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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 03/13/2007 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2007 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, MN Prairie Room COMMISSION MEMBERS: Eapen Chacko (Chair), Jan Mosman (Vice Chair), Ray Daniels, Rita Krocak, Geneva MacMillan, David Seymour STUDENT COMMISSIONERS: Alesia Casanova, Lauren Mosman, Mark Muston CITY STAFF: Leslie A. Stovring, Staff Liaison Janice Curielli, Recording Secretary VISITORS: Laura Jester I. ROLL CALL Chair Chacko called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Student Commissioner Lauren Mosman arrived late. Stovring introduced Laura Jester who has been appointed to the Conservation Commission, effective April 1, 2007. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Daniels added Item V.A. HF375 — Global Warming Mitigation Act of 2007 and Item VILC. Discussion of Carbon Dioxide. MOTION: Krocak moved, seconded by Seymour, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. February 13, 2007 MOTION: MacMillan moved, seconded by Mosman, to approve the minutes of the February 13, 2007 meeting as published. Motion carried 6-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Public Meeting for Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) — 3/13/2007 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the Prairie Room Stovring said no one attended the public meeting except for the Commission members. MacMillan thought the newspaper did a good job of reviewing what tonight's meeting would be. Jan Mosman said she has observed instances where a school teacher has encouraged students to attend public meetings by offering extra credit or some other incentive. Such incentives would help students and others to learn about issues in the City. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 2 Perhaps they could be encouraged to come to the Conservation Commission meeting. The consensus was that this would be a good idea, and Jan Mosman offered to help determine which teachers at the high school might be receptive to the idea. Stovring said we could provide the teachers with a copy of our Work Plan. B. Goose Management Plan—Status Report Stovring said Dr. Cooper from the University of Minnesota will come to next month's meeting to speak about the Goose Management Plan. She encouraged Commissioners to bring questions for Dr. Cooper. She said the Commission should look at developing recommendations to send on to the City Council. Stovring said we will also need to review the contingency plan for potential items such as bird flu and determine if that plan is as strong as we want it to be. Dr. Cooper discusses that issue as he thinks it is only a matter of time before it shows up. Chacko asked if the state epidemiologist does any work on pathways. Stovring said the state epidemiologist looks at what to do if an epidemic comes, for instance, how long to stay home and how long to close the schools. She said they have chosen five diseases of concern, including anthrax, bird flu and small pox. Seymour asked if this is similar to the Y2K issue. Stovring said we know something is going to break out,but we don't know when or how far it will spread. C. Prospect Road Alternative EAW—Planning Commission Meeting 3/12/2007 Stovring said the Planning Commission meeting last night went very well. The public comment time has been extended through April 11. There was a request to look at the impact on the Big Woods and there were questions regarding upgrades required for Dell Road. There were requests for more information about environmental issues regarding the impact on the bluffs. She said she will write up and distribute the oral comments made to Commissioners. Stovring said there was discussion between a Planning Commission member and City Engineer Al Gray regarding the need for a "no-build" alternative. Daniels said a "no-build" alternative should have been included. Stovring said there will have to be something done to Eden Prairie Road as it is currently an unsafe corridor. D. Round Lake — Riley-Pumatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District Meeting 3/7/2007 Stovring said Steve McComas from Blue Water Science presented the information collected in 2006 at the Watershed District's March 7ffi meeting. According to the report, Round Lake was not impaired in regard to nutrient levels in 2005 and 2006, and it is actually in pretty good shape. Stovring said we proposed to the Watershed District that monitoring work be continued and encouraged going forward with the storm water pond upgrades previously petitioned by the City. Jan Mosman noted she had seen large numbers of geese around the ponds. Stovring Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 3 said there were few present when the consultant evaluated the goose population last summer. She said this summer they plan to try various measures, including treating the beach with a weak chlorine product and installing a scarecrow-type device. They plan to do aquatic plant surveys and testing for water quality. They will also again treat two ponds with barley straw and do a fish survey and capture in the ponds as there are too many fish present for effective treatment. Daniels asked when the beach at Round Lake will reopen. Stovring said it should be open this summer. We will conduct regular sampling tests and will close it again if the tests results are undesirable for swimming. E. Recyclins! Report— Status Report Stovring distributed copies of the Community Residential Recycling report for 2006 prepared by Re-TRAC. She noted our numbers had dipped in the previous year but recovered for 2006. Chacko asked if there are comparisons with other cities. Stovring said there are some comparisons in the report. Chacko asked the commissioners to read the report and suggested that we use the information provided for future discussion or action on recycling issues. V. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. HF375— Global Warming Mitigation Act of 2007 Daniels said he received an email announcement about a meeting on March 15 from 6:30 to 8:45 PM at Christ Lutheran Church in St. Paul. He said Maria Ruud, House Representative from District 42A, is sponsoring the legislation and will be speaking at the meeting. The meeting is sponsored by two groups, the Minnesota Interfaith Power& Light Spring Event and the Congregations Caring for Creation. Daniels said the bill sets goals for carbon dioxide reduction from burning fossil fuels. It calls for a 15% reduction below 2005 levels by 2015 with increasing percentages of reduction in future years. He said it calls on the state to estimate the volume of greenhouse gases and make projections into the future. Daniels said the bill is currently in the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and will go back to the Energy Policy Division. He suggested commissioners might want to write letters in support of the bill. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Prospect Road EAW—Review and compilation of comments Chacko asked where we are in the process. Stovring replied the public comment period opened yesterday and continues through April 11. She said we need to develop any comments we give as a Commission before the next Planning Commission review on April 9. The City Council will act on the EAW on May 1St Chacko said he had received comments from Jan Mosman. Seymour said he will have his comments by this Friday and Daniels said he will have them done by Monday. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 4 Daniels asked if the City Council had voted to close Eden Prairie Road. Stovring said it has been proposed and discussed but there has been no formal action to her knowledge. Daniels asked where the fill dirt for Prospect Road will come from. Stovring said it will come from Hennepin Village. Daniels asked if that meant no dirt would be taken from the area itself. Stovring said that was correct. Daniels asked if there will be a "no-build" option. Stovring said that won't happen because the road is too steep and needs to be rerouted. There are tight pins and steep curves without adequate stopping distance at the bottom of the grade. Daniels asked if they could extend the lower part. Stovring said the engineering firms say that can't be done in the current alignment safely. She said there is no way we can redo the existing corridor and must either reroute it or close it. Seymour asked if we make a recommendation on the project. Stovring said we just comment on it. The City Council will review the proposal and the comments and will then select the best alternative based on the data provided. Chacko said one of the main questions before the Conservation Commission is what information is needed in the EAW for a fuller evaluation. He had compiled a matrix that compared some key points of the various alternatives, and noted that Alternative 6 was approved in 2002 so that would explain why there appeared to be more data about it. Stovring noted time constraints on the production of the EAW.. Alternative 6 is the smallest project in terms of project magnitude (item 7); other things equal, a smaller project footprint is more desirable than a larger one. He noted that the increases in impervious surface created by the alternatives are similar, with the exception of alternative 2. Regarding the type of environmental cover lost (item 10), .95 acres of brush and woodland are lost with Alternative 6 whereas the other alternatives result in significant losses of wooded forest, which might be considered more valuable. Alternatives 1 and 3 cross known archeological sites, according to the state archaeologist's letter. Alternatives 3, 4, and 5 create barriers to migratory species, but the information does not address the magnitude of the barriers nor how to mitigate the problem. Alternatives 3, 4, and 5 also cross areas of high bio-diversity and there is an endangered plant species (rhombic petaled evening primrose) within those areas, as cited in the DNR letter to Wenck Associates. Relative to the other alternatives regarding water quality and runoff(item 17), alternative 6 appears to create substantially higher percentage increase in runoff volume and phosphorus export. Stovring noted that if the numbers were expressed in absolute terms, as opposed to percentages, the comparisons would look different. Chacko said Jan Mosman mentioned the accident statistics appear to be higher at other intersections. Stovring said a lot of accidents on Eden Prairie Road are not reported due to the nature of incidents, such as sliding into the ditch. City snow plows have tipped over on this road also. Jan Mosman said she thought we need to verify the statistics given on accident levels and we should show the statistics in comparison to other intersections. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 5 Daniels asked if the traffic flow on Eden Prairie Road and Flying Cloud Drive would change once Hwy 312 is completed. Stovring said it will change some but not much and it will probably build back up over time. Chacko said Jan Mosman's comments also questioned what effect the polluted storm water runoff would have. Jan Mosman said it appears that the Prospect Road alternative has more direct water input to the creek. Stovring said that goes into an infiltration area, not directly into the creek. She said the runoff from Prospect Road would be just a small proportion of the volume going into the ponds as much of the area is for surrounding development and Eden Prairie Road too. A discussion followed regarding the impact on future development of the various alternatives. Chacko noted Alternatives 1 and 2 could create more cumulative impact, as cited in the EAW (item 29) Seymour thought the point is to address what is given and not come up with solutions. Chacko agreed. Lulu Mosman asked if our recommendations will have any effect on the Council's decision. Seymour thought we need to make a case for our recommendations and they would then be taken seriously. Seymour asked what we need to do at this point. Stovring said we could have a special meeting with just that one item on the Agenda later this month. Chacko was concerned about drafting the recommendations in an open session. Seymour suggested that Commissioners' comments be submitted to Chacko so he could compile the comments into a draft for the Commission to review at the special meeting. Stovring said we need to have an official vote on sending the letter and recommendations to the Council. The consensus was to have a special meeting on Tuesday, March 27, to prepare the final recommendations. Stovring said comments from Commissioners should be submitted within one week or we will assume there are no comments from that individual. Krocak noted she will not be able to attend the meeting on the 27t'. Chair Chacko recessed the meeting at 8:15 PM. Jan Mosman left the meeting at 8:15 PM. Chacko reconvened the meeting at 8:20 PM. B. Conservation Commission Work Plan for 2007 — City Council Approval 3/6/2007 Chacko said the Work Plan was approved by the City Council at their March 6 meeting as part of the Consent Calendar. He noted a Council Member said she would prefer to see the Work Plan as a separate Agenda item in the future rather than a Consent Calendar item. Stovring said the Council also thought every commission should do some type of an annual work plan. Chacko expressed his appreciation to Stovring for her work on the plan. VII. NEW BUSINESS/DISCUSSION ITEMS Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 6 A. Environmental Times—Springy Articles MacMillan complimented Stovring on the nice job on the environmental newsletter. Chacko especially liked the information on fluorescent disposal. B. Shoreland Restoration/Raini!arden Construction Workshop Idea (Fortin Consulting) Stovring said we received an offer from Fortin Consulting to do a workshop this summer. She said the cost would be approximately $600 for a half day or$1000 for a full day. She thought the Commission might want to sponsor the workshop as a spring or summer event. Laura Jester asked if we had considered Blue Thumb at all because they have done workshops in various areas and will provide the set up and materials as well as teach homeowners how to build raingardens. Stovring said Fortin would gear the event more to our needs and may be able to work that in. She said there would be a workshop included in the full day event, with instruction only for the half day option. Chacko asked what our role would be as a Commission. Stovring said we would sponsor and promote the event. Chacko then asked about the venue. Stovring said it could be held downstairs in the City Center or at the Staring Lake Outdoor Center. Seymour asked if we have any precedent to anticipate how many would turn out for it. Stovring said the former Environment Commission had a landscape seminar and that was well attended. Chacko asked about the timing. Stovring said it would probably be in May but she will look into it and bring back a proposal. C. Discussion of Carbon Dioxide Daniels proposed that the Commission make a statement recognizing that carbon dioxide from burning fuels is a pollutant and set a goal to make a measurable reduction in the current levels by a minimum of 34% per year. Chacko said 20-40-15 addresses this issue, and City Manager Neal has an assistant available within the next month to begin work on the project. They plan to bring the project results to the Commission with their recommendations. Stovring noted this is scheduled for the July meeting. Chacko asked how the U.S. Mayor's Agreement regarding global warming relates to this since it has recommended guidelines in it. Stovring said most of what is in that we are addressing with the 20-40-15 project. Daniels thought a statement of what the problem is would be a good way for us as a Commission to encourage residents to make reductions in emissions. Chacko thought there are many groups that cross this area. He thought it was a question of how to be most effective and it would be good to have a larger voice that we join up to. Stovring thought we should get a handle on 20-40-15 before we start something new. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission March 13, 2007 Page 7 VIII. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS/COMMUNICATIONS A. Letter from Congressman Ramstad Chacko said we received a letter from Congressman Ramstad commending the Commission for the work in implementing "Project Green Fleet" for school buses. Stovring said the letter was also recognized by Mayor Young at last week's City Council meeting. IX. UPCOMING EVENTS A. March 20, 2007 — City Council Public Hearing for Prospect Road Alternative EAW B. March 24, 2007— Chamber of Commerce Yard & Garden Expo Stovring said she was unable to find out how to get a booth so we will have to scope it out for next year. C. Living Green Expo — May 5-6, 2007 at the State Fairsrounds (Grandstand Buildin D. Friends of Birch Island Woods Buckthorn Workshop — Saturday, March 31St Eden Woods Center Stovring asked Commissioners to either attend or promote the Buckthorn Workshop as they are hoping to get more of the community involved. Daniels said Minnetonka is having an Eco Fair this Saturday, March 17. Stovring said there are a lot of good speakers scheduled. The website for more information is eminnetonka.com. X. NEXT MEETING Chacko noted the next meeting will be the Special Meeting on Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00 PM. The next regular meeting is Tuesday, April 10. XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Krocak moved, seconded by MacMillan, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Chacko adjourned the meeting at 8:50 PM.