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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 05/12/2015 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, MAY 12, 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 Leslie Stovring, Environmental Coordinator David Dahle, Public Works Department GUESTS: Diane Spector, Wenck Associates John Anderson, Conservation Minnesota Ann Marie Berntson Marilynn Torkelson I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Olson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Manipalli, Polyakov and Modeas were absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Olson added Item IV.A. Tritz added Item VILB. MOTION: Jester moved, seconded by Anderson, to approve the agenda as amended. Motion carried 6-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of the Minutes for the April 14, 2015 Meeting Jester said the phrase "Federal PCA regulations" in the last paragraph of page 7 should be changed to "Federal EPA regulations." She said she did not make the statement regarding St. Louis Park in Sentence 2, Page 8. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 2 MOTION: Anderson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the minutes of the April 14, 2015 meeting as amended. Motion carried 6-0. IV. PRESENTER B. Lynn Marie Berntson (taken out of sequence) Lynn Marie Berntson said she is working with the group, Moving for Monarchs, to help spread the word about the plight of pollinators. She said monarchs and other pollinators are greatly impacted by lawn chemicals and pesticides that are applied throughout the growing season. Those chemicals pose a threat to humans and environmental health, and many of them are known carcinogens. The decline in the pollinator population is also attributable to loss of their habitat, especially the milkweed plant. She asked the Commission to recommend Eden Prairie put an immediate ban on the spraying of chemicals on lawns and to begin an educational campaign about the hazards of lawn chemicals and pesticides. She noted cities such as Stillwater, St. Louis Park and Excelsior have banned the use of neonicotinoids in public spaces. Some cities in California and Maine have banned lawn chemical use on residential property. She said she realized banning the use of chemicals was a big step, but she would like to start with a wide-spread educational campaign and a change to the City's practice of spraying chemicals on City property. Jester asked which chemical poses the biggest danger. Ms Berntson said it is Roundup®. Jester asked how the other cities in Minnesota are implementing their bans. Ms Berntson said she could send that information. Tritz asked what Eden Prairie does now in terms of spraying on its own property. Rojas said that would be a question for the Facilities and Park and Recreation Departments. Stovring suggested they start with the Parks Commission as they would need to recommend a policy to begin the process. Ms Berntson distributed several brochures regarding the use of pesticides and the movements to save the monarch butterflies. A. Leslie Stovrin2 1. Local Water Management Plan Stovring introduced Diane Spector, Wenck Associates, who helped write the Local Water Management Plan (LWMP) and helped with the stormwater inventory. She noted the plan will provide a guide for all water resources in the City from 2015-2024. She reviewed the timeline for approval of the LWMP and the existing individual plans that have been combined into the LWMP. She described the water quality standards set by the new plan. Anderson asked if the standards are for the City or for developers and if there will be permitting. Stovring said it is for everyone. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 3 Staff will review development plans to see if a plan meets minimum standards and will then do trading of features with the developer. Stovring said there will be requirements for water, including rebates to promote infiltration. Gerard asked if there are still rebate funds available. Stovring said at this point there are funds available from the initial $12,000 allocated for this year's rebates. Stovring reviewed the details of the LWMP regarding groundwater, erosion and sediment control, recreation, fish and wildlife, education and public involvement. She described the details of the NPDE Stormwater Permit update, including the timeline for approval and the new permit requirements. There are new details regarding minimum control measures such as requirements for public education and outreach and for illicit discharge detection and elimination. Stovring said the updated stormwater rules apply to properties of one acre or more, and those rules are separate from the Watershed Districts' rules. Jester asked if the developer would have to meet the most strict standard. Stovring replied they are trying to bring the rules into compliance so there is one minimum standard for everyone. She noted new No-Wake restrictions for Bryant, Riley and Staring Lakes have been submitted for review by the DNR. Jester noted the section regarding groundwater goals says nothing about actual water conservation and questioned whether this is the correct document to use for groundwater conservation. Stovring said the goal is stated in this document, but there are details in other documents such as the Ground Water Plan. Jester commented it would be good to highlight some of the important points in this document. She noted there was no mention of environmental concerns in the implementation plan prioritization, and she questioned where the water quality priority is. Anderson asked if the City will start to regulate shallow wells. Jester noted we educate about them, but the DNR issues the permits. Stovring said a lot of people in the City use shallow wells for irrigation. Gerard asked if we are able to include something in the next newsletter regarding water conservation and watering lawns. Stovring said the June Living Green newsletter has the Annual Drinking Water Report and one article regarding lawn watering. Jester suggested having some statistics about how much water is used during the summer. Shrikhande suggested including information on other areas of the state because there is a lot of concern about aquifers being drawn down. Gerard noted the only alternative to water conservation is to drill deeper wells, and that is not sustainable. Stovring said she is including an article about "flushable" wipes but will see if she has extra space. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 4 Shrikhande asked about the maintenance being done at the Flying Cloud landfill. Stovring said it is not quite done. They have moved and consolidated the waste and have put in a new liner. Shrikhande asked if there is any leakage. Stovring said there will not be with the new liner. Shrikhande asked about the status of organic recycling. Stovring said the Facilities Department has arranged for an organics company to audit City Hall and the Community Center and to give a proposal for organics collection at our City buildings. If they can get a toe-hold with the City and the School District, they could start to do residential. Hennepin County is issuing a mandate that providers must provide organic recycling starting in 2018. Olson encouraged Commission members to show support of the plan at the City Council meetings in May and June. Discussion followed regarding whether the Commission should pass a formal endorsement of the plan. Jester noted it could be done at the June meeting if we want to take such action. Shrikhande asked when the Comprehensive Plan will be updated. Stovring said the LWMP will become part of the Comprehensive Plan so we will need to update it again. Rojas said 2018 is the deadline, and there will be outreach opportunities throughout the community. Shrikhande asked if it will address sustainability. Rojas said some information crosses over into different chapters, such as the land use and parks and open space sections. Shrikhande said the Commission might be interested in how the Comprehensive Plan is built up and how we could contribute. Rojas suggested Commission members look at the framework available on the Met Council's website; however, it will be a work in process for the next couple of years. Shrikhande thought it would be good to get updates so the Commission could get involved in the process as early as possible . Gerard suggested the Commission look at the framework together at a future meeting. Rojas said she will send out information to Commission members. Olson suggested we review the status of the Commission's Annual Plan so we can evaluate additions to our agenda in light of what is in the Annual Plan. Stovring noted staff will start work on the successor to the 20-40-15 plan over the next couple of months. 2. Workshops Stovring reviewed the list of workshops held in the last few years. She said they are looking for ideas and are working with the Watershed CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 5 District on a native shoreland restoration workshop in June. Anderson suggested engaging the business community in workshops as their employees could help out. Stovring noted we partner with the Chamber of Commerce for the Home and Garden Expo each year. Jester said it would be good to introduce some of the bigger companies to the best management practices so they could take the lead in the community. Anderson said they could also promote what they are already doing. Property management companies should have that information. She suggested preparing a "wish list" of those businesses we want to partner with. Jester suggested it would be great to move the best management practices the City has used to other big energy users in the City. Stovring said the Town Center Study was provided to Eden Prairie Mall, and they plan to do some things such as rain gardens and permeable swales. V. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. GreenStep Cities Community Forestry Workshop Debrief B. GreenStep Cities Step 4 Metrics Update Mahtani said Ms Gerard passed along information about a workshop on Community Forestry that was held by representatives from the University of Minnesota. There was discussion about preservation of older trees and a tool that can be used to input data to get the economic value of trees in one area. Mahtani said Eden Prairie has been selected as one of the pilot cities for GreenStep Cities Step 4. We have been asked to collect data on a variety of metrics to use as a benchmark. She and Ms Rojas are coordinating with different departments in the City to provide the information, and they hope to send out the metrics to the Commission members for feedback and suggestions. Olson asked when they would be doing that. Mahtani replied it will be this week. Gerard asked if there will be goals about expanding the tree canopy. Mahtani replied the GreenStep Cities program does ask for some benchmark data, and they are working with the City Forester on that. She noted GreenStep Cities' Step 5 will be using the data to create long term goals for the cities, and Step 5 will be the highest step in the program. C. Pollinators Discussion Update Rojas said they were able to connect the Girl Scouts and their quest to save the monarchs with the Parks and Public Works Department. There is information on the website and the USDA has provided a lot of information with links to other websites. Ms Berntson suggested including the organizations such as the Monarch Joint Venture and the Monarch Watch. Jester asked if Ms Berntson has tried to go CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 6 to the local press and suggested the Girl Scout troop might add more of a human interest aspect to their efforts. VI. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Olson said he checked in with the Chair of the Edina Energy and Environmental Commission and with the Chanhassen Environmental Commission. He said Edina's Annual Plan on their website appears to be green house gas-centric. They are organizing their effort similar to our 20-40-15 plan and are pressing their staff and City Council to launch a community solar program. The information on their website references a chapter in their Comprehensive Guide Plan that has an energy reduction goal. He asked if Eden Prairie has such a chapter in our Guide Plan. Rojas said there is not a stand-alone chapter. Olson said Chanhassen's commission work seems to be water-conservation oriented. They have a tiered water billing system and an active effort in terms of an urban forestry tree inventory. Olson asked if we have a similar effort regarding trees. Rojas said we do not yet have one, but that is one of the GreenStep Cities' metrics. Olson believed the City should have a tree inventory. He noted Chanhassen offers tree coupons and is trying to keep tabs on the emerald ash borer. Olson suggested a worthy effort for the Commission would be to recommend an overarching policy to encourage pollinators that would include banning or controlling neonicotinoids. Olson also suggested the Commission work to spur organics recycling. He was encouraged to hear there is a deadline set by Hennepin County. He suggested the Commission invite some of the local haulers in to a meeting to express their perspectives. Rojas noted the Commission's 2015 work plan includes inviting Hennepin County Environmental Services and the haulers to a meeting. Gerard noted her household was personally affected when the one organics hauler stopped collecting. Ms Torkelson expressed concern about having even more trucks going through the community to pick up trash, recycling and organics. Gerard noted she worked with the DNR, the Met Council and the University of Minnesota on urban forestry. They have a plan and have money allocated to develop inventories. Anderson said she was interested in Edina's emphasis on promoting solar gardens and would like to see solar gardens on the roofs of Eden Prairie buildings. Gerard said she attended a conference on solar gardens. Some of the programs offered involve individuals purchasing subscriptions to solar gardens. There is an immediate savings in energy costs, and there are pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front models. Jester asked if this has come up as a possibility for the next 20-40-15 program. Rojas said she thought it is part of the Community Center expansion project. Olson said there are programs that involve solar panels for a community and not just for one building. Jester suggested community solar should be one of the things on our list to pursue. VIL REPORTS FROM COMMISSION CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 7 A. Arbor Day and Green Fair Debrief Olson attended the event and thought the weather may have been too nice as there was not a huge turnout. He thought the exhibits were timely and relevant, and the event showcased the park area at Round Lake. Tritz suggested that Ms Stovring's booth and the Commission's booth had duplicate messages. She stressed the importance of creating a message and exhibits before events. She said she had more suggestions to review under Item VILB. Olson suggested Ms Tritz be put on next month's agenda as a presenter. B. Educational Information Update Tritz reviewed her preliminary suggestions for improving the message presented by the Commission at activities. The presentation should explain why it is important, how to take action, and how the City can help with resources and rebate programs. There should be a community dialogue for people to get more involved. We need a method of communication that the Commission would have more access to than what we currently have with the newsletter. She suggested the topic of zero waste would be a good successor to the 20-40-15 program. She reviewed her recommendations for updating the three-panel display. She asked what the next practical step would be. Mahtani said depending on the scope of our suggestions we would reach out to the Communications staff after the discussion at the next meeting to see if there is any assistance they can offer. There is a budget for that, and there are others we can partner with. Gerard also attended the event. She suggested having that sort of a visual display for people to learn from would help us accomplish our goals. It is helpful to have goals for an event and to attach some metrics to that. VIII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS No report. IX. CONTINUING BUSINESS X. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS Olson said he was struck with how well Chanhassen's Environmental Commission website communicated what they are trying to do. In contrast, our website is all black and white with no imagery. He suggested updating our website and that we move towards more interactive communication. Jester suggested that would dovetail with Ms Tritz's efforts. Tritz said it should be one unified visual, and she would be happy to tackle that kind of effort. She asked how we would interface with this. Olson said it is well within our mission to express the desire to update our communication and to come up with the details. Shrikhande noted in the past we have had someone serve as a liaison to the Communications Department. CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 8 Rojas suggested the next meeting be a brainstorming opportunity for the Commission to choose one or two ideas to bring to the Communications Department for their reaction. Anderson believed we should be constantly evolving, and there are a lot of things in our plan. It might make sense to focus on one or two so that we know what our core messages are. A discussion followed about what the core messages for the City are. Anderson suggested we have the City Manager come in and talk about how the Commission could help promote the City's core messages. Rojas said she and Ms Mahtani debrief the City Manager tomorrow and can mention the Commission would be interested in that. Jester said it would be important to know why we are inviting him and what we want to hear. Anderson suggested we ask him to find opportunities for the Commission to help with sustainability and also use the opportunity to talk to him about having a solar garden. Jester said we have asked for direction in areas where this Commission can help the City and effect change, but we don't get a lot of response back. She would be interested to hear his input on that subject. Olson suggested we ask how our Commission can operate in ways to be more effective working with City staff and elected officials. Rojas said she will bring those suggestions forward to the City Manager. She noted the City Manager was planning to bring forward recommendations on efforts beyond the 20-40-15 program, and she could encourage him to present those to the Commission. A. Upcoming City Proiects and Development--Proiect Profile Mahtani said the Eden Prairie Plaza (Salon Concept)project includes a series of plantings along Eden Road. She said the staff report that will go the City Council about the project includes the feasibility of having pollinator habitat in those plantings. XI. UPCOMING CITY EVENTS Anderson asked if there is any opportunity for the Commission to spread a message at the "Night to Unite" event. Jester said we discussed that a few years ago and there was not an opportunity at that time. Rojas said she could bring it up again, but it may be that the recommendation is to keep that event one about public safety. A. Boards and Commissions Banquet -- Wednesday, May 13 XIL NEXT MEETING-June 9, 2015 Anderson said she would like to have a discussion about LEED certified buildings in the City and what we do to enhance and promote that certification. Olson said that could be included under Reports from Staff. XIII. ADJOURNMENT CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES May 12, 2015 Page 9 MOTION: Shrikhande moved, seconded by Tritz, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Olson adjourned the meeting at 9:30 PM.