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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-02-12 PACKET 07.1.City of Cottage Grove Environmental Commission November 13, 2013 A meeting of the Environmental Commission was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, in the Council Chambers and telecast on Local Government Cable Channel 16. Call to Order Acting Chair Olson called the Environmental Commission meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Attendees Members Present: Ryan Fleming, Shauna Klug, David Olson, Rosemary Palmer Members Absent: Karla Bigham, Thaddeus Owen Others Present: Jennifer Levitt, City Engineer Olson stated that four in attendance constitutes a forum. Approval of Agenda Palmer made a motion to approve the agenda. Fleming seconded. The motion was ap- proved unanimously (4 -to -0 vote). Open Forum Olson stated as no one was in the audience they would pass on the open forum. New Business 5.1 Air Monitoring Results Tom Henning provided a report on the second year's round of seven air - ambient monitoring tests near the 3M Cottage Grove facility. The monitoring started in June. There were preliminary results from the first seven samples. One of those samples was pretty high; however, he re- ceived information from the laboratory today that said those results should be considered invalid and should not be used. Without that unusual data point, the results were very similar to the re- sults from the previous year. The plan was to continue to operate the monitor into May or June 2014, and evaluate if there was any difference from this year's results to the first year's results. Olson asked if they had any data on the amount of waste outside of the 3M system that was running through that plant. Henning replied that they had not requested that data. He stated they had delayed the start time somewhat until 3M started processing outside waste. Olson re- quested looking at data points for that next May or June. Levitt stated she'd would make a request on that to 3M. Environmental Commission Minutes November 13, 2013 Page 2 of 4 5.2 Washington County Groundwater Plan 60 -Day Review — Provide Comments Levitt stated that the Washington County Groundwater Plan takes all groundwater - related activ- ity and puts it into one document, including work plans and accomplishments. Updates are made annually. Olson explained for the new members that groundwater was actually subsurface water. Levitt stated that the ultimate goal of this plan is to manage the quality and quantity of groundwater in Washington County to protect health and ensure sufficient supplies of clean water to support human uses and natural ecosystems, which was the main focus of the ten -year plan. Each year the County would update or provide a report on the accomplishments on each one of the sections of this report (Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), Washington County Conservation District, Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Geological Survey, Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Department of Natural Resources, and local units of government). Contaminants that were identified include nitrates, pharmaceuticals, and road salt, Septic systems are present in Cottage Grove and we have to be aware of those. Emerging contaminants were also identified. The two sections of the Plan are groundwater quantity and quality; the quality section would primarily fall back on the cities because cities were the agencies held responsible for that. The interaction between groundwater and surface water is important. The Washington County Tech- nical Review Committee discussed this Plan, and a lot of the topics listed were missing from the previous ten -year plan. Olson asked if the City was up to date on our responsibilities respective to this Plan or if there was something the City should be doing to be consistent with the Plan. Levitt stated Cottage Grove was probably one of the leaders in the County, especially regarding education in envi- ronmental components facing the communities. Klug asked about the timeline being ten years, noting that it is the Washington County 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Levitt stated the City and the County both had comprehensive plans that went out to 2030; this specific plan was 2014 through 2024, so there might be references back and forth where they refer to the comprehensive plan and the two might be intermixed, making it confusing at times, but the Groundwater Plan was until 2024. Palmer had a question regarding the emerging contaminants. She noted there has been a good start on prescription drugs, but there were ingredients affecting the environment in antibacterial products. She asked how we could identify which products were the culprits and if those com- panies were required to label their products with ingredient information, and what the Environ- mental Commission could do to educate the Cottage Grove community about those issues. Levitt stated she didn't have specific answers to those questions and proposed adding that topic to the 2014 work plan discussion at the January meeting. Fleming thought Washington County should be commended on the effort they put forth on the Groundwater Plan. However, he thought one thing that was missing was an implementation schedule for the identified strategies and perhaps they could identify strategic partners for those strategies. Levitt said they could pass that along to the County. Olson agreed it would be inter- esting to know more about what would be necessary for Cottage Grove to do as an LGU and if they had a work plan in place underneath the ten -year plan. Environmental Commission Minutes November 13, 2013 Page 3 of 4 Klug asked if Cottage Grove switched to surface water from the Mississippi how that would af- fect other states south of Minnesota. Levitt stated they could seek information on that from the Metropolitan Council and would also address that with Washington County. 5.3 Energy Analysis for Cottage Grove PSCH: Verification Report— Receive Information Levitt reported that the City received the third and final report of the energy "audit" for the Public Safety /City Hall building. Xcel Energy provided the City with a check for $52,590 as part of the energy incentive earlier this year; right now, they were projecting annual energy savings of $59,645. The end result was it was a job well done and very successful. Fleming asked if all of the energy efficiencies had been equated to any type of greenhouse gas reduction. Levitt responded they had not done that but it might be an interesting thing to look at as we talk about our work plan and our strategy going forward. Old Business None Approval of Environmental Commission Minutes 7.1 May 8, 2013 Fleming had a couple of revisions to the minutes. On Page 3, the third paragraph down, it re- ferred to "MPDES" and "SWPPD" and he believed those should be "NPDES" and "SWPPP." Palmer made a motion to approve the minutes, with the above amendments, from the May 8, 2013, Environmental Commission meeting. Fleming seconded. Motion passed unanimously (4 -to -0 vote). 7.2 September 16, 2013 Fleming made a motion to approve the minutes from the September 16, 2013, Environ- mental Commission meeting. Klug seconded. Motion passed unanimously (4 -to -0 vote). Reports 8.1 City Council Update There was no City Councilmember present; Levitt stated she'd be happy to answer any ques- tions but she did not have any formal presentation or City Council updates to provide. 8.2 Response to Commission Inquiries Levitt stated there was a February 1 deadline for submissions to our Green Award Program that we initiated last year; that deadline was fast approaching and we would work with our Commu- nications Coordinator to get the word out. So far, there have been no nominations made so they needed to get the word out. Levitt stated there have been some inquiries regarding textile recycling so that was something they would probably revisit, to see if it was something the Commission would want to consider in the work plan or something we could provide education or information about. There were differ- Environmental Commission Minutes November 13, 2013 Page 4 of 4 ent awards and programs that certain Council members had been notified existed so that might be something to review and discuss pursuing. Perhaps pursuing the Green Step Cities Step 3 might be the best system versus other programs, depending on how much effort they took, and what we got out of those. Levitt stated right now she'd be leaning toward sticking with the Green Step Cities program and making progress toward our Step 3. 8.3 Environmental Commission Comments and Requests Olson suggested having a discussion about upcoming meetings. Levitt stated Commissioners Bigham and Owen cannot attend the December meeting due to other obligations; she proposed canceling the December meeting and meet in January to prepare a work plan for the Commis- sion, including objectives the Commission would like to achieve in 2014. She suggested that meeting be a non - televised workshop format to brainstorm some ideas regarding the direction of the Commission. Olson added that he'd like to include in that agenda a review of 2013's work plan and the progress they'd made on various issues, as well as items that the Commission may not have made progress on. Klug stated that would be helpful to know what had been done in the past and what steps had been previously taken. Olson asked Levitt to ensure that the 2013 work plan be sent to each of the members in their packet for that meeting. Adjournment Palmer made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Klug seconded. Motion passed unanim- ously (3 -to -0 vote). The meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.