The cities of Lincoln, Rocklin and Roseville are collaborating to support sustainability in their communities. The South Placer Green Team brings together chief building officials and economic development officials in a tri-city effort to streamline renewable energy permitting, train staff, and be a resource for information on all things ‘green.’
The South Placer Green Team is a proactive response to the adoption of AB 32 by the State of California, input from renewable energy company CEOs, and customer demand for green building information.
2025 Placer County Fair in Roseville!
‘The cities of Lincoln, Rocklin, and Roseville work cooperatively on a number of initiatives from transportation and public safety to workforce development and business attraction,’ said Mayor Primo Santini of Lincoln. ‘This is a logical next step in the evolution of the region and a primary goal of making this region attractive to residents and new business.’
The first project sponsored by the South Placer Green Team is a residential solar program to standardize the permit process at all three cities. Standardization of the process will reduce the time and cost to prepare permits by solar companies in the area applying for solar retrofits on behalf of their customers. A standard application and checklist will be used at each city’s permit counter, with the only difference being the city logo at the top of the form. Residential solar permits will be processed by staff in three business days or less and a flat fee of $125 charged per permit.
‘We heard loud and clear that one of the ways local government can support renewable energy companies is to streamline the permitting process,’ said Roseville Mayor Jim Gray whose city hosted two of four CEO roundtables with our renewable energy companies in partnership with Valley Vision and the Green Capital Alliance. ‘Time is money, and predictability at the permit counter is worth a great deal to both our start-up and established renewable energy companies. We look forward to expanding this permit streamlining in the near future to a broader range of permits.’
The three chief building officials hosted two green building training sessions this month at Lincoln’s new city hall to more than 30 staff members from the three cities who work at their respective permit counters and planning and building departments. They studied Green Building 101 as presented by chief building officials: Todd Cunningham of Lincoln, Pete Guisasola of Rocklin, and Gene Paolini of Roseville. Topics included community design, energy efficiency and building materials. These staff members assist thousands of customers annually and will now add green building information to the expertise they share at the counter with applicants.
Future projects for the South Placer Green Team include standardizing permitting for commercial solar installations, conducting focus groups with commercial developers to solicit input on what City Hall can do to facilitate green building practices in future development, establishing a resource library of ‘green’ links on each city website, engaging the South Placer utility providers in streamlining renewable energy permitting, and supporting a proposed Green Business Awards program.
‘The green economy is an important component to the future of our state and our region,’ said Rocklin Mayor Brett Storey. ‘The City of Rocklin has worked closely with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to become the first Climate Smart jurisdiction in the state, and we look forward to leading by example on a number of projects in the future to grow our green collar workforce and ensure a sustainable future for our three cities.’
2025 Placer County Fair in Roseville!