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05-08-17 PC Minutes - Comp Plan Special Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 A special meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, May 8, 2017. Chair Segelbaum called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Those present were Planning Commissioners Baker, Blenker, Blum, Johnson, Kluchka, Segelbaum, and Waldhauser. Also present were Associate Planner/Grant Writer Emily Goellner, Public Works Specialist Eric Eckman, GreenCorps Member Hannah Garry, and Administrative Assistant Lisa Wittman. 1. 6-6:30 pm: Open House (Resilience and Sustainability) 2. 6:30-7:30 pm: Presentation and Discussion (Resilience and Sustainability) Eckman stated that this Comp Plan discussion will focus on the Resilience and Sustainability chapter. He explained that the term resilience is the capacity to respond, adapt, and thrive under changing conditians such as weather and climate related events. The term sustainability aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Eckman discussed the impacts of several climate trends and observations that the MnDNR Climatology Office has observed including: warming temperatures, higher winter (low/cold) temperatures with more freeze/thaw cycles and more winter rain, the increase in annual precipitation, and increasing extreme rainfall events. Garry referred to the vulnerability assessment completed by Great Plains Institute and stated that the following areas were analyzed: natural infrastructure, built infrastructure, vulnerable populations, and economic vulnerability. She stated that the assessment showed that the City has a healthy urban tree canopy coverage of 40%, the planting to removal ratio of public trees is 0.47 to 1 (the recommended ratio is 2:1), and 21.4% of public trees are ash trees susceptible to Emerald Ash Borer, however the City has an Emerald Ash Borer management plan in place. Garry referred to the built infrastructure portion of the assessment and stated that the Pavement Management Program (PMP) will ensure all roads meet City standards for 2022. She stated that the City has an aging underground infrastructure with 80% of the sanitary sewer lines, and 74% of the watermains being older than 50 years. Segelbaum asked if the underground infrastructure is replaced as part of the PMP. Eckman stated that all mains are evaluated and a portion of the watermains and sewer mains are replaced or rehabilitated with the project, based on priority and funding. Kluchka asked if data regarding the quality of the infrastructure could be added because just the age of the infrastructure isn't a good qualitative evaluator of how good or bad it is. Eckman said staff would try to aggregate that data and added that age is usually a good indicator of quality given the pipe material and the soils in Golden Valley. Waldhauser asked if there is data Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 Page 2 showing how much of the underground infrastructure sits on private property. Eckman said there is a significant amount, but that the assessment focused more on public property than private property. He added that homeowners have been repairing and replacing their private lines as well with PMP projects and I and I point of sale. Garry referred to the vulnerable populations portion of the assessment and stated that over 20% of the City's population is otder than 65 and 33% of those residents over 65 live alone. 8.2% of the City's population lives below the poverty line, and 20.6% of the population are eligible to receive heating assistance. Garry referred to the economic vulnerability portion of the assessment and noted that Golden Valley has a higher median income relative to Hennepin County, there is a diverse workforce with a low unemployment rate, and 40% of the Golden Valley workforce are within the sectors hit hardest during the Great Recession. Garry referred to the energy section of the assessment and stated that Golden Valley residents and businesses get their electricity from Xcel Energy. Residents make up the largest customer sector with more than 8,000 customers, and 62% of the energy in the City is consumed by its industrial customers. Garry discussed the community engagement strategies which include: the community survey done in the summer of 2016, the Comp Plan kick-off open house done in September of 2016, the ongoing Comp Plan survey, the resilience survey done in January and February of 2017, conversations with local businesses done in March of 2017, and two focus groups in March of 2017, one with people supporting vulnerable populations, and one with the Environmental Commission. Segelbaum asked if any of these channels are still open for public comment. Garry said yes, the Comp Plan survey on the City's website will be available for the duration of the Comp Plan update process. G�rry discussed the themes emerging from community input as well as the vulnerability assessment. These themes include: protecting and increasing green spaces and the tree canopy, enhancing water quality, mitigating impacts from flooding, investing in aging infrastructure, expanding the sidewalk and trail system, exploring options for solid waste management and yard waste management, expanding the recycling program to include composting/organics, increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy use, attracting and supporting small businesses, improving social connectedness and diversity, and encouraging sustainable practices and by informing and engaging the public. Eckman discussed each of the proposed goals and objectives. The first goal is to promote and develop clean, renewable energy. The second goal is to encourage energy efficiency in buildings, lighting, and infrastructure. The third goal is to encourage waste reduction, recycling, and camposting. The fourth goal is to protect and enhance the natural environment. The fifth goal is to plan for resilient and sustainable infrastructure. The sixth goal is to increase community resilienc� and preparedness. He stated that he is looking for general consensus on the themes and priorities and feedback on the preliminary goals, objectives, and policies. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 Page 3 Kluchka asked where water use and/or reduction and efficiency fits into this. Eckman stated that water use and conservation could be part of goal four regarding protecting and enhancing the natural environment. He added that the Met Council has combined waste water, potable water, and surFace water into one chapter titled water resources as a more integrated approach. Kluchka suggested elevating water conservation to the first goal by stating that the goal is to promote and develop clean, renewable energy and resources. He added that he wants to consider water as utility in the same context as renewable energy. Eckman suggested adding language regarding water to goal five and think about it as a part of the City's infrastructure. Segelbaum asked if the Climatology Office takes future rain events into account. Eckman stated that the City uses NOAA data which has the most up to date precipitation models for this region. Kluchka asked if goal five regarding resilient and sustainable infrastructure includes community solar. Eckman said yes, that is distributive power that feeds the grid. Kluchka asked if the City is proactive in burying power lines or requiring conduits with future capacity during PMP projects. Eckman said yes, there are a few examples of this, and added that the City also encourages the utility companies to use the right-of-way wisely. Kluchka asked if it is fair to say the City is prioritizing larger undergrounding projects and n�t residential projects. Eckman said there are some ideas for residential properties w�ven into the policies, and that staff is still formulating strategies, but generally new power lines and other facilities are required to be buried underground. Segelbaum asked if the Environmental Commission has provided feedback. Eckman said they have seen other versions of the proposed goals and objectives; but they will be reviewing a more refined version soon. Goellner added that this chapter will be brought back to the Planning Commission for more specific discussion in the fall. Segelbaum opened the meeting to public comments. Sfieve Pesavento, 1701 Valders Avenue North, said he is very interested in renewable energy and he wants the City to be very proactive and not restrictive when it comes to solar, wind, geothermal, etc. Segelbaum asked how the City can encourage these types of things. Pesavento said the City shouldn't be as restrictive as it currently is and wind energy is not being looked at as strongly as it could be. Marcia Anderson, 130 Edgewood Avenue North, asked if the Comp Plan is supposed to be very general with very broad goals because that is the way it reads. She said she thinks the notion of goals is to be broad, and the proposed goals are great, but very unspecific. She agreed that the City should consider being much more proactive and questioned what the metrics and targets are because she hasn't heard anything specific. Segelbaum stated that the hierarchy starts with a goal, then gets more specific in the objectives then even more specific in the policies. Goellner agreed and stated the implementation language is specific about costs, targets, etc. Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 Page 4 Marti Micks, 90 Louisiana Avenue South, said it takes longer to fix power outages when the lines are buried underground. She noted that there is nothing in the proposed language about enhancing the existing power grid. She suggested having a parade of homes type of event showing energy efficient homes and ideas and said another issue that should be addressed is not allowing the amount of impervious pavement to increase with new developments. Jeanne Francis, 8025 Plymouth Avenue North, said she is concerned about pesticides and herbicides. She questioned what Golden Valley can do as a community to be more aware and educated about these health hazards because it would be great to be a pesticide free community. Seeing and hearing no one else wishing to comment, Segelbaum closed the public comment period. Segelbaum referred to the comment regarding the City being less restrictive on renewable energy items. He said goal number one is to promote and develop clean, renewable energy and asked if there are other places in the chapter where renewable energy is addressed. Kluchka stated that the second objective in goal one discusses supporting renewable energy projects. Waldhauser said the standards to encourage renewable energy are in the proposed language and suggested being more specific as it relates to private property. Baker stated that ordinance changes could be done in order to reduce barriers. Kluchka asked how the City ensures accountability and how the Met Council enforces the goals that the City is trying to accomplish. Goellner stated that the Met Council only requires cities to have a Comp Plan that meets their minimum requirements and doesn't push cities to meet their own goals. W�Idhauser said that most of the proposed goals don't read like goals to her. She suggested not using the word encourage and instead using action verbs such as promote, implement, and improve. She said she would like the goals to be more understandable and stronger, and not so vague. Baker said the goals should be vague and more umbrella in nature. He stated that more specific language will be in the implementation language which will lead to actionable items. Kluchka agreed that the goals should be more actively phrased because they will have a more substantial impact and having overlapping policies and objectives isn't as helpfuL Blum referred to the community feedback summary document that was in the agenda packet. He noted that there were three different tools used that were intended to help the City solve the issue of how to prioritize the goals. He said he doesn't think the prioritization of the goals has been vetted, they've only been discussed in a preliminary fashion. He referred to the Comp Plan kick-off open house and said while he thinks that was a good idea and a good effort at community engagement, he questions some of things the City did to get a measurable prioritization such as the stickers residents put next to the goals. His recollection is that everybody who participated was given five stickers so if a goal got 20 stickers that would be a minimum of four people out of 20,000 Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 Page 5 who commented on a particular goal. He said the City fed people pre-generated answers as possible goals that they could support. He questioned how much weight should really be given to those results as much as it was a great effort and it generated a lot of conversation, he is not sure there was a measurable result that should be given a lot of weight or prioritization. He referred to the general themes that are emerging from the online Comp Plan survey and said he thinks those reference a very open ended survey without feeding people the answers. He said the survey asked people what they think is great about this community and what they wanted to promote. The biggest priority from that survey is "green" both aesthetically and scientifically. He said that was the highest priority and should be given more weight than the others. He said the survey was in�ightfui in showing what residents actually want to see the City do. He said the theme of more trees and green in general didn't translafie priority-wise to the goals and objectives and he thinks that should be the number one goal because residents are spontaneously telling the City that is the most important thing to them out of all other priorities. He referred to the Great Plains assessment and said the City has contracted with them to get an objective review ofi issues in the community. He noticed the statistic in the report that the City plants .5 trees for every one removed. He said it makes more sense to him to plant 2 or more trees for every one removed. He referred to another statistic in the report that states the City only plants 50 to 75 trees every year. He said he realizes that it may not be feasible to plant a lot of trees on City property but he thinks if people really want to "green" this community there could be a public-private partnership that would get su�sidized trees to people. He said he knows there are organizations that do that which wou{d take away some of the administrative difficulty and costs for the City. He stated that he knows the Tree Trust does similar work and they say they have planted approximately one tree a day for the past decade in St. Louis Park, which is impressive, and Golden Valley isn't even close to that. He said he thinks this is an area for improvement and will match the priorities of the residents and bring the City forward in living up to the words "sustainability" and "resilience." Baker rsferred to the community feedback document and asked if the themes listed there are in order of priority. Goellner said no, but that the goals could be listed in order of priority. Blum said he looked word for word at the survey responses and "green" either scientifically or aesthetically was a high priority for residents. Kluchka asked how the removal of ash trees has affected the numbers listed in the vulnerability assessment. Eckman said the tree replacement numbers in the assessment seem a little low to him. He explained that during a pavement management project the City typically replaces trees at a two to one ratio. He stated that trees are also removed to install �onds or restore streambanks in order to benefit water quality or for property protection. Also, Cottonwood, Ash, Boxelder trees are sometimes removed and storms occur where not as many trees are replaced. He added that it is not feasible to plant every square inch of public property because there are utilities and other factors to con�ider. He noted that the City has 40% tree coverage which is more than in the past. He stated that the City could do more, but it is good to understand how we got to the numbers referred to in the assessment. Kluchka said that context is importar�t and asked about the success of the Plymouth tree sale held every year. Eckman said the forestry staffi would have a better sense of those numbers. Baker said he agrees with Blum Minut�s of the Golden Valley Planning Commission May 8, 2017 Page 6 regarding the low tree replacement rate, but what Eckman said is true and trees don't belong everywhere. He said in many places he'd rather see wild flowers, pollinators and nectar sources planted instead. Segelbaum referred to the question during the public comments regarding the reduction of power outages. Waldhauser said she thinks more could be done at a regional level than at the City IeveL Segelbaum referred to the question during the public comments about pesticides and herbicides and noted that the policies in goal four address those issues. Waldhauser noted that part of the resident's comment had to do with the effect on peoples' health so that could probably be reflected in the goals and objectives. Blenker stated that public health is missing from the goals. She stated that most of the goals are directed toward sustainability and are not as much about making us stronger and able to bounce back when something bad happens. She added that she would also like to see more about herbicides and pesticides in the Comp Plan which could include education efforts about herbicides, pesticides, and lawns. Baker stated that it is difficult to plant wildflowers in this City and alternatives to lawns need to be made easier. He added that there is push back fram people but the City needs to enhance the perception that things other than grass are desirable. Blenker agreed and added another issue is phosphorus and the question of something being bad if a person can buy it in a store. Segelbaum referred to the comment regarding showcasing enzrgy efficien�y. Waldhauser said she thinks the City newsletter is a great education point which can also provide resources. Baker said this chapter is really well done and he feels good about it. He said it is easy to go after the low hanging fruit and he hopes the City will go after some of the harder issues that really affect change like financiaf incentives and tax breaks: He said the ideas may not be popular, but when he looks at all of the new homes being built and none of them have solar he sees a missed opportunity. Segelbaum said the recently adopted PUD amenities language addresses some of these issues as well. Johnsan said the proposed Comp Plan language is pretty heavy on what the City will do but he would like to do more to encourage residents to be more energy efficient. Kluchka said there might be stronger ways to encourage residents to be more energy efficient through Zoning Code changes and the building permit process. Kluchka said he would go as far as saying public health should b� goal number seven as a resilience goal and a way to prepare people. Waldhauser agreed that that it is worth emphasizing. Kluchka asked the Commissioners if they feel like invasive species removal is being given enough attention. He said there may be opportunities to regain the forest environment but the City has got to step it up. Waldhauser agreed that there needs to be a strategy. Blum said he thinks it is important to prioritize educating people about invasive species. He said the City really needs to have a policy that does more than encourage people to remove Minut�s af the Golden Valley Planning Commission May �, 2Q�7 Page 7 them. He suggested that as property turns over homeowners could be required to remove Buckthorn. Kluchka said he is interested in being more proactive regarding community solar programs. Segelbaum stated that there could be people with preferred rates like with garbage haulers. Baker stated that the City could partner with a solar project. Blum referred to underground versus aboveground utilities and stated that a lot of people with aboveground utilities can't plant trees within 10 feet of the power lines. Segelbaum said he doesn't think they can really address how power is distributed. Blum said power lines can be buried, or perhaps during new construction or teardowns the City can think about how it wants the distribution to look. Johnson referred to the vulnerability assessment and stated that there are some contradictory statements in it so he is suggesting being critical when reading it. For example it states that the City needs more tree canopy, but in another location it stated that more canopy means more ticks and invasive species. Segelbaum stated that the City has a 40% tree canopy coverage and the assessment stated that a healthy tree canopy coverage is 30% so maybe that shouldn't be their focus. Segelbaum stated that he thinks the Commission has general consensus on the themes and priorities and preliminary agreement on the proposed goals and objectives. The Commissioners agreed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:48 pm. � John Kluch , Secretary Lisa Wittman, Administrative Assistant