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EQECA 05/14/2013 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ENERGY COMMISSION Fridley Municipal Center,6431 University Ave Ne � F Agenda Packet Tuesday, May 14,2013,7:00 p.m. AGENDA Location: Conference Room A(Main Level) Call to Order Chairperson Velin called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission members present: Eric Boyles,Todd Olin, Rich Svanda, Jack Velin. Guests: Chris Lord,Anoka Conservation District Manager. Approval of Environmental Quality and Energy Commission Minutes: March 12,2013 MOTION by Commissioner Boyles and seconded by Commissioner Svanda to approve the March 12, 2013 minutes. Presentation Anoka Conservation District,Chris Lord, District Manager presented. He has been with the Anoka Conservation District for 21 years. He stated that he was presenting this material to the EQEC in order to identify what makes a good project for Anoka Conservation District; what they do and don't do. He explained that he would define why they take the direction they do in order to create and fund effective projects. ACD is an urban water resource -management organization. They want to discover: • What is the resource that we need to protect and enhance? E.g. Mississippi River or Oak Glen Creek • Identify what is the problem? E.g. Volume, sediment,nutrients, other • Are there physical features causing the problem? E.g. Banks of the river are too steep, eroding or the river bed is cutting in and creating sediment. • What makes a project effective?E.g. Good project in the wrong location is a waste of time and money Location, Location, Location Just like not all watersheds or subwatersheds are equal in the emphasis given to them(or the impact that mitigation in them can produce)not all projects are equally cost effective. Some older projects like storm ponds from the 1980's weren't really about rate control and without modification do not give the control you need. Some of these existing ponds might,with fairly cost-effective modifications, give you the rate control you want with maybe only $5,000 in costs. This will create a huge benefit. Not all properties should be encouraged to do projects and once a few key properties do a project,diminishing returns can set in,they then re-run the numbers to make the most impact from limited budget. ACD uses Analysis, Promotion and Education and Installation. Under assessment,retrofit scoping is used. Anoka Conservation identifies projects. These targeted projects are continually assessed based on whether a project is built or not. Stormwater effects from curb cut raingarden installations can be modeled with or without the gardens in each of the subwatersheds. Iron-enhanced filters are very effective new treatments for binding up to 85% of the phosphorus with which it comes into contact. It is used as a band around a stormwater pond at an upper level point. An important fact was shared about Iron-enhanced filters-they cannot be allowed to go anaerobic for long, or they lose their efficacy so cannot be soaked with water all of the time. This can be one important retrofit technique. Treatment cost/benefit analysis is an integral portion of what ACD does and this yields excellent project ranking. Project ranking itself is fluid and the numbers can be re-crunched after re- assessment. Two easy,but surprisingly effective residential techniques to improve stormwater absorption are core aeration of lawns (not thatching)and a well-placed rain barrel that is emptied between Storm events. The rain barrel (in_a location that would have thrown stormwater into the road otherwise)was extremely cost effective: $1,190/of of total'phosphorus. This would mean that the purchase.and installation of 100 rain barrels in a targeted area could be very effective. In general,they mail to high priority neighborhoods, find 16 projects;whittle it down to 10 projects. ACD wants curb cut raingardens to capture debris from the street and be easy to maintain. Currently Fridley street projects do not use pre-treatment chambers like the Rain Guardian unit(approx. $600)developed by Anoka County. If a Fridley project does use a Rain Guardian unit, our city has a rule that it must be located 4' off the curb,necessitating the pouring of a 4' spillway of concrete which adds to the cost of the raingarden project. Most communities served by Anoka Conservation District do not require this. (Discussion ensued about why this was,who should be asked about it(Jim K. of PV) and how the EQEC would advocate to get this changed in Fridley.) Mr. Lord gave a short synopsis about the value of the Oak Glen Corridor stabilization project that was not chosen for funding in the last round. He will re-apply because that project will be very valuable and the banks and area should have mitigation techniques applied to them/it. Raingardens should drain between 24 and 48 hours. Rain leader disconnect raingardens are s less efficient than curb cuts by a considerable amount. You will need 40 in a neighborhood to equal one well-placed curb-cut raingarden. Curb-Cut Raingardens This type of raingarden removes .28 lb Ph(TP)per year. One curb cut raingarden costs ACCD $6,500 to install. It will need about$75/yr for maintenance. All in all it represents costs of about about$1,000 per pound of phosphorus it removes from lakes and streams. New Business Announcement of June 6,2013, 5:30-7:00 p.m. Raingarden seminar event to be presented by Mitch Haustein of Anoka Conservation District and Kay Qualley, Environmental Planner, City of Fridley. There will be informational material available for take home. Recycling Drop-off Event Expenses Staff member Qualley explained that the new vendor,Jobs Foundation/Tech Dump had executed the April 13, 2013 Drop-off Event well for a first time vendor. The only complaints from residents were about the usual long lines and one from a fellow attempting to drop off wet carpeting that was not tied in the stipulated size rolls and was turned away. Other complaints were generated by volunteers about layout and a post-event meeting took place to fine-tune for the fall Oct. 12 Drop-off Event. All expenses are not yet in but it appears that the event will come in slightly under budget. May 22, 2013 Locke Lake Water Quality Update Panel Presentation Locke Lake residents have requested that City Environmental Planning staff facilitate a Locke Lake water quality meeting. In order to make information equally available to all residents in the immediate vicinity of Locke Lake, a community location and presentation was coordinated. Rice Creek Watershed District will combine with the MN-DNR and the University of Minnesota's Professor Dr. Mulla,to provide a Locke Lake water quality informational presentation on May 22 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Fridley City Council Chambers. This panel will answer questions at the conclusion of the presentation, providing Fridley citizens around Locke Lake access to the water quality experts in one location. Rice Creek and the DNR have a proposal to present for a Phosphorus mitigation project (approximately$10,000), from the railway corn spill remediation fund. Staff from Rice Creek was eager to have this opportunity to get the technical info out to residents. Videotaping the meeting for later broadcast on our City website will make the information accessible to those who will not be able to attend a 3:30 p.m. meeting, but who are interested in Locke Lake water quality. i Other 49'er Parade The decision was made not to give away an imprinted object at the parade and possibly do something environmental at a school, e.g. a fair. Chairperson Velin asked about riding or walking in the parade and Kay Qualley said she would check with Allied Waste about having a vehicle in the parade(note: they later agreed to do this and asked for paperwork to be sent them). Commissioner Boyle volunteered to walk the parade as well. Old Business Organized Collection Update The Minnesota Legislature has adopted a new law regarding organized solid waste collection. The new law replaces the 180-day process for adopting organized collection with a 60-day negotiation period. The law(Chapter 45) states that the steps involved are Notice to public and licensed collectors; after Notice a 60-day negotiation period is created to allow collectors to develop a proposal. If the City does not reach an agreement with its licensed collectors during the negotiation period it can form-by resolution-an"organized collection options committee"to study various methods of organizing collection and issue a report. Council appoints the committee members and this committee is subject to the Open Meeting Law. Next is public notice,public hearing, and implementation: City must provide public notice and hold at least one public hearing before deciding to implement organized collection. Organized collection cannot begin until at least six months after the effective date of the city's decision to implement organized collection. Next Meetings/Announcements Tuesday, July 9, 2013, 7 p.m., Conference Room A(Main Level) MOTION TO ADJOURN The Motion was made by Commissioner Svanda and seconded by Commissioner Boyles to adjourn the meeting at 9:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kay M. Qualley Environmental Planner City of Fridley