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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/06/07 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA June 7, 2017 Community Room, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ryan Griffin, Jayne Stevenson, Stefan Collinet, Susan Bloyer, Claire Lukens, Bridget Rathsack, Keir Stiegler, Terry Gips, and Julie Rappaport EXCUSED ABSENCE: Nicole Ciulla STAFF PRESENT: Shannon Pinc, ESC Coordinator and Recording Secretary (Ms. Allenson) GUESTS: 1. The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. by Chair Griffin and the commissioners introduced themselves. 2. Roll Call and Check-in 3. Business a. Approve March, April and May 2017 Minutes – Shannon asked the commission to review the above noted Minutes for approval. Upon discussion, it was decided to approve March and April Minutes as submitted. Julie requested changes for the May 2017 Minutes and Shannon will submit the appropriate changes to the draft. Commissioner Rappaport made a motion to approve the March and April 2017 Minutes as submitted, and to approve the May 2017 Minutes with changes. Chair Griffin seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Shannon stated the new website will be up and running next week which will include the Commission Minutes and Agendas. Terry requested the visioning notes also be posted. Shannon agreed to post these as well. b. Recommend Support for the Climate Action Plan (CAP) - Chair Griffin stated the commission has been working on the Climate Action Plan (CAP) since the Fall of 2014, and have since hired a consultant to draft this plan. He asked the commission to take one more review and requested support to move forward with training new commission members as well as submitting plan recommendations to the City Council. Julie clarified the draft is for content review only, and is not in final form. Chair Griffin stated the CAP committee (consisting of three commissioners, three to four non-commissioner citizens, as well as input from a youth group), has had quite a bit of dialogue with the community in regard to the CAP. Shannon stated the current deadline for staff input is next Wednesday, which then may go to the consultant team. She is awaiting feedback from each department noting that City Environment and Sustainability -2- June 7, 2017, 2017 Commission Meeting Operations was the final piece added, and developed by the consultant team to give staff something to start with. She will get this in the website so people know this is upcoming and in the works. She noted there have been delays due to utility company responses. Chair Griffin presented an overhead diagram and provided a brief overview of “Business as Usual Emissions by Sector”, “Commercial/Industrial Efficiency Strategies”, “Residential Efficiency Strategies”, and ‘Decarbonization Strategies”, as a means of measuring progress and impact needs. Terry asked how much of government factored into these figures. Chair Griffin answered that 1-2% of natural gas and electricity was government involved. Chair Griffin stated the focus point is for renewable energy to reach a goal of zero emissions by 2040. He stated the big drivers are utility scale whether it be solar or wind, and to begin with electricity first. He then stated fuel efficiency be addressed by making changes to utilize public transit, walking, carpooling, etc., to shift away from gasoline. He further stated that waste was such a small component, as this was responsible for only a few percentage points and stated that in St. Louis Park, it would be unrealistic to achieve no emission status, as there will still be vehicles and natural gas, but a secondary strategy could be to plant trees in order to achieve lesser emissions. Terry asked about the effects of diet and embodied energy in goods being purchased. Chair Griffin stated this has been discussed as part of Scope Three of the CAP plan, and explained that currently there are no good ways to register these emissions. Shannon stated that CAP, derived from the CAP advisory committee, is currently in the planning stages with the consultant, and needs further clarification as to what they are after before moving forward. She is allowing more time for staff to return their input, due to other initiatives they are currently working on. Chair Griffin asked to hear staff feedback from the preliminary plan and noted that due to the ominous task before them, he quoted Larry Craft’s advice, “Work on what is possible for this year; then look where you need be and figure how to get there.” He made comment that the Paris Agreement’s goal is to achieve an 80% reduction of emissions by 2050. Julie asked Chair Griffin about the major impact food has on climate health and asked if this is being pushed hard enough, as well as addressing what may be lacking. She requested this focus be acknowledged along with Scope One and Scope Two. Shannon recommended this to be an interest in the next version of the plan beyond greenhouse gasses. Susan asked if a component of packaging is oil, which goes beyond sustainability and into emissions. Shannon also thought this could be a draft for a future version. Terry asked to identify the gap remaining to clarify what it would take to develop a plan for this. He would also be interested to review activities with Palo Alto, CA, as they strive to be the leading community for sustainability. He stated Palo Environment and Sustainability -3- June 7, 2017, 2017 Commission Meeting Alto involves 70,000 people, and it would be interesting to see their aspects and borrow from them. He noted that Gil Friend, Chief Sustainability Office of Palo Alto, could attend a meeting to speak on sustainability. Julie suggested creating some kind of community knowledge and to host a community event in order to hear their input to identify what may be able to be achieved. Stefan asked to identify other goals to work on in the future, so as not to overdo this enormous task, so as not to chase businesses away, as well being careful to those that are not convinced of the plan. Julie suggested creating incentives for businesses willing to adopt this plan. Chair Griffin made a motion recommending initial support and to look forward to staff feedback for the final version of the Climate Action Plan as a foundational component of a much more comprehensive sustainability action plan to fully achieve or go beyond net zero emissions by 2040. Terry seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Keir Stiegler abstained. Chair Griffin then encouraged all members to read through the draft and email Shannon with any questions or comments. c. Recognition of Former ESC Members - Chris Anderson, Judy Voigt, and Nancy Rose were not present for recognition. Terry continued by stating that very few people have been as dedicated to the City or worked as hard as Nancy Rose. He noted her work behind-the-scenes following the City Council to provide incredible expertise on water issues and complex issues, as well as staff follow-up. Further noting when staff was bogged down with projects, Nancy helped with the unrecognized hard work. He stated he is doing everything he can to have her included with future works and meetings and hopes all have appreciated that she has given her all. Shannon added the Step Three Green Step Cities goal had been achieved this year, thanks to Nancy and her guidance. Terry stated Judy Voigt has been a dedicated and hard-working Commissioner, who continually took on one issue after another such as Zero Waste and gratitude was expressed. He noted she is still helping with Energy as Weed Inspector, stating she is extraordinarily knowledgeable, noting her work with Living Streets. Terry acknowledged Chris Anderson, stating he was a real help sorting through many different issues with media and image in a knowledgeable way and wished they had more of his time. He gave thanks to Chris for all he gave. d. Introduction of all ESC Members – Chair Griffin welcomed new members on board and requested their encouragement of citizen participation. Round-table introductions were held with Environment and Sustainability -4- June 7, 2017, 2017 Commission Meeting each member providing a brief description about themselves, stating their hopes as members of the ESC. e. Presentation on History of ESC and Work Plan – Chair Griffin stated the History of the ESC will be presented by Nancy Rose at the August meeting. Shannon distributed paper copies of the work plan and a written version of the annual presentation and report presented to the City Council. Chair Griffin provided an overview of highlights of the 2016 annual report. He first noted the ESC’s accomplishments: The advisement to City Council on policies; Living Streets; Bring Your Own Bag policy; and Zero Percent Waste. He secondly noted fun activities of the ESC: The Organic Living Workshop; Work Day Activities; Second Harvest Festival; the Bike the Park tour; the Eco Garden tour; Compost tour; etc. Chair Griffin referenced Green Step Cities as a framework of the 29 best practices cities can use as a model to advance sustainability, stating that the ESC has just achieved Step Three of Five. He invited members to review this guiding principle. Julie added the 29 practices are used as reference steps to obtain community input and observe what other cities are doing. Chair Griffin stated since 2015, St. Louis Park is the fourth city in the state to collaborate with Xcel’s Energy Action Plan in order to reach out to business and residents. He made reference to the Comprehensive Plan, stating visioning for another plan will be released next year. Julie explained the history of the Comprehensive Plan. Chair Griffin explained that the focus areas are directed by City C ouncil and there are three core focus areas for 2016: The Energy Action Plan (which encompasses the Climate Action Plan), Green Step Cities, and the Comprehensive/Visioning Plan. f. Social Hour with all Members; Group Activity – Chair Griffin invited existing members to choose a new member to give a three- question interview. The members reconvened and each existing member briefly stated what they learned about the new commission member. Shannon passed out individual packets for each member, including a form for their contact information as well as a consent form. Terry announced the Resilient Cities Community workshop being held tomorrow at the Ridgedale Library for the West Metro area and invited new members to attend this important event, which begins with a reception from 5-6 pm, with the meeting following at 6:00pm. Chair Griffin thanked all for attending tonight’s meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m. g. Training for New Commissioners and Break-Out Time for Group Work