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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021/09/01 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - Regular Official minutes Environment & sustainability commission St. Louis Park, Minnesota 9/1/2021 1. Call to order 1a. Roll call Members present: Chair Marisa Bayer, Tatiana Giraldo, JD Moore, Sasha Shahidi, Holly Johnson, Ryan Griffin, Andrew Willette Members absent: Shaina Ashare, Paige Kane, Dave Wilsey, Eric Zweber Staff present: Emily Ziring, Sustainability Manager; Annie Pottorff, Sustainability Specialist Guests: none The ESC members introduced themselves. 3. Approval of minutes- Aug. 4, 2021 – The minutes were unanimously approved as presented with two abstentions (Commissioners Willette and Johnson abstained; Commissioner Griffin was not present during the vote). 4. Business a. Review and discuss Green Building Policy revisions Ms. Ziring stated she incorporated the changes and comments from the ESC members that she received. She noted it is still in draft form and will go to the city council in October, adding there is still time for changes. She noted changes on a high level and presented those to the commission. She stated if the commission has more questions or comments to email her directly. She would like the commission to vote on the draft at the October ESC meeting. Next steps will be to keep editing the draft and the materials, then prepare the report for city council presentation in October or November depending on the Hennepin County Efficient Building Collaborative RFP. b. Review and discuss recommendations from Environmental Justice report to council Chair Bayer reviewed the midterm actions recommendations from the May report with the commission. Commissioner Shahidi asked about adding information to the report that protects people and that’s proactive and related to affordable housing and rental properties. She stated this would be her priority. She asked if there has been a study or survey conducted with community partners regarding affordable housing. Ms. Ziring stated Ms. Pottorff does engage the schools, STEP, and other partners in the community for feedback. Ms. Pottorff stated she will continue to do this work within Environment & sustainability commission meeting Sept. 1, 2021 the city. Ms. Ziring added staff is working closely with the new Race Equity Manager on these initiatives as well. Commissioner Moore asked if other cities have passed ordinances around energy disclosures. Ms. Ziring stated Minneapolis does this and Bloomington is looking into it. She added that Minneapolis’s Truth in Sale of Housing program works very differently from St. Louis Park’s Point of Sale program and that the Minneapolis energy disclosure program could not simply be replicated. Chair Bayer mentioned that the Minneapolis ordinance was considered controversial when it was passed a few years ago. Commissioner Shahidi asked if new homeowners in Minneapolis can access their energy report. Ms. Ziring stated yes, this information is available for new homeowners and is public. Chair Bayer added in Minneapolis this information is available and it’s valuable for homeowners to understand their costs on energy bills and what improvements might be needed in their homes. Commissioner Shahidi asked about how this addresses the lowest income folks who are typically renters. Ms. Ziring stated this depends on the programs. Commissioner Griffin asked if programs that require utility bill disclosure by landlords have been done. Chair Bayer said that energy data is considered private. The ESC discussed developing a work group to further discuss this and come back with more recommendations to the commission at a later date. Chair Bayer will send an email follow up to the work group. c. Climate emergency Ms. Ziring noted this topic came up as a future city council study session topic. She noted the proposal written by Councilmembers Kraft and Rog. The mayor asked staff to look at Minneapolis and Duluth which have already declared climate emergencies. Commissioner Willette stated he agrees there is an emergency but he is not sure the city is prepared to ask residents to take action on anything in particular. He asked if there is nothing meaningful for the average person to do, then what is the point. Commissioner Shahidi agreed and stated a climate emergency needs to have a purpose. She asked what would we do with this emergency status, and she is interested in hearing more about the “so what” part. Commissioner Moore agreed. Commissioner Giraldo agreed there is a climate emergency. She stated the city needs to be prepared and needs to make sure schools and others have an emergency plan in place. She stated that the declaration should be paired with some emergency preparedness recommendations. Environment & sustainability commission meeting Sept. 1, 2021 Commissioner Johnson added Park Nicollet is already doing amazing things around sustainability, so declaring an emergency may encourage more businesses to take action. Commissioner Griffin stated he supports this, adding that the city is behind and there needs to be action engaging residents. It should be top of mind for every decision council makes. He added there should be an ask from both the council and the community since we are all in this together. Chair Bayer agreed with all the comments and added that if there is a call to action, there does need to be a plan in place to actively do something. She noted there is a lot of work being done by staff right now, plus the creation of climate investment fund will advance the work. Chair Bayer added she likes the idea of a package of things that can be presented to help mitigate the climate emergency. The reduction in city speed limits and an idling policy and more restrictive watering policies are all ideas that could be included in the ask of the community for a climate emergency. She added that given the first of the ESC’s recommended midterm actions around environmental justice, it is important that council talk to the people most negatively impacted by climate change before making the emergency declaration. Commissioner Griffin added it would be helpful for the commission to have actions in place and ready to go when asked for information by the city council. He added sending the city council a letter of recommendation or report from the ESC might also be helpful, paired with a community directive and council action. Ms. Ziring stated that a few avenues can be pursued. A report can be drafted by staff, with or without a letter from the ESC; a letter from the ESC can also be shared with council on its own. However, at this point she is waiting for direction from the city manager before deciding next steps. 5. Staff updates Ms. Ziring and Ms. Pottorff gave the following updates: - Wrapping up green building policy edits and working with consultant on cost analysis - Working on climate investment fund budget for all cost sharing programs - Working with rec center manager on an energy study, looking at how to bring down greenhouse gas emissions and pair retrofits with a new solar installation next spring - Doing research on equity data sets; will use Met Council’s new data set and will put into a new map for internal and public use. Likely roll-out this fall. - Greenhouse gas emissions progress report – using 2015 as baseline year, where are we now and what are causes, will present to council in November. - CERTs seed grants available now and meeting with staff to discuss ideas and will let ESC know what will be applied for. 6. Workgroup and/or project updates – none Environment & sustainability commission meeting Sept. 1, 2021 7. Environmental Justice open discussion – none 8. Upcoming/proposed events - Twin Cities Film Festival and commission involvement – the festival will take place Oct 21-30 and will screen two films related to sustainability. If done in person, 140 tickets will be available. Ms. Pottorff is looking for commission volunteers to be on a 2-3 person panel discussion, help inform panel direction with questions and themes, tabling, virtual screening pre-recorded Q & A participation and general promotion of the event. It is a free event. Commissioner Johnson stated she is interested but may be out of town and will be in touch if she is able to be involved. Commissioner Willette suggested having a student on the panel would be great. Ms. Pottorff stated she is planning to reach out to youth activists in the community to be involved being that there are no youth on the ESC at this time. Ms. Pottorff asked if anyone would be interested in forming a work group to work with HRC on this. Two ESC commissioners noted their interest. - National Drive Electric Week – dates are Sept. 25 – Oct. 3. Social media posts and newsletters will be sent out, and Ms. Pottorff is working on engagement now for this event. Will have testimonials of electric vehicle owners on social media. Commissioner Griffin stated he could do a video of electric gardening equipment as well. - Energy Efficiency Day is Oct. 6 – social media and a newsletter will be sent out announcing the city covering the full cost of a Home Energy Squad visit for residents who are at 60-80% AMI. 9. Adjournment - 8:25 p.m. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Emily Ziring, liaison Marisa Bayer, chair member