In a split vote, the Los Gatos Town Council approved the eventual repeal of parts of the town’s building and fire code that required most appliances in new buildings to be fully electric.
The decision comes after a federal ruling that resulted in the city of Berkeley repealing a ban on natural gas in new buildings. Though the ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court doesn’t apply directly to Los Gatos, the town and several other South Bay cities like Sunnyvale and Mountain View have taken steps to repeal similar ordinances they implemented to avoid future litigation.
The council’s 3-2 vote at its Oct. 15 meeting supported repealing the policy requiring only electric appliances in new buildings and certain major remodels, and directs town staff to replace it with a new requirement that those appliances cannot emit nitrogen oxide, or NOx. Town staff said there are currently no gas-powered appliances that do so, making it “an alternative approach to requiring building electrification.”
“By focusing on air quality improvements, the town council could mandate that all new construction and qualifying major remodels utilize only NOx-free appliances and heating systems, thereby eliminating a significant source of indoor air pollution,” town staff said in a report.
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Though council members unanimously agreed that the original building code had to be repealed, they disagreed over what should replace it. The council is slated to make its vote official in December.
Mayor Mary Badame and Vice Mayor Matthew Hudes argued for repealing the policy and not replacing it with anything, saying that the option setting zero NOx emission requirements could still leave the council open to the possibility of litigation.
“We know that we have or will have significant legal challenges over the excessive development that is proposed for our town,” Hudes said. “We’re going to be scrambling to figure out how to fund that work, and so I think [that option] is not money well spent if it leads to a legal challenge that we then again have to come back and revise our code,”
Council members Maria Ristow, Rob Moore and Rob Rennie voted in favor of the change, citing the environmental and health impact of using electric appliances over gas-powered ones.
“I think as a municipality it is our absolute obligation to do everything we can to protect the health of our residents, to protect our environment and to combat climate change,” Moore said.