In 2017, Chula Vista adopted what it calls an “ambitious” climate action plan that proposed a series of recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in San Diego County’s second-largest city.
One of those recommendations is to require older homes to make energy efficient upgrades. But turning that recommendation into actionable policy is easier said than done.
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to send an ordinance that would’ve required a small group of homes to make energy efficient upgrades during major home renovations back to staff for further study.
This was the second time this year that the City Council sent a proposed mandatory upgrade policy back to staff. The council first sent the ordinance back to staff in February because they didn’t think it had enough exemptions for low-income homeowners.
The city’s mandatory energy efficient upgrade policy has been significantly altered since staff began writing it. Originally, staff considered mandating the upgrades to homes built before 2006 at the point of sale. But they decided to change the trigger to whenever homeowners decided to make major renovations or additions to their property.
When staff brought the proposed ordinance to the City Council in February, it required homes to make a certain number of pre-approved upgrades depending on where those homes were located. For example, a home built before 2005 in the 91914 would have to make five upgrades.
To keep costs from becoming too burdensome, staff wrote in a “Project Value Cutoff” that caps upgrade costs at 20 percent of the overall project’s cost. Additionally, there were other exemptions built in when HOA covenants restricted upgrades and for low-income homeowners who had participated in San Diego Gas & Electric’s free weatherization program.
Tuesday’s new mandatory upgrade policy includes all of the pervious exemptions and added new ones for low-income homeowners. It also reduced the number of mandatory upgrades and gave homeowners the flexibility of choosing which specific upgrades they can do.
Staff said if homeowners chose the cheapest options and did the work themselves, the upgrades would cost about $100.
Under this proposal, staff said 3,8000 homes would get energy upgrades in the next 10 years resulting in a reduction of 32,000 tons of emissions.
On Tuesday Councilwoman Jill Galvez wanted to mandate energy upgrades to older homes that build a granny flat, also known as an accessory dwelling unit. However, staff were unsure whether the city can legally do that because state regulations have been trying to encourage people to build granny flats and mandating energy upgrades could violate those regulations.
So, the council sent the proposed ordinance back to staff so they could figure out the granny flat issue.
The ordinance could come back to the City Council as soon as its Oct. 20 meeting.
