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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017/11/01 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA November 1, 2017 Westwood Room – 3rd Floor, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Ryan Griffin, Stefan Collinet, Susan Bloyer, Claire Lukens, Bridget Rathsack, Keir Stiegler, Terry Gips, and Julie Rappaport EXCUSED ABSENCE: Nicole Ciulla STAFF PRESENT: Meg McMonigal, Shannon Pinc, ESC Coordinator and Ms. Allenson (Recording Secretary) GUESTS: Lukas Wrede 1. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair Griffin. 2. Roll Call and Check-in by Chair Griffin. The commissioners introduced themselves. 3. Business a. Approve October Minutes Shannon presented the October 2017 Minutes with highlighted changes/additions via overhead. The proposed changes were discussed and reviewed by the Commission for approval. Commissioner Rappaport made a motion to approve the October 2017 Minutes with modifications. Commissioner Lukens seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. b. Comprehensive Plan presentation - Meg McMonigal Meg McMonigal, Principal Planner, stated she had been involved with long-range planning for 32 years around the metro area, and has been with St. Louis Park for 13-½ years doing a variety of work. She provided an overview of the Comprehensive Plan regarding the environment and its sustainability, setting long-range planning direction for the city’s future vision which helps provide day- to-day decision making. She reported the seven-county Metropolitan Council owns and operates the entire sewer system. She explained a ten-year planning cycle was created to work with cities for consistency with plans. She provided a brief overview of the required plan elements. Planner McMonigal reported that St Louis Park added the following plan elements: Vision, Livable Communities, Plan by Neighborhood, Bicycles and Pedestrians, Public Health, Connect the Park, Climate Action Planning and Resilience. She reported that the Neighborhood Planning Workshops will be held this month on the 14th, 16th, 28th, and 30th, stating postcards will be mailed to all residents with the times and locations. She reported these workshops will be held again in Spring to review the outcomes of these sessions. She explained the Environment and Sustainability -2- November 1, 2017 Commission Meeting vision process began as a big process involving many people, stating there were over 60 people trained that held 38 neighborhood meetings, involving almost 400 participants. She added that two Town Hall meetings were also held with over 35 people in attendance at each of those meetings. She reported on other activities such as “Facebook Live” meetings; Vision surveys; “Question of the Week” on Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor.com; along with several meetings around the business community reaching people not normally reachable. She reported visiting apartment complexes where residents completed. Chair Griffin asked if there was any way to include other demographics. Planner McMonigal reported that other trainers went to other communities of color. Chair Griffin asked if the results were underweighted with this demographic being under-represented in the survey. McMonigal noted that the outreach was not scientifically based, however a higher percentage of people of color were involved in Vision 3.0 than the percent in the city. Stefan stated there are statistical tools to use for that purpose. Planner McMonigal stated there were a number of outreach events held within apartment communities for residents unable to travel to City Hall. She briefly overviewed Vision 3.0’s five recommendations: 1. Develop creative housing solutions. 2. Develop future focused transit and mobility solutions. 3. Continue to lead in environmental stewardship and ensure access to green space for future generations. 4. Prepare our next generation. 5. Commit to being a leader in racial equity and inclusion. She added the City Council will discuss this further in January during their workshop. She identified key themes/lenses they will work on: livability, health, vitality, equity, resiliency, and sustainability. She stated the current plan included where we have been, where we are today, and where we are headed. She explained this presentation’s goal is to begin a conversation, and she will then return twice or more often if needed within the months of December to April for further discussion. Chair Griffin asked about the title, “2040 Comprehensive Plan Update”, as the current Comprehensive Plan is 2030. Planner McMonigal explained that a lot can change within 10-years, making it difficult to project out further. McMonigal passed out a seven-page handout on the Vision 2.0 section on Environmental Stewardship talking about initiatives in the community since the last plan update. She stated the handout was somewhat dated, but provided a pretty good idea of what the Comp Plan section executive summary looked like. She noted this does not include goals and policies, which they would like to include in the next plan. The draft outline included: Environmental Resources, Public Health, and Utilities. Commissioner Rappaport pointed out that there are goals and strategies listed in the expanded version of the full Comp Plan from Vision 2.0 in its 35-page section on Environmental Stewardship. McMonigal passed out another flyer entitled “List of Environmental Activities for Comp Plan.” She reviewed the plans/studies, programs, policies, projects, and goals and strategies related to these topics. Julie asked what areas are being studied. McMonigal explained the MPCA hired a consultant to perform the Population Vulnerability Study, and will receive the results in January. Julie asked about recycling and how often collection occurs. Shannon advised Julie to email Kala for recycling information. Planner McMonigal asked if there were Environment and Sustainability -3- November 1, 2017 Commission Meeting other items that needed to be included on this list. Terry asked for clarification from the adopted plan. Planner McMonigal stated more updates are needed as it was written 10 years ago. Terry stated he viewed this as sounding self-promoting with a tone of justification, as opposed to being factual. He thought there were many other extraordinary policy ideas that have not been discussed when compared to other progressive city’s actions. He felt this was due to restrictions regarding sustainability. Planner McMonigal felt there were ways to work with that and further noted that every goal to study and pursue will not be met. Planner McMonigal advised this list should be realistic and to create an additional list of ideas to add to the current topics of importance. Shannon suggested discussing this further during the retreat. Planner McMonigal sees St. Louis Park as a leader and advised to not try and do too much, so nothing gets done as a result. Stefan thought there was a lot of resistance with the current list. Bridget commented that since this is a list for 2040, it should be rigorous. Julie felt the need to project the possibility of future problem-solving. Chair Griffin asked what level of engagement this commission will have for the opportunity to influence the 2040 Comp Plan. Planner McMonigal advised to review and formulate a draft of strategies needing to be addressed. Chair Griffin was concerned there was nothing on the list that went past 2017 planning. Lukas agreed on expanding the current view, and he noticed a continuing trend of mentally working with goals. He suggested having a shot gun approach in creating as large a list as possible for this 2040 plan. Planner McMonigal added that more can be put into the list, but the idea is to be realistic in possible accomplishments and include additional goals and strategies. Chair Ryan commented with regard to the Energy Action Plan stating energy is too narrow and to look at climate, and that these items should be of a broader sustainability action plan. He asked if the Comp Plan served this purpose. He noted nothing was stated about water, plastic, food, etc. He suggested developing a way to communicate that. Planner McMonigal suggested a brainstorming meeting to communicate these ideas that involve other pieces of the Comp Plan. It was suggested to bring a list of topics to the next meeting. Julie suggested adding to the list that had already been started in April to gain a broader perspective. Chair Ryan stated the processes are lengthy and may not have the ability to offer a prioritized plan within that timeframe, but could provide a list of ideas. Chair Ryan asked if the City C ouncil had to weigh in on this. Planner McMonigal stated there are many items already included as to what was required, but would be a good idea to develop some sort of symbol system to connect the overlapping issues. It was asked if having a joint commission would be possible due to overlapping items involving more than one commission. Planner McMonigal stated the Planning Commission oversees overall input that goes into the plan. Bridget asked how to be helpful for what can be done today. Planner McMonigal stated this presentation was an introduction she will bring more information back to react to at the next meeting. Shannon stated her and Planner McMonigal’s goal was to use a consultant to create ideas for goals and strategies. Shannon requested having commission members bring ideas of items to review for agreement. Stefan asked if the commission could helpful in establishing a hierarchy in specific actions contained Environment and Sustainability -4- November 1, 2017 Commission Meeting in the Climate Action Plan. Planner McMonigal did not think the plan had these steps in place yet. Stefan was concerned that is the commission pushes for too many goals, it may paralyze the process. Stefan stated that his main concern was that the commission assist in getting things done. Lukas announced that Roots and Shoots is having a launch for the Climate Action Plan this month with commercial buildings and organizations. Terry stated that if the Climate Action Plan is not fully implemented and if there are too many items going forward, things may not get done. Terry asked if we are shooting ourselves in the foot by adding to the list. Planner McMonigal agreed that many things need to be done with prioritizing, strategizing and outreach. Terry asked if the City Council needs to approve the ESC’s priorities. Planner McMonigal answered that the City Council approves the plan. First the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing, and the Planning Commission would make the recommendation to the City Council. Shannon reported each goal, sub goal, etc., would not be reiterated, and that there will be a chart of each item showing timelines and teams that need to be formed to tackle them. She reported this is being developed as part of the Climate Action Plan. She stated this could be used as a visual in the future to gauge how much time is left for other items. She announced the retreat will be held on December 3rd and she will contact Planner McMonigal with the results to prepare for the next meeting she will attend. Shannon will coordinate with Planner McMonigal for this process. Chair Griffin provided feedback about Trend 3 Climate Change and the description. He requested more clarification as to the weight of this issue for the general public and why this item should be addressed. He felt it should accurately portray the significance on people’s lives, etc. Stefan cautioned that he believes that it is in the interest of the commission to temper communications in such a manner as to take into account diverse attitudes towards climate change. Some language that may motivate environmentalists may be viewed as hysteria by others. Some residents and business owners may be motivated by the cost of their utility bills, but unmoved by entreaties to lower their carbon footprint a way to not sound hysterical, and how they could add how residents will save on their bill. Julie stated resiliency should be the framework in order to bounce back from disasters. Chair Griffin advised to tentatively have Planner McMonigal back in January, and to provide her with an update of activities prior to the January meeting. Planner McMonigal was thanked for her presentation. c. Climate Action Plan i. Letter of Support & Updates Lukas reported the students were working on a one-page introductory letter that will be completed within the week. He stated that Larry Kraft provided good input. He explained the letter states “who we are and what we are going to do”, in an optimistic tone. Claire offered to assist in advising and editing. Lukas will advise Larry there are others from the ESC to assist in this letter, in order to free-up more of his time. d. Retreat Planning Environment and Sustainability -5- November 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Via overhead, Shannon presented a bullet-list of items for the retreat agenda. Chair Griffin asked Shannon to email a copy prior to the retreat. He added that due to the limited amount of time, any education of a topic should be done prior to the meeting through Shannon, or media links, etc. Terry asked if Gil Friend, Chief Sustainability Officer, could be brought here to help work through the process. He also asked if food security was a part of the agenda under the short- mid-long-term planning for 2019 and beyond. He was concerned St. Louis Park may become stuck on Green Step Cities Level 4, due to having to achieve the metrics as well as having no incentives in place. He asked if a shared consultant could be obtained to assist with the limited resources. Bridget asked if we can be clear on what the overall objective is for the retreat and volunteered to assist in helping with the meeting. Chair Griffin asked if she would help with the overall planning. Shannon asked if she would be a part of the planning meeting prior to the workshop to outline and record any changes. Claire asked if a general layout of what was done in the past could be emailed to her. Shannon gave a brief overview to see what this coming year will look like. Julie asked if Lukas has been appointed as a commissioner. Shannon stated this will occur on Monday night. Lukas was invited to the Workshop retreat and he asked if there was room for another student. Shannon stated there was opening. Lukas asked if the CAP Launch kick-off event would be ready. Shannon answered that a report may be completed by year-end. Chair Griffin stated that the approval may happen in January, and added that with April being Earth Month, that may be a good opportunity for a launch and kickoff. Lukas reported he will continue with renewable energy by 2025. e. Other updates Chair Griffin incorporated all comments for the ESC Climate Action Plan letter and submitted them to Shannon along with the other updates from Abby based on staff feedback, as well as with Abby’s input for the 100% renewable energy goal for 2025, and realized pushing it back to 2030 will still get it on the trajectory for 2040. Stefan stated this (pushing back the date for 100% renewable energy) spoke to what he has been trying to convey: due to limited resources and resistance from the community, we should not expand the scope of the commission's efforts too far beyond trying to implement the Climate Action Plan at this time, as there is a real risk that by dissipating our energies on too many issues, we may fail as a community in achieving meaningful progress. Terry asked for clarification as to the cause of resistance. Stefan clarified: that there are people that are on the same page (as the commission) and want to do good for the environment, but have limited resources. For these people, getting food on the table may be their main preoccupation; and then there are some very good people that think environmentalists are extremist and that all of these environmental concerns are based on fake news. If you ask people to sacrifice for something they don’t believe in, it will be an uphill battle. Stefan again cautioned that we must craft our communications in order to reach these people who may have legitimate concerns and may not yet believe in the necessity of action on climate change. Shannon will provide a draft of the plan via email to review. Environment and Sustainability -6- November 1, 2017 Commission Meeting Lukas asked about 30% renewable by 2030 and that Roots and Shoots are trying to get the School District to commit by 2025. Shannon will request meeting with Tom Bravo to share more background on how this all came to be. The School Board and district is a separate entity from the City. Terry asked if it diminished their efforts by going to 2030. Stefan added that, on the contrary, non- governmental groups like Roots and Shoots or Park Nicollet that attain worthy environmental goals ahead of the city would only help SLP to reach the city’s goal. Griffin ended by stating St. Louis Park is close to committing to be 100% renewable. 4. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.