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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025/11/05 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - Regular Official minutes Environment & sustainability commission St. Louis Park, Minnesota 11/5/2025 1. Call to order – 6:30 p.m. 1a. Roll call Members present: Chair Jessie Hendrix, Shaina Ashare, Marisa Bayer, Ryan Griffin, Ethan Kehrberg, Avital Krebs, Avery Kuehl, Adam Oien, Sasha Shahidi, Natalie Wagner Absent: Tatiana Giraldo, Kati Helseth, Vice Chair Bennett Myhran Guests: Sylvie Hyman, Planning Commission member; Benjamin Lester, Minneapolis resident Staff present: Emily Ziring, sustainability manager 2. Approval of minutes – Oct. 7, 2025 – The minutes were approved unanimously as presented with 1 abstention. 3. Business a. Presentations – none. b. New business - Human Rights Commission (HRC) collaboration Chair Hendrix said she attended the last HRC meeting and noted that if the ESC has ideas about collaboration, now is the time to express those. Chair Hendrix added that the ESC is invited to attend at any time, and one item of interest is nominations for the Human Rights Award. Chair Hendrix noted the HRC is developing practical resources for the community resources section of the city website and flyers to go with them, and they are involved in the Vision 4.0 process. Chair Hendrix noted the HRC is starting to think about their 2026 workplan, and how they can be involved in race, equity, and inclusion, as well as a book club for community engagement. When asked about environmental justice, Chair Hendrix noted the HRC stated they thought the ESC was working on that. Chair Hendrix added that there does not seem to be any crossover with events this year with ESC and HRC, except for possibly the book club. Commissioner Shahidi asked whether there is a way to maintain ongoing communication with ESC and HRC, and to receive input from commission members. Chair Hendrix stated not at this time, but the chairs could communicate or subscribe to the HRC agendas on the city website. Environmental & Sustainability Commission Nov 5, 2025 Commissioner Shahidi stated that going forward, it would be helpful to communicate on a regular basis with HRC members. Commissioner Oien asked about the 2,000 survey responses for Vision 4.0 and if there was any insight into the results. Ms. Ziring stated the consultant will compile all results on Vision 4.0, drawing out themes for the council so they can decide strategic priorities for the next 20 years. Commissioner Shahidi asked if Ms. Ziring is collaborating on the community resources pages, noting that rebate programs are not listed. Ms. Ziring stated these links are intended to be emergency community resources. - Climate impacts of water use Ms. Ziring presented data and research compiled by staff related to water and climate while the ESC discussed the results to generate ideas for the 2026 ESC work plan. Commissioner Shahidi stated that when using AI, something to think about over time is that it will likely cost more and more to use AI chat and search services. Commissioner Kehrberg stated that with AI, if a basic question is put in, 20-30 times more energy is needed to generate the answer vs. using a regular search. Commissioner Griffin stated some of these facts are questionable, though. Commissioner Kuehl also noted that using Alexa or Siri, which have been around a long time, may present similar energy intensity concerns. Commissioner Griffin noted that there needs to be a system change with AI, and most data center developers want to use renewable energy. - 2026 ESC workplan Chair Hendrix stated that starting next month, the ESC will review how the commission communicates with the council and will start brainstorming ideas for the 2026 work plan. Ms. Ziring stated the 2026 draft workplan will likely go before council in May or June when the ESC has their annual meeting, and once additional items are added from council and more direction is given the ESC can refine the workplan and send it for council approval. Ms. Ziring stated that December’s ESC meeting will be a refresher about how city policy gets made and the tools commissions have to communicate with council, as well as an overview of what makes a workplan item. Environmental & Sustainability Commission Nov 5, 2025 c. Unfinished business - none. 4. Staff updates Ms. Ziring updated the commission on the following items:  Awarded an EPA Thriving Communities grant to do outreach work at Aquila and Texa- Tonka about climate resilience  MPCA released 3 different grants for climate and staff is looking at the RFPs to see what they can apply for  Climate Action Plan amendment work  Electrify Everything MN - a workshop at the Lenox Center, Nov 13th at 6 p.m. – registration is free. This will be a deeper dive into electrification, and lists of contractors will be shared  Climate Champions applications  Presented the M.V. Tree Award winner 5. Work plan update a. CAP update - Ms. Ziring presented draft renewable energy midterm strategies for the ongoing climate action plan work. Goal 5: to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2030 – feedback was gathered from the commissioners related to green power purchasing, rooftop solar adoption strategies, and carbon-free v. renewable electricity. Comments from commissioners: Commissioner Bayer stated that with the tariff changes, savings are reduced with community solar programs. Commissioner Griffin noted that these strategies are the most influential and have a big climate impact, adding that those who are privileged should be paying to get to 100% renewable. He also recommended keeping the 10% rooftop solar goal in the strategies. Commissioner Bayer asked how much capacity is left in Renewable Connect and if there is a cap. Commissioner Ashare stated that if there is an environmental justice concern around requiring 100% residential renewable energy subscriptions, a criteria for only those households above a certain area median income could be used rather than 100% of all residents. Ms. Ziring also noted that it is difficult to get commercial businesses to agree to do rooftop solar, particularly if they are large corporations or property owners with Environmental & Sustainability Commission Nov 5, 2025 headquarters outside of Minnesota. She stated she reached out to various cities in the metro to ask what they are doing for goals and it was suggested that they look at how much net metered in boundary or rooftop solar would be needed to close the carbon- free electricity gap between 80-100% and then install backup batteries wherever possible. Ms. Ziring stated she is not sure what to do with this goal at 10 or 20% given the challenges with commercial rooftop solar adoption. Commissioner Shahidi stated businesses need to be reminded many, many more times about these programs and suggested staff ask solar contractors to reach out more to businesses rather than having staff make all the calls to businesses. Commissioner Bayer stated she agrees with keeping this goal in and asked whether the costs should be known to council as the cost of funding the goals of the climate action plan. She added wording should be changed to “carbon-free” electricity vs. “renewable” electricity. The rest of the commission indicated agreement. Commissioner Shahidi added that incentives would need to be used to get businesses to do rooftop solar. b. Events – Scavenger Hunt – Commissioner Shahidi reported that one person participated in this event, but it was not a failure. Commissioner Shahidi noted it could have been a timing issue, and there are ways this can be regenerated next year, adding that the event could be longer than one month next time. c. Curbside organics – none. d. Value of trees – Ms. Ziring noted she attended a biochar kiln demonstration at Westwood Hills Nature Center. Ms. Ziring stated that the city’s brush site used to accept wood chips, but the costs have increased they are looking at biochar as an alternative to destroying wood waste. Commissioner Griffin pointed out, however, that the biocarbon emits into the air. 6. Sustainability discussion – group share out a. News and issues – Commissioner Shahidi stated the comment period has opened for greenhouse gas proposed emissions standards and anyone can weigh in. b. Kudos – Commissioner Shahidi to Ms. Rabine for doing the water research. 7. Items to discuss at a future meeting Environmental & Sustainability Commission Nov 5, 2025 - December meeting cookie swap – a sign-up sheet will be distributed. - Commissioner Griffin asked if the December event is in place of the retreat. Ms. Ziring stated that there will be no more retreats as other commissions are able to create their annual workplans without needing a retreat. She added that the ESC will be able to do so over the course of a few months of meetings. Commissioner Griffin stated he does not agree with this, adding that the work plan is better worked on during a retreat because it provides more time than a monthly meeting. 8. Upcoming/proposed events - Nov. 13, 6-8 p.m.: Electrify Everything workshop at Lenox Community Center – Ms. Ziring stated there is much to be gained from attending the workshop and learning about saving energy and costs and encouraged everyone to attend. - Dec. 3, 2025: December ESC monthly meeting 9. Adjournment - 8:02 p.m. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Emily Ziring, liaison Jessie Hendrix, chair member