The County shall provide multilingual education and outreach to residents and businesses to publicize the symptoms and dangers of heat-related illness, cooling center locations, how to sign up for the Ready Ventura County VC Alert Program, worker-related protections, and practical methods for preventing heat-related illness during periods of high heat.
Climate Action Plan
HAZ-T Cool Roof Ordinance
The County shall adopt a Cool Roof Ordinance that exceeds the prescriptive cool roof requirements of the 2019 California Building Energy Efficiency Standard for Residential and Nonresidential Buildings by 25 percent (California Energy Code). Under a Cool Roof Ordinance, the County would require new construction to replace or re-coat 2,500 square feet for nonresidential and 1,250 square feet of roof space for residential buildings, or 72.5 percent or more of roofs.
HAZ-U Incentive Program for Passive Solar Home Design and Use of Green Roofs and Rooftop Gardens
The County shall develop incentive programs to promote passive solar home design and the use of green roofs and rooftop gardens when feasible. The program shall include but may not be limited to, permit streamlining and permit fee reductions to apply passive solar home design to future residential buildings.
HAZ-V Cool Pavements Standards
The County shall incorporate cool pavement standards into the County’s development standards for County and private development projects, in both new construction and changes to existing on-site paved surface areas (e.g., parking lots, private roadways, other hardscapes).
HAZ-W Incentive Programs for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Canopies
The County shall establish incentive programs, which may include rebate programs, permit fee reductions, and tax deductions, to incentivize the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) carports in existing and future parking lots.
HAZ-AA Prohibit Natural Gas Infrastructure in New Residential and New Commercial Development
To support the proposed reach codes under COS-S, the 2040 General Plan shall include a new program in the Hazards and Safety element that prohibits the installation of new natural gas infrastructure in new residential development through amendments to the Ventura County Building Code. This program shall also be extended to new commercial development including but not limited to offices, retail buildings, and hotels. The County may exempt new commercial development from these requirements upon making findings based on substantial evidence that the use of natural gas is critical to business operations, and that it is not feasible3 to replace critical appliances or equipment with electricity powered equivalents. This program shall be completed no later than 2023.
3. “Feasible” means that this mitigation measure shall be applied to future discretionary projects under the 2040 General Plan when and to the extent it is “capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, legal, social, and technological factors” as determined by the County in the context of such future projects based on substantial evidence. This definition is consistent with the definition of “feasible” set forth in CEQA (Pub. Res. Code, § 21066.1) and the CEQA Guidelines (§ 15164). The County shall be solely responsible for making this feasibility determination in accordance with CEQA.