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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20250730 Environmental Board MinutesEnvironmental Board July 30, 2025 Page 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD MEETING 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Schwartz called the Environmental meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. on July 30, 2025. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. PUBLIC COMMENT (sign in prior to start of meeting per Rules of Decorum) Chair Schwartz opened public comment at 6:31 p.m. There was no one present for public comment. Chair Schwartz closed public comment at 6:31 p.m. 4. SETTING THE AGENDA: Addition or Deletion of Agenda Items Chair Schwartz approved the agenda as provided. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ms. Buchmeier made a motion to approve the minutes for June 25, 2025 meeting. Ms. Stevenson seconded. Motion carried 5 – 0. DATE: July 30, 2025 TIME STARTED: 6:30 p.m. TIME ENDED: 7:04 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Alex Schwartz, Julia Nelson, Mary Jo Stevenson Lindsay Buchmeier, Jonathan Parsons MEMBERS ABSENT: Elizabeth Larkin, Shawn Holmes STAFF PRESENT: Marissa Ertel, Jennifer Alderink, Tom Hoffman, Mike Grochala, Liam Cronin Environmental Board July 30, 2025 Page 2 APPROVED MINUTES 6. ACTION ITEMS A. Lino Lakes Main Street Final AUAR In September of 2024, the City Council approved a professional services contract with Kimley-Horn to prepare a master plan and complete an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR). Horn is to prepare a master plan and complete an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR). The study area includes 980 acres of the northwest portion of Lino Lakes. The process has included multiple community outreach opportunities, involvement of study area stakeholders, and review by the City advisory boards and City Council. Leila Bunge from Kimley-Horn presented the report and was available for questions. Mr. Schwartz had questions about how the AUAR document compares to the master plan. Ms. Bunge stated that the AUAR looks more at an environmental lens of what development requirements would need to be followed. The master plan is more focused on land use, transportation, and utilities and lays out the city’s vision for how the area will be developed in the next 20, 30, 40 years. Mr. Schwartz inquired if the information contained in the AUAR document is going to also be part of the master plan or a separate document. Ms. Bunge stated that it will be a separate document and is currently available on the Mapping Northwest Main website. Ms. Bunge also noted that the mitigation plan is one of the next steps that the development would have to comply with as they come forward but is more focused on the framework for the development. Mr. Schwartz inquired as to whether Pine Street will become more of a major collector road going forward, as it is noted in the AUAR as such. Mr. Grochala, Community Development Director for the City, said that within the City’s comprehensive plan, Pine Street is identified as a collector’s street along the northern boundary. He believes that Pine Street would most likely end up being a collector’s road that goes through the sod farms but would drop down to a minor collector’s street instead of a major collector’s street. Ms. Bunge noted that the AUAR does look at the full build. They looked at traffic at the interim phase, but overall, all the impacts and mitigation are listed out for a full build scenario. Mr. Schwartz asked if anyone had any more questions related to the AUAR document. Mr. Schwartz opened a motion to approve the Lino Lakes Main Street final AUAR. Ms. Nelson motioned to approve. Mr. Parsons seconded the motion. The motion passes 5 – 0. Environmental Board July 30, 2025 Page 3 APPROVED MINUTES B. Storm Water Pond Pilot Program City staff has received feedback from concerned residents regarding the aesthetic quality of storm pond RLA-010-B located in Birchwood Acres Park. This pond treats stormwater runoff. From nearly 70 properties located primarily on Hawthorn Road and Lonesome Pine Trail in the Park Grove development. Communication has gone back several years to deal with concerns of vegetation, smell, and stormwater management. Staff reported to the Environmental Board twice in spring of 2025 over the possibility of allowing private treatment of city stormwater ponds. Recommendation at the time was to not allow private treatments and look into other opportunities and options and potential pilot projects. Staff is looking for direction from the Environmental Board on recommendations for potential stormwater treatment pilot program. Tom Hoffman, Environmental Coordinator for the City, spoke about the history of this action item. He said that they had a couple meetings this past spring talking about potential treatments of storm water ponds owned and maintained by the City as part of their MS4 system and doing a pilot program with chemical treatments, noting that there were some mixed reviews on allowing chemical treatments. Mr. Hoffman wanted to bring it back to the board to ensure there was interest in chemical treatments, and if not, wanted to look at updating ordinance to include options like aerators, bio engineering, filtration, etc. Ms. Nelson noted that as a society, she thinks we have overdone chemicals when trying to solve problems and that she would be in favor trying non-chemical methods in this situation as well. Mr. Schwartz said that he agrees with Ms. Nelson’s statement. He would like to try alternative methods first and if those methods fail, they can then have a future discussion about chemicals. He noted that he, and others present, don’t possess the knowledge on how that would impact the MS4 permit. If they were to begin entertaining the idea of allowing residents to treat city-owned ponds with chemicals, he would enlist the help of an engineering firm to show them blind spots and pitfalls of such actions. Ms. Buchmeier also agreed with the Board’s statements. She stated that more testing and understanding should be done before we allow the introduction of chemicals. She asked whether previous testing has been done on non-chemical treatments. Environmental Board July 30, 2025 Page 4 APPROVED MINUTES Mr. Hoffman stated that he will go back to the original parties involved and let them know that there are some options and possibilities the City can work with them on, but that the board does not seem comfortable moving forward with a pilot program at this time involving chemical treatments without further analysis. Mr. Hoffman also stated that he will reach out to some engineering firms that the City has connections with, as well as reach out to other metro cities that are doing similar things with their residents. As this evolves, there is potential that the City can bring this back with additional information leading to a pilot program. Mr. Parsons inquired as to whether the chemicals just bind the nutrients, not letting them release into the environment. He then added that he believes it’s more the odor that concerns people, so implementing an aeration system with a type of bio system might be beneficial. Mr. Hoffman confirmed that with chemical treatments, it’s just binding the material and not treating it, so it’s not improving the water quality within the pond. Mr. Hoffman also explained that aeration may not address the underlying concern of odor coming from the pond. He noted that a lot of things can be cleared up from a staff level through ordinance updates to clarify what is and isn’t allowed in the stormwater ponds to help reduce inputs of pollution. The long-term goal is to do something where eventually the ponds will be able to balance themselves out without interaction. Ms. Buchmeier inquired if other cities are doing non-chemical options like aerators. Mr. Hoffman stated that a lot of other cities will have aerators within ponds on private property that are under storm water easement, so it’s still part of the storm water system, but the land isn’t owned. He also said that it varies from city to city. He mentioned that it will take multiple years of data because of the fluctuation of weather and rain levels, which is why testing is so expensive. Ms. Buchmeier asked if the plan is to update the city code to be more specific to what is and is not allowed. Mr. Hoffman stated he’d like to have those discussions at future work sessions to see if they need to make those clarifications. Additionally, Mr. Hoffman noted that they’ve been handling cases internally so far and wanted to get a clear understanding of what is planned going forward so he can communicate that to residents. Ms. Buchmeier wanted to confirm that there would not be a pilot program for the chemical treatment of storm ponds. She also would like to know what the next steps are going to be. Mr. Hoffman reiterated that the pilot program was just for the chemical side of it. He noted that allowing aerators and other non-chemical methods would be something they would bring back to the board. These non-chemical methods would not be a lengthy Environmental Board July 30, 2025 Page 5 APPROVED MINUTES study, so Mr. Hoffman stated he would work with the residents to make sure they’re all comfortable doing that. Mr. Hoffman concluded that he will reach out to Mary, to see the status of the pond is for them this year. Mr. Parsons wanted to clarify that as a group, chemicals is not what they will be considering based on the requirements, testing, legal issues, etc. Mr. Hoffman stated that they were just looking for direction from the board on whether to start a pilot program for chemically treating the storm water ponds, and after discussion, he’s looking forward to doing other mitigation measures before moving forward with a chemical treatment evaluation. Mr. Schwartz agreed with Mr. Hoffman’s sentiment that before we consider chemical treatments, other methods should be tried and given time. He also noted that if they were to consider a pilot program, the board would have it be an administrative function that the city staff would not back up our political process. Mr. Hoffman stated that if there are no other comments, he does not need a motion on that item. He just wanted to gauge the board’s interest at this point and will then move forward and work with the residents. C. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Recycling Updates Mr. Hoffman introduced the City’s new recycling intern, Liam Cronin, who has been with the City for about a month and a half. He noted that Mr. Cronin has been helping with our first half score reporting, Recycle Saturdays, advertising for our organics and recycling program, as well as education and outreach. Mr. Cronin presented the report and was available for questions. There were no questions. D. ADJOURN Ms. Buchmeier made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:04 p.m. Motion was seconded by Ms. Nelson. Motion carried 5 – 0. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Alderink – Office Specialist