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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 09/11/2007 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER 8080 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, MN Prairie Room COMMISSION MEMBERS: Eapen Chacko (Chair), Ray Daniels, Laura Jester, Sean Katoff, Rita Krocak, Geneva MacMillan, Jan Mosman CITY STAFF: Leslie A. Stovring, Staff Liaison Janice Curielli, Recording Secretary STUDENT MEMBERS: Marie Loeffelholz, James (JP) Maslyn, Ann Wachutka VISITORS: Faduma and Amira, Eden Prairie High School Students I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Chacko called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM. Jester and Mosman were absent. Daniels arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: MacMillan moved, seconded by Krocak, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. August 14, 2007 Katof said Item VI.A. should be changed to state that the local sponsors are Menards and Ace Hardware. MOTION: Krocak moved, seconded by Katof, to approve the minutes of the July 10, 2007 meeting as published and amended. Motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Student Commissioner Introductions Chacko asked the Student Commissioners to introduce themselves and share their reasons for serving on the Conservation Commission. Loeffelholz, Maslyn and Wachutka then introduced themselves. Chacko also asked the two visitors to introduce themselves. Faduma and Amira introduced themselves and said they are at tonight's meeting to observe and interact at a civic meeting as a high school class assignment. B. Commendation for Conservation Application Review Stovring said there are two nominees for the Commendation for Conservation award, one is a business and the other a resident. Both are excellent candidates and we could Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 2 give the award on two categories and use it as a promotion for next year. She suggested we purchase plaques for the two awards. Assuming that the Commission accepted, the two nominations would be presented at an October or November City Council meeting for recognition. Chacko said the Commendation for Conservation Award is an idea to recognize students, residents or businesses in the community that are making integrating conservation into their businesses, communities or lifestyles.. He said Liberty Property Trust is a business that is very much committed to green buildings, and Jim Nehl is a resident who has organized the Mitchell Lake Association which addresses the lake's declining water quality and shoreline issues. He noted this is the first year for the award, so this is a very new process for the Commission. MOTION: Krocak moved, seconded by MacMillan, to accept the two applications for the Commendation for Conservation Award, Liberty Property Trust in the business category and Jim Nehl with the Mitchell Lake Association in the resident category. Motion carried 4-0. MacMillan asked if we will advertise this in the newspaper. Stovring said she will write up a press release. MacMillan then asked if it will go on the website and if there is any place here to display the awards. Stovring said it will be on the website. Krocak thought it would be nice to display the awards here at the City Center so people can see them rather than just giving the plaques to the award recipients. C. City Council/Conservation Commission Workshop Format Stovring said the Commissioners asked a question at the last meeting regarding the format of the meeting with the Council. It will be an informal get-together to have coffee and chat. The meeting has been rescheduled to January because of all the budget hearings and discussions going on. Chacko asked if it will be on our regular meeting date. Stovring said it will be a workshop, probably right before the second Council meeting in January. Chacko then asked if we have a regular Commission meeting as well as the workshop meeting in January. Stovring said that would be the case. D. Draft Winter Environmental Times Stovring distributed the draft Environmental Times utility bill insert for October, November and December. She noted we had an article on the Change-A-Light campaign in the last newsletter so this time she included general information on the Energy Star program this time which includes mention of Change-A-Light. The article, Sweeping up Streets, has to be included as a part of the stormwater permit program and she decided to include an article on the Choose to Reuse program to go with the recycling rebate. She said we could put in something other than the information on the Hennepin County Environmental Quality Report if desired. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 3 Katof asked to whom the newsletter is distributed. Stovring said it is sent in the utility bills. MacMillan thought this is a great way to inform the public on environmental issues. Stovring asked the Commission members to let her know about any requested changes. The next newsletter will go out in April, May and June of 2008. Katof noted we just set up the pledge tracking page and haven't really promoted it. On the Energy Star website citizens can sign the pledge and commit to buying a certain number of compact fluorescent bulbs, and the program tracks the total energy and cost savings from the commitments. Stovring noted we planned to distribute the Energy Star flyer at Sunbonnet Days but it did not appear many were handed out. She said she will check with Sandy Wertz to see what happened. Stovring noted that Commissioner Mosman mentioned at the last meeting there was to be a flea market at Dunn Brothers and we might be able to promote it at that event. Chacko asked the student commissioners if they knew of ways to promote this at the high school. Wachutka said there is no official club at the school, but the library has a lot of windows and information can be posted there or on some of the walls. She said the postings would have to be approved through Student Activities. Katof asked if it would be possible to have flyers available at sporting events. Wachutka thought they could set up a table. Maslyn thought they would just have to talk to someone. Chacko said we will put a follow-up item from students on next month's agenda. Daniels arrived at 7:26 PM. E. Springy Workshop—Pond and Lake Care Stovring said Steve McComas from Blue Water Science would be happy to do a workshop and he is a great public speaker. She said the number one question she gets every year from residents is what they can do with their ponds. She said Steve will talk about everything from geese to low impact ways to treat a pond for algae. She thought we could have either an evening or a Saturday morning workshop. Chacko asked what month the workshop would be held. Stovring said probably April or May. Stovring asked if anyone has talked to the Chamber of Commerce about their Spring Yard & Garden Expo. If the Commission partnered with them, we could perhaps have a speaker at that event. She thought it might be good to partner with them as the school district holds their science fair in January, too early to really talk about native landscaping or yard care, plus it is difficult to pull together at that time of year. Stovring thought that by partnering the Commission and Chamber could draw more people overall. There are monies in the environmental education fund for holding environmental events in 2008. Stovring also stated that she thought the Commission should start planning for a fall lawn care workshop for 2008 soon. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 4 V. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. Green Roof Informational Handout—Jester & Mosman Stovring stated they will have to postpone this item as Jester and Mosman were both absent. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Change A Light Campaisn Update Katof reviewed the Change a Light Campaign, noting it is a promotion to encourage people to change from incandescent bulbs to energy efficient light bulbs such as Compact Fluorescents (CFLs). October 3 is Change A Light Day. Instant rebates will be offered through participating retailers, which include Menards and Ace Hardware in our area. He talked to the local Menards' store manager and he didn't know anything about the program yet. The manager was going to look into it and get back to Katof. According to Kim Sherman at Xcel Energy she has been working with Menards Corporate staff so she wasn't surprised the store manager didn't know about it yet. Menards and Ace Hardware will have in-store rebates available on October Is'. There is a limit of 12 bulbs per person and the buyer will get a rebate at the register. Bulbs will be distributed until supplies run out. Katof has also been speaking with Jessica Brennan with the City's Communication Department about doing a public service announcement for local cable. The first draft of that announcement was in the Commission packet. He also asked how to go about getting the Mayor to endorse the campaign. Chacko mentioned that the Mayor had agreed in principle to put out a press release supporting Change A Light on behalf of the City; the Mayor asked that the draft release be reviewed through Scott Neal and the City staff process. Chacko noted that support from the Mayor's office should help to increase the visibility of the project with other environmental groups in town and increase the number of compact fluorescents sold in Eden Prairie. Stovring said the public service announcement will be graphics from the national campaign while Katof is speaking in the background. Katof thought we could move forward with this if it looks reasonable to the other Commission members. Chacko commented that one item in our Charter is greenhouse gas reduction, and this is a simple way to consume less energy which reduces emissions. He thought we should put that point across to people, and it is a good deal at about $1.00 per bulb with the rebate. Chacko said this is a national campaign so Eden Prairie will receive publicity along with other cities in the state that do this. Stovring asked if Ace Hardware will do in- store rebates. Katof thought it is the same thing at Ace, but he will confirm with Kim Sherman. Chacko asked who handles the press releases. Stovring said she would work with the Communications Department on developing one. Stovring suggested Katof call Ms Lorenz to make an appointment to do the public service announcement and let her Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 5 know when it is. Katof said we could also put in the information on the Energy Star pledge. Katof said he also spoke to Tony Hainault at Hennepin County Environmental Services. The County has a campaign through the National Association of Counties where Office Depot is providing $3 off coupons for CFL bulbs for County employees. Katoff asked him if it would be possible to expand that to the City. Stovring said it would not be possible because it was a negotiated deal with the County. The City could put something up on the employee intranet about the campaign to promote it with employees. Katof thought we have a number of different ways to promote this. He asked if we could send something out via email to corporations and individuals in the City. Stovring said we could possibly do that if we knew who to send it to. Katof asked if we have lists for Eden Prairie. Stovring suggested talking to the Chamber of Commerce for those. Chacko suggested contacting the environmental group at St. Andrews church. Maslyn said there is a group at St. Andrews, but lately they haven't had a lot of members. Maslyn said he was planning to talk to some of the other members about advertising the Change A Light Campaign. Chacko thought the group at Pax Christi is just starting, but St. Andrews seems more active and we can provide them with materials if they are interested. Chacko thought we need to move quickly if we are going to do this. Katof said anything we send out before October 1 can include information about Menards' and Ace Hardware's promotions. Katoff asked about the Dunn Bros. idea Stovring mentioned earlier. Stovring said at our last meeting Jan Mosman said they will have a flea market there. Chacko thought we could put the brochure there and we might have the campaign on the bulletin board if we got Dunn Bros. on board. Stovring said we could make our own brochure but we don't have the graphics. Katof said he has a contact at Energy Star and could see if they could put some Eden Prairie specific information in something. Krocak said she could see if Pax Christi will hand out flyers. She asked if we could put flyers in the Sun Current mail boxes. Daniels stated that flyers can be placed in newspaper boxes,but not within the mail boxes. Chacko asked how we could publicize the pledges. Stovring thought it could be on the bottom of the flyer and also be part of the public service announcement. Katof thought we could have a space on the pledge for the name and email address and ask if they want to receive literature. MacMillan asked if the pledge will be on our website. Katof said it is a pledge link that takes you to the Energy Star website. B. 20/40/15 Program Update Chacko said this is an initiative of the last Mayor to increase the efficiency of municipal buildings and operations by 20% and increase the efficiency of the City fleet by 40% by the year 2015. As the new Mayor came in, it fell to the staff to Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 6 define the program elements. Three staff members, Ed Sorenson, Paul Sticha and Cliff Cracauer, came in and gave us an overview of how they would approach this because we are the body that will monitor progress on this at the last meeting. The first step was to select a consultant to guide the process. There were three candidates for the consultant and the City chose the firm McKinstry. They are going to have a kickoff meeting with the consultant next week where City staff will present needs and information on what staff currently does. There should be activity happening around many of the City facilities because the program will affect lighting, plumbing and wherever else they decide the savings can be found. Stovring said they just bought the first Ford Escape hybrid vehicle for the fleet, and are also changing to Dodge Chargers in the police department as they save energy when idling. C. Chamber of Commerce Update Chacko noted that environmental issues are not a high priority with the Chamber. He had a meeting with the Mayor, the City Manager and the President of the Chamber to discuss what we might do together. We suggested they have Dave Jellison from Liberty Property Trust speak at one of the Chamber's noon meetings about how a commercial project might get payback from energy saving efforts. Chacko has not heard back from them about the idea. Stovring said what they have is a Yard & Garden expo aimed at promoting Chamber businesses. Chair Chacko recessed the meeting at 8:00 PM and reconvened at 8:07 PM. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Purpose Statement Revision Stovring said there are two of these in the packets. The initial draft is the one that was put into the City Code, but the second one was a draft had provisions that were intended to be incorporated into the final draft. Chacko said he liked the one that is in the City Code but he thought Item 6 overlaps with the Charter for the Parks & Recreation Commission. Chacko thought there are other areas we could be covering but wasn't sure how to change it. Chacko said the Farm Bill that passed recently has a lot of issues that are land- and water-use related and would be of interest to people who are concerned about conservation. If part of our job is to educate people and make them aware of matters regarding conservation, that bill is an important one for the state. Stovring said we would provide for that in the broader goals. Chacko thought we should think about the items in the purpose statement and discuss them. He thought Item 6 should be replaced. Stovring suggested everyone bring a list of what they think should be on the list to our next meeting. Chacko thought that would be a good discussion to have with the City Council. Stovring said the joint meeting in January with the City Council would work well as the Commission could bring the 2008 work plan and proposed purpose statement for Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 7 discussion. MacMillan asked what the presentation to the City Council is. Stovring said it is short catch-up report. B. Work Plan for 2008 Chacko thought we should develop educational materials on bottle recycling. We talked about recycling at public events, but we dropped that initiative. He thought the whole issue of PET bottle recycling has become very visible. There are 5 billion pounds of these on the retail shelves, and we recycle only about a billion pounds. Stovring said we are going to have this at City events and this would fit in the next year's work plan. The Commission should work with the County in 2008 to provide a consistent message to promote plastic bottle recycling. Chacko said he talked to the Society of Plastic Recycling and learned they grind plastic into flakes, bale it and sell it for 20 cents per pound. However, they can't get enough material because, among other things, the Chinese demand is bidding up prices. He thought it would be very good timing to supply domestic recyclers with more material. There is another group, Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM), which has a gray plastic container for recycling these. Stovring said many people don't know what that container is for because it is very difficult to tell what it is. She said she would like the clear ones better. Chacko thought it is an opportune time to pick up this initiative again. Chacko said we talked about the deicing certification program at the last meeting. Stovring said that would be a good item for the work plan. This is an educational program for private companies that could be held next fall. Chacko said a lot of grass on the edges of lawns has been killed because the salt sits there. The program talks about ways to reduce the amount of salt used to melt the ice. We had a speaker at one of our workshops, Connie Fortin, who trains and certifies City personnel on methods to use less salt. Stovring said that fits well with our storm water permit item. Chacko said he was not sure of how we train them. Stovring will ask Gene Dietz about that. Stovring asked if there were any other ideas to add to the 2008 Work Plan. We have the lake seminar, the salt use issue, a lawn care seminar, plastic recycling promotion and the Change a Light campaign. Chacko mentioned we haven't done anything on a green building code. Katof asked if other cities have done something. Chacko replied it is mostly counties or states that do this, typically not cities. Stovring said she has seen some Minnesota cities that have started to write certain minimum standards in their city codes. Chacko thought we should get some information on that. Daniels thought Minneapolis would have some. Chacko said the problem is whether it pertains to new construction or retrofits. He was not sure if a code for an individual city makes sense because it needs to be broader. Katof said he could talk to Tony Hainault at the County who would have contacts on this. Chacko said there are a lot of entities talking about green buildings. Katof asked if the City could commit for City buildings. Stovring said it would be discussed. Eden Prairie Conservation Commission September 11, 2007 Page 8 MacMillan asked about the process that would be used to make a minimum standard. Stovring said we would find examples and write our own and then bring it to the City Council for review. Katof said it would be helpful to know the current requirement. MacMillan noted the Star Tribune article talks about Minnesota requirements and that we could do additional research on the internet. Chacko said we had discussions about having a green roof on the new Community Center expansion but they didn't want to spend $80,000. He asked if it is realistic that the City would take the initiative on a green building other than lighting. MacMillan thought we could make a recommendation to the City Council, but we have to work up something based on experience and research. Chacko asked if she would volunteer for that. MacMillan said she would but would need some help from a research assistant. VIII. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS /HANDOUTS /COMMUNICATIONS A. Change a Light Campaign Materials B. Draft Public Service Announcement C. 2007 Work Plan D. Purpose Statement/Draft Purpose Statement from 2005 E. Implications Newsletter Articles (Benefits of Green Roofs & Green Healthy Homes F. Star Tribune Green Certification Article IX. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Joint Meeting with the City Council—October 16, 2007 - postponed B. Presentation at City Council—December 11, 2007 X. NEXT MEETING A. October 9,2007 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Katof, to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Chacko adjourned the meeting at 8:35 PM.