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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 09/11/2012 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 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 STUDENT MEMBERS: Sara Schmit, Katie Stoltz, Siddeswari Thunuguntla STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Andrew Rotschafer, Environmental Intern Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary GUESTS: Yvonne Pfeifer, Xcel Energy Michele Swanson, Xcel Energy I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 6:55 PM. Bettison and Pini were absent. II. WELCOME NEW STUDENTS AND INTRODUCTIONS Jester welcomed the new students. III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Brown moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 5-0. IV. MINUTES A. Approval of Minutes for the July 31, 2012 Meeting MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Lawton, to approve the minutes of the July 31, 2012 meeting as published. Motion carried 5-0. V. PRESENTATION A. Xcel Enemy--Powering Your Community CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 2 Michele Swanson, Community Relations Manager, and Yvonne Pfeifer, Marketing and Community Outreach, gave a PowerPoint presentation about Xcel Energy's Powering Your Community pilot project for Eden Prairie and Woodbury. She said she and Ms Pfeifer met with the Mayor and City Manager about the pilot project. The presentation reviewed the goals for the program and outlined the things Xcel does in the community. Ms Pfeifer reviewed Xcel's programs and outreach efforts. She noted Xcel gave $151,000,000 in rebates over the last 20 years,provided audits for residents and businesses, developed a Home Energy Squad in partnership with CenterPoint Energy and provided energy saving tips for community newspapers and newsletters. Ms Swanson said they offer energy efficiency workshops with technical people available. Olson asked if the workshops are scheduled and then announced. Ms Pfeifer said they work with cities to get information out. Olson said he understood the Solar*Rewards program will be phased out and that this year's funding has been used up. Ms. Pfeifer said they are working on a response back to the State Department of Commerce about terminating that program. Olson asked about the Trillion BTU financing program. Ms Pfeifer said the purpose of that program is to fund energy efficient upgrades. The program is funded by the St. Paul Port Authority. They try to schedule the payments to be the amount of the expected energy savings. Olson asked if there were examples of how the program works. Ms Pfeifer said information is available on the St. Paul Port Authority website. Brown commented that the 373 residents in the Windsource program seemed a low number for the size of Eden Prairie. She asked if that program is something the Commission should be promoting. Ms Pfeifer said they can only sell as much wind power as they generate. She was not sure it would be beneficial to promote it now,but it would be something to consider for next year. Jester noted the programs they discussed are statewide. She asked about the Powering Your Community program initiative specifically. Ms. Pfeifer said the program is about entrenching Xcel Energy into the community, and one component of that is energy efficiency. Ms Swanson said there will be an intense focus on the community over a short amount of time to help raise awareness. They will partner with the City on ways to focus on the energy efficiency theme for three to four months. Olson asked what they will be doing. Ms Pfeifer said they are meeting with the City's Communications Manager next week to discuss ways to provide information to the community. They will also be meeting with the Chamber of Commerce on various activities. Shrikhande asked if there is a goal for what they hope to accomplish. Ms Swanson said some of their outreach efforts can be quantified while others can't. They are working on CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 3 how to measure success in the pilot programs. Ms Pfeifer said it is important to share information on ways for residents to save energy through programs such as the home energy audit, the Home Energy Squad, and the Saver Switch program. Brown asked how we can get the programs into the hands of those who can use them. Ms Pfeifer said it is difficult to say how that can be done, and they want to partner with the city to learn more. Brown asked what the City does if Xcel provides volunteers and rebate dollars. Ms Pfeifer said the City uses newsletters and other communications to get the word out. Olson asked if there is a way the Conservation Commission could get a recap of the activities for the partnership. Ms Pfeifer said they can provide the plans for what they will be working on with the City and the Chamber. Jester said asked if there are roadblocks other than a lack of information and education. Ms Pfeifer said the lack of information is the biggest roadblock. There can also be issues of financing and some communication barriers. Shrikhande noted the City provides a water bill that compares a resident's water usage with that of neighbors and others in the City,but he has never seen that sort of thing for energy bills. Ms Pfeifer said there is a pilot program going in St. Paul where Xcel provides a report comparing the resident's usage to neighbors with similar sized homes. Jester asked if there are any plans for Xcel to do an audit of the City's policies and ordinances in an effort to make improvements. Ms Pfeifer said city ordinances and equipment are required to be at a certain level. Xcel has a product development group that is working on new technology and ways to save energy. Jester noted City buildings are very energy efficient because of our 20-40-15 program,but there may be updates to policy we could enact. Shrikhande asked if there would be a review of the GreenStep program. Ms Swanson said City Manager Getschow mentioned both the GreenStep Cities and the 20-40-15 programs. Helping with those programs is one of the things that they will be looking for as feedback from the City. Brown suggested Xcel work with Eden Prairie businesses about the rebates available. Ms Pfeifer said there are some things they cannot do. They have a trade relations staff to work with retailers and provide information on rebates available. Brown said it would be good to have something to drive home the message at the point of sale. Lawton suggested including something regarding rebates in the energy bills. Jester asked Ms Rojas what the Commission could do to help. Rojas said there needs to be more discussion with the City Manager about the outreach program at City events like the city wide open house and the Home & Garden Expo. Jester asked if there are any examples of what the Commission could do. Ms Swanson said the Commission has a CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 4 discussion item for this later on the agenda. Xcel would like to hear the Commission's thoughts on the ideas presented tonight,but everything has to be worked out between the City and the Commission. Olson thought the energy efficiency workshops, the Trillion BTU financing program and the energy audits would have payback benefits. Brown noted Xcel has access to assets the Commission doesn't. She said the Commission has a lot of ideas,but we would need to know what is available to us. Lawton asked where Xcel sees the biggest opportunity for energy savings. Ms Pfeifer said the biggest opportunity is in businesses. Ms Swanson said Xcel is sponsoring the Chamber's general membership luncheon in September and will have a booth there to provide information. They will do a similar format at the November Chamber meeting when they have a women's business panel. Shrikhande said he would like to see the program to compare usage expanded. Ms Pfeifer said she was not sure that has been looked at for businesses because that is not the same comparison as residential usage. VI. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Blue Star Award Rotschafer said Ms Stovring has almost completed the application. When it is complete, staff will enter data into the Blue Star database and wait to see if we get the award. Shrikhande asked if there is a range of score that we can receive. Rotschafer said we have to score 60-70% to receive the award. B. Development Review Process Jester moved this item to the end of the meeting. VII. REPORTS FROM CHAIR A. Recyclins!in Parks Meeting--Update Jester said she, Mr. Olson and Ms Bettison met with City staff about recycling in parks. Jay Lotthammer went through his memo about what the city is doing to recycle. He said the Flying Cloud fields and other places will have the tall bottle- shaped recycling containers. They discussed who picks up what and what happens with the trash and recycling. They came up with a list of things that various people will do to keep this moving forward. She noted the Parks Department agreed to start collecting actual data on contamination rates from the parks. Mr. Lotthammer will look into hiring a hauler. We need to look for grants, and Eureka Recycling CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 5 may be an information resource for those. We need portable and easy containers for recycling at City events, and Ms Stovring has storm water money for those. Jester said Ms Bettison has a contact in the City of Minneapolis so she will find out about the new program there. We should also contact Hennepin County for suggestions because they are also pushing to increase recycling rates. The communication piece and the fact that any information on recycling must be approved by Hennepin County was also discussed at the meeting. The message about recycling should include: why we should recycle; the reuse message, especially with athletic associations;recycling at the concession stands at ball fields; and having "take recycling home" messages in neighborhood parks. Jester said she asked at the meeting if there is a capacity to write a strategic plan to accomplish recycling in the parks, and Mr. Lotthammer said his memo outlines how they plan to move forward. Rojas noted Ms Stovring suggested that Mr. Rotschafer to work on a more formal plan. Jester said she mentioned the Commission's idea about making a blast to get it in all the parks; however, that probably won't happen. Ms Bettison said at the meeting she believes there are more barriers to recycling than just the containers. We need to get to the core of why people don't recycle. Shrikhande asked if the recycling bottle model might send the message that bottles are the only thing we are interested in recycling. Jester said it might send that message,but we have to start somewhere. Jester suggested the Commission gather statistics about why we recycle. Brown suggested asking people why they don't recycle. Jester said we can get some of the why's and then develop ways to overcome the objections. Lawton agreed to work on researching why we recycle. He thought there might be value in going to the recycler and shooting some footage about what happens to the material for a video on the website. Stoltz suggested having sports associations make announcements and having signs about recycling in the concession stands. Jester asked Mr. Rotschafer to contact Eureka Recycling and other sources for information on recycling grants. She will look at how we can increase recycling at City events and suggested we use the wire baskets with plastic bags that Hennepin County provides for events. Shrikhande suggested we try to highlight how quickly our landfills are growing. VIII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 6 A. LRT Community Advisory Commission (CAC) Update Rojas distributed a memo from Ms Bettison about the August 9 meeting of the CAC. Ms Bettison is the City's representative from the Conservation Commission. The Metropolitan Council had surveyed CAC members about the most important issues and came up with the top three: trails,parks and bike impacts; station location/transit oriented development; and bus and other transit connection. The draft Environmental Impact Statement(DEIS) will be coming out for public comment. Jester asked if the Commission should review the DEIS. Rojas said there will be open houses for the DEIS. Brown said she serves as a resident advisor to the CAC, and she attended the meeting where they took the survey. She noted there are a lot of issues that might be of interest to Eden Prairie residents, especially those regarding traffic flow. She will also bring back information to the Commission as the meetings continue. IX. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS Stoltz said the Tree Huggers group is still meeting at the High School. There is a new system to drop off compost in the lunch room. Brown asked if they have hydration stations. Stoltz thought there are four of them. Brown said she saw five banks of vending machines with plastic bottles. Thunuguntla said students are not allowed to buy pop during the school day. Stoltz said they can buy water in the lunch line. X. NEW BUSINESS A. Commission Discussion of Xcel Enemy Presentation Olson said he got the impression there isn't anything they want the Commission to do. Jester said we know the community better than they do, and she thought the Commission as well as staff should give ideas and thoughts in order to move forward. Rojas said the issue of solar rebates came up at the staff meeting. That rebate program is going to terminate in 2013. She asked if continuing that program is something for which the Commission would like staff to advocate. Lawton asked what the Commission could do. Rojas said the Commission could offer support and encouragement and could also make a recommendation. Olson said the discussion of PACE could dovetail in this section. He and a consultant gave a presentation on the PACE program to staff; however,he has had no feedback from staff on the presentation. Rojas said staff is interested in pursuing the program and would like to bring the PACE information to a Council workshop at some point. Olson thought the Commission would be interested in CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 7 assisting City staff in helping to draft a proposal to the Council. He thought the continuation of rebates and the PACE program could really help move forward a lot of conservation measures. He suggested the Commission get an update on what City staff is doing with the PACE program at the October meeting. Lawton thought some of the Xcel presentation may also tie into the GreenStep program. Brown asked how partnering with Xcel could tie into GreenStep. Rojas said their community outreach and communications will let residents know there are rebates available. Rojas said she will let the City Manager know we believe the two components work together. Brown thought this could be an opportunity to ask Xcel for something tangible and worthwhile to the City since they are asking us to do a lot of work. Olson suggested getting more money for education to promote conservation projects. Brown noted Xcel helped to underwrite the cost of the program she recently attended in Edina. Lawton suggested we get an update in October about what the City Manager is talking about with Xcel. Shrikhande said he has concerns about how they are able to quantify the amount of energy savings as a result of the rebates given. Jester commented Xcel has been doing energy conservation programs in the community for 20 years so something must be working. B. City Wide Open House Rojas said the event will be held from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday, October 13. The Police and Fire Departments will be set up outside the building. The Conservation Commission will have a dedicated booth inside, and the reusable bags will be available to hand out. We also have about 30 coupon books for local, sustainable products to distribute. Jester said we need to come up with a gimmick to hand out the coupon books. Shrikhande suggested a spinning wheel. Rojas said we also have low-flow shower heads to give out. Ms Stovring is working with the water plant to create a display of water usage for the shower heads. Shrikhande said the Commission had two booths last year, an energy booth and a water booth. Rojas said we will have one table for sure this year. Lawton suggested having recycling facts available at the booth. Jester said we will coordinate with Ms Stovring on the setup and the materials. XI. CONTINUING BUSINESS CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 8 A. GreenStep Cities Program Rojas had no additional update on the program. B. PACE Legislation See discussion under Item. X.A. C. Comunication Strategies--Website,Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Lawton said the November/December Life in the Prairie deadline is the end of this month. Jester thought recycling might be a better topic for the spring. She suggested we concentrate on energy now, especially Xcel's Home Energy Squad. D. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Jester asked if the Bellerieve project has been on the profile before. Rojas said it is a ten lot single family subdivision in the southern part of town with no waivers requested. The item was continued at last night's Planning Commission meeting. They are working out some issues regarding storm water collection which could have an impact on the project. There is also an issue regarding a conservation easement. Olson asked about the Mitchell Crossing Apartment project. Rojas said a guide plan change was requested for this project, and we need to receive word from the Met Council that they approved it. They have 120 days to make a decision once they determine the application is complete. Olson asked if all the storm water will go into the creek. Rojas said they are proposing underground storm water tanks and have dedicated to the City the area leading down to the creek. VI. B. Development Review Process (taken out of sequence) Rojas reviewed the process that occurs in a typical development review for a piece of property. Olson asked at what point a project goes to the Planning Commission and what their role is in the process. Rojas said it goes there once the plans are complete. Staff provides a report which outlines and summarizes the project and includes any issues that need to be worked out with the applicant. The Planning Commission gives a recommendation to the City Council and may not always take staff s advice. CONSERVATION COMMISSION September 11, 2012 Page 9 Lawton asked how deeply the City Council gets involved in the project after the Planning Commission has approved it. Rojas said the Council historically has been supportive of staff and the Planning Commission. Jester asked when the Level 1 EIS comes in. Rojas said the size of the development determines whether an environmental assessment worksheet is required. If it meets the threshold for an assessment, we sometimes hire a consultant to prepare it. Rojas noted there is a lot of communication and coordination among staff members and the applicant during the process. Jester said the Commission would like to be involved if there is additional environmental oversight required for a particular project. XII. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Goose Management Report XIII. UPCOMING EVENTS A. City Wide Open House--Saturday, October 13, 2012 IX. NEXT MEETING--October 9, 2012 XIV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 9:13 PM.