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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 02/13/2018 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2018 7:00 PM—CITY CENTER Prairie Room, 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Lori Tritz (Chair), Amanda Anderson, Anna Anderson, Michael Bennett, Gena Gerard, Daniel Katzenberger, Kate Lohnes, Nate Pischke, Ashley Young CITY STAFF: Senior Planner Beth Novak-Krebs, Planning Division, Leslie Stovring, Engineering, Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary STUDENT MEMBERS: Abhishek Aravalli, Elizabeth Arnold, Hayden Bunn, Sophia Truempi I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Tritz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent were commission members (Anna) Anderson, Gerard, and Katzenberger, and student members Aravalli and Arnold. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by (Amanda) Anderson to approve the agenda with the removal of the introduction of Lundgren and Fladung who could not attend, the removal of the waste content review for the Sustainability class under the Energy Group update, and the addition of the Sustainability class under the Reports from Chair. Motion carried 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by Pischke to approve the minutes. Motion carried 5-0. IV. REPORTS A. REPORTS FROM STAFF 1. DISCUSS PAUL DOUGLAS EVENT ON MARCH 11 Novak-Krebs announced the Home Energy Squad would attend and sign up residents. The mayor would speak, and Tritz would give a talk on the Conservation Commission Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 2 Energy Action Plan,prepared by the city. The completion of action items for the event by commission members was to be discussed at the next planning meeting or via email. 2. DISCUSS MARCH HOME AND GARDEN EXPO EVENT The event will be held Saturday, March 17, 2018. Novak-Krebs stated the Home Energy Squad would also attend this to sign up residents. At the March 13 commission meeting Elena Foshay would provide talking points and there would also be LED light bulbs as giveaways. Included will be the energy display, and there will be handouts for the energy booth, and pledge cards. Recycling guides will be available as handouts along with a larger display. There will be paper-and-pen quizzes for the waste and energy themes, and the recycling pledge sheets. Novak-Krebs repeated the schedule for the booth and made final adjustments. 3. DISCUSS ARBOR DAY EVENT This event will be held April 28, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Staring Lake. Novak-Krebs announced the commission will have water and pollinators displays. Tritz agreed to once again provide pots of grass and the low-mow fescue. There would be a groundwater water display (able to be staffed by one person) and a hands-on enviroscape display (needing at least two people) from the Watershed District. Tritz suggested giveaways including the bags Stovring wished to buy, packets of seeds, and asked for other ideas. Young replied she had young children coming to volunteer and suggested Katzenberger's Boy Scouts for perhaps staffing the enviroscape. She suggested a"guess the low-mow" contest with the answer in a plastic Easter egg with the pots of grass. Tritz suggested reusing the plastic "spot the neonicotinoids" game from last year for the adults and for commission members to bring rocks for paperweights. 4. BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE EDEN PRAIRIE CLASSES LESSON PLAN EXAMPLE Novak-Krebs passed out the lesson plan outline example for the commission members to review. Tritz noted this had good ideas for interactivity; however, she had already distributed her lesson plan and wished to move forward with that. Young asked for a clarification of the pilot program versus the ongoing curriculum. Tritz replied since it became clear at the last meeting the April timeline was too ambitious, Tritz had worked with Conservation Minnesota which would sponsor the class, and the curriculum was now under that umbrella. This would change the city's specific content and the logo, and the commission members cannot now participate as representatives of the commission but as private subject Conservation Commission Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 3 matter experts. However, the material would follow the commission's pollinator graphic and topics. Wild Ones and the Watershed board would also be participating. The sessions would follow adult-learning principles (lecture sessions followed by hands-on activities). The classes would be rolled out at the Paul Douglas event and would be held as of this writing at the Eden Prairie Library. This would be a pilot for an independent curriculum developed by the conservation commission under the city's umbrella in the future. She asked if any commission member found s/he was no longer able to participate to contact her quickly so that she could step in to teach that section, and she offered to help everyone prepare and locate the resources they need. Outlines went out,but commission members had control over their topics. Tritz offered to help with curriculum development or finding resources. B. REPORTS FROM CHAIR 1. METRO WIDE CONSERVATION COMMISSIONS CONFERENCE—APRIL 7 Tritz stated invitations would go out soon. The event was 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and Tritz would soon announce the location. The event's purpose was to meet fellow environmental commission members throughout the Metro Area. There would be table discussions on the four focus areas. Tim Sandry of the Bloomington Sustainability Commission was the chair and the organizer. C. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION 1. DISCUSS 3-D WATER MODEL (Amanda) Anderson stated the models were $600.00 at the cheapest, and even the kits were expensive, whereas the commission could continue to borrow the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed devices. Tritz and Novak-Krebs agreed. 2. STUDENT LEARNING PRESENTATION—WASTE MANAGEMENT Bennett presented the PowerPoint he worked on in collaboration with (Anna) Anderson and Gerard. Bennet presented a timeline of waste management stretching from the 1960s with open burning and dumping into the 1970s with the first Earth Day and closed landfills, with the U.S. EPA being created, to the present day. The Eden Prairie Mayor signed the climate mayors' pledge. Bennet presented the definition and examples of waste and why it should be managed. Waste composition is studied at the Conservation Commission Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 4 state and county level. Hennepin County did a waste sort study in 2016 which revealed a lot of recyclables in the waste. 41 percent of Eden Prairie waste is comprised of recycling. Recycling: most people today recycle their waste,but buying recycled materials is still often not considered. Putting used materials back into use and not buying oversized materials causing unnecessary waste in the first place is the second half of the recycling equation. Bennet presented on environmental responsibility (attitudes that create obstacles include NIMBY and BANANA "building absolutely nothing anywhere near anything"). Motivation to proper waste management includes Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The "Three Cs" of decision making are comfort, cost, and convenience. Reduction: the"Three Rs" of Waste Reduction are reduce (don't buy more than needed), reuse/repurpose (use it again or use it for something else), and recycle (taking items out of the downstream). Wishcycling is the addition of materials that are not recyclable but the residents hope are recyclable, and contamination is purposely or accidentally adding non- recyclables to the recycle bin which lowers the value of the recycle. The definition of what is recyclable often changes. Curbside recycling is not free, and can increase one's waste cost. Bennett presented the Dem-Con Top Ten Don'ts for Recycling: Plastic bags, shredded paper, tanglers (hoses, extension cords) diapers, hazardous materials, Styrofoam packaging, certain cartons, medical waste (sharps, etc.), scrap metal, ceramics, and mirrors. Dem-Con's List of Dos: empty containers, rinse items, leave lids and caps on all containers, ask hauler if one has questions, do not recycle wrapping paper if containing shiny foil, velvet, glitter, ribbon, etc., and plastic items numbered 1-7 can be recycled. (Bennet noted these rules may differ with other haulers.) Eden Prairie is doing a good job recycling but it is becoming difficult to handle the volume of organics waste. In the future,haulers may offer weekly collection than is standardized among all haulers. Bennett then presented his "sorting game" of waste/recycling materials. (Amanda) Anderson stressed the importance of avoiding"regrettable substitutions" when wiping or rinsing recyclable containers and not pouring chemicals, etc., down the sink when these are more appropriate for the garbage bin or for special waste collection (batteries, etc.). 3. WATER GROUP UPDATE Tritz announced the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District will present its ten-year plan on its website. Adopt-a-storm drain had a group Conservation Commission Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 5 in Shorewood that Tritz would watch as a model. Unfortunately the stickers tended to pop off, and while clean up prevented matter going down the storm drains, inappropriate material went down the drains during storms. There were some methods to prevent this such as storm barriers but they often interfered with the street sweepers. (Amanda) Anderson observed if that was the case the street sweepers must then be sweeping over the drain, and asked if they could be persuaded not to it would not matter that there were barriers around the drains. Bennett replied street sweepers may vacuum rather than push the waste,preventing any waste from entering the drains. Tritz stated marking the storm drains, which were periodically replaced, might be better served by etching into concrete. Novak-Krebs agreed and offered to talk to the Engineering Department. Tritz also suggested the verbiage "This drains to [specific body of water]." (Amanda) Anderson suggested etching this into the metal. Discussion followed on the disadvantages of painting the message onto the curb. 4. ENERGY GROUP UPDATE Young stated she did outreach to all the congregations in Eden Prairie (except for Grace) including the Islamic Cultural Center, and emailed the Partners In Energy contacts. She requested flyers to hand out. She named the congregations that were especially active in conservation and would be attending the Paul Douglas event. She told Novak-Krebs if some churches were missing on the list they had either moved or no longer existed. Tritz announced the energy graphic was approved and would soon be printed. D. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS Tritz suggested building a relationship with the environmental groups at the high school, such as with the Tree Huggers group, etc. Bunn noted the actual school was in Minnetonka, causing some barriers. Truempi suggested Tritz come and speak at the school, and make contact with the teacher in charge of the group. Young suggested inviting students to tours and events held by the commission. Truempi replied she was also publicizing the Paul Douglas event. V. OTHER BUSINESS VI. UPCOMING EVENTS Paul Douglas Event—March 11 at 2 pm—Pax Christi Garden Expo —March 17 from 9 am to 3 pm at Grace Church Conservation Commission Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 6 Arbor Day/Green Fair—April 28 from 10 am to 1 pm (Amanda) Anderson asked for the date for the May event to welcome the new members to send out a"save the date" reminder. Novak-Krebs offered to see if the date had been set for 2018. (Amanda) Anderson bade farewell to the commission. VII. NEXT MEETING The next Conservation Commission meeting will be held Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 7:00 p.m. in Prairie Rooms A & B. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: (Amanda) Anderson moved, seconded by Young to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m.