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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 05/14/2013 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Olson (Chair), Kurt Lawton (Vice Chair), Stacy Bettison, Sue Brown, Laura Jester, Anthony Pini, Prashant Shrikhande STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division; Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary; Farveh Makhssous, Community Development Intern; Janet Jeremiah, Community Development Director; Hagen Kaczmarek, Environmental Intern GUESTS: Laurie Tritz I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Olson called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Pini and Lawton were absent. Shrikhande left early. Brown announced she was stepping down from the Commission, effective immediately. She left the meeting at 7:07 PM. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Bettison moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of Minutes for the April 9, 2013 Meeting MOTION: Bettison moved, seconded by Jester, to approve the minutes of the April 9, 2013 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. IV. PRESENTATION--GREEN MID-MARKET DEVELOPMENT Jeremiah said staff has talked with the City Council on a number of occasions about a green mid-market neighborhood development as one of many projects included in the City's strategic plan for housing and economic development. The strategic plan is a long range plan that goes out to 2018 and outlines how we would implement a project, the CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 2 funding sources, and any regulatory changes that might be needed. She gave a PowerPoint presentation about the proposed green mid-market neighborhood development project. She showed a photo of a single family green home that was built on the City Hill Fellowship property, noting we want to broaden that concept to a whole neighborhood. A similar larger project was done by the City of Minneapolis, and we researched mid-market pricing with them. After receiving a green light from the City Council, we moved forward with a neighborhood meeting and issued an RFP for developers to have them tell us how they could accommodate our goals for this property. Jeremiah said the 8-acre property is located at the southwest corner of Eden Prairie Road and Scenic Heights Road,just off Hwy 212. The property is currently owned by MnDOT, and they are willing to sell the property to us at the appraised price. She said prospective developers will have to submit proposals, and we will then select one of the proposals. We have applied for grants to help keep the costs down. The stated goal for the project is to increase sustainability/energy efficiency and new single family housing affordability. A small neighborhood commercial element and/or attached housing may also be considered at the corner of the property. We have established lists of minimum and preferred requirements for developers who submit proposals. Makhssous reviewed the criteria for the green neighborhood development and showed examples of similar developments outside of Eden Prairie. Jeremiah said the goal is to build median income housing because that is difficult for people to find in Eden Prairie. Those who are looking for housing in that range can afford to pay around $300,000, and we are not seeing that price range in new construction going on in the City. Feedback from the neighborhood meeting suggested that some higher priced homes should be placed adjacent to the existing homes in Fairfield, and that any commercial development should not include a gas station. Jeremiah said staff has also worked up an exit strategy in case we do not receive suitable proposals from developers. Proposals are due by May 30, at which time staff will review the proposals and interview the developers before taking the proposals to a City Council workshop. She displayed a map showing the area that received notice of the neighborhood meeting. Makhssous reviewed the comments and concerns received at the neighborhood meeting. She said 330 notices were mailed out, and additional emails and phone calls were made. Regarding the fairly wide area that was noticed for the neighborhood meeting, Bettison asked how there could be many negative comments about developing green homes on only eight acres. Jeremiah replied change is difficult for people, and they become accustomed to seeing the vacant property. Bettison asked how many residents would be included in the eight-acre development. Jeremiah said we have not given a number to the developers. We asked them to look at the property with our goals in mind for the green criteria and price range. We had no clear expectations and just wanted to see what they come in with. When the City Council asked what would fit on the parcel, staff said it would probably be about 25-30 units,but it could be different if multi-family units are included. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 3 Jester asked if there are any minimum green standards for the development. Jeremiah said developers have been told to try to meet as many of the green criteria as possible. It is difficult to get full LEED development certification for this price range. Olson said the presentation alluded to the presence of fill on the property. He asked what the correctional issues would be on the site before it is marketable and who would pay for any corrections. Jeremiah said we don't expect there will be any major correctional issues. MnDOT did some environmental exploration before they purchased the property. Our City Attorney will be involved with the property transfer and does not have any big concerns. Any developer would be required to do due diligence, and they might ask to be reimbursed by a grant if there are some correction issues. Shrikhande asked about the major challenges to the success of such a development and if this is really mid-market housing. Jeremiah replied this is not affordable or low-income housing, which makes it a little easier to meet the price range. We are loading on additional costs with the green criteria. We have not seen any green development coming through the open market in the past couple of years. We are applying for grants because using green building criteria is a very strong component for many of the grants currently available. We also have some pooled Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds from other housing projects in the City that we could use to help keep the price in the mid-market range. At this point we have not committed any City resources. Shrikhande left at 7:40 PM. Olson asked how many developers have responded. Jeremiah said they expect to receive at least a couple of proposals. Jester asked if a developer could team with a design firm. Jeremiah said we would expect that to happen with any developer, since very few have much experience in this area. Jester asked if there is any City ordinance that will need to be changed for this project. Jeremiah said there is one Council Member who would like to see that occur,but the other Council Members are hoping this type of development would provide a model. Bettison said it would be nice to see this in a higher-scale development because higher end homes can have a slightly higher price tag to cover the more expensive details of green construction. Larger homes also use more energy and water and have more impact on the environment. Jeremiah replied the Hawthorne Eco Village in Minneapolis does not have small homes, and they are affordable. We would like to see a variety of housing sizes. Bettison said she would be interested in feedback on how the Conservation Commission could help to get a pilot program into a place where it could have even greater impact. She asked what the Commission can do to encourage the City Council to look at another project or require another development to put green criteria in higher-end homes. Bettison said, as she thought about how the notice for this project went out so far in the neighborhood, she was troubled there are other projects in the City that have had far more CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 4 environmental impact yet didn't get noticed to nearly as wide an area as did this project. She cited the UHG facility as an example because that will have a huge impact on the area for years to come. That project was noticed for 500 feet only. She was curious about the rationale of extending notice so far for a feel-good project. It is a good thing to get the community involved about green building,but UHG had no community involvement from the area that was impacted. She was concerned that the City is applying inconsistent noticing and asked what the criterion is for noticing. Jeremiah said it is not always clear what people are going to see as a positive project. Not all the comments at the neighborhood meeting for this project were favorable. We heard the issues regarding notice with the UHG project and will try to adjust our thinking based on those comments. Aside from the mailed notices we make every effort to get projects communicated in the newspaper as much as possible because over 80% of residents read the Eden Prairie News. The UHG project was in the newspaper much more than this project has been. There will be other opportunities for comment on the UHG project as they continue to develop other portions of the property. We are trying to do more with the website and City Connect. We talked to the developer of the last phase of Hennepin Village about doing a green neighborhood. It is very difficult for the City to leverage that without being in the ownership role, and the City Council has been reluctant to make the criteria mandatory. Jester thought some of the issues regarding green development may be due to the low development in the past few years, and we may be able to start requiring more environmental criteria. She asked how staff sees the Conservation Commission fitting into their project and what they expect of the Commission. Jeremiah said staff wanted to make sure the Commission was aware of the project and to ask for any suggestions. She said staff will bring forward any updates as proposals come in. The Conservation Commission is not a formal advisory commission with regard to development; however, policy issues and promoting the widespread use of environmental criteria is within the Commission's purview. She noted things are progressing quickly, and environmentally sound materials are becoming less expensive. Jester said she would like Eden Prairie to step out and become a leader in some of these areas rather than following in Edina's footsteps. Olson noted the Commission was no longer at quorum strength for purposes of taking action. The consensus was to continue discussing the agenda items. V. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Green Crawl Update Rojas said, after further discussion with the City Manager and the Communications staff, we are now aiming for spring of 2014 for the Green Crawl. The City Manager's intern is managing the project and is putting together a timeline and a list of next steps. Staff will have a memo on the plans for the event at the next Commission meeting. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 5 B. City Events Update Rojas distributed a memo that summarized recent environmental related events. Olson was impressed with the number of people who attended the Arbor Day Walk. Rojas noted the Aquatic Invasive Species Workshop was cancelled as only one person had signed up for it. Ms Stovring is working with the Watershed District and a consultant about doing a different type of activity to get more involvement. Olson asked if there are things the Commission should be doing to help educate the community about Arbor Day. Rojas said the Parks and Recreation Department had a booth there in addition to the other activities. There might be an opportunity for the Commission to have a booth in the future. The information about the event is printed in the Parks & Recreation guide and is on the website. It might be something to publicize at the Chamber Expo. C. GreenStep Cities Update Rojas said Ms Makhssous, the Community Development intern, now has the responsibility to take a closer look at the GreenStep Cities program. Rojas said she will present the program at the June leadership meeting of City staff. That will give her the opportunity to talk with Department Directors and City management about the program. Olson said the Commission would like to know what staff plans to zero in on for 2013. Jester asked if the Green Mid-Market neighborhood would lead into the Complete Streets program. Rojas said it would. VI. REPORTS FROM CHAIR A. Event Participation and Education Outreach Olson said there was nothing new to report. VII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION A. LRT Community Advisory Commission (CAC) Update Rojas said the Council hosted a workshop last night to which the LRT Business Advisory Commission, the Planning Commission and City Council members were invited. The LRT project office presented a timeline of where they are, the preliminary engineering process for the LRT, and major issues for Eden Prairie which included each stop and each major crossing. They went over the technical issues and explained that they are working with City staff to resolve issues. The station area planning consultant also gave a presentation. The City Council had some brief input about the importance of consultation between the project office and Southwest Transit. The workshop was an opportunity for the project office to CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 6 talk about different LRT maintenance and facility operations to be built in Eden Prairie. There was a station area planning overview and open house in the Heritage Room that had aerial photos of each station. They asked for comments from the public on how they would use the station areas. Olson asked about the input received. Rojas said there was a pretty good turnout. Some of the commercial property owners attending had issues with some of the stations. Eaton Corporation had concerns about the Park and Ride facility and the proposed maintenance facility that will be near their property. There were some residents who came to the meeting,but most of the attendees were business owners. Jester asked if the Commission was represented at the workshop. Rojas said none of the Commission members attended the workshop or the open house. Jester asked if we have someone who can go to the CAC meetings. Rojas said she has reached out to all the Commission members. VIII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS IX. NEW BUSINESS A. Water Conservation Discussion Topics Rojas said Robert Ellis will attend our June meeting to give us more details. Olson asked what subjects Mr. Ellis will cover. Rojas said he will probably talk about lawn watering. They plan to look at single family homeowners with high water usage and then provide some consultation services to them to correct soils or to plant other materials. Kaczmarek said he will be working on the consultation service. They plan to look at a lot, determine the water usage per season, and then talk to the owner about how much money they could save on water. Jester said that is a great start. Olson said the Commission would be interested in what we could do to help educate the public. Rojas said there have been some changes made to the water usage tiers in the last six months. Mr. Ellis may be able to provide information on how that is working. Jester noted they got rid of the bottom tier and made adjustments to the lower tiers to help incentivize lower water usage. Olson suggested Mr. Ellis tell us what challenges he sees long term in providing a sufficient supply of water. Jester said it would be good to know who we can partner with regionally regarding ground water as that is going to be a huge focus in the future. She thought the City can be an advocate for more study on a regional basis. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 7 X. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Communication Topics--Website,Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Bettison said she has been working on the aquifer idea since the Commission had the tour of the water plant. She thought that is a compelling story. She has some experience in the White Bear Lake area where there was so much information publicized about the aquifer. She has discussed some ideas with City staff at the water plant. She thought it is important to make residents more concerned about water use and less concerned about green lawns. Kaczmarek suggested we could set up a demo showing fertilizer runoff. Jester thought there might be a way to incentivize putting native plants in corners of lots. Rojas said Rick Wahlen is looking at a demonstration project about water usage at one of the wells. Jester said Hidden Ponds is a great place to start. Bettison said she doesn't see information on water usage in the City's communications. Jester said she could not find the green page link any more. Rojas said staff is trying to get it back. Olson thought we would want to follow the progress made on Ms Stovring's work plan at each meeting so we can know what is or is not happening. Rojas said we could bring that up as a discussion topic at the June meeting with Mr. Ellis. Bettison said she feels like this is happening,but she doesn't see any information and doesn't believe that is enough. The Commission discussed how to communicate the information beyond the City website and Facebook page. Olson suggested Ms Bettison's concerns be placed on the June agenda. Bettison said she will not be at the June meeting but could put something together for the meeting. Olson said he thought discussion of the water table is a huge issue. Rojas said she will bring up the Commission's concerns at her meeting with the City Manager tomorrow. Bettison said the Commission would like to know how we can help move something forward. She thought the water plant should have someone on staff who can talk about water issues. XI. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/11ANDOUTS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Rojas said there are no new projects on this project profile. XI. UPCOMING CITY EVENTS A. Board and Commission Banquet--May 15, 2013--6:00 PM CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 14, 2013 Page 8 XII. NEXT MEETING June 11, 2013--Focus: Water Conservation Update Jester welcomed Mr. Kaczmarek and said she would like to get a report back on the contamination rates and progress for the recycling at Round Lake Park. Kaczmarek said he will mention that to Ms Stovring; however,he is not assigned to work on that project. Jester said Matt Bourne in the Parks Department promised to report back. She understood the Parks Department was going to communicate about recycling with the Eden Prairie athletic associations,but she hasn't seen anything yet for her daughter's soccer team. Rojas said she will check on that. Olson noted he will not be at the June meeting. Rojas said Mr. Pini has resigned from the Commission because his work in Texas has been extended. She said the Commission can go to a five member commission so that we would need only 3 members present for a quorum. The Commission discussed the issue of a seven member versus a five member commission. The consensus was to remain a seven member commission. Rojas said she will bring it up at her meeting with the City Manager. Olson noted the Commission will not have a quorum for the June meeting. The Commission discussed moving the date of the June meeting. XIV. ADJOURNMENT The meeting ended at 8:46 PM.