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EQEM 03/09/2021 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ENERGY COMMISSION Fridley Municipal Center, 7071 University Ave Ne MINUTES ağƩĭŷ ВͲ ЋЉЋЊ Location: Zoom Webinar Call to Order Commissioner Olberding called the Environmental Quality and Energy Commission to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll Call Present: Amy Dritz, Justin Foell, Nick Olberding, Heidi Ferris, and Sam Stoxen Absent: Mark Hanson Staff: Rachel Workin, Environmental Planner Approval of Environmental Quality and Energy Commission Minutes 1. Review January 12, Minutes A spelling error was noted in the Commissioner Dritz made a motion to approve the minutes as amended and Commissioner Ferris seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED unanimously. New Business 1. Environmental Events Update a. Earth Day EcoDash SpringBrook Nature Center did an event with the goose app to replace Pumpkin Night in the Park in October. The goose app will be used for Earth Day offering challenges throughout the City and activities that can also be done at home. Any ideas send to Rachel. b. Trails Day Bingo The May newsletter will feature a bingo card featuring Fridley trails. Fridley residents can participate in the 50k challenge that encourages people to walk 50k in May. Commissioner Ferris asked if the 50k could include skateboarding. Ms. Workin replied that people can walk, bike, or roll. Commissioner Ferris asked if the libraries were involved with any activities as they could help promote these events. Ms. Working replied that they are involved in the EcoDash but people could ride their bike to the library in the 50k for May activity. Commission Foell thought that kayaking with small groups may be an opportunity to promote a trails day event but that would be dependent on rainfall. Ms. Workin will mention that idea to Fridley recreation but agreed that it is a weather dependent activity. 2.Rice Creek Terrace Rain Gardens A small section of streets will be redone in the neighborhood between Mississippi Street and the creek for the Living Streets 2021 Street Project. The Rice Creek Watershed District has identified priority locations for rain gardens. Letters were sent out to property owners that their property was identified as a priority location and the cost of a rain garden would be shared as part of this project. This is the first time doing intentional rain gardens with Rice Creek Watershed District. If it is successful maybe this can be considered in the future. Commissioner Ferris asked if there was a place to post a plant identification tool for homeowners to help them identify what are plants and what are weeds. Ms. Workin replied yes, something could be posted on the website along with the landscaping plans. There may also be online data bases to refer on the website. Commissioner Ferris suggested to keep the landscaping plans consistent in raingardens for easier identification. Commissioner Foell mentioned there is an app where you can take a picture of the plant and the app would tell you what it is. Ms. Workin thought information on common weeds that are found in rain gardens would also be good information to help identify weeds vs. deliberately planted plants. 3.Bike Workshop Updates Ms. Workin said that the workshop will be held early May and then maybe do a bike ride instead of the May EQEC meeting. Commissioner Dritz asked what was submitted in the application. Ms. Workin replied address physical barriers, incorporate the active transportation plan and bike friendly infrastructure into developments, bike friendly businesses, encourage more destination trips, look into bike advocacy, barriers unique to specific age groups or underrepresented groups in the biking community. Commissioner Ferris asked about the public transit and new construction with high density housing and how does that fit into public transit. Ms. Workin will extend the invitation to those developments to see if any residents are interested in participating. lans are going. Ms. Workin replied that something may be in the March newsletter. Old Business 1.Tree Sale Update Ms. Workin noted that the tree list that was mailed is different than what was printed in the newsletter because the trees that were ordered were not available. Staff tried to find comparable plants and identified neighborhoods that had less than 40% coverage and sent postcards with a code for 50% off. So far 35 trees were sold to 16 people. 65% of those people are in the under forested area. Only half of them used the discount code. Staff also reached out to owners of apartment buildings and if they wanted to use discount code they could. People really want smaller ornamental trees rather than the larger trees. There are a large number of ash trees that appear to be advanced in ash borer in south Fridley and are considered hazardous. It is more cost effective to treat the ash trees over 30 years than to remove the ash trees. Commissioner Stoxen thought the prices listed reflected the 50% discount, he wondered if people thought the discount was already applied. 2.Grants Update Ms. Workin said that the City received a grant from Coon Creek Watershed District for Craig Park. People want to see native plants and better water quality. Other items included garbage and recycle bins and support for pickle ball. The Rice Creek Watershed District road conversion grant was also received. 3.WindUp Challenge and HES Updates Ms. Workin said that the goal was 50 people to sign up for the WindUp Challenge in January/February and 64 signed up. Wind up challenge and home energy quad update. 48 people received Home Energy Squad visits and was great to see that four of the visits were income qualified visits. Commissioner Foell noted that the WindUp challenge is no longer going on but thought that a Q & A in a future newsletter about WindUp would be helpful to answer questions about it. 4.Parks Master Plan Update Ms. Workin said that a presentation on the Parks Master Plan will be made at our next meeting. Adjourn Commissioner Stoxen made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Ferris seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED unanimously.