn it over to the team.

Thank you, Deborah and good morning council members and audience.

We appreciate the opportunity to be with you all today.

As I think everybody knows, the, the.

The industry, the world and the utility industry and the energy industry are changing and so we too must adapt.

The integrated resource plan progress report that we brought forth today introduces a number of significant developments in our approach and in the surrounding circumstances that are responsive to those changes.

And many of those emerging influences are probably well known to the council members and audience.

Things like renewable energy costs, which continue to drop, advances in energy efficiency, such that energy uses at historically low levels.

Of course, we're seeing new uses emerge through electrification as things like electric vehicles, you know, approach cost parity with gasoline vehicles here coming up.

And of course, not the least of which of course is here recently, the impacts of the pandemic.

So on the horizon, we see connected devices that will enable communication that should allow immediate adjustments to energy use to help us relieve stress on the system.

And all these changes really will bring many new opportunities for how energy is delivered and used.

And we think this future is going to require really more specific information that we share with customers and that we use ourselves.

And the IRP effort that we are engaged in right now as part of our work at City Light is going to help us refine and share that information.

Next slide, please.

So our goal today really is to, as the intro said, to provide a progress update on our IRP efforts.

And so we'll start by first explaining or for some of the council members recapping what the IRP is and why we do it.

We will also talk about why City Light in last year pivoted from doing a full IRP update to an IRP progress report, some of which the chair sort of highlighted earlier.

And we'll walk through what that typical process looks like.

We'll also lay out how the progress report describes important elements of our new framework and how it provides foundational information to help us guide those future resource decisions.

Secondly, we'll explain some of the key factors we've identified that have emerged that will impact our resource planning approach.

The climate crisis is, of course, one of those top effects.

It's increased the urgency of new state and regional energy policy.

And these, coupled with advancements in renewable energy and energy efficiency, like I mentioned earlier, are driving rapid changes in power supply.

We also need to account for, again, the less defined impacts like the COVID pandemic, which are still evolving, as well as the prospects for broad electrification, which are also impacted by the events of the last year.

We'll then discuss the implications of some of this information, and we'll talk about what ideas we're developing to respond to existing and emerging pressures.

And finally, we'll close by, again, reiterating today's request, which is moving toward the approval of the resolution that adopts this progress report, which is an important step for us to meet our statutory obligations, as agreed to with the Department of Commerce, that require us to perform planning activities that ensure we can meet the needs of our customers going forward.

And with that, I will hand it off to Elisa to take you through the meat of the presentation.

Elisa.

Thank you, Emeka.

I hope everybody can hear me.

Anyways, the integrated resource plans and progress reports are good utility practice to help develop guidance strategy about long term resource needs.

and resource choices to help the utility take necessary steps to ensure affordability, reliability, and environmentally responsible energy services.

Formally, utilities have been producing IRPs in Washington State for submittal to the Department of Commerce since 2008. This data informs the state legislature to help develop state energy policy.

Due to a confluence of several events and developments, City Light requested a one-time exception in 2020 to produce the integrated resource plan, as was discussed earlier, instead of the full IRP update.

We use this opportunity to explain significant changes that are happening and the steps City Light is taking to prepare for these changes, as we will discuss throughout this presentation.

This provides additional time to develop a more robust resource plan for City Light's particular needs and objectives.

The progress report is setting the stage for valuable public and stakeholder engagement to keep the utility and customers in step with one another.

Additionally, City Light's continued engagement with customers through our many activities, notably through our strategic planning process, along with city policy, will provide an important context that informs the IRP.

Future IRP plans will need to adapt to the ways we are partnering with customers in a shared energy future in whatever way they choose.

Next slide.

As MECA revealed, four factors dominated the 2020 integrated resource planning process.

And ultimately, the combination of these factors made the IRP team recommend a change in course from doing the full IRP to a progress report.

Let's review these factors.

The Clean Energy Transformation Act, or CETA, as you will hear in the industry, is the new Washington state law bringing teeth and timelines to transform the electric power supply to 100% clean with rules being developed while we were trying to create the IRP itself.

Coupled with clean energy innovation, there is a lot to unpack in terms of the choices we need to make.

Also, the adverse human and economic impacts of the pandemic are still involving.

Improving the economy while ensuring that environmental justice communities aren't disproportionately shouldering the weight of climate change needs to be a focus of future plans.

Finally, gaining a more thorough understanding of the pace of decarbonization and priorities for electrification, which itself is still broadly taking shape across transportation buildings and other sectors, is an important consequential factor we'll talk about more.

Taking this time now, we have a progress report that presents and defines important and new information to help involve customers in the choices ahead.

So let's look at how the work gets done.

Next slide.

These are the steps of an IRP.

The progress report focused on the first three.

Later in the presentation, we will talk a bit more about the major elements of an IRP study.

Those include resource needs, review of supply and demand forecasts, resource adequacy, and resource choices.

I will work hard to try to define these terms for you because they are important terms to know as we continue through IRP planning and utility planning.

For the 2022 IRP, we will go through all the steps.

The timeline shown is designed to be able to bring into the 2020 IRP elements from other plans and important inputs, including the strategic plan, conservation potential assessment, and further electrification research.

That said, not all timelines are going to perfectly align.

As we learn new information, we're going to fine tune and update plans.

The process is always ongoing.

Finally, while not shown on this diagram, too, City Light will include public input at multiple points in the IRP process.

We are currently developing an equity-focused roadmap to help guide our public outreach and equity indicators.

We expect this outreach to be comprehensive across several efforts, including the strategic plan and transportation electrification implementation.

Next up will be some of the elements of the framework I mentioned earlier.

Next slide.

The changing energy landscape is creating a new energy frontier that requires a more targeted approach.

It is important to have a framework that can identify how changes in demand and supply will require new focus to find the best solutions for Seattle and all its customers.

With our new framework, we are working to pinpoint new opportunities and pressures on the utility using a data-driven approach.

We seek durable and equitable solutions that are in line with our mission, vision, and values.

To do this work, we develop resource needs.

Resource needs translate local, state, and federal regulations into defined minimum or maximum thresholds for having a certain type and amount of resources to meet demand or a portion of demand.

There are three very important considerations for City Light that have very specific requirements.

Initiative 937, the Energy Independence Act, is a mature requirement that City Light has planned for since 2006 when it was passed into law.

Because of that, we've been executing on plans and thus it is a lesser near-term need.

As we talked about earlier in the presentation, CETA is new and will transform the state's power supply.

CETA requires no coal to be used in Washington State for electricity use by 2026. It also requires 80% greenhouse gas free power by 2030, which we will also have to ensure that's 100% greenhouse gas neutral and 100% clean by 2045. Because of City Light's existing greenhouse gas neutral program, City Light is already quite close to the greenhouse gas free requirement, but the requirements of the law are slightly different than our program.

So we have to make sure we're in line with the rules as defined and still being defined.

Explaining how City Light will continue to build on its clean electricity foundation and identify when new pressures may emerge because of changing energy use and supply is an important part of the focus in the 2020 progress report and CETA.

Indications are that summer, there are new pressures in summer based on changes in regional energy supply.

And this is important when we think about resource adequacy.

I'm now going to step through the building blocks to define resource adequacy in more depth.

Next slide, please.

It starts with City Light's current power mix.

The donut chart shows the current composition of City Light's power sources.

Examination of current supply is part of the foundation from which we build and tune our plans based on the resource needs and resource choices.

Here's a breakdown of our current stack.

It is from renewable and clean energy sources, except for the portion that is unspecified.

The map shows City Light's owned and contracted resources, except for our Bonneville Power Administration contract that is provided to us under conditions laid out in the 1980 Northwest Power Act.

In any year, our power mix can vary depending on temperature, precipitation, and planned and unplanned generation and transmission outages.

Skagit, which is comprised of three dams in the northwest portion of the state, Ross, Diablo, and Gorge, in addition to our boundary and our boundary project in the northeast corner of the state, make up about half of our hydro supply.

Another 40% of our supply, mainly hydro, is from the Bonneville Power Administration contract.

Its contract terms continue into 2020. The unspecified portion of the power mix may incidentally include coal or natural gas resources.

In accordance with our greenhouse gas neutrality policy, any emissions associated with market purchases are offset.

An offset is made through City Light's investments and projects in the region or across the country that reduce or mitigate emissions to the atmosphere.

While contracts in hydro license end and new ones could change, we know that modifications will be made to comply with CETA, and we expect the changes to be manageable.

Up next is resource adequacy, where supply and demand are studied together.

Aliza, council members, we're about halfway through the PowerPoint.

Anybody have any questions at this point?

Council member Strauss, I believe.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Aliza and Emeka.

Great presentation so far.

I just wanted to kind of call out the biogas.

Could you tell me a little bit more about that, what it is, how it operates, and then I've got a couple other questions as well.

Yeah, I can.

The biogas power comes from converting renewable and organic materials such as wastewater sewage into renewable gas that is used to produce electricity.

This renewable gas, it fuels an internal combustion engine that's similar to an automobile engine to drive a generator and produce electricity.

It's part of City Lights Mix that meets the Clean Energy Transformation Act requirements and the renewable requirements of the initiative 937. Any other questions about that?

Thank you.

Just a little bit about both nuclear and unspecified.

I know that when we need to buy power off of the market, oftentimes we have to make what are, as you've indicated to me, called blind purchases.

where we legally cannot know the type of generation of the power that we are purchasing, which is why you have the Purchasing Carbon Offsets program set up, which I really think is just very admirable and exactly in line with our values.

Can you tell me a little bit more about Is the nuclear power also offset and can you explain just for the viewing public why we have to make blind purchases and how the carbon offset purchases work in tandem with it?

Okay, well, the nuclear power is actually part of our Bonneville contract.

And so we received generation a small portion of our generation from the Bonneville contract does come from the 1 operating nuclear power plant in the state.

And so that is a is not part of that.

what you refer to as a blind purchase or unspecified market purchase.

Blind purchases, unspecified power, is surplus power that's purchased from energy providers in advance of when the power is going to be used.

Because when you enter into a transaction, it's always before you actually know what demand's going to be, because demand is dynamic.

By 2nd, it depends on if you're running a blow dryer that will change demand.

So we have to balance every 2nd of the day power.

So, when when it's sold.

Even precipitation and weather conditions are constantly changing.

And therefore, it's not known what mix of power is going to be generating when that energy is going to be delivered.

So people sell from their system.

And when you sell from your system, that mix is then later assigned as an unspecified purchase.

And to calculate how to offset that power, we use the system mix to determine what we need to offset.

Does that answer your question?

It does I'm wondering if you could maybe just.

Dive in a little bit deeper about why we can't.

You know, I've asked why we can't why we can't why we can't know or why we can't deny if somebody's trying to sell us coal power, why we can't just deny it and not purchase it.

Right?

Well, I think at this point it's difficult to really trace that, but that is actually part of CETA is trying to look at if there are market reforms, how we would do that to really make sure that coal is not coming into the mix or anything that we don't want.

And so I would say that it's a very complicated process of buying and selling power.

And so I look forward to more thoroughly answering that and being able to tell you that we can more confidently say that coal is not coming into the mix very soon.

Well, let me maybe sort of layer onto that because it leaves us exactly right.

I think one of the things that's really important about this question is how how it highlights the the criticality of regional action.

Right.

I mean, you are you're buying from a market that is from, you know, sort of entities that surround you.

And so In some ways, you know, you go as that marketplace goes.

And so regional action and statewide action like SETA is what helps change the mix around us so that what's available to you sort of meets those needs.

You know, in terms of sort of your ability to reject purchases, obviously, as Elisa said, you're doing a lot of this in real time.

So it isn't like there is sort of an easy way, you know, sort of five minutes ahead, you realize there's something in the mix that you can just reject that if you want to be able to meet your customers' needs.

The other thing I wanted to point out as well is the fact that you asked the question about offsetting nuclear.

And I just wanted to point out that the little portion of the nuclear supply that we get through our Bonneville contract is nuclear power is emission free.

So it actually does meet the emissions-free, carbon-free requirements of CETA.

And so I think that's one of those things that is always important to recognize, is that even though that is a small portion of our power, it is emission-free.

And just to jump on, I apologize for the light.

All of a sudden, it's really sunny in downtown Seattle.

But two other things I would say, one is that We're aware of the prospective prohibition around nuclear, and so is Bonneville.

And so, AMECA meets with them on a regular basis, and that's one of the topics that they discuss.

So, we know that when these contracts renew, we will have to either change our position or think differently about how that works.

So, that we're on.

And number two is that Just like City Light went live with the EIM last April, Bonneville has elected to join the energy and balance market as well.

And so I think as they work through that, the pressure on them to be able to tag, because that's the method by which resources get Um, identify the ability to tag and the amount of unspecified resource I think will drop simply because for them to have value as they're selling potentially into the E.

I. M. Which is at least it said is super dynamic.

You know, it's that you know, they're very short increments.

Um, their value will be will be maximized by being able to specify those resources.

Thank you all so much.

Excellent answers to the point.

Yeah, appreciate it.

Let's see.

Why don't we move on to the next slide?

Thank you.

Resource adequacy assures that we have sufficient energy supply to serve loads across a wide range of conditions.

It is a study that takes our existing supply and matches it with our demand, including when the region has surplus energy that we can rely on.

The chart shown is expected energy compared to demand by month for the years 2021 and 2026. It's based on our best view at the time of the progress report and includes approved conservation plans.

It highlights increasing pressure and our ability to serve August needs.

To be clear, this is illustrative and not a representation of our perceived ability to meet current or projected needs.

It simply shows what can happen if we don't plan ahead.

As such, a chart like this also does not show the distribution of the deficits of supply and demand under the range of precipitation, temperature, and outage conditions that City Light may experience.

An hourly study across the range of these conditions is conducted to determine when City Light's power supply is most stressed.

Past studies focused on winter because the region has been surplus in the other seasons.

With climate change and change in regional power supply and demand from new energy policies, consequential times of stress can change.

The new analysis points to new summer supply pressures under conditions when City Light's hydro is runs low and temperatures are high in July and August.

However, just because we may experience stress, it is important to weigh that against the possibility that our neighbors may have surplus we can pick up or whether we should consider other alternatives.

The framework is going to help us identify new pressures early and what resource choices would be most desirable.

Additionally, with these changes in power supply and technology, Utilities are identifying new collaboration opportunities to keep costs low, like the EIM, that help us achieve the environmental objectives that we hope will meet the climate crisis.

Of interest is another effort that's developing, which is a regional program for resource adequacy.

The Northwest Power Pool, which is a consortium of utilities across the Northwest, including Seattle, is leading an effort to develop a program to ensure utilities can appropriately rely on their neighbors, leveraging the diversity of resources, while ensuring none of us are unreasonably leaning on one another.

This spring, we anticipate more information available that will help City Light further with this analysis.

I'm going to move on to the next slide and explain how the new framework helps us make better and cleaner energy choices.

Council Member Strauss.

Sorry, I will keep my questions short.

And General Manager Smith, I now have the sun on my face.

I swear we are in Seattle.

Resource adequacy, does that, in short, just mean energy supply?

It's the difference.

Well, it's making sure you have a sufficient energy supply to meet your demand.

So it's the looking at the difference between supply and demand.

And the other thing is, is that and we have, I mean, at least is really strong on this and she is debating on behalf of city life, like in these regional discussions for gosh, a year and a half or more.

with the Northwest power pool.

But there's also there's two components to resource adequacy.

There's energy, as you point out, and a lot of times folks will say that the Northwest has is long on energy, which means our ability to produce power generally exceeds, um, exceeds load.

But then there's capacity, and capacity is what happens when If we go back to Elise's earlier comment, we all turn our hair dryers on at the same time.

And we're all getting ready to go to work in the morning.

And the Northwest is capacity constrained.

And so it's a really interesting time.

It's a super interesting time for resource planning in general, because you're balancing those two.

And you're saying, what we need is we need sufficient resource to also make sure that if we all flip the switch on at the same time, that we don't overload or trip the system.

And so when we heard about rolling blackouts in California in August, that was a capacity issue.

There wasn't sufficient capacity to meet that peak load or peak demand.

And so it's super complicated and even resource planning, again, the city lights engaged in that Elise is leading is having to now take into account both things.

And it's a, it's a time where we're really morphing in that sense.

Thank you, Deborah.

Is there more that, can I answer anything else on this slide before we move on?

In the interest of time, I'll save my questions for the end if we have time at the end.

Okay, thank you.

So once the resource adequacy needs are identified, the analysis is going to consider a wide range of commercially available supply and energy efficiency technology to identify possible solutions.

So resource choices is another definition I want to leave you with.

It refers to the kinds of programs and fuels chosen to meet demand, like energy conservation or demand response, hydroelectric generation, renewable energy such as wind, solar, both utility scale and owned by customers, short-term market reliance, battery, or other storage.

So, these are choices that we all have to make together.

Another kind of new choice that's really emerging, particularly around these capacity deficits that Deborah mentioned, is demand response.

And what that is, it's a change in power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power when the supply needs relief.

It's like turning down a thermostat in the winter months when energy use peaks.

These concepts are referred to flexible loads, so that's going to become more of our vocabulary and something that we need to start educating customers about.

City Light's new framework accounts for the different long-term values of these different resource choices, looking at resource adequacy, how do they contribute to resource adequacy, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, reducing transmission and distribution costs, how do we meet these clean requirements, and specific goals around renewable resources.

It also, more importantly, tracks and reports on time-specific information to help inform these choices.

And that's what's really new.

Incorporating customer choices with the amount and the amount of conservation available and future BPA options are going to be important elements for us.

Work is ongoing, though, additionally, on how to define and incorporate environmental justice and equity.

This is something that's more new for utilities because it's outside the realm of just energy benefits.

As part of CETA, the Washington Department of Health is developing equity indicators with information that utilities have provided.

And the outcome we're expecting soon is a cumulative impact assessment to help create and track new non-energy indicators that are going to inform our plans.

So how are we going to rise to this occasion?

Next slide.

In preparation for the 2022 IRP work, we're going to continue to focus on aligning all of our City Lights plans, updating analysis, reinvigorating outreach with a focus on environmental justice communities, and collaborating with regional power providers and customers to seek effective solutions.

We will continue deep analysis to examine various options available to us, that support the customer's choices and that are aligned with City policy on climate and decarbonization.

The IRP progress report and its framework supports plans that will allow us to build a robust strategy for our strategic plan that's going to come to City Council later this year, as well as statutorily required implementation plan for CETA, also known as the Clean Energy Implementation Plan.

that is due at the end of the year to the Washington State Department of Commerce.

Additionally, ongoing electrification and climate studies are going to inform and help us fine tune these plans as we move forward in time.

We're going to do this maintaining strong collaboration with our regional partners and peers to seek outcomes with broad and sustainable benefit.

Next slide.

To just help describe the work ahead when considering changing loads from COVID and electrification, which are really consequential for our decarbonization plan, let's review quickly our outlook on demand and how it's changed over the course of one year.

It's a zoomed in view to help observe changes.

Each 10 megawatts is about 1% of current annual demand.

The chart doesn't reflect seasonal impacts, which will be higher in peak demand periods and lower in other periods.

The vertical axis starts at 900 megawatts.

So please keep that in perspective as you view this.

It identifies our best estimates of changes that we may see that are going into the 2022 to 2026 strategic plan is compared to the forecast that is supported in the IRP progress report.

So I'm going to highlight some things for your observation.

Over the last 15 years, loads have been declining, consistently lower than expectations.

The 2020 drop from COVID was a relatively big drop in one year, but now we have a realistic understanding of where we are, and it gives us a better focus to make plans as new things are emerging.

While load recovery is expected to be slow and conservation is expected to continue to reduce demand until about 2027, With the new Seattle Energy Code and innovations, we expect new growth by the mid to late 2020s.

While also lower loads may not always be what we hope for, it does provide us time to continue to refine and study the range of electrification paths, including more aggressive ones, and shape an achievable path.

The new forecast shown by the solid blue line will be closer representation of what we will support in the full IRP update as we're about to begin the work.

So to bring the best science we can to this, we are now working with the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI, a leading and independent nonprofit research and development organization that has a range of experience to help us understand electrification and help make recommendations supporting our choices.

Next slide.

Council Member Strauss.

All right, thank you for answering all of my questions.

Yes, on this one in particular, granted, it looks like the blue line has dropped a little bit quicker than anticipated.

However, it has not really changed the overall trajectory of the 2019 forecast.

Can you explain just a little bit about how COVID has impacted this projection this year.

And then am I correct in understanding that the blue line ticks back up in part due to the energy code changes that we made earlier this week?

Yes.

So COVID has dropped load.

You can see that drop from 2019 to 2020. And we're still determining what final load is for 2020. So I don't have an exact figure, but it's about 4% lower, which is a large drop in one year.

And we're not expecting the recovery to be fast from COVID, but there is some recovery happening, but that's offset more by additional conservation that will happen.

in that time frame.

There is beneficial conservation because you need to start now to have achieved later.

It takes a while to ramp in.

Your other question was about the new energy code, and that's the primary difference when you see the blue line higher than the dashed black line.

That is the incorporate our, you know, our best view of how we think that new code is going to come in will depend on, you know, what kind of.

How it will depend on our economy and how quickly these new buildings are constructed and how many so that that that can evolve as we see how our economy is doing.

So a couple of things that I'll add on.

Thank you, Elisa.

You know, I think that it's, you know, it's important to also note that, you know, really, as we've looked at the trajectory of supply, you know, what we're seeing is, you know, significant changes in behavior, right?

And so we obviously saw commercial load go down as the pandemic took hold and residential load go up.

As Elisa said, those didn't perfectly offset.

So the load is still down.

But we think sort of long term again, as you referred to vice chair Strauss, the, the blue line really starts to take up because of that broad decarbonization that we're going to see an electrification.

Certainly.

Thank you for your leadership in that space.

Because as we've looked at.

Uh, where we think we are headed and, you know, again, some of this is a little bit of the disruption sort of changing and timing because of the pandemic, but we sort of had always projected that electrification was going to be a part of the trajectory carrying us forward.

And so you see that reflected in the, in the charts here.

Yeah, and I just wanted to add that this is still very much a risk for us.

And as Emeka and Elisa have said, so this is an area we don't know where it will go.

And even this morning in the paper, there was discussion about Nordstrom's now getting rid of or letting some space go, I think at 7th and West Olive, because they're recognizing that while they're an in-person business, a lot of their jobs can be done remotely.

As I look outside at the buildings, you know, we worry a lot as leases and existing leases expire over the next couple of years, what will that impact be so we feel like.

What we did was the first blush of this was pretty scary.

And then we did go back and say, well, let's do a better job of including our best and still be relatively conservative, our best estimate of what electrification may do.

And we're super pleased that a lot of our public agency partners are moving forward, especially on the transportation side with electrification plans.

But this is an area of risk for us looking forward.

Thank you, Deborah and Mecca to for helping me with this.

It's really, you know, it's important work for the utility and I can't convey enough of how many people are involved in bringing these plans to you across the organization and Emeka and Debra really help bring our teams together.

But I'm going to conclude with letting you know, as we are working on this progress report and the new IRP update, energy use and supply is going to transition.

It's a real new energy frontier.

And we're going to add the word adaptation to our vocabulary as well.

And what does that do?

It defines the flexibility and openness we need to have in a recovering economy, adjusting to ever-changing regulations and embracing innovation and balancing what we have to do to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The IRP framework supports nimble decision-making by identifying important data and information to support customer and utility choices.

This work takes time and there are boundaries on what we can know and about all these factors.

Our job is to bring the science, the modeling conclusions, the public's opinion and response and the relevant factors to you to help you in your job and help our customers as well in their choices.

We must work to simplify these communications and keep our customer owners wanting to learn more and help meet our calls for relieving future pressures.

Working together is going to ensure that we find the best solutions and as such deliver the outcomes our communities need.

We ask for your help in bringing all our customer owners into this new future to inform and assure inclusivity by letting them know about the IRP.

I'm going to hand it back to Emeka to close this out.

Thank you, Aliza, and great work and a great presentation.

So in closing, I just wanted to leave this slide up here to highlight an important group of partners, some of whom I hope may be listening in with us today.

The IRP process benefits really from a broad group of technical advisors who ask us lots of tough questions.

They provide valuable insights for our plans.

And they have diverse backgrounds and expertise in engineering and economics and water resources, air pollution, sustainable buildings, energy policy.

So lots of really great deep technical knowledge.

We met with them seven times in this process, two meetings in 2019 and five meetings in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.

And so they were really gracious with giving us their time and have been pivotal in how we think about tuning the information we present.

And each one of those meetings has active participation.

We give them presentations and talk about inputs and methodologies, talk about analysis, results, and sort of how we're planning for the 2022 IRP looking forward.

And so for the 2022 IRP process, we look forward to continuing working with a lot of these same folks to provide guidance on the breadth and timing of policies that we will need to be considered with input from them and from customers, from stakeholders, and of course, from leadership from our council.

And last week, we actually started the 2022 process already.

So we've had our first kickoff meeting of that cycle and beginning to sort of frame and shape the work that will go into that.

So you will always obviously have access to see the proposed resolution to adopt the IRP progress report and a copy of the report and all the associated legislative and background documents.

Again, as the chair pointed out at the start, having the approval of this committee and subsequently the full council will complete an important statutory obligation and then we'll set the stage for that 2022 IRP.

So again, I want to thank you all for your time and for your leadership and great questions.

And we'll stop here for any last questions.

Thank you, Emeka.

Thank you, Elisa.

And thank you, General Manager Smith and Eric McConaughey from central staff.

And again, this was the presentation today and the public hearing.

We will vote on this resolution 31986 at our next committee meeting.

Any final questions before City Light signs up?

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair Peterson, General Manager Smith, wonderful presentation and Mika, always great to see you.

And Aliza, really, thank you for all of the great information.

My final question is, if I go on a tour with you, will I receive some of those salmon glasses that I saw in slide 12?

I have to ask our Environment Land Licensing Business Unit if they still have some, but I sure hope we can get you some because that came from the trip to the Environmental Learning Center.

Wonderful.

Not a precondition, just really love all of your work.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody, and thank you, Joy, as well.

Appreciate it.

And again, we'll vote on this resolution in a couple of weeks.

Council members, if there's nothing further, this concludes the February 3rd, 2021 meeting of our Transportation Utilities Committee.

This committee will meet again on February 17th at 9.30 in the morning.

That's a Wednesday.

Thank you for attending, and we are adjourned.