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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 03/09/2010 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010 City Center 5:30-6:30 PM—Heritage Room 7:00 PM—Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Laura Jester(Chair), Sue Brown, Ray Daniels, Ravi Jaiswal, Geneva MacMillan, Greg Olson STAFF: Regina Herron, Staff Liaison Julie Krull, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Gretchen Askew, Julia Wang, Michele Wu I. ATTEND CITY COUNCIL JJOINT MEETING WITH LOWER MINNESOTA WATERSHED DISTRICT: RIVERBANK EROSION (5:30-6:30 pm) II. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Jalswal, Askew, Wang and Wu were absent. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Brown moved, seconded by Olson, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 5-0. IV. SPEAKER A. Update on 20/40/15 and Federal Recovery Act—Paul Sticha, Facilities Manager Mr. Sticha gave an update of the 20/40/15 and Federal Recovery Act. He initially gave an overview of the energy program, stating it was started at the end of 2005 because the City needed an all encompassing energy program. He pointed out that the 20 stands for improving energy efficiency in the City's facilities by 20 percent. 40 stands for improving fuel efficiency of the City's vehicle fleet by 40 percent. 15 stands for achieving these goals by the year 2015. The City chose McKinstry as the consultant. They have been the consultant for the past three years. They are here to help, manage and implement the energy savings projects. If energy is not saved in any of these projects they will reimburse the cost to the City; this happens in Phase I and II of the project. There are three phases to this project. Phase III is federally funded and is used to replace equipment. The City is in Phase III right now. Mr. Sticha showed an overview of Phase I, II and III. Phase I and II projects, which included costs, showed annual utility savings, operational savings,rebates and the simple payback. Mr. Sticha reiterated again that McKinstry will guarantee the savings. They will also request funding for projects if asked to. They have a signed Conservation Commission Minutes March 9, 2010 Page 2 contract with a bond posted. Phase I and II deal primarily with lighting and utilities. Mr. Sticha described some of these projects in detail, such as replacing desuperheater on ice compressors and retro-commissioning. Phase III projects (stimulus funds) is funding coming from the federal government. McKinstry does not guarantee these funds in this phase. Mr. Sticha showed the different projects in this phase, such as, desiccant unit modifications, which are located at the Community Center. Another project would be park trails; if they are put in high density residential areas or commercial areas, then we can get the funding because people will be walking on them to access areas. Daniels asked if the money could be used for rain gardens. Mr. Sticha said only if we can prove it would save energy. The savings results to date are as follows: Phase I- $51, 492 and Phase II- $22,025, for a total savings of$73,517. Phase III will purchase energy savings projects. Jester asked Mr. Sticha how he thought the project was going. Mr. Sticha said McKinstry is a great company and things are going very well. Daniels asked about the 40% for vehicles and how does that work. Mr. Sticha said one item of savings would be when lease vehicles come up for renewal the option would be to get hybrids, or in regards to police vehicles, savings would be to not let them sit idle when they are not in use. Brown asked if anything is being done for such things as wind and solar energy; things that will benefit us in the future. Mr. Sticha said yes, there are some things we are doing,but we would like to do more but the City Council is very conservative in spending. He stated if there is left over money from the stimulus it would be nice to use it for projects. Daniels said more people need to be aware of this project and offered to help educate people. Mr. Sticha showed a slide show of some of the projects completed in Phase I and II. Olson commented it would make sense to purchase something with a shorter payback period. Mr. Sticha concurred. V. MINUTES A. Minutes for the February 9, 2010 meeting Brown had an amendment to the minutes on page 7 first paragraph. She would like the word "cramming"replaced with "promoting" and the words, "down people's throats", deleted. MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Brown, to approve the amended minutes of the February 9, 2010 meeting. Motion carried 5-0. VI. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. A Commercial Recycling Initiative Code Amendment - Update Conservation Commission Minutes March 9, 2010 Page 3 Herron said an ordinance and resolution was sent to the members for review, this would then be forwarded on to the April 26h Planning Commission meeting and then on to City Council. This will also be presented to City Chamber next week. Jester asked if someone from the Conservation Commission should attend. Herron did not think it was necessary. Jester asked if there was any additional input from the members. Olson stated this was pretty straightforward. Jester said she would like to make a formal recommendation to the Planning Commission for their recommendation for approval and to move it on to the City Council. Jester entertained a motion to have this moved to the Planning Commission. MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by MacMillan, to move the Commercial Recycling Initiative Code Amendment to the Planning Commission and then to move it on to the City Council. Motion carried 5-0. B. Lake Monitoring Report-Update Herron said the 2009 lake monitoring report is not complete. When Leslie Stovring gets this report she will pass it on to Herron who in turn till give it to the Commission. Herron asked if the Commission would want a presentation from the Blue Water Science. Olson asked about the process for monitoring the lakes. Jester explained the standards for lakes in Eden Prairie and what is measured in regards to these. Olson asked who is driving this report. Jester said ultimately the state is accountable to the federal government. Olson questioned if the City is directly involved in this process. Jester said the City is and the Watershed District is also involved. Olson proposed when Derrick Ash comes to speak to the Commission in April, Leslie Stovring could speak to the group on rainwater gardens. Jester agreed it would be beneficial for Stovring to come and speak to the group. C. Request for ideas for Life in the Prairie Newsletter Herron said Joyce Lorenz, from Communications, said there is a spot in "Life in the Prairie,"regarding the environment and they would like ideas from the Commission to fill this spot. Brown suggested the Commission talk about what they are doing in the City to improve air quality, such as squad cars. Jester suggested talking about 20/40/15. Brown suggested talking about water and its use so it does not run out. Jester said "water conservation" tips in the spring would be nice. Brown also suggested talking about native species plants. Jester said a good website to go to in regards to native species plants would be B1ueThumb.org and stated it is a good resource for what kind of plants would be good for the area and where they can be obtained. Herron asked if the Commission could submit ideas once a month. The Commission agreed this would be a good idea. VII. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Conservation Commission Minutes March 9, 2010 Page 4 A. Lower Minnesota River Watershed District Board Meeting Jester initially pointed out the homes on the bluffs in this area are not affected by this. She also explained what contributed to the erosion. Olson asked what time horizon is this on. Jester said she was unsure of the time period as to when the houses would be affected by erosion. She also pointed out it is reflective from what happens on Lake Pepin and what needs to be taken in consideration is the drainage that happens upstream. Daniels asked if this was not a time for us to say, "development of a few more rain gardens". Olson agreed it was a good time to bring up rain gardens. Jester asked Herron if they could work with Staff to establish more rain gardens. Herron said it has been brought up to Leslie Stovring,but there are other issues involved, as to why it is not happening now but it could possibly be an option in the future. Jester said Leslie Stovring and Gene Dietz should both attend the April meeting. Daniels said and invitation should be extended to the City Council Members. MacMillan suggested inviting the Parks Department. VIII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS A. Update on Display Boards (Sue Brown) Brown said she was not prepared for Monday's meeting. Herron said she had the Communications Department work on two ideas. She showed examples of the two poster boards. The first one is on the Eden Prairie Conservation Commission and their mission. The second one is a 20/40/15 poster, summarizing this initiative. Herron asked the Commission their thoughts on these two posters. Jester asked how many boards they could have. Herron said they have room in the budget for up to five boards. Brown said she likes the graphics on the first poster and suggested getting rid of the bullet points and just have "Eden Prairie Conservation Commission" and a short statement of what it does. Herron asked if the size of the posters was okay and the Commission agreed it was. Herron asked what thoughts the Commission had on the second poster. Jester said there is an issue because there are 2 booths, with only 5 boards and asked how that will work. Herron clarified there would be 2 boards for the upcoming show and 5 boards for the year. Jester asked if the boards could be laminated. Herron said lamination could be done. Brown asked if they just went with lamination posters versus the boards, could more designs be done. Herron stated they could. Daniels suggested having the Commissioners names on the board. This was disagreed on. Jester said to Herron they will go with the lamination posters. Brown said she will get 4 posters together for the recycling booth. She said they will consist of heavy graphics and few words. She will send Herron the images. Jester said they would need to be done by March 19 and asked Herron when they should be submitted to the Communication Department. Herron said by March 16''. Jester asked Daniels what he would like for his booth. He stated the 20/40/15 poster laminated. Brown said the 20/40/15 poster could be redone substantially. Herron said that is the standard board/poster that has been used for the last couple of years. Brown said it was lengthy and difficult to understand. Conservation Commission Minutes March 9, 2010 Page 5 B. Agriculture and Water Summit (Geneva MacMillan) MacMillan stated this will be on March 27th at Normandale College. C. Pax Christi Daniels said the Environment Expo at Pax Christi went fine. It was the same as last year. D. Links— ChanOns! Climate on Web No discussion. IX. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS X. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Eden Prairie Home, Landscape and Garden Expo Herron had fliers and information for those attending the Expo. Jester said she and Brown will have their recycling booth there and Daniels will have the other booth. B. Website Content Jester wanted to skip this in the interest of time. C. Porous Pavers Research Daniels stated he went to the arboretum to get some more information on this topic. He talked about the use of vacuum sweepers and the need to utilize these. XI. NEW BUSINESS A. Planning Commission Joint Meeting Jester asked for a date to meet with the Planning Commission. Herron said it would be sometime in May and asked Commission what days they would prefer. Jester asked if the Conversation Commission would go to the Planning Commission or would they come to their meeting and stated she would prefer to go to the Planning Commission. Herron said Monday, May loth would be a good meeting date. Jester asked if the topic of rain gardens should go through the Planning Commission. Herron said she was unsure. Daniels suggested talking about open spaces. Olson said the Commission should just stick to discussing porous pavers and rain gardens. Brown left the meeting at 9:23 p.m. Conservation Commission Minutes March 9, 2010 Page 6 B. Create a strategy to begin evaluation of"sreen" zoning ordinances Olson asked if there was any information on this and asked if the Commission has been apprised of what all City Staff has discussed on this and could Herron prepare a presentation on green ordinances. Jester pointed out the Commission just finished up with recycling and are now moving on to porous pavers and asked if the Commission wanted to start an ordinance on solar, wind or geothermal. Olson agreed this item should probably be tabled right now until other items, such as rain gardens and porous pavers are completed. All Members concurred. C. Upcoming City Projects and Development-Project Profile Jester said there was nothing new in the project profile and asked Commission Members if they had any questions. There were no questions. XII. UPCOMING EVENTS A. March 12 & 13, 2010— Sustainable Communities Conference Jester asked if anyone will be attending this conference. Herron said she will be going on March 12. B. March 20, 2010—Eden Prairie Home, Landscape and Garden Expo C. March 27, 2010—Agriculture and Water Summit 2010 D. April 18, 2010—Eden Prairie Reads, Eating Locally E. May 1 & 2, 2010—Living Green Expo— St. Paul Fair Grounds Herron also stated there will be an Earth Day Expo at Hennepin Technical College on April 22nd and a student emailed her and he would like to have a booth there. Herron also informed the Commission that a Vice Chair will be appointed tonight at the City Council meeting. XIII. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday,April 13, 2010 XIV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Olson, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4- 0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 9:37 PM.