Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/12/06 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA December 6, 2017 Community Room – 1st Floor, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ryan Griffin, Stefan Collinet, Susan Bloyer, Claire Lukens, Bridget Rathsack, Keir Stiegler, Nicole Ciulla, and Julie Rappaport EXCUSED ABSENCE: Terry Gips STAFF PRESENT: Shannon Pinc, ESC Coordinator GUESTS: Meg McMonigal, Lukas Wrede, Katie Christiansen, Jennifer Lewis, DeeDee Edlund, Larry Edlund, and Paul Densmore 1. The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. by Chair Griffin. 2. Roll Call and Check-in by Chair Griffin and the Commissioners introduced themselves. 3. Business a. Approve November 1, 2017 Minutes Shannon presented the November 1, 2017 Minutes with highlighted changes/additions via overhead. The proposed changes were discussed and reviewed by the Commission for approval. She explained she will be purchasing a digital recorder to record the meetings going forward, as there is no longer a recording secretary available to record Minutes for the time being. Chair Griffin made a motion to approve the November 1, 2017 Minutes with modifications. Commissioner Rappaport seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. a. Review Youth Letter for CAP Chair Griffin explained that St. Louis Park has a Climate Action Plan being assembled with the assistance of Great Plains Institute and St. Louis Park has been invited to write an introductory letter as well as high school students in the community from the Roots and Shoots group. Shannon passed out copies for review. Commisioner Ciulla was impressed with the school’s background and involvement. Discussion was had for minor changes. Chair Ryan made a motion to approve this letter with minor changes. Commissioner Rappaport seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Chair Ryan then asked all to make introductions, as more people arrived late due to the weather. He then asked to take a moment to hear the background from the guests. Paul Densmore began by stating he worked with Sean Gosiewski at the Alliance for Sustainability and first formed a team about one year ago to try to get resiliency into the Comprehensive Plan and from there looked at other options and Environment and Sustainability -2- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting heard about St. Louis Park’s ESC and desired to begin a sustainability commission as well. One of their sustainability members is forming a resolution in support of this development and are here to see what is being done and what has worked and obtain any wisdom they can acquire. Chair Griffin stated that this commission was formed in 2013 and has had a lot of success, with the City Council being very supportive, with two of the sustainability members on the 2018 City Council. He explained the biggest challenge is how to prioritize goals with a volunteer group and determining how to fit in with the City Council, as well as how to create policies. He reported that over the years, the goal has been to focus on the most impactful and try to keep two or three main things going at any given time and be successful at those, as opposed to taking on multiple issues. He stated one of the big focus this past year has been being part of the Xcel Partners in Energy program and from that came generating the Climate Action Plan (CAP) with the help of youth members from the community to help advance the plan and get it in front of the City Council who may be the future drivers. Mr. Densmore stated in trying to convince the City Council and Mayor, he was hoping to come up with some very quantitative actions that other sustainability commissions have successfully implemented that have had monetary savings attached to it and share successes from that perspective. Chair Griffin shared that in 2015, there was the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy, but could not quote the actual dollar savings that entailed, but are still working through what that is actually doing. He added this was purely derived from this commission, as well as B3 Benchmarking, where the police station was assessed and audited. Shannon stated most of the findings for improvement have happened or are in the middle of being implemented with the exception of boiler replacement, as this will be done when monies are available. Chair Griffin reported the city’s Facilities group were fully aware of efficiency-type projects and the conversion to LED streetlights was already happening as well as building efficiency upgrades were happening, so they did not require much of a push from the Commission. He reported the shift he has seen in the last 3-1/2 years since he has been with Commission, is that the Climate Action Plan references the entire city, including all sectors; residential, commercial, and industrial and in looking at municipal buildings that involves only 1-2% of total energy use; the same for waste and everything else, so really looking at how to measure the whole city and leveraging regional indicators initiative to measure emissions, and we have a fairly good solid waste program, so we haven’t had to delve much into that as a Commission. A formal recommendation was made with regard to pass a Plastic Bag ban which many commissioners supported, but made a recommendation against it because it wasn’t the best use of city resources, which had negligible impacts either way as compared to things like an organics program or renewables, efficiency, climate action, and those are the areas we wanted to focus our efforts. It was stated the implementation side is what becomes the challenge. Shannon stated there are two solar arrays to be completed before the end of this month, one on the Fire Station 2 is done, and on the Municipal Service Center may be happening this week. The first project was completed by hiring a design firm to advise what was needed, then purchasing panels outright, and hiring installation. She reported that the City Hall and Police Dept Campus is powered by 100% Renewable Electricity through the Renewable Connect Program that Xcel Energy offers, and may try to slip in one more building before the slots are gone, noting the City of Minneapolis took up quite a chunk of available options. Chair Griffin reported that Lukas and Katie Environment and Sustainability -3- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting are leading the Wind Source Campaign, which was done in the spring as part of the Partners in Energy, but there is another about to kick-off by the youth group. Chair Griffin reported that for a city of about 48,000 residents, there were about 500 subscribers and we like to think of St. Louis Park as a very progressive city and city government, about one million five hundred people signed up for $3 per month, and that you cannot count on national support for Climate Action, and state support is questionable, but we can really do this at the city level, starting with awareness and education. Commissioner Ciulla suggested checking into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that published a book on Cities and Climate Change with a whole chapter on the Economic Benefits of Climate Action on the city level which may be helpful for crunching numbers. Claire suggested a no-cost option for households with Organic Waste Recycling which is currently upwards of 40%, which began as a city-driven project. Jennifer Lewis with the Social Justice Environmental Group was introduced. She asked if there was a distinction between commercial and multi-family properties and is the subsidy that was referred to a county subsidy? Chair Ryan answered no one was in attendance that was an expert on the solid waste side and has not been a focus area of the commission itself, as the city had already been making very good progress on organics and recycling many years back, so was unable to answer any specifics. Julie stated they had extended to multi-family residents with a drop-off site for organics and has gone beyond single family, they piloted a new program this year for drop off sites, as well looking at having trucks come to the actual apartment complexes. Shannon reported they are currently working through the challenges being posed and are in the middle of contracts. She stated there is interest in expanding into the business community down the road, but did not know if that is going to be yet this year or next year, and noted that Emily Barker or Kala Fisher would be the contacts from the solid waste team. Chair Ryan reported that one of the biggest opportunities is doing a 10-Year Comprehensive Plan Cycle to ensure that sustainability is thoroughly imbedded as that sets the course. He reviewed the 2017-2018 focus areas: 1) Draft the Climate Action Plan; 2) Continue Partners in Energy efforts with Xcel; 3) Getting the youth engaged; 4) Comprehensive Plan. He reported one of the things he has learned is they started with energy, then moved to climate, and are now thinking they should have started with a broader sustainability action plan because energy is very n arrow, climate is a bit broader, but there is all this other stuff, so having a framework to prioritize that is the next direction to take, which will take effort and resources, and due to limited resources, we are just focusing on a few things at a time that are most critical. b. Comp Plan Discussion – Based on Homework from Meg McMonigal Shannon reported Meg had sent was a list capturing items that have been accomplished since the last Comprehensive Plan or is in current mode and the homework was to add any new items that should be included in the Comprehensive Plan which is due by the end of this Friday and will be returned to Meg for review. Then there will be a chance to work through and prioritize the list. She suggested the guests review the list stating not everything tied to what the commission has done, but is a combination of staff, the commission, and what others have begun or accomplished. Chair Ryan believed a formal recommendation of one list be compiled. Shannon stated the goal was to discuss today. Chair Griffin asked to review the spreadsheet list Bridget and Keir Environment and Sustainability -4- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting compiled from the Annual Retreat and then review the list compiled by Shannon and Meg for comparison. Chair Griffin believed 100% carbon neutrality has been fully addressed by the Climate Action Plan and all agreed nothing additional needed to be added at this time. He added that everyone should have access to walkable food; no child or person hungry, is clearly of importance and should be considered to be added onto Meg’s list. Julie announced that Meg will be attending the January 2018 meeting to discuss where we have been and where we are now and we are supposed to discuss where we are going. Bridget thought it would be beneficial to acknowledge partnership with youth as well as other partnerships in past history and to address Partners in Energy. Shannon clarified the Comprehensive Plan is built to reflect what has been done in the last ten years as a lot has happened since the last Comp Plan process. Chair Griffin asked if anyone noticed any missing items for what is currently being done or what has been done. Julie reported the partnership with SEEDS for food security and being involved at the Earth Day visionings and should be acknowledged. Shannon requested a list of partnerships they would like to see listed as things that have been done even if it has not been included on the work plan. Bridget asked if community events would be included. Chair Griffin thought that would be a broad category and did not feel that listing every event done needed to be listed. Julie brought up the Education and Action work group and the Alliance for Sustainability. Chair Ryan redirected the commission to future plans listed on the spreadsheet which was organized by category. Julie explained that the Visions, Trends, and Recommendations was derived from the recommendations of the Vision 3.0 Consultant and the Visions were derived from community conversations, the Trends are what the Consultant and City Council worked on together to determine out of the 44 top trends affecting cities across the country, they chose four applicable to St. Louis Park. The top recommendation was Environmental Stewardship, and followed with Access to Greenspace (which was originally called Climate Change and Stormwater), and explained the items in the gray area are things outside of the scope, but are recommendations that have been identified. Chair redirected them to focus on urgent and important. He identified two broad categories not currently in the Work Plan; food and transportation. Discussion was held as to the concerns under these two categories. Julie had a question with regard to the Living Streets policy, and needed clarification as to why this item had eleven points within it with three people voting this as urgent. She asked if it was urgent to be reviewed more in-depth before it was passed, or if it was urgent to pass it. Bridget stated she put this item on the list because it has already been passed. Chair Ryan explained this item has not been worked on for about a year, as it went in front of the City Council and City Council felt the initial intent had been watered down, so in February 2017, City Council directed staff to rework this item. With regard to the Resilient Cities Project list, written by Lukas, that the University of MN does with other cities and Tom had responded by stating he would look into it. With it being such a huge undertaking, it would save the City Environment and Sustainability -5- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting money as far as consulting goes, but it also cost a certain amount of money to work with the U of MN, so is that something to take a year and a half to prepare for would and asked if the ESC would create a letter of intent in 2018 or 2019. She reported the U of MN does anywhere from 10 to 30 projects and that each project is aligned with a graduate from the class that works with people and staff of the City to do studies. She felt this to be an amazing program that has been done for the last six-years and could support the sustainability action plan by having students do studies on the sewer systems that are over 70 years old in the Watershed are inspected. Chair Griffin requested that Shannon place Sustainability Action Plan first, as that was the highest which will encompass all below it. Shannon asked if there was anything on the existing list on Environmental Education with regard to grouping and the various ideas that have come up, as she wanted this captured. Julie answered it was the fourth one under the Support Living Streets Alternative Environmental Education. Shannon asked why it was just in schools, as she thought many others could benefit from this type of education in the community. Commissioner Ciulla responded that was going to be her point as well and felt that they moved in the education category many things down because they were outside of the sphere of influence within the schools, but if they start thinking about education more broadly, she thinks it pertains to a lot of goals that seems to be lacking, such as in the Climate Action Plan. Julie added that with automation and the loss of jobs that will occur, there is going to have to be a lot of new jobs in a new green industry, green technology, green solar jobs, things that people can obtain training and begin working whether there are in high school or mid-career or hobbyists to work out of their home. Commissioner Ciulla felt when you provide resources to people who do not see an issue, they fall flat, so she felt that education is important. Shannon felt that tied into an advocacy role as a commission, so looking at how to take those resources and make the case to attract the community to leverage those whether it is financial case or more than that. Commissioner Wrede argued that begins in school in many cases. Commissioner Ciulla stated that adult education is just as important. Julie felt it was important for youth to be present at community events to challenge adults. Chair Griffin thought the five items presented a good list of items to be added that are very broad and asked if there was anything else overall or feedback for Meg for the Comprehensive Plan. Chair Griffin felt that a lot has been invested in Sustainability, but still requires a lot more, like the transition to carbon-free, where a recommendation for support for implementation would be necessary. Discussion was held as to how to petition for additional staff. Chair Griffin would like to respond to Tom Harmening’s proposed work plan to execute in 2018, but in the future, there would need to be more in order not to overcommit current staff. Shannon anticipates that when the Climate Action Plan is presented, she or other staff will have to lay the foundation that more staff or resources may be needed. Discussion was held as to other avenues and resources for staffing needs. Shannon stressed the need for a more long term staffer, as opposed to an intern that would be better-suited for smaller projects. Lukas asked if the Comprehensive Plan was being written right now. Shannon answered in the affirmative and it will go to the Planning Commission in April. Chair Griffin asked if the lists could be given to Meg now before her return in January. Shannon answered the lists were due back to Meg this Friday and she will be returning in January with a consultant and asked for one hour of agenda time during the next meeting. Julie asked if Shannon could verify a meeting with the Environment and Sustainability -6- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting consultant and the Comprehensive Plan workgroup outside of the next commission meeting. Shannon answered in the affirmative and will clarify the intent for the next meeting. Chair Griffin asked Shannon to state this list as our initial draft and would like to have some discussion about what this means and would be happy to meet with you before the January meeting if needed. Stephan shared some additional ideas he would like added under Transportation and will email this to Shannon to be included. Julie shared her additional idea she would like added under the Food Security and will email this to Shannon as well. Chair Griffin made a motion to submit comments with the two friendly amendments to Meg McGonigal by Friday with the knowledge this will be discussed again in January before finalizing. Julie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. c. Other Updates/Guests Julie reported on a prior meeting with Park Nicollet regarding the Health Eating and Activity Across Lifespan for the Heal funding opportunity and explained the four parts to it: Clinical, Research, Community Resources, and Policy. She reported they will be funding Cooking Matters classes, which they have already done a couple of pilots with and really wanted to continue. They are requesting a letter of support for their grant writing for up to $20,000 to implement these classes where they will further their study they have begun, of which they presented at the U of MN and won an award on the poster on Screening For Food and Security, and have been doing a study that has gone above and beyond what staff has been able to hand out as far as numbers in the city, as they have found there is so many more people in the city that actually qualify for things that do not realize it. They utilize the free medical services at the clinics and so they have found there is a much broader number of food and security in St. Louis Park. Shannon did not know if the Commission writes letter of support for other entities to do work and is not sure if that was the role of the commission. Shannon requested more information as to the level of commitment to this project. Chair Griffin stated this was not an item on the current work plan and would need more information before starting off on a whole new initiative. Julie announced that Cooking Matters is doing an Earth Day on Tuesday, April 24, in the high school cafeteria, and the teen cooking class will be doing a cook- off with judges from City Council and the School District. d. Other Updates Chair Ryan wanted to turn the final few minutes back over to the guests to see if there was any questions, observations, or recommendations. Paul Densmore asked if they could use the Commission as a resource moving forward and get further along in the process and thanked the Commission for their time and noted this was very helpful. Paul asked about the Climate Action Plan being done with Great Plains Institute and asked how the semantics with that versus a Sustainability action. Chair Ryan explained it was first started in the wrong order beginning with an Energy Action Environment and Sustainability -7- December 6, 2017 Commission Meeting Plan with Xcel and then did the Climate Action Plan and realized the need for a broader Sustainability Action Plan that encompasses not just energy and climate, but also water waste, wildlife, urban forest, which is on the current to-do list. His recommendation would be to start with the Sustainability Action Plan first and drill down into the specifics. Shannon stated Bloomington went to great lengths by interviewing her, former commissioners, etc., with well thought-out questions prepared in advance before establishing a commission to show a lot of upfront thinking making it difficult to be refuted or dismissed. She suggested speaking with the Bloomington Commission as well. Chair Griffin requested keeping the lines of communication open to learn from eachother and Julie encouraged them to attend the interactive workshops by Sean from the Alliance for Sustainability. Chair Griffin thanked Katie for joining and invited her back again. 4. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 p.m.