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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 04/14/2015 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY,APRIL 14, 2015 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Greg Olson (Chair), Laura Jester(Vice Chair), Amanda Anderson, Gena Gerard, Prashant Shrikhande, Lori Tritz STUDENT MEMBERS: Ashray Manipalli, Anthony Polyakov, Sophia Modeas STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Tania Mahtani, Planning Division Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary GUESTS: Becky Rice, Metro Blooms I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Olson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Manipalli, Polyakov and Modeas were absent. Tritz and Shrikhande arrived late. Gerard left early. Olson welcomed the new Commission members and asked everyone to introduce themselves. IV. PRESENTER (Taken out of order) Olson introduced Becky Rice, Executive Director of Metro Blooms. Ms Rice said Metro Blooms has been around for over 30 years and was created to promote gardening, to beautify the cities and to create safer neighborhoods. The group pioneered the do-it- yourself approach to establishing raingardens with their workshop program "Rinngardens and Beyond," which consists of a presentation followed by a one-on-one with a landscape designer or a master gardener to plan out a raingarden. The goal for the program is to remove the barrier of expense in installing a raingarden. She noted Eden Prairie helps their organization by promoting workshops that are held in neighboring communities. Their staff landscape designers can help residents who want to participate in the raingarden rebate program offered by Eden Prairie. Over 8000 people have attended their workshops since they were begun in 2005. Their surveys show that 21-27% of the participants actually installed a raingarden the year they attended the workshop. Shrikhande arrived at 7:08 PM. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 2 Ms Rice distributed copies of a brochure describing Metro Bloom's "Blooming Alleys for Clean Water" program. There are three neighborhoods along Minnehaha Creek that are participating in the program. They have determined an alley way is often the best place for a rain garden. Community engagement was a big part of this project which now includes 25 alley ways and 260 properties. Olson asked if the program is funded by grants. Ms Rice replied it is funded by different organizations such as the City of Minneapolis and the Watershed Districts. The homeowner has to match some of the funds. Ms Rice said Metro Blooms is currently working with the Blue Thumb organization to discuss ways the two programs might develop a more permanent relationship. Blue Thumb is a program that shares a lot of the same objectives with Metro Blooms and is a public/private partnership of governmental agencies, private landscape contractors, private native nurseries and landscape designers. They promote raingardens and native plantings. She noted they met today with the West Metro Water Alliance about a campaign they are launching that will be on display at the State Fair at Blue Thumb's Eco Experience exhibit. She noted they are looking for people to join them. Gerard asked what makes a garden a raingarden. Ms Rice said it is the specific plants and the location on a property so that it will catch the water before it runs off the property. It is usually a bowl-shaped garden. Gerard asked if there is something underneath that holds the water. Ms Rice said it must hold it long enough for the water to soak in. The specific plantings used do a lot of work to soak up the water. A regular garden might not capture as much water nor would it let the water soak in as much. Jester noted it is sometimes necessary to amend the soil below the raingarden with organic material to allow for more permeability. Gerard asked if the homeowner would need to use special landscapers. Ms Rice said the workshop goes through all the technical details to build a raingarden, but they also try not to make it too difficult. They make sure the size is right and the soil is the right kind. Tritz arrived at 7:25 PM. Jester said organizations that give grants to homeowners want to make sure the raingarden will perform the way it should. Anderson asked if there is an avenue to address raingardens for new construction. Rojas said as new projects come in there are now infiltration requirements. Many of the new developments incorporate raingardens in the design. Olson mentioned the Eden Gardens project. Rojas said the goal at Eden Gardens is to have no irrigation so they have several features. Jester noted there is a raingarden at Dunn Bros. Jester asked if Metro Blooms helps cities or other entities with policies. Ms Rice said they have not gotten into policy at all,but she thought it could be a great role for them. Olson asked what kind of event was involved when other cities host workshops. Ms Rice CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 3 said they try to work with a city and the Watershed District, and funding is shared by the two entities. They also work with a city to promote the workshop in city newsletters, utility inserts, on social media, and in newspapers. The workshops are hosted at public buildings, neighborhood recreation centers, libraries and churches. Olson asked if there is a specific time that is better to hold the workshop. Ms Rice said spring is the best time. Anderson asked if Eden Prairie has a rebate. Rojas said the city will pay a portion of the cost, and she can get the details of the program for Commission members. Ms Rice thought the rebate is up to 75% of the cost with a$1500 maximum. Jester asked if Metro Blooms does native gardens and shoreline restoration. Ms Rice said they don't have the expertise for shoreline restoration; however, they could advise on a buffer strip or could refer someone to one of their partners, such as Natural Shore Technology. Jester asked if they have an eco-friendly turf workshop. Ms Rice said they talk about healthy landscaping practices; however, the Landscape Arboretum is putting on a workshop on that topic. Metro Blooms suggests water conservation practices and provides lots of tips for saving water. Shrikhande noted there was a discussion at the Home and Garden Expo that people living along the bluffs they should be using a different kind of grass because of the sandy soils on their properties. He thought they had pointed those people to Metro Blooms. Ms Rice said they have experts on staff who could advise them about that. Olson asked if they have any upcoming events. Ms Rice said they will have workshops in Minnetonka, Edina and St. Louis Park. Olson thanked Ms Rice for her presentation. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Jester added Item V.D., Item VII.B., and Item IX.B. MOTION: Anderson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 6-0. Gerard asked about the purpose of having a guest at our meetings. Olson said in some cases there may be a relationship but it tends to be more about information. Sometimes it might be other members of City staff who present. Rojas said recently a resident came to the Commission with concerns about organics waste collection, and we are following up by inviting Hennepin County to see what the County's goals are and to help educate the Commission on that topic. Often staff would present an idea and, with the background they have, the Commission could make a recommendation for a program in the City. Many times the guest is invited to help educate for the future. Anderson said it is very helpful to know the objectives for the visit. Olson said we do have an annual plan of things we would like to accomplish, and we try to keep input relative to our goals and objectives. Rojas said she would email the work plan to the new Commission members. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 4 III. MINUTES A. Approval of the Minutes for the March 10, 2015 Meeting MOTION: Jester moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the minutes of the March 10, 2015 meeting as published. Motion carried 6-0. V. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Staff Liaison Transition Rojas said Tania Mahtani will be taking over as staff liaison for the Commission. She will continue to attend meetings until Ms Mahtani becomes comfortable with the role. Jester asked why the transition is being made. Rojas said it is to allow her time to focus on other commitments such as the transit-oriented development ordinance and compliance of the City's comprehensive plan with State regulations. Ms Mahtani will benefit from working with the Commission as she helps to move forward the successor to the 20-40-15 plan and Step 4 of the GreenStep Cities program. B. GreenStep Cities Mahtani said she and Ms Rojas attended a meeting about GreenStep Cities two weeks ago. The MPCA is going over the spreadsheet of criteria for Step 4. Eden Prairie has been selected as one of the Step 4 pilot cities. Rojas reviewed the GreenStep Cities program and noted Eden Prairie is currently a Step 3 city. Step 3 included completing such new initiatives as inputting energy consumption data into the B3 database. Step 4 will look at what data we have and how can we set goals off the hard data. We have a lot of information,but it has to be gathered together. Shrikhande asked if the emphasis on air and water use pertains to the City government or to the city as a whole. Rojas replied some of it pertains to City facilities while some of it pertains to the City at large. Olson asked about the role of the Conservation Commission with regard to the roll out of Step 4. Rojas said they have not given that a lot of thought because they just received word we will be a pilot city. Staff will be having conversations with the MPCA to work out the details. Olson asked when they will come back to the individual cities and let them know what they envision we would accomplish. Rojas said they expect to have metrics recorded in their spreadsheet by June and should have a summary of the metrics for the May Commission meeting. C. Arbor Day and Green Fair CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 5 Rojas said last year the City held the Ecopalooza event, which was an all-day event with exhibitors, a Solar Boat Regatta on Lake Riley, and a green crawl to showcase businesses or residences with specific environmental features. This year staff decided to scale back and combine the event with the Arbor Day event which will be held at Round Lake on May 2, from 9:00 AM to Noon. The Commission can have a booth space if Commission members want. There will be twelve exhibitors there that day, including the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District, Hennepin County Environmental Services, Home Depot and the Bees Knees. Olson said Terri Johnson, the leader of Girl Scout Troop 17155, asked if the Girl Scouts could attend and promote the milkweed seeds in our booth as they did at the Home and Garden show. Rojas said we usually split the shift,based on individual's availability. Olson said he could be there at 9:00 AM. Jester asked what we would display because we can't use the display boards outside. She suggested we concentrate on recycling. Gerard asked what Hennepin County would be doing at their booth. Rojas thought they would have information about recycling. Gerard noted we probably would not want to duplicate the County's displays and suggested we give out the brochures from Metro Bloom. Jester said we could get the stormwater display again and suggested having the brochure that discusses ten things to improve water quality. She asked if we could get a rain barrel. Rojas said we do have one, and we also have dog waste bags to hand out. Jester noted we should have plenty of recycling bins at the event. Gerard asked if composting is done at the event. Jester said Hennepin County might be able to provide composting. We have borrowed recycling containers from them for events. Shrikhande said the MPCA has a master composting setup that we could borrow for an event. Jester asked if the food vendor will be like the one at the Staring Lake events in the summer. Rojas said it will be the concession vendor. Gerard suggested having something for kids to participate in that would help bring in the parents to the booth, such as a game where they would choose where to put things for recycling. It would help teach what items are recyclable. She recalled the Girl Scouts had a similar display at last year's Ecopalooza. D. Follow Up on Pollinators Discussion Jester said at the last meeting Ms Rojas agreed to contact Rick Whelan and Matt Bourne about using milkweed on park properties and fire station landscaping. Rojas said she will talk to them. Jester said there was also a note about adding something to our website about pollinators. Rojas said she will also add that. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 6 VI. REPORTS FROM CHAIR No report. VII. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION A. Home and Garden Expo Recap Rojas said this is an opportunity for Commission members to discuss what went well and what could be improved upon. Tritz said she had a question about what materials are available to us. If education is one of our missions, she thought we should challenge ourselves to take that on a little more proactively. We should decide on a message. For example, if the overarching message is that we know people want to live green, then we should tell them what our City can do to help. Another point is that we want to give handouts but we also want to get something back from them. If we want to educate people on how the City helps them recycle, etc., we can ask if they are aware of how the City helps with that. We could have a survey to measure how aware they are of a certain message. One of the things she noticed at the Expo was that interactions were very short if just adults were involved. We had about 40 people come by during her three-hour shift. Some of them came to us as well as going to the Girl Scouts with their milkweed seeds. We might want to start interacting with the kids so the adults would stay. She also thought the stand-up displays we have are not very engaging and would like to come up with some more ideas for those. Olson said he was not sure what our next major exhibit would be after Arbor Day. Rojas said there is nothing specific planned. There will be some sort of celebration of the 20-40-15 program. Jester said that means we have a lot of time to work on it. Anderson thought there are a lot of other ideas, and we should think about what people are looking for when they come to an event like the Expo. We offer a 75% rebate with raingardens, so we could showcase that, explain the benefits of a raingarden, and set some goals for our activity. Jester said part of the 10,000 acres by 10,000 lake project will have a web page to get pledges. She said it is amazing how many raingardens you would need to do to get to 10,000 acres. Tritz said she has seen soil displays that show how water infiltrates through different soils, and a display of a model building with water pouring off and draining into a rain barrel or onto sponges that capture the water. Shrikhande suggested making something interactive about raingardens and then associate the rebates with the display. Tritz said we should have a unified and focused message. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 7 Olson encouraged Commission members to bring additional ideas forward in the Reports From Commission agenda item. We need not wait until the next event to reach out to the community because we have other means of communication. Tritz said one of the ideas was about pollinators and island hopping for pollinators. She suggested we get yard commitments for pollinator oases. Jester suggested we get some idea of a budget for improving displays or buying materials for interactive displays. Rojas said she will check on that with the Public Works Department as they would be the ones who would have the budget. B. Follow Up to Metro Blooms Presentation Jester asked why we have not had a Metro Blooms workshop lately and if Ms Stovring is planning something else. Rojas said she will follow up on that. VIII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS IX. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Topics Sumstions for Living Green, Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Rojas said this is an opportunity to pass along suggestions to the Communications Department. Anderson suggested we have strategies for each particular venue. There are some really hot topics going on, such as California admitting water is an issue. We could determine what lessons we could take from that. She was also interested in Ms Rice's comment about thousands of gallons of water pouring off a roof. Jester said we have gone back and forth over the years with someone volunteering to help with communications,but within the last year or so we have not been able to keep up with just three Commission members. She thought the Communications staff would be open to help with that. She noted the items in the Living Green corner and Life in the Prairie are mostly from the PCA website, so it is not tailored to Eden Prairie. Anderson said she would be willing to help out with the communications. Rojas said she will have a discussion with the Communications Department. Olson said it would be helpful to have a short list of topics to review at the next meeting. Gerard said the MPCA, with the support of the Minnesota Department of Health, is launching a campaign called "Be Air Aware" and is asking employers and individuals to sign up to receive information about action steps to keep air quality and protect health. This would be an opportunity for our Communications Department to work with an MPCA person. Jester noted air quality is something we have never touched in this Commission, so that would be all new. Gerard said funding is going away, and Minnesota is in danger of falling off compliance with Federal EPA regulations. The State is trying to determine what to do. She just did a presentation for the Shoreview City Council and would be happy to bring more CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 8 information. Shrikhande suggested we keep it going as part of Reports from Commission. Rojas said next month Ms Stovring will be talking about the local water management plan, so we might do the air quality piece at the June or July meeting. B. Ideas from Adiacent Cities' Environmental Commissions Jester said at the March meeting Commission members agreed to check with other cities about work being done by their Environmental Commissions and were going to put that on tonight's agenda. Olson said he didn't get to it,but will work on it soon. X. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Rojas explained this is an FYI item on the agenda that can help to keep the Commission informed about what is going on in the community. Olson asked about the Eden Prairie Plaza project. Mahtani said that project will convert some of the former Frank's location into a parking area. Olson asked if it is just turning it into blacktop. Mahtani said there will be two areas of pervious pavement. Olson asked about the chances of them putting in a raingarden. Mahtani replied it is within the Eden Prairie Town Center Area, and they have talked about doing some enhanced landscaping on the property. They have proposed doing some planting beds with year-round perennials along the sidewalk. She was not sure if there are site constraints on the property. Rojas said there is a significant berm on the property. Jester asked if it is for employee parking. Mahtani said it is intended for employee parking. Gerard left at 8:39 PM. Jester asked how much of a recommendation we could give about making that one of our pollinator oases. Rojas said they are asking for waivers from City code so we always need to know what the benefit will be to the City in order to grant the waivers. Shrikhande asked about the waivers. Mahtani said there are two: one waiver is to the parking island requirement, and the other is a waiver for the impervious surface requirement for the shoreland area. Jester asked what they have asked for so far. Mahtani said it is the enhanced landscaping and enhanced lighting around the building. They are proposing some concrete planters around the facility and a couple of bicycle racks. Jester noted the type of waivers they are requesting are related to stormwater and the environment, while what the City is requesting is more related to architectural elements. She asked what the guidelines are as to what will be asked for. Rojas said the area in CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES April 14, 2015 Page 9 general is within the Town Center design guidelines. With increased development and redevelopment in that area,properties would not be able to meet the shoreland requirements so it was expected there would be waivers granted for redevelopment. Jester asked if the City will be redoing ordinances regarding the shoreland area because there could only be redevelopment in that area. Rojas said that is something they are taking a look at. The shoreland ordinance allows for 30% impervious surface because that is the DNR standard across the State and is not necessarily applicable to redevelopment in communities. Jester noted it seemed to her that redevelopment is an opportunity to get better environmental controls in place. We did not have the controls and knowledge when the area was developed many years ago, so this is an opportunity to put these practices in place. It feels to her as if we are taking a step back. Rojas said there needs to be a balanced approach in looking at what policies are in place. Shrikhande said the Town Center area has certain goals about how it looks, so that means you would trade off environmental goals with certain of those things. Rojas said they would look at getting it as balanced and reasonable as possible. Anderson said one of her concerns would be what kinds of opportunities we have with redevelopment and the carbon impact of tearing down and rebuilding as compared to just changing the buildings. We have torn down a lot of things in the Town Center area, and that is really bad for the environment. She suggested having them contribute to a fund to build raingardens in another neighborhood. XI. UPCOMING CITY EVENTS A. Arbor Day and Green Fair -- Saturday, May 2, 2015 Olson asked Commission members to spend some time at our booth at the event. Jester said there will be a free "Workshop on the Water" on Lake Minnetonka for city officials on July 23. There will be new topics this year, and the event includes dinner and a cruise on Lake Minnetonka. XII. NEXT MEETING--May 12, 2015 XIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Shrikhande moved, seconded by Anderson, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Olson adjourned the meeting at 8:48 PM.