The Benicia Community Sustainability Commission has a week to decide which of its seven applicants will receive endorsements for their grants requests, and how much the organizations should get.

The panel heard presentations from each of the applicants Monday night. While Commissioners were able to ask questions of the candidates, they won’t reach a decision on the requests until their next meeting.

Municipal-affiliated applications made up the majority the Commission heard Monday night, including three that came directly from the city.
City employees will ask for $50,000 for another phase of Benicia’s residential solar incentive program of offering rebates for systems installed by residents; $69,889 for a two-year extension of its WaterSmart software and Home Water Reports project; and $200,000 for a water-efficient landscaping rebate program.

Management Analyst Teresa Olson said the city’s first solar rebate program, financed through a $100,000 line item in the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement, helped 34 applicants before it ran out of money.

The $50,000 grant is expected to provide 45 rebates through partnerships with vendors, she said.

The first program was so popular, the city has a waiting list, and those on the list would be the first to be offered the new rebate, should the Commission and Council agree with the city’s request.

Dan Jackson, Benicia’s water quality supervisor, presented the city’s case for grants for the turf replacement and WaterSmart software and Home Water Reports.

Both programs are designed to save water, particularly during the state’s severe drought.

Like the solar rebates, turf replacement rebates are popular. In exchange for pulling up their thirsty lawns, residents would get $2 a square foot, combining Solano County and city rebates should the Commission and Council concur.

By installing drought-resistant landscaping, including most mulches or gravel, in place of grass, Benicians could conserve 32 gallons of drinking water every year for every square foot of grass that is eliminated, Jackson said.

The previous edition of the program was so popular that demand exceeded the money earmarked for rebates, Jackson said. “There’s quite a bit of interest in this.”

The WaterSmart software and home use report program would reduce community-wide consumption by another 5 percent, Jackson said as he presented the third city request.

He said 5,000 households were chosen at random to participate in the pilot program, for which he asked funding to continue. Another 1,000 were chosen as controls. Besides saving about 250 acre-feet of water a year, the city also reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 33 metric tons.

Besides those savings, Jackson said the city wants the program to continue because information gathered by the software helps city employees help residents.

He cited one person who complained about the amount of a water bill after he quit irrigating his lawn.

Using data provided by WaterSmart, city employees were able to determine the resident might be conserving outdoors, but his indoor appliances were water-greedy. They were able to point him in the direction of efficient appliances and fixtures, Jackson said.

WaterSmart works hand in glove with WattzOn, which trains Benicia High School students as interns, then evaluates a homeowner’s water and power usage, provides efficient devices and recommends changes that could reduce consumption.

The company is asking for a grant of $198,800 for two years to continue its home assessment program and intern-training, a service for which the city began contracting in 2010.

During that time, it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 46,800 pounds, water by 103,800 gallons and electricity by 70,800 kilowatts, Vice President Jon Enberg said.

Commission Chairperson Kathy Kerridge addressed the panel, asking for a $5,000 grant for a single participation in the 2016 Drive Electric Week, a celebration that encourages switching to electric and hybrid cars.

She said the city’s participation would bring electric car owners, electric bicycle operators and others together so the public can see the benefits of switching from conventionally-powered cars.

Of the other applicants, Arts Benicia is asking for $48,300 for its two-year project, “Doing Our pART.”

Celeste Smeland, making her first appearance before the Commission as the new executive director, reminded the panel that artists can reach and collaborate with members of the community to communicate the need to conserve.

“Doing our pART” would consist of two juried exhibitions, one in 2016 and 2017, that focus on how visual artists contribute to public awareness of the strategies proposed in the Benicia Climate Action Plan.

The art shows will have panel discussions, which Smeland said would attract even more members of the public to the organization’s events, as well as school tours, descriptions of environmental issues illustrated in the art, Family Art Days activities and youth hands-on activities.
The project also would promote water conservation through commissioning artists to paint rain barrels and murals that illustrate water conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

Artists in all four of the city’s elementary schools would introduce children to drawing and painting as well as to the “maker” movement, an inventive grass-roots effort to show children that science and technology can be fun and intriguing.

In addition, the organization is proposing artist murals depicting sustainable subjects.

Benicia Tree Foundation has requested a one-year grant of $28,675 to continue planting trees on Benicia Unified School District sites and to inform others about the benefits of trees.

Executive Director Tina Marchetti said her organization has begun using a cellulose gel called “Dry Water” to provide water to new and existing trees the foundation has planted. The substance assures the trees will thrive despite the drought, but reduces the amount of watering the trees would need.

That’s important to the next phase of tree planting, which would be in more remote areas such as near Lake Herman’s side of the Benicia Community Park, she said.

The Commission has one week to consider how it will score the requests. It meets July 20 at City Hall to have those numbers calculated and to give the panel a chance to discuss the requests.

Funding recommendations will go in August to the City Council, which has the final vote on the grants.