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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 09/11/2018 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 7:00 PM—CITY CENTER Prairie Room, 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Lori Tritz (Chair), Cindy Hoffman, Anna Anderson, Michael Bennett, 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: Troy Johnson, Rhea Sharma, Govind Makaram I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Tritz called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Absent was commission members Pischke. Young arrived at 7:05 p.m. Carol Lundgren, Sustainability Specialist for Eden Prairie, and Carlee Kjeldahl, Sustainability Support Specialist for Eden Prairie,joined the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by Bennett to approve the agenda with the removal of a redundant item (update on smart irrigation controllers). Motion carried 6-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by Lohnes to approve the minutes. Motion carried 6-0. IV. REPORTS A. REPORTS FROM STAFF 1. WELCOME STUDENT MEMBERS AND INTRODUCTIONS Tritz explained the four focus areas and had commission members introduce themselves. Anderson requested each student member explain why he or she was interested in the Conservation Commission. Conservation Commission Minutes September 11, 2018 Page 2 2. SUSTAINABLE EDEN PRAIRIE PRESENTATION Lundgren presented a PowerPoint on Sustainable Eden Prairie, which was an abbreviated version of the presentation she gave to the City Council on August 21. It included the mission statement, the four focus areas, and the history of the initiative since the 20-40-15 initiative. She presented a brief overview of the traffic to the City's website and use of social media. Annual events were the Sustainable Eden Prairie Tour and the Sustainable Eden Prairie Awards. The Youth Education Environmental Learning Center was visited by students and involved a tour of the water treatment plant and six exhibits. The Energy Action Plan included three focus areas: residential outreach, commercial and non-profits, and large commercial and industrial users. Lundgren describe reaching the goal of having at least 200 Home Energy Squad visits. She briefly described the Energy Goal Progress: residential participation needed to be higher, but nonresidential participation was very successful. She described the greenhouse gas reduction metrics and the solar installation and subscription programs Katzenberger asked if the City was familiar with the PACE Program (through the Saint Paul Port Authority), and briefly described the loan program financed through city property taxes. Young described the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement). Lundgren replied she was familiar with these. Novak-Krebs agreed this was an affordable way to install solar energy systems. The City is exploring the idea of installing solar at the landfill. Eden Prairie joined the SolSmart Designation Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2018. Eden Prairie was also exploring the use of electric vehicles, including medium-duty trucks which often idled in use, and presently had eight trucks. There was one free public electric charging stations outside of City Hall and several throughout the city; a grant might allow the installation of another outside the Aquatic Center. Katzenberger described Electrify America, a private company financed by Volkswagen, which installed charging stations for free outside of Walmarts, Targets, and hotels,but user would pay for the electricity Along with Edina and Saint Louis Park, Eden Prairie was a pilot city for the Building Energy Benchmarking program. It was in the progress of being implemented. Lundgren displayed native pollinator landscaping areas. 15.5 acres had so far been converted to native plants. In 2007, 122 residential gallons of water per capital per day were being used; presently the number was 75. Water conservation was a success in Eden Prairie and the City received more grants and water conserving devices than other nearby cities. She displayed the water reuse system at Fire Station#2. She displayed the irrigation system at Miller Park Fields 9-13. The presentation included countywide goals for waste and Clean-up Day dates and metrics. The City hoped to have a yard waste and potentially organics drop off site implemented by the fall of 2019, with construction staring in Conservation Commission Minutes September 11, 2018 Page 3 the spring. The City of Eden Prairie was well positioned in relation to other cities in recycling at 670 pounds per household. The Residential Energy Challenge City Open House would begin in October, at which residents could sign up for wind source energy. Discussion followed on the Citywide Open House. 3. REVIEW SUSTAINABLE EDEN PRAIRIE AWARD NOMINATIONS Lundgren displayed and reviewed each nominee's narrative and photos. Discussion followed on the merits of each nomination and the Commissioners recommended recognizing 4 nominees to City Staff. The winners will be recognized at the November 13 City Council meeting. Discussion followed on ways to have a community outreach element to reinforce the message underpinning the award winners' successes, such as a statement about each of the winners and a follow-up article, et cetera. Katzenberger suggested adding a video, such as filming the event and/or making a YouTube video. Anderson suggested having the mayor and a City Council Member visiting the winners on site to present the award in front of staff/family members/members. Bennett suggested revisiting the previous years' winners to assess their continuing efforts. Makaram suggested using social media. Hoffman suggested making the nomination information more evident on the website and also including information about past winners to highlight what their achievements were to reinforce the commission's messages. Young suggested verbally soliciting more nominees from residents. Lundgren agreed to talk to the Communications Department. Anderson offered her help with writing. MOTION: Katzenberger moved, seconded by Lohnes, to award each of the nominees in the abovementioned categories. MOTION CARRIED 7- 0. 4. CITYWIDE OPEN HOUSE Tritz explained that each focus area will be represented at the Open House. Generally each group will have the following: • Large display graphic • Hand on activity • Quiz • Pledge card • Takeaway with information card (leak detectors, LED light bulbs, reusable produce bags and seed packets Conservation Commission Minutes September 11, 2018 Page 4 Novak-Krebs stated the quiz was still being reviewed. Tritz explained the quiz for the benefit of Lundgren. Discussion followed on whether or not to use both the quiz and the pledge cards. Emails retained from the pledge cards will be included on the Sustainable Eden Prairie list. Lohnes urged the importance of the pledge. Young spoke for the quiz as a successful ice- breaker. Novak-Krebs reminded the commission there would be around five laminated reusable copies with an answer key, not a paper copy for each participant. Katzenberger urged the importance of talking to residents rather than handing people a quiz. Tritz reminded the commission the energy table and the waste and recycling table would not need the quiz, whereas it was focused on water and pollinators, and also allowed the commission to gather information from residents. Novak-Krebs announced the sand table could be used as long as Nine Mile Creek staff could supervise and engaged with residents. ; Tritz emphasized the sand table needed dimmer lighting for the best effect. Novak-Krebs offered to provide more details about the set up at a later date. Discussion followed on the final plans for the event. 5. UPDATE ON PARTNERS IN ENERGY/ENERGY ACTION PLAN Novak-Krebs announced Marissa Bayer was the new contact for implementation of the Energy Action Plan. There would be a sign-up for wind source at the Citywide Open House. Kjeldahl stated she visited 115 businesses. She was working on a commercial property manager list for a communication at the end of the month,had presented to the commercial trade partners, and would present at the Rotary next week. Tritz suggested contacting Nancy Litwin at the Eden Prairie Mall as a resource for sustalnability efforts. Lundgren suggested Litwin could provide a tour of the Mall. 6. UPDATE ON SMART IRRIGATION CONTROLLERS Lundgren announced she would attend the meeting Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District this coming Friday. Tritz urged any commission members who were interested to attend. 7. DISCUSS CONGREGATION OUTREACH Young stated she had not done much since the Paul Douglas event. Novak-Krebs stated she would talk to Bayer to give Young some direction and formulate a plan. Hoffman suggested nominating Pax Christie for a future Sustainable Eden Prairie Award. Many other commission members agreed. Tritz announced October 1 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall would be the mayoral debate on "balancing green and green." Conservation Commission Minutes September 11, 2018 Page 5 B. REPORTS FROM CHAIR Tritz asked if there were reports on the Sustalnability classes. Novak- Krebs replied there weren't, but there was a plan to download one of the presentations and give it to the Sustalnability group to review. C. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION 1. WATER GROUP UPDATE The Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District meeting was this Friday. 2. WASTE GROUP UPDATE Bennett announced contamination was a big issue in the local news. Personal efforts to mitigate this were: don't make any unnecessary purchases, review the packaging, and "when in doubt, throw it out" to avoid contaminating the recycling, which could force haulers to raise rates. Some cities were actually stopping their recycling due to no market for their collections. Lundgren added the haulers' websites were updated to list materials that were not recyclable. Bennett stated residents did not ask the necessary questions and engaged in "wishcycling," and the recycler picked it up, which was another problem. Katzenberg agreed the recycler passed on the problem by not wishing to anger the residents. Tritz added the education piece of this was the biggest challenge due to inadequate communication and turnover of staff. 3. LANDSCAPE/POLLINATOR GROUP UPDATE Tritz stated Litwin's project of turf changes at Eden Prairie Mall was frustrating due to a lack of streamlining, and asked the commission members to contemplate means to make this effort easier for other commercial entities. 4. ENERGY GROUP UPDATE Katzenberger stated he did not have an update,but added he went back to look at the commission's mission and thought the commission could do more advising of the City Council. Novak-Krebs stated next month the commission would take a look at the Work Plan. Tritz asked the commission members to think about what they would like to see accomplished in the next year, and what each would wish to take on. The goals did not have to only be annual ones,but could extend beyond a year. She expressed appreciation for the presence of Carlie and Lundgren at the commission's meetings. Hoffman emphasized the City's goals gave direction to the commission. Conservation Commission Minutes September 11, 2018 Page 6 D. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS V. OTHER BUSINESS VI. UPCOMING EVENTS The City Council Workshop on the Solid Waste Management Plan would be held October 16, 2018. VII. NEXT MEETING The next Conservation Commission meeting will be held Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 7:00 p.m. in Prairie Rooms A & B. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by Young to adjourn. MOTION CARRIED 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.