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Home My WebLink About2022/04/06 - ADMIN - Agenda Packets - Environment & Sustainability Commission - Regular Environment & sustainability commission meeting April 6, 2022 6:30 p.m. All board members/commissioners will participate in this meeting at the Community Room, St. Louis Park City Hall, 5005 Minnetonka Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55416. Commission members and guests are urged to wear face coverings regardless of vaccination status. If you do not have a face covering, one can be provided at the meeting. If you are unable to wear a standard face covering, the city has face shields available for use upon request. Agenda 1. Call to order a. Roll call 2. Approval of minutes (March 2, 2022) 3. Business (6:40 p.m.) a. Presentation from University of Minnesota Humphrey School graduate students on in-boundary solar research project 4. Staff updates (7:15 p.m.) 5. Workgroup and/or project updates a. Year of Climate Action workgroup b. EJ/multifamily housing workgroup (and staff): Share housing study survey and focus group questions 6. City Council engagement 7. Environmental Justice and current events open discussion a. Carbon offsets for tree removal 8. Upcoming/proposed events 9. Adjournment Future meeting/event dates: • 2022 Environment Commissions Conference: April 30, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Minnetonka • May ESC meeting: May 4, 2022 • Arbor Day and Community Tree Planting Celebration: May 7, 2022 from 9 a.m. to noon If you need special accommodations or have questions about the meeting, please call Emily Ziring at 952-924-2191 or the administration department at 952-924-2525. Official minutes Environment & sustainability commission St. Louis Park, Minnesota 3/2/2022 1. Call to order 1a. Roll call Members present: Chair Andrew Willette, Marisa Bayer, Shaina Ashare, Ryan Griffin, Dave Wilsey, Eric Zweber, Tatiana Giraldo, Paige Kane, JD Moore, Sasha Shahidi, Lillian Hertel Members absent: Holly Johnson Staff present: Emily Ziring, Sustainability Manager Guests: none 2. Approval of minutes – Feb. 2, 2022 The minutes were unanimously approved as presented. 3. Business a. Creation of events workgroup for Year of Climate Action planning Ms. Ziring noted if there is enough interest in doing this, the commission can move ahead with creating a workgroup to focus on events in 2022. She said potentially there will be 3-5 events going on and it would be helpful to have the commissioners give their input. She added the group could meet virtually, approximately once per month. Commissioner Shahidi stated she could assist if the meetings were virtual. Commissioners Giraldo, Bayer and Chair Willette are also interested. 4. Staff Updates Ms. Ziring noted the following staff updates: - working to get a consultant on housing research study - doing sustainability specialist interviews – hoping will hire by April 1st - working with electrify cohort to develop a campaign around heating and cooling electrification in preparation for ECO legislation next year - special assessment for energy programs and improvements – writing policy amendment to be approved by council Monday, March 7 - State of MN climate action framework – staff providing input in 2 workgroups - Rolling out new tree planting program – most of tree varieties are already sold out - Working on earth month Windsource challenge, mostly through weekly social media posts - Year of Climate Action updates, many opportunities to sign up to volunteer Environment & sustainability commission -2- March 2, 2022 - Climate ribbon tree – will be able to take to events – will present to all 6th grade science classes at St. Louis Park middle school, other ideas also welcome for decorating the ribbon tree - Ride and Drive – looking to do a stand-alone event at Lenox Community Center this fall - New tree planting programs – information on city website was reviewed with commissioners, including Growing Shade, a new Met Council tool - Project with University of MN – class at Humphrey School doing a research project examining ways to increase solar on roofs of commercial buildings in the city The commission also discussed the use of trees in traffic calming. Ms. Ziring stated she could get information from the engineering department about this. She added that the city had hoped to double the number of trees planted on private property within the city this year. As of now, 190 were purchased through the Tree Sale. 5. Open discussion Commissioner Shahidi stated she is grieving over the tree clearing at Weber Park. She added she was encouraged to bring it up at the commission meeting and to make sure this never happens in St. Louis Park. She wondered if anyone else was as stricken by this as she was and she thinks there is an issue with transparency here. She also is wondering how others feel about this, noting that no one is talking about this. Commissioner Griffin agreed and noted he had to step away from the issue. He had reached out to various neighborhood associations within the area and the city councils of Edina and St. Louis Park, adding what happened there was a tragedy. Commissioner Shahidi added there is already green space on both sides of the area, and she does not understand the idea of creating a new park there. She added that if nobody wanted this, how did this pass; she believes the council is not representing their constituents. Commissioner Shahidi stated she does not know where the Edina environmental commission was on this. Commissioner Bayer stated Westwood Hills Nature Center and Aquila are all preserved parks and asked, if the city wants to cut down trees are the neighbors notified? Ms. Ziring stated she does not know the notification requirements for public tree removal. She added she will look into this and report back. 6. Workgroups updates – none 7. City Council Engagement Ms. Ziring stated council meetings are being organized around the five strategic priorities, and right now council is examining topics within the community engagement priority. She encouraged the commission to check future agendas and tune in to meetings. Environment & sustainability commission -2- March 2, 2022 8. Environmental Justice and current events open discussion Chair Willette described an article he read about a solar subsidy in California where the PUC is looking to reduce the subsidy; because other rate payers are paying more for their electricity it is affecting disadvantaged communities. He stated this is something to keep on the radar. Ms. Ziring stated there has been some talk about creating a community solar garden in St. Louis Park, but they have not been able to find the real estate for this. She added the school district is going to be installing 2.3 megawatts of solar on all the roofs of all the schools, which is great news. Commissioner Zweber asked if the commission could have a legislative update or speaker at a future meeting. Ms. Ziring stated she would look into this and noted Mr. Hoffman could potentially provide an update to the commission. 9. Upcoming/proposed events The commissioners were encouraged to look at the SignUp Genius for upcoming events. Ms. Ziring noted the State of Minnesota will be having a climate action framework community conversation on March 16 from 1-3 p.m., and it will be virtual. More information is on the state climate action website and Mr. Ziring will send out information to the commissioners. She added if you cannot attend the meeting, there is room for feedback to be sent via the website. 10. Adjournment – 7:50 p.m. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Emily Ziring, liaison Andrew Willette, chair member