An $11,600,000 professional services agreement with Archer Energy Solutions followed, covering compliance and audit support for Hetch Hetchy Water and Power’s federal and state electric reliability obligations — unglamorous work, but the kind of institutional maintenance that keeps the City’s own clean power infrastructure operating within regulatory bounds.
Building decarbonization moved in parallel. The Board adopted a combined $800,000 in U.S. Department of Energy Buildings Upgrade Challenge grants to pilot heat pump water heater installations in up to 200 homes, and separately authorized $299,091 from TECH Clean California to bring heat pump water heaters to child care facilities undergoing renovation and expand electrification training for housing rehabilitation contractors. For San Francisco residents, the practical effect is that more households — particularly lower-income ones — will have a pathway to replacing gas water heaters with electric alternatives, cutting both emissions and monthly utility bills.
One of the consistent barriers to EV adoption in dense urban neighborhoods is simply the absence of convenient charging — cutting permitting friction for curbside chargers makes it easier to build out the network where San Franciscans actually park.
The Board also passed ordinances creating a permitting framework for hydrogen-fueling station equipment and, at the April 28 meeting, advancing a curbside EV charging station permit program that would allow SFMTA to authorize sidewalk installations without a separate Public Works encroachment permit.
The legislative thread on climate planning itself was formalized in April, when the Board gave final passage to an ordinance amending the Environment Code to update the City’s climate action goals and clarify departmental responsibilities — introduced in February by the Mayor, Supervisor Mandelman, and Supervisor Wong. A hearing request on the Environment Department’s FY2026–2027 budget was referred to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, setting up a more deliberate examination of whether local funding levels match the City’s stated commitments.
On resilience and water infrastructure, the Board approved a $40 million agreement with Jacobs Engineering Group for the Waterfront Resilience Program, addressing sea level rise and seismic vulnerability along the shoreline. Port infrastructure got separate attention: an emergency declaration authorized up to $10 million for immediate repairs to Dry Dock No. 2 at Pier 68, followed by an ordinance appropriating $18,500,000 from the Port Harbor Fund for dry dock stabilization.
Three India Basin Shoreline Park grant resolutions adopted in February — totaling more than $6.2 million from the Bay Restoration Authority, the EPA’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, and the California Coastal Conservancy — advanced both environmental remediation and shoreline resilience at one of the city’s most significant waterfront redevelopment sites. Stormwater infrastructure moved more quietly but consistently, with SFPUC easement acquisitions on Gaven Street supporting subsurface sewer tunnel construction, and an ordinance extending the SFPUC General Manager’s authority to enter long-term Green Infrastructure Grant Program agreements through 2031.
Urban tree canopy, one of the City’s core tools for cooling neighborhoods and sequestering carbon, surfaced in two registers. Supervisor Dorsey requested data from Public Works on tree planting and maintenance policies in District 6. The Board also unanimously declared April 24 as Arbor Day, a symbolic gesture that arrived alongside a $6 million lawsuit settlement stemming from a City tree injury — a reminder that the urban forest carries real liability alongside its climate benefits.
