City of Novato, CA

The City of Novato was an early responder to concerns related to global warming and adopted a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in 2009. The CCAP established a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target of 15% below 2005 levels by the year 2020, consistent with the State’s direction to local governments in the Assembly Bill (AB) 32 Scoping Plan, and 40% below 2005 levels by 2035 to achieve the 80% statewide GHG emissions reduction goal by 2050.

As part of the City's general plan update process, the GHG reduction measures outlined in the 2009 CCAP (plus two additional measures) were embedded into the draft City of Novato General Plan 2035. General Plan 2035 was adopted by the City Council in late-2020 and has served as the City's Climate Action Plan since that time.

In March 2022, the City Council established a Sustainability Commission and in July 2023, the City commenced work on development of a stand-alone Climate Action Plan (CAP). 

Learn more about the City's climate action planning efforts and how to get involved in the  CAP update process at: novato.org/climateaction

On September 13, 2022, the Novato City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1690. The ordinance has three key provisions:

• Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers: The operation, or authorize of the operation of, a gas-powered leaf blower to blow leaves, dirt, and other debris off any surface at any time is prohibited.

• Hours of Operation: Leaf blower operation is limited to the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays and official federal holidays.

• Debris: Leaves, dirt, or any other debris must not be blown onto adjacent private properties, public property, the storm drain system, or the public right-of-way. Should any leaves, dirt, or any other debris be blown onto these locations by mistake, it must be picked up, removed, and disposed of properly.

For parcels of ten acres or more with a land use designation of agricultural or conservation, the City will not enforce the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers until until July 1, 2024.

Learn more about this topic at novato.org/leafblowers.

On May 9, 2023, the Novato City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1701 prohibiting single-use plastic foodware (including bioplastics) at Novato-based businesses with a food facility permit issued by the County of Marin’s Environmental Health Services (EHS) Division. The ordinance also requires reusable foodware be used for dine-in operations and compostable and/or all-aluminum foodware be provided for take-out services.

To ensure consistency across Marin County and avoid confusion for both businesses and consumers, the ordinance is modeled on an ordinance adopted by the Marin County Board of Supervisors on May 10, 2022.

Enforcement of the ordinance will be carried out by County EHS Division staff as part of the food facility inspection program. In order to allow time for businesses to deplete existing non-compliant stock and procure compliant foodware items, enforcement of the ordinance was delayed until November 2023.

Learn more about this topic at novato.org/foodware.

In March 2022, the City Council established a Sustainability Commission to serve as an advisory body on matters related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise, and other environmental issues including but not limited to, wildfire, tree preservation/replacement, resiliency, and adaptation to climate change.

The Commission meets on the third Thursday of every other month at 6pm in Novato City Hall, with special meetings called in the intervening months, if necessary. For meeting dates, please visit our Events Calendar. Commission meeting agendas and minutes can be found at: novato.org/agendas

Duties of the Commission include:

1. Contributing to the development of an updated Climate Change Action Plan for Council approval.
2. Monitoring and reporting to the Council on the implementation of the Council-adopted Climate Change Action Plan.
3. Recommending priority sustainability, sea level rise, environmental protection and other environmental issues, and climate-related policies and programs for City Operations and the community at large to the City Council for consideration.
4. Reviewing the annual Sustainability Program workplan and suggest modifications, as needed.
5. Monitoring, evaluating, and communicating progress toward achieving sustainability and climate-related goals.
6. Identifying funding opportunities to support implementation of sustainability, sea level rise, environmental protection and other environmental issues, tree preservation/replacement and climate-related priorities, including leveraging regional funding to achieve shared objectives.
7. Advocating for policies and programs that protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support climate adaptation as part of Council’s annual planning, goal setting, and budgeting processes.
8. Facilitate regular community engagement on sustainability and climate-related initiatives.
9. Mobilize community action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting education and outreach efforts.
10. Identify priority sustainability actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in City operations and the Novato community to implement actions that address the challenge of our changing climate.

If you are interested in serving on the Sustainability Commission, please visit our Commission, Committees, and Boards webpage for more information.

The City of Novato has been a sustainability leader for many years and was one of the first cities in Marin to adopt a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in 2009. As part of Novato's General Plan update process, the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction targets and measures from the 2009 CCAP were embedded into General Plan 2035, in addition to other sustainability goals, policies, and programs aimed at protecting our environment and addressing the climate crisis.

General Plan 2035 was adopted by the City Council on October 2020 and now serves at the City of Novato's CCAP. Sustainability and climate-related goals, polices and programs throughout the document are denoted with a green leaf.

In recognition of the acceleration in changes to our climate and the corresponding negative impacts (e.g. drought, wildfire, species loss, extreme weather, etc.) in November 2020 the Novato City Council adopted a Climate Emergency Resolution and declared addressing climate change a priority for the City.