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EQEM 11/15/2016 ENVIRONMENTALQUALITYANDENERGYCOMMISSION FridleyMunicipalCenter,6431UniversityAveNe Minutes bƚǝĻƒĬĻƩЊЎͲЋЉЊЏͲАʹЉЉƦ͵ƒ͵ Location: City Hall, Conference Room A Call to Order: Chairman Mark Hansen called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m. In attendance: Commissioners Hansen (Chair), Westby, Velin and Stoxen. Approve Environmental Quality and Energy Commission Minutes th Review October 11, 2016 minutes. MOTION TO APPROVE MINUTES Commissioner Westby made the motion to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Commissioner Velin, and the minutes passed on a unanimous vote. New Business Municipal tree planting: planning, funding and prioritization of locations. Summary of accomplishments, challenges and what was learned was discussed by staff and the Commissioners. Although it was a sprint to plant nearly 200 trees with volunteers in one growing season, working with a variety of groups to get it done was, for the most part, a big success! Corporate partners like General Mills, Cummins and Medtronic preferred to volunteer during the week. This enabled public works and planning staff to avoid overtime or extra travel time. These volunteers, with minimal training, produced well-planted trees, amazingly quickly. Medtronic groups could have planted at least 20-40 more trees during their May plantings session (one of two tree plantings in which Medtronic participated) during the time allotted. Staff loaded and unloaded trucks, supervised and provided advice and these plantings ran very smoothly without a disproportionate amount of labor. Working with youth groups for tree planting requires at least a two student to one adult volunteer ratio, which was not always possible. The 2016 Arbor Day event was fortunate to have ten University of Minnesota students volunteer along with a couple of Fridley School and Anoka County Master Gardeners volunteers—all were needed! Parents tended to drop off their children and leave, rather than participate in the Arbor Day event or help with the plantings. In working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Youth Conservation Corps, site conditions like heat during the end of June made the East River Road and Mississippi River Trail location difficult. One reason was that many of the trees were not small containers because, in order to meet Minnesota Department of Transportation grant specifications, 20 gallon-sized container trees and some of the large balled and burlapped trees needed to be used and there was no way that junior high and early high school kids could handle the weight.So Public Works staff had to pre-drilled holes, help get them into the holes and in some cases, trees are too deep in the holes and cannot be corrected. Winterizing and guided tree pruning for structure, though, might work very well with this age group and have a nice educational component. There is an upcoming opportunity to test that idea with an educator named Kirby Rautio. Staff and volunteer planting groups from Commissioner Foel’s firm, EQE Commissioners Foell, Mulrooney and Westby as well as EQEC Chair Mark Hansen and other volunteers from local business Cummins, worked on pollinator planting, wildflower seeding and protecting plants against rodents and more. This was a very successful activity for volunteers. What else was learned? Watering takes longer than was estimated. The Gator-bags for shade trees, which hold around 20 gallons of water, were often empty in one day and the only practical way to fill lots of them is with a watering truck operated by two to three employees working during the week and on overtime on weekends. This is costly but until we can come up with a mobile stock tank that can be safely left on a park or planting site and then used by volunteers to fill the bags, lots of staff time is involved with the watering of trees, pollinators, raingardens and seeded areas. Arbor Day 2017. The last day in April is Arbor Day in Minnesota, however, the Commissioners discussed continuing to have the tree plantings on a Saturday. The group decided that Earth Day, 2017, which is on April 22, would be the date for Arbor Day plantings and to launch a City cleanup and environmental awareness week. 2017 Fridley Bike & Hike. Regarding the date for the Fridley Bike and Hike, Trails Day Celebration, Commissioners determined that the American Hiking Society designated Saturday, June 3 as the National date, so that seemed logical. It sort of launches the month of festivities in Fridley which includes Fridley Forty-niner Days. The object of the day is to emphasize the great trails in Fridley’s local and regional parks and to get families and kids out on these trails for fun and exercise and maybe introduce them to a new walking or biking location in the City. Chairman Hansen asked that the date be finalized after Commissioner Foell (excused) could weigh in on it, and determine his availability that day. Comprehensive Planning for Metropolitan Council requirements. A very brief discussion about what is involved with Comprehensive Planning along with some dates ensued. Meeting dates for 2017 were distributed. MOTION TO APPROVE 2017 Meeting Dates (attached) Commissioner Westby made the motion to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Commissioner Stoxen, and the 2017 EQEC Meeting Dates passed as presented, with a unanimous vote. Old Business th LCCMR Grant update: Tree Trust, Medtronic and Conservation Corps park planting work on Nov. 4. Winterization plan for volunteer mobilization to protect new trees in Commons, Community and Summit Square Parks: Commissioners Mulrooney, Westby and Foell have been very active in winterizing for the grant trees, shrubs, pollinators and in park cleanup. They brought friends, colleagues and family members to join in the work to place tree wrap and caging on the trees and shrubs to prevent rodent damage and sunscald. The Mulrooney clan cleaned up Community Park’s raingarden, winterized trees, did trash removal and identified a code enforcement issue with medical waste dumping. Thanks to all for the extra volunteerism! University testing new hybrid tree variety. Because flat-headed borers were found in all of the bare-root oak trees planted in the new gravel beds and in Commons and Summit Square Parks, those trees were all dead and a credit applied for with the supplying nursery. In order to make up the numbers for the Tree Trust/Medtronic plantings at Craig and Riverview Heights Parks, the University of Minnesota Urban Forestry Dept. professor Gary Johnson arranged for the City to obtain 12-Prairie Stature Oak trees (Quercus x bimundorum 'Midwest'), which is a cross between a native White Oak and an English Oak. The idea is to see if the best qualities of both parents come through to increase disease-resistance and vigor. Use of a greater variety of tree types, helps to also increase the resiliency of the City’s urban tree canopy. It became apparent this was necessary after the 2015-2016 tree inventory which showed very little species variation. That leaves the City municipal tree population at risk by increasing susceptibility to insect outbreaks, like the current Emerald Ash Borer epidemic. The Prairie Stature Oak trees were planted, along with about 60 other trees, at Craig and Riverview Heights Parks by Medtronic volunteers. Thanks to Medtronic, Gary Johnson, Tree Trust and the Conservation Corps! Other Changes in Chapter 113 (Solid Waste & Recycling) have been reviewed atPublic Hearing in front of the Planning Commission and at the Council meeting of October 24, 2016. The first reading was yesterday evening thth at the November 14, 2016 City Council meeting and the second reading will be on November 28, 2016. Subsequent publication of a summary of the changes in this chapter of City Code will take place in early December in the Sun Focus newspaper. Next Meetings/Announcements The next EQEC meeting will be held on December 13, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., at the usual location, Conference Room A (Main Level, City Hall). Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT PLANNING DIVISION Memorandum DATE: NOVEMBER 15, 2016 TO: EQE Commission Members FROM: Kay Qualley, Environmental Planner SUBJECT: Approved 2017 EQE Commission Meeting Dates The following dates are for your review and approval of the proposed 2017 EQE Commission meeting dates. The meetings are on a Tuesday unless otherwise indicated. Jan. Feb. Mar. April May JuneJulyAug.Sept.Oct. Nov. Dec. 31 15* 7 4 2 6 11 8 12 10 14 12 *February is a Wednesday evening in order that the meeting doesn’t fall on Valentine’s Day.