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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 04/08/2008 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY,APRIL 8, 2008 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Eapen Chacko (Chair), Ray Daniels, Laura Jester, Sean Katof, Geneva MacMillan, Jan Mosman STUDENT MEMBERS: Vallari Ajgaonkar, James (JP) Maslyn, Ann Wachutka STAFF: Leslie A. Stovring, Staff Liaison Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Mosman arrived late. Jester left early. Wachutka was absent. Chair Chacko called the meeting to order at 7:05. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MacMillan added Item VIII.A. Green Clean. Daniels added Item VIII.B. Display Board. MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by MacMillan, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Commission Meeting held March 11, 2008 Stovring distributed copies of the minutes. Given the length of discussions described in the minutes, Chacko suggested that their approval be tabled until the May meeting in order to give the Commission members time to read through them. The other Commission members agreed to table the approval of the minutes. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Lake Sampling - Speaker for May Stovring said they received the draft reports on Mitchell Lake and Round Lake last week. She said Steve McComas from Blue Water Science will speak to the Commission in May about their work on the two lakes in 2007 and their plans for 2008. Conservation Commission April 8, 2008 Page 2 Chacko noted Council Member Nelson said she would like to come to the Commission meeting if we have a speaker, so he will notify her that Mr. McComas will be the speaker at the next meeting. B. EPA Phase II Public Meeting (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.) Stovring said they had a good meeting with several people in attendance. MacMillan asked about the grants that one couple talked about. Stovring replied that they were Jim & Cheri Nehl from the Mitchell Lake Association. They have requested help from the City with funding as the grant they received from the Department of Natural Resources works more as a reimbursement and they need some funding up front. The President of the Association (Jim Nehl)had received a Commendation for Conservation from the Conservation Commission last year. She said we will work with the DNR on funding their project. V. REPORTS FROM CHAIR A. March 18 Council Meetin! Chacko said he presented the Commission's Work Plan for 2008 and reviewed the work completed by the Commission in 2007. He gave a five minute overview to the Council and presented an update on the Change-A-Light campaign. He told the Council we are at 4% of our goal in that campaign and are doing relatively well compared to others in the state. We are at a low percentage of bulbs relative to our goal, but our bulbs changed per pledge were higher than many other organizations. Katof said he thought there are still people that don't go to the website to fill out their bulb purchases, and he wondered if there is any other way to track sales at the stores. Stovring suggested people may be making a pledge at the Energy Star website without go to the web site that tracks replacements for the Conservation Commission. Mosman arrived at 7:10 PM. B. 20-40-15 Presentation at March 18 Council Meeting Chacko and Macmillan attended the meeting where McKinstry gave a slide presentation on Phase I proposals at the Council meeting. Chacko felt that the presentation made it seem as if the proposals came solely from the consultants at McKinstry. In fact, one of the Council Members asked the question about where the ideas came from, and McKinstry said they had come from City staff and the Commission. There was a good discussion of the payback periods of the various initiatives. Council members noted the 40 year payback period on the solar panel project proposed for the community center. In the absence of City staff presenting the proposals, McKinstry could not advocate for the solar panels. The Mayor asked how an item with a 40-year payback got into the list when Phase I portfolio of initiatives has an average 13-year payback. Chacko said he got up and told the Conservation Commission April 8, 2008 Page 3 Council that the Commission recommended the solar project because it has value beyond the pure economic payback, as a demonstration project for environmental leadership in Eden Prairie and for good educational value in our schools. At this point, the Council felt that without details on how the educational value could be demonstrated and given the long economic payback, it should move the solar panel project to Phase 2, pending the provision of more details on its social and economic benefits. Mosman thought it might be beneficial for the Commission to give the Council an educational session on solar energy or perhaps to have Paul Sticha do a workshop for them. They might then realize also that the City staff felt that the project was worthwhile. Chacko said the other items in Phase 1, such as energy controls and high-efficiency lighting, were "low-hanging fruit" and have been widely adopted by other cities. He thought the other potentially controversial item was the LED lighting because people complained about the quality of the light in some of the cities that rolled it out. Katof thought McKinstry must have had to demonstrate the value of solar energy for other municipal clients, and that we should get their assistance on obtaining this material. Chacko thought it was a fair question from the Council but it was difficult to respond to in a short time with no preparation. Stovring said staff needs to be there to advocate and show they are supportive of the process. Chacko noted Phase 1 did go through, so the Commission was able to make a meaningful contribution to the kickoff of this important project. Daniels asked about the timeline for the project. Stovring said they will come back with Phase 2 in a couple of months when the LED testing is completed. Daniels asked if that will come before the Council. Stovring said it will and that we need to put some more thought into the presentation at that time. Daniels said it sounds like the Commission should be there and make a strong presentation. He thought it is difficult to justify it on a dollars and cents basis, but we may need to present it as being "pioneers" in the field. Chacko noted we had some discussion about potential funding for higher cost projects through companies like the Northland Group, but none of that came out in the presentation. He didn't think the Council was made aware of such funding possibilities. He thought it would be valuable to have somebody there that could talk about the possible tax credits which could be captured by private investors. He thought the whole thing was not explained very well this time, and the presentation was not as effective as it could have been. VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Recyclins! Update—Chacko Conservation Commission April 8, 2008 Page 4 Chacko said he contacted the Soccer Club and the Soccer Association but he has not received a response from them. We talked about having zero-waste events and stepping up the collection of aluminum cans and PET bottles. He noted we saw an increase in PET's in the last recycling report, and there are so many big events where there is no recycling. Mosman said we talked about picking a couple of events to use as an experiment. Chacko said we are trying to find an event. The recycling firm insists someone monitor the bags. We thought about contacting scouting groups to monitor the events. Mosman suggested we talk to the Tree Huggers group at the High School. Chacko thought we need to pick an event and start lining up Waste Management and Eureka Recycling. Mosman noted the recycling bins that seem to work well are located right next to garbage cans for trash and other containers labeled as compostables so it is easy for people to choose the right bin and sort as they go down the line. She said Eden Prairie has the same population as the University of Minnesota, and the University is doing a fabulous job. She thought we just need to get started and it may work there because students have grown up with it. MacMillan said she was at the University earlier today and noticed there was a student monitoring the disposal of recyclables in the dining room. Mosman said her concern about scheduling for large events in the City is that a lot of Commission members may be out of town for those dates so it may be more difficult to organize recycling for those events. Chacko asked if anyone had talked to Grace Church about recycling after last month's meeting. Jester said she meant to call them but did not do it. MacMillan noted there is a free event this Friday and Saturday at Grace Church, which is sponsored by Sony, Best Buy and Waste Management, from 9:00 to 4:00 PM to dispose of used PC's and televisions. The same event will be held at Canterbury Park and other locations. Daniels asked if there are restrictions. Stovring said they do not accept appliances. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Biofuels—Mosman Mosman noted that there is a growing body of articles on biofuels, including corn- based ethanol and other fuels, which suggest their displacement of land reduces their overall benefits in net carbon reduction. She said that there would probably be an increase in such studies in the next six months. B. Educational Materials—Landscaping for Residents There was a general consensus that energy-saving landscaping was something that should be encouraged and that many residents would want to adopt for their homes. Conservation Commission April 8, 2008 Page 5 There was a desire to make educational materials available through Commission efforts, to Eden Prairie residents. Mosman brought along some sample materials from Bachman's and Rainbow Tree. Other Commissioners noted useful materials from Blue Thumb and from the University of Minnesota Extension Service. It was noted that the Eden Prairie website has a link to Blue Thumb, but that perhaps we should explore linking to additional information sources. Stovring suggested that Bachman's might be involved in the planned fall landscaping seminar. A discussion followed regarding the politics of ethanol and other biofuels. Jester left at 8:00 PM. Chacko said Dr. G. David Tillman at the University is an expert on biofuels, and he would be good speaker if we could get a larger audience. He thought it would be a great discussion. Ajgaonkar said Pax Christi has a lot of speakers. Daniels said he has heard Mr. Tillman speak, and he gave a great presentation. Mosman thought earth energy seminars have gotten a great response. Chacko said he talked to Dr. Tillman several months back, and he was willing to come if we had a good event planned. Mosman said she was impressed with how many people come to the Will Steger events, and she thought there is an audience for that sort of event. Stovring said Pax Christi does a good job, and she thought it would be a good idea to work with them. Mosman said it would probably have to be in the fall and he could talk about fuels in general. She asked how we would pursue the idea and if we would have to get permission for the event. Stovring said we would not have to get permission if we have it in a church. Mosman thought we need to hold it in a place that has good sound quality like Pax Christi. She thought we could have a couple of other displays in the lobby for the event. Chacko said he will send a couple of articles to Ms Stovring and will also check on Mr. Tillman's availability. Ajgaonkar offered to ask Pax Christi about cost and availability for the event. VIII. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS /HANDOUTS/COMMUNICATIONS A. Green Clean—MacMillan MacMillan shared a copy of the book, "Green Clean" with Commission members. She said it written by Linda Mason Hunter and has hints for cleaning green. B. Display Board - Daniels Daniels asked if it would be possible to set up the display board at Round Lake for educational purposes at the Fourth of July celebration. Ajgaonkar thought that would be one of the most effective places for it because of the large turnout for that event. Stovring said she would talk to the Parks Department about it. Daniels said he has the board now and would like to use it on April 20, and Ms MacMillan would like to Conservation Commission April 8, 2008 Page 6 use it on May 10. Stovring said it would be okay if the Conservation Commission sign was taken off. Daniels said he would like to give the Commission some publicity and asked how he could do that. Chacko suggested he could identify himself as a Commission member but that he should not keep the Commission's name on the display board. Chacko asked what the event is. Daniels said it is a college expo at his church. Stovring noted it must be an event the Commission is doing as a whole in order to use the Commission name. MacMillan said she wants to use the board for a brunch event on May 10. IX. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Park Clean Up - April 19 Stovring said we are asking people to call in to the Parks Department and volunteer to help clean up a park. B. Living Green Expo—May 3 & 4 Daniels thought it would be a good idea to talk to SouthWest Metro about having buses run to the Living Green Expo, and he volunteered to give them a call to check on it. C. Pond and Lake Care Seminar—May 17 D. Summer Clean Up - June 21 E. Rain Barrel Workshop - June 28 X. NEXT MEETING A. May 13, 2008 XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Katof, to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Chacko adjourned the meeting at 8:25 PM.