2025-07-28_EC_Minutes7800 Golden Valley road I Golden Valley, MN 55427 �-� ty o l F
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vgronmental commission Y y
July 28, 2025 — 6:30 pm
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Remote Attendance: Members of the public may attend this meeting via Microsoft Teams by
calling 1-872-256-4160 and entering access code 774 327 980#.
Questions/Comments: Members of the public who have questions about the commission or
any items on the agenda should contact the staff commission liaison- Ethan Kehrberg,
Sustainability Specialist, ekehrberg@goldenvalleymn.gov, 763-593-8083.
Commissioners present: Sarah Drawz, Paul Klaas, Ellen Brenna, Adam Wold, Hannah Byl
Commissioners absent: Amelia Schulz
Council Members present: Sophia Ginis
Others. Present: Amy Fredregill, Consultant, WSB
Staff present: Ethan Kehrberg, Sustainability Specialist;
Chloe McGuire, Deputy Community Development Director;
Steven Okey, Associate Planner;
Carrie Nelson, Engineering Assistant.
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Chair Klaas at 6:30 pm.
2. Land Acknowledgement
3. Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Commissioner Brenna, seconded by Commissioner Wold to approve the agenda
for July 28, 2025 as submitted and the motion carried.
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes
MOTION by Commissioner Wold, seconded by Commissioner Byl to approve the minutes of
June 23, 2025 as submitted and the motion carried with the following change:
• Change 'is'to 'in' in item 5.H. Bullet Point 3.
5. Business
S.A. Climate Equity Plan Presentation
O Commissioners heard a presentation from Amy Fredregill, the City's consultant for the
Climate Equity Plan from WSB, based on the slides found in the 7-28-25 EC Agenda
Packet.
This document is available in alternate formats upon a 72-hour request. Please call
763-593-8006 (TTY: 763-593-3968) to make a request. Examples of alternate formats
may'include large print, electronic, Braille, audiocassette, etc.
City c f Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeti g
J ly 28, 2025 :30 pm
• What Commissioners and staff are most excited about:
o The Resiliency Plan for the City that will come from this.
o To see how the City can possibly encourage more production of renewable
energy within City limits.
o Seeing how the City communicates to the residents this new plan is available
and how the City will get residents interested in it and reading it.
o Results of the survey and seeing what residents have to say and what they're
interested in.
o Making it sh-nple and empowering people to do more.
o Making sure the City is prepared for climate change and responding to what
our residents need.
o Seeing what the City can do related to a business footprint.
o Connecting the plan to recent/current City projects.
o Getting buy -in from the community and having it be the community's plan.
• The most common goals from other communities are Energy, Water, Waste, and
Travel.
• The document itself doesn't act as a City Ordinance that has to be followed. It will say
something like 'make a plan to make a new ordinance or update a current ordinance'.
• They survey is designed to engage people and their understanding of their personal
footprint and role and what they can do.
• What does a successful plan look like to the Commissioners:
o Looks like something that has all of the relevant City staff buying in, not just
the environmental staff.
o Something people are more enthusiastic about doing instead of begrudgingly
following up with.
o A plan that's more realistic than pie in the sky. Realistic and usable.
o It has the right mix of things you're told to do and things you can choose to do.
o It should be succinct and state clearly what the objectives and timelines are. It
should be short and clear so it's used.
o Reasonable and achievable goals with outlines for how we achieve them.
o The goals we set or the actions we decide to do are measurable and we
actually measure them.
Specific considerations or priorities?
o Advocate for more transit. The City will not .get more transit unless they
advocate for it.
o Plan/Environmental Commission should look at the actual physical impact the
four new City facilities will have. The City can set an example.
o Livability for the residents.
o Focus on Climate and Equity together.
■ Tree cover is a big one for equity.
City of Golden Valley EnvironmentalCommission Regular
July 28, 1
S.B.. Update on Haha Wakp6dar7/Bassett Creek Co -Naming Policy
• The policy has been put into Legal and Equity review. The Equity review has been
finalized. They had a lot of comments that staff are working through. Legal doesn't
appear to have as many comments.
• The DEIC and OSRC also want to weigh in.
• Staff cannot figure out how to use the characters in Haha Wakpadaq on all of our
internal systems. They're trying to get clarity on when to use them.
• Staff is also trying to get direction on The Haha Wakpadao vs Haha Wakpadaq/Bassett
Creek. They're not sure when to use each one.
• There is currently no timeline for when this will move on.
S.C. Council Communications
• Council is very excited to receive the Haha Wakpadaq/Bassett Creek Co -Naming Policy.
They have told staff they will implement it. It just got lost in the change of City
Administrators and Staff.
3
• Golden Valley elections are coming up again this year. We will have 2 council vacancies.
• Council is excited for the Missing Middle Studies — It relates to housing stock and where you
have gaps in the housing you're providing and is accessible to individuals.
• The City has been working on a site for a new Public Works building as well as a site for a
new Fire Station #2.
• How does Council Member Ginis feel about the Climate Action Plan:
o Wants to see actionable things that we can budget towards related to being resilient
particularly with the municipal things that we control.
o Would like to seethe Code changed to allow planting trees in the Boulevard.
o Incentivizing the behavior of others:
■ Use the Community Engagement in developing the plan so the plans actually
leads us to things that don't just get dropped.
■ Staff can continue to identify how they're spending their time and help
people change their behavior.
S.D.. Commissioner/Staff Communications
Outdoor Lighting Ordinance
o We have a lighting ordinance that needs maintenance and repair largely because of
scientific advances, LED lighting, and various other things.
o The PowerPoint in the agenda packet was presented at an Environmental
Commission meeting on August 28, 2023. Commissioner Klaas now also has a
redlined update of Golden Valley's current outdoor lighting ordinance, but that
redlined update is not quite ready for presentation to the Commission yet.
Commissioner Klaas would like to have a public safety or police liaison, but maybe
now isn't quite the right time to impose on them.
o Slide 44 has a model ordinance required by a Minnesota Statute that is exactly what
need, but that subdivision of that Statute was repealed in 2025.
City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting
July 28, 2025 -- 630 parr
o Commissioner Klaus has spoken to an Organization called Dark Sky that is made up
of lighting engineers, astronomers, Audubon people, people interested in insects
and birds, doctors, and others.
■ Dark Sky consultant, John Berentine, looked at our ordinance and has made a
number of suggestions and will be helpful when this moves forward.
• Audubon Audit
o Greg Simmons said Brookview was previously certified but let it lapse. It was about
$15,000 at the time to get certified. Most of this cost was on -site consultations. Fie
doesn't think they would have the budget for this. He said they have staff that are
experienced in doing this with other cities that could complete the process. The
next step wil[be to research and figure out the costs involved and see if it is
something that can be included in the next budget.
e Styrofoam/Single-Use Plastics, Bags, and Containers
o Single use plastics like Styrofoam are major contributors to our model degradation
and litter and long-term waste issues. Commissioner Drawz reviewed ordinances
that are in place in other municipalities including several in Colorado, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey; and St. Louis.
o They are quite extensive documents.
o The Ordinances have a lot of complex definitions. You have to define these things in
order to really have a well implemented ordinance.
■ What is a plastic bag?
■ What is a paper bag?
What counts as single use?
o It's a really extensive process to create one of these ordinances. We would need a
lot of coordination between the EC, Staff, and Council. We'd need local business
buy -in and community stakeholders.
o Is it something we want to move forward with? If yes, should we move it along to
Council with a preliminary check -in to see if it's something they have interest in
before getting too far into the process?
o Council Member Ginis doesn't think it's a bad idea to bring this idea to a Council
work session.
■ Commissioner Byl is going to take on Increasing Organics Participation through New
Initiatives.
Staff Updates
o We did select a solar company to begin that work on the rooftop solar at Brookview.
Staff has a meeting with them tomorrow (7-29-25) to talk about next steps. They bid
came in under budget. The solar should be installed and online by next spring at the
very latest. We're aiming for the end of this year to take advantage of Federal,
rebate incentives. As long as we're above a certain threshold of completed
construction we'll get the full tax rebate. We're filling as much of the roof as
possible.
o We will have anew GreenCorps member starting in October.
City of Golden Valley
July 28, 2025 — 6:30 pm
6. Adjournment
MOTION by Commissioner Drawz, seconded by Commissioner Wold to adjourn the meeting at
8:00 pm and the motion carried.
ATTEST:
Carrie Nelson, Administrative Assistant
Paul Klaas,"Chair