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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 01/14/2020APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2019 7: 00 PM, Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Anna Anderson (Chair), Jeanne DeSanctis, Aaron Poock, JoAnn McGuire, Debjyoti Dwivedy, Cindy Hoffman, Kate Lohnes, Daniel Katzenberger, Priya Senthilkkumar CITY STAFF: Senior Planner Beth Novak-Krebs, Planning Division, Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary STUDENT MEMBERS: Abhiram Nallamalli, Kiersten Orning, Mina Kim, Nile Timmerman, Rohin Gurumurthy I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Absent were Dwivedy, Lohnes and Senthilkkumar and student members Kim, Orning, Gurumurthy, Nallamalli and Timmerman. Public Works Director Robert Ellis and City Engineer Rod Rue joined the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by McGuire to approve the amended agenda to add the Energy Squad Challenge and new Conservation Commission Discussion items under Reports from Staff, and the Hennepin County Climate Action Conversation under Upcoming Events. Motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM DECEMBER 10 MEETING MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by McGuire and Hoffman to approve the minutes of December 10, 2019 Conservation Commission meeting with the addition of Nagarajan’s full title as Executive Director of Aeon for Ocean, and the correction that adjournment was passed 6-0, not 8-0. Motion carried 6-0. IV. PRESENTATION 1. PRESENTATION OF THE DRAFT CLIMATE ACTION PLAN BY ROBERT ELLIS Conservation Commission Minutes January 14, 2019 Page 2 Ellis presented the Climate Action Plan status report. He summarized the various presentations and sessions that led up to this draft. Input on actions was being sought for January, 2020 and adoption was anticipated for February, 2020. The Plan sought to make Eden Prairie carbon-neutral by 2050. He stated actions would change, but not strategies. Every five years the plan would be monitored to gauge the success of the actions. Staff would come back to the commission frequently over the next 30 years. Ellis went through the Climate Action Plan Chapters, which consisted of baseline data, a business-as-usual forecast, and a Strategic Plan for commercial/industrial energy use, residential energy use, electric grid mix, renewable energy use, fuel switching, vehicle travel, and waste. Waste reduction and diversion was on the only waste strategy. Otherwise, each use was subdivided into categories: listed action, encouragement, regulation, incentives, and demonstration/leadership. McGuire asked Ellis for his opinion on the City of Minneapolis bag policy. Minneapolis now charges 5 cents for a bag. Ellis replied this was a possible action item with the right Council and at the right time to get buy- in from residents. Any idea was open to discussion; however, the goal was the overall reduction in climate impact. Specific actions items were mere tools in that. Ellis encouraged the commission members to “be bold” in its ideas. Suggestions that were not adopted in one year could be adopted in another. McGuire mentioned Berkeley, California’s prohibition of gas appliances as an example of a local success in a state that did not require Minnesota’s level of heating need. Discussion followed on possible future sources of heat that might not rely on gas. Hoffman stated St. Louis Park was implementing the “ask” policy for straws, and encouraged the commission members to explore ways to reduce plastic bags in Eden Prairie. Poock suggested this idea be listed under actions in the Plan. Ellis will add an action to explore ways to reduce single use plastic. Ellis suggested commission members give their comments and feedback on this plan to Novak-Krebs. He went through how the Plan affected buildings, commercial/industrial strategies, energy code enforcement, net- zero energy, electric grid mix, and residential areas. Discussion followed on including multi-family properties in the goals of this plan. Anderson suggested there was an opportunity to enforce these goals when a property owner applied or reapplied for a rental license. Katzenberger noted Xcel Energy had an app, the Hosting Capacity Map, allowing the user to zoom Conservation Commission Minutes January 14, 2019 Page 3 in on a house to find transformers, to determine how solar energy could work on that house. Katzenberger also suggested the use of PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing. Ellis replied often residents were not aware of this resource and/or did not understand it. Katzenberger replied the payments for a solar system under the PACE model would get put into the property taxes, allowing the system to pay for itself. It was essentially a home loan funding through property taxes. McGuire agreed the commission should educate the residents about and promote PACE. Ellis noted this was used for commercial properties only. Katzenberger offered to investigate residential PACE financing. Discussion followed on encouraging fuel swap-outs. Poock noted many appliances could be made electric, and Katzenberger replied they could be made programmable too. DeSanctis compared them to programmable thermostats. Ellis went through travel strategies and described the electric passenger vehicles and light and heavy trucks under the Plan. Katzenberger stated it was difficult to get from Eden Prairie to Edina or Bloomington on a bicycle Ellis suggested more city-to-city bike trail connections. DeSanctis suggested having commercial buildings offer electric vehicle charging stations, and Katzenberger replied the Best Buy in Eden Prairie was trying to install EV chargers. Target and Walmart were interested but did not own the property. He was part of a group of interested parties to pilot a system to get these businesses and the building owners talking to each other. Discussion followed on whether or not Eden Prairie should be required to be EV-ready. Katzenberger described the actual physical construction entailed in this (removing cement to install wiring, et cetera). Ellis replied the City Council directed the Planning Commission to review requirements for EV stations in Eden Prairie. There was general agreement on residential properties, but disagreement on commercial centers. Hoffmann suggested roundabouts as another energy conservation option. Poock replied the City planners might be looking at this but it should be included in the Plan. Anderson suggested encouraging student travel via public transit instead of being individually driven to school by parents. Discussion followed on mass transit. Ellis stated going forward there would be Climate Action Plan updates and a reevaluation of the actions at a minimum of every five years, or even more frequently as needed. He listed Kick Start Projects such as electric hybrid snow plow trucks, city charging stations, and a fully electric police patrol car, hopefully in March, 2020. Discussion followed on reversing versus slowing climate change. Poock suggested tax credits for leaving or creating green spaces. Ellis stated this was not part of this Plan, though it was included in City sustainability programs. Discussion followed on why the target year was set at 2050, not Conservation Commission Minutes January 14, 2019 Page 4 2040 as with other cities. Ellis replied energy providers were a huge part of this Plan, and their goals were set at 2050. Katzenberger noted the City had not done anything with Partners In Energy. MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by McGuire to recommend an aspirational goal of completing everything by 2040. Anderson made a friendly amendment that the aspirational goal of completing everything in advance of 2050 and have check-ins and data collection every 2 years. Maker of original motion accepted the amendment. There was a vote on the original motion as amended. Motion carried 4-0 with two abstentions (Poock and Hoffmann). The commission members thanked Ellis for his presentation and agreed to pass other comments and feedback to Novak-Krebs. V. REPORTS A. REPORTS FROM STAFF 1. SCHOONER DAYS PARADE The event was schedule for May 30, 2020. 2. DISPLAY AT EDEN PRAIRIE CENTER DeSanctis stated she had met with Mall staff this day and there were two different styles of kiosks to choose from. One has a wraparound shelf and one did not. The commission needed to make a decision by Wednesday, January 15. Discussion followed on which panel displays to put up. The commission members decided to choose the downstairs location in the Mall by Victoria Secret and DSW. Novak-Krebs offered to talk to the Communications Director to add attribution on the displays to the Conservation Commission of Eden Prairie and a QR Code to direct the public to the sustainability website. 3. AEON FOR OCEAN MOVIE This item will be discussed at the next meeting. 4. HOME AND GARDEN EXPO AND ARBOR DAY EVENT Conservation Commission Minutes January 14, 2019 Page 5 The Home and Garden Expo was scheduled for March 21, 2020. The Arbor Day event would be held April 27, which was also Park Cleanup Day. Novak-Krebs announced Leslie Stovring would attend the February meeting to discuss these two events B. REPORTS FROM CHAIR C. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION 1. WATER UPDATE 2. WASTE UPDATE 3. LANDSCAPE/POLLINATOR UPDATE 4. ENERGY UPDATE Katzenberger announced citizens in Minnetonka were trying to start a Conservation Commission and needed help. The group met every month and invited Katzenberger to talk to them. Katzenberger also had invited them to these meetings. D. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS V. OTHER BUSINESS VI. UPCOMING EVENTS Katzenberger stated the Hennepin County Climate Action Conversation meeting was next week. He offered to bring back information from these meetings to the commission. Hoffmann suggested promoting these meetings at the Home and Garden Expo. VII. NEXT MEETING The next Conservation Commission meeting will be held Tuesday, February 11, 2020, 7:00 p.m. in Heritage Rooms 1 & 2. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by Poock to adjourn the meeting. MOTION CARRIED 6-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:09 p.m.