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Conservation Commission - 12/11/2012 APPROVED MINUTES CONSERVATION COMMISSION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012 7:00 P.M., CITY CENTER Prairie Room 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Laura Jester(Chair), Greg Olson (Vice Chair), Stacy Bettison, Sue Brown, Kurt Lawton, Anthony Pini, Prashant Shrikhande STUDENT MEMBERS: Sara Schmit, Katie Stoltz, Siddeswari Thunuguntla STAFF: Regina Rojas, Planning Division Andrew Rotschafer, Environmental Intern Jan Curielli, Recording Secretary I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Jester called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM. Bettison, Lawton, Pini, and Thununguntla were absent. Stoltz arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Shrikhande added Item VI.C. Master Recyclins!and Composting Update. MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Shrikhande, to approve the agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. MINUTES A. Approval of Minutes for the October 9, 2012 Meeting MOTION: Shrikhande moved, seconded by Olson, to approve the minutes of the October 9, 2012 meeting as published. Motion carried 4-0. IV. REPORTS FROM STAFF A. Recyclins! in Parks Update--Andrew Rotschafer Rotschafer distributed a schedule of responsibilities for the recycling program. He said Matt Bourne has submitted a proposal to Hennepin County for an $8,000 grant. We will know if we received the grant at the end of September. Rojas asked CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 2 what the funds can be used for. Rotschafer replied it could be used for recycling bins or signage and is a year-long program that requires periodic updates to Hennepin County. He said he met with Lotthammer, Bourne and Lorenz to discuss possible education projects. They suggested educational events in the schools where students would display posters about recycling. Jester said Ms Stovring's idea was to have a Girl Scout troop do something related to recycling at the Expo's Kids Corner. Rotschafer said he sent an email to the Girl Scout troop about the idea and told them it could be a fund raising event. Rojas distributed a photo of the new recycling container at Round Lake. Jester said she hopes it works, but she would have preferred one with a smaller opening for cans and bottles. Rojas noted the bottle-shaped recycling container to be used at athletic fields that was on display in the back of the meeting room. A discussion followed about the container and its potential problems. Stoltz arrived at 7:15 PM. Olson asked if there will be some kind of monitoring for the recycling containers and what the service life of the containers will be. Rotschafer replied there will be monitoring and the service life is 30-40 years. Jester thought it will be good to see how the containers are working before buying more for other parks. Olson suggested trying other containers in the other parks. Jester noted some places have started to replace the word "trash" with "landfill" on trash containers Brown thought that would make people stop and think about it more. Jester asked if there will be educational signage around the bins. Rotschafer said there is currently none at the three containers at Round Lake. Rotschafer said Mr. Lotthammer and Ms Lorenz will put together a section on recycling for the spring edition of Life in the Prairie. Jester asked if they would be open to suggestions about the piece. Rotschafer said they asked for "astonishing" facts on recycling. Shrikhande said he could provide some. Jester said the Commission would be able to provide them with some bullet points or short facts. Stoltz asked if there is a kids version of Life in the Prairie because it would be good to provide kids with information such as what to recycle so they could help educate their parents. Jester asked if Mr. Rotschafer has completed the research data for the City of Minneapolis. Rotschafer said he has and will send it out to Commission members. Referring to the schedule provided by Mr. Rotschafer, Jester asked if we can see the program that Mr. Bourne is assessing. Rotschafer said that item refers to having the recycling in four different parks per the discussion at our last meeting. CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 3 Mr. Bourne used that program along with the costs when he submitted for the grant. Shrikhande asked if there will be more to assess for the test pilot program. Rotschafer said it will be up to Mr. Bourne to assess and see what needs to be changed. Jester said it would be good to hear from Mr. Bourne how things are going in mid-summer. Rojas said we have a joint meeting with the Parks Commission this summer, and she could bring that forward as a meeting topic. Brown said she received a notice from her trash hauler that they are recycling bags in single sort now. She thought we might be able to talk about that in the Life in the Prairie article. Jester asked where the nearest recycling sort area is located. Rotschafer said it is at Allied Waste across from the Flying Cloud Airport. Shrikhande said he has a video of that facility to share with the Commission. Rotschafer said Mr. Lotthammer will contact the athletic associations to have them stress reusing items rather than just recycling them. Jester suggested the athletic associations get the message out about the use of recyclable containers for treats. B. Blue Star Award Rotschafer said we received this award which recognizes excellence in storm water management. We were graded on three categories and received 122 points out of a possible 195. He said 70 cities have completed the assessment, and 16 have qualified for the award. Rojas noted this program is part of the GreenStep Cities best practices. The award will be formally presented at a future City Council meeting. Rotschafer noted several staff members helped complete the questionnaire. C. Draft Work Plan 2013 Rojas said she kept most of the draft work plan the same as 2012. There are many things we started last year that we are bringing into 2013 such as the GreenStep Cities, recycling in the parks, PACE, and communication efforts. She said there are items within the City's departmental work plans for 2013 that are in the GreenStep Cities best practices. The Parks Department and Engineering Department are working on a master bike trail plan. They will come to the commissions for input on that. Jester said she would like to see that as a bullet point under the GreenStep Cities item. Rojas said the Planning Department will work on light rail, specifically a transit- oriented development ordinance, and that could be added to the Commission's CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 4 work plan. She said rainwater gardens and rainwater treatment in road right-of- ways is part of departmental work plans. The Public Works Director plans to test that in one area sometime in 2013. That could also be added to the Commission's work plan. She wanted to align the Commission's work plan with the department work plans as much as possible. Olson asked if we should put something on the back burner to make room for new additions. Rojas said the items listed on the plan are things we can always work on as we don't know when some of the others will come into play. Jester said she didn't see anything listed that she would want to drop off. Shrikhande asked what the Commission decided about the bag project. Jester said the City Attorney said it would not be viable. Brown said she hoped we could talk to the newly-elected state representatives to see if there is something we can do to amend the law. We also talked about doing something about education with businesses. Shrikhande said there was discussion about that in the recycling group he attended so he thought we might connect with other groups. Brown thought it would be good to get together with other people to push for the legislation. Jester suggested we add assisting with the development of a bike trail master plan as an item. At our October meeting we talked about helping with the Xcel program. Rojas said Housing and Community Services work plan partners with people that need assistance, and they will look at the Xcel programs. Shrikhande noted Habitat for Humanity houses are LEED gold certified. Rojas said the City is looking at doing a green neighborhood on a remnant parcel off Eden Prairie Road and Hw 212 where we would partner with a developer. Olson asked if the LEED certification is given by an organization. Rojas said it is given by the U.S. Building Council. Jester asked if there is any way we can offer tax incentives to developers that get to a certain level of LEED. Rojas said some cities speed up the development review process or reduce application fees to help promote green development. Shrikhande noted there are statistics that show higher property values in communities with LEED certified properties. Shrikhande asked if there has been any follow-up on the Mayors'Water Conservation Challenge. Rojas said she will look into that. Brown noted Washington, D.C. had a popular downspout disconnect program that gave $50 to everyone who participated. Rojas thought that might be one of the programs Ms Stovring offers. Jester suggested we move recycling in the parks to the second or third quarter and add the joint meeting with Parks Commission for third quarter. Rojas said she would coordinate that with Mr. Lotthammer. CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 5 Rojas said City Manager Getschow and she discussed having a joint workshop with the Commission and the City Council in 2013. Jester asked about adding environmental education in the schools to the work plan. Brown said she would like to find a way to leverage it and suggested it could be added as an area of interest. Jester said she will try to meet with some fifth grade teachers about environmental education. Jester asked if Ms Rojas planned to complete the 2012 report. Rojas said the two of them will coordinate the report. Shrikhande noted the City water rates have been changed. There is now no minimum volume charge for water usage. Jester said we need to take another look at Mr. Shrikhande's work at our January meeting. V. REPORTS FROM CHAIR A. City Wide Open House Recap Jester said Ms Bettison, Mr. Shrikhande and she attended the City wide open house. A Girl Scout troop helped stuff information into the bags we were giving away. We gave away coupon books to those who signed up for email updates. She thought the most important thing at the event was the amazing display that was put together by the Water Department. She thought it would be great to have it at the Expo. Shrikhande said Ms Stovring was giving away water saving kits and asked if there was any feedback from that. Rojas was not sure if Ms Stovring tracked feedback. Shrikhande said it would be good to get contact information from people who take the bottles so we can see if they are used. He thought the free water bottles cover both water conservation and recycling. He also suggested having a home water meter on display so we can show how to read it. He thought being able to have remote reading of the meters would help reduce water usage. B. Water Plant Recap Jester commented the tour the Commission took in November was very interesting and eye opening. VI. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION A. PACE Update Olson said at the request of the City manager Jeremy Kahlen and he presented to the Chamber's Governmental Affairs Committee to gauge interest in the program CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 6 by the local business community. They spoke with Dave Lindahl after the meeting who didn't have much to say about the overall reaction of the committee to their presentation. The feedback from Mr. Lindahl with regard to City staff was to look for opportunities to operate jointly with other communities that are considering the program. Rojas said staff has a number of different angles of interest and are in a "wait and see" approach, according to her conversations with the Finance Department and the City Manager. They want to see what Edina is doing with it. She noted staff is curious about the administrative costs of the program and is concerned about going to a third party bank for financing. There is interest in looking at possible legislative changes that would allow a county to oversee the PACE program so the program is more uniform. Olson said at this point it is wait and see. He proposed the Commission be ready to support the efforts when the City and staff is ready to take steps about the program. He thought the Commission has done everything we can do. Jester agreed with Mr. Olson and thanked him for gathering the information and resources. Rojas noted Mr. Olson simplified the program for staff and made it easy to understand. B. LRT Community Advisory Commission Update Jester said she was not sure if the LRT Commission has met since our October meeting. The City held a workshop for everyone serving on one of the LRT commissions to help them understand the City's position on some of the issues. Rojas noted the comment period for the DEIS has been extended. Jester asked if Ms Bettison had any comments. Rojas said she was not sure,but any individual can comment on the DEIS before December 31. The City sent in a comment letter and the City Council passed a resolution about it. The final version of the letter had ten topics followed by detailed items. She will send out the final copy to the Commission. C. Master Recycling and Composting Update Shrikhande said he spent about six sessions learning about being a Master Recycler and Composter. They are trying to educate some people who could do community outreach and help with projects for recycling and composting. In the sessions they listened to speakers about recycling and learned what the haulers are doing and what Hennepin County is trying to do. They want people to help coordinate zero waste events and will provide all the recycling equipment for free. The sessions are designed to build a pool of volunteers who are required to do 30 hours of community education as payback for the free sessions. He will send Commission members a link to the program. He suggested we have one of the CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 7 City events as a zero waste event. Jester suggested the Fourth of July event or Schooner Days. Shrikhande said we would develop strategies to reduce waste, keep track of how it worked, and see how effective it was. Some zero waste events take a year of planning about what types of food will be served and what kinds of things will be given away. Jester said it sounds like a really neat program and thanked Mr. Shrikhande for attending the sessions. Jester suggested we have some recycling education at the community clean up event. Rotschafer thought it would be hard to place it in the large parking lot where the event is held. VII. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS Stoltz asked where the LRT line will go through Eden Prairie. Rojas said the City did not support the proposed route that went on the light rail corridor because that would go through people's backyards. We also wanted it to serve the Eden Prairie Center and the Golden Triangle area where many businesses are located. Jester asked if the Tree Huggers Club has been doing anything. Stoltz said there was a clean-up event but she is not a member of the club. VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. Ideas for Home and Garden Expo Jester said the Commission will have two booths at the event that will be held on March 16. She suggested we talk with Ms Stovring about where the water display used at the open house could go. At past events we have focused on storm water model and recycling. Shrikhande said the Girl Scouts could talk about their water journal. Jester thought they could help describe how the storm water table works. Shrikhande said the water kits would be helpful, especially if we could get feedback on it. Brown thought the storm water display is good because both kids and parents learn something from it. We could have information about the water treatment plant as well. Stoltz suggested showing how much water is used for such things as a slip and slide. Jester said the main audience at the Expo is adults, and the focus is remodeling or gardening. She thought we should check to see if we have money for bags since those are very popular. Shrikhande suggested giving out the water bottles and getting recycling and composting displays from Hennepin County. Olson was concerned about how much space those displays would take. Jester CONSERVATION COMMISSION December 11, 2012 Page 8 thought it would be a great idea if it would fit. Shrikhande said he has some information and will send a picture of the display. IX. CONTINUING BUSINESS A. GreenStep Cities Program Rojas said she will add the Blue Star award to the list of best practices. Jester suggested the Commission get an update on where we are with GreenStep early next year. B. Comunication Stratesies--Website,Life in the Prairie, Facebook, etc. Rojas said the Communication Department has begun weekly updates for Living Green on the Facebook page. She suggested the Commission send ideas for the weekly updates. X. INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS/HANDOUTS A. Upcoming City Projects and Development--Project Profile Rojas said Riley Views is a new project that requested waivers. They are dedicating right-of-way for Pioneer Trail improvements and two outlots for wetlands and the creek corridor. They incorporated infiltration basins into the project. XI. UPCOMING EVENTS A. Chamber of Commerce Home and Garden Expo--Saturday, March 16, 2013 (9 AM-3 PM) XII. NEXT MEETING--January 8, 2013 XIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Olson moved, seconded by Brown, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 4-0. Chair Jester adjourned the meeting at 8:40 PM.