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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSustainability Commission - 12/08/2020 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 7:00 P.M., Virtual Meeting 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Cindy Hoffman (Chair), Aaron Poock (Vice Chair), Jeanne DeSanctis, Debjyoti Dwivedy, Daniel Katzenberger, JoAnn McGuire, Bruce Schaepe, Priya Senthilkumar CITY STAFF: Jennifer Hassebroek, Sustainability Coordinator, Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary STUDENT MEMBERS: Ellianne Retzlaff, Amanda Schlampp Anisha Singhatwadia, Pranav Vadhul I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Hoffman called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Absent were Commissioners and Dwivedy, and student representative Retzlaff, Singhatwadia and Vadhul. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: McGuire moved, seconded by Katzenberg to approve the agenda. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 10 MEETING MOTION: Schaepe moved, seconded by Katzenberger to approve the minutes of November 10, 2020 Sustainability Commission. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. IV. REPORTS A. REPORTS FROM STAFF 1. 2020 ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND 2021 WORK PLAN Hassebroek presented the 2021 Work Plan and summarized the 2020 accomplishments. Discussion followed on the details of the 2020 accomplishments. Sustainability Commission Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 2 Schaepe suggested changing the “2040 Initiative” to the “Climate Action Plan.” Hassebroek noted the former was the name in the Code, which was recently changed, and she would approach administration about this. Schaepe requested that two cleanups be included as accomplishments, the Riley Lake Park cleanup on April 25, and the Round Lake Park cleanup on September 19. Hassebroek stated for the Home Energy Squad Challenge there had been somewhere around 110 visits as of October, and Eden Prairie was in second place among the cities participating. Judging was based on per capita visits. St. Louis Park had 1.1 percent at 151 total visits, whereas Eden Prairie had 0.56 percent at 110 visits—close in numbers but far apart in per capita visits. The deadline was in January. Discussion followed on Eden Prairie’s performance. Katzenberger suggested trying to bump up the participation to move Eden Prairie into first place. Hassebroek agreed the commission members could solicit more participants to overtake St. Louis Park. McGuire asked if Eden Prairie HVAC companies to publicize the program. Hassebroek replied it was a possibility. Schaepe disagreed the commission participated enough in the curbside and electronics drop off to “earn” this as an accomplishment. Hassebroek agreed it was more of a staff responsibility in 2020. Schaepe asked for context on the origin of the Home Energy Squad program. Katzenberger set in place by former Conservation Commission years ago. Discussion followed on the development of the Home Energy Squad program. Discussion followed on the 2021 Work Plan. Hassebroek announced the Arbor Day event was still planned with a larger educational component. The other events were To Be Determined. Hassebroek suggested the commission go through the Green Cities best practices again. In 2021 the commission would make a special effort to reach out to multifamily units in its educational and programming efforts. The curbside and drop off events would be expanded. Hassebroek also suggested a tour of the Fire Station and of several parks with the Parks and Recreation staff. Hassebroek announced the City-Wide Open House was still planned. Organics recycling was planned, with some possible events. Hassebroek took the commission through the rolling list of standard Work Plan items. She invited commission members to email her with additions and changes. McGuire suggested the commission review City noise and smoking regulations and explore landfill alternatives. DeSanctis replied she was not sure this fell under the commission’s purview. Poock stated he thought noise would be regulated by the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) and the Metropolitan Council. Hassebroek agreed but offered to look into Sustainability Commission Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 3 this idea. Noise was also a sensitive issue for neighborhoods and residents were close to the LRT construction. The Metropolitan Council was a possible resource for this information, but Hassebroek did not know the specifics. She offered to explore this avenue. Hoffman suggested a tour of the yard waste facility on Flying Cloud, perhaps in second quarter. She also asked Senthilkumar and Poock to present on the Master Recycler/Composter program, and for the commission to promote zero waste goals. Poock stated he and Senthilkumar would be able to present on that, and four other Eden Prairie residents went through the program. A couple of participants had applied to be on the commission. B. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Hoffman stated since the Climate Action Plan tracked community-wide emissions, if it was possible to track the number of electric cars in Eden Prairie. Hassebroek replied that dataset was available within the last year via car registrations. This aided in planning the locations and number of charging stations. Solar installations were also tracked. Hassebroek was also considering a website dashboard to track progress on the Climate Action Plan. Katzenberger shared a link tracking the number of electric vehicles in the state: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/sustainability/electric-vehicle-dashboard.html C. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION 1. WATER UPDATE 2. WASTE UPDATE Senthilkumar and Poock presented the Master Recycler program. Senthilkumar led the commission in an online quiz on recycling practices. Her presentation with Poock covered best practices for solid waste, the composition of waste in Hennepin County in 2016 and how it was managed in 2017, the recycling process, the production, consumption, and disposal of food wastes, and the problem of household wastes. Reduce- reuse-recycle was reviewed, along with commercial waste reduction and recycling, recycling at events, and ways to engage the public in order to effect behavioral change. 3. LANDSCAPE/POLLINATOR UPDATE Sustainability Commission Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 4 4. ENERGY UPDATE D. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS V. OTHER BUSINESS VI. UPCOMING EVENTS VII. NEXT MEETING The next Sustainability Commission meeting will be held Tuesday, January 12, 2021, virtually. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: McGuire moved, seconded by Katzenberg to adjourn the meeting. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:49 p.m.