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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 09/08/2009 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Prairie Room and Atrium 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Laura Jester (Chair), Dan Trebil (Vice-Chair), Sue Brown, Ray Daniels, Ravi Jaiswal, Geneva MacMillan, Greg Olson STAFF: Regina Herron, Staff Liaison Paul Sticha, Facilities Manager Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Gretchen Askew Julia Wang Michele Wu I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM. Jaiswal, Olson and Askew were absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Jester added Item V.D. Question About Fall Seminar and Item VII.B. National Night Out. Jester changed Item V.A. to Student Commissioner Introductions and Expectations. Daniels added Item X. C. 350 Day. MOTION: Trebil moved, seconded by MacMillan, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 5-0. III. MINUTES A. Commission Meeting held July 14, 2009 MOTION: Brown moved, seconded by Trebil, to approve the minutes of the July 14, 2009 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0-1, with MacMillan abstaining. B. Recommend Approval of Joint Meeting with Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission held August 3, 2009 Jester asked the Commission Members for their impressions of the joint meeting. Brown said she thought it went well and we had a lot to take away with us. She thought it was a start on communications between the commissions. Daniels said they have agreed to do recycling in the parks, so we now can follow through on it. Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 2 Jester thought it was a good start although she had expected a little more dialogue and discussion between the two commissions. MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Brown, to recommend approval of the minutes of the August 3, 2009 joint meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0-1, with Trebil abstaining. Jester said she would like to skip to Item V.A. on the agenda. V. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Student Commissioner Introductions and Expectations (taken out of sequence) Jester asked everyone present to introduce themselves and asked the two student representatives to explain why they were interested in serving on the Commission and what they expected to gain from the experience. Herron noted we will be adding an agenda item for Student Reports so the student representatives can report regularly on what is happening at the High School. IV. SPEAKER Paul Sticha, Facilities Manager, described the project for native plantings at City Hall and provided photos of the locations before and after the project was begun. The Commission then went outside and viewed the planting areas while Mr. Sticha described the areas as they are now and as they will be in the future. V. REPORTS FROM STAFF B. Best Buy Wind Turbine Update Herron said the Planning Commission approved a variance for the Best Buy wind turbine, a building permit was issued, and the wind turbine is now completed. She said Best Buy has offered to come in and do a presentation to the Commission. Brown said it would be interesting to know how much energy they will generate and how much they will save. Trebil thought it would be nice to see a track record for the wind turbine so we can see what is happening. C. City Hill Fellowship "Green House" Herron said City Hill Fellowship is proposing to build a "green house" and have been in for a building permit. She said they will work with Hennepin Technical College students and have received grant money from CDBG funds. They will implement green building products and will orient the house to take advantage of the sun and shade. She said we could have Molly Koivumaki come to talk about the green materials they are using. Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 3 Jester asked if the house is being built for a resident. Herron said it is a single family house that would be rented as affordable housing by someone from the City Hill Fellowship Church. Jester asked if it is located near the church. Herron said it is on church property. D. Question About Fall Seminar Jester asked what the status is for the fall seminar. Herron said it did not make the deadline for the fall Parks and Recreation brochure, and they are working on the winter brochure right now. Jester said we talked about a seminar on energy saving in the home and wondered if that would be something residents would attend. We have had a similar seminar at the Home and Garden Expo in the spring. Herron said she received an email today from Hennepin County with information on an event about saving energy and reducing utility bills in the home. She thought we might be able to do something along those lines. Jester asked if the Commission would want to try to put together a workshop this winter. Brown thought we should figure out what our purpose is and what our mission or objectives are, and then move from there. She said her personal opinion is to take a step back and figure out what will resonate with the residents in order to have more than ten people attend an event. We need to hone our message and our strategies so we can be more effective. Jester said she agreed with that. Trebil said he also agreed, and noted we are one piece of a bigger picture. Jester asked if the seminar would be part of Community Education. Herron said everything is lumped together in the brochure which includes classes and one-time events. In the past we discussed maybe doing something on winterizing in the fall brochure, but we missed that deadline. Wu suggested doing a video and posting it online so it would be more accessible. Jester said the consensus is to skip the winter seminar and give it some more thought. VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. 2010 Work Plan Jester thought we need to work on our priorities and how the City can do better. She thought there are many ideas we could go with, but we should try to stick with the low-hanging fruit. Brown thought it is great that we start to introduce things so we have higher level goals and get the City into new areas of thinking. We can then get in front of them and muster support. She thought we should do the things we are capable of doing with the budget we have, but maybe have a goal of challenging the City to do certain things and aim high. Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 4 Jester said Ms Stovring wrote something up for the Commission to react to for the 2009 schedule and work plan. A lot of it is about having discussion on priorities and a communication plan is part of that. At each meeting there are certain things that come up that we should review. She suggested Ms Herron discuss this with Ms Stovring. She said in reviewing the 2009 annual plan all the items have an element of education. She asked if we want to throw out ideas for priorities and have that as an actual activity for the next meeting. Brown said she has a lot of experience with that type of activity. Jester said she and Ms Brown will work together on that. Jester asked Commission members to come with ideas next time and give some thought to our priorities and work plan through next year. She thought we need a little more focus. She asked Ms Herron to work with Ms Stovring the next couple of months to try to get a start on the annual report for 2009 and get something filled in for the 2010 work plan. B. Communications Materials Ideas Jester asked Ms Brown if the communication materials ideas would come with the brainstorming session. Brown said it comes out of determining our priorities. We can figure out what materials and communication media would be suited to get the message out and that could be part of the overall work plan. Jester said she will craft an email to the whole group to get to those who aren't at the meeting tonight. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development-Project Profile Herron distributed copies of the Project Profile. She said there is not much change from the last one. The Project Profile talks about upcoming planning projects and includes new proposals for subdivisions or commercial projects. There is also a list of the different commissions that the Planning Division is involved with for each project. She said she will highlight proposals often involve areas of conservation. MacMillan asked what the Project Profile is used for. Herron said it is a way for the Planning Division to keep track of ongoing. Some of the projects contain items about conservation so those would be an FYI for the Conservation Commission. It is also a way to keep track of commissions that the Planning Division works. Daniels asked about the Ridge at Riley Creek 3rd Addition project. Herron said that is a two-lot subdivision located on the rear portion of property that shows a dedication of park land to match the creek corridor for the original subdivision. The outlot is to be dedicated to the City in order to have preservation creek corridor of the wooded area. Daniels asked about drainage in the area. He thought the project was not well planned for that area, they just chopped everything down, and the streets go straight down to the creek. He thought this would be a good place for some raingardens Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 5 along the streets. Daniels asked if it is being discussed. Herron said the project is on the city council consent agenda. Jester asked if there are any tours coming up that would include a neighborhood with curb cuts and raingardens. Herron said she signed up to go on one at the end of September. Jester said when something like this comes up where new roads and homes are going in, we can plan for curb cuts and raingardens to help with water quality and infiltration requirements. She said with the use of raingardens Burnsville reduced 90% of the water and pollutants going down to the lake. Daniels asked about the guide plan change from open space to medium density residential for the Oak Creek at Hennepin Village project. Herron said that item was to be on the consent agenda but was continued. The developer hasn't moved forward on the project, so we are waiting to see what happens with that. Trebil asked if that means it has been approved but the developer hasn't pulled it together even though he still owns it. Herron said that was correct. She said they will dedicate open space as part of the project and, in exchange, the lot sizes are proposed to be smaller. Daniels asked where this project is located. Herron said it is in Hennepin Village south and west of the airport. Daniels said a bluff area abuts Hennepin Village, and at one time there should have been a buffer there but that didn't happen. MacMillan asked how often the Project Profile comes out. Herron said the commission could receive it once a week or she could include it in the packets. MacMillan thought it would be better with the packet, and she thought this is what we need to look at to see where we would insert ourselves. B. National Night Out Brown said in the past individuals who are campaigning for office have come out to neighborhoods to talk to people about issues during National Night Out. She thought it would be a really great forum for us to get out and meet with people and talk about what we are doing. She noted there were 120 National Night Out parties in Eden Prairie. She said a lot of people talked to the police officer and theft deterrent person at her neighborhood meeting, and we could use the same forum to go out and meet people. Jester asked if she thought they are expecting information on things other than why National Night Out was created. Brown said they are changing the name to Night to Unite, and she thought it would be an opportunity for us to help people understand who we are and what we are doing. Jester said it would be a captive audience although she was having trouble getting past the original reason for them coming out. She thought it is something we can keep on the radar as we talk about our 2010 plans. She would also like to get the reaction of staff to the idea. Trebil asked if the theme is more of a safety message. Brown said they are going through a transition and are having a push to make it a Night to Unite. She thought Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 6 anything we can do to get out and spread the message to a captive audience is good and we could be there as a resource. Herron said she would bring it up to City staff and see what they have to say about it. Jester thought it would be important to hear what they say about having groups other than the police, fire and security personnel share material at the event. MacMillan asked when the event is held. Brown said it is held the first Tuesday in August. MacMillan thought we could start going to these kinds of groups with presentations. Brown said it would be very nonpolitical since we are not running for office and we could hear peoples' ideas. VIII. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Commercial Recyclins!Initiative Code Amendment—Dan Trebil (Vice Chair) Trebil said he started with a lengthy draft a couple of months ago, but in order to keep it simple he went back through the code and added a section to drop into the code. The rest is just revision. Jester noted Section 11.03 would be added, and the rest of it would change the existing code. She asked Ms Herron if she had been able to go through this. Herron said the key is to keep it simple, and the easier we can make it for a developer or a property owner to understand, the better. She said from her standpoint if the Conservation Commission is comfortable with it, she would pass it to internal staff for comments. The City Attorney will look at it and put it into an ordinance form before it goes to the City Council. Jester said she thought it is great. She would possibly change the word "accumulated" in the first sentence to "generated by employees or customers." Daniels said he was not sure it was worth tweaking that way. Trebil thought just using the word "generated" or "accumulated" on the premises would get at the same thing. Wu asked if there is any education involved with this because there are a lot of issues regarding types of plastic that can be recycled. Brown thought that was a good point and educating the high school students' generation is one of the things we are hoping to have our student representatives help with. She noted Numbers 1 and 2 plastics can be recycled now. Jester said there could be more as more markets open up. Brown thought organics will be a huge topic next year. Jester explained we are trying to get commercial and industrial buildings added into the code. This amendment would apply any time there is redevelopment or new development. Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 7 Trebil said he didn't know if it had to be specified that new development or redevelopment projects were subject to the code. Herron said it would apply to anything from the point the code is amended. Trebil asked if it would apply only to a specific level of redevelopment, such as substantial redevelopment. Herron said we don't have a specific number, and she could not recall a specific section that talks about that. Trebil noted that is the one grey area. Jester asked if existing developments would be grandfathered in if the City Council puts out a new ordinance. Trebil said if they change the code everybody doesn't have to go back through and redo their developments. MOTION: Trebil moved, seconded by Brown, to submit the proposed change to City Code regarding mandatory recycling at commercial properties to internal review by staff. Motion carried 5-0. Herron said she will have staff make comments and bring it back to the commission. Jester asked about the timeline for the internal review. Herron said staff meets on Thursdays, and this would probably be on next week's agenda. She said she can get it back by the October meeting. Jester said we are really interested in moving this forward, and it would be great if a staff person could talk to us at the next meeting if there were substantial changes so we could hammer it out. IX. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS/COMMUNICATIONS A. Linking Land Use to Water Resource Management—ANEMO Workshop for the Minnehaha Creek and Nine Mile Creek Watershed District Herron noted she sent out information on the workshop and an opportunity to go to the Science Museum on October 3 from 9:45 to 11:45 AM. Anyone wishing to attend can respond to the email she sent out. Jester said she can't attend. Brown said she will try. MacMillan said she would like to attend. X. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Sun Bonnet Day Herron noted the event is this weekend so it is rather late for a booth. We could have material at the City information desk. Jester suggested the general recycling brochure and the extra Hennepin County landscaping guides that she gave to Mr. Daniels. Daniels said he has the tray for the booklets. Herron said she would need the materials by Friday to pass on to Parks & Recreation. Daniels noted we have pushed the recycling theme in the past. B. Future Joint Meetings with Planning Commission--November 2009 Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 8 Herron said the meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, November 9, and we should come up with some discussion topics. Jester asked if that is the preferred date for the Planning Commission. Herron said November 23 is the other option. Jester said she wondered if this should be put off for a few months. We want to complete our ordinance and develop the 2010 work plan and annual report. We don't have any burning issues for the Planning Commission, and she thought we want to spend time thinking about what we want to do with them first. Daniels said we could talk to them about complying with the State of Minnesota building code. Herron said the Planning Commission doesn't get involved with the state building code, rather it gets involved with the city zoning code. Daniels asked who is involved with the building code. Herron said the Building Department oversees the construction and the safety of the buildings. They inspect the actual structure while the Planning Division looks at things like development from a capacity standpoint, setbacks and parking requirements. The Building Department reviews and responds to safety issues. The Engineering Division looks at grading, infiltration and traffic. They all work together but have different key parts in project reviews. Daniels asked who would be responsible for implementing energy savings. Herron said it depends on the project. From a planning standpoint, the wind turbine project was determined to meet setback and height requirements; however, planning was not involved in looking at the structural components. She said energy savings is not a requirement for projects. Daniels asked if that was true even though the State has requirements. Herron said there are energy code requirements as part of the building code. Daniels asked who would review the plans to see if it met energy code requirements. Herron said the Building Department does. Jester said the Planning Commission looks at things like the overall site design, storm water, natural resources, and open space preservation. She asked where the green roofs would fit in, because at one point we talked about educating the Planning Commission about green roofs. Herron said it currently comes down to whether it meets building code and if a property owner wants a green roof. Jester asked if there are any items the Planning Commission or staff wants to discuss with us. Herron said the Planning Division has a number of items including impervious pavers, wind generators and residential regulations for wind generators. She said projects that have those items should be brought here for feedback before being taken to the Planning Commission. Brown thought if they want to get information from us about wind and solar power, we should have a collective opinion on those items. That would require education and research among the group. Trebil asked if it is the job of our commission to give technical recommendations, or does the City do the research. Herron said if staff is directed to do research by the City Council or an advisory commission, they would research neighboring city practices and compare information from technical studies and report back. Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 9 Brown said before we have a joint meeting with the Planning Commission we should know what our position is on these issues and what we are going to say, so she thought we should pull back from doing the meeting in November and move it to early next year. Jester said she thought early next year would be better timing unless the Planning Commission really sees a need to meet with us. C. 350 Day Daniels said he went to Edina for a small Eco Fair two weeks ago. Will Steger and Bill McKibben are going around the world talking to people and promoting the idea we need to bring back the level of CO2 to 350 parts per million. They are doing this on October 23, and their website is www.350.org. The objective they have in mind is to plant an idea of the number 350 to get us aware and see if we can't come back to 350. Jester asked if there are events planned for the day. Daniels said there will be events worldwide. Jester said she hasn't heard anything about it and asked if this is something that fits into the 20-40-15 program so the City could highlight it in Scott Neal's blog or on the website. Brown noted global warming is the result of high levels of CO2,and we haven't done a good job of keeping the earth green. Jester said she would look for the event personally, but she didn't know how we would go about highlighting it at a City level. She thought the High School might want to look into it and promote it at the school. Daniels said this is something Eden Prairie doesn't usually get involved in like Edina does. MacMillan said there will be a two-day Nobel Conference on water at Gustavus in St. Peter. There is always one Nobel Laureate on their program. Jester noted the Waterosity event at the Arboretum is ending very soon. Herron said there will be a conference there the last week of September on water conservation, and she could talk to the Public Works Director to see about funding to attend the event. Brown said she would be interested. Herron said the number who could attend might depend on the fee and those who attend might have to do a presentation to the Conservation Commission. MacMillan suggested Ms Herron send out information on the event to the Commission members. Daniels asked about the request for a budget item for 2010. Jester asked what we wanted money for. Daniel said we wanted money for rebates. Jester said she thought we need to propose the City start a rebate program. Daniels said there was a motion in the minutes that we would like to add that. Jester said she will look into it. X. NEXT MEETING A. October 6,2009 Conservation Commission September 8, 2009 Page 10 Jester reviewed the action items for the next meeting. Daniels asked if the brainstorming session will take the whole meeting. Jester suggested we have one hour for brainstorming and one hour for the regular agenda. She thought it might be a good idea to ask Ms Stovring to attend the meeting. XI. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: MacMillan moved, seconded by Brown, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 9:00 PM.