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Conservation Commission - 10/12/2010 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2010 7:00 PM, CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Laura Jester(Chair), Greg Olson (Vice Chair), Sue Brown, Ray Daniels, Ravi Jaiswal, Geneva MacMillan, Prashant Shrikhande STAFF: Regina Herron, Staff Liaison Leslie Stovring, Environmental Coordinator Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Joshua Auerbach and Rachel Wood I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Jaiswal was absent. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Jester said the new student representatives will introduce themselves under Item VII. because we ran out of time for that at the last meeting. MOTION: Daniels moved, seconded by MacMillan, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of Minutes for the September 14, 2010 Meeting MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the minutes of the September 14, 2010 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0-2, with Brown and MacMillan abstaining. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF B. Driveway Material Ordinance—Update Herron said the ordinance was on the Consent Calendar at the last City Council meeting. Council Member Nelson wanted some clarification in the ordinance regarding crushed rock and pavers. She also had some concern about the placement of commas. The item was referred back to staff for clarification. Brown asked if plastic recycled pavers were taken into account in the ordinance. Herron said we discussed that we should look into that more but it was not added to Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 2 the ordinance. Jester said we wanted to get the concept of permeability into the ordinance so we added the clause "allow for infiltration." Stovring noted we did not take out crushed rock totally because it would be allowed between surface joints. Herron said there was a concern with the enforcement. Olson thought the intent was to not permit driveways that are just crushed rock. Stovring noted we also didn't put in anything about reinforced turf,but Minnetonka is using that on a lot of their trails. Jester asked if Nine Mile Creek Watershed District will be able to do that on the Kaerwar property. Stovring said she didn't see why overflow parking can't be reinforced turf. Jester asked what staff's opinion would be about bringing the ordinance back for further review. Herron said she didn't know if it is off the Council's agenda. Stovring said in the future the Watershed District will require more infiltration on development plans, so more options for infiltration and on-site stormwater reuse will be required when those plans come through. Daniels noted he has not seen any crushed rock driveways. Herron said there are some out there. They were built in the 1960's and 1970's and are usually considered nonconforming. Jester said we want to keep the review of pavers and driveway sealers on our radar screen for 2011 planning and revisit the wording of the code. C. Nine Mile Creek Water Resource Center—Project Status Herron said this project went to the Council a couple of weeks ago and was approved. It will be on the Consent Calendar in November 16. Jester asked if it was a unanimous vote. Daniels said it was 4-0-1, with Aho abstaining. D. Goose Update Stovring reviewed her memo summarizing the goose management program and noted the numbers were down quite a bit this year. Jester asked if that was the case across the metropolitan area. Stovring said a couple of others had lower numbers,but others had the same or more. She said we expected to see a slow, steady decline but it was pretty dramatic this year. It is unknown why the numbers are down. E. SWPPP and MS4 Permit Stovring gave a Power Point presentation of the Phase II NPDES Permit process. Daniels asked why there was a significant increase in the number of water bodies from 1999 to 2008. Stovring said as we went out and looked, we found more water bodies. In addition, in the 1999 wetland inventory a lot of large floodplain wetlands were lumped together that now needed to be separated out. Jester asked if newly created ones were included. Stovring said it includes anything we identify as a body of water, including wetlands, ponds, ditches, infiltration BMPs such as raingardens, Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 3 and creek segments. Brown asked what is classified as a wetland. Stovring said there are eight different types of wetlands from forested wetlands to ponds. Stovring reviewed the storm water permit program noting the current permit program expires on June 30, 2011. She said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has recently assigned someone to write the new one. In addition, the City submitted a Nondegradation Plan to the MPCA in late 2007 and so far we have received only an acknowledgment of the submittal. In the future this will likely need additional work or it may be incorporated into the new permit. Stovring reviewed the six minimum control measures that are included in the permit and noted one of them, the pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations, is a big item. Jester asked the meaning of the word, "outfall." Stovring said it means an inlet or any pipe or overflow into a water body. Shrikhande asked who does the checks on water bodies. Stovring said they are done in the summers by City staff, usually an intern or technician. Stovring reviewed the schedule of compliance requirements including the maintenance plan. She said the MPCA has not formally approved the plan at this time but we have reviewed our plan with the MPCA and are currently implementing it. We can't do the entire maintenance plan at once because of all the water bodies we have identified (approximately 950 water bodies are currently in the database). We have started with the Staring Lake watershed and will look at external loading to the lake, which is anything that drains through the storm water system into the lake. Brown noted the kids at Oak Point are studying Staring Lake, and it would be good for them to learn more about this work. Stovring presented the details of the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Staring Lake stormwater survey which includes a pond analysis and stormwater pond design (NURP) criteria analysis. Jester asked if they will notify any homeowners of the pond analysis taking place. Stovring said most of the ponds are either owned by the City or under a drainage easement. They did put an article in the local newspaper to notify residents about the project. A maximum of 50 ponds will be selected for the NURP analysis. Jester asked if the plans include going into a neighborhood and putting in curb cuts and rain gardens. Stovring said right now we are just evaluating the overall drainage system and no recommendations are being prepared. This could be an alternative in the future. Jester asked how they plan to encourage rain gardens. Stovring said she will have $5,500 available for rebates starting in 2011, which is a increase over this year which is $2,500. City staff is cautious of the idea of curb cuts because of issues with snowplows catching on them. Other cities are putting in grates in the curbs, but this is not something that the City is really actively doing. She said we will start looking at this more seriously when we begin to reconstruct streets. Stovring discussed the schedule and costs to implement the capital and non-capital projects. Brown asked if there will be citizen participation in the Lower Riley Creek Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 4 creek bank stabilization project. Stovring said we will set up a task force to do the TMDL to determine what should be done long term to maintain it and what we should do to help it be delisted or unimpaired. Brown asked which citizens are involved in these groups. Stovring said it is usually residents within that particular watershed district, and could potentially include a member from the Conservation Commission. Brown asked what they are asked to do. Stovring said the analysis is pretty technical but they would help set up goals and actions in the implementation plan. Stovring reviewed the erosion gully and ground water seepage control project that occurred just west of the intersection of Purgatory Creek and Riverview Road. Shrikhande asked what the primary reason was for the evolution of the erosion from being wooded. Stovring said it happened over time as there are a lot of ground water seeps in that area. Stovring said the drawdown of the lake level in Northwest and Southwest Anderson Lakes was successful in helping to decrease the curly leaf pondweed in the lake, and the lake levels have started to come back up after the drought in 2009. Stovring said the water level in Birch Island Lake went down significantly when Hwy 62 went in. In 2009 the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District(NMCWD) completed the installation of a drainage and tile system to capture and reroute ground water and storm water from the Hwy 62 corridor to the lake, since then the lake levels have started to rise. She said Bryant Lake water quality has improved, and the total phosphorus and chlorophyll a levels have been reduced. Shrikhande asked if we monitor the loading in Bryant Lake every year. Stovring said that NMCWD and the Three River Park District monitor the lake,but she was not sure if they are monitoring the loading. Stovring said about 95% of the carp in Lake Riley have been harvested by RPBCWD, and they plan to start a re-vegetation program in 2011. Brown asked about the reduction in the numbers of carp. Stovring said Rice Marsh Lake is the breeding ground for carp, and the District restricted their movements with barriers at the north and south ends of Lake Riley. Stovring said Round Lake used to be 32 acres in size,but this year it is only 21 acres. It is primarily ground water fed and does not have a lot of storm water running into it. Shrikhande asked if there are any ground water wells near the area. Stovring said there are not. Stovring noted they are working with RPBCWD to improve the water quality in the lake and they are planning on finding a way to reduce mercury in the lake so that it will be unimpaired for mercury in the future. Shrikhande asked about the source of the mercury. Stovring said it mostly comes from the atmosphere. Jester asked if they plan to put the Nine Mile Creek standards in place City-wide. Stovring said those standards are quite strict in some ways, and she was not sure the Engineering Department would want to implement all provisions of these requirements. We are waiting until the Water Management Plans are revised for the Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 5 other two watershed districts (RPBCWD and Lower Minnesota River Watershed District)before starting a revision of the city code. Jester said we talked about having some sort of water education project and asked if we have access to some of those funds. Stovring said there is $2500 targeted for the Environmental Fair and water education. She said we have $40,000 for water conservation and quality education, of which about$25,000 has been spent so far this year. This includes the appliance and irrigation rebate programs. Jester asked if funds would be available if a scout troop wanted to do a project. Stovring said we could potentially have money for that depending on the project. She said the raingarden and shoreland restoration grant program will likely be increased from $500 to $1,000 per project in 2011. She said Mr. Dietz also agreed to a small increase in the water conservation rebate (from$12,500 to $15,000). Shrikhande noted the condition of our lakes is related a lot to ground water and asked what we are doing to monitor those levels. Stovring said most of the wells are monitored as part of the Wellhead Protection Plan. Shrikhande asked what the levels have been over the years. Stovring said they have been pretty stable. She noted our water utility is running in the red because of less revenue from development fees and less water being used. In addition, lawn irrigation is not paying its true cost as in the past we have supplemented the water utility with SAC/WAC fees that are collected as properties are developed. We need to adjust our rate structure because we are coming up short. Shrikhande asked how that affects the water operations. Stovring said we will be establishing a reserve as part of the new fee structure to allow for ups and downs of water usage. V. REPORTS FROM CHAIR VI. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION Jester thanked Mr. Shrikhande for working in our booth at the City-wide open house last Saturday. Shrikhande said he worked with Ms Stovring at our booth and at a demonstration of how water meters work. There was a lot of information on thermostats, fluorescent lighting, pharmaceutical and electronic waste, and recycling. They gave away recyclable bags at the event and handed out 350 of them in the first hour. Herron noted we used our display board for the first time and displayed pictures of 20-40-15 projects. Jester noted Mr. Shrikhande was also featured in the recent Life in the Prairie newsletter as part of their feature highlighting City commissions. VII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS Auerbach and Wood introduced themselves and told how they came to serve on the Conservation Commission. Jester said we appreciate their involvement and asked them to bring back anything the High School is doing that the Commission could help with. Wood noted the environmental club has a new president, and she thought the club will be more efficient now. Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 6 VIII. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development—Project Profile Herron said there are no new projects on the project profile. She said we received a request that the approvals for The Pointe on Lake Riley project be rescinded. Stovring said that the original development had five lots,but three of them were subsequently combined into one lot. They are now back to the original approval for three lots. B. Ideas for Life in the Prairie Newsletter Herron said she talked to the Communications staff about the idea to highlight a business that is doing environmentally conscious work that has not yet appeared in the newsletter. She said they are looking at focusing on either residents or non- profits at this point. Jester noted the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation would be a good one to highlight because they received permission to extend native plantings from the adjoining wetland and wooded areas to the edge of their right-of-way. Shrikhande noted the Freshwater Society picked a business in Chanhassen to highlight what they have done and that was very well done. Stovring said the Commission had an environmental quality award a couple of years ago,but had trouble getting people to apply. She said no one applied one year so they gave up on the award,but the process and application forms are available to revive it. Shrikhande thought we might try giving it some publicity. Shirkhande offered to design a campaign for conserving water that we could develop at a few Commission meetings. Jester thought we could challenge residents to reduce their water use, and it could be in the newsletter because that seems to be read by a lot of people. Stovring noted she has one more utility bill insert next year but then they may be taking it away. Jester asked why that was happening. Stovring said they want to centralize and streamline communications, but she is disappointed as she does get a lot of calls when she sends one out. She said it usually contains information they aren't willing or able to put in Life in the Prairie. Jester suggested we keep a folder of ideas for the Environmental Corner in Life in the Prairie and hand the Communications Department one a month. Wood suggested having an essay contest on how local people are helping the environment. Jester asked her to work up more details and bring it back to us. Wood agreed to do that. C. Website Content Stovring said she added some links on infiltration and care of permeable surfaces and she is trying to go through the pages to update it. Jester said last month we suggested Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 7 putting up the Power Point presentation Stu Fox gave on permeable surfaces and rainwater gardens. She noted we do have some subscribers to the website now. IX. NEW BUSINESS A. 2011 Work Plan Herron distributed copies of the 2009 Annual Report and 2010 Work Plan. She said she has heard some new items from the City Council and other staff members, and noted the 2010 workshop with the Council will be postponed to 2011. Herron said at last month's Council meeting, Council Member Nelson was concerned that a lot of ponds in residents' back yards seem to be covered with pond scum, and she wanted the City and the Conservation Commission to do research to see about a special services district. Herron suggested researching other cities practices. Stovring noted pond treatment is difficult because it is expensive and it never ends. Resident expectations are also often much higher that what can be achieved. Bloomington also found that treatment would sometimes stop working after a few years and is currently in the process of discontinuing their program. Jester said she understood that the pond should be pleasing but its purpose is to protect the downstream resources. Jester thought it would be more general education on how residents treat their lots and how runoff affects the ponds. Herron said it is something the Council would like the Commission to investigate, and she suggesting adding this to the 2011 work plan to research and develop a recommendation. She said according to comments at the Council meeting Public Works Director Dietz believes a lot of this will be education about cleaning up your yard, including things like proper disposal of pet waste, and creating a buffer zone in the yard. Stovring noted one of the best attended workshops she has provided was on lake and pond care. Herron said there is a pilot program called GreenStep Cities that a certain number of cities within the metropolitan area participated in. They look at BMPs, city codes and comprehensive guide plans to see how cities are targeting green resources. Herron said she could send a link to Commission members so they can familiarize themselves with the program. Herron also noted there are also items we did not get to in the 2010 Work Plan that we can add to 2011. Jester said last year Ms Herron took the first stab at developing the report and plan and then the two of them worked together on it. Shrikhande and Brown said they would work with the 2011 Work Plan. Jester thought we could get a draft and send it out in the next packet for discussion in November. X. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS XI. UPCOMING EVENTS Conservation Commission Minutes October 12, 2010 Page 8 Stovring distributed a flyer about a recycling event this coming Saturday and noted a lot of items are free this year. She said the Expo is in March, and the Commission had discussed giving out reusable water bottles. Brown stated that based on her numerous years of marketing experience, people attending trade shows and expos generally adopt a"trick or treat" mentality; that they will browse all of the booths looking for free items and that just because they take the free items doesn't mean they will be used. Often these types of "freebies" are immediately tossed into the trash. Brown expressed her belief that we should not put more plastic into the world simply based on the hope that people who take them will indeed use them. She stated that if the commission wishes to distribute reusable water bottles at events like this, we should acquire good quality ones and sell them at a nominal cost. This way only people who are truly interested in using a reusable water bottle will realize the value and take advantage of the offer thereby eliminating those that just want something for nothing. The proceeds could be given to a local charity. Shrikhande suggested having a question wheel where people would have to answer a trivia question about conservation issues in order to get an item. XIV. NEXT MEETING A. Tuesday, November 9, 2010 XV. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 6-0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 9:10 PM.