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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/03/01 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA March 1, 2017 Community Room, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Francie Abramson, Terry Gips, Julie Rappaport, Nancy Rose, Judy Voigt EXCUSED ABSENCE: Ryan Griffin, Jayne Stephenson, Chris Anderson STAFF PRESENT: Shannon Pinc, Deb Heiser and Recording Secretary (Ms. Pappas). GUESTS: University of MN students to view Living Streets Policy presentation, • Annika Hempel • John Osborne • Cullen Williams-Freier • Sabrina Cynova • Holly Check Sue Bloyer, (BOZA member) - interested in being a commissioner on ESC. She noted she has participated in the county master recycler program, and is interested in solar energy. She works for Xcel Energy also. Chair Abramson will add Sue to the Energy Work Group. 1. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair Abramson and the commissioners and staff introduced themselves. Chair Abramson noted she will be moving to Ann Arbor, MI this spring, and this will be her last commission meeting. 2. The minutes of the February 1, 2017 meeting were approved unanimously with changes. 3. Business a. Project Team Updates Chair Abramson stated the Visioning process will continue until May 1 st, and noted there will be several events that the commission can participate in. She added she will send an email on this to the whole commission. Julie and Terry noted they had attended the facilitator session. They asked why only racial equity was part of the process when other topics of equity are equally important, and added that there are no questions that ask people what is their vision for the future of St. Louis Park. Julie noted the email from the Friends of the Arts related to visioning, and stated the commission should do something similar with sustainability questions. She added that Next Door had presented a survey question recently as well. Additionally, Julie noted the police department’s outreach office will help get facilitators to the groups they need to meet. Environment and Sustainability -2- March 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Terry added he would like to see the commission do some visioning of their own at the next meeting, and share their vision of the future of St. Louis Park, in order to incorporate that into the city vision. b. Other announcement/elections – with Chair Abramson leaving the commission, Ryan Griffin has agreed to take on the position of Chair beginning at the April 2017 meeting. His election as well as that of a vice chair will be formalized at the April 2017 meeting. Shannon will ask the city clerk if any additional applications have come in for commission members and report back to the group in April. Terry asked if middle school students are allowed to be commission members. Shannon stated the bylaws say high school age students are allowed on the commission. Terry asked if Shannon could talk to City Manager, Tom Harmening, about changing the bylaws to allow middle schoolers to be on the commission. The commission discussed this issue. Terry added the commission is missing out in not have middle school students’ participation. The commissioners also asked why they are we not attracting this age group to the commission. Chair Abramson noted community solar garden, work topics and commission membership, recruiting and retaining members as topic to be brought up to the council. She will write up a proposal. Chair Abramson added it would be helpful to have potential commissioners meet with the commission as well, before meeting with the council to discuss membership. Terry added we need to do a better job of outreach and to increase diversity on the commission. He added the council is looking at diversity, including geographic, by ward diversity, for all of the commissions. Nancy noted this should be for all commissioners and alternates as well, noting this is what the Bass Creek Neighborhood Association does. Chair Abramson stated the Monday presentation to the council went well. She added other commissions are having the same issues as the ESC as it relates to members. She added also that many of the boards and commissions have similar programs and should be able to combine efforts and work together on projects. As an example, she noted the Parks and Recreation creek clean-up day is an event the ESC can at least publicize on their website. Terry noted that Chair Abramson’s presentation to the council was very good. Nancy and Judy agreed. Terry said Chair Abramson presented great slides and presented the commission as overcoming the past while giving a vision of the future. Terry stated Chair Abramson answered questions of the council and even Environment and Sustainability -3- March 1, 2017 Commission Meeting mentioned the controversial items, but in a nice way, adding the council knew the commission had done the work they want us to do. Terry added the ESC is a star commission for St. Louis Park and Chair Abramson did a great job of presenting this. He added he thought the council was happy. Terry also noted the council asked if the ESC is working with planning commission at all, and that Shannon would coordinate that if it is to occur. He added it would be helpful for the ESC to present to each of the other commissions on what sustainability is. Julie asked if Shannon could set up a collaborative meeting with the planning commission as meeting times overlap. Shannon said that was possible. Nancy noted the St. Louis Park website and the ESC pages, and stated pages are moving around and Green Steps is under Natural Resources now. Shannon pointed out the city is working on the website and after it is cleaned up, things will move again in order to have better landing pages and be organized in a smarter way. She added the website is long overdue a new platform. Chair Abramson thanked Shannon for getting last year’s meeting minutes on the website, and asked also if she could add the annual report from 2016 as well, and a video link. Shannon stated she will do this after the new website is up and running. Terry made a motion to have Shannon ask Tom Harmening to review the inclusion of middle school students as commissioners on all commissions. The motion was seconded by Julie. After discussion, a friendly amendment was added by Julie, that there is a need to make a stronger case for the ESC to have more voices on the commission and to ensure all membership vacancies are filled. The motion passed unanimously. Shannon stated the guest students are working on developing questions with businesses in St. Louis Park, and doing a case study on barriers and incentives to participating in energy efficiency and/or renewable projects. c. Living Streets Policy presentation – Deb Heiser, Engineering Director presented to the commission as well as the visiting group of U of M Students who are in a sustainable capstone class at the University. Ms. Heiser noted the process developed over the past year by the city engineering staff in putting the policy together. Ms. Heiser stated the Living Streets policy notes that streets are not just there for bikes, cars, pedestrians, but that people live on streets and the right of way is one of the largest pieces of land in our city, used for public purposes. She added it is about the neighborhood, safety, and security of the street. Environment and Sustainability -4- March 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Ms. Heiser stated in the past, streets were used mostly for utilities, traffic, and cars. In the future, Living Streets will help to return balance to the streets and make them for traffic, utilities, bikes and pedestrians. Ms. Heiser added that Living Streets build community and room for safe walking and biking and to allow children to be active. Ms. Heiser added they improve public health, trees, co2, safety, beauty, and create a sense of community. Additionally, Ms. Heiser noted that Living Streets also refer to water quality of lakes, streams, wetlands, and the improvement of air quality, reducing urban heat island affects, and reducing raw material and energy used for construction projects. Along with this, practical features of saving money and materials are evident in the long term. Ms. Heiser stated the Living Streets policy also introduces street narrowing and trees, which make roads safer for pedestrians to cross, and help to reduce vehicle speeds on a corridor. Ms. Heiser noted all projects with bikeways or trails were discussed and presented to the city council for review and approval. This is part of the process now, and all new transportation projects must be approved by the council. Likewise, the introduction of rain gardens and infiltration trenches, help with stormwater management on the corridor. She added the improvement of the aesthetics along streets, as well as ensuring cost effectiveness have become important parts of the policy also. Ms. Heiser noted she has worked with Shannon and the commission on the draft policy, and the council will review this in the March 27th study session and then potentially approve the policy on April 6th. Julie asked about the planting of native plants, noting she did not see anything in the policy on this and wondered if it will be considered. Ms. Heiser stated the city forester selects all the plants to be installed, and Chair Abramson stated with the city forester’s knowledge and expertise, she assumes native plants will be included. Judy pointed out the yellow arrows being used with signals as part of clean air for Green Steps cities. Terry thanked Ms. Heiser and the engineering staff for this huge undertaking, noting this is a very significant step forward, in terms of what we are about. He thanked her for asking for the commissions input. Terry stated if there is any citizen opposition to the policy, staff can go back to the benefits and cost-savings, and show how home values will increase over time with the use of trees, and aesthetically pleasing designs. He added there are studies that have been conducted on this as well. Environment and Sustainability -5- March 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Terry added he would like this policy to be part of the visioning process for the future of St. Louis Park, adding this would be powerful. He also stated there should be a dark sky compliant part to the policy related to lighting, for seeing the stars and for birds and other wildlife as well. Terry stated the traffic light timing and circles for livability should be included, and that while it is hard to navigate traffic circles with bikes and pedestrians, they do slow down traffic, however take up more green space, so he is not sure of the tradeoff here. Terry also noted the aesthetics aspect and asked about the possibility of an advisory group of architects and landscape architects from St. Louis Park, who might give their opinion, input on new ideas, on a volunteer basis related to this. Terry asked Ms. Heiser to address how she sees the proposed policy relative to others, and the most advanced living streets policies. He asked how this policy compares, and what her greatest concerns on implementation are. Ms. Heiser stated the visioning section was developed with input from the public during the 2007 visioning process, and has had months and years of public vetting. She added staff will now be asking the city council about this policy. Nancy added the National Coalition of Complete Streets rates all of the policies around the country, and St. Louis Park should be should be mindful of what they have done as well. Ms. Heiser pointed out the Living Street policy is an administrative policy, which has been based on Edina’s and Maplewood’s and with a lot of work into it. She stated it is a much more straightforward policy than others she has reviewed. She added it is dark sky compliant, and suggested if the commission members have additional suggestions, to please send them to staff in writing. Ms. Heiser added staff is being pushed on this implementation, and they are up to the challenge. She added the greatest concern is the public and the bottom line is not everyone wants this, adding that staff has received many emails on this topic. Terry noted however, unless staff and the council push this, it will not happen, adding we need more engagement and connection around the policy. Julie noted Minneapolis put bike lanes on streets that are not as busy with traffic, such as on Bryant Avenue. She asked if the city has looked into utilizing another street, and not Texas Avenue, for bike lanes. Environment and Sustainability -6- March 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Ms. Heiser stated this is looked at on a case by case basis. Bikes are allowed on every street in the city, and all users are accommodated, while the streets need to be made as safe as possible. She pointed out St. Louis Park has no north-south streets that go all the way through, and with lights, so it is a different situation than Minneapolis. Chair Abramson stated if commissioners have further comments and suggestions to please email them to Shannon. Terry acknowledged Chair Abramson for her leadership and work with the commission, and thanked her for her help to organize them. The commissioners all agreed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.