Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20251217 Environmental Board Minutes Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD MEETING DATE: December 17, 2025 TIME STARTED: 6:30 p.m. TIME ENDED: 7:51 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Alex Schwartz, Julia Nelson, Lindsay Buchmeier, Mary Jo Stevenson, Shawn Holmes Jonathan Parsons, Elizabeth Larkin MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Thomas Hoffman, Jennifer Alderink 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Schwartz called the Environmental Board meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. on December 17, 2025. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Chair Schwartz declared open mike at 6:31 p.m. There were no public comments. Chair Schwartz closed public comments at 6:31 p.m. 4. SETTING THE AGENDA: Addition or Deletion of Agenda Items th Chair Schwartz took a motion to approve the December 17, 2025 agenda. Ms. Buchmeier motioned to approve the agenda. Motion was seconded by Chair Schwartz. Motion carried 7 0. Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 2 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Schwartz took a motion to set the November 25, 2025 minutes. Ms. Holmes motioned to approve the meeting minutes. Motion was seconded by Chair Schwartz. Motion carried 7 0. 6. ACTION ITEMS A. Metropolitan Council Water Efficiency Grant Update The City received grant funding from the Metropolitan Council for water conservation programs. The funding is part of the clean water fund grant and is valid through June 30, 2026. The City has been purchasing Smart Irrigation controllers as part of the program and distributing them to residents at a cost of $45.00. The City covers $115.00 of the cost of the controllers. Over the past year and a half, the program has efficiently distributed controllers to eligible residents. We have seen a decrease in participation recently along with a dwindling supply of controllers. Rather than purchase new controllers to have in stock staff is looking into starting a rebate program. As part of the original grant agreement, rebates for eligible purchases were covered under eligible expenses. Lino Lakes staff have recommend starting the rebate program on January 1, 2026. The program will allow residents to choose the controller that works best for them and still receive the same portion of funding the City was providing. Outside of the irrigation program, staff is working to create rebates for different appliances as well. Rebates for dishwashers, washing machines, and toilets would be included as part of the program. WaterSense and Energy Star approved purchases will be eligible for the rebate program. Staff believes more residents will be able to benefit from the program by expanding the options on what is allowed for rebates. Reaching more residents will ultimately have a greater impact on water conservation within the City. Tom Hoffman, Environmental Coordinator for the City of Lino Lakes, presented the Metropolitan Council Water Efficiency Grant Update and was available for questions. Ms. Nelson asked how someone would prove that they purchased an energy-saving item. Mr. Hoffman said that it would be on their eligibility requirement sheet located on the website. He noted that one of the items for rebate would be to send in a picture of the item installed. Ms. Nelson wants to know if it applies to new construction homes as well. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 3 Mr. Hoffman stated that purchasing a water efficiency item for a new construction home does not meet the requirements for the program and that the program is for existing homes only. Ms. Nelson asked if the City will send a check for the reimbursement. Mr. Hoffman replied that instead of sending a check, the City is looking at crediting a Ms. Larkin inquired if the application process is all online. Mr. Hoffman replied at the application will be an online form. Ms. Larkin wants to know if there is an alternate way to apply for the program if they do not want to do it online. Mr. Hoffman stated that a resident can print the application off and turn it in at City Hall, or they can come to City Hall to have it printed off to fill out. Regarding the pictures, they would need to submit those pictures online. Chair Schwartz wants to know if the program is for residents that have well and septic. Mr. Hoffman said the program is only for those residents that have city and sewer water. Ms. Stevenson asked how residents will find out about the water efficiency program. Mr. Hoffman stated that the City plans to include information about the program through the spring City newsletter, social media, the City website, and bulletins that are displayed around the City. Ms. Larkin inquired about advertising the rebate program when utility bills go out. Mr. Hoffman noted that advertising the rebate program in the utility bill is a possibility as well. Ms. Homes asked about - City plans to have a grid or way to show that. Mr. Hoffman said that the City would only give the residents up to the cost of the item as a rebate. For example, if going to give the resident more money in rebates than the item is worth. The wording -to. Ms. Homes commented that a resident could get reimbursed for the whole cost of the item if they spend at or above the threshold. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 4 Mr. Hoffman confirmed that a resident could get reimbursed for the whole cost of the item but added that the rebate will not include installation and tax of the device. Just the cost of the purchase. He noted that as a part of the eligibility of the rebate, the residents will be required to dispose of the old item on their own. Ms. Homes wants to make sure the website will include FAQs about the rebate program. Mr. Hoffman said that his goal is that the website will include some form of FAQs categorized so residents do not need to go through an entire PDF document of information. Chair Schwartz wanted to recommend some disposal location options as a part of the marketing of the rebate program. Mr. Hoffman confirmed that there will be links to the Anoka County Disposal site. For the electronics, there will be links for the Recycling Saturday program. Ms. Hoffman noted that we do have the flexibility to go higher or lower on the rebate reimbursement for any of the devices and opened it up for recommendations from the Environmental Board. Ms. Larkin asked if the rebate program was funded by a reoccurring grant. th Mr. Hoffman confirmed it was from a reoccurring grant that will go through June 30, 2026. the funding for the first round. He foresees the same grant getting re-approved for 2026 through 2028. Chair Schwarz thinks it would be beneficial to how much positive impact utilizing this program would have on water savings in hopes that the rebate amount could get increased to induce more people to take advantage of this program. Mr. Hoffman said that the toilets that he looked at were in that $50-$75 range, but the City could definitely increase that amount to $100 per toilet. shocked at how much water a water efficient toilet can save, even above some Smart Irrigation Controllers. Ms. Larkin asked if \[the rebate program\] is only for residents or also for commercial businesses. Mr. Hoffman stated that it will only be for residents at this time. He might look at additional grants for commercial rebate programs in the future. He said that the City refers commercial requests to the county who have programs for commercial use. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 5 Lindsey motioned to move the water efficiency grant forward if the toilet rebate can increase to $100. Chair Schwartz seconds the motion. Motion passes 7-0. A. Pine Oaks PUD Concept Plan Pine Oaks is a proposed residential subdivision on approximately 75.42 acres, located northeast of the Natures Refuge North development on Main Street. The property was originally platted into 49 lots in 1980 (Pine Acres) but was never developed and has remained vacant and heavily wooded with wetlands. An EAW was completed in 2006 with the concept plan showing that a majority of the wooded and wetland areas are being impacted. The concept plan was also never completed, showing large scale impacts to the woodland and wetlands. In November of 2025, M/I Homes of Minneapolis/St. Paul, LLC submitted an application for a concept plan proposing 82 lots. The concept plan is adjacent to Natures Refuge and Natures Refuge North, both of which were developed by M/I Homes. The design themes from Natures Refuge will continue with the proposed plan to create a seamless transition into the neighborhood. Because of the existing plat, the developer is proposing vacating the existing 49 lots with vacated streets. Dedication of easements over existing streets will remain so that access to the parcel is maintained. Open space and greenways that were established with previous developments will continue into Pine Oaks, creating large contiguous tracks of land for wildlife and passive recreation. City staff have worked with the developer to create and protect as much area of existing wetland and woodland as feasible. Wollan Park wetland is adjacent to the proposed site and is a priority area of the City. As part of the development, the City is looking to obtain additional wetland as part of the development to own and maintain as part of the Wollan Wetland. Mr. Hoffman presented the Pine Oaks PUD Concept Plan and was available for questions. Emily Becker, with M/I Homes, presented and was available for questions. Ms. Nelson inquired if the Pine Oaks development is still open to the public to walk through and enjoy the open spaces. Mr. Hoffman confirmed that Pine Oaks sidewalks and open space would still be open to the public. Ms. Becker confirmed, saying the out lot adjacent to the woodlands would be completely deeded to the City. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 6 Ms. Nelson asked if this is the area where Andall Street is located, which was a previous cause of concern and controversy. Mr. Hoffman responded that Andall (Arena Acres Area). He also noted that this development will have a connection to Pine Street and to the East, which will bring you to Lake Drive. Ms. Nelson asked if it would be 82 Homes and then noted that it could be as many as 160 extra cars if there were 2 cars per home. Ms. Nelson also inquired as to the average square footage per home. Ms. Becker said that it really depends, but generally the homes will be 1700-2200 square feet. Ms. Nelson asked if the homes were one level or two levels. Ms. Becker responded that most of the homes are one level, but some of them do have a half level with a recreation room or living area. Ms. Nelson noted that environmentally, she is impressed by how \[M/I Homes\] worked this development plan out. Mr. Hoffman noted that the benefit of working with the same developer on the same site its own challenges, so now we were able to eliminate a lot of issues we had with the DNR on the last phase through trial and error. He also mentioned that M/I Homes has been good to work with on the last couple of developments. Ms. Nelson commented that that it is not just about preserving but making \[the wetland\] She noted that cutting down certain trees can be a positive move for the environment. Mr. Hoffman responded that cutting down trees can be the opposite of what you would think in a lot of these areas. The area was dependent on controlled burns and disturbance to control the invasive species. He noted that you must do management of these areas to bring in the species that you want. Ms. Nelson commented that she thinks most citizens of Lino Lakes problem with \[this development\] and its open space. Ms. Larkin asked what is being done to protect the wetlands from future problems of human use, such as grass and fertilizer. Mr. Hoffman said that one of the comments in the memo was to move the street/connection to preserve more of a buffer between Wetland 7 & 8, which are the ones that are going to tie into Wollan Park. The greatest area of concern is to protect the APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 7 highest quality areas of the wetland and to have extended buffers both upland and wetland on that side. He noted that unfortunately to do that, you have to push some things closer to the wetland on the other side. Doing that, there will be a nice upland wooded buffer in between 1/3 of those houses on the west side, so that will act as a natural buffer. The City will also have buffer and conservation signs in those backyards with a possible transition area before you get to the wetlands, so you have a buffer within that conservation easement from the mowed turf area. He noted that people may still mow and cut trails, which they run into everywhere. He also said that as the aerials get better, they are able to see if those disturbances take place and can stay on top of. He said having \[the wetlands\] protected in that conservation easement gives us some rights through our ordinance when it does happen. Ms. Larkin are impacts topple over. She inquired whether there is consideration with the impact long term with this development. Mr. Hoffman said that trees near wetlands are something they take into consideration. He noted that this area has some decent topography where the high ground is. He said that where the houses will be built, there will be quite a bit of buffer between the existing tre concern in this situation because of the slab on grade homes. Ms. Larkin noted that she likes that these will be larger lots so there is more of a transition between the houses themselves and the wetland. Ms. Holmes asked about the pink dots on the site plan map where the developer will take care to avoid rare species. There are some pink dots that are close to one of the future lots. Ms. Holmes would like to know if the developer would consider not developing that lot and use it as open space. Mr. Hoffman responded that there would still likely be impacts to that area, even if there do. Worst case scenario is that they will try and move those rare species somewhere else on site or to Wollan Park. Ms. Holmes noted that the other pink areas on the map seem to be fine, location-wise. Mr. Hoffman said that it is great to have this rare species map because they can go back in a few years and do a plant survey to see the change this development has on where the rare species live and grow. Ms. Holmes asked if the other existing development has a neighborhood park in their open space. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 8 in that development. They wanted to work with the school to use the park dedication funds that they paid with that development. Mr. Hoffman commented that there are trails and open space through there, but not a neighborhood park. Ms. Homes said she thought they were smaller lots. Mr. Hoffman commented that they are smaller lots with frontage on the width, but there is that length in the back where there is that buffer between the house and the back. He also mentioned that if you have those larger lots, they would extend into the wooded area. Ms. Holmes said that she was just looking for opportunities for families if they are restricted on the width of the lots. Mr. Hoffman Refuge North, and Pine Oaks, is partnering with the school (which is down on the southeast corner of the development or the Arena Acres neighborhood to the west) or doing some improvements to that park off Woodduck Trial. wondering if that was what Mr. Hoffman was talking about regarding shifting with the wetlands. Mr. Hoffman stated that the reuse would be for the lots that are turfed. There is potential with these ponds that are over excavated that could be used for reuse. He said that is portable water for the irrigation, they would be able to get it from these basins. He noted that stormwater reuse is something they are trying to do with all of their new Ms. Larkin noted that in previous developments, they talked about the stormwater ponds being deep, so they last a long time. She inquired if that will be considered for the Pine Oaks development. Mr. Hoffman confirmed that the stormwater ponds will be over excavated, so they need to be filled. They will be deep, like Chair Schwartz asked about flexibility within the City code as it relates to stormwater ponds, particularly when there are wetlands or uplands that have rare and endangered species. He inquired as to whether there is an opportunity to disturb that area less and have the water naturally run off from a topography into the wetland areas which would naturally filter it. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 9 Mr. Hoffman said that the City does have some flexibility on what it can do. They are minimum impact design standards, and then wet ponding. He goes on to say that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are two different entities. The DNR is going to put a higher quality on their species and some of the rare plants. The MPCA is going to put higher value on stormwater ponding. for flexibility with the site. For the most part, they want to leave the open space as a reason not to do mitigation. Mr. Hoffman goes on to say that there are other mitigation measures that can be done in these developments, such as the stormwater reuse to help reduce disturbance. Chair Schwartz said that he would be in favor of keeping the stormwater ponds smaller to disturb less area. Mr. Hoffman responded that he would like to move the stormwater ponds closer to the wetland so there is less tree removal but commented that if you move a big deep pond closer to the wetland, are you potentially causing more issues. He said they will work with the developer to preserve some of that wetland. Chair Schwartz commented about the Wollan Park extension and deeding it to the City. He asked if there would be access off the Pine Oaks development via the pipeline, or is it strictly going to be off Diane Street. Mr. Hoffman responded that as you go from Diane Street to the west, there is a decent amount of upland on the east side. He said when they did the burn at Wollan Park, they were standing in floating bog. He said they may not be able to make the full loop, depending on the year. He noted that you could get in through that pipeline and there could be some street parking on the edge of that wetland 7. He also noted that that is Chair Schwartz - either side of the road where there are no lots. He asked if there are going to be surmountable curves and if there will be signs indicating wildlife crossing there. Mr. Hoffman said that they are trying to keep the hydrology and maintain that corridor. The roads going through there should ideally have an oversized culvert or box culvert so keeping them connected ecologically and hydraulically. He also said that this . He said the signage is something that they could look in to for crossings if they are not able to get the culverts. Chair Schwartz asked if they could include some native seed mixes or plantings using the existing seed bank. Mr. Hoffman said that they are looking into saving the topsoil from the areas that are disturbed and spreading that onsite. M/I Homes is waiting for an Ecological Restoration APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 10 Plan from their native landscape contractors which may include some recommended plantings. Chair Swartz asked if there are any providers that have seeds of these rare species that we can get to spread in this area. Mr. Hoffman said that a lot of those rare species seeds are hard to get, so the best option is to get them from the native seed bank. Mr. Hoffman also noted that having the small lots can be controversial, but they are actually more beneficial to preserving the wetland and trees. Mr. Parsons wanted to know what the difference is regarding the HOA oversight vs the City or DNR. Mr. Hoffman responded that most of Refuge North is in a conservation easement so the City maintains rights over it, but the land would still be owned by the HOA. The way the City has the conservation easements written is that they would still have the right at deeding the portions that are more conjoined to the adjacent City parcel and having est of it. Mr. Hoffman noted that we still have the easement instead of outright ownership. Mr. Parsons asked if its owned by the HOA, is it still a tax basin for the city? Mr. Hoffman said that it would be a tax basin for the City. Chair Schwartz noted that it is important that it increases the tax basin for the City having the conservation easement vs owning it outright, but he does see the benefit in this particular instance. Chair Schwartz took a motion to accept the staff recommendations as written. Ms. Buchmeier motioned to approve. Ms. Parsons. Motion passes 7-0. 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Environmental Board Members Mr. Hoffman did a recognition for the Environmental Board members leaving. APPROVED MINUTES Environmental Board December 17, 2025 Page 11 8. ADJOURN Chair Schwartz took a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:51p.m. Ms. Holmes motioned to adjourn. Chair Schwartz seconded the motion. Motion carried 7-0. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Alderink Office Specialist APPROVED MINUTES