HomeMy WebLinkAboutEC Minutes 9.8.2025 - ApprovedCity of Falcon Heights
Environment Commission
City Hall
2077 Larpenteur Avenue West
Minutes
Monday, September 8, 2025
6:30 p.m.
A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:30 p.m.
B. ROLL CALL: Beth Mercer-Taylor (Chair) _A_ Georgiana May _X_
John Pellegrini (Vice-Chair) _X_ David Smith _X_
Adam Keester _X_ VACANT
VACANT
Staff Liaison Lynch _X_
Council Liaison Mielke _X_
C. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Vice-Chair Pellegrini made a motion to approve the agenda. Motion passed by consent.
D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. August 11, 2025
Vice-Chair Pellegrini made a motion to approve the August 11, 2025 minutes. Motion
passed by consent.
E. NEW BUSINESS
1. Community Park Landscaping Update
Staff Liaison Lynch gave a brief update on the landscaping choices for the Community
Park renovation. The consultants took the feedback from the Enironment Commission
and made several changes to plant choice to accommodate more native plantings, as
requested.
2. Future Topics Discussion
Staff Liaison Lynch opened up the floor to potential topics for later meetings or new
projects. Commissioner May brought CERTs Seed Grants to the attention of the
commission as a potential grant opportunity for a project. These are grants for
communities for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across Minnesota. The
deadline for the current round of funding is October 1, 2025, and generally the amount
funding is $5,000-$10,000.
Several potential projects discussed included LED lighting upgrades for City Hall, or for
a portion of City Hall, an electric vehicle charging station at City Hall or one of the
parks, or funding for Home Energy Squad audits for residents.
Commissioners also discussed the plan for future meetings. The October meeting will be
a final look at City Code changes around boulevard trees and native landscaping, the
November meeting will potentially be a joint meeting to discuss partnering with the City
of Lauderdale’s Environment Commission on an Arbor Day Foundation tree sale, and
beginning in December, the Commission will begin to look at sustainability efforts for the
Les Bolstad Golf Course sale and new development.
F. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Staff Liaison Report – Staff Liaison Lynch gave an overview on the current status of the
Les Bolstad Golf Course sale. She explained there is an Open House on September 16 at
City Hall to gather feedback around the “vision” of the City for the new development.
This visioning document will then go to the Planning Commission and City Council in a
joint workshop on September 23, and finally go to the University of Minnesota for them
to include in their RFP for developers.
She also gave an update on boulevard trees. She mailed around 100 letters to qualifying
property owners the previous week notifying them of the opportunity to receive a free
boulevard tree. She is beginning to get responses in for those.
2. Council Liaison Report – Council Liaison Mielke explained that demolition on
Community Park is about to begin. The timeline was pushed back a little due to the
availability of the pre-fabricated structure that will be going on the site. Additionally,
there will be two new Environment Commissioners – Nuz Sanidad will be appointed at
the September 10, 2025 City Council meeting and Monika Chandler, who was
interviewed earlier in the day, will be appointed at the September 24, 2025 City Council
meeting.
G. Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Next regular meeting date: October 13, 2025