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MINUTES – Eugene City Council Work Session October 28, 2019 Page 3 <br />•Councilor Taylor – asked why the presentation said regulate expansion of natural gas systeminstead of prohibit; said she thinks council should prohibit natural gas for new buildings. <br />•Councilor Zelenka – talked about regulatory hurtles and intricacies of building code and hownone of these options are uncomplicated. <br />•Councilor Taylor – asked if council would be approving the elements of the Northwest NaturalGas franchise agreement, including the option of no new natural gas infrastructure. <br />•Councilor Evans –asked for more information about Northwest Natural’s recent expansion ofinfrastructure. <br />•Councilor Yeh – asked what a required level of EV readiness would mean; said there seems likea lot of possible improvements or options to expand upon EV readiness into actual chargingstations; said she’d also like to partner with EWEB on electrification and energy efficiencyincentives; said she’d like to explore prohibiting new natural gas installations and what thatwould look like. <br />•Councilor Syrett – talked about the state’s regulation of building codes, including energyefficiency requirements; asked if Representative Wilde’s proposed bills would increase EVcharging standards more than the governor’s current orders. <br />•Councilor Evans – asked if the City could create incentives for new construction to incorporateelectric rather than gas and what would those look like; asked if those incentives would beeasier to do than a direct prohibition on natural gas. <br />•Councilor Zelenka – pointed out that building codes only apply to new construction, but mostenergy used is from existing buildings; said that focusing on existing buildings meeting a higherstandard of energy efficiency at times of rental or sale would move the dial quite a bit morethan new infrastructure; talked about how much effort it takes to get infrastructure EV readyand the big difference it makes in the affordability for future charging station installation; saidthat the state’s adoption of the new commercial and residential energy building code will makeOregon the state with the most energy-efficient building code starting in 2020. <br />•Councilor Yeh – responded to Councilor Zelenka and said that getting conduits EV ready isimportant, but not quite getting us there in terms of having charging stations available.The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m. <br />Respectfully submitted, <br />Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Elena Domingo) Link to the webcast of this City Council meeting: here. <br />November 25, 2019, Meeting - Item 2A