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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 12/09/2008 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 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 STAFF: Leslie A. Stovring, Staff Liaison Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary Gene Dietz, Director of Public Works STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Vallari Ajgaonkar, Alexandra (Alex) Baumhardt, Michael (Paco) Caughill GUEST: Chuck Noble, Pax Christi Environmental Ministry I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Chacko called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Jester, Baumhardt and Caughill were absent. Daniels arrived late. Katof and Ajgaonkar left early. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Katof added Item V.A. Composting Discussion. Mr. Noble said he would like to talk about the Pax Christi Environmental Expo (Item V.B.). Chacko added Item VI.A. The Economics of Recyclins! and Item VI.B. Comprehensive Guide Plan Update. MOTION: Mosman moved, seconded by Katof, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Commission Meeting held November 18, 2008 MOTION: Katof moved, seconded by MacMillan, to approve the minutes of the November 18, 2008 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. 2009 Work Plan—Discussion Stovring asked the Commission members to check their term expiration dates in the 2008 Annual Report. She said she received information from Mr. Katof today about the Change-A-Light campaign and she will add that to the annual report. Daniels arrived at 7:10 PM. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 2 Stovring said Steve McComas, a water quality consultant, has agreed to speak at the January meeting, and that Paul Sticha had said February would be a good time for his report on the 20-40-15 campaign progress. Dietz said he had asked Kevin Schmieg if he would be willing to attend a meeting to address the subject of green building codes. Chacko asked that any presentation also include research done by the Governor's Task Force on Green Building Codes. Mr. Dietz recounted Mr. Schmieg's comments that building codes, and plumbing codes in particular, are often heavily influenced by the interests of trade groups. Daniels thought the Department of Commerce was trying to develop a LEED-type standard for residential construction. Dietz noted that many groups are involved in trying to develop such standards. Mosman noted that the Anderson Schoolhouse had decided to follow LEED guidelines during restorations, while not pursuing LEED certification because of the significant added expense and stringent process. Chacko noted that several municipal and commercial buildings had pursued this strategy which would result in a designation like, "LEED Certifiable." Individual homeowners would find it prohibitively expensive to get LEED certification. Dietz said homebuilders and remodelers were trying to develop residential standards for marketing purposes. Dietz said sometime during the first quarter of 2009 the Commission will be invited to a workshop meeting with the City Council to talk about the proposed charter revision and the work plan. He thought the Commission might want to talk about whether to have that as the regular meeting date that month or to schedule it in addition to the regular meeting. Any action items coming from the workshop would become actions at the City Council meeting. Stovring said she will add it as an upcoming event on the agenda. She asked if the intent is to take the work plan to the Council in January. Dietz thought the Commission could work off the work plan until the Council has approved it, and he suggested the charter amendment and the work plan be presented at the same time. B. Commission Charter Draft—Discussion Dietz said there was some confusion at the last meeting as to why there was both a staff draft and a Commission Chair draft of the charter. He said staff left the meeting thinking they had been charged with making a staff draft. There will be no proposal to the City Council until the Commission is finished with it. He suggested the Commission pick one of the drafts tonight and start to make modifications to it. He noted staff may have recommendations during the discussion. Chacko said the section in his draft regarding roles and responsibilities came from looking at the Flying Cloud Airport Commission's charter, which was proposed as a model for how to construct our work. The airport commission's charter starts with a section on roles and responsibilities. He said Ms Jester noted in her email that roles Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 3 and responsibilities don't belong in the City Code. She would prefer to be consistent and wanted the document to reflect a lot of the discussion we had over the year. Chacko said when the Commission discussed the Environmental Assessment Worksheet for Hennepin Village they came out feeling that environmental concerns should not come in on an "after the fact"basis. He thought the only way to address it was to include them in the evaluation section of the roles and responsibilities. Daniels thought the roles and responsibilities should be in the charter because there are situations and events that come up that are not necessarily included in a specific work plan. He thought this allows us to look at that and decide if that is in our jurisdiction and gives us the flexibility to meet situations that we can't predict. MacMillan agreed. Katof said he also liked it and thought a charter should be about roles and responsibilities more than specifics. MacMillan suggested adding the word "Promoting" at the beginning of Item 1, "Developing ..." to Item 4 and changing Item 6 to "maintaining healthy urban...", in order to make the items more consistent in the use of verbs. Katof suggested Item 3 should be changed to "Finding opportunities to increase the City's use of alternative energy." Mosman asked if there would be a way to put in the roles and responsibilities differently. Dietz said that would be fine and that although Chair Chacko expanded the verbiage, the concept came from Mr. Neal. Chacko said the last sentence of the section on examination and evaluation addresses the idea of additional mandates coming from the state even though it isn't in the specifics. He grouped some things under the roles and responsibilities and tried to capture those in words. When he thinks back over all the things we have talked about, we have covered a lot of areas. He thought our interests are broader than our list and going forward we may need freedom to do some other areas of work. Daniels thought we are now in a period of exploring what conservation is and how to get people involved in conservation. He thought we are the group that leads the way in the path to conserving energy and resources. Dietz said his concern was that we might be taking on a much larger mandate than the Commission can manage, Chacko said some of these haven't changed. The roles and responsibilities are the broadest, the specific areas are more detailed, and the work plan is the most specific. Chacko thought most of Ms Jester's comments had been added in and asked what comments others had. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 4 MacMillan said she really liked the introduction of the Chair's draft. She asked for clarification of the advocacy and education part of the roles and responsibilities. Chacko said we have student commissioners and we have talked about having joint activities or educational programs, such as the Phase 1 solar proposal. MacMillan suggested making a separate sentence about working through the schools, churches and other community groups because it is not just about the schools. Stovring noted the Commission works with staff and other commissions and a lot of what is done never goes to Council. That should be kept in mind for the introduction. Ajgaonkar left at 8:00 PM. Mosman thought we could eliminate some of the examination and evaluation section, such as taking out the phrase at the beginning of the second sentence regarding duplicating work and eliminating the last part of that sentence after "planning process." Mosman asked if there should be something about reviewing other City codes on which we might make recommendations. Stovring said it depends on how specific you want to be. Mosman thought it would be an appropriate method without adding another layer of review. Daniels expressed a concern about accountability for environmental standards and where that might reside. Dietz gave the example of a city requirement to infiltrate the first 3/4 inch of rainfall on a site, but the code is silent how that is to be done. It is a requirement that sites do construct ponds to NURP standards. He said innovation around technology and methods has come from the development community, but they are accountable for meeting mandated performance standards. MacMillan asked what a NURP pond does. Stovring replied that it is a stormwater pond that collects runoff from storm events and sediments collect in the bottom. Chacko said he will try to incorporate the suggestions and will send the revised draft to Ms Stovring for circulation. Dietz left at 8:20 PM. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Composting Discussion Katof said there is information about composting online. He will forward the link to commissioners. He believes Hennepin County has a promotion going. Chacko noted that Mike and Amber Stoner, members of the Pax Christi Environmental Challenge Ministry are knowledgeable about residential composting methods, and we might want to use partner with them for an educational program. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 5 Katof said Linden Hills has a pilot program where the city drops off and picks up a bin to put compostables in. Mr. Noble said Linden Hills is one of the community leaders in that area and it is a growing trend in the nation. Mosman said she was reading about methane caused by food decomposition in land fills. Stovring said many landfills do burn off methane. MacMillan asked if there is anyone in the metro area who is trying to use the methane. Stovring said some landfills use it to power their facilities and will generally use as much as they can. A discussion followed regarding composting and methane. Daniels said Coon Rapids takes in Numbers 1-6 plastics. It costs about $90,000 a year to do that recycling, and they have a grant from Hennepin County now. Katof left at 8:35 PM. Chair Chacko called a break at 8:35 PM and reconvened the meeting at 8:40 PM. B. Pax Christi Expo—February 8, 2009 Chuck Noble said the Pax Christi Environmental Expo will be held on Sunday, February 8, 2009. They plan to have tables set up after each of the Sunday morning masses. He invited the Commission to be involved in the event. There is no theme assigned, and the Commission can do whatever the group wants. He noted there are a lot of people who aren't aware of Eden Prairie's Conservation Commission and this is another way to raise awareness. Daniels said he would be willing to put the table out. Chacko said he would help Daniels with the event, as they did last year. VL REPORTS FROM CHAIR A. The Economics of Recycling Chacko noted an article in the New York Times that said prices had come down sharply for certain commodities such as recycled paper, glass and PET plastics. Given these prices compared to tipping fees, the article suggested that more of this material might be going to landfills instead of being recycled. B. Comprehensive Guide Plan Update Chacko said Chapter 6 of the Comprehensive Guide Plan addresses utility and water use and Chapter 9 is active community planning. He thought those are the kind of issues we talk about. He noted the Eden Prairie Promise has performance measurements that are used to measure how well things are being done. Mosman said that environmental issues are a new concern, because taxes have always been at the top. Chacko said he thought we should be involved in this area. Stovring said we put in rebate programs for water conservation. She noted a lot of the environment and utility part is about planning for the community in the future. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 6 Chacko said population estimates have gone up because of development, particularly in the Golden Triangle and Town Center areas. He asked if the objectives for environmental requirements will be met with redevelopment of commercial buildings in those two areas. Stovring said the hardest part will be meeting the infiltration requirements. Infiltration measures are now a goal rather than a City Code requirement; this will need to be amended to ensure it is done correctly. Revision of the ordinance will happen as we go through the local water management plan update process. VIL OLD BUSINESS A. Budget Proposal for Enemy Conservation Programs Daniels distributed a memo with a budget proposal for energy conservation programs. He said he extracted the notes from the minutes of the previous Commission meeting and put those in the memo as the non-bolded items. Stovring said she did not know where we would store energy saving equipment that would be leased, so leasing equipment could be a problem. Chacko said this could be structured to be rebates. Stovring said using loans might be more complex than the Commission (or staff) would like. She recommended just sticking with a rebate program. Chacko thought it might be good to develop this as something to present at the February meeting. Stovring said an example would be what we did for the utility water conservation program where the original amount was $50,000 that included water conservation rebates, Environmental Learning Center repairs, an intern's time and other related items. We would need to include a memo to the City Council explaining how we would use the fund. We would need to state how much and what it would include, such as educational events and a rebate program. Chacko asked if Ms Stovring was suggesting that we revise the request. Stovring said we should combine the two proposals so that both education and rebates come from one pot of money. Mosman said we need ways to make it more likely the Council would approve it. She thought $30,000 would not be a burdensome amount for the City, and we could do a lot for that amount. She thought we should suggest doing a trial over a two-year period and list the things we would like to accomplish. She said one of the goals in the Comprehensive Guide Plan is to promote community and preservation of resources. She thought we have some things that are valid, and we could list different things so the Council could grab on to at least one of the items. Chacko thought it was a good idea to combine the programs. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 7 Daniels said he wanted to keep the motion simple. Stovring suggested writing a memo to the Council to go with the motion that would outline what we intend to include. Daniels asked how it would fit into the budget process. Stovring said she wasn't sure about setting a precedent for a commission itself to have a budget but they could be a recommending body for how the money is spent by staff. Daniels asked how it would be budgeted. Stovring said it will have to be determined when the budget is set and may be under Public Works or Facilities. Daniels asked if the Commission should state they want to have a say in how the monies are spent. Stovring said that was correct. Daniels asked if the Council would give a directive to Mr. Neal to include it in the budget. He noted it would be approved when the overall City budget is approved. Stovring said the motion would include requesting that the City Council consider adding a budget item to the next budget cycle and would list why we want it added. If they say yes, they would have to figure out how to put it in the next budget cycle. Mosman said we would get that money in 2010 so we could say we have good ideas on programs to promote and we would like to do a trial on one of the items. Mosman asked if funds are available if we come up with a good idea sooner. Stovring said there might be,but there will be a budget crunch in 2009. Chacko asked Commission members to send comments on this to Ms Stovring. Stovring said both Mr. Dietz and Mr. Neal know this proposal will be coming. Mosman asked if it would be specific ideas for programs. Stovring said it should be a simple motion and specific actions related to energy only. Stovring said we could look at this in January and also at the workshop. VIII. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS /HANDOUTS/COMMUNICATIONS IX. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Eden Prairie School District K-12 Science Fair—January 10, 2009 MacMillan asked if we plan to do anything at this event. Daniels said he has two five-foot tables to set up. Mosman asked if we hope to have two people there. Daniels said we will just be visiting with people. The parents will be focused on what the kids do, but we are still out there to publicize that we exist. Mosman thought it would be interesting to display six months worth of packaging used by a household. Daniels said he would be happy to add that. Stovring noted the event will occur before our next meeting so they will have to collaborate outside the meeting. B. Clean Enemy Resource Teams (CERTS) Conference—February 10— 11, 2009 Ms Mosman is planning on attending this event in St. Cloud. Conservation Commission December 9, 2008 Page 8 C. Chamber of Commerce Yard & Garden Expo — March 21, 2009 at Grace Church Stovring noted this is the Yard & Garden Expo, and we will have two tables next to each other like last year. They also need to find speakers and other presenters on environmental or energy conservation topics for the event. X. NEXT MEETING A. January 13, 2008 Stovring said we have Steve McComas coming in January. She thought we should put an ad in the paper to generate some interest. The meeting would probably be in the Heritage Room as that accommodates a larger audience. Chacko asked about the Watershed District meeting. Stovring said it did get a little technical on lake water quality terminology and went for over 2 hours. She said Dr. Sorenson from the University of Minnesota gave a very good presentation on carp management. Overall, there were almost 100 people in attendance. Mosman asked if carp are a growing concern. Stovring said it is a primary reason the water quality is so bad in lakes such as Riley Lake and Staring Lake. Mosman asked how we get rid of them. Stovring said winter kill doesn't work because the carp survive. It is important to make sure aeration is good as this reduces their success rate in survivability for hatchlings. Carp form groups in the winter so that is a good time to harvest them. There has been some good research done, but there will be even more research in the future. XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by MacMillan, to adjourn. Motion carried 4-0. Chair Chacko adjourned the meeting at 9:20 PM.