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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 01/14/2014 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY,JANUARY 14, 2014 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Olson (Chair), Kurt Lawton (Vice Chair), Stacy Bettison, Laura Jester, Prashant Shrikhande STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary Hagen Kaczmarek, Environmental Tech STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Sonja McPherson, Alyssa Minder, Olivia Urbanski GUEST: Laurie Tritz I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Olson called the meeting to order at 6:57 PM. Bettison was absent. Urbanski arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Jester moved, seconded by Lawton, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of the Minutes for the December 2, 2013 Meeting MOTION: Jester moved, seconded by Lawton, to approve the minutes of the December 2, 2013 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Ecopalooza Update Rojas said we have received three applications, one from the Boy Scouts, another from a business and one from a residence. She said the application period ends January 31 in order to give staff enough time to publish the map and secure signage for the event. Staff has been meeting on a monthly basis,but will meet more often as the date gets closer. They are also starting to meet with the Minnesota Solar Energy group. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 2 Jester asked about the conservation practices of the three applicants. Rojas said one is the dental office that has a green roof and solar power. The residence is near Cedar Ridge school and has a front yard that is all perennial plants. The Boy Scouts are planning a rain gutter regatta at Purgatory Park as an attraction to promote the Solar Regatta at Lake Riley. Jester asked if the Boy Scouts interest is from an environmental education standpoint. Rojas said she was not sure but Ecopalooza is scheduled for the same day as the Art in the Parks at Purgatory Park. We plan to have decorated rain barrels at Purgatory and will set up one of the barrels as a demonstration. Jester said she would encourage the Boy Scouts to be more oriented towards environmental education in their exhibit. Olson asked if the solar regatta is still on. Rojas said it is. Jester asked if the Tree Huggers plan to go anything for Ecopalooza. Minder and McPherson said they were not involved with that group. Rojas said applications submitted will be available at the next Commission meeting so the Commission can select the participants. Jester asked if there is a minimum number of participants for the event. Rojas thought it would be about eight, and we can fill in some from the City if we don't select that many applications. Lawton asked if Commission members could recruit something to fill in any holes in the type of conservation efforts. Rojas said we can be flexible since it is our first event. Council Member Nelson suggested the dental office. Staff is talking with G.E. Capital, the Sanctuary Salon on Valley View Road and Prairie Center Drive, Tesla Motors, Prairie View School with their Edible Garden, and Best Buy. She was not sure if People's Organic will be open by then. Lawton asked if the Chamber knows about the event. Rojas said they do. Jester asked if we have talked with Suburban Waste to see if they could do a recycling demonstration. She thought they are interested in being a good community member. Olson said Organic Trash and Recycling out of Victoria also services Eden Prairie. Jester suggested she could call Suburban Waste about participating. Olson said he would call Organics. B. Green Mid-Market Update Rojas said MnDOT currently owns the property for this project. The City is working with the developer on a proposal for homes that have sustainable yards and other features. Janet Jeremiah gave the Commission an update on the project last month. We expect to receive the application on January 31, and she will be sure to send the plans to the Conservation Commission members. We could then discuss the plans at the February meeting and make comments. If the timeline stays on track, there would be a review at the Planning Commission's March 10 meeting. The Conservation Commission could provide input on the project prior to that meeting. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 3 C. GreenStep Cities Update Rojas said she continues to work with staff, MPCA and the State of Minnesota's consultant to see what the most efficient way is to enter our data for electricity and gas usage of our City Buildings. It appears likely we will be able to devote staff time to get it done so we could attain Step 3 in May or June. Olson said the draft 2014 work plan discusses inputting data into the MPCA website. He asked how often that is done. Rojas said she is the one that inputs that data, and she does not do that on a set schedule. She inputs a number of items for the best practices every three to six months after talking with other departments to see what changes they have done and what they are working on. D. Annual Report and Work Plan Draft Rojas said the Commission reviewed the first draft last month. January 21 is the date for the City Council workshop. The Council will have an opportunity to provide comments and recommendations for the work plan so we don't want to finalize the plan until we meet with the Council. Olson asked if there is any way we might be able to work with the watershed district that is now located in Eden Prairie. We could have them come in and present what they are doing. Rojas asked if he would want a presentation on one night from all three watershed districts or just from Nine Mile, the one that is building the new facility near Topview Road. Jester noted Riley-Purgatory has an administrative office in Eden Prairie City Hall now, and they are in the process of redoing their plan. She said each of the watershed districts have their own citizen advisory committee. Rojas suggested we ask for a tour of the new facility on when it is completed. V. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Olson said he would not be able to attend the February 11 meeting. Rojas said there are others who are not able to attend so we will need to change the meeting date. The consensus was to change the meeting to February 18. Urbanski arrived at 7:20 PM. VI. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION A. LRT Community Advisory Commission Update Rojas said the SWLRT project is still on hold. They are reviewing issues being raised in Minneapolis and St. Louis Park. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 4 VII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS Urbanski said the Tree Huggers are meeting with a representative of Youth in Government to discuss grant money that organization has available. They are working with the High School maintenance staff to get more water filters. They have raised $3000 at events like the Blues Rock. Jester asked if she had sense of how much the water bottle filling stations have cut down on plastic water bottle usage. Urbanski said there is a count but she was not sure how it works. Jester asked if more people are bringing refillable bottles. Urbanski said it was about 1/2 and 1/z in a class study she did. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. City Council Workshop--PowerPoint Rojas said typically the Chair or Vice Chair would give the presentation at the Council table. Olson noted other Commission members are welcome to attend. Jester said she planned to be there. Lawton said he would not be there. Rojas said Ms Bettison will not be there either. Shrikhande said he did not have it in his calendar. Rojas reviewed the draft PowerPoint presentation which focused on three main initiatives: sustainability and conservation efforts; energy conservation efforts; and continue to support water quality and water conservation efforts. The sustainability and conservation initiative will include the following items: • Host the first-ever Eden Prairie Ecopalooza on May 17, 2014 • Encourage the formation of and participation in the City "Green Team" volunteer group • Continue to work with staff and the MPCA to achieve Minnesota GreenStep Cities-Step Three recognition • Continue to provide feedback on the Eden Gardens proposal • Continue to support recycling, lower waste footprint and reuse in the City Items included in the energy conservation initiative are: • Continue to support use of PACE financing • Promote use of electric vehicle charging stations, solar panels and wind energy • Continue to support the 20-40-15 initiative The water quality and water conservation initiative includes: • Work to strengthen best management practices and measurements • Promote use of rain barrels • Promote use of permeable driveway and sidewalk surfaces • Promote rainwater gardens CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 5 Olson said those are all good points and asked how long the presentation should last. Rojas said it should be 10-15 minutes. Jester suggested we remind the City Council we are down to five members of seven and would like to be back to full strength in April. It is hard to get a quorum with only five members. Rojas noted tonight's guest, Laurie Tritz,has expressed interest in the Commission. Lawton asked if there is an update on the Green Team. Rojas said they have not met since the holidays. Jester suggested discussing with the Council what they are envisioning for the Green Team. Jester said the Commission will probably be giving Ms Stovring more input on the water management plan. Rojas said Ms Stovring talked about coming to the February meeting. Jester thought we might want to add the point that we are working on the local water management plan. IX. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Communication Topics--Website, Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Rojas said there were two recent City blog postings that talked about electronic vehicles and fuel efficiency. There was also one that noted the Met Council has said our amounts of waste water have gone down from previous years. That may be due to conservation efforts and the inflow and infiltration changes. Jester asked on whose blog the postings appeared. Rojas said the City Manager's blog includes his own writing as well as postings from other City departments. X. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Olson asked about the first item regarding the Planning Commission's review of a code amendment. Rojas said that item is in regard to the airport zoning district. About a year ago the City did a Guide Plan change to talk about allowing commercial uses for property owned by the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC). MAC has seven parcels that aren't for aviation use. The next step in the process was to change the zoning so MAC could eventually come in to build an office building, for example. The City changed the zoning code but did not change specific areas that dealt with parking so that is the minor amendment to the code the Planning Commission will discuss. Olson asked if there is anything in the works for the parcels. Rojas said the code change was just to reposition the land so it is ready if someone is interested in one of the sites. They are providing concept plans for Parcels 2-7 that will show how either an office building or commercial could fit on each of the parcels. There is no actual structure proposed at this point. MAC would have a ground lease with CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 6 someone that would come in and propose the actual plans for development. The development would then go through the typical development process. Olson noted part of the Commission's mission is to provide input on various codes and ordinances that go into developments of this sort. He asked how many codes or ordinances we have that specifically address conservation issues. Rojas said we have a land alteration section that talks about tree preservation, wetland protection, steep slope protection and location of recycling areas. A number of other sections touch on conservation issues. One of the points for GreenStep Cities is to highlight such items in our code so that cities can learn from each other. Olson said it would be useful to get a synopsis of our conservation-related ordinances and how those compare with what other communities are doing. Jester thought that could be a lot to look at. Olson said he would like to get better educated on what our ordinances are, and he realized we would not be able to do that in one meeting. Jester thought there might be one area of focus, such as code dealing with recycling. Rojas suggested Commission members look at the Minnesota GreenStep Cities website to see what we have done and compare that with what other cities are doing with that best practice. In addition, the City's Comprehensive Guide Plan is on the website as is the City code. She said the Comprehensive Guide Plan for the City is something that is adopted by the City Council and the Metropolitan Council. It is our commitment to perform in certain areas, and there are different policies that fall into those areas. The zoning codes should be in compliance with the Comprehensive Guide Plan. There are also watershed district requirements or Federal agency requirements on overall policies. Olson asked if there would be an opportunity to include provision for a rain garden in the Bluffs West 13th Addition. Rojas believed they are doing either a rain garden or a drainage swale; however, since it is a conforming plan, we can't require such items. Olson said he would like to know if they are including one. XI. UPCOMING CITY EVENTS A. City Council Workshop--Tuesday,January 21, 2014 Jester said the Home and Garden Expo will be held on March 15 and she wanted to discuss what we want to have at our booths. Last year we used the neighborhood-scape and she would need to make plans soon if we want her to get that exhibit again as it is not easily obtained. Olson said we got a lot of conversation about it last year. Lawton asked if there is anything else we should consider. Jester said we need anything about conservation that will draw people into our booth. We did water conservation and recycling last year. Lawton said we had plastic bottles from the water treatment plant. Rojas said she could try to get those, although it was somewhat difficult to get those. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2014 Page 7 Jester said we had a question wheel for visitors to spin at the City Open House. Shrikhande said that had to do with the Girl Scouts who were at the event. They paired up with the City to give away some conservation kits. Jester asked if we have posters available. Rojas said we have two booths this year so we can do some posters again. Jester asked if we have giveaways. Rojas said Ms Stovring has water bottles. Jester noted bags are always good to give away. XIII. NEXT MEETING-- February 18, 2014(?) XIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Shrikhande moved, seconded by Lawson, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4-0. Chair Olson adjourned the meeting at 7:55 PM.