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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEC Packet 01142019 City of Falcon Heights Environment Commission City Hall 2077 W. Larpenteur Avenue Monday, January 14, 2019 6:30 p.m. A G E N D A A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:30 p.m. B. ROLL CALL: Jim Wassenberg ____ Nick Olson ____ Farook Meah ____ Martin McCleery ____ Patrick Mathwig ____ Ned Mohan ____ Jordyn Bucholtz ____ Council Liaison Lindstrom ____ Staff Liaison Markon ____ C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 8 and December 10, 2018 D. AGENDA 1. Introduction of New Member 2. Election of Officers 3. 2019 Work Plan and Goals 4. Discussion with Other Environment/Sustainability Commissions E. NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. 2019 meeting dates January 14 February 11 March 11 April 8 May 13 June 10 July 8 August 12 September 9 October 14 December 9 *No November meeting 2. Sol Smart recognition F. ADJOURN Next Meeting: February 11, 2019 If you have a disability and need accommodation in order to attend this meeting, please notify City Hall 48 hours in advance between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 651- 792-7600. We will be happy to help. Falcon Heights Environment Commission October 8th, 2018 6:30 p.m. Meeting Minutes Present: Chair Wassenberg, Vice Chair Meah, Secretary Olson, Staff Liaison Markon, Mayor Lindstrom, and Commissioners: Holmes, Mathwig, McCleery. 1) Approval of Minutes Tabled. Liaison Markon to complete for September. 2) News and Announcements • New Environment Commission member, Ned Mohan, has been appointed. • There will be no Environment Commission meeting on November 12th because it is Veteran’s Day and City will be closed. • 798 LED light bulbs have been distributed. 3) Continue Comprehensive Plan Review The Commission spent the meeting discussing the draft Comprehensive Plan for the City of Falcon Heights. Commissioners went through the draft document to review the edits proposed by members, and to clean up old language from previous comprehensive plans. The edits will be finalized by Liaison Markon. There will be a joint meeting with the Planning Commission on October 23rd to discuss comments and revisions. Commission agreed to attend this meeting to present edits and fine tune recommendations on 2040 Plan. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:06 PM. Next Meeting: Planning Commission Meeting on October 23rd at 7 pm Falcon Heights Environment Commission December 10th, 2018 6:30 p.m. Meeting Minutes Present: Chair Wassenberg, Vice Chair Meah, Secretary Olson, Staff Liaison Markon, Mayor Lindstrom, and Commissioners: Holmes, Mathwig, McCleery, and Mohan. 1) Approval of Minutes Tabled 2) News and Announcements • Chair Wassenberg and Alexis T. (CERT) presented to the City Council on the efficacy of the Watts and Drops Initiative that provided ~800 LED lightbulbs to Falcon Heights residents. One lessons learned was the importance of contact time in getting feedback from residents. • A questions was asked by McCleery about the efficacy of the “Tag Program” that was recently initiated by City. Liaison Markon shared that the tags have been used a few times for uncleared sidewalks (e.g. no shoveling or overgrown vegetation). • This is Patti’s last Commission Meeting. She has completed two 3-year terms. The Environment Commission thanked her for service and dedication to helping the City achieves its environmental goals. • The Planning Commission did not have the required quorum to vote on the proposed changes to the 2040 Comprehensive Plan at the previous meeting. However, changes are anticipated to be included and sent to Met Council for next step of planning process. 3) Recycling Discussion with Tennis Sanitation Willie and Angela from Tennis Sanitation sat down with the Environment Commission members for an informal question and answer session. Some of the highlights from the discussion include: • 2017 there were 30 homes that never participated in recycling. Overall, Falcon Heights has very high participation rates. Tennis can provide a list of homes not participating. • There was a lot of discussion about plastics recycling and recent news stories about China refusing plastic wastes. Tennis stated that they have very low residuals because they have a lot of partnerships and end market opportunities that can use majority of plastics received. • Plastic bags are no longer accepted. Tennis was exploring a diesel fuel end market for the bags, but that did not work out. Some grocery stores are accepting plastics bags, which tend to be less contaminated upon reception. • Tennis felt like the flyers distributed have been helpful, but that they now also have magnet available. City could choose to subsidize or use grant funds towards purchasing (~$1.5/magnet) 4) 2019 Work Plan and Goals Chair Wassenberg submitted a list of ideas for the Environment Commission for 2019. There is a desire amongst several of the members to take a more actionable role than the previous year, which was mostly focused on discussion and edits to 2040 Comprehensive Plan. It was recommend that at the next meeting the members pick or present some alternative the ideas to carry forward. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:23 PM. Next Meeting: January 14th, 2019 at 7 pm List of ideas for Environmental Commission for 2019 Submitted by Jim Wassenberg: Advisory • Review the changes/initiatives made by the city since the death of Philando Castille. o Determine if there are ways that the FHEC can contribute to the fulfillment of the City’s plans o Use the list as a brainstorming kickstarter for additional actions to be taken/supported by FHEC, especially with regard to Environmental Justice. • Review the list of “building social capital” as a brainstorming kickstarter for additional actions. • Make a running list of collaborators with FHEC, including institution, roles, collaboration activities, and contact information. This will help maintain “tribal knowledge” about resources available to FHEC. • Assign a council member to discover and seek granting opportunities for FHEC. Education/Outreach • Hold a second annual sustainability fair • Start a regular “Environmental Corner” in the city newsletter. • Identify groups similar to the FHEC in other municipalities. Offer to visit their meetings and share ideas. • Engage the U of M community through a council member from the student body who will act as LIASION with ESA and the U of M. Action • Support expansion of LED program to additional communities • Collaborate with organizations that make sustainable solutions and actions easier for Falcon Heights residents o Solar bundling o Home energy auditing o CERT • Examine Dual hauler for refuse. Consult with other municipalities on how they have done it. (December deadline for announcement) • Install an EV charging station within Falcon Heights with “Brought to you by FHEC” signage Submitted by Peter Lindstrom: In terms of the work plan for 2019 I am hoping that the commission will consider two items. One, allowing for native landscaping. Eden Prairie had a good model ordinance. https://www.edenprairie.org/community/sustainable-eden-prairie/landscape/native-plant-landscaping Two, I would like the commission to consider an ordinance that would allow for a beekeeping within the city. http://mnbeekeepers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/MHBA-model-ordinance.pdf Brainstorming Ideas for Falcon Heights Environmental Commission For Consideration at January 2019 Meeting “ONE PASS” PROPOSAL: 1. Goal is to minimizing truck traffic on Falcon Height’s roadways. 2. Objective is to provide a proposal for City approval by end 2019. 3. Strategy is as follows: a. Truck haulers get one pass weekly for roads in Falcon Heights. b. Recyclables now meet the one pass requirements. c. Yard waste could be the next focus for one pass. d. House waste will be more difficult to implement and may take several years. 4. Tasks for City & EC to implement the proposal: a. Invite & consult haulers at meeting(s) to establish ways and means to implement. b. Visit other communities and invite the Falcon Height community to provide comments. c. Visit with hauler regulators. d. For house waste develop a map identifying City wide one pass routes. e. For house waste consider bidding of route(s) to haulers 5. Draft a proposal for further consideration by Environmental Committee. 6. Provide proposal for City & City Council support.