Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-12-16 PACKET 04.A.ii. REQUEST OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL AGENDA MEETING ITEM # • . DATE 12/16/15 . /�t . PREPARED BY: Community Development Jennifer Levitt ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT STAFF AUTHOR * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COUNCIL ACTION REQUEST: Receive and place on file the approved minutes for the Environmental Commission's meeting on July 8, 2015. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive and place on file the approved minutes for the Environmental Commission's meeting on July 8, 2015. BUDGET IMPLICATION: $N/A $N/A N/A BUDGETED AMOUNT ACTUAL AMOUNT FUNDING SOURCE ADVISORY COMMISSION ACTION: DATE REVIEWED APPROVED DENIED ❑ PLANNING ❑ PUBLIC SAFETY ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ PUBLIC WORKS � ❑❑ ❑❑ ❑ PARKS AND RECREATION ❑ HUMAN SERVICES/RIGHTS ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ECONOMIC DEV. AUTHORITY ❑ ❑ ❑ � ENVIRONMENTAL 12/9/15 ❑ � ❑ SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: ❑ MEMO/LETTER: ❑ RESOLUTION: ❑ ORDINANCE: ❑ ENGINEERING RECOMMENDATION: ❑ LEGAL RECOMMENDATION: � OTHER: Approved minutes of Environmental Commission meetings on 7/8/15 ADMINISTRATORS COMMENTS: --� � � � ity Administ ator Date * * * * * * * * * * * * * � * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COUNCIL ACTION TAKEN: ❑ APPROVED ❑ DENIED ❑ OTHER City of Cottage Grove Environmental Commission Meeting July 8, 2015 A meeting of the Environmental Commission was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, in the Council Cham- bers at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South. Call to Order Chair Smith called the Environmental Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Attendees Members Present: Ryan Fleming, Rita Isker, Joseph Johnston, Shauna Klug, Brandon Smith Members Absent: None Others Present: Jennifer Levitt, Community Development Director/City Engineer Emily Schmitz, Code Enforcement Officer Ryan BurFeind, Project Engineer John McCool, Senior Planner Dave Thiede, City Council Liaison Approval of Agenda Smith added the rain barrel drawing from the Strawberry Festival booth to the agenda. Thiede drew the winning name from the barrel. Smith announced that Steve Wright won the rain barrel and staff will contact him. The rain barrel came from Cedar Hill Natives in Stillwater. lskermade a motion was made to approve the agenda as amended. Klug seconded, Motion passed unanimously(5-to-0 vote). Open Forum/Additional Agenda Items None Unfinished/New Business 5.1 Wellhead Protection Plan Mark Janovec, Stantec, provided a presentation on the Wellhead Protection Plan. Smith asked about the projections for the next ten years and the goal of trying to focus more effort on sealing private wells. He also asked for more information on when private wells need to be sealed and if there are any education efforts to make property owners aware of that. Janovec responded that a well survey was sent out to any properties that had suspected well sites on them and education was a part of that. They were also made aware of County and State grants to seal wells. This information will be sent out over the next ten years, so any properties that may have been missed or didn't respond initially can be sent another survey. Smith asked if the predominant reason for sealing well is lack of use. Janovac explained that the State well code requires that if a well is not being used, it must be sealed or have a maintenance permit. If a property owner is found to have Environmental Commission Minutes July 8, 2015 Page 2 of 4 a well that is not sealed, the City can be turn over enforcement to the Department of Health. Fleming asked if there are any concerns with agricultural nutrient application and pesticides within the wellhead protection area. Janovec stated that one of the main issues that came up in the initial development of the wellhead protection plan was the presence of nitrates in the water in southern Washington County, until the PFC issue came to the front. There are concerns about nitrates but he does not believe the nitrates in Cottage Grove wells approached the threshold limits, and as more of the land turns over from agricultural to residential, those levels usually go down. TurF management and agricultural issues are still a component of the plan for the next ten years. Fleming asked if that is primarily education. Janovec responded yes. 5.2 Solar Enerqv Requlations — Citv Code Amendment McCool summarized the staff memorandum on a proposed amendment regarding solar energy regulations and asked for feedback from the Commission. Klug commented that reducing glare issues should be top priority. There was a question about the Planning Commission's concerns about freestanding solar panels on smaller lots, noting that Woodbury's ordinance allows them on lots that are a minimum of 8,000 square feet. McCool responded that the primary concerns are that they are unsightly and could affect property values of neighboring properties. It was then asked if those are the same concerns for limiting the percentage of roofs covered by solar panels. Smith asked if there have been a lot of requests for freestanding solar panels. McCool responded that several landowners and companies have inquired where in the community they could be located. The City Code does not address that use, which is the reason for this proposed amend- ment. Smith asked if prior to any amendments to the ordinances, there is currently some process where somebody could propose an alternative to the ordinances that are already on the books. McCool responded not as a principal use. Roof and wall-mounted solar panels on residential structures that are accessory to the structure have been allowed with a building permit. Commu- nity solar gardens would be a principal use and the current ordinance does not have performance standards that address issues such as minimum and maximum acres, how many would be allowed, sight lines, setbacks, etc. Thiede asked if the solar panels on the top of the Business Enterprise Center (BEC) building was permitted because it is part of the structure. McCool responded yes. The Planning Commission supports the idea of allowing them as an accessory use on commercial and industrial buildings. Klug asked about historical buildings. McCool responded that one community has an historic downtown area and a couple businesses wanted panels on the buildings but the historic commit- tee of that community did not feel that they fit in with that type of architecture. Many of the historic structures in our community are disappearing simply because it is costly to maintain them. The panels may help prevent them from disappearing if they can help subsidize some of the electricity use in that building. Klug asked if that would be a case where freestanding panels could be allowed versus putting them on the historical structure. McCool responded that would be a good alternative. Most of the City's historic structures are in rural areas, so it may not be an issue. McCool asked if the Environmental Commission wants to be part of this process. The Commission does want to be included. McCool reported that there will be another presentation to the Planning Commission at their July 27 meeting, and after receiving further direction from the Planning Com- mission, the draft ordinance would be shared with the Environmental Commission. He also sug- gested holding a joint meeting between the Planning and Environmental Commissions. Klug asked if the ordinance would include thermal and wind. McCool responded that thermal would be included and the City currently has regulations on wind turbines. Wind turbines are allowed in Environmental Commission Minutes July 8, 2015 Page 3 of 4 residential districts and they are allowed to be freestanding, but the Planning Commission is think- ing that may need to be amended because they don't want freestanding solar panels. The current ordinance also allows for freestanding satellite dishes. 5.3 Local Food Production, Urban Farminq, and Beekeepinq BurFeind asked if the Commission had any questions on the staff memorandum regarding urban farming and beekeeping. Smith asked about ordinance amendments to create a permitting pro- cess to allow chickens and beekeeping in residential areas. McCool responded that in 2012-2013 the City spent a year researching and holding hearings regarding keeping chickens and water fowl on residential properties. He provided background on that issue, and reported that the City Council amended the ordinance to require a minimum of three acres to have chickens and ducks on residential properties; all other farm animals require five acres. The ordinance also requires an application process to keep poultry and fowl on residential properties ranging from three to five acres in size. There are also minimum standards and placement requirements for chicken the coops. Part of that process also included information on beekeeping. Many communities prohibit them in residential area because of bee stings. Beekeeping is a farm activity and would require a minimum of five acres. Smith stated that the Minneapolis ordinance that was addressed in the memo requires a permitting process. He asked if receiving approval from neighboring property owners could fit into Cottage Grove's ordinances and allow for more expanded use of some of these practices. Levitt responded that the City did look at those requirements and there was a lot of negativity associated with it, and she doesn't think the City is interested in revisiting that topic. Approval of Environmental Commission Minutes of May 13, 2015 Smith noted that the name of the Vice Chair who called the meeting to order is incorrect. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes from the Environmental Com- mission Meeting on May 13, 2015, with the correction as noted by Smith, Motion passed unanimously(5-to-0 vote). Reports 7.1 City Council Update Thiede reported that at the July 1, 2015 City Council meeting, the Council approved the quote for the 2015 Sanitary & Storm Sewer Cleaning and Televising project. On June 3, the Council ap- proved the encroachment and stormwater management agreements with Werner Electric and Leafline Labs. Levitt added that the Council will be seeing more of those stormwater agreements, which are part of the changes to the MS4 permit process to address maintenance of private basins on commercial properties. Thiede stated that on June 3, the Council approved the Environmental Consulting Services Agreement between the City of Cottage Grove and Denmark Township regarding a recycling grant from Washington County. Levitt explained that there is an annual re- cycling permit with Washington County that gives the City money for educational efforts and outreach through that grant. The County is trying to advocate for some of the smaller communities such as Denmark Township to partner with larger communities in developing recycling programs. The City of Cottage Grove has an excellent recycling program and is one of the best in the County in the percent of recycling that occurs in our community, so the County asked us to partner with Denmark Township. As a part of that, the City gets additional funds to help bolster our projects and enhance our programs. We will share the same consultant to work on ordinance changes Environmental Commission Minutes July 8, 2015 Page 4 of 4 pertaining to hauler license requirements and new ways to do educational outreach to enhance recycling within the community. Thiede reported that at the May 20 Council meeting, the City Council accepted the 3M Cottage Grove Environmental Compliance report. Levitt noted that Cottage Grove received our GreenStep Cities award at the end of June. 7.2 Response to Commission Inquiries None 7.3 Environmental Commission Comments and Requests Smith thanked staff for all the help with Strawberry Festival booth and supplying the giveaways. He asked if the Commission had any feedback on how things went. Klug thought it went well but that none of the flyers included the Environmental Commission or the City of Cottage Grove; they only referenced Washington County. She suggested that next year including something more city- based. She also suggested having commission applications available at the booth in case anyone is interested in applying for the Environmental Commission. Smith would like to see information about joining the Commission at future outreach events. Isker stated that an incident took place at the 3M Abrasives building involving nitric acid where a plume was created and asked if that was registered on any of our testing reports. Levitt stated that it is has been sometime since the City ceased air monitoring at the site, at the Council's direction. She noted that 3M was very forthright in working with our emergency management team on that incident. EPA and PCA were also actively involved, and our consultant will be monitoring the documentation from that event. The City of Cottage Grove was notified and the site director made personal connections with the City regarding the incident. Adjournment A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously(5- to-0 vote), and the meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m.