9-22-14 Minutes GOLDEN VALLEY ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION
Regular Meeting
Minutes
September 22, 2014
Present: Commissioners Tonia Galonska, Lynn Gitelis, Dawn Hill, Larry
Johnson, Jim Stremel, Debra Yahle; Eric Eckman, Public Works
Specialist, Deric Deuschle, SEH; and Pat Schutrop, Administrative
Assistant
Absent: Commissioner Tracy Anderson
Call to Order
Stremel called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes —August 25, 2014
MOVED by Gitelis, seconded by Yahle, and the motion carried unanimously to
approve the minutes of the August 25, 2014 meeting.
New Proposals for Greener Practices
The Mayor and City Council charged the Commission to consider suggestions for
greener practices. Commission members also came up with a list of suggestions.
In an attempt to organize the three lists, Stremel asked staff to create a matrix
that would also include overlapping items from each list, how to implement,
incentives/disincentives for change, etc. The Commission agreed to remove the
following suggestions because of redundancy or are beyond the expected scope:
• Educate residents through the CityNews and website, on better practices
(e.g. water conservation).
NOTE: This item will be reworded to read: Water Conservation (such as
home water audits).
• CSA and fresher vegetables delivered via less over the road trucking.
• "Safe Streets" and more walking to school.
• MnASAP support
There was discussion to remove the suggestion regarding bat houses vs.
spraying mosquitos; however, Chair Stremel asked that it remain on the list.
Members of City Council added two additional suggestions for the Commission to
consider:
1. Greenstep Cities Program. The Commission heard a presentation from
the program administrator and considered participating in this program in
2011/2012, but decided to continue participating in the US Mayors Climate
Protection Program the State of Minnesota's B3 Benchmark System
instead.
Action: Support the 2011/2012 decision to not participate in the Green
Step Cities as it seems redundant to what the City and Commission are
doing through the B3 Benchmarking system.
Action: Include update of the B3 Benchmark System in the Commission's
annual report to the City Council.
Minutes of the Environmental Commission
September 22, 2014
Page 2 of 3
2. Bee keeping and making the community bee-friendly. Consider
Shorewood's policy encouraging the planting of bee-friendly flowers and
restricting certain pesticides.
Action: Keep this item on the list of new proposals for greener practices
for possible inclusion in 2015 EC work plan.
The Commission will review the matrix again at the next meeting.
Natural Resource Management Plan (NRMP)
The survey is now on the website and will be ready for residents to access after
the September/October issue of the CityNews is released. The survey will be on
the website for one month.
Eric Eckman did a Channel 12 interview about the NRMP at the Bassett Creek
Nature Area and noticed there was no signage identifying the nature area. He
believes it would be beneficial to have name signs posted in the nature areas.
Eckman also suggested that naming some of the open space areas in the City
would give those areas an identity within the City. The Open Space and
Recreation Commission and Rick Birno will need to be consulted regarding
creating identities for some of the open spaces throughout the City.
A difficult topic that will need to be addressed is encroachments into nature areas
by private property owners. Many of these encroached areas by property owners
happen over time and the property owner may not be aware they are
encroaching onto public property. Education will be important in getting voluntary
compliance as a starting point of enforcement. Currently, these are complaint-
driven to be resolved by the City.
Deric Deuschle distributed the first site (Adeline Nature Area) in Chapter 5 of the
site specific management strategies for the commissioners to review and
comment (on file). Each nature area site will be addressed individually by
description, forest and woodlands, lake, wetlands, threatened and endangered
species, vegetation goals and action plans.
Eckman said the Sweeney Lake access should be emphasized in the site
information for Adeline Nature Area. He suggested SEH also add creative ideas
to the plan in how some of the land use areas can be enhanced or improved for
the Commission and staff to react to.
The draft of each site will be ready for the Commission to review at its next
meeting.
Program/Project Updates
Bottineau Transitway Update: Commissioner Galonska attended the recent
meeting. Rich Baker is requesting all Golden Valley representatives meet on
October 22 to discuss the progress.
Minutes of the Environmental Commission
September 22, 2014
Page 3 of 3
Community Center Update: The site selection process is narrowed down to two
locations, both of which are located on current Brookview property. Proposals will
be finalized at the next meeting to present to the City Council in October.
The complete program/project summary is on file.
Commission Member Council Reports
None.
Other Business
None.
Adjourn
MOVED by Hill, seconded by Johnson, and the motion carried to adjourn.
The meeting adjourned at 8:59 pm.
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P t Schutrop
Administrative Assistant