Sustainable BC Committee

City of Battle Creek Sustainable BC Committee 150 N. Kendall St. Room 214 Battle Creek, MI Wednesday, October 4, 2017 4:00 p.m. Members Present: Comm. Flores, Comm. Helmboldt (arrived at 4:16 p.m.), Tiffany Welsh, Susan Anderson, Michael Myszka, Sarah Kelly, Lindsey Johnson, Erin Augustine (arrived at 4:20 p.m.), Kathy Antaya (arrived at 4:06 p.m.); Eric Feldt, Planning. Members Absent: Comm. Faris, Kurt Tribbett, Jacob Schacht, and Olivia Jayakar Others: Michelle Coats, Clerk’s Office Guests: None. Call to Order: Comm. Flores called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m., noting a quorum was not yet present. Approval of Minutes: to be addressed later in meeting after a quorum is present. Additions or Deletions to the Agenda: None Member Updates/Reports: City Energy Efficiency Activities: None . Environmental Program Update: Tiffany Welsh shared updates:  The County held the last household hazardous waste collection for the year. They experienced high turnout and received a larger collection. They estimate it was a $13,000-14,000 collection.  The river cleanup is this weekend with an expected 100-150 volunteers. Thanks to Denso and Waste Management who are both sponsors.  Just chose photo contest winners for the clean water partner calendar. The calendars are usually in around Thanksgiving .Our important local environment-related events are on it, as well as outdoor events such as the zoo opening and other Calhoun County and watershed-related events.  A draft copy of the sustainability plan is completed (copies distributed at the meeting).  They hope to have the preliminary report of the integrated assessment/energy audit of the Fire Departments and DPW to Tiffany by October 20.  The stormwater utility kickoff meeting is next week and will be held at the airport. Eric Feldt, Planning Department, shared updates:  Draft master plan is rolling out and contains a sustainability chapter. The NPCs will have presentations throughout October and into November.  Mid-November they will bring in the consultant and host an all-day open house and workshop event.  The master plan draft will go to the Planning Commission and then to the City Commission. It will be on two City Commission meetings to adopt it. He anticipates that the plan will go to the Planning Commission in December. City Commission Update: Comm. Flores also mentioned that the stormwater utility group is meeting. They approved road dieting for Capital Ave. NE (reduction to two lanes with a turn lane and bike lanes). Eric pointed out it will have the effect of slowing traffic. Comm. Flores let Asst. City Manager Dearing know that this committee wants to be involved in integrating sustainability in our economic development efforts and transit. This week there will be a conference call with the consultant team working on the strategic planning process for economic development. 1 Comm. Helmboldt arrived at 4:16 p.m. For transit, we will be having the public transportation committee meeting on October 16. The transmit master plan is on the agenda to get that process in motion. We need to explore how sustainability integrates there as well. Erin Augustine arrived at 4:20 p.m. Old Business: Sustainability planning – prioritization: Comm. Flores distributed an updated summary of votes. The update includes category/action item “online” votes from members who were unable to attend the September meeting. She highlighted the top two categories and action items with three or more votes. SUMMARY OF VOTES (includes “online” votes) # of category Category # of action Action Item votes item votes 8 Energy 5 Energy data 6 Renewable energy goal 0 Energy efficiency for low income housing 5 Systems 4 Purchasing policy 3 Building policy 3 Staffing 1 Sustainability plan 1 Recognition program 0 Revolving fund 1 PACE financing 0 Climate action plan 3 Transportation 4 Road dieting 2 Fuel efficiency standard/alternative fuel vehicles 2 Culture change around non-motorized transportation 1 Input-transit master plan 0 Crosswalk/bike lane enforcement 0 Electric vehicle charging stations 1 Land Use 3 Incentivize mixed use development 2 Tree canopy 0 Brownfield redevelopment 0 Urban gardens/agriculture 1 Waste 3 Parks recycling 3 Festivals/events 1 Backyard (self) composting 0 Restaurant/residential composting 0 All Water 2 Rain gardens/impervious surfaces 3 Stormwater utility 1 Water conservation Items with a score of three (3) or higher will become a priority. The committee will take these items another step at the next meeting. 2 Tiffany provided an updated draft sustainability plan based on the priorities identified at the last meeting. She used the identified categories as the goal/area of focus, utilized the following timeframes as a starting point: a short-term range of 1-5 years and a long-term term range of 5+ years, left the existing initiatives in the plan, and the additional e-votes are not included. Comm. Flores guided the group through a discussion of general reactions and responses to the process and the outcomes. Discussion of how this fits within the framework of the original plan. Focus has shifted from a very broad community- wide scope to more internal orientation and city-level focus. Team discussed identifying items within the plan to accomplish within the next year and broadening timeframe: short- term would be 1 year, mid-term 2-5 years, and long-term 5+ years. The things we can control fall in the short-term range, but bigger items need to be built into the plan for the mid to long-term portions. May want some revisions to the guiding principles statement of values (on page 4 and before). Proceeding with a category-by-category review - starting on page 6 – Energy. Can data collection be accomplished in 2018? We can get Consumers Energy data; gas provider is Semco; water usage is available by building.  Year 1 – 1. Explore software for collecting energy data.  Year 1 - 2. Collect electricity data (2018). Mr. Myszka pointed out that as we collect energy data we need to convert it to a standard unit to facilitate comparisons and tracking.  Year 2 – Identify renewable and energy efficiency goal for all city facilities and collect fuel data (gas, diesel).  Long Term – (community) develop community partnerships emphasizing energy reduction and renewable enery including engagement of businesses, development projects o 10% reduction challenge to businesses and add new business requirement Comm. Helmbolt left at 5:14 p.m. Discussion of how to proceed with the review. Everyone do homework in advance and schedule a longer meeting for November 1 (2 pm – 5 pm) pending Clerk’s office time availability. Homework will be due by October 25 th to Comm. Flores and Tiffany Welsh. If this workshop-style option does not work out, then suggest breaking into sub-committees to do the review. New Business Endorsement Considerations: There is insufficient time to discuss Ms. Anderson’s proposed endorsement considerations (Paris Climate Agreement; Line 5 Shutdown). Items will be added to the next meeting. Member Comment/Announcements: Ms. Anderson distributed her notes from the September 14th Michigan Sustainability Conference energy conference. Ms. Kelly announced the Michigan Recycling Coalition Conference will be held May 15-17 in Kalamazoo. Most of the County’s 2018 recycling event dates are posted on the website. She continues to coordinate with Tiffany’s events as much as possible. Approval of Minutes: A motion made by Mike Myszka, supported Lindsey Johnson to approve the minutes from September 6, 2017. All yes, none opposed. Minutes approved. Public Comment: None. . Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Sustainable BC Committee will be on November 1, 2017 2:00 p.m. at DPW. Adjournment: Comm. Flores adjourned the meeting at 5:30 p.m. 3