TO: Napa County Climate Action Committee
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Planning, Building, and Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Ryan Melendez, Planner II, Sustainability
SUBJECT: Municipal Updates on Climate Action and Sustainability Activities: Unincorporated Napa County
RECOMMENDATION
title
PRESENTATION: Napa County staff will update the CAC on the progress of climate action and sustainability activities for the unincorporated Napa County jurisdiction.
body
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California
Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
In 2021 and 2022, Napa County jurisdictions unanimously adopted resolutions or proclamations, declaring the existence of a Climate Emergency and calls for taking immediate action to mitigate climate impacts and prepare for the impacts of climate change.
While the CAC is a forum for regional coordination on climate action, the CAC is an advisory body to the individual member jurisdictions. CAC actions must then be considered and approved by the respective municipal hearing bodies for adoption, budgeting, and implementation. CAC staff would like to begin including a standing item on the CAC agenda item during which municipal staff from the CAC member agencies will be invited provide updates on recent climate action and sustainability activities in their specific jurisdiction. This presentation item is designed to allow each member jurisdiction to highlight the progress they have made on CAC priorities and other climate action and sustainability activities.
During this February 2026 meeting, County staff will provide an update on the activities they are working on for the unincorporated county, which are described below.
For the purposes of this staff report and presentation, staff will omit RCAAP updates. RCAAP updates will be presented in other presentation items.
Reusable Foodware and Waste Reduction Ordinance:
• February and March 2024: the CAC considered and approved their recommendation of a model Single-Use Plastic Bag Reduction and Reusable Foodware and Waste Reduction Ordinance.
• Napa County staff further refined the ordinance to account for county-specific
• November 2024: Napa County staff introduced the Reusable Foodware and Waste Reduction Ordinance to the Napa County Board of Supervisors (BOS).
• December 2024: Ordinance was adopted by Napa County BOS with an effective date of January 1, 2026, allowing for a full year to develop educational materials and conduct outreach to stakeholders throughout the unincorporated county.
• After adoption, staff began developing educational materials, including an Ordinance Overview “toolkit” to be used by employers and their staff in understanding the regulations, finding helpful resources, and implementing the rules.
• Throughout development of education and outreach materials, staff discovered several areas of potential confusion for businesses. To address these points confusion, staff preemptively amended the ordinance to clarify several sections including:
o Consolidating and clarifying several key terms and definitions,
o Addressing loopholes in the regulations which could allow for the continued use of polystyrene materials in foodware,
o Simplifying convoluted rules for on-site versus off-site dining,
o Implementing a two-year time limit for approved waivers,
o Specified two distinct pathways to apply for a temporary waiver
§ Environmental or public health constraints (e.g. well and onsite wastewater at capacity)
§ Space or staffing constraints for onsite dishwashing,
o Added a section requiring employers to provide annual training to their employees on these regulations,
o Added a section requiring businesses to maintain records of foodware items purchased and employee training completed for a minimum of three years,
o Removed regulations restricting the sale and distribution of disposable plastic bottled beverages on County property (this restriction will be implemented as a County policy),
o Updated the list of exemptions to the on-site (reusable) foodware regulations.
• October 2025: The Napa County BOS adopted the amendments to the ordinance.
• Since BOS adoption of the amendments, County staff:
o Updated County website to reflect updates,
o Updated the Ordinance Overview toolkit,
o Created an “accessible” version of the toolkit to be compatible with assistive technology,
o Distributed a letter and a one-page informational sheet to a list of businesses in the unincorporated county which may provide prepared food and beverages to alert them of the upcoming regulations Are in the process of creating a Spanish version of the toolkit
o Are in the process of creating English and Spanish versions of a brief training video that County staff and employers can use to help prepare employees to implement these regulations.
• Staff have received several clarifying questions, compliance questions, and requests for training material from businesses and members of the public.
• Staff will continue to work to help educate businesses and members of the public to prepare for compliance with these regulations.
• While the ordinance is in effect as of January 1, 2026, County staff plan to begin enforcement on July 1, 2026, allowing for several months of education and outreach efforts.
Electric Vehicle Charging Implementation:
Since the CAC set EV Charging as a priority in April 2024, the number of EV chargers countywide:
|
|
April 2024 |
November 2025 |
Percent Change |
|
Level 2 |
419 |
561 |
+ 34% |
|
DC Fast |
57 |
72 |
+ 26% |
• February 2025: Ari Ball-Burack - a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley - presented to the CAC on his work designing an EV Equity Roadmap tool.
• In 2024 and 2025, Ball-Burack worked directly with Napa County and CAC member jurisdictions to develop county-specific data and insights which expedited the publicly-available tool to help inform equitable EV charger site selection and prioritization in the Napa region.
• Throughout 2025: Napa County staff conducted an exercise to find several initial publicly-owned sites that may be serve as good candidates for equitable EV Charging development.
• County staff worked with Department of Public Works (DPW) staff at each municipality to identify 11 initial sites to include in a joint application to the MCE EV Technical Assistance program
o Six are in the City of American Canyon,
o Two are in Calistoga, and
o Three are owned by the County of Napa.
o *Note: staff at the cities of Napa and St. Helena have already completed MCE program applications for other municipal-owned sites, so for this exercise, County staff did not investigate sites in these jurisdictions. Additionally, sites located within Yountville did not fit the criteria which staff used to determine this initial list of priority sites; however, staff would like to ensure Yountville and other sites are prioritized for future EV charging planning efforts.
• County staff then led the application process for the 11 sites.
• Municipal DPW staff completed “Building and Electrical Questionnaires” for each site.
• MCE program staff scheduled site visits for each selected site.
• Site visits involved gathering information to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the sites’ suitability for EV charging including:
o Electrical capacity and equipment at each site,
o Parking spaces most suitable for EV charging,
o Proximity of electrical infrastructure to the parking spaces, and
o Any other information needed for developing site plans and cost estimates for EV chargers.
• After site visits were completed, MCE program staff provided EV Charging Site Reports and Cost Estimates for each site.
• All site reports and cost estimates have been completed and are now in the hands of municipal DPW staff to implement EV charging solutions at their discretion.
• County staff plan to work with County DPW staff to identify funding and other programmatic opportunities to implement these charging solutions.
Building Energy Reach Codes:
• October 2023: the CAC voted to recommend a Flex Path Building Energy Reach Code for adoption by the member jurisdictions.
o To be consistent with state law, each jurisdiction needed to make findings that the proposed building code amendments related to building energy performance are cost effective and use less energy than the standard State Code. In addition, the California Energy Commission (CEC) would have to agree with the jurisdiction’s analysis before the local amendments to the California Energy Code can go into effect.
• A summary of the changes included in the building reach code approved for recommendation by the CAC is as follows:
o Disincentivizes the use of natural gas in new residential construction by requiring buildings to achieve a certain “energy score” which is easier to do by not installing natural gas equipment,
o Only requires non-residential construction to be electric-ready (designed to use electric equipment). According to the CEC at the time, standards for non-residential electric construction are not yet available.
o Exempts any remodels or remodels for the first three years after the construction of a new single-family residence.
o Exemption for free-standing accessory dwelling units. Junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs) that are incorporated into the main dwelling would not be exempt. Staff believed that placing additional requirements on free-standing ADUs may be considered a barrier to affordable housing, as well as affect the cost-effectiveness study.
o Requires new single-family buildings to reduce overall energy use by at least 13 percent lower than a standard design.
o Multi-family buildings need to reduce overall energy use by at least 10 percent, as recommended in the most recent draft study issued by the CEC for Climate Zone 2 conditions. (Napa County is classified as Climate Zone 2.)
o Applicants are allowed to submit a Certificate of Compliance signed by a Certified Energy Analyst, which may reduce the compliance margin by 1 percent.
o Does not require the installation of batteries for solar array systems in new homes. All new residential units already require solar panels and must be battery ready. Solar batteries are required to be installed in new commercial buildings and multi-family homes. Requiring them in new single-family homes would add $10,000 to development costs and may be considered a barrier to affordable housing, as well as affect the cost-effectiveness study.
o Does not address the installation of electric vehicle chargers in new homes, as that is a separate issue being considered by the CAC.
• April 2024: Napa County staff introduced the draft ordinance to Napa County BOS.
o Staff utilized the 2022 Cost Effectiveness Study for Single Family New Construction developed by the California Statewide Reach Codes team to ensure that the proposed ordinance would meet cost effectiveness requirements for reach code ordinances.
• July 2024: Napa County BOS adopted the Reach Code.
Building Energy Reach Code considerations and California AB 130 legislature:
The California Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6) is the state’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards for new and altered residential and nonresidential buildings. The Energy Code is updated on a triennial cadence. Usually, jurisdictions which have passed Building Energy Reach Code Ordinances will need to reevaluate their reach codes to incorporate the changes made to the statewide Energy Code. The most recent statewide code is the 2025 California Energy Code, effective January 1, 2026.
However, regarding the 2025 Building Energy Code, legislation from AB 130 prohibits the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) from considering, approving, and adopting residential building standards from October 1, 2025, through June 1, 2031, unless a given exception is met (H&S Code 18930 (g); 18929.1 (c)). The 2025 triennial Title 24 Code was adopted on July 1, 2025, but this would eliminate updates to the 2028 residential code. The applicable exception pathways to adopt Reach Codes are:
1. Change or Modification is “substantially equivalent to changes or modifications that were previously filed by the governing body and were in effect as of September 30, 2025.
2. CBD deems those changes or modifications necessary as emergency standards to protect health and safety.
3. Changes or modifications relate to home hardening.
4. Building standards relate to home hardening and are proposed for adoption by a fire protection district pursuant to Section 13869.7.
5. Change or Modification “are necessary to implement local code amendment that is adopted to align with a general plan approved on or before June 10, 2025, and that permits mixed-fuel residential construction consistent with federal law while also incentivizing all-electric construction as part of an adopted greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy.”
6. Changes or modifications are related to administrative practices.
Given these exception options, Napa County staff plan to pursue exemption pathway #5 towards the goal of adopting a Residential Building Energy Reach Code ordinance. For now, it is uncertain the method by which staff will pursue more stringent energy requirements for residential buildings, but staff are considering pursuing Flex Path Reach Code options (similar to previous Napa County Reach Code) or the CalGreen Tier I or II code.
Additionally, in 2026, staff plan to pursue other Reach Code opportunities, such as non-residential flex path, electric vehicle (EV) charging reach codes, water efficiency, and low embodied carbon or low-carbon concrete reach codes.
Next Steps:
At the March CAC meeting, City of Napa staff will make a presentation on implementation activities in their jurisdiction. Other municipalities are invited to present in April, May, and subsequent meetings.