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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 08/09/2011 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION/ CONSERVATION COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP TUESDAY,AUGUST 9, 2011 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Laura Jester(Chair), Ray Daniels, Kurt Lawton, Anthony Pini PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Geri Napuck(Chair), Hutch Coburn (Vice Chair), Tom Bierman, Larry Link, Derek Gunderson STAFF MEMBERS: Janet Jeremiah, Community Development Director Jay Lotthammer, Parks & Recreation Director Regina Rojas, Planner Stu Fox, Parks & Natural Resources Manager Laurie Obiazor, Recreation Services Manager Wendy Sevenich, Community Center Manager Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. ROLL CALL/INTRODUCTIONS II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Bierman suggested the two commissions share what they are working on and their goals for the year. MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Gunderson, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 9-0. III. NEW BUSINESS A. Exchanse of Goals and 2011 Work Plan Napuck said the Parks Commission is always working on Round Lake Park. Lotthammer said they are looking at water quality and the water level in Round Lake. They brought in Steve McComas to give them a sense of where that would go in the future. PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION/CONSERVATION COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP August 9, 2011 Page 2 Jester asked if Mr. McComas is working on analyzing water quality and plant surveys. Lotthammer said he is doing that and is also monitoring for sustainability. He said we have renewed hope for the lake. Fox noted Mr. McComas is doing his work in conjunction with Leslie Stovring. Lotthammer said the Parks Commission had a strategic planning session earlier in the year. They will review the end-of-the-season reports and also look at the fee structure. Bierman said the new ball fields across from Grace Church have been on the agenda for ten years while negotiations were conducted with the MAC. He said the new playground area and the sprinkler system at Miller Park are very nice. Jester asked if the water for the sprinkler system is recycled. Fox replied it is one- time use,but they have a 1500 gallon holding tank that can be used to recycle the water for watering. Link asked if the two commissions overlap on Birch Island Woods. Jester said we had a presentation from Mr. Strate at the last meeting. Jester said we will be talking about the GreenStep Cities program later on, and that is one of the biggest things the Conservation Commission has been working on. The Conservation Commission amended an ordinance to allow for permeable pavement, and those materials help reduce storm water runoff. The commission also helped amend the ordinance to require commercial businesses to provide space for recycling. We had a presentation from GE Capital about their plans to develop an eco experience on their property on Anderson Lake. She said that will be a neat opportunity to showcase electric vehicles and environmental practices in one spot. Bierman asked if the Conservation Commission is concerned with conservation in buildings or natural resources. Jester said it is primarily natural resources. Daniels noted the commission is interested in buildings in terms of energy efficiencies. B. GreenStep Cities Program Jester said the Conservation Commission presented information about the GreenStep Cities program to the City Council at their June meeting. The Council passed a resolution to get Eden Prairie involved in that program. It will mean changing some things we do in the City, although we are already quite a ways along in doing many of those things. We may need to tweak some ordinances, and it will take some staff time. Jester reviewed a handout that outlined the steps to becoming a GreenStep City, noting we are currently in Step 3 which involves posting the initial information on the MPCA's GreenStep website. She said there are several Minnesota cities that PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION/CONSERVATION COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP August 9, 2011 Page 3 are involved in the GreenStep program and we will be able to consult with them and learn from each other. Right now we are getting organized and starting to implement the best practices. Jester reviewed a handout listing the GreenStep Cities best practices, noting there are six major categories. Some of the best practices are required in order to become a GreenStep City while some are optional. She said Ms Rojas has highlighted in green the best practices that would involve the Parks Commission. It will probably take a few years for us to get all the best practices in place. Napuck asked if there is some recognition at the end of the process. Rojas said you receive a building block for each step that is completed. She did not think they have yet developed a formal recognition. It is a program to push cities to keep working towards sustainability practices. Jester said GreenStep Cities are recognized at the League of Minnesota Cities convention every year. Many of the cities involved signed the Mayors' Climate Agreement just as Eden Prairie did. Lawton said a lot of the steps will be good for promoting the City. Daniels said we will have monetary rewards from implementing the practices, similar to the results from the 20-40-15 program. Jester noted there are quite a few green highlighted steps on Page 23. Rojas said one of our former staff members did analysis to determine if we had already implemented some of the steps. Jester said the third column of the handout shows the results of that research, although none of the information has been formally evaluated by the MPCA. Fox noted we already do five of the steps on that page and could do others, so he didn't think it would be terribly difficult to accomplish. He said there are a lot of things we have done as part of the Tree City USA program. Jester asked if we have given any consideration to having a green building standard when developing a new building. Lotthammer said we had a shot at a green roof when the Community Center was redone,but that plan didn't go through. He said over $400,000 of stimulus funds went to parks and park buildings. Almost all the parking lots were changed over to LED lights, and we replaced the air conditioning and heating for greater efficiencies in some buildings. Sevenich said there were changes to energy management and lighting at the Community Center. Lotthammer said we will get operating dollar savings out of those improvements. Jester asked if we could revisit the green roof on a smaller scale. Lotthammer said we don't have any plans to build a new building at this point. Rojas said the community gardens and the Live Well program are check list items as well as the tree preservation ordinance and our native plantings. Coburn said he thought the landscape project along Hwy 212 is full of birds and butterflies so that PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION/CONSERVATION COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP August 9, 2011 Page 4 should have had some net impact. Jester was not sure how we would quantify that but it should serve as an example. Lotthammer said the Trust for Public Land has been trying to do some studies for things that are hard to quantify. Jester asked if there are any plans to incorporate wild flowers in any areas. Jeremiah said that is planned at the Cummins Grill house. Fox said it will be a combination of grasses and flowers. Lotthammer noted we killed some of it off with the intent of using a native mix. He said there will be interpretive signs there. Jester asked if we could erect an interpretive sign at Edenvale Park or have some press about the gorgeous rainwater garden there. Fox said the rainwater garden is on the northwest corner of the park and is used to treat water before it runs off into Purgatory Creek. Gunderson asked what outreach is being done for the GreenStep program. Jester said the City Manager had an item about it in his blog. Rojas said there was a small write-up in the Sun Current after the Council meeting. Gunderson suggested using the recognition we receive when completing the steps. Lawton said we are working on the communications piece, and it will be part of the City website once that is reworked. Bierman asked if we could have a switch that would enable the water at Miller Spring to be shut off as a water conservation measure. We are trying to save water in the City,but the spring is going 24 hours a day. Fox said it is a natural seep that has been tapped, and he didn't know what would happen if it was switched. Bierman asked if the Conservation Commission has a list of land areas in the City they would like to see conserved. Jester said we have not discussed that as a commission. She,personally, would have liked to see the land adjacent to Prairie View School become an outdoor education and prairie restoration site,but she couldn't generate financial interest in saving the area. Lotthammer said the commissions don't generate such lists,but the City has a list of identified properties within the parks master plan. Jeremiah noted the City recently worked with the Watershed District on Kaerwar Park. C. Recyclins!and Native Plantings Jester asked how recycling in the parks is going. She has been in touch with other cities, and many of them seem to have recycling bins everywhere. Fox said this has been discussed for many years,but there wasn't a concerted effort here at City Hall and the Community Center to separate waste until three years ago. Two years ago we did limited tests at Miller and Round Lake Parks where sports team play. He said we have a very active recycling program at Round Lake. There are individuals who show up to retrieve empty cans for the cash value. They tried recycling at the Miller Park concession stands,but they got about 1/3 trash and PARKS, RECREATION & NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION/CONSERVATION COMMISSION JOINT WORKSHOP August 9, 2011 Page 5 2/3 recyclables so the recyclables could not be used. Jester asked about the percentage of contamination we can handle. Fox said we have been told anything over 5% cannot be recycled. Pini asked about the recycling containers used. Fox said they are blue with a small hole. Lotthammer said this issue is not unique to Eden Prairie, and we have had discussions about how we can be more successful. He said people are starting to use recyclable water bottles. Lawton noted if recycling containers aren't everywhere it confuses people. Jester thought we might want to go all out and make a big deal of it. Jeremiah suggested getting volunteers to help sort. Daniels thought we may have to budget a little extra to keep educating people about recycling. Coburn asked about the status of recycling in the City. Jester said Ms Stovring has that information, but we have reached a plateau. Hennepin County spoke to our commission about trying to re-energize communities in recycling. Daniels said we are trying to teach kids about recycling. Lotthammer said Three Rivers Park District is really pushing the plastic water bottle issue. Jester said she recently participated in a two-day zero-waste event along the Mississippi River. About 175 people attended the event, and almost everything used was compostable. She suggested the Parks Department try to sponsor such an event next year or in 2013. She said Eureka Recycling and Hennepin County would be happy to help sponsor it. Fox said for the last 20 years we have taken a look at reducing mowing in the parks, and we haven't used phosphorous fertilizer since the 1970's. We maintain several areas of native plantings and do rainwater gardens with renovations. The Cummins Grill House will get landscape planting as part of the restoration plantings done after the widening of Pioneer Trail. The area on the north side of the house will be converted into a low maintenance, natural area. He noted our budgets are limited for this type of project. IV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by Coburn, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 9-0. Jester adjourned the workshop at 8:03 PM.