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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 09/09/2014 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Olson (Chair), Laura Jester(Vice Chair), Margaret Powell, Prashant Shrikhande, Lori Tritz STUDENT MEMBERS: Ashray Manipalli, Anthony Polyakov, Sophia Modeas STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Olson called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. Jester, Powell, Manipalli, Polyakov and Modeas were absent. II. WELCOME NEW STUDENTS AND INTRODUCTIONS III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Tritz moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 3-0. IV. MINUTES A. Approval of the Minutes for the August 13, 2014 Meeting MOTION: Tritz moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the minutes of the August 13, 2014 meeting as published. Motion carried 3-0. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Work Plan Discussion Rojas said the a number of Commission meetings were canceled this year so it would be good to take a look at the work plan to see what has been accomplished and what maybe planned for 2015. She reviewed the Commission's charter, role and responsibilities upon which the goals and work plan are based. She also reviewed the Commission's accomplishments in 2013 and noted some of the items are on-going. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 2 Olson asked if we are basically as far as we can go on the GreenStep Cities program without further guidance. Rojas said there are currently three steps and we are at Step 3. The State of Minnesota is working towards Steps 4 and 5. She said we can go above and beyond the required number of best practices completed within the first three steps so we could continue to work on those. Olson asked if that means at this point there is no possibility of making progress towards another step. Rojas said we have met the minimum threshold to achieve the first three steps; however we could go beyond the minimum. Olson noted one of the accomplishments for this year was the Ecopalooza event and asked if we could consider that a success. Rojas said it was a very popular event at the Lake Riley. Some of the sites on the green crawl were more successful than others. There is a question as to whether we will continue this. She will need to have discussions with the City Manager and the Parks Director about that. The City Council Nelson encouraged continuing the event during a Council Member update. Based on feedback Rojas said we would probably limit the number of stops on the green crawl and shorten the hours for the event. Shrikhande asked if a green crawl was included in the event when it was held in St. Paul. Rojas said the St. Paul event was just the Solar Boat Regatta with an educational component. Rojas said the Solar Boat group approached us and suggested a partnership for the event. She said if the Commission agreed and supported that we could bring that back to the City Manager and Parks Director. Olson said it seems this Commission should have a role to play in the decision about whether the Ecopalooza event should be repeated and how. Rojas said the Minnesota Renewable Energy group would like to hold their boat race again at Lake Riley. That would be something for which we could reserve the park. Shrikhande thought it was a good community event that got people into Eden Prairie. Rojas said we have the opportunity to see other sites in the community. We talked about touring the new watershed district building and GE Capital. Shrikhande asked if there was a house with a lot of amenities like a rain garden. Rojas said Marilynn Torkelson's house had a rain garden and native plantings. Olson said he thought the Commission has an interest in having the Ecopalooza continue and has a strong interest in participating in the planning of the event. Shrikhande asked for an update on the formation of a "Green Team." Rojas said that is something our Parks and Recreation Director was overseeing, and the goal was to have various volunteers involved in City events as a group to pull our resources together. We haven't moved forward,but she would check on it with the Parks Director. Olson said he liked that people from the community would step forward as individuals and express interest in being active. Shrikhande asked if there was any plan to launch the team. Rojas said the plan needs to be developed. Shrikhande thought it seemed like a good idea. He wanted to see how far it has gone and if they would want help from the Commission. We might put it in the work plan for next year. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 3 Olson asked if we will be getting an update on the parks boundary survey. Rojas said the Parks and Recreation Department has been doing this as a multi-year process. It involves the park boundaries that affect residential property owners. She said she could request an update from the Parks Department. Olson asked how this relates to our Commission. Rojas said they are identifying that people have personal property on park property so she did not know if it falls under the Conservation Commission unless there is an area that should be reserved for a creek corridor or for a native prairie for example. She thought they are primarily finding items like play sets and storage sheds on parks property. Olson thought we were scheduled to be updated on the local water management plan this fall. Rojas said she could check with Ms Stovring on that. Olson said earlier this year they discussed coming back to the Commission this fall. Shrikhande said we gave some recommendations so he would like to see an update. Olson thought that would be good for the October meeting. Olson asked if we have code on wildlife management practices. Rojas said we have deer and goose management plans, and this has been on the work plan for a while. Olson said he has noticed an uptick in deer and coyote activity. He has seen more and different wild critters moving around. He would be interested in hearing what insight staff has. Rojas said she could see who the point person would be and get an update from them. Olson said he would like to know how the City views wildlife and what we are doing about it. Olson said he liked the idea of presentations on Best Buy's wind generator and on solid waste management. Shrikhande thought the City was going to begin offering composting on a City-wide basis next year. Rojas said Ms Stovring is the one who monitors this. It is sometimes a State mandate and sometimes a County goal,but she was not sure it would be a City-driven initiative. Shrikhande thought it would require communication efforts and the Commission might be able to help. Rojas said Ms Stovring puts together the Living Green newsletter and develops the insert in the utility bill. Ms Stovring is looking to do a couple of articles so Commission Members might like to write an article or give her ideas for an article. She noted Mr. Shrikhande and Ms Jester have written articles in the past. Shrikhande asked about recycling in the parks and noted we talked about the different types of recycling containers in the parks. He asked if we have any idea how successful that has been and if there is any plan to extend it into other parks. Rojas said our Parks Manager applied for a grant through Hennepin County for more recycling containers and educational materials. She can check with him about that. Shrikhande said he would like to see collection numbers and what kind of recycling numbers were mentioned in the grant application. There was a lot of discussion about what would work and what would not. He noted he took some pictures of recycling in other cities and at airports. Olson thought it would be worthwhile if our Commission were to participate in grant writing on behalf of the City for some type of conservation initiative. He CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 4 asked if we could learn some of the things staff would be interested in that would be worthwhile to write a grant on. Receiving funding from a grant request would be an accomplishment for us. Rojas said the main concern with grants is that it sometimes takes staff time to manage the grant. Olson said that would be what the money would be for. Rojas said some grants are more attractive than others,but we could look at the criteria for the grant. Shrikhande thought we could work with staff. Olson thought the Commission would at least like to get educated on what kind of grant writing opportunities there would be. Shrikhande noted we were going to get an update on the Urban Land Institute Regional Indicators initiative. Rojas said she could get an update on that. She noted the past few months we have had to cancel meetings so she has hesitated to schedule any outside group. Shrikhande said the word "suitability" should be changed to "su stainability" in the first bullet point under Student Representatives on page 5 of the work plan. He asked if we have done events regarding water quality this year. Rojas said we could have our Water Plant Manager, Rick Wahlen, come to the next meeting to discuss the landscape changes that have been done at the fire stations. There are also rebates for rain gardens on residents' property, and we might consider giving them some recognition like a plaque to highlight the rain garden. Shrikhande suggested we get some pictures of people who have done such things and showcase those at the Open House. Rojas said the Water Plant manager could also talk about other water conservation efforts and well head protection. Shrikhande said he would like to get an update next year on how the utility rate plan is going. Olson asked if it might be time to have one of the three watershed districts operating within the City come in and discuss what they are doing. Rojas said the City Council mentioned that at our work plan presentation. The Public Works Director is managing that and will come up with some sort of plan. The Riley- Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District is in the process of amending their rules so Mr. Ellis could give an update on that as well. Olson thought it might be good to have someone from each of the watershed districts come to our meetings over the course of a year to give us updates as to their priorities and plans for the coming year and how we might be supportive of their efforts. Rojas said that is something she could work on. Olson said there have been articles on the bee population and bee colony collapse. That topic could tie into promoting native species. He thought if our community were to have a renewed interest in things like native plants and rain gardens, we would become a community that is bee friendly. Rojas commented that idea sounded like a good one for an article. Tritz said the organization, Wild Ones, has a chapter in the area, and they are already involved in everything Mr. Olson mentioned. She noted there are many kinds of bees and their habitats are varied. We might get a speaker on that topic at a meeting. She thought it would be CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 5 interesting to see what could happen in terms of promoting native plants in public spaces, roadway medians and ditches. Olson thought this might be the basis of a joint effort with the Parks Commission to work to foster more native plantings in the parks. Shrikhande asked if we could highlight some native landscaping or other eco-friendly items included in the renovation of the Community Center. Rojas said native landscaping was done at the fire station off Homeward Hills. There will be a lot of native landscaping to showcase in the new green neighborhood development. Olson said he would be willing to do an article in the spring if we were to get a presentation from the Wild Ones. Rojas noted the Wild Ones were represented at the Ecopalooza and Marilynn Torkelson is very interested in that group. Tritz suggested we could join them for their meetings at the Glen Lake Activity Center. Rojas asked Ms Tritz to send her an email of their upcoming meetings to distribute to the Commission members. Shrikhande suggested we invite the Director of the Freshwater Society to a meeting to see what their plans are. We might be able to leverage some of their efforts. Olson suggested we compile a list of items in which we are interested and review it at the October meeting. Rojas said staff is in the process of developing department work plan, and she thought some of those goals might align with the Commission's goals and responsibilities. A lot of this Commission's work crosses over several departments'responsibilities. Olson thought we should also be reviewing the work plans of the other commissions to see if there are areas where we could coordinate. Rojas said some commissions have a traditional work plan but others don't. She said she can check with other staff liaisons. She noted Commission members are welcome to attend the meetings held by other commissions as members of the public. B. City Wide Open House Prep Rojas said the event will be held on October 11 from 11 am to 2 pm, and she is planning to be there to help. There is a table on reserve for the Commission which should be large enough to display the material. She will go ahead and set up what she can. There are some different brochures and we could make it a fall theme. Olson suggested we emphasize the message about keeping yard waste out of the storm sewers. He noted Ms Jester offered to get the storm water display. Rojas said she will coordinate that. Olson suggested Ms Rojas send an email to Commission members to see who would be available to be there that day. Rojas said Ms Jester is not available and she will check with Ms Powell and the student representatives. Olson thought each person could take an hour or so. Shrikhande said it would be good to have pictures from some of the community activities and also to have something to give away. Rojas said we have a small budget to order CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 6 items. Shrikhande thought bags would be a good item to give away but suggested we ask the recipient to provide feedback of what they would like the City to do in terms of conservation before receiving the giveaway. He thought a giveaway for kids would be good, possibly a coloring book. VI. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Communication Strategies--Website, Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Rojas asked the Commission to provide ideas for articles for any of the three communication vehicles and also for the water bill insert. VII. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. City Cleanup Rojas said last month the Commission asked for an update on the City wide cleanup day where people brought items to recycle. She noted every year it has had good attendance. The estimated number of vehicles for 2014 was 1670. Olson asked why the donation from BFI has decreased quite a bit over the years while the volume of recycling has increased. Rojas said she could get more information from Ms Stovring about that. VIII. REPORTS FROM CHAIR IX. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION X. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS XI. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Shrikhande asked about the Community Center project. Rojas replied it was approved by the City Council as part of a master plan years ago. The expansion project did go in front of the Planning Commission because they were requesting variances,but it did not come before the Conservation Commission. B. Streambanks and Stormwater Workshop Rojas said this is a free opportunity for policy makers, community leaders and others to attend the workshop. The deadline for responding is September 12, but she recommended registering tonight or tomorrow as space is limited. She asked Commission Members who attend the workshop to report back on what they learned. Olson noted in July he went on a tour of Lake Minnetonka which was sponsored by the same group. He said it was interesting to learn how the runoff of fertilizers and other wastes affects our lakes and rivers. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES September 9, 2014 Page 7 XII. UPCOMING CITY EVENTS A. City Wide Open House--Saturday, October 11 (11am-2pm) XIII. NEXT MEETING-- October 14, 2014 XIV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Shrikhande moved, seconded by Tritz, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 3-0. Chair Olson adjourned the meeting at 8:15 pm.