Do you support the Reach Code?

In writing this, it is much like crying out for help. Four of the five Windsor Council Members voted to mandate all new residential homes, single and multifamily, built after 2020 be all electric, prohibiting natural gas infrastructure. It is referred to as the Reach Code.
Windsor, recognizing the climate warming emergency we now face, took the first step. Ordinances such as this take two readings or meetings to finalize. It became apparent to me that at the Sept. 8 meeting that when the council adopts the Reach Code and requests the state certification, it would lead to a CEQA environmental lawsuit. 
Time is on the side of those opposed to the change in our code. I think there is little question that the issue is the marketability of homes to be built in the future. Yes, people can live without natural gas but will they want to? Most of us prefer to cook with gas rather than on the conventional electric range. When faced with the purchase of a home with a price approaching one million or more, many will expect the modern gas range, outdoor gas grill and BBQ and in recent times, the gas fire pit in the outdoor living room.
Building homes in Sonoma County is not easy and much, if not all of the difficulty, is about affordability or the lack thereof. The crisis of unaffordable homes has not led to houses being less expensive, but quite the opposite. 
In a CEQA lawsuit such as one that could be brought by certain developers, the town is at a distinct disadvantage. As the defendant, we would have the burden of justifying why we relied on state law in allowing the Reach Code, but failed to study and thoroughly weigh all the aspects and issues in prohibiting natural gas infrastructure in new residential construction.
In a lawsuit such as this, time and money are on the side of those opposed to the Reach Code. If the town would lose and the court interprets that the state’s position the town relied on is wrong, the town would face paying both sides attorney fees and costs. If the town should prevail, under CEQA, the town does not recover its fees and costs. Thus, your town council unanimously chose to delay adoption of the Reach Code until its Oct. 16 meeting. 
I am asking for your support in our town’s efforts to address climate change. It is critically important we take each and every step towards changing the course of the Earth’s warming. When asked how important is our adoption of the Reach Code is, Paul Piazza, Windsor’s newly appointed Sustainability Manager said, in effect, that when you are in a hole and have to get out, the first thing you have to do is stop digging. 
I’m learning we must take each and every step that avails itself to us in our efforts to slow and change the direction of climate change. I am obliged to do it. There is little to question. Time is only on the side of those that profit from our continuing course of impairing and threatening the very Earth that gives us life.
I am asking you to weigh in; to come to either one of our next two meetings and tell us what you think. Email or leave a phone message for the council if you can’t attend a meeting. The council cannot do this alone and only public outcry will provide us with a safe harbor from litigation we cannot afford. 
Sam Salmon is a member of the Windsor Town Council.