Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 06/12/2012 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY,JUNE 12, 2012 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Laura Jester(Chair), Greg Olson (Vice Chair), Stacy Bettison, Sue Brown, Kurt Lawton, Anthony Pini, Prashant Shrikhande STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Andrew Rotschafer, Environmental Intern Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Bettison, Brown and Pini were absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Rojas added Item W.A. Report from Environmental Intern. Jester added Item XI.A. August Meeting Date. MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Lawton, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 4-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of Minutes for the May 8, 2012 Meeting MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the minutes of the May 8, 2012 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Report from Environmental Intern Blue Star Award: Rotschafer distributed a memo to the Commission regarding the Blue Star Award for stormwater management. The Blue Star Award involves completing a survey on the community's stormwater management practices, and the GreenStep Cities program uses the award. The completed survey is graded, CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 2 and the award is given to a city that scores 60% or higher. Cities receiving the award are recognized on the Blue Star website and in program communications and also receive award certificates, posters, newsletter articles, press releases and other materials for outreach and promotion. Olson asked if it is given by the Friends of the Mississippi River. Rotschafer said it is. Shrikhande asked when the program was started. Rotschafer said it started in July of 2011. Lawton asked what is measured on the survey. Rotschafer said there are three sections: water friendly planning and preservation; stormwater management standards and practices; and stormwater pollution prevention. Each of the three sections has three subsections with three to nine questions in each of the subsections. Jester asked if he had received direction from Ms Stovring as to whether she thinks this is a good idea because it seems like something she would have to complete. She thought it would be good to complete the survey, submit it, and we could then ask staff to work on areas that need to be remedied if we don't score high enough to receive the award. Shrikhande asked if the Conservation Commission is involved in any of these areas of education. Jester said each year at the Expo the focus has been on education about stormwater quality. We also helped to draft the impervious cover management ordinance. Shrikhande suggested we give Mr. Rotschafer copies of our annual reports to help complete the survey. MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Lawton, to support staff to complete the self assessment and report back to the Commission with the results. Motion carried 4-0. Recycling in the Parks: Rotschafer distributed information extracted from a report by Eureka Recycling regarding best practices for public space recycling. He reviewed the minutes from the last Commission meeting and talked with Ms Stovring about what she has done with recycling in the parks. He said he worked for the Parks Department as a seasonal employee for a couple of years. Matt Bourne in the Parks Department told him they currently have 12 recycling bins in the park system. Mr. Bourne said the Parks Department workers check the recycling bins weekly and have noted there is usually about a 50% contamination rate. The Eureka report indicates when bins are correctly labeled and the public has been educated about recycling, the contamination rate is reduced to 0-6%. Rotschafer suggested our bins need to be replaced with newer bins that have restricted openings and good labels. Mr. Bourne talked about plans to hand out educational pieces to all the sports associations regarding the recycling bins. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 3 Jester said the Commission was told there would be a pilot program at Round Lake with new containers to replace the ones that look too much like garbage cans. We need an educational component for recycling, and we need the right containers in the right spots. She checked recycling containers at Lake Susan Park in Chanhassen last week, and there was no contamination in their three clearly- marked containers. She also checked Miller Park and found there were no recycling containers in the park area,but about 50% of the material in the trash bins was recyclable. Rojas noted the plans for the upgraded playground and splash pad at Round Lake show fixed and permanent locations for recycling. Jester asked what Mr. Rotschafer found in his research on new containers. He said he was not able to find any grant money,but Ms Stovring has some funds for recycling containers. Olson noted someone would have to be point person if we were to do something about the set of best practices. He asked how we would go about setting that up and what the action plan would be. Rojas said Ms Stovring is the recycling coordinator for the City,but this should be a joint effort with the Parks Department. Shrikhande asked if the Parks Department has money for this. Rojas said she did not know their specific budget,but she has not heard of a line item for recycling container funding. Olson asked if Ms Stovring had an opinion on the best practices outlined by Eureka. Rotschafer said she accepts them,but she wants a plan to make it sustainable. Ms Stovring suggested we look at contracting out big events to a waste management company. Jester thought the logical next step might be to come up with a budget to see what it would take to get recycling in the parks. We think the public would accept it more if recycling were to be found everywhere, so consistency is one of the things we are looking for. We could pick a good container that works well in other cities, see how much it costs,how many we would need, and then put together a budget. Olson asked if this would get done if the City decides to do this. Rojas said we would need to have some leadership and good communication to get it done. Olson asked if we have ever put a recommendation to the City Council that the City adopt this. Jester said we have tried to work through the Parks Department because it comes down to them. Lawton thought we need positive reinforcement with consistency throughout the system. Olson thought we could reduce contamination to zero with education. He offered to help draft a recommendation to the City Council. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 4 Jester said we should look into the cost of good bins and get updated information about contamination in the recycling bins that are currently in the parks. We could also talk to parks managers in other cities. Lawton thought this would be a good thing to explore on our tour next month. He noted we have heard the Parks Department needs to make three trips to pick up recycling and that is a component we need to address. Jester thought we could ask other parks managers how they do this logistically. Shrikhande suggested we look to see if there is some way to adapt the trash bins for recycling. Rotschafer noted bins compatible with dump trucks would need hinged lids. Shrikhande asked why we would recommend a resolution on this matter since Ms Stovring seems to have something going. Olson said our mission is to advise the City Council in questions of policy, so the Commission would advise the Council that recycling in the parks is essential. Jester thought it would not have to be a formal recommendation. Rojas said Commission Members are welcome to suggest other items for Mr. Rotschafer to research or work towards during his internship. V. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Jester said she will not be able to attend the July 10 meeting. VI. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION A. Environmental Education (Sue Brown) Jester said this report will be continued to the July meeting. B. DNR Update (Prashant Shrikhande) Shrikhande distributed copies of emails regarding discussions Robert Ellis held with DNR representatives about groundwater and future City water supplies. He reviewed several future considerations given by the DNR in the emails. Those considerations included a continued focus on water conservation efforts for long term sustainability of groundwater resources, a continued evaluation of conservation rates, monitoring and finding ways to meet or exceed benchmarks of water use, and other points. Lawton asked whose benchmark figures were given in the email. Olson asked how we get to those figures and what the payoff would be down the road. Shrikhande said there is no equation that connects the figures to what they are recommending. Lawton asked if they used some kind of model. Shrikhande said he was not sure we have that detail. Olson noted it appears if everyone got down CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 5 at or below 75 gallons per day that would be some safe level below the recharge rate. Shrikhande said that may be what would keep up with the expected increase in population. Olson thought it makes sense to get to a level of usage where we are not depleting the aquifer. Shrikhande said these are based on a reasonably easy means to reach the goals,but we need to understand where our baseline is. Lawton said the fifth consideration listed indicates they are working on that. Jester noted the email from Mr. Ellis to Mr. Shrikhande states the City intends to refine and implement the ideas as part of our aquifer use plan. Olson asked if that plan has been developed. Jester said it is being developed. Olson asked what the policy objective is regarding depletion of the water table. He thought the Commission would like some more clarity about that and how we are moving towards that objective. Shrikhande said this does not address the amount of discharge, waste water treatment and what the goals are for that side of the equation. Jester said the Metropolitan Council has a handle on that because their treatment plant has a certain capacity. Shrikhande wondered if we have any plan for emergencies where we would have connections with other cities for an emergency water supply. He was not sure at what point our water rates would result in our highest users finding it more attractive to put in their own wells. Olson said he would like to know what Mr. Ellis views as our water management plan. Rojas said thought he and Rick Whalen open to making changes and adjustments. Lawton noted this information is impressive and shows they are looking at this. Shrikhande said we have adopted an aggressive water rate structure, and it appears the metrics have improved. We don't know the basis for determining how the metrics have improved. Jester thought we probably need to have another couple of years of data to evaluate that. Shrikhande said he wanted to verify what this metric is related to, if the current rate structure resulted in an improvement,how effective it is in meeting the goals, and what strategy we are going to use going forward. Jester said it sounds like Mr. Ellis is working towards goals, and we should ask him back for an update. She noted the Commission appreciated Mr. Shrikhande's efforts to stay on top of this issue. C. Water Use Strateu & Sustainability (Prashant Shrikhande) Shrikhande thought we should wait until Mr. Ellis comes back to give us an idea of where we are headed on this. Lawton said with these considerations it would be good for him to come back and tell us how and what we are going to implement. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 6 Jester said she would like to know a timeline for development of the aquifer use plan so that we could comment on the plan once it is close to being developed. Shrikhande asked Mr. Rotschafer if he has had any discussions about this. Rotschafer said he has entered rebates into the system. Shrikhande said it would be interesting to see how the rebates have been used over the past few years to see how effective those rebates are and how many people have used the program. Jester said it would be good to know how many households used the program. VII. NEW BUSINESS VIII. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. LRT Community Advisory Commission Update Rojas said she did not have an update from Mr. Pini. She said Mr. Pini has taken a temporary, one-year job in Texas. She is in the process of talking to the City Manager as to whether he can serve on the Commission when he returns. Jester noted Mr. Pini was the primary representative on the LRT Committee and she is the secondary. She will be able to attend this Thursday's meeting. She suggested Ms Rojas send an email to the entire Commission to see if anyone is interested in becoming the primary representative. Rojas noted there is a policy in City code regarding how many meetings a commission member can miss. The new primary representative would have to be appointed by the Council. B. PACE Legislation Olson said he has had meetings with the liaison from Senator Franken's office and has connected with the individual who wrote the PACE legislation at the State level. He said PACE is not just about solar energy,rather it includes any and all conservation measures. The payback on many projects is well within ten years. The City ends up playing an important role in this by making it easier for commercial property owners to step into the project. Because the program is generating savings from the technology, it enhances property values. It will also help create jobs. Olson said we are at a point where we need guidance from staff for a strategy on how to get this going. Rojas said the people she has talked to seem interested in learning more about it. Sue Kotchevar and Steve Sinell have both touched on it, as have the City Manager and a Council Member. At this point there has been a "wait and see" approach to see how it is working and functioning in Edina. Shrikhande said he was led to believe we can't have a large size wind turbine in Eden Prairie. Rojas said wind generators are viewed as accessory structures. We CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 7 would allow them to be 25 feet above the highest building size allowed for the zoning district. An intern in the Community Development Department is looking into solar, wind and geothermal ordinances and is coming up with improvements for our ordinances. Olson said part of the process is to hire a contractor to come in, do a full audit of the building's windows, insulation and electrical fixtures, and put together a project that would get tax credits and rebates on many items. A business could get as much as 90% off solar panels. There are different ways to structure the finances to do a loan based on assigning the rebates. He said the program will only be done with proven borrowers and for no more than 10% of the assessed values. Jester thought a separate question is whether our ordinances preclude our adoption of the PACE program. She noted at one point the representative from Blue Horizons was going to provide us with draft language for the ordinance. Olson said we can get that from Edina. Jester asked what the next step is. Olson said he would envision having someone from the Commission work with staff to get input on an appropriate way to bring this forward. We would want to go before the City Council with something that incorporates staff concerns and questions. He noted we want to do this right, and there is no particular urgency as far as timing goes. Jester asked when he last spoke with Ms Kotchevar. Olson replied he has not talked with her very much, and he thought we should also get Dave Lindahl involved. Lawton asked if we have any examples of cities that have used the program other than the Edina location. Olson said there is a whole catalogue of examples, and he thought there is a place for this in Eden Prairie. The consensus was that Mr. Olson should discuss the PACE program with City staff. C. GreenStep Cities Program Rojas said she has no update except to reiterate that we will receive Step 2 status at the annual meeting of the League of Minnesota Cities. Mr. Rotschafer will be working on the Blue Star Award, which is a GreenStep best practice item. Jester asked if Ms Rojas has enough direction to keep working towards completing the required steps. Rojas said she does. D. Communication Strategies--Website, Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Lawton gave kudos to Joyce Lorenz and Leslie Stovring because there were recent articles on coal tar and last year's lower rates for recycling. He gave Ms Lorenz CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 8 information he got from Hennepin County about things that can be done to help rivers, lakes and streams for an article in Life in the Prairie. Lawton said he talked with Ms Lorenz about the environmental blog, but he doesn't think we need to do that now because we can highlight items on our Living Green page on the new website. He will put together a list of some timely topics for the website. IX. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Project Profile--City Projects and Development Rojas reviewed the project profile report. Lawton asked where the Mitchell Crossing project is located. Rojas said it is north of Buca's and southeast of the gas station. She noted that the current plan shows a green roof. Jester asked who is doing stormwater inspections on the UHG project. Rojas said the Engineering Department checks erosion control.. X. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission Joint Tour--July 2, 2012 at 6:30 PM Jester noted she will not be able to take the tour and asked if everyone else will be there. Rojas said Ms Bettison cannot attend. Rojas asked if the Commission would prefer to have the tour in place of the July meeting. Jester said she would not like to miss Ms Brown's presentation on environmental education. The consensus was to cancel the meeting scheduled for July 10. Rojas distributed copies of Mr. Lotthammer's memo with proposed tour sites. She noted the Commission can add to his list. XI. NEXT MEETING--July 31, 2012 A. August Meeting Date Rojas said the August meeting will need to be rescheduled because August 14 is Primary Election day. The consensus was to schedule the next meeting for July 31, 2012, as a combined July and August meeting date. Jester asked Ms Rojas to send an email to Commission members regarding the change in dates. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES June 12, 2012 Page 9 XIV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Lawton, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4-0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 8:25 PM.